[Music] did you hear one oh good i'm glad I looked at that good evening everybody and welcome to this regular planning board meeting on March 27th 2025 madam Secretary can you please call roll
[Music] mrs parker mr kat here mr lily here mr mr kamudi present mr deal here
manager Sullivan's excused councilman Roman is excused mayor Tambboro here vice Chair Freshy here chairperson Pearson here and we have Dr gonzalez uh for our engineer tonight
we also have our foresters Greg Misara and I still my we also have our acting planning board secretary Kathleen Nish and we are also joined by our tree
experts this evening um which they'll they'll basically be helping us out on the Wedgewood Drive application we'll introduce you in a few minutes um anybody who's if if you are able can you please rise and join me for the
pledge i allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all madam Secretary can you read the Open
Public Meetings Act the notice requirements of the open public meeting act have been satisfied with respect to this meeting of the Verona Planning Board being held in person in the ballroom of the Verona Community Center the time and date of
this meeting were included in the annual meeting notice posted in the community center and sent to the official newspaper of the township the Verona Cedar Grove Times and the Star Ledger at least 48 hours preceding the start time of this meeting a public comment period
will be held in the order it is listed on the meeting agenda and instructions on how to comment will be provided at the appropriate time all meetings are recorded those wishing to speak during any public comment period should only provide their name and municipality
street addresses are not required please be advised that should a member of the public choose to state their street address it will not be redacted from the recording okay and so with that if anybody has any comments or
questions that are not related to anything on our agenda this evening please come to the mic and state your name and your township and seeing none I will close public general public participation
um everybody has proceeded we're moving on to our our meeting minutes everybody has received sorry a copy of the meeting minutes from February 27th 2024 um besides the amendment to add Mr
lily to the present list in the beginning are there any other corrections or has anybody anything to add i move them as corrected the mayor moves
can I find a second to move these mini minutes i'll second were you I wasn't here but I'll second the motion can we do that no no i'll second okay u Mr lily seconds uh
all members that were present at the meeting I I I Are there any abstensions we have two abstensions okay and are there any nazs okay the minutes
passed thank you um next thing uh we have a consistency determination an amendment to chapter 150 which is our zoning code section 7.5 and section 7.13
um Madame Secretary can you please introduce the uh how this came to you and why we're going to be reviewing this and making a recommendation to the council to amend our zoning
code we've had quite a few inground pools come in um with the filtration systems being in various spots on the lots um after speaking with our electrical inspector and looking at some
of the codes in the National Electric Code um their code states that for an inground pool the filtration equipment has to be a minimum of 6 ft from the side of the pool so we were saying that it had to be
um within 5 ft of the pool because we were determining that it was mechanical equipment so what we need to do is first state that the pool equipment is not considered mechanical equipment where it cannot be within 5 ft of the pool wall
um but it also cannot be within the required sideyard or rear yard setback and then the second part of it is just um when you come to permanent pools and portable pools it's the same thing it's just stating exactly where the
filtration equipment can be for an above ground pool they are actually have to be closer to the pool than 6 ft on those we need to go with the specification from the manufacturer um but just also state
that they cannot be within the rear or sideyard setbacks um are there any questions about the general provisions that are being asked to be tweaked the only suggestion that I have is to
change the language under section 7.13 A and C to instead of required minimum yard requirement sorry to um required minimum side and rear yard
setback which is where that equipment cannot go um I think it's a little more clear when you say the side and the rear yard setback than the minimum yard requirement does anybody disagree with that can can we just just so we can
picture this just to make sure that it's practical whatever we're proposing knowing that Verona yards tend to be really small so can you just walk me through like what how this is going to look in somebody's small property so
if you put first of all your pool has to be 10 feet from the rear yard setback right okay so if you put your pool 10 feet from the year the rear yard setback you have to put the equipment no
wherever the direction is it cannot be more than six it can't be as close as six feet it has to be at least 6 feet away and that's a safety requirement okay so however you position your pool in your yard there has to be an area
that you plan for for the filtration equipment etc and it can be on the property line like up to the property line no it cannot be in the sideyard setback which is usually 5 ft the rear yard setback which is usually 10 10 so
it can't be in that 10 foot the last 10 feet of your yard and it can't be so you need to have at least or you have to go for a variance right to the zoning you would need to have at least how many feet from your backyard border 10 ft
plus no it could be 1 foot inside of a 10ft yard setback that the pool equipment could be almost on the the the rear yard setback it can abut it but it can't be within it the the filtration equipment is is
that correct well just to clarify I think this is what you meant um and I think you said it but but you have the setback you cannot violate the setback it could be on the setback right but can't violate it or you get a variance right right i understand there's the 10
ft and then there's the then there's the distance from the pool itself right that that the pump has to be that's six feet 16 total feet that's what I'm getting right but it's not all contiguous because the pool equipment could be on
the side of the pool not in the rear of the pool it could be in front of the pool closer to the house like where your air conditioning unit might be it doesn't necessarily have to go beyond the pool it goes wherever it is
probably practical and fits but it cannot be within the side or the rear yard setbacks and it must be six feet away from the wall of the pool or as she stated the manufacturer's requirements for above ground above ground right so
um actually we've had quite a few pools at the board of adjustment where they've needed a variance to have the equipment further away than the way we were interpreting our ordinance um where they want it 30 feet away or 20 feet away or
they want it hidden a little more for an ingground pool where when we term it mechanical equipment and we have go by that ordinance that it had to be within 5 ft of the pool which is what they considered to be more of an and the board of adjustment has been granting these variances depending depending on
where they were there have been quite a few granted yes and some have been denied yeah it It it again dependent upon that application any complaints you know on any of these
variances from other neighbors any complaints from neighbors as a result of these variants that we know of not as far as to pull equipment no okay not that I have gotten and and I guess to the engineers and maybe legal um like like
one if I were to open up West Col or any other uh or you know ordinance like is this customary that others you know might be refining it this way and and are the engineers satisfied with these amendments it's UCCC right
nec electric code it's National Electric National Electric Code they have So that's the reason for it they're article 68ource okay alvaro do you have any knowledge about
No okay not his wheelhouse yeah yeah no that's fine how's it look to you you like it you know the the verbiage here does sorry I'm just asking okay if it's reasonable does anybody have any further questions
regarding these recommended changes to the zoning code that we will ask the um town council to consider adoption for adoption any objections so do we vote on
sending this memo or well first we have toote vote on whether okay whether the proposed ordinance is consistent with the master plan after we decide that it is or it isn't then we can which we've
already done we can then um agree to make recommendations to the proposed ordinance all right it's consistent so I mean it's just a matter first we have to make make sure that we believe it's consistent with the master plan right so
I would say that in its pre-existing condition because it was potentially dangerous on the electrical level that it wouldn't be consistent and that this tweak would bring it into consistency for
safety life and all that good stuff does anybody have any the same thing like you know this is you know this is better any additional comments on that does that work so can
we state that for the record Mr misara um I can state whatever you want i I I don't know what do you recommend well I don't know i don't recommend that we go back and and um um have an opinion on the previous
version of this ordinance i think um we are charged with seeing with deciding whether their proposed ordinance is consistent with the master plan okay and that's what I would leave it to okay then um do we make a motion yes okay so
I will make a motion finding the edits with the No the motion you make the motion the motion as if No I can't make the motion you can write it the resolution the the ordinance which was introduced on first
reading was provided to us to make a determination on whether the ordinance is consistent with the master plan okay the then if you decide whether it's consistent or not consistent we're talking about this first of all we're
seeing this little portion of an ordinance um which has been sent to us with recommendations from the zoning code official to bring it into compliance i just want to be clear we're seeing two sections of code we're not seeing an
entire ordinance this is a consistency determination that means it came from the council the council No it did not no it did not this would be the first I was told to do the introduction here first so it has not gone to council
that's not how it works okay under um I think it's section 64 of the land use code of the municipal land use code the planning board is given 45 days after first
reading okay and then it comes to us and then we recommend now if if the council is requesting comments without having passed the ordinance that's fine but then this is not a consistency determination this is basically a new business a new business that we were
asked to review um that ordinance section and and um present improvements or criticisms all right so we're a little out of order on our agenda but this has been considered new business out of order it
is not a consistency determination correct can we please make the recommendations sure to the council for adoption and how do we absolutely that it just be that correspondence from the planning board that the planning board has considered the verbiage in this
ordinance and we believe that the that the language could be improved to bring it into compliance so with that NEC Exactly then they would then the governing body would introduce the ordinance on first reading send it back to us for a consist consistency
determination and then we go back okay so we can't also throw in that we also think it's consistent i think that you're violating you're not violating the save some time violating the technical um compliance of the statute
so we're just sending a simple memo to the council we need not vote on that or should we take a vote well a voice it's not really an action but you can take a voice vote it can't hurt um I guess it might be an on second thought
it might be an action so okay so I'm making a motion to find the introduced language uh except for the change of the terminology required minimum yard requirement be changed to required
minimum side and uh rear yard setbacks in both 7.13 A and C um to make this recommendation to the Verona Town Council for adoption into our zoning code can I get a second
second mr katsaf seconds um do we need voice vote or wish all members that agree i anyone disagree we have a unanimous vote
okay that was my bad i just put it there yeah okay um chair always has discretion to change the agenda all right um moving on to resolutions uh we are
resolution 256 appointing um Kathleen Meech as our acting planning board secretary for the interim has everybody read that can I get a motion to appoint
Kathleen motion mr fresky makes the motion can I get a second second um Doc makes the second uh all members I everybody present votes I
resolution 25 202507 memorialization of resolution 202507 application it should be uh is it 202401 or
202501 that was my probably mistake 202501 60 Pmpton Avenue block 807 lot 16 granting approval for expansion of a total of 5,07 square ft of medical use restricted
for physical therapist use with conditions madam Chair I'd just like to say I apologize to the board for getting this only um today um I didn't get the minutes until late last week and I think everyone on the board um should if you
don't have an idea already should realize what a wonderful job Kathleen is doing she's doing the job of two people um I'm getting emails from Kathleen at 8:30 at night on Sunday afternoon uh and things like that so um you know I unfortunately didn't have a chance this
week to get it done earlier um but I think she sent them you know Friday night or Saturday or whatever but uh I appreciate the the work that she's doing and the effort that she's making i can't tell you all enough um how much work that she puts into it and how much um
she cares about her job so thank you Kathleen thank you Mr msara and thank you Kathleen um has everybody had a chance to review the resolution um are there any questions
or I think it's very well [Laughter] written and very clear and concise um all right well if there are no comments or questions on this can I
please get a motion to pass this res this memorialization so moved the mayor makes a motion can I get a second second mr lily seconds and a voice vote please i
I I abstain well I mean we're doing a roll call we should do a roll call no I meant a roll call my bad i really apologize mr kamudi is not eligible and Mr katz is not eligible mr lily yes
mr who is it mr deal yes mayor Tim Borl yes vice Chair Fresh yes Chair Pearson yes the motion passes um what else do we have on okay
um so uh by way of a brief subcommittee update we did meet last month we are waiting apparently we got about 30 pages of data some of which I think needs to be checked in terms of
its accuracy for what's built in Verona but that's apparently debatable and I mean that uh quite literally um whatever the case we are supposedly waiting for some plans to
come forth which we don't have and um we're supposed to meet next Wednesday at 400 p.m via Zoom and I'm going to rely upon um our professionals to decide whether
the meeting is too soon but I will say this we have to adopt that section of the master plan by June 30th and I'm getting a little bit nervous and not happy about the length of time
that's passing um Mr msara how long do we have to notice for the adoption of a an element of our master plan i I believe the notice requirements are the same it's just um there is a super notice requirement with regard to
surrounding municipalities um but I believe it's still 10 days i'm not I mean I obviously will look but Okay i I am just getting I think it's 10 days published twice i think 20 days right correct okay 10 days and 10 days
right so I am getting a little nervous about how it's getting away from us and we just really I I'm pedal to the metal i'm kind of writing our planner probably too much more than he
likes I'm sure but anyway uh we'll keep you posted i don't really have that much information for you that's a note on that on our planner um just note that Fran Riner is no longer working with DMR oh I did not know that so I just got that notice so yes sir interesting okay
okay um and he was not our our the person in charge of the master plan but um but he was the principal that we were working with but yes Dan Halvin has been doing the Yeah
okay all right um moving along uh to new business um Mr msara can you address uh the extension of time request from Verona Sunset renewal and is there any representative here for them this
evening no um I don't believe so mr um or submitted a I saw the letter quite detailed letter um to um the board requesting that their approvals be extended um I believe their approvals expire in September um there have been
some problems that the Mr ort's uh client um suggests are beyond their control and based on what I know um those problems um are a result of circumstances beyond their control um
Verona had represented to the applicant that there was water capacity to service the development and Verona then subsequently for other reasons um stopped or shut off the wells that helped provide that provided uh much of
the water to Verona and is now contracting out to Pacific Valley to Pic Valley so that caused a major delay and as of now at least as of last week when I spoke to Mr horth um there have been
uh no permits granted yet by DP um the application um has the application for water connection has been with D for 8 months so they're not anticipating getting um what they need within the next couple months um even if they did
because the uh property is currently occupied by the school they have to be um cognizant of the um schedule of the school as we know it's a special needs school and it would either have to they would either have to close in the beginning of the school year or in a
January so practically speaking as well as legally speaking um they need the uh they need the extension so couple of questions is this extension based
on it's based on basically two things it seems that you're saying number one that the water service is not connected yet at least in both Verona wells does that curtail them is or has that curtailed
them from testing pressure doing the pressure checks that they needed to to do in order to comply with our conditions of approval no I I don't think so maybe uh Dr gonzalez can elaborate but I'm sure he doesn't memorize that's Well that's I mean and
I'm not an engineer so but that's the the predicate was that there had to be water service and there was no water service so then DP got involved because there would be new connections so the DP
has been sluggish in their response yes and Okay so we granted this approval in the fall of 2023 can you at least tell me how long a permit is supposed to go for is it a two-year permit it's a two-year that's
why it's not a It's the approval would be for two years and then the extension protected the extension would be for one year okay so this is an extension for one year does anybody else I just want to just make sure put Mr orth that that it was a one year not a two yeah where
is I believe under under the uh for some reason under the uh MLUL there are situations where extensions can be for two years um honestly I I didn't
confirm um I believe Mr uh orth was only looking for one year and that's why I didn't look for the two-year extension uh I believe it was one year on the memo yeah that's what Right okay did you saw one year in the letter from Mr orth can
you date that that was sent to us because I'm looking in my emails february 26 2025 no no no no the date that Kathleen sent it to us i know you don't know that it would have been last week one year
extens one year yeah right thank you very much it's written in his first paragraph and and those things are usually granted when circumstances are beyond Oh I mean my recommendation to the board would certainly be to grant the extension in
this situation i understand and what if we didn't um we get they arguably you know there would be if if I quite honestly would represent the applicant I would say that our determination was arbitrary capriccious or unreasonable
given the circumstances that have been laid out okay is this a motion to grant yes it's for for one year from the uh from additional year from March 28 no it'll be a year from September 28th mr worth
has kind of got ahead of the ahead of the ball here that'll be right so he has a year and a half basically from now it would be until it will be till September 28th 2026 okay so um I am looking for a motion to grant
what is the name of their um well development um Verona Sunset Urban Renewal LLC Verona Sunset Urban Renewal LLC a one-year permit extension um which would go into effect September
28th okay is that correct it is not a it is not a permit extension they're waiting for it is extension of the time for from which they were approved it's a protection against the um municipality
taking any action that would impact their application so it's preserved for another year can you can you um condense the verbiage so that we have a clean motion
[Music] condensive that that the uh the final approval of the site plan is is um the the the applicant's time to act in accordance with the final approval of
the site site plan is extended from September 28th 2025 to September 28 um 2026 pursuant to NJ455D-52 did you get that
okay can I get a motion for that can I make a motion to approve the extension for one year mr katzaf makes the motion does anybody want to give us a second second docs uh roll call yes roll call
vote please and you'll drop that up and send that right over to Mr kat yes mr lily yes mr kimmood yes mr deal yes mayor Timborro yes vice Chair
yes chair Pearson yes the motion passes and um Mr msar will strap that up and we are now going to um bring the applicant up we are now going to hear
planning bird application 2025 02 one wedge with drive block 1712 lot one application hearing for tree removal of uh approximately 43 trees even though that is not exactly accurate
madam Chair I think it would be appropriate at this time to y u just introduce who u the board has retained to represent the board in in this application yes so uh joining us this evening is Rich Wallowitz he is from
Rich View Consulting rich View Consulting and his coworker and partner My name is Tom Pertell tom Pertell yes and um Mr wallowitz is a
forester and uh an LTE and probably an arborist and a whole bunch of other Well let's ask let's find out well I I'm positive about that well you should probably uh Well okay are you also an arborist i I am an arborist i'm a IA
certified arborist a New Jersey licensed tree expert i am a New Jersey approved forester and um have starting my 50th year in forestry and aboriculture which encompasses utility work municipal work
and now private consulting and Mr patell I am also a licensed tree expert for the state of New Jersey i currently with Rich uh help and manage uh several towns on the Bloomfield Avenue corridor Montlair and Bloomfield
specifically as part-time um consulting arborists for them and was involved and asked by Rich to help moderate the inspection of the uh property that we're going to be discussing so we had a second set of eyes thank you so much look
Madam Chair no I'm recus recusing myself from this um um section okay do I need to um leave the desk you know you need to leave the desk yes thank you just the desk but not the room yes okay sorry about that
further clarification as a resident may I ask questions if uh that happens you are allowed but it's certainly not recommended very good thank you okay um anything else no okay you have a mic good evening press that
button often because if three people speak yours turns off just understood can everybody hear me okay thank you thank you all for having us tonight excuse me allergies my name is Dan Hankl of
Hanklaw my office is council to the applicant Wedgewood Gardens Condominium Association we're here tonight with respect to a tree replacement project that's being done in connection with the road paving project uh the association isn't looking just to take down these
trees just because they had nothing to do uh it's a necessary part of repaving the roads so we're here tonight with our proposed expert Mr ben Heler um he's a licensed landscape architect uh and if the board would allow Mr heler to profer
his credentials right now okay so can you please come up to this microphone next to your attorney and um Mr heler can you raise your right hand please do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is
the truth i do you state your name and business address uh for the record uh Ben Heler of Root Landscape Architecture 105 Deep Road Mendum New Jersey thank you can you also get in a little closer when
you're speaking better yeah yeah can you repeat your the name of your firm root landscape architecture is in root r O G correct um I just quickly uh I've
testified before many boards before uh most recently in Summit Closter Frankfurt Township Washington Township Mendum Township oh no men not Township a few others for uh I'm a licensed landscape architect in the state of New Jersey New York and Connecticut uh
graduate of Ruckers University uh quite a while ago and I've been licensed since 2017 my license is in good standing the state of New Jersey Oh and wait before you do that former chairman of the planning board of West Orange so there we go
um yeah does anybody have any questions do we accept that you are a landscape architect i am not here to testify as an LTE i'm here to testify as a landscape architect yes um I have no issues does anybody Okay thank you exactly madam Chair before we
start I was just reminded that I did not uh put on the record that the application was deemed complete notice was uh proper and we have jurisdiction thank you thank you thank you yes with that I'm going to get into the little presentation if that's okay with
everyone thank you thank you there's a microphone up there that you may use i'll get up there in a sec thank you chairperson so um before we start um our application um before you tonight uh as was mentioned is in connection with a
road um redo we're looking to resurface the roads um as as often um trees have a tendency of when they're planted too close to the roads they they could they could uh have a negative impact and vice versa the road can have a negative impact on the tree nevertheless I'm not
here to talk about the actual trees themselves we did have a licensed tree expert uh Bartlett Associates uh our licensed tree expert is not here tonight he prepared um the list and the removals plan that is uh in conjunction with the
plans happy to provide that report as part of this however um before we kind of get into our plan it was a misread on our end in terms of the ordinance we recognize that the trees that were deemed on our plan as poor still require
replacement we recognize that the trees that were listed as fair require replacement and we recognize the trees that were listed as good by our licensed tree expert qualified as by our licensed tree expert also require replacement so just to unpack that and uh we do
recognize that mistake on our end we also are in receipt of the um letter from the environmental commission as well as rich view consulting um and take no exception to to the requirements as laid out and
stipulated by both of those letters i think you also received um letters from the ver shade tree commission and Boswell engineering correct okay correct and I think that they all were
relatively close is the nice in agreement with slight differentiation correct um we recognize the difference um in the conditional approval but again I'm not here to I'm not here to talk about the conditions of the trees that's not my that's not my role my role as a landscape architect is to replant the
trees um so therefore we are fine defaulting to um either the rich view consulting or the environmental commission uh lists they are they do vary one if you add up the amount of trees that are required to be replaced
comes to I believe 69 the other actually comes to 103 well sir I'm going to have to stop you there because when you look at the DPM of the tree the reality of the DPM of the trees
[Music] that you guys listed versus the DPM of the trees that Verona's Forester listed there's a huge differential there's a lot of different there's I mean I can go through the list i
actually made a new spreadsheet because that's my thing i did the same i'm I'm a numbers person you have multiple trees that are over 24 that you have listed at 17 right which would require even further
replacements correct we're we're fine with the rich view consulting which I added up to tell me if I'm off but I added those up and it came to 69 total replacements based on the caliper that wait based on the 69 one based on the
caliper if unless I'm unless I've missed but you heard 103 and you've just reduced it to 69 if you add the rich view consulting numbers up based on the calipers listed on this list I actually come up with 108 when I take rich views so that's fine we're we're fine with
that number if that's what then that's a mistake on adding purely adding but if you look at the environmental that's 103 103 that was before we received rich views fine we're happy we're happy with the rich view consulting numbers
okay before you go into replacing trees that you expect to be approved to be removed I think we need to address the removal process before you talk about what you want to do once those trees are removed i think
our we'd like to ask our forester a few questions about Yeah I'd like to I'll finish the present replacing trees that may may not need to be removed i don't know that we're here to talk
about whether or not the trees need to be removed based on the road work i think we're here to say that these are the trees that we are removing that that is not the way it works i'm sorry but isn't isn't an application a plan and isn't the plan then heard
it that the planning board is able to make determinations in terms of removal of trees especially when they're not exactly in the way of building plans not
all of those trees are in the way of building plans not all of them are going to be destroyed because you want to redo a curb line because many of them are not in the in the way of a curb line so I am
going to be a little bit I am going to assert our ordinance that I I do I'm sure that you've read yes that states that the planning board has to look at how that impacts the overall health and welfare
neighborhood the existence of other flora and fauna in the neighborhood we look at all of that and we are supposed to consider all of that in our determination when you come to the planning board you're asking you're not telling i I'm just saying that's fine
what we're asking for is for the trees that are shown on this list that is what we are asking for tonight okay um nevertheless like I mentioned we do we did have an LTE Um I recognize that there was a
discrepancy between the the what your LTE says and what our LTE said which LTE are you referring to on your end uh Bartlett Tree Experts yeah which which individual doug Oino um the gentleman
who signed off on this Doug Bo b O C C H I N O can you give me one moment please yes it's Doug well his name is Doug
he's not here tonight because he has the flu um he is a licensed tree expert madam Chair I believe the person Michael that you're referring to Michael Fiola left Bartlett he left at the end of uh
2024 i realize that but he's the one who conducted the work and submitted the work and he's not an LTE he's not even He's not an LTCO he's not an LTE which is why Doug took over the work and assumed the work i'm sorry which is why Doug Bo took
the work and assumed the work i I don't understand we didn't get a second submission we only got the original submission okay we're happy to address i'm We're going to trust what our Okay forester not a problem i'm happy i'm sure but I'm just letting you know that
you didn't resubmit and the person that submitted was not an LTE we're happy to resubmit with the appropriate name listed at the bottom i'm I'm sure that your licensry experts also know Bartlett Consulting and are familiar with their
work and probably also familiar with Doug but I won't necessarily assume that we can ask that i'm happy to ask that we're also happy with the number again if it's 108 we are also happy with the number of 108 trees we're not going to argue
that council I just have a question are are we relying on the work are you relying on the work of someone who was unable to substantiate that work no Mr buchina can substantiate that work and
if um the board would like to speak to indirectly we can request that German because my colleague said that he is not able to appear tonight because excuse me uh yet we are relying on Mr bacino who is substantiating the work of his
predecessor he's not able to appear tonight because he has the flu but if the board would like to speak to him we can gladly have him appear on another night well I just want Okay so and Mr bacino is a successor in the firm of where and so he'll he's a licensed tree
expert yes okay so he he has in your opinion he has the qualification to substantiate that work yes okay um Madam Chair the that's typically acceptable in a situation like this we
have architects for instance who don't draw who don't draw the plan somebody in their firm do um and they testify as to accuracy etc um so as far as that issue alone right I don't think that that's a problem okay so what do what do you
recommend do you recommend well I don't know what what the next issue is if that's the foundation of your presentation and I think that it is then I think perhaps your pre if he is una
unable to appear tonight I'm not sure the purpose of your testimony because and council it's up to you like what isn't the number of the trees to be removed really the the the the primary
focus i did not believe that was the primary focus i I the primary focus of the client's application was determining the number of trees to be replaced not the number of trees to be removed and that was a misunderstanding on our part we'd be happy to address the board's concerns um but that was just our
mindset going into it was addressing the number of trees that need to be replaced based upon the trees that we propose being removed madam Chair can I ask a question sure please are you open to discussing removing less trees yes but we would have to do so in
consultation with our engineering firm to make sure that the trees the board would like to uh preserve wouldn't interfere with the road um obviously like I said when I first got here we we're not taking trees down just for the sake of taking trees down we're doing so
because we believe it to be necessary and if there's any confusion as to what trees truly are necessary for this work we'd be glad to address those concerns this board will likely have questions as to the veracity of the decision to take certain trees down which may or may not
be in our opinion necessary to be taken down in conjunction with that project is that a fair statement i think that's an incredibly fair statement and I think that you're going to find vast agreement amongst the board
members who we really do care about the tree cover the storm water management situation one block away from you and two blocks away from you um you know those trees were
planted many many many years ago and most of them are in pretty good shape according to our foresters perspective um so you're taking down mature trees and in some cases perhaps
not for any other reason other than you want a more uniform look on the site or something because some of those trees are not on the curb line they're nowhere near it they're in the center of an island those trees were planted when I was born or maybe even before because I
live impossible i lived I lived at Wedgewood Drive when I was until I was four years old and I went to Lanning so I'm just letting you know those trees I used to ride my bike underneath or my big wheel underneath them and they provided me with plenty of shade
we're certainly not trying trying to minimize the importance of the trees okay and and every um but if the board would be able to identify those trees that uh does have concern about we'd be able to again um request an adjournment and speak with our engineering firm and
be able to address those journey even i I appreciate that i think um Mr msara sort of made a recommendation first off there is um a large sort of disagreement between the the
DPM that was recorded by Bartletts by the representative from Bartletts versus the DPMS or the uh diameter at point of measure that was recorded by our foresters who we depend upon for you
know integrity and honesty on on all counts and we're willing to adopt those DPMs but we just I think my colleague was under the understanding that the DPMs matter more of to the calculation of the replanting of the trees and not so much of the process of removal it's
the replacement values that are based on the the age maturity etc of the tree that is correct so a DPM of over 24 in is a is for free replacement and we're willing to adopt the findings of their DPM okay i'm just saying that
so I just want to express that the board may have a little bit of a loss of confidence in the numbers that were put forth to us after seeing the numbers that were sent to us by our forester
because there was a large disparity i'm reading between the lines i understand okay um so what Mr miss Sarah is is suggesting and I'd like to float this to the board that the applicant goes back to their engineer
and also uh works with our forester to basically minimize tree removals that are unnecessary and looks at the reality of the situation when trees must be removed because they are not going to
survive the road replacement and curb replacement process that the those trees are listed and accounted for in replacement values but I I do think that there might have been some clearcutting
sort of sensibility with this application please no Madam Chair I just think that is that you know that I think council has suggested that they might adjourn um my impression is that's the best thing to do this evening and that
our our experts and your expert co collaborate before the next meeting and agree on the numbers because we're going to rely on our experts that's why we have here so agree on all the numbers
whether it be the diameters or the number of trees that are dead etc i know that um that Ben had said that he would uh I mean no disrespect for you know that he said they would agree to the numbers that have to be replaced or whatever but I don't think that's going
to satisfy the board um so that would be my suggestion that you adjourn and and and huddle and then come back that would be fine uh thank you councel um I would just ask would we be in consultation with the engineer as well because I'm sure there's concern
from the arborist about the well-being of the trees but from the engineering side they have concern about the well-being of the roads due to the tree roots growing in the future yes you can with Boswell Dr gonzalez you know feel free to be you know consult with anybody from Verona that you need you know I
said Boswell you said Boswell yeah Boswell is correct can I ask a I think a relevant question to our our LTE i don't know if you know this but why is it that certain cities you know I've traveled around the
world right there's there are enormous ancient trees on major city streets that get repaved regularly how is it that those seem to survive or thrive and we're on a small street in Verona we
can't manage keeping you know some honey locusts a lot depends on the species that you're working with um the the interesting project here is that there's a lot of space it's not a confined tree
pit that you see in some urban areas that are growing there are some construction areas some construction techniques where tree roots and underneath the pavement there's channels to allow roots to grow i'm not
totally comfortable with explaining how that's done but I know there is some documentation on it um so I think it comes down to location species and what do you have to work with thank you
actually I can actually weigh in a little bit because I know some of the designs of the systems but look at Portland it's pretty cool subgrade is really really really neat they design really really really cool underground stuff so I could barely hear
what you're saying sorry they they design really cool underground stuff is is a nice way of putting it that allow areas for the tree roots i get to specify those as a landscape architect it's pretty cool um nevertheless if you don't mind me asking one quick question if I may um is
there an approximate um I guess this might be for the engineer or for the LTE i'm not entirely sure which one is there an approximation um from call it a radius from uh tree to roadway that you would find acceptable
in terms of a removal distance so because I know drip drip line right i'm I'm I'm basically asking seems a little like a general question i think it might be specific to the tree as he was just saying when a large tree survives escape it could be specific to
the species i'm trying to give our engineer something i know they're not here something I can give them if I may the application stated that you needed two feet of clearance to redo the Belgian block and so that I think is again I can't speak for the rest of the board at least when I looked at these
plans why certain areas around the property stuck out to me because in that courtyard for instance those trees are set back more than 2 feet there are some areas also where other trees are set back more than 2 feet i know that there are some trees where the roots are right on the Belgian block i know that there
is a large tree on the property line so that's why I asked about being open to it because according to the engineering reports it said that you needed two feet sure there's certainly buffer zones that are more than two feet i personally also have concerns of where are you going to put a 100 trees you don't have a lot of
you have a lot of impervious coverage so those you know as you go back and consider this that those are going to be my lines of questions and just to clarify that too um it's drip line so although it's 2 feet just for a tur a curb I was concerned about the drip line of damaging those trees so compaction
etc but again I'm not an LTE i'm not gonna I'm not gonna weigh in on the quality of a tree or any of that i'm just going to weigh in on what I know from construction as a landscape architect that as I'm inside the drip line I'm gonna hurt a tree you have anything to add please um I
mean besides the the the question you have is my my concern from the storm water point of view is that um I can see that the um underlying soil is is what is called the type C soil mhm um
removing more trees probably there is going to be in detriment to the infiltration capacity of the area so um just take into account that um the less trees you remove is the better for the infiltration rate of the area okay we'll
make we'll make sure that we have our engineer present at the next meeting as well to address any of those concerns yes um also I would ask you guys are are you asking to adjourn this we we will yes okay my request to you is to also
We're not allowed because they're adjourning um I I would have some the application no it's not it's not okay um I apologize uh bottom line I would ask
that you prepare a replanting plan with locations yep varieties of trees species and um obviously we have a list of uh
recommended species in our zoning code yep for trees uh both shade and evergreen um both ornamental and major so um I would recommend looking at that
list rather than picking cultivars um re recognizing that um part of the questions were about the construction of the roadways although not necessarily part of this application because it's really just tree removals is it acceptable to the board for us to bring
the engineer and bring the roadway plans as part of the discussion it's your application you can bring whatever you want hopefully a lot of issues you can resolve you know there there's substantive issues that hopefully are you know easily agreed
agreed upon um and then but your it's your application you can bring whatever you feel is necessary but I will state for the record and I think it would be only acceptable for there to be a proper properly mapped and marked um replanting
plan sure okay yeah absolutely with the proper number of trees according to what needs to be versus what can stay what needs to be removed versus what can stay totally totally thank you um so council the the uh
you're requesting that this matter be adjourned we know till our next meeting which is April 24th in this building at 7:30 no further notice is required when do you need uh I'm sorry when would the board need plans by for that 10 days
prior if anytime sooner would be great yeah um if you could also arrange to you know speak to professionals perhaps you could trade contact information um gentlemen so that uh your forester can be in touch and all right okay thank you
thank you thank you why don't we take a fivem minute break well you're going to close or go into What public participation tonight not with regard to this application because the the application was adjourned you'll
have an opportunity when they come back to make your comments with regard to the ultimate application that is presented now Mr thomas you do have I'll call you Mrs thomas um you do have the right
to well that was before to speak about anything that was not on the agenda this evening um my my comments about the agenda yeah um now that you know that was still really part of the agenda i think everybody would be better served if if
you um wait until they make their application okay sorry and then just so you know also during the course of the application you have the opportunity to question their witness after the witness has finished testifying so you have an opportunity for questioning each witness
and then a statement at the end okay does everybody I mean I know this is informal here but I'm the sha tree commission chair that's why I had questions and I will be sending everybody on the board what some of my comments tonight would have been so you're aware just in your so you
understand that's fine and at this point because because the application had begun um anything that you generate should go um to the applicant as well and you could do that through Kathleen okay okay all right thank
Thank you okay i am um Can I take a 5m minute break or should I just close in scoop okay um I'm going to recuse myself from the balance of this meeting um and I think do you need you don't need our tree
experts or our engineer here for that or do you do you need Alvaro no okay then I I bid you a due thank you and can I take my extension sure
yeah um Dave you're okay we are um we are going to go into executive session and we need to make an announcement to become the chair do you have the executive i have no executive
anything okay all right um I'm going to give her my folder no it's not no no it's a motion to go into executive session but hold on one second we have there's a notice right Craig what do you think make sure you
[Music] have otherwise we just we're just waiting to see whether we wait for Jason or not i know at 9 so should be here any minute okay can we go to executive and take a
Yes we just finished up the public meeting yes does Does he have anything printed does he have anything printed to read from okay Dave so what you're going to say is
that um the board is going into executive session to discuss the DMH2 um actually I can say um at this time the um open part of this meeting will be temporarily adjourned
the board is going to go into executive session to discuss the litigation DMH2 versus the Verona Planning Board um more specifically it'll be settlement discussions with regard to that amount once the board has finished that business in executive session this
meeting will reopen to the public uh so if anybody in the public wants to I'm sorry official action no we have to do that in public right official action may be taken okay and when we come back in public official
action may be taken thank you that was the very end i knocked on the door you should have done the secret there was somebody lurking in the hall make a motion to adjourn no no no we got a um Now we're going to have we have
business to Yeah motion we're back in we're back in regular session why don't you make the motion since you um Mr chairman while we're while we're uh in executive session uh the board was presented with a uh proposal to settle the DMH versus Rona Planning Board case
um the board had discussion about the content of the um settlement agreement uh actually um in two uh parts one part was with regard to the concept um of the
plan that is proposed and the site plan uh the site plan and and the building plan that were proposed the other part was with regard to the financial terms of the settlement agreement um the board
I believe um is ready to vote on the fi the um um site the site the the plans as they relate to the architectural and the site and as uh with exhibit A and exhibit B specifically in the agreement
uh m Mr chair uh I'll make a motion to uh approve comma subject to the ultimate approval of the council of the financial agreement and um other terms within the council's perview uh approve the conceptual plan as embodied by exhibits
A and B we have a second i second seconds all in favor no no no roll mr kzf yes mr lily yes mr heman yes mr
kimmood yes mr yes mayor Timborro yes vice Chair Freshy yes okay business done motion to adjurnn a motion to adjurnn second second
thank you american suckers i'm really