call the order recording in progress grace please read the statement welcome to the public meeting of April 16th 2025 of the Township of Washington Planning Board adequate notice of the meeting was given in accordance with the Open Public
Meetings Act by the board secretary to at least two newspapers on January 3rd 2025 and this meeting has been posted on the Township Bulletin board electronic message board WCTV and on the township website
thank you give to the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for
all mr carol here Mr murphy here mr pledo here mr tulle here mr toro here mr wan here councilman Alman here mayor Palari
here chairman Sabino here let the record reflect also in attendance are attorney Lu Bamatina engineer Paul Aelina and board secretary Grace Gish thank you Grace please be the public portion to participate in the general public portion of the meeting please
click the link below to join 11 you will be asked to state your name and address for the record and we ask that only one person speak at a time this public comment portion is only for non-aggenda items time is set aside later in the meeting to address questions or comments about current agenda items if you are
participating by phone press star 9 to raise your hand and star six to unmute at the end of the general public portion no further general questions or comments do I have a motion to open the public portion
so move i'll second all in favor i there's anyone in the audience who would like to address the uh or provide comments to the board with items other than what's on the agenda for this evening anyone else nobody okay do I
have a motion to close the public portion so moved second all in favor i I uh moving on to new business uh first item of discussion is the discussion of the live screen broadcast and internet
video storage provide the board members with some context as to why this is on the agenda uh during the budget discussions earlier this year uh there were some discussions at the mayor council meeting about uh eliminating uh
videotaping of the planning board session uh starting July 1st uh once I heard this I went to the mayor and council meeting uh maybe about a month ago and I asked that the council uh
reconsider and insert into their 2025 budget money to continue it to continue to videotape uh the planning board meetings considering that this year is a crucial year and that we are in that we are
updating the master plan and it would be uh of uh significance to uh the town per you know people that uh would continue to videotape it and also put up on YouTube and so if they want to uh you
know hear the hearing or or better understand what's going on with the master plan they go on YouTube and um and review the video uh and again I want to I want to thank Councilman for supporting u uh my uh my
initiative in front of the council to include the budget money for in the budget for 2025 and I believe it was uh it was passed by the council and u with that I was asked
by the council president to prepare a resolution that the planning board agrees to have the future planning meetings uh videotaped and uploaded onto to YouTube now that being said 2025 we
do have money uh in the budget but the council president had asked that we monitor how many uh residents in the town actually go into YouTube and review our our videos if not many are reviewing our videos then come
2026 we're not going to do it so that's the uh context as to why we need to have this resolution in place to support uh the videotaping of our planning board meetings and
uploading to YouTube any any comments before I open up the public yeah I just like to echo everything you said i appreciate you coming to the council meeting i appreciate Councilman Alman i think right from the outset uh he was against this and you were able to convince the
fellow council members to fund it so much appreciated thank you Mayor mr chairman we've been doing this um for a while now what what changed why did the council decide to take this out
uh the cost $100 per meeting so without without talking to us so can I can I also add So I I think it was twofold i think there was a cost issue and also the fact that they're taped but they're
not published or it's not uh available to the public uh was the reason why they decided uh or pursued cutting it uh you know I think it's invaluable i was on the
council when we started uh recording council meetings and I think they're wellreceived and you know so I think it should continue uh but that's why it was initially cut
and and I've uh worked with the town administrator to ensure that all the tapings are uploaded onto YouTube it costs no money to upload the the video onto YouTube mr mr mr chairman
I just like to echo everything that's been said as well um as you know you and I have had a conversation about this from my own personal situation that I had going on here and I um was not able to get out to go listen to the video um
at the town hall so there's you know one of the aspects I won't be able to vote on tonight if it was out on YouTube I could have watched it and signed the form saying that I could vote on it tonight so I I think that's another aspect of it although it might not be um
as urgent you know or as uh shall we say used a lot but I think it's a good venue if I had it I could have been you know a little bit more voting tonight so I think it's a good thing all the way around
thank you for your comments mr perfect can may I just ask is um do we have the ability to go back and publish uh prior meetings good
question anyone there yeah we can ask Rick so Rick he tapes these meetings i mean if he takes them and stores them you know I I would recommend if we're if there's no cost uh other than the time to upload you know
we may want to consider going back uh for uh I don't know as long as there are records but you know Mr burgess has been here a few times to talk about the master plan already so if there are
meetings uh you know potentially include those that would be my only Yeah there's there's no cost to uh upload to YouTube or or any other streaming service there is the cost like you said Mr alman uh for Ricky's time
correct that we can but Okay uh Grace just reached out to Ricky to find out if he can upload previous meetings yes all right once he says yes once it's approved we can make those meetings okay
so we can perfect how far back should we go last year when we started talking about the M when was Washington Township established i I don't think there was technology back then
maybe if we have it for 20 what are we 2025 2024 or the second half of 24 yeah we saw speaking about the master plan in December 2024 yeah I would think that would make sense
yep that'd be great how many and like like taxes how long you going to keep the those those videos on on a site so is every two for two years stretch from from current in perpetuity two years and then and then as you go forward you
remove a session or you're just going to keep it forever the councils are in perpetuity is because they're not I don't believe they're considered a legal record it's a recording the minutes are
the legal record it supports the record it supports the minutes but it's not a legal record so there's no requirement as far as I know to maintain it or age it out and if there's no cost you know I
would suggest we keep it until we're told not to okay so with that uh let me open up uh do I have a motion to open uh public comments on the uh resolution
25-06 motion second all in favor anyone in the audience wants to comment on the uh live stream broadcast anyone on video nope do we
have a motion to close public comments on the discussion of live stream broadcast and internet video storage so move all in favor i okay do I have a motion to approve resolution EB25-06
motion i'll second call mr carol yes mr murphy yes mr pledo yes mr tulle yes mr toro yes mr weransky yes councilman Alman yes
mayor Kalamari yes chairman Sino yes okay resolution pass thank you Grace moving on to old business first old business is continuation of application for Alex Van for demolition of 134 Rididgewood Road block
256 by lot 5 that that application has been carried to the May 21st meeting no notice is uh needs to be submitted so I know sir you were here
for that application yes and not it's not going to be discussed not gonna be discussed till May 21st fair enough i appreciate you letting me know thank you thank you have a good night you too thanks was this at the request of the applicant the deferral
okay thank you the continuation excuse me all right move on mr chairman sorry can I ask a question about that so it it it looked like at one point the work stopped uh for a long time mostly through the winter time and then
recently the work started again um is there some background to that i mean if the if we didn't hear the application last month and it continues over over to the next month now why is work continuing on the property
yeah there true i'm sorry we don't know what's going on yeah yeah yeah so maybe what I'll do is let me do defer to to Paul as to what has transpired as you know Mr sad that application never came before the planning board right exactly board zoning board approved it and then
based on from perceived facts there was a stop order issued by the the buildings department uh there was there was a meeting a couple weeks ago with myself the mayor Councilman Omen all there's like 12 in the room zoning board uh
chairman zoning board engineer town engineer there's like 12 of us in the room uh discussed this is one of the items that we had discussed so let me turn it over to Paul to provide the planning board members with an update on that on that situation thank you Mr
chairman uh even before the uh that meeting uh the construction official had issued a footing and foundation permit to Mr fan based on the perceived uh dangerous condition associated with
having that open excavation and that slab uh portion of of the remaining portion of the dwelling so that was deemed to be an unsafe condition that uh the applicant uh engineer had made the
construction official aware of it and his understanding of the law is that he is obligated to to issue a permit for for just the footing and foundation so that is the work that is ongoing uh I
drove by there on Tuesday of this week or guess maybe uh Monday of this week i I see that they really only only excavated uh a little bit more and removed that uh slab that was hanging in
in midair uh I don't know if they done done anything further since then but uh as far as the discussions at the meeting um I don't know if that's uh proper to comment at this time uh in that it's
Yeah I I just asked Lou and yeah I just think just generally why you're seeing work and I think that really answers the question and as far as what went on the meeting it's not really relevant at this point application's not before us tonight so the answer is that the the permit was
issued to take care of the pudding issue okay thank you thank you Paul thank you all right moving on to resolution PB25-07 rule of Daniel Journey of
Demolition of 572 Cypress Street block 4301.01 block 6 any comments on the uh resolution just had one minor minor correction on page
four um down under number one you had uh fully conforming Homer lot i think it corer lot should that's the only only thing I got there homer got it
yeah thank you any other comments no okay so do I have a motion to approve resolution PB25-07 it's all moved i'll second roll call mr
carol yes mr fledo yes mr tulle yes mr toro yes mr wansky yes councilman Omen yes chairman Sabino yes
okay resolution passes moving on to minutes march 5th 2025 the close session are there any comments on the minutes any comments
none okay do I have a motion to approve the March 5th 2025 close session minutes i'll make that motion second roll call motion made by Mr carol or Mr loseransky
who made the motion oh no i I made the motion that's okay okay mr mr carol yes mr pledo yes mr tulle yes mr weransky yes councilman Alman yes mayor Kamari
yes chairman Sabino yes minutes are approved uh next next minute March 19 2025 any comment on those minutes
mr chairman there just a few minor spelling corrections on page two and page three spelling of each street on page two and also on page three okay yeah and then on page six
um I believe it's In the second paragraph midway through they are not talking down should be taking down 50% of the structure page six in paragraph too
oh yeah okay and then I have one comment on page three okay on page three fifth sentence down says where under the current code you would actually meet a more variances i think
a should not be there right h3 yes yes any other comments no okay do I have a motion to approve as amended i'll make that motion second
roll call mr carol yes mr pledo yes mr tulle yes mr toro yes mr weransky yes councilman Hman yes
yes okay minute for approved so down to the last uh last topic any board member have any comment thoughts that they would like to bring up this evening uh Mr chairman if I could just get some
direction we actually have a a third uh retroactive demo application the one that I'm looking at currently is the thing about that one as compared to the two other ones that we was never
submitted a a site plan with with that application it was really just architectural drawings and you know they they took down basically the whole structure uh you know perimeter wall structure but there really was never a
grading plan presented no drainage no tree removals no landscaping so the question I have for the board is is what level of of scrutiny am I applying to to something that has already been reviewed
and approved by others in the town um you know do you need a written report and do you need me to you know kind of go back to a start
um so I I can go either way just just looking for some some direction well when you say others was it the building department they gave the permits yes yes well my my initial thought is you have
to perform your due diligence and professional review of that property as if it's a new application i would agree i think go back to square one yeah i mean building doesn't look at tree preservation right they don't look
at issues like that do they they're just going to approve building plans i I believe so but I I don't want to speak for for what they're looking at or or they're not looking at well let me let me ask a question if you if you if you're putting up a new structure don't
you have to conform to the new storm criteria with the with the drywalls and whatnot well it it wouldn't it wouldn't be a major development so it wouldn't have that but typically when we're doing a site plan there is some
level of storm water management provided you know you just need to protect uh the neighboring properties and and the public drainage system the sort of difference with this lot is it's it's pretty flat um I don't see any uh
potential negative impacts to to adjoining property owners and and as I say uh to introduce these things at this stage of the game uh you know may may be an issue but if if that's how the board
would like me to to review an application then I will certainly do in that manner comes down to they they disregard the law that they had to get a plan board approval so you know I don't see any sympathy
that should be given to an applicant if they just disregarded what the law said so Paul Paul is bringing this up but do do you have any knowledge so it went to building and did it make it to zoning as the
prior ones or this never went to zoning it did not require any variances so therefore it was not subject to to zoning board review there was a a zoning review done by the zoning officer um his finding was that there were no variances
so therefore he didn't have to go to endorse and it's a ministerial soil moving permit so he didn't have to come to this board for a major soil permit um he did obtain a ministerial permit um but that is my understanding of the
extent of the review that's performed currently with with those building department type of applications but isn't there a a whole demolition process that there has to be asbestous and
uh you know utilities have to be turned off and there has to be you know there's it's like a 10 10 step there is and that is the purview of the construction official um so not certain if if those
uh procedures were were followed or or not um because I say the way the application was originally presented to the ability department was that they were not done you know incrementally and I believe a stop work order was issued sometime in in in January that that's
why I'm saying you know the timing here is is um you know something to be aware of well when they come in for demolition approval they have to do a site plan correct no they don't have I I mean if
they're our code says if you're demolishing more than 50% of your residence you have to get an approval from the planning board it doesn't say necessarily site plan approval we've kind of extrapolated it to that end
usually because they are in combination with a a major soil which when you look at the requirements of that as as compared to any so minor site plan they're they're pretty much one and the same so you know I didn't think we were
going too far a field by by requiring you know grading plan landscaping plan etc stormwater management um but now I say with with just an approval but from this board for
demolition that doesn't necessarily mean comprehensive site are there trees on the property or were there trees on the property i I don't know exactly what the what the site looked like i didn't get a chance to ask the the zoning officer if any tree permits were issued
it looks relatively clear at at this uh time i don't recall that lot is being heavily wooded you know generally the ones on on that street are you know not so uh not so densely wooded so but there
are no trees shown on on on any of the plans that I've received there well excuse may I ask a question paul are you saying they have to come to the board because they went that far you're just asking how far to take it or are you asking are we bypassing a board
requirement no I'm just uh asking how comprehensive a review you want me to do but you agree they have to come oh yeah no I I don't think they're because to me what's big is now their neighbor should have a chance to speak about this where they didn't in the
building you know review uh so at least if we hear it I assume notice will go out and his residents can come talk about you know the full demolition if they want and you know um but if we don't require them to file a site plan
and like that what will the residents how will the residents know what they are planning now that they demolish that much well I would say they they probably could still be required to to notice notice any hearing um that doesn't
necessarily have to uh Yeah that's I to say I agree with what Lou said yep mr may May I I would think you would either have to have a survey of the existing property to show it what the existing contents were a
demo plan to show you're not going to be fing anything outside of the footprint building footprint and maybe a drawing that shows the height of the building i I have the original architectural drawings um an an after the fact demolition plan
was prepared by the architect which really doesn't say a whole heck of a lot and and as I say it's it's it's an existing condition right now basically so uh but I can
certainly go back from the start and ask for extra don't they have this information already insurance no i say what was submitted was was an addition supposed to put an addition on they went from an addition to the moing the whole
house that's like that's completely you know whether uh for the um application or the resolution we prepared this evening uh or approved this evening you know there
was a partial def de demolition and for whatever reason whether it was uh ignorance or um you know trying to circumvent or however we got or there was bugs or you
know uh insect damage it seemed like they were aware of what they were supposed to do uh you know it appeared they made an effort it sounds to me like the this situation they're just
completely saying you know we're putting in a small addition and we're just going to do an end around and knock the whole thing down i mean it just So Paul I think the guidance is I've got my guidance thanks all right but along
those lines I want to I have a couple of topics I want to bring up to the board so I mentioned earlier in the meeting that 12 of us met in the town hall up in the conference room and besides uh the fan application we also discussed uh
actually this this this situation with Jed uh specifically around the uh demolition or limitance and our town administrator made a copy of the ordinance which was prepared back in
March 17th 19 2003 so it's almost 23 20 22 years old 22 years wow right i'm sorry no I said wow 22 years sorry yeah yes and then if you when you read the ordinance and what it really came down
to is that there's no there's not a lot of specification around the definition of what a demolition is right it just says no demolition of 50% or more of any existing residents in any res residential zone in the township should
occur without prior approval of the planning board right and we brought up the whole Montasauri school where it's in a residential zone and they tore the building down but that application never came before the planning board so what was discussed in the meeting that we
need to review this ordinance and provide a better uh a more descriptive detailed ordinance to provide guidance to the town's folk but also to the the government officials in this town so when we talk about demolition what is
the process one how is it defined and what is the process that an applicant has to go through in order to get a demolition permit so the way we left it off was that uh Paul I think you you myself and Joe Burgess we're going to
get together and put a proposal together that will be presented to the council for approval to uh to approve funds in order for Paul and Joe Burgess to review the ordinance and provide
recommendations to this board uh to revise this this demo this demo ordinance cuz right now it's only one paragraph and for some reason or another and Paul I know you you've been around here a while they combined the demolition of residence
along with tree preservation right and we all know that tree preservation was is a separate ordinance in town but this one never got revised so well any any additional comments anyone else on the board wants to
provide comments I think I'm right with this and it might be a correction of what you said so I want to make sure it's straight Um based on the way things work uh Montasauri did not have to come to us because the zoning board can handle the demolition as part of their
overall we usually don't make applicants come to both boards so it sounded to me like you were saying they might have done something improper but I don't think they did i think Well I I questioned Joe Yasmin john Kim oh John yeah that too close
john John knew Kim because that property is in a residential zone it's a non-conforming use but that's where it was a little bit gray i It was gray yeah i think the operative word in the code right now says demolition of a
residence so yes not just restaurant i say think that's how we're looking at it and then I agree the the zoning board should have the the same power if they're reviewing a site plan for you know large project like that to to
approve the demolition uh but it doesn't say that in our code right now so once again another tweak to the code should be you know specifically stating that they have the the jurisdiction in that in that instance yeah mr chairman yes
was there any discussion of penalty or anything should this happen is it We got three in a row here now um is this going to continue to happen if it continues to happen you know if there's no consequences other than the fact that they haven't come to our board um it
could continue i'm just wondering if there was any discussion with that you guys uh not on penalties but you know we concluded that the ordinance needs to be up reviewed right lou you can correct me if I'm wrong is the penalty just the stop work order or can we impose a
monetary penalty if if we if the council chooses to put it in an ordinance you can certainly put it in but wouldn't this be uh an application a code violation that would be go to municipal court it sounds like it yes yeah was anybody cited violating the ordinance and and summon i don't know if that that
occurred if there's summoning them before the judge and the judge will right impose you know guilty and you find so and so right well the jermic he was not fined I think that's on record correct was he cited though I don't know if we
can find meaning we can't find the court official do it I don't think there's authority I think you have to bring the complaint have him found guilty and then the judge goes the penalty and stop work I think that's separate and I don't know what authority we have for that all That's what's we we don't
that's the construction facility right he he has the ability to to find people for for not uh you know getting a prior approval if he so chooses i I don't believe it's mandatory action on his part it's it's judgment call
so Bill to answer your question when Paul I and Joe get together Yeah to discuss the ordinance we'll definitely consider it bring forward this planning board for their review thank you and Paul I know Mark asked town asked for a
proposal i've been out of town so have you gotten together with Joe if not I'll I I'll schedule a meeting for the three of us okay so you can put your proposal together and present it so that's the demo i wanted to bring up the next topic uh is the advisory
committee meeting and the master plan is on Monday July 21st at 9:00 so the committee will be meeting at that time so did I say July monday you said July i said July no
April monday april 21st i'm I'm thinking my vacation on the French Riviera april 21st yes monday at 9:00 all right that that's it for me any any
other comments thoughts none motion to adjurnn so moved second all in favor i I
Thank you thanks everyone