e e e e e e e good evening and welcome to tonight's meeting of the zoning Board of adjustment of the township of Union which is being held pursuant into the
open public meeting law c231 laws of New Jersey dated 1975 notice of this meeting was posted in the local Source the newspaper of record and notice has been posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building adjacent
to the municipal clerk's office roll call Mr Wy is absent Miss Martins here Mr bentan here miss Scott is absent M Mr Johnson here Mr mcneel here Mr Graves
pres M rickets is absent Mr Champ here there being a quum present this meeting is now declared open at this time I'll entertain a motion for the approval of the minutes from our February the 5th 2025 meeting Mr chairman I move that the
meeting minutes of February 5th 2025 be approved as written and dispense with the read second a motion all in favor I opposed so moved Mr manguso at this time are there any Communications uh there are no Communications Mr
chairman hearing none our case this evening is calendar number 3381 napc Donuts Incorporated located at 320 Chestnut Street at the Five Points block
905 lot 50 applicant wishes to construct a drive-thru Dunkin Donuts and install new signage Mr paparo would you like to begin yes thank you for the record Joe PaPeRo from porio Bromberg and Newman on behalf of the applicant natc Donuts Inc
uh as noted this is an application for preliminary and final site plan and variance approv for the property located at 320 Chestnut Street um that is the site of the existing Duncan uh the proposal before you this evening is a request to replace the existing Duncan with a new modern uh
drive-thru dual Lane uh Duncan Donuts facility uh this uh site is located in the NC Zone um uh restaurants with drive-throughs are not permitted in the NC Zone uh therefore we're requesting a D1 use variant as you'll hear this
evening uh in addition to the use variance there are some related uh variances and design waivers for the proposal um this uh applicant has owned and operated the Duncan at Five Points for 30 years uh at this location uh the
proposal is to replace an outdated uh Antiquated facility with a modern uh dual Lane drive-through facility drive-through only um the witnesses this evening will go through operational testimony uh as well as civil engineering to discuss the improvements
um talk about the uh traffic analysis that was performed uh the architect will go through the uh new modern facility with you and finally our professional planner will come forward and address the variance relief that we're seeking um due to the site's location on
two County Roads uh the applicant and its team invested significant time meeting with the county of Union traffic Divi division um for over a year now uh to uh be sure that the County's uh input and their recommendations were Incorporated um the applicant also had
extensive meetings with the township of Union Police Department to ensure that the Township's police and safety concerns were also Incorporated we're happy to report to you that the plan that's presented to you this evening is a result of that collaborative effort with both the county of Union and the
township of Union uh police department the plans that you would be that you're considering this evening incorporate uh those recommendations uh as was included with the application that you had have uh there is a county approval letter uh dated June 26
2024 uh we've received all the various reports from the township of Union departments and uh we would note that the police department's latest uh comment letter says no further comments again the efforts of the applicants team to proactively meet with both the county
and the Township's police departments uh demonstrates the applicant's commitment to ensuring that this project uh can be built uh and be a a vital part of the community and the business uh Corridor along Chestnut Street and Galloping Hill
Road um uh we are going to address each and every one of the department comments including the township Engineers comment letters this evening uh but I did want to note at the outset uh that the uh police department's latest report uh evidences the satisfaction with the
latest design um unless there's any preliminary questions uh I guess I'll defer to C Mr pens did you want to Mark yes I have pre-marked and just for the record too I should have did it administratively when the meeting was called there is a closed session noted on tonight's agenda I as the attorney
for the board uh updated the members on some legal issues that are unrelated to tonight's case it was a general discussion due to uh potential conflicts for future cases so had nothing to do with tonight but it is on the agenda so note that for the minutes and for the
record that is Council uh address the board as a legal tutorial in that regard um for tonight's case yes good seeing you again Mr perro um I did Mark A1 the application as it was submitted uh A2 with the site plan presented by Dynamic
Engineers consisting of 18 sheets uh A3 is the onepage survey that was presented A4 is the two pages of architectural plans A5 is the initial traffic impact study A6 is the supplemental traffic
assessment that was supplied and A7 is the drainage statement so A1 through A7 are marked for identification it will be moved into the record and we proceed from there thank you very much Mr penil appreciate that um and we'll begin our presentation with our civil engineer
Brett scinet can I ask the witness to swear or affirm that the testimony you can provide this evening is the truth in the whole TR I do if you could for the record State and spell your name with your affiliation sure first name is Brett e t last name scapin Nets SK a p i
n TZ thank you uh Mr scinet I know you have well before we get into the exhibits can you briefly give your education area of expertise and the licenses you hold sure I have a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from Ruckers University uh I'm a licensed civil engineer uh licensed
professional engineer in the state of New Jersey as well as a professional planner licens in the State uh for over 20 years and have testified the board will accept his credentials thank you thank you it's good to be back Brett uh before you give any testimony on any exhibits if you could please just uh
mark them into the record picking up with A8 would be your first exhibit and just describe what A8 represents for the record yes I have uh just a few uh exhibits to present the first one I'll start with is uh what's up on the screen now entitled uh aerial map exhibit uh
with a let me just get used to moving this thing so aerial map exhibit with a preparation date of 2925 uh it's similar to the aerial map that will be in the it's in the site
plan set it's not been modified for for presentation tonight uh so we'll mark that A8 uh just simply putting this up on the screen just to give uh the visual I'm sure the board is very familiar with the location of the site at Five Points uh the site is bound uh if as you look
is the at the parcel in question outline in yellow again noted as block 9005 lot 0.01 lot 50 it's a lot of. 253 Acres or just a smidge over 11,000 square fet you can see it's regular shape triangle
shape uh and it is bound by uh Tucker uh to the West uh you have Chestnut to the East and Freeman Circle which is the connection between Tucker and uh Chestnut to the
South uh surrounding the site uh really to all sides are all commercial properties in the NC Zone and just beyond that Beyond those commercial uses are are residential uses as you can see in the exhibit um that's really all I
intended to do is just to give just a basic bearings uh with respect to location of the site via this plan uh then I'll look look to move on to the next exhibit sure BR just to just to confirm something that I mentioned in my opening uh this site is bound by two roadways that are follow under the
county of Union's jurisdiction correct that is correct both both Tucker and and Chestnut are under County jurisdiction so the next exhibit I want to bring up is the survey of the property just showing what's out there today uh I just think it's important obviously to understand uh what we're
doing by starting out uh showing what's on the property so uh same orientation as the aerial exhibit Tucker is to the top of the page or to the east with Chestnut to the sorry to the west and Chestnut to the east or to the bottom of the page so currently on the site today
is an existing Duncan uh restaurant it's of 1,453 uh square feet uh there are no drive-throughs it does have two access points one at Tucker Avenue and I'll zoom in just a little bit more uh to the
plan uh there's one access Drive uh off of Tucker very close uh to the turn uh getting onto uh the to Freeman Circle and then directly opposite that on Chestnut is
the second driveway uh There are 16 parking spaces that serve that restaurant currently today and uh as you can see most of the site is either is comprised of the building the paving and
then out in front uh towards Galloping Hill Road to the north uh is a PA area that uh also has the current ID sign located within it as I noted uh and we'll go through this a little bit further when we talk about some of the variances and waivers
you can see obviously the regular shape in more detail here uh the building as it currently stands sits basically right on the property line with Chestnut Street almost on the property line with Tucker uh and same thing with all the the ancillary uh parts to the to the
current layout the parking uh the trash enclosure all sit in very close proximity to the property lines and we're going to be looking for some similar similar relief uh for those s for those same structures but we're looking to obviously improve upon that with the new plan you'll see that as I
turn to that in a moment um I think think with respect to this plan uh just just to note uh obviously all existing utilities are all there today and I'll describe it a little bit further we're looking to utilize all
those same utilities there are sidewalks that are both on Tucker uh and on along uh Chestnut uh that exist today uh we're looking to uh replace those upon our discussions with the county and uh I'll show that in the proposed plan as
well and Brett before you move on uh regarding existing site access and circulation are there any restrictions currently are those both just free flowing driveways that you've identified no there there are definitely restrictions so Tucker Avenue right now
uh flows from you you turn on to Tucker from Galloping Hill Road it is one way from North to South and you are able to either proceed straight on Tucker or you can make the left onto Freeman Circle which is also one way from west or from
the top of the page down to the bottom so as a result Tucker Avenue is only permitted for left turns in and left turns out uh whereas Chestnut Street uh that driveway uh is allows full movements in so you could make left turns in or right turns in uh but you
can only make right turns out of that driveway there is a sign that that prohibits left turns out of that drive and Chestnut Street is two-way in in both it go you can travel in either direction so there's no no other questions regards to the survey and
existing conditions I'll move on to the proposed and you know what uh I'm sorry you know what I didn't I didn't do Joe I did not uh the aerial survey was A9 yeah you yeah I didn't I didn't describe it you want me to just throw the description on the record I noted it for the record A9 is the aerial survey
version and the A8 was the aerial map exhibit so up to A10 is I guess this colorized aial yes an A10 is uh site plan uh rendering and is uh has a preparation date sorry
of 219 uh 2025 so this site plan rendering is a colorized version of our site plan uh which has been enhanced uh to obviously show the colors of uh building Paving pavers you can see those pretty clearly
but also Landscaping uh highlighting sidewalk and other concrete areas that are being proposed on the site uh as well as exist just around the uh perimeter of the site so once again same configuration as the previous two exhibits with Tucker to the top Chestnut
to the bottom uh the proposal is to construct a is to demolish the existing building and to construct a brand new structure of 1,90 square ft so approximately 350 ft smaller than the
current structure that's out there today so smaller structure uh and you can see now we're going to introduce the drive-thru component which is not there today so there'll be uh drive-thru drive up Lanes uh two entering in to two
ordering uh windows or two ordering stations that are located um in the in this plan the upper leftand corner as you're looking at the plan I'll move the cursor to it I'm sorry I'm I'm little this is my first time not using a a paper exhibit and using the uh
electronic so it take me a moment to get used to my bearings here so uh you have the ordering stations uh or and then the turns into a single Lane which proceeds around the building a counterclockwise Direction uh we only proposed two
parking spaces on the plan uh per code this is a restaurant your restaurant uh per for restaurants your code requires one parking space per 60 square feet of floor area but notes that net or of net floor area but notes that
net floor area is defined as public area we don't have public area inside this building only employees will be in here there will be no seats there's no ability to walk up and Order where you're basically only ordering through the drive-through Lanes so no employees
or no public no public area here we technically per code require zero parking spaces uh but we are providing two those are located uh off just to the north of the building I've moved the cursor there and just beyond and one of
those spaces is an ADA accessible space a van accessible space we are moving as a result of that shift of the building to the south from where it's located today on site we're also moving the access and this was
obviously the key Point as Mr rero noted where where why we had our discussions up front with the county and ultimately the police to get an understanding that our shifting of the building our movement of this access particularly given the unique uh arrangement of the
roads uh how they all fall together and I mean obviously it's Five Points multiple roads multiple intersections uh that they would be accepting accepting our change to the access and ultimately this plan has been accepted as Mr rero noted we have County approval uh we have
the endorsement from uh the Township Police as well for it and this driveway like the current driveways will have restrictions in movement uh similar uh for the driveway on Tucker Avenue as is today it'll be restricted to left in left out it's only the only thing that
can happen given that Tucker is a one-way driveway from north to south uh with respect to Chestnut Street uh we are proposing a right in right out driveway uh we had proposed as you see
in the plan you'll see the arrow that shows uh the Stop Bar and an arrow saying right hand turn only uh for the inbound driveway uh we originally had proposed full movements uh we went to the county it was okay there but there
was concern upon Township police on having left turns in so we agreed that we would only have right turn uh movements only into that driveway and the plan was was modified to reflect the police department's recommendation and went back to the county and they
endorsed it that is correct okay so other improvements with respect to the site uh I mentioned the two parking spaces right in front of that is where we put in the trash enclosure this will be a brand new 10t x 20 foot uh enclosure with masonry walls that'll
match the building uh their exterior of those walls will match the building um that will be then that'll be uh beyond that we have the pav area where the ID sign is currently located we're not changing that the ID sign will stay in
its current location and so same with those pavers uh what we're doing in that area though is enhancing the Landscaping both around the enclosure to provide more uh robust Landscaping to Shield it uh from the corner uh and then uh enhancing uh other areas and the islands
to either side of the parking stalls as well uh if we move further to the south towards the building uh there is a walkway going from the two parking spaces uh that leads to the building uh that walkway uh is serving employees
primarily that would be anticipated or uh Personnel or sorry customers that may be parked in that uh parking space in front of the trash enclosure uh that could be uh stationed there uh in case there's a delay in their order they may
be directed to park there uh but with respect to the sidewalk uh that walkway is mainly for again employees that may be parking no stalls to be able to walk into the building uh there is obviously then moving further to the back end of the
building on the south side you'll see a structure or sorry a gray box that is a generator for the building uh that will also be screened uh around the entirety uh all four sides uh with additional Landscaping we have a walkway on the
back side of the building as well that uh is for service purposes for employees to U be able to walk from the back of the building uh to get over to uh the uh drive up Lanes if you further look at the so when we go to the drive-through Lanes uh
themselves we have two 10- foot Lanes at the very beginning uh or start of the drive-through Lanes as customers proceed in either one of those they go to either one of the ordering areas uh which there are uh a
menu board and uh obviously an ordering uh speaker for each uh they each also too have a small canopy over them uh that is illuminated to light up that area uh at night time uh the customer then once they've placed their order and many of you have
seen this in some in other uh fast food type restaurant that have drive-throughs that have go from two to one uh they will then merge to one lane uh that is 16 fet in width and those cars will then proceed to go and pick up their order at
the windows in this plan from a landscaping standpoint you'll see that we've provided uh sufficient landscaping or or substantial Landscaping particularly in the corners of the site uh that will uh help Aiden blocking those drive up uh
ordering areas and provide additional Shield shielding and screening uh the lighting uh on the plan we do propose uh four new area lights there are LED fixtures 12 feet in height uh we also are proposing new building
mounted fixtures on the building uh those will also be led fixtures with respect to this plan we are reducing the amount of storm water we are reducing the amount of impervious coverage uh on site so there is a reduction and since we don't uh trigger
the new storm waterer RS based on the size of the property or by not increasing the amount of impervious coverage uh we're not proposing any new detention facilities uh right now storm water is generally just she sheet flowing and running off out of the driveways from the parking areas into to
the streets and being collected by the existing storm water system in gpic hill or sorry in Chestnut and Tucker uh we're going to be introducing some new piping and inlets on site to collect it on site and bring it to those inlets but there is uh no like I said
there is a reduction in impervious coverage uh of approximately a th000 square feet on site as a result of this plan uh from a utility standpoint all existing utilities I mentioned before they're all there we're just making reconnections to the new building now
it's being relocated further to the South uh from so I did note uh in the description of as I was going through the existing conditions uh you'll see in the plan that the there are sidewalks again along Tucker and Chestnut as a result of the county approval we will be
replacing those sidewalks uh along both front edges back to the building when it comes to signage uh let me start with the ID sign there is the existing ID sign out there today uh it has it is
approximately 15 fet in height and has an area of about uh 41 A5 square feet uh we are going to be replacing the top of that sign that sign is going to be replaced with a new sign of
46.76 uh square feet and it's going to ultimately stand 17 ft in height uh what's allowed for a sign in the NC zone is 50 square feet so we're under that and we're under the 20 ft in height allowed uh but do want to note that we
the site the sign clearance uh that's required for that sign is 15 ft currently existing out there today it's 10 1/2 ft uh we're going to be looking at about 10 and 1 12 ft under proposed conditions so we're just going to maintain the clearance underneath and uh
we would need a uh to continue the variance for that there are also two directional signs there's one directional sign at the Chestnut Street driveway and there's another directional
sign uh that is for customers coming in off of Tucker that is located right at the beginning of the drive through Lanes uh each of those signs are directional signs pointing them to the drive-through Lanes so directing the traffic as they enter into the site uh to that point when it comes to building facade signs
there are is one on each side of the building uh your the requirement for area per code is 10% of the facade area is what's allowed for each side uh for each sign and we do fall under that requirement for each one of the proposed
signs uh the one on the North facade is 22 Square ft where 34.92 ft is allowed uh the one on the south facade is 11 where 35 is allowed the one on east side is 81 where 87 is
allowed and the one on the west facade is again 11 and a half where 80 uh where 87 is allowed so well under for each one of those locations uh when it comes to the signed Dimensions they all meet requirement and
uh with respect to clearances in their projection as well the illumination of those signs there's uh the three the signs on the North the west and the South Side are internally illuminated the one on the east side of the building
which is the largest of the signs uh are is externally illuminated there will be 10 goose neck goose neck lights that will shine down and project light onto the sign uh they'll be uh situated at such that the uh light fixture itself
you won't be able to see the fixture the element of that light as was noted obviously we have the county approval we did also submit to the somerset Union Soil Conservation District earlier on we'll resubmit to them but it's generally the same plan
they did endorse it a few years ago um and with respect to the local agencies uh as Mr Papo noted we did get positive uh letters from both police and fire uh being the main ones there's a couple things Brett if
you're done in your direct I I wanted to have you Circle back to one of the discussion points my understanding with the county was uh what's showed on your plan as a proposed parking uh on Tucker Avenue can you speak to that yes I
can so uh and I I missed that there are the two two parking spaces that are on site but we were also proposing four parking spaces parallel on Tucker Avenue so you can see those designated I'll zoom in a little bit further so they're
uh up against the curb parallel uh three to the north side of the driveway and one to the south side of the driveway in the county as part of their Endor ement of this project endorsed those uh parking spaces in their right of way they did yes so so technically speaking
while those are are offsite and we do have two we do have those four to utilize so six in total for the plan we're going to have the operator come up shortly to talk about operations and and additional information your understanding from discussing this
project with the uh applicant and the operator is that that's effectively where some folks are parking now currently correct that's correct so this proposal is really just formalizing what's happening out there today is that accurate that's right Tucker Avenue from an engineering standpoint you mentioned
it's one way um are you comfortable from an engineering perspective that because it's one way only that having those parallel parking spaces will still allow sufficient Drive aisle with yeah absolutely it's well not only one way but it's a very wide right it's a very wide cartway that's there so there's
more than sufficient room to be able to provide those stalls and still allow for uh safe movements both uh for cars really I mean a couple cars be able to go once they enter in and be able to Veer off both either into the lane to go straight ahead and also at the same time
get into the lane uh that is making the left-and turn while a car is parked in the parallel spot and that's really the space that's to the south of the driveway you have enough room for three cars side by side there great and and again I know operations testimony will be coming shortly but you worked with
this operator and this uh applicant regarding what's anticipated for deliveries and refu your office took a look at the types of vehicles that are going to be servicing this facility and and have you designed this to accommodate those Vehicles we did and and in our plan set at the end we do
have a truck turning exhibit uh for the garbage truck uh we see no issue with that uh our our client works with private hauler they'll ensure that obviously the timing of that truck delivery isn't coinciding with peak
hours of operation with the facility but we do have enough room for the vehicle to enter in uh not unusual for a site uh other Duncan sites for the truck to make a couple different Maneuvers but you can
get in to maneuver back in or go in uh if it's a front loader forward to the trash enclosure be able to pull out the bins dump them and then back up and maneuver on his way so uh we show that one example of one maneuver that could
be done in the plan set and the same thing goes for loading we do all anticipate loading once a day uh at a minimum uh for a box truck to come in it would be essentially a 30 foot long truck uh it's not going to take up one
of the parking spaces um further testimony be given on this but the antici what is anticipated is again off peak hours for that truck to enter into the site take up space where the last two cars that are numbered 13 15 in the
interior Lane uh they would the truck would situate itself in that location uh the operation for a truck to come in and unload takes only about 20 minutes so the unload Goods those two parking that area is blocked off which still allows
customers to enter in the outer Lane so it doesn't stop the operation uh doesn't clog up the works truck gets done finished it then uh Maneuvers out of that space and goes on its way similar to the garbage truck Brett when you design a site like this for an applicant
who's been operating at this location for 30 plus years when it comes to deliveries and refu is it helpful to you to have that history and to know that they have the control over these types of activities that are coming and going to the site absolutely and when you look
actually even at the existing site the same thing H from the trash perspective and getting a vehicle in there with the operations of facility that has to happen there as well because you still have a similar situation of the the driveways uh close to one another it pulls in it's pulling into an area the
trash enclosure right now is an area where the Outer Drive Lane ordering area is in this corner so when that truck comes in he's taking up lane and spaces and so that same coordination has to take effect today we expect that to happen in the future and I just want to
be clear to to the board we do have other Witnesses Mr scap's colleague from Dynamic actually from Dynamic traffic is going to speak to you directly on traffic we're going to get to that Mr scap and it's is not going to speak to traffic um obviously you worked in tandem with your traffic engineer to
design the drive-thru correct yes and his input is what's reflected on this plan that's correct um Brett you've had an opportunity to review the reports you we've already identified the police and the fire no longer have any comments regarding this application um the
coler's report the township engineer dated November 18 2024 uh you've hit a number of these items I know the planner will talk to the variances from an engineering standpoint is there anything that's been recommended by the township engineer that you take issue with or that requires a response or are all
these satisfactory there are just a few um and I think uh starting with obviously the first page is a summary uh page two uh no comment uh there's uh statements that I dis that I agree with uh if you go to page
three uh item 1.8 it brings up the number of parking spaces we do have the two as I described before in accordance with the calculation done based on a restaurant use uh it's um noted though however that five
parking uh sorry uh that the ordinance requires five parking spaces and don't necessarily agree with that because it doesn't that the five parking spaces doesn't conform with the re restaurant requirements so uh but regardless I did know we do have the four parking spaces
that that are out along the street we do have a total of six so it's really a sort of it's we have two onsite four outside total of six I I would I think we meet the requirement as a result of that it's just that we don't have all
located within the confines of the property um then item 1.16 uh need to address and that's via for parking spaces requiring uh two foot overhang uh for the two parking spaces that we
have on site for the stall that's not the Ada stall we do have the overhang so we have an 18t stall uh then we have an area of concrete before we get to the trash enclosure so there's uh room there
to meet the twoot requirement overhang but with respect to the Ada space we don't have that we have an uh a sign and some Landscaping uh that's prohibiting that two feet to occur we'll shift that sign in the Landscaping back to be able to meet
[Applause] that so 116 will be satisfied yeah we will satisfy [Applause] that uh I think I sort of I touched on 1.17 he's is a statement noting that the
parking spaces need to be on site but we do have the ones that are offsite that we're utilizing towards our uh basically for our benefit um I have no other comments on the rest of page four uh the on page five uh do you want
to address though under traffic and circulation uh number six the first bullet uh there is a request um by your engineer to install a concrete median in the driveway on Chestnut Street as I noted to chest street is the
driveway that we are proposing right in right out uh but upon the county does not allow for concrete medians within their right of way so in order to facilitate putting a concrete Island that'll Channel traffic that Island needs to be within the right of way and
the county does not permit that so uh we will not be putting a a concrete Island there um do you know if Colliers is aware of that or is that some I not as as a follow up with them just so they understand yeah we would follow with them uh but again
it's a county standard not to put that no I understand but I don't know if they have an alternate recommendation or something that might apply we can down to go through that we'll make them you know aware of that at the County's response to that item uh I don't have any other comments
okay everything else is satisfactory if this board were inclined to approve the application you could satisfy the remainder yes okay um board members I have nothing further for Mr scap and it's on Direct again I just want to be clear that we have extensive operational testimony coming and we do
have a traffic engineer it's going to talk about circulation and and traffic specific testimony at this at this time are there any board members that would like to question Mr scinet the testimon he has
provided hearing none are there any members of I have a question I'm sorry Mr Ben Bank hey Brett Will you so my concern was food delivery MH so you mentioned um that there'd be a 30 foot box truck that would come in that's right so a couple questions you
mentioned that it's going to come off peak that's right let's say it doesn't get there off peak what what is the alternative second is you said it's going to take up the inside Lane where car 13 and 15 are
designated right I think two cars are shorter than 30 fet correct uh no two cars no uh with the space in between and the length of those cars no we would be at 30 ft there okay my next question is so it's going to be able to make that
turn you also mentioned your testimon there there's overhang on both sides of the drive to is is the clearance high enough for that truck to yeah what what the H what's going to happen is that truck would pull into that area and then he would back out of that area so it would be managed on site and where the
truck pulls in uh it's it's blocking th that area where those two cars are and when he's done with the loading after that 20 minute span he'll back out and maneuver all right so let's just say that he does come during during the operation right we're going to block off
the two inside Lanes correct and then when he's ready to leave we're going to stop traffic to have him back out that's correct and I don't see it any different than a vehicle backing into this is a 24ot drive aisle okay it we're talking a vehicle that's just you know 10 more
feet 10 feet longer than a a say a car taking up this 20 foot stall so he's basically backing out of that space and man leaving as if it was a vehicle as if this was a parking spot so there's plenty of visibility to either side we're not looking worried
about site visibility uh you know if someone not seeing the truck backing up so and and uh I'm assuming you know with respect to you have the employees there needs to be managed you have employee out there helping to guide traffic as well all no further
question are there any other board members with questions hearing none are there any members of the public that would like to question the testimony Mr scabin has given hearing none counselor your next
witness thank you very much thanks Brett our next witness is the project architect Frank chillo which one you want I got it beautiful should yeah
okay take your other one that one first be to use the click on that I love your technology by the way this is the first time in decades I've come to a meeting without my board so
can I ask the witness to swear or affirm that the testimony you provide this evening is the truth and the all truth I do and for the record if you could State and spell your name with your affiliation my name is Frank trillo TR r u i l o and what's your group I'm sorry what's
the name of your group architect Frank tra architect okay thank you Frank for the benefit of the board in public can you provide your license your education area of expertise I'm a licensed architect uh 1981 from the the New Jersey Institute of
Technology School of Architecture I became licensed in New Jersey in 1986 I'm licensed in Six States including New York Pennsylvania Connecticut Maryland and Virginia I'm a member of the American Institute of Architects I was a
past Trustee of the New Jersey chapter of the American Institute of architect Mr thank you and I've been doing Dunkin Donuts for about 32 years now so and your licenses are currently in good standing yes okay Frank again I know you have some
exhibits as well let's uh mark this one we're up to a11 and can you just describe what's on the screen is a11 okay this drawing is uh numbered A1 um it's the proposed floor
plan um and this is a I can't read the date hang on one second here this is a two sheet exhib uh it's a February 13th 2025 uh it's two
sheets all right perfect and what's Des what's described and displayed on the on the screen is the floor plan for the proposed Duncan correct yes there okay okay uh what you have here is the proposed floor plan uh I just want to
start by saying this is the state-of-the-art drive-thru from Dunkin Donuts um this is a skinny down version from a typical store where there's no sales area there's no customer seating uh no tables and chairs this facility is
strictly a drive-thru operation and since Co Duncan has devoted uh enormous um resources to making the drive-thru more efficient um uh back in the 19 uh mid 19 uh
96 um I worked for Dunkin Donuts for 10 years as a construction manager and I worked on the first drive-thru in towa New Jersey where we had the menu board right next to the window so it was sort of a pullup type operation so it's come
a long way uh in making this um as efficient as possible uh for orientation purposes the the top of the sheet is Tucker Avenue uh to the left is Freeman Circle uh to the right faces the
fivepoint intersection and toward the bottom is Chestnut Street uh you'll notice the building has two windows uh the first window that you look at on the lower left it's this window here is where the uh transaction monetary
transaction takes place whether it's cash credit or debit uh that function happens here so there's a dedicated uh employee that expedites the uh the transaction and then that car pulls forward to this window this window is
the pickup window where the custom would pick up its product and the rationale behind the d uh dual Lanes dual menu boards is that the product be already prepared by the time the customer arrives at this window and if a customer
orders very large order let's say orders for the entire little league baseball team um when that um car gets to this window they'll be asked to pull forward into what we call a pull forward parking spot it's a designated parking spot that
I believe our engineer already identified so that car will wait there till the order is prepared this door here leads to a sidewalk and will'll cater to the car waiting for that large um um uh so Frank an employee could uh if there
was a larger order an employee could run the order out to the car to not hold up the rest of the yeah that's the the um intention is not to hold up the rest of the drive-thru Lane if someone has a very large order they'll pull forward into a designated parking spot and then that order will be hand delivered to
them as they wait uh this restaurant has full menu full um full line of coffees lattes cappuccinos full Bakery products uh Bagels croissant so the menu Remains the Same even though it's a skinny down
smaller version of a typical Duncan Frank one of my one of the my understanding from speaking with the operator and yourself uh this new latest efficient version of the floor plan it was refined it's my understanding by Duncan to and again the operator will
talk more to this but to limit the number of steps that the employees have to take to make everything readily available to speed up those times is that your understanding that's called an omni uh layout where all the equipment uh is very closely stacked together in proximity to the window to maximize
throughput maximize efficiency so that cars could continue through the drive-through Lane without any uh substantial uh uh impediments uh so both from an exterior sight plan and from an interior floor plan um this facility
really addresses the drive-thru and to try to maximize the efficiency of the drivethru so would that in your opinion is that having worked in this industry for as many years as you have is that what distinguishes this proposal from some other drive-through that the board or the public may be familiar with yes
the Dual Lanes the two the separate pay and pickup window and that interior that's been modified so that the employees have the maximum efficiency yes a typical drive-thru would have one drive-thru Lane one menu board and one window uh we have two drive-thru Lanes
two menu boards two windows one for uh um monetary transaction and then the other for the uh pickup so um it's by far the most efficient um layout and site plan that I've ever worked on um Frank before we move to the elevations
because there was discussion about the signage and we do want to show those pictures that you prepared um I'll do the exterior elevations yes I just wanted one follow-up question Mr scapin that's testified that this facility is a th000 a little over 1,000 sare ft the
ex90 Ft yeah the existing is over 1,400 is that your understanding yes so this is in your opinion a significantly smaller building for this site yeah typical Duncan uh without a drive-thru is about 1,800 Square ft so uh we're we're considerably smaller since we
don't have a customer uh sitting area if you could now move to the elevations I know you spent considerable time uh bringing the uh Aesthetics up as far as the latest concept and the latest signage package um if you could walk
board through the exterior elevations so the uh elevation at the top left of the sheet that represents the elevation that would be facing uh the Five Points intersection uh we have a Duncan drive-through sign here this is internally illuminated uh we have an
orange accent band and then in the background you could see an overhang over the drive-through window that's the shelter the drive-thru uh function during in Clement weather uh the building is composed of Hardy plank siding which is a cement fiber board uh
it looks like wood but it doesn't rot it lasts far longer than ordinary wood uh the door here is a um this is the employee entrance door and this is also the door that the employee would deliver
uh to the pull forward customer a large order uh the elevation to the right is the uh elevation facing Freeman Circle uh we have a Dunkin Donuts coffee cup icon which is internal internally
illuminated uh you could see on this side we have the drive-thru canopy this is over the uh the pay window um the elevation in the middle of the sheet represents the elevation facing Chestnut Street and we have uh
Graphics in between the two windows these Graphics are not internally illuminated these are vinyl decals that are stuck onto the building and we have a series of light fixtures they're small LEDs they're 4-in diameter and they shine directly on the sign so there's no
glare onto Chestnut Street uh the first window on the left this is the pay window and then this is the actual pickup window so we have two windows and two overhangs uh the elevation on the bottom
is the elevation facing Tucker Avenue uh we have a an illuminated coffee cup icon here and then you'll see the exterior walk-in box outside here now normally the walk-in box is a silver metallic um
color we decided to have a factory finish to match the building color so it Blends in with the building and it doesn't stick out you know sort of like a soft thumb so um that's my uh testimony any questions board members thank you Frank are there any board
members that would like to question Mr chellos testimony I do this would be um the pullover area yeah um and I don't know if that's for the traffic engineer or the civil engineer but is there any concern that that will then uh ined
traffic that's trying to get out no no that's a it it'll the pull um pull forward parking space is an actual parking space that a car will pull into and it would not block any Ingress or ESS out of the parking lot
any other board members with questions for the witness hearing none are there any members of the public that would like the question testimony Mr chuo has given hearing
none counselor your next witness so my bad too much talking thank you chairman okay thank you Mr TR thank you very much um our next witness is a representative of the owner and operator Nicholas diamore his own how you doing good
evening can I ask the witness to swear or affirm that the testimony you're providing this evening is the truth and the whole truth yep and for the record just State and spell your name with your affiliation uh Nicholas store D apostrophe capital a m o r e I'm coo for
natc donuts and uh we're happy to be in Union thankful for Union we've been here for many years so thank you thank you Nick uh you youve talked about your position with the company how long have you uh worked in that position and how long and how familiar are you with the
Five Points location so being a son of an operator I grew up in the store I've been helping operate stores for probably over 12 years now full-time I've been in this position for five to six years uh we currently run four drive-throughs obviously hoping to have
more so the discussion this evening about the existing store I know uh it's been an operation with your family for over 30 years at this location you've heard from both Mr scapin and from Mr trillo the architect about replacing
that outdated structure with the latest uh and more modern facility um is this consistent with what the brand is looking for for these upgrades uh yes it is I mean we're just looking to serve our customers in the best way we can and from what they've told us is they prefer drive-throughs it's what most people
want so that's and over your involvement over the years you've been involved with the existing Five Points location have you seen a decline uh in the uh use of the seats indoors and the and what's happening basically in some of your stores that have some of this some of
the older seating models yeah we've seen obviously uh with covid it kind of changed everything people have tweaked their whole work routines and most people they're in and out I would say 95% of our customers they grab their stuff we people got things to do they need their coffee and they need to get
to work so you are you not seeing people you know sitting in the seats over extended period of time very very rarely we have these big spaces big tables they're nice and wide open but nobody's sitting there have you experienced any negative uh aspects of having those
seats in either this location or other locations we've unfortunately experienced some loitering which can be uh you know harassment towards our employees some physical altercations in the past as well it's been uh not great in that
sense the we've talked a lot about and again Mr Veri the traffic engineer will talk about the anal is and the design of the yeah you want can you want to bring up the site plan so Mr Veri as a traffic engineer will go into the technical data on how the drive-through will work but
operationally you and your in your company have experience running uh dual Lane drive-throughs you have experience running single L drive-throughs yes can you explain to the board what your experience has been and where your existing dual L drive-thru is currently sure uh I'm going to be as clear and
concise as I can be because we've been on a long long road with drive-throughs in 2019 we really took a pause and we looked and said our single lane model is really not servicing our guests in the best way it was slow a little erratic so we pause we work with the brand to
develop the Omni layout and the two-lane layout which we built in Edison uh we've been operating that for a year and a half and the goal is from menu board to receiving food and exit two minutes and 30 seconds and I can confidently say in
our two lanes we're hitting this number in our Peak hour anywhere from 68 to 85% of the time we're really focused on reviewing these times every single day comparing them to other Duncans in the area honestly all across the state it's a
gamification uh we we really spend every single day trying to figure out how can we give better product faster just that customer experience has really been our Focus having had the experience of some of the uh original designed drive-throughs whether they're single
single Lane and single window can you speak to the efficiencies that you're seeing now with your latest drive-throughs the Edison model that has similar to this two lanes two menu boards separate pay and pickup window what's the efficiency there in our in our new model I mean we just flow a lot
faster we're able to be more organized the two windows gives our guys a little that 30 second longer window to prep so people are moving through a lot of people we 42% of guests uh use the app in our Ed in store so they pull right up
they show their name there we've already been working on their order since they placed it 5 minutes ago they pull up they say the name pull the window it's already sitting there ready for them so in that scenario with someone who orders on the app and pays on the app that even eliminates another transaction yes yeah the frictionless is
is the goal that's what from the brand standpoint for this facility for this smaller scaled back version uh from what you currently operate at Five Points what do you expect for your maximum number of employees for again it's only a th000 square foot store yeah I I expect six
employees and this the the the employees that are working at this location now they would return I would imagine if this was approved oh yeah 100% they would be very happy and uh you know discussing not to over uh visit it but uh the loitering I
think they would really enjoy just having the space to themselves and the freedom to work and less distractions and what are you seeing as far as employees their demand how do they arrive at the site what are you seeing your current again you you have the benefit of running a store at this location for many years what are you
seeing how are your employees getting to this location it's uh it's really changed in the last couple of years uh our employees 85% of them take alternative transit to work whether it's bus whether it's scooters whether they walk especially in this area it's heavily residential we get a ton of
applicants and a lot of them this is their first job and they're learning so only I would say of my employees probably only three or four of them have a car and most of them they carpol they don't bring it every day it's it's a different uh hours of operation for this
location we are Monday through Friday 4:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m and on Saturday and Sunday we are 5:00 am to 9:00 P p.m. and we've talked a little bit about deliveries uh Mr scap andet talked about that this uh modernized facility would
receive a box truck is that your understanding uh yes it would be once a week and uh just to confirm there would be two guys in that delivery truck so one would be able to direct traffic if there were traffic issues while the other guy is moving product in or moving
the truck and you have control over that do you not with the with the delivery system yeah yeah yes we do uh we we can request different delivery times and they send us tracking information we can see when they're coming so we can always prep if there's an emergency scenario
where there it honestly I've never had to deal with it it in my experience where they're coming in a peak time because they all know from 7 to 9: we're moving through traffic they know not to come at that time they're either early or they're late when you say late you're talking like afternoon is your slow time
yes yeah we're talking like 2: to 4: they usually don't come after 4 because they want managers to be on site while the delivery com and you've you've discussed the uh the delivery uh Proposal with Mr scapin using the first two spaces in the interior drive-through
Lane and your understanding is that's how it's going to function uh yes yeah yeah we have clear understanding and we're willing to work with different signage to put cones up so it's clearly made aware to everybody and you'd be doing that off peak uh yes your refu uh anything any changes from how it's
currently being handled today uh nope no changes Monday Wednesday Friday uh trash and then two days recycling you spoke about your Edison store um you know a dual Lane drive-thru two menu boards separate pay and pickup window similar to this how has that
store over the you know the years that it's been open how is that store functioning and how is the brand responding it's been it's been a great success and with that the brand has asked us to be a certified training restaurant and we've been doing that for a year and basically we train franchisees and other Brin cons brand
Consultants from all over the country and we're one of 13 locations so we're thankful that they so you operate one of only 13 Duncans in the country that has that AB that that recognition for efficiency yes
yeah so speak a little bit more uh Nick about the uh operations inside the facility um do you have a dedicated employee there should be a floor plan up there uh do you have a dedicated employee to it each position can you just take the board through what's going
on under the roof sure I don't know if it's up here sorry oh I have to I scroll down on this one oh up oh sorry it's not letting me scroll oh here we go okay sorry about
that there zo on here SL over Mr tro mentioned the Omni efficiency floor plan is that what's proposed here yes so here uh this is basically a result of a thousand surveys or well a thousand managers who filled
out surveys based on how can they serve guests better uh what's easiest on them in terms of store prep and it's all the way down to where is the coffee bags being stored for the machines and it's worked out and we've been on several calls with the brand and including the
head of construction and head of store layout to talk to them about things we've seen from our end and how we can really just maximize that footprint and Le lessen the amount of steps that our employees take and make their lives easier talk about the pull forward Space
Mr trillo uh introduce that as well as Mr scinet um and how that how the employees would manage that if there was a larger order if there was a reason why you would need to get someone out of the drive-thru sure I mean uh I'm I'm really fortunate my managers and assistant managers assistant GMS and general
managers we have they know that these situations don't all happen very often because these people who make the bulk orders they're kind of giv that coaching the next time we're saying hey that we appreciate the order thank you but if you place this ahead of time on the app we can have it ready for you the second
you go to the window so in that case where it is a brand new customer placing a big order we will advise them to pull up into this space here and through this door scene kind of at the at the end over here they'll run the product out
and we'll get them moving along as fast as if you go back to the to the board member had a question about the actual the spaces can you just identify it uh using you don't have a pointer but description where where they pull up to so they would pull up to right right in
this point so this uh that parking space right there in front of the dumpster that would be where they would be directed to park yes is there also space where the uh in front of the last pickup window for someone to pull up uh there there could
could be space uh if there's ever somebody in that spot for whatever reason we could direct them to one of the spots on Tucker Avenue um yeah I mean obviously preferably we would just have them pull up a little right in front and another car be able to get
around if not they would pull up into that space okay thank you and you mentioned that your average order to pick up is approximately 2 minutes 30 seconds correct uh yes 2 minutes 30 seconds and
in the qsr industry Quick Service restaurants how does that fall compared to some of your competitors much much much faster and and that's by Design I mean we there's no frying it's we're really just using turbo chefs there's no
big cooking operations the customizable options are not as crazy as a Starbuck um we're really focused on people just getting their hotter iced coffee and getting them as fast as they can and still ensuring product quality that's our our number one thank you uh I have
no further questions for Mr dmore are there any board members that would like to question Mr deore I'm still not quite clear on on the parking or the pull up sure um the parking stall is is
occupied um and coming out on Tucker you only have one place to park and you know that's employees patrons may be parking there so um I think there's still even though 48
patrons an hour is is a lot you can get through a whole lot of people sure it still can be a concern of backing up um that whole flow yes uh if one vehicle with a large order um gets hemed up sure
I mean again I'll say it's very rare we even run into the issue but if we were we could always have another employee go out with the food and make sure that they're telling traffic hey hold on we're just this person's backing up and and moving through but most of our most
of our customers they're pretty well educated especially at this location that they know that when they get their stuff if they have a big order they got to place that ahead of time we tell them to coffee tastes better when it's free place place that on the app you'll get rewards points there's a lot of incentives so that we have heads up
notice so we don't get caught up in those situations and Nick just really quick in your experience and even in your family's experience how frequently does that happen where there's a situation where someone would need to be assisted out of the line uh once in the
last five years it was a freak thing tow truck got in there they towed it out we were back operating within 10 so that was a vehicle that broke down uh yes how about a large order situation where your team just can't process it quick enough is that um not not very often I mean
even in a in a nightmare scenario in our peak hour We're solving a transaction if it's if there's a really buildup three 3 minutes and 30 seconds would be our disastrous order we would be sitting with the manager and the team later at a point in the day saying what what happened with this and we would go
through it so obviously to prevent that from happening again got it thank you the other question both both lanes will accomodate online yes yeah yeah both lanes both lanes any other board members yes Mr chairman
um how many employees do you have inside at a given time so at our at our peak hour from that 7 to 9: Monday through Friday or that 10 to 12 period Saturday Sunday it'd be 6 6 in in from what time
to what time from 7 to 9: Monday through Friday uh 10: to 12 Saturday Sunday six employees in the entire day they stay there six employees or they come that they have different hours no so they're so so they obviously we build the schedule out based on when when Peak is
so during that Peak we would have six but after that it could flow to anywhere from 5 4 to even two employees late at night but we we're always rebalancing based on what we see and that's kind of our edge up on our bigger competitors as
well we're we're local we're in the area so if I talk to my guys every day and they'll tell me Nick we're having some time adjustments because I see time reports reports based on five different day parts so we see that we we adjust but dur Peak it would be six especially in this location because we won't be
serving inside guests which all of our other drive-throughs now serve walk-in guests they'll be able to even focus more with less employees okay um my other question is um do you guys get you said you get your your delivery once a week with do you
guys get delivery every day with donuts and product or is that all made on in we do get we do get doughnut delivery which comes in uh early in the morning and it's a much much smaller truck it's not a going to be a delivery issue okay and how in your Edison location how is um you know loading and
unloading working for you guys it it's working well I we haven't had any big issues they usually come with two guys and and because we have that two-lane optionality it hasn't affected our performance they don't come during Peak where the ndcp is owned by franchises so
they understand what we go through so they know not to give us headaches cuz it's run by guys who also run stores so it's the same scenario they have to park on one L when uh yes similar scenario okay thank you any other board questions yes Mr
Johnson you said you got a two and a half minutes from the time they order till they pick up yeah are there two employees on the windows and prep Cooks in the back are you doing fresh food or is it microwaved or how are you getting it out how do you get breakfast sandwiches out in 2 and A2 minutes is my
question it's mostly mostly frozen food and we bake we bake early in the morning so not at this location well oh not at this location we don't B not Donuts we bake like breads like Bagels Donuts are are delivered in but we bake breads in
early in the morning we're very prepared we have hot holding for when we turbo Chef frozen food which is super powerered by Nick explain what a turbo Chef is that's is that a microwave essentially yes yes very restaurant industrial sized microwav
yes any other board questions hearing none are there any members of the public that would like to question Mr deor testimony hearing none counselor thank you chairman thank you Nick all right thank you guys so much our uh next
witness is our traffic engineer uh Nick fesi can I ask the witness to swear or affirm that the testimony you provide this evening is the truth and the whole truth I do and for the record State and spell your name with your affiliation Nicholas ver v r d
r I'm a principal at Dynamic traffic uh Nick for the public and the board can you provide your education a of expertise and the licenses you hold yes I have a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Ruckers University 1990 I'm a licensed professional engineer in
the state of New Jersey uh um traffic engineering is my specialty and you've been accepted by planning and zoning boards as an this one a number of times as well as 250 other boards thank you we'll accept this contential thank you chairman um Nick we've had uh extensive
testimony regarding the the the drive-thru both from Mr scinet engineering um as well as the operator Mr diamore can you just speak to the work that you and the traffic team at your company put into this design
working with Mr scinet and touch on as well your interactions with both the Township Police Department and the county of Union to get to this point yes so um so I've been on this property since 2020 so we did our first traffic counts in
2020 uh another set of counts in 2023 and then we did some newer counts the latest On's October 24 we just want to make sure we you know understood the traffic I'm very familiar with the area I only grew up a few miles from this location um so I'm very familiar with
this intersection uh the issues at this intersection that currently exists at the intersection um and this site in particular as I said I've been on this site for a long time so what we did first years ago we had some initial meetings with the county just to discuss
the layout where the driveway should be Etc um as you already heard from Mr scapin uh as we got through the county approval process um we had almost exactly this plan uh with the minor
change where they were permitting the left turn Ingress um at that same time we were also having discussions with the police department they had some concerns with the left turn Ingress so we agreed to eliminate the left turn ESS it it's a
simple change because um if you're waiting to make the left turn into that driveway you can just make the left turn at the traffic signal there's a green arrow there you can make the left onto Tucker and then turn into the driveway uh so it works rather well um the the parking along
Tucker we had uh a discussion with the county uh just so you're familiar again I'm I'm working off of the site plan exhibit um which I don't remember the exhibit number n 10 A10 maybe 11 the rendered site plan
is exhibit A10 A10 um so again North is to the right uh Five Points is to the right on the exhibit Tucker along the top so if you look at the four parking spaces there's one to the south of the driveway and three to the north essentially that parking is already
permitted there it's just not formalized with the striping parking is prohibited on the west side of Tucker Avenue uh so Tucker Avenue it kind of varies in with it's narrow up at Five Points in order to channelize the intersection then it
widens out so when you're in the area of the um the first parking spaces the roadway is uh between 30 and 35 ft wide through here it's only one lane in that area so it's we're using a 8 foot uh
Lane for the parking so that leaves over 20 ft of width to travel past as you get to the last parking stall on the south we have 8T stall a 12T lane and then 15 plus on the other lane uh so that's
essentially remaining as existing uh and we'll be able to uh allow four vehicles to park uh in that location there's also some changes to some signage um if you're all familiar the existing driveway sits down near Freeman
Circle opposite the intersection is a oneway sign and a no no right turn sign we will just relocate that to the new driveway location there are also um uh it's wrong way signs um we're
going to be uh likely moving those again to pass our driveway so someone doesn't mistakenly make the right so they'll have two signs across the street one on the driveway two signs on the road on Tucker so someone doesn't make a mistake and make it right Dunkin Donuts
customers they're I'm sure it's 90 plus% are the same people all the time coming to the site so they're going to be very familiar they're the same people that were coming here before so we don't anticipate there being much of a difference um in our counts that we did
in the existing um we had to be um we had to really pay attention because not everyone parked on site that came some parked on Tucker some walked so we had mult M People stationed to see who was walking in versus who parked so we have
all those numbers in our report um it was you know a percentage of them were walking or parking on Tucker now you're not going to have any of that so now everyone's going to be in their car we anticipated we anticipated about 80 customers in that peak hour in the
morning uh if you look at the drive-thru uh uh Nicholas talked about the 2 and A2 minutes um even utilizing a conservative three cuz it divides into 60 a lot easier um 60 minutes if it took 3 minutes to get from the order board to
leave the site there are seven vehicles in between that point so every 3 minutes you're going to get seven vehicles through well there's 20 of those periods in 60 minutes so you could in theory get um
10 60 vehicles through we only have 80 that we anticipate that are coming there now um we also did count at a number of Dunkin Donuts facilities there's some data in our report uh those are uh Eaton Town Hope Road Ocean Township Route 35
North uh Keyport uh Route 35 North those are pretty busy sites and we also picked the Garden State uh Parkway Northbound as well um for our report then we went out uh because since we did all of that
this operator opened in Edison on on Inman Avenue and we looked there and it was similar queuing at that location at peak times the maximum the most cars we ever saw 11 or 12 vehicles in the stack so all of those stores except for Edison
are only single Lane drive-throughs so this the double lane drive-thru with the uh separate pay and pickup window processes about 25% faster than a single Lane drive-thru so when we're seeing 11 or 12 you know we're not going to even
see 11 or 12 likely in this location and this facility this drive-thru is designed to accommodate 16 according to the plan 16 yes which is four or five above what you're observing in in real time okay a as you heard State ofth art
mentioned before this drive-thru is the state-ofthe-art of Dunkin Donuts we we constantly ourselves as well as this applicant talk with Dunkin Donuts talk about their new initiatives give them feedback of all the data we send our
data to them and we share all of that um this actually has more our typical stores we're usually only doing about a 12 car stack uh in on the Boulevard in Kenworth which just got approved we had a 12C car stack in that one so uh this
one's more than more than that one's providing and you're confident based on your observations your analysis and you know your visual analysis of these different sites and this design that your colleagues prepared that there will be no queuing issues that we could back up onto the roadways no this is this is
the Cadillac of drive-throughs and Nick could you speak to the um some of the access points and what your what you've observed and what your opinion is as to I want to compare what's out there today uh you know it's
there's parking there's people going in and out of different driveways that versus keeping everybody moving in One Direction in their vehicle do you have an opinion we have a planner who's going to talk about safety and and planning justifications but as a traffic engineer when you're designing these
sites and keeping Vehicles people in their vehicles versus what you're seeing out there today you have an opinion how that's going to work yeah so I I'll talk about the existing driveways and the proposed and what I like better about the proposed um so let's start at Tucker
um our driveway now is about mid block on Tucker between Freeman Circle and and uh Five Points so that's a good thing because at some peak times the cues can back up and then can extend on to uh Tucker for people that are coming down
making the left turn into there uh so what what this uh does is it moves the driveway away from any of that queue also uh the same thing happens on Chestnut uh so in this plan you're only permitted to make a right turn in or a
right turnout from the driveway in the existing it's very complicated there are some conflicting signs and some things at that driveway there's a very small sign that says the driveway is exit only but there's nothing that tells people they can't make a right
turn in plenty of people make a right turn in we did the traffic counts there's no reason not to permit right turns in what there also is is there's a s so the driveway sits it's wide enough for two-way traffic it sits down here near the Stop Bar
at the start of that driveway there's a sign that says stop here on red so what happens is the people that obey it some go in front of the driveway anyway but that that shortens the queue so what
happens is instead of being able to stack from the Stop Bar back it actually lengthens the queue maybe is what I want to say it starts the queue two vehicles further to the north so the queue backs up almost to Five Points um we counted
seven vehicles at the peak time during our surveys now pushing that two vehicles forward actually helps that location and helps the traffic in the southbound Direction the heavier volume is in the Northbound southbound gets split between Tucker and Chestnut if
you're going south but everyone coming north has to drive on Chestnut to get the Five Points so all the traffic on Tucker North comes down through Freeman Circle double left turn Lanes they make the left turn out and then feed the three lanes at the intersection um in
the southbound direction there's two separate uh Tucker actually has heavier traffic volume in the southbound Direction uh during the morning peak hour uh which is interesting to me um than Chestnut um but that's a good thing so it splits so in the morning the
traffic is lighter traffic is heaviest in the evening peak hour but traffic for this facility is heaviest in the morning so it's complimentary that the Dunkin Donuts so it isn't creating additional traffic on top of the peak time it has traffic during the time when there's not
as much volume as there is in some of the other peak hours uh so we've done a nice job in actually moving the driveways closer to the to Five Points and having them be only right turn and right turnout with all the proper signage and striping Etc uh is going to
be a benefit to how the existing site operates versus how this future site and I'm assuming those benefits that you just described were the reason and the justification of why the counties Endor this design versus another design or something that would have been out there currently absolutely yes and when you're
looking at a site that's drive-through only um from a traffic perspective uh keeping that one flow in One Direction versus uh parking on a tighter site um do you have an opinion those movements of you know quick in and outs and out of
parking spaces versus you know a counterclockwise flow everybody's moving at a similar Pace yeah so I mean this works real nice you're not really going to have people pulling in and out of these parking spaces on the site so you're not going to have much maneuvering in the backup Direction on
the existing site you're all familiar all the parking sits down here at the South End there's actually a small couple parking spaces that are near the front door that people pull in there people are coming out of the front door they're backing up in front of the front door it's not the greatest situation
there's a lot pedestrian and vehicle interaction there's no pedestrian and vehicle interaction on this site great and also again Mr scinet talked about delivery vehicles refuse accessing the site emergency vehicles uh you're
comfortable that this this design will uh allow those movements to uh occur without any conflict yeah for as far as emergency vehicles U you could maybe an ambulance might come on the site or a police uh any fire they'll just fight that from the street it's a very small
site so they'll Park along along Tucker or Chestnut uh as far as trash we have a a turning template and our vehicle that we show for the trash actually does almost exactly what we plan for our delivery vehicle to do is pull into that
area where the vehicles 13 and 15 are park in that location it's wide enough to uh to stop there safely uh as you heard the operator mentioned there are two people
in the truck so what we like to do is do the backing maneuver after the delivery delivery excuse me uh so they pull in forward Park do all of the activity of emptying the truck then one of the
delivery persons gets into the driver's seat the other one if needed if it happens to be 113 11:00 in the morning when there're still still some activity on the site um that one can sit and help direct the the vehicle to exit uh and
it's as Mr scapanus mentioned it's well located because you can see the truck from either driveway location it's not tucked behind the building where they're pulling out behind the building so um there's not a lot of High Landscaping or any the trash enclosure or any of that
nothing's blocking the the truck on the site so it'll be very apparent that the truck is there and it's it's making that maneuver thank you Mr vesi chairman I have nothing further on Direct are there any board members that would like to question the witness I do have a a
question um and it's concerning the southernmost um parking stall on Tucker a um it's on the left appears to be adjacent to the right turn lane going to a Freeman uh circle now they want to go
south on Tucker which is through was there any concern or looking at any weaving problems that they may have in in going south and traffic is trying to make left I don't have a concern the good part of that stall is you pull in forward and
you pull out forward if there were multiple stalls where someone had to pull forward and back up and then there was a car parked right behind them and maybe they couldn't see they're sitting there all by themselves they have a very clear line of sight so I don't have a concern with with that location any other board
members Mr Johnson yes um coming out of your when you pay and going on to Chestnut Street yes in your traffic survey you admitted that you saw people making illegal left turns
correct is there something that will help prevent that that since the concrete barrier that's shown here is not going to be allowed doe the county said you can't put it there yeah so the the county design standards does not permit that Island
um for the county the importance to them is safe pedestrian circulation pass so the way this is designed the sidewalk stays flush and there's just a little apron
you don't have handicap ramps that come down to a driveway the county wants to prioritize the pedestrians so that's the way this is designed um and as far as the vehicle in this location it's more likely to discourage
someone from trying to make a left out because the queue is backed up to that location most of the time periods if you're trying to make a left out of the driveway where it is in the existing it's twice as far from the intersection so there's a lot of times where you're sitting there and you're
like oh I can pull out of here and you do you feel like your traffic if the cars are stacked in front of you traffic be back you might try to do it once then you'll just go out the other way and come around to the signal and and make a essentially 36 so you feel like the
traffic will be backed up from Five Points closer to the driveway so on the North side during almost every cycle of the signal the traffic backs up to the location of that driveway so it's actually a good thing that the traffic is backed up
and we've moved the drive so if you're familiar with the 7-Eleven right now the 7-Eleven driveway is kind of opposite the existing driveway so some people drive straight across because it says no left turn so they can technically go across we've gotten rid of that which is a good thing so now if you came out
of either site you can't get into the other site directly because the left turns are prohibited I didn't even bring that up before but that's a good point yes are there any other board questions hearing none are there any
members of the public that would like to question the testimony Mr veres has provided hearing none counselor thank you thank you Mr veres our Final witness is our planner Matthew Flynn I I ask the witness to swear or
affirm that the testimony provide this evening is the truth and halter I do and for the record State and spell your name with your affiliation Matthew Flynn Flynn with John McDona Associates thank you Mr Flynn for the benefit of the board and public your education area of expertise and the licenses you hold yeah
I have my master's degree in planning and public policy from Ruckers University I have my professional planner's license in the state of New Jersey as well as the aicp license which is the national licenser for planners I have testified before this board once or twice the board will accept Mr Flynn's
okay credentials thank you chairman uh Matt I know you have an exhibit uh you have a number of exhibits uh one exhibit but multiple sheets um before you give any testimony on that hopefully it's up there um that'll be marked
a12 I'm not seeing it there you go yeah thanks yeah so just to Dive Right In as was mentioned at the outset this is an improvement over an existing Dunkin Donuts facility really modernizing it bringing it up to speed with current
trends which as was stated is is that higher demand for the drive-thru as opposed to the dinein option um as we can see on my exhibit here which is a 10 12 82 um obviously we are in this Five Points intersection which the board is
aware is not the um easiest intersection for pedestrians to to cross I've been stuck in I think both of those uh traffic islands in the past um really this is an area that's more conducive to to driving to your destinations and we can see on the screen there that most of
these uh other facilities have large parking lots which really speaks to the fact that this is an area where people are driving not necessarily walking um like was stated this is a D1 use variance we're in the NC Zone where drive-throughs are not permitted if you
were to continue North up Chestnut it it's still NC zoning the neighborhood core zoning all the way until you get to the parkway so here I think we're looking at a lot that is pretty uh unique when you compare with a lot of those other Lots as you go north up
Chestnut which obviously is why we're here this evening this is a uh unique property that warrants a disc on um you know C circulation safety and general functionality of the property um I have testified before uh boards for numerous
applications like this for drive-throughs the typical concerns have been raised by the board at this point again in terms of circulation safety I think in both of those regards what we're proposing here is an improvement over the existing in terms of the driveways um as well as the fact Again
by making this um uh conducive to to drivers specific speically the variances we're seeking like I said a D1 use variance since drive-thru is not permitted in the zone we're also proposing um some C variances accessory structure side setback that's
the trash enclosure we're looking at 5.2 feet whereas we're uh required to have 10 ft existing we're actually looking at 1.5 ft so it is actually an improvement over the existing impervious coverage we're at 81.4% which is just over the
requirement of 80% % again that's another improvement over existing we're reducing impervious coverage down from uh over 90% the front yard parking again we're talking about that uh one space that's in front of the trash encloser trash
enclosure accessibility because of that space in front of the trash enclosure um the fact that we don't have a loading space and then fence height we're proposing 8 ft whereas we're required to have um up to 6 feet so really what I did for my planning analys
was I looked at the site itself I looked at the surrounding neighborhood I put together an exhibit here to uh to sort of share my findings in terms of what makes this site unique and U particularly suitable for the the application before us this evening and
Matt all of these photos were taken by your office in preparation for this uh presentation correct they were they were taken earlier today we flew a drone up and we got some nice aerial shots um I'll just go to sheet two here of exhibit 812 and I'll just Orient the board I know this is a pretty familiar
location um but again here we have uh Galloping Hill Road um off in the distance there we have Chestnut off to the left going up north um just moving along here just giving the board another view
of the um of the property again this is an abnormally shaped lot it is this triangular lot that comes to a point at Galloping Hill Road um and I think the next slide shows that where right now we do have this nice brick paaver uh
element that's at the tip of the of the site there along Galloping Hill which is to remain which I think is nice um one of the hardships of this application is obviously the lot shape if we look at that tip there it's really hard to get really anything in there building
parking or anything of that sort um which really is a challenge on this property getting getting something that works here did I go the wrong way um yeah the next sheet just um continues rotating that drone around
there I keep going to the wrong slide and here we get a nice view of Galloping Hill Road um we can see those those traffic islands that I mentioned again this is not an area that's conducive to to walkability um like might be more typical of some of these other Lots in the zone up north on
Chestnut and then finally just a simple aerial top down shot again just highlighting the fact that this is an abnormally shaped lot and I think that what we're doing here is an efficient uh we heard the architect and the engineer and the traffic expert of course talk about how this is the most efficient uh
site plan that we can that we really thought we could put forward for this site so in terms of the D1 use variance the essence of that test is site suitability again since it's a use variance what makes this site particularly suitable for for a drive-thru again this is a modernization
of an existing Dunkin Donuts this is a site that's not necessarily conducive to that pedestrian uh walkability that might be more typical of other properties in the zone um I pointed out the fact and we can see it on on sheet five here that there are other or sheet
seven sorry um that there are many other properties with large parking lots again signifying the fact that this is a an autoc Centric um intersection which I think the board is familiar with um also in terms of site suitability we don't have adjacency to any residential
of course beyond the bank which is on the right of this image here there are some residences uh along Chestnut and Tucker those residences are actually also in the NC zone so the zoning actually contemplates mixing residential and non-residential uh in this zone so I
think the intent really is not to insulate those residential uses from non-residential um and I'll just add that in the NC Zone condition Ally permitted are automobile service stations your gas station as well as repair garages um so both of those
elements have a a driving component on site that that is uh similar to a drive-thru in terms of the positive criteria the project benefits we look to the municipal land use law the purposes of zoning uh purpose a promotion of the
general welfare this is a beneficial land use the drive-thru and the fact that it serves in uh a convenient uh a convenience factor for uh people driving if there's inclement weather for example if we have elderly people people with a car full of children pets uh people with
disabilities that might not want to get out of their car uh this is a use that serves all all sorts of uh convenient aspects also like we just heard from our traffic expert the safety upgrades in terms of the the driveway uh configuration purpose G variety of uses
in appropriate locations again I fall back on the site suitability testimony this is a better zoning alternative than the existing drive-thru um which our uh operator testified is not necessarily um serving uh pedestrians as
much as as maybe the the parking here uh signifies purpose ey desirable visual environment again we have substantial Landscaping uh we're proposing a smaller building than what's out there today so decreasing building Mass uh keeping that nice brick paaver area along Galloping
Hill Road so uh Pres ering the streetcape in that regard um purpose M efficient use of land again this is as efficient as it gets uh we're not proposing any uh pedestrian uh Dy in so really we were able to maximize efficiency with the with the
drive-thru in terms of the negative criteria uh no substantial detriment to the public or to the Zone I think we addressed all of that in terms of safety efficiency circulation uh with the witnesses before me again this is a decrease in building Mass so from an
aesthetic standpoint I think this is not necessarily overdeveloping the site um and we just heard about those restricted movements that'll uh further enhance safety so really all said for that use variance If This Were a different lot I would have a totally different uh
planning conclusion for the use variants but the fact of the matter is here that we are looking at a lot that's right there at the fivepoint intersection um we're looking at an existing Dunkin Donuts that's been there for a long time we're looking at an operator that's been there for a long long time and knows his client base uh very well and knows how
to how to serve them uh in the best way possible um so with all of that I think the use variance is satisfied just to go into the sea relief I listed them out already I think we can look to the C1 hardship test uh most of this relief relates to the uh challenging conditions of the property
itself again it comes to a point at Galloping Hill Road we can't really uh utilize that portion of the property for much um and so I think that the in terms of the negative criteria uh this is all these variances are necessary to
effectuate the use itself we can also look to the C2 balancing test the application doesn't need to satisfy both but in this case it does the C2 and the C1 all those project benefits carry forth and in terms of uh negative impacts um this is actually eliminating
several non-compliant conditions um so with all that I think we can uh satisfy both the C1 the C2 test and of course that main variance with the the use variance um is met by virtue of site suitability um and all those project benefits that I just went through um I
can go through the design waivers quickly if you want Joe but that's pretty much what yeah I'd appreciate that yeah the design waivers again they talk about the parking setback and you've talked at length about this property is uniquely configured um I'm assuming that your testimony and you can
speak to it to to have parking that complies with setbacks that's not located in a front yard where you have three frontages like this creates a challenge and a hardship is that essentially of course yeah and I would say arguably we don't really require parking um by virtue of the testimony
that that we put on the record earlier um so really the parking that we're getting here is sort of an added I'll I'll say bonus or or benefit and then the other two design waivers parking space depth I think we testified to that um and then the fact
that we do have on street parking being proposed which again was Ed by the with with the county and in your professional opinion although the ordinance doesn't contemplate off-site parking the fact that these this area according to the testimony is de facto being used for that purpose currently for the existing
Duncan does that uh sway your opinion as to the appropriateness of granting that waiver I I believe it does yeah and again it's another benefit of of these site upgrades it's legitimizing something that's happening on the site now thank you Matt uh chairman I have
nothing further for the witness are there any board members that would like to question Mr Flynn hearing none are there any members of the public that would like to question the testimony that Mr Flynn has provided this evening hearing none is Mr Flynn your
last witness yes chairman are there any members of the public that would like to comment on this application hearing none thank you I'll be very brief uh just wanted to thank you uh the board members for your time and consideration this evening as youve heard this is an exciting application
that's been a long time in the making for this owner and operator who's been in Union Township for over 30 years um taking this facility to the next level as far as modernizing it and making it more efficient scaling back a building uh that you know essentially has become
uh I would say Antiquated as a good adjective for it um a lot of thought and time and effort have into this design the traffic engineer and the civil engineer over the last couple of years have been uh extensively working with the Township Police Department and the county of Union to not only make the
site function better but as you've heard from the traffic consultant make these driveways function better for the public um having those access points relocated um restricted as was discussed will not only make this site function better but also the public that's uh traveling
through this area um keeping everyone in their cars at a location like this instead of sort of the halfhazard parking that's occurring there today uh as noted by the traffic engineer is certainly a safety benefit um as you've heard this site with 16 Q uh spaces for
a drive-thru uh exceeds what's uh out there at most drive-throughs uh giving you some assurance that this will not have a negative impact from a traffic perspective um the applicant is you know looking to continue its successful business at this location adding the
drive-thru U will make them competitive with other businesses in the area uh for all the reasons that have been put forth before you this evening we would respectfully request that you approve the application um we would agree to uh address the remaining items in the review letters that haven't been uh
distinguished this evening by testimony so again thank you for your time and your consideration and we would respectfully requested the the board approve this application thanks thank you at this time I believe we can conference this Mr BNA would you like to
begin yes thank you Mr chairman I just want to say first off that all the experts uh testimony tonight were uh were very accurate to All Phases I feel the variance is Justified and the property is well suited for the
proposed use I think it's going to be a great site and I'm looking forward to visiting it when it's done I'm going to vote Yes Mr Johnson I also agree with my uh next door neighbor here i' also like to compliment the uh the owners for um
staying in town being in town for 25 years instead of selling out and moving on but wanting to modernize your facility uh especially since the county and the union Police Department have given Their Blessings I see no reason why we shouldn't agree with this and I will vote Yes Mr chairman Mr Miss Marts
thank you Mr chairman um after being in in Union for so long have you guys have been in business I can see how you guys to adapt to your customers um so after hearing all the testimony today I think this is a very well-designed site um for a site that is a little irregular um the
traffic study was one of my main concerns but it was after hearing my um all the testimony today I have been satisfied with all that so I will be voting yes as well Mr Graves although this is a very high volume traffic area I'm supportive
of the application because I feel that will not impact negatively on the traffic you vote Yes yes Mr mcneel thank you Mr chairman I I concur with my my colleagues um professionals
professionals did an outstanding job in defending this uh application um I did not notice any detrimental uh impacts by proving this this application and it actually imp proove the functionality of the site so
I intend to vote Yes as for myself the applicant really made vast improvements from the original plans uh the police and fire department have no problem with the proposed site or the traffic P patterns proposed uh
based on tonight's testimony I feel the applic improved and Justified both the positive and the negative criteria and the variances requested are Justified the improvements will really improve the site and the applicant's business as
well in closing all the witnesses did a fine job with their testimony every one of these did a great job and I wish you luck on the site and your new building looks great I too will vote Yes at this
time may I have a motion and a second to Grant the application Mr chairman I mooved that the board Grant the variant appal to this application and that council is directed to prepare a resolution consistent with the board's decision second a motion roll call please Mr bent
the Vaga yes M Martins yes Johnson yes Mr mcneel yes Mr Graves yes and Mr Champion yes thank you very much for your time and your consideration we appreciate the efforts and the collaboration with the township on this project thank you good
job March 5th I'll put it on for the board the passage of the resolution I'll send you a version thank you Mr panula Mr chairman there be no further business coming before the board I move that we adjourn second a motion all in
favor I opposed so moved