we I will now call the February 6th 2024 um meeting of the Vernard Township planning board to order at 7:36 everybody please stand for the clock Al to the flag of the United States of America to the it stands na indivisible andice for in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings law notice of this regular and reorganization meeting of the planning board of the township of burnard was posted on the bulletin board in the reception hall of the Municipal Building C Lane jge New Jersey was mailed to the Burnsville News whiy New Jersey the cator news Bridgewater New Jersey and was filed with the Township Clerk on J jary 25th uh 2024 and was mailed electronically to all those people who have requested individual notice the following procedure has been adopted by the Bernard's Township planning board there will be no new cases heard after 10 p.m. and no new testimony heard after 10:30 I'm now going to call the role it is my understanding that Mr Crane will not be attending this evening and also Mr crzo has indicated that he is unable to attend this evening um Mr Dean here Mr diorio here Mr linski here uh commit MCN here miss Mand here M Master Angelo here Mr sevil here Mr Rino here Miss Smith here Mr fer here Mr good here Mr Sly here and for the record M keep present we have a forum so we may proceed do we need a motion to excuse do um I will make a motion to excuse the absences of Mr Crane and Mr Kozo thank you may I have a second second thank you all in favor I oppos abstain thank you see the next thing on our agenda is our reorganization meeting and um I'm now going to ask for a nomination for the office of the chairman of theard year 2024 may I have a nomination Madame secretary I'd like to nominate Paul demerson for chairperson May I have a second second are there any other nominations okay we're going to do a roll call for this mran yes are you sure Mr Rio yes Mr linski yes M committee MCN yes m m yes Miss Master Angela yes Mr yes Mr Rino yes Miss Smith yes congratulations chairman thank you thank you thank you so it's my understanding I get a raise my salary is doubled for the record I'm going to double everyone's compensation on the board so worth every pen the Christmas party you'll get two bottles of water all right moving on uh the next item on the agenda for the reorg meeting is to take nominations for vice chairman or woman Mr chairman I'd like to nominate Kathleen Master Angelo for vice chairman uh do we have a second I'll second that I'm sorry Mr ceville thank you any other nominations I'm going do a roll with that so we'll have Mr yes Mr linski yes committe MCN yes Miss Mand yes Miss Master Angelo yes mril yes mrin yes Miss Smith yes chairman Deming yes thank you uh next item on the agenda is uh nomination for vice chair protemp do we have any nominations for vice chair Mr chairman I'd like to nominate Tyler Cil we have a second chairman proen I will second miss mistrangelo any other nominations Mr yorio yes Mr linski yes commit MCN yes Miss Mand yes Miss Master Angelo yes yes Mr yeso yes M yes chair yes thank you thank you okay the next item on the agenda is the appointment of the board engineer you can say it's pursuant to resolution 241 okay so we have a resolution engine 24 241 oh yes resolution 2401 is uh to appoint um Bryce good as the chair I'm sorry as the board uh board engineer so should we can we have a motion I will make that motion thank you and second I'll second it thank you Mr yes Mr vinski yes MCN yes Mand Yes master Angelo yes Mr yes Mr Rino yes Miss Smith yes chairman yes so the next item on the agenda is appointment for the uh board planner and I'm looking for resolution okay we're gonna we're GNA table that oh right right right I'm sorry yes yes we'll table that until the um till the next meeting correct that would be on January 20th I believe February feary I'm sorry okay okay secet yep next item on the agenda is appointment of a secretary of the board and you have a motion I will make a motion to appoint Miss Cynthia kefir as Secretary of the board I'll second the emotion thank you second the the emotion it's the song watching the Grammys the other night right this this is a voice vote so I'm going to say all in favor I oppos abstain thank okay um next item on the agenda for the reorg meeting is the appointment of legal counsel of the board and there is a resolution 24-3 to appoint Jonathan drill as the uh board attorney can I have a motion some I'll second Mr yorio yes Mr linski yes MC yes M yes yes yes Mr Rino yes Miss Smith yes chairman deman yes thank you okay next item on the agenda is the adoption of the official newspapers for the planning board yeah I have do we need to read different like would you like to read yeah um read the which news yes the I'm sorry the Bernardsville news of Whippany New Jersey and The Courier News Bridgewater New Jersey as the official newspapers for 2024 and the daily record of moristown New Jersey and the Star Ledger of Newark New Jersey are designated papers which may be given notice by the secretary when the public publication schedule of the Bernardsville news of The Courier News does not enable it to publish advanced notice of special or rescheduled meetings I have a motion I think that's just a voice so I'll make such motion and I will second that motion all in favor I opposed estain okay next item on the agenda for the reorg meeting is the adopt of the 2024 rules and regulations Mees oh meeting dates did I skip that one sorry um let's go back uh the item on the agenda that we're speaking about is the uh 2024 meeting dates um so how do we want to do this resolution 244 identifies the meeting dates for the P the planning boards 24 meeting can I have a motion to approve the meeting dates as identified in resolution 2404 so moved second all in favor I opposed this says roll call vote on our got wh all right you know what you're right I apologize it is a roll call because it is a resolution correct all righty um Mr yoro yes Mr linski yes committe MCN yes M Mand yes Mel yes Mr yes Mr yes M Smith yes uh chairman Dean yes thank you okay next item on the agenda is the adoption of the 2024 rules and regulations uh we have in front of us resolution 245 which identifies all of the rules and regulations and um can I have a motion to adopt the rules and regulations for the planning board per motion 2405 please so moved second second mror yes Mr linski yes MCN yes Mand yesel yes Mr yes Mr Rino yes M Smith yes uh chairman Dean yes thank you okay next task is to close right as close the meeting all right uh that concludes the reorganization meeting and we can formally adjourn it um with a motion would someone like to make a motion to close the reor meeting so moved second second by Tyler's a bill all in favor Iain thank you reor meeting is closed uh okay the next item on the agenda is the approval of minutes for December 19th 2023 regular session and to do that first yeah regular session first okay right so can we have a motion to let me just say Mr Mr Mr Rino and Miss Smith are ineligible for this okay now we have a motion so yeah okay I will second the motion to approve the minutes of December 19th 2023 all in favor I opposed and those that I mentioned will abstain abstain okay next item uh on the agenda is the approval of meeting minutes for the executive session conducted on December 19th 2023 can I have a motion to approve the meeting minutes for the executive session I will make the motion with the addition Ed edit that Mr linski was present and is eligible to vote Yes second I'm sorry Mr linsk you're going second I'm second doesn't matter defer to Mr linski all in favor iOS stain saying four people will are we collecting yes should go back to suski [Music] okay next item on the agenda is the uh public hearing for an application submitted by octop Pharmaceuticals for Block 2401 Lot 4 also known as 170 Mount ay Road for preliminary and final site plan approval number pb23 d001 so the board professionals would please have a seat and I guess we can yeah I swear in the board professionals right now uh for the year you to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you got yes okay consider yourselves sworn for the uh for the year to do application okay either way either way okay okay so um before we start uh we have a little bit of a tradition here I guess you could call it where uh we asked the board members if they had a chance to uh visit the site and if they want to talk about what they've seen or what they didn't see and um it's a shame we're missing Mr Crane this evening because he usually provides the most color commentary very detailed um has anyone visited the site and would like to have a word or two about it no okay uh well then then I will say that I did visit the site and um there really isn't too much to say there's a vacant building uh off of Mount ay Road I'd say it's maybe it's eighth of a mile down the driveway to the building uh with the um the building of buts woods and between the build and then Route 287 so there's uh it's very isolated it's a a fairly old building um not much more to say um so with that we'll move on okay thank you Mr chairman you're welcome thank you um Nicole madak m a g d z a k of the law firm Dave Pitney here this evening on behalf of the applicant we had the benefit of presenting before the board very briefly in December as to completeness for this application so some board members may recall but if I may I'll just provide a brief overview of the application and then we will um outline the witnesses we have here this evening and jump into our testimony so we are here seeking preliminary and final major site plan approval with bulk uh C variants relief related to the property at 170 Mount Ary also known as block 241 LP 4 we are proposing a modest addition to the building to house an elevator so it is approximately 149 Square ft of foot print but only 95 ft of additional impervious coverage being proposed on the property in connection with the application this elevator is being provided in a portion of the building that currently does not have elevator access to the second floor so the building is two stories but in this location um you you can't get to the second floor currently in an accessible way you can take stairs but you can't get there by elevator so the applicant as you'll hear this evening from the applicant's representative is proposing to occupy this space for lab and office use they currently have a location in Piscataway and are um seeking to move approximately 50 to 60 employees to this location and this vacant office building will then be occupied and hopefully brought back to life at least in some capacity um to do this they wanted to make sure that the second story was Ada accessible so they did file construction permits approximately a year ago and um received a a response to those permits saying that they needed s plan approval which brought us to this board um in addition to the elevator we're also proposing a modification to an existing rollup door so that door will be replaced with a larger door and a concrete ramp on the exterior of the building which will assist the tenant in bringing um materials supplies and just whatever they need in and out of the building so it provides a loading area a designated loading area for that purpose so we're seeking uh variants related to lot coverage currently the lot is of 50 4.57% um impervious coverage and where 40% is permitted that is the existing condition that this owner inherited when they purchased the property in May of 2022 um we were able to figure out that this property was developed in 1969 but are unable to identify exactly when that coverage became too much it was likely when it was developed initially but we're just unfortunately not sure we weren't able to dig up any historical information on that so with 95 ft that we're proposing we're proposing 45.6% um impervious coverage we're also seeking a variance relating to the location of the loading areas as you heard from Mr Chairman's summary of the site visit this property it is a flag lot so it does front on Mount area but it also fronts on Route 287 so technically that is a front yard and that's where our loading is located and by ordinance it's not allowed to be located in the front yard um as you'll hear in this particular case we do think that though it's a front yard because it's facing the highway it's not going to have any impact um on any of the neighbors or or the highway we're also seeking an exception related to the Loading spaces for the size of the loading spaces you'll hear this evening that they are under size based on the ordinance but we do believe they're sufficient for the um tenant and operator of the building based on their office and lab use so uh with that we do have two witnesses here with us this evening veala sophus is our engineer from Heartland engineering and Santos aala who is the representative of OCTA um so we're actually going to start with Santos just so we can provide them with an overview um so with that we'd like to call our first witness okay yeah we have to swear you inine this is the applicants representative so he'll be a fact witness okay raise your right hand you swear to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth should I'll be good say yes you just say yes respond okay you're good can you please provide your he need to say his name I mean he has to to introduce himself okay just speak into the microphone please so we can hear you can you please provide your name and address of your company sure my name is Santos appala AA and address of my company currently this C speak into the can you pull the microphone closer so please okay no no I'll bend that's fine so uh good evening everyone so my name is Santosh appala a laa and uh our company address current company address is in 71 sat piscatway and uh Bas address is 170 Mount ay Road and what is your position with the company uh I'm a senior manager quality and how long have you held this position more than two and a half years and are you familiar with the new site 170 Mount ARA yes can you please describe for the board the business and operation that you intend to pursue at the site uh so the new site so we'll be doing research and development so our company are focusing on R&D in Pharmaceuticals so the current location also will be cing the same thing so you'll be using the site as a combination of research and development and offices yes and when did um OCTA purchase this property uh May 2022 and why this particular property so I mean I can't say the exact reason so we look into different properties so this is what we thought it's an ideal for our uh future expansion and can you just um provide for the board we submitted as an exhibit in advance Mr SCH can use so we're going to present a a concept schematic sketch of the interior of the building which identifies how different spaces are proposed to be used okay yeah it'll work just like that St okay awesome thank you this is new yeah this is an exhibit do we need to mark this as an exhibit has been marked before it has not should be A1 yes Santos can you describe for the board what is currently on the screen not sure I get rid of the bookmark do we have any point okay let's why don't we start with the blue area so I'll start with the blue area then so the blue areas the left three that this those are the independent buildings there the to the far left of the building So currently we are not occupying that one so uh the red ones and the green ones uh so those are two level buildings so the building one two and the small one which is connecting the two building 1 a so these talking to the mic oh sorry sorry I'll start from beginning so uh starting from the left so the blue three independent buildings so uh those are from the far left side of the building blocks so we are not occupying that one so currently we are occupying in files application for the green and the red buildings so the building one building two and the building 1 a so building one and building two are two level FL two two floor buildings so uh those two building currently we are using for laboratory and offices so to uh to explain in precise so the building one uh the ground level will be lab and the second level will also be the lab building two ground level will be the offices and second will be the lab so Santos just to confirm for the record this ground floor which shows five different buildings you're proposing to occupy building one 1 a and two which is represented in green and red on this plan correct yes and for the time being the blue areas which is buildings three four and five will remain unoccupied yes so that that will be done in future and then on the second floor you're proposing to occupy building one and building two and the white area between the green box of building two and the green box of building one represents where the connector is going to be for the elevator correct yes to the far left far back uh there will be the connector and currently you can't access this second floor by elevator correct yes so the purpose of the application is to be able to OCC or to reach the second floor by elevator correct yes and can you describe for the board in connection with your office and lab use what kind of deliveries or and trucks are you expecting at the property so since we are mostly to R&D so we don't expect uh big trucks for the deliveries so maximum uh truck will be 20 foot small truck will be coming for the facility so you're not anticipating large tractor TR corre and how many employees are you expecting to have at this location So currently we have 50 but in future it will be 60 up to 60 that in the next one two in the next one two years so you're proposing 50 employees initially and you expect to expand in a year or two to approximately 16 employ yes and do you have guests at this site so uh we have service personal at this side not guess permanently so there could on any given day be people who are coming to the property for a short period of time or or maybe the whole day um to service yes so the short period of short period of time mostly will be the cleaning crews and for all equipment service personnels if any so they'll be onite for the oper during the operational hours and in connection with your operation what kind of waste are you expecting so uh apart from regular waste and recycled waste so we'll be expecting laboratory waste and that will be handled in um conformance with any laws that apply to that type of waste correct and currently on site um is there sufficient space for refuse and recycling so garbage and recycling So currently so the space is there so based on the requirement when we move in so we try to increase the frequency based on the usage so in the event that the storage area for refu and recyclables is insufficient will increase the frequency at which it's picked up yes but you believe it will be sufficient at least initially when you start operating yes and what hours of operation are you antip so we anticipate 8 to 5:30 from Monday through Friday yes I'm sorry did you repeat that oh so the operation hours will be from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday those are all the questions we have okay um do do we have any questions for the witness from the board Council this may be better directed to a different witness so let me know the um space is already over by about 22,000 square feet can someone provide the history on that and I apologize if that was something that was before this board before I assume it was do who who can give me some background on that the buildings that are out there currently the current impervious is already is over oh imperious so we this particular owner purchased in May of 2022 and it was existing at the time that they purchase so we did file an over request and we're able to obtain an approval from 1969 which we believe to be the original buildout for this property um in between that time we were unable to locate any variances being granted for impervious coverage so we can't say for sure exactly how it got to be that way but we suspect that it was initially built over okay and it has remained that way okay thank you that helps yeah that would be helpful based on the um ordinance at the time the maximum coverage was 40% but the definition of cover coverage uh was the the lot area uh the percentage of the total lot area occupied by buildings off street parking areas and access drives so that would exclude sidewalks patios little accessory type incidental things that today are included does that answer your question kind of kind of no no I just that part yeah so so do you have any other Witnesses the engineer you want to bring up the engineer can I ask question yeah yeah yeah sure the U you have a similar operation running Inc you said uh yes the uh is the scatter location and this location in m a road is the operation of the business going to be comparable what happens SC can you repeat that means are you going to use the space Road in the same way operations that you do piscatway so the currently piscatway is zoned for means we using for research and we do in-house small scale manufacturing there which we are not doing in 170 we are doing only R&D and the offic is there okay reason I asked that because I want to know if there were the track trailers who used location that's uh no because those we I mean in piscatway we have mean heavy missionaries so here we only do a research and development so I guess my last question is here at M you said you don't anticipate the having tracked trailers use that space what's the likelihood of that ever happening uh right now I'll say no because uh we since we're using only for Laboratories so 20 foot truck trailer means 20 fo trailer will be more than sufficient for our requirements okay thank you okay any other questions from the board for this witness no thank you okay thank you our next witness is our engineer okay and do do we need to swear yeah yeah your name sir excuse me Theus do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth with regard to this application yes okay and for the record can youe Prov your company and Company address yes my company is Heartland engineering uh located at 32 Starlight Drive in Morristown New Jersey and can you please provide your educational background your um licenses and also just any experience that you have presenting before board yes I graduated from New Jersey Institute of Technology in 2005 I been practicing uh with a uh uh with a larger firm uh in the New York New Jersey area uh till about 20 9 UM and then at 2019 um I I started Heartland engineering so I've been practicing in my firm for what will be five years this coming May um my experience um is uh across the board in New Jersey and and and New York but you know New Jersey um in uh developments uh uh private and uh public work and have you appeared before planning boards in the state of New Jersey previously yes I have and you have you been accepted by those boards as an expert in the field of civil engineering yes I have and is your license current and in good standing my New Jersey license is current and we standing yes we'd like to offer him as an expert in engine as I accept I mean does anyone else I'm just assuming no no boards have ever uh declined to accept you as an expert they have not no no question how many um a handful about five or six in the state of New Jersey okay are there any objections to accepting this witness as an expert in the field of civil engineering thank you very much you're deemed an expert for this board Big Al can we just start with an overview of the current conditions of the property and this is a new exhibit so we'll mark this as a what is it yes so uh what we have here is exhibit is essentially a an aerial view of the property um as as uh we previously stated um the mount ay road is uh further to the um offsite to to the west side where the site is accessed by a long drive so off of Mount mon we come down uh this L Drive where we enter the the uh facility itself the campus I suppose um where we have uh the various buildings I was as was discussed earlier around the buildings there are uh circulation and and parking 287 is on this side of which would be the south side of the site um and then these are some uh various pictures of the site itself the proposed Edition for the the proposed elevator Edition is located in essentially the the Nook of the building over here um and the loading dock is um on this side of this building the Southside which is what was discussed being the front the front yard from 287 um this lot itself is also uh flanked uh this it's is cut off there is a um a wet Pond located in between the two properties that is currently serving as the drainage for uh these particular sites is it ation Bas yeah and that wet Pond Basin is not located on this property correct um it it's just partially located up in this corner over here uh but the the proposed work the closest location from the elevator to that pond is approximately 321 and A2 ft from uh from the that point um and that elevator addition just uh as a as a view of it is going to be located um right over here which will provide so the this piece of the building is one story um so the elevator will go in this location and there will be the connector so the the buildings are connected to the second floor and using the site plan sheet can you point out particularly just on a a plain view where that elevator is going to be located um the overall uh the overall oh I'm sorry Mr sophus before we continue this will be exhibit A3 can you just describe yes can you just confirm for the record what is shown on this sheet right so on in this sheet um is our overall site plan uh depicting the entire property then we have two views um zoomed in that location uh one is primarily used to to show the elevator addition and the uh the loading dock the new loading dock that was being proposed and then the other um the other blob is the truck maneuverability um so truck comes in there we're just showing that the truck will be able to pull up back up into the loading dock and not impact um the the overall um um function of the site and uh yep so focusing in on the area of the elevator this particular exhibit shows some green dots can you describe what those dots are proposed to be sure in response to the environmental letter that we received uh what we're proposing here is there was a there was a comment on the letter that if we can introduce um some vegetation to assist uh with some of the storm water aspect of the site so um we what we added to the plan since then is shrubs around the elevator um and then we're also proposing Three Trees um just adjacent to it just to to assist with that and address and address the comment and while we're focusing on that area of the plan this exhibit also shows a silt fence correct yes uh that again is also in response to the letter um just to be um additional layer uh of protection so this way nothing migrates from the area of work so what we're proposing is a Sil fence just surrounding the the addition um just for good practice and that's proposed during construction correct it's a temporary Sil fence during construction and then when the site is stabilized with the landscaping that's established then that uh would would go away would get removed and if we can move to the Loading area that we're proposing can you describe that loading area and particularly the impact to parking in that area right so there is a there's currently at the site an existing uh loading dock um in this location which is just North of the proposed loading dock um and then we are there the the project is proposing a new loading dock just uh planed south of that um in this location um in result of that we are losing two parking spaces which have been called out and in addition to those two parking spaces we are also removing for additional parking spaces correct yes um the reason for that is just somewhere along the lines of of this project four additional parking spaces were uh Marc um and that was not part of the original site plan and it impeded in some of the in the fire zone access um so we are removing that so it it doesn't impact that compon and can you please identify those four spaces yes it's these just the opposite side the other side of the parking of the the paved area of the parking lot that's see these four slides exuse me parking stalls so in a a result of losing those six parking spaces how many parking spaces remain on the lot 198 and how many are required by ordinance um 195 and that is assuming that the space is occupied as office correct that's correct so the reason that we chose to show this as office is because your ordinance doesn't have a standard a parking standard for a lab we do believe that the laboratory use will actually generate less parking required than an office would but just to be conservative we wanted to show that it works even if the whole Space were to be occupied by office and as you heard by the applicant's representative they are expecting approximately 50 to 60 employees so there should be more than sufficient parking um even though those six bases are being removed and then we are um also in receipt of review letters from your um Township planner and for professional in addition to the environmental commission letter and we're also in receipt of a letter from the fire prevention Bureau that was dated January 19th 2024 before we get to that I'm going to ask the board if they have any questions for the engineer does anyone have any questions yep um electric vehicle parking spaces considered we're not proposing any at this time are they required Mr SCH only okay new which this is well if we were creating parking a new whether it's for a new site or if they were adding parking here so with the new um rules this doesn't fall under that and then for the record the photo that you showed of the site is that an accurate representation of the site as it exists now and can you tell us when you took the photo who took it it's the is it dated it's it is not dated but I I took I took the photo myself um it was it was a couple of weeks ago right before the uh the storm over that uh weekend so it's it clear and accurate representation of the site as it exists right now that is correct yes so can I ask you a question about that photo it can you lift it up it doesn't look it doesn't look like a re is that a how did you take that photo with a a drone or how do you uh no this is this is I did not take the aerial image I was I was apologies oh I'm sorry okay I'm sorry you were saying uh you were going to address Mr Sid memo can I just ask a question or or two actually the the site plan you were showing is that A3 did we call that A3 okay I'm a little unclear on whether or not the existing loading space is going to remain or be removed because on that drawing it says to remain but on the architectural drawings it shows it to be walled in and that's well that's my question is it what is it so the the striped loading the area in front of that that striped the actual loading space that has a a dock like a raised dock with ballards and and the area the loading space we'll call it in front of that is that going to be is that going to stay as a load and serve as a loading space a second loading space yes we're not proposing to remove the docker Ballers and we're proposing to leave that area open as but I mean the actual rollup door that goes in on the architectural plans that shows it to be bricked in correct okay so you're getting rid of the rollup door but you're keeping the dock just to unload things right onto that short dock area yeah corre okay so you'll have two loading spaces yeah okay initially it was um identified as one identify as one which would require an exception from the ordinance but that exception will go away so that goes away okay yeah the other exception from the ordinance with regard to the size of the loading space which would apply to the proposed new loading space is now also going to apply to the remaining one you have two under siiz spaces but the the quantity of the spaces is conforming and then the other question was about the parking um calculation on this plan it takes out some area for loading space inside the building is that it's not it's not calculated based on the entire 50,000 and change square feet correct we we we we took the we removed that from the calculation is that just a like a loading area not uh an office space or something of that nature well that I think as with any parking requirement our ordinance you would apply it to the gross square footage it's assumed that there's going to be space like elevator shafts and hallways and storage rooms and loading type receiving areas that aren't actually populated with office employees but it all still counts uh it all has to be uh accounted for in the parking requirement calculation are you saying the calculation different I'm saying I think the calculation based on the 50,100 whatever it is uh 63 yeah it comes out to 203 if it's all calculated based on the for spaces per thousand office requirement so they're short seven well 196 198 that's the way I'm looking at you had 198 okay so your short thought if we're treating this as an office right so uh what are you saying they need another variance what you I think if you're going to assign the entire floor area as office and our ordinance doesn't have a category for laboratory I I I I looked at other ordinances um nearby and they range from one per 300 square feet to one per 500 square feet usually less than office but our ordinance doesn't provide for that uh the closest thing ordinance has is a is a requirement for uh manufacturing and warehousing which is one per 500 so the smart thing for them to do is to ask for a exception well they can ask for a variance the ordinance also does provide if you can meet the uh parking requirement by designating future parking area which in this case would only be what five or six five spaces uh it looks like there's plenty of of space in the existing parking area uh lot the rows could be extended or a little Bank of five spaces could be added somewhere without much disturbance a little more lot coverage not to be constructed now but you know the board could approve uh a banked parking without a variance um if the board chooses to do so C can you um clarify for me it's been a couple weeks since I read the the dra looked at the drawings I know there's going to be laboratory space right GMP Labs yeah yes David were you saying there's a different requirement for labs versus office space our ordinance doesn't have a lab category we have office offices and then we have a category for manufacturing and warehousing which this is not right um okay I looked at a couple of joining towns ordinances and I mean generally speaking I think it generally it a laboratory use would be less at least the towns I looked at had less parking demand um but this the um in our case it does an ordinance requirement is not provided I can tell you when in the past I'm sorry to cut when the board has uh considered uses such as private schools which don't have an ordinance requirement in our ordinance the board this board and the zoning board have relied on the testimony of an applicant to fill in that Gap you know as to what the parking requirement should be and rely on that testimony to to make a determination whether the parking is adequate or not um would it be wise in your you to approve a bank parking of the additional need but and we have jurisdiction to do that the ordinance allows for that as long as they provide an area where it can be constructed and this is a c variance this no it wouldn't be a variance it would it it requires the board's approval okay it doesn't require relief from the ordinance okay so that's might be something you might want to ask us for yes so um Mr sophas can you confirm that we have sufficient space on the prop to designate five spaces as banked which would not be constructed unless deemed necessary by yes we we can we can add that to the plan the the five spaces I mean I think technically you should also I mean I don't Invision this based on what I'm hearing so far that this would have to be constructed but it would uh assume that the lock coverage number would go up by a certain amount of uh percent percentage of a percent um but that can be a if the have can calculate that out five parking spaces Mr SCH um hypothetically based on your review of towns that do have lab ordinances if we had a lab ordinance they would qualify is that fair to say that's what I'm hearing yeah that's a purely research and development thank you but what I'm also hearing is that you're saying that we should have a little bit ofer it's the impervious coverage is going to go up their number is going to go up by some small amount I think they're trying to figure that out approximately 810 square feet and we're just calculating the actual number as a percentage you may want to give yourselves a few square feet bu David have have you discussed your memo have they addressed all the other comments or do we need to go do we need to I think I I think they addressed a lot of it a lot of my comments or questions I'll all right as soon as they're ready we'll jump into that and then we'll we'll review U Bryce's memo as well yeah so again it's about 810 Square ft but to add a little bit of buffer we'll we'll increase that to 1,000 square feet and you're looking at point0 2% of the overall site so this is for the impervious right and do we need this number now David well I think we we have they were proposing 45.9 n so what does that percentage go to 46.2 that's you're ask yes so we can account for the bank okay shall we uh move on to the remaining items in David SLI memo yeah okay David do you want to uh pick up pick that up please okay um looking at my January 12 2024 memo comment starting on page two um one two and three are factual we just talked about number four and the number of parking spaces and as part of the parking calculation I think it was a little unclear um how many actual parking spaces there are on the plan and I I think maybe this exhibit provide some of that information yes and we will as a condition of approval update the actual prary final the numbers provide a schedule for the parking spaces and also the loading spaces and clarify that the existing spaces can stay and that kind of stuff yes we'll update The Zing table to reflect that okay number five talks about I just want to make sure the board attorney is getting all these yep okay number five talks about what we just covered with the the requirement for um the uh the number of parking spaces and the uh now we'll provide Bank parking um number six the applicant did provide the the color exhibit that we A1 uh number seven was whether uh electric vehical parking spaces were going to be provided the answer was no know uh number eight has to do with uh handicap parking spaces which just based on looking on what's out there is not compliant with current um Ada standards and what can be done to bring that up um to compliance I noticed it looked like some of the spaces had um I don't know what the striping is probably outdated I'm not sure about that you can really see the striping on the pavement but the um in some cases there were ramp ramps to get up on the sidewalk and some cases there weren't is it possible to add ramps where they're needed and uh and provide uh for um barrier-free routes from the parking spaces into the buildings yes yes yes we can do that okay number nine was talking about the type of vehicles I think I heard 20 foot was that 20 foot box truck is that what the uh was testified to uh number 10 deals with refu and recyclables I believe the applicant said that that the facilities that are there there is an enclosure there and that would be adequate for them and if it's not they'll increase the frequency of of pickup yeah number 11 hours of operation I think that was 8:30 to 5:30 Monday to Friday 8 to 58 to 530 oh 8 to 5:30 and uh lighting um the existing lighting is to remain I presume and that's adequate for the applicant's purposes yes liting at can you describe the existing sing so there are can you just for the for the record you're referencing a A2 correct yes the A2 exhibit here and there are these light poles um throughout the site um that that provide the lighting for parking lot and then I believe there's also yes um there these these light poles are throughout the entire site um that provide the lighting for the parking lot itself um and then there are flights I believe for the building for the egress and security so they'll remain on 247 or at night time at at night time so there's no cut off time okay number 12 just talks about the architectural plans that were submitted there's a whole lot of paper in there that that this board doesn't need and you'll parse down the volume there uh 13 is just a minor correction on the plan that this is this is not a minor site plan because burner Tash it doesn't have a minor site plan uh approval process um see 14 and 15 are just housekeeping items have you read them and agreed to them yes the exhibit has been updated and we'll submit that as part of the compliance okay number 16 was my question earlier about the loading dock the the dock let's say Will Remain the rollup door is going to be walled over so you'll still have two loading spaces which complies with the ordinance requirement um number 17 uh was comment about addressing any comments from the Township Fire official and Bas rdge fire company and after my memo was issued both the Fire official and the basri fire company issued memos indicating they did not have any comments on this application um 18 is required development fee I'm sure you'll agree to be paying that yes uh 19 uh digital copies of the plans uh to be submitted to the engineering department and 20 the board standard uh rules for uh assuming the application is granted um 20a there there are six months to get the plans revised to meet any conditions of approval and signed by the board secretary in six month is going to be adequate yes and B uh is a standard rule about getting a permit within two years of the resolution and finishing uh within a year after that are those doable yes you expect to comply the applicant's hoping to be even quicker than that that's all I have thank you okay um you ready Mr attorney good yeah we move on to M the board Engineers memo Bry good thank you I think most of the items in I I'm referring to the January 16th 202 four letter report uh most of the items in the technical review section have been addressed with the revised site plan and the responses that were provided by the applicant on January 29th I have a couple that I just want to go over real quick um maybe I'm missing it as s and has there been any communication with the Bernard sewage Authority uh Mr uh Mr Good can you identify which number I'm sorry that would be uh number three C on page two thank you of my report so the Architects and the um Engineers from The Architects firm who are developing the actual construction permit drawings are and they calculated the plumbing flow and believe that what's out there is currently adequate and to the extent that we need to have a letter confirming that from the Sewer Authority we would be happy to get that okay I would just recommend to the board that if approval is granted that would be a condition of approval that the letter from the Sewer Authority is provided that coverage is adequate sorry just taking a couple not I was just read sorry I'm just taking some notes I'm sorry um looking at number 10 on page three it did not hear in the list of variances that were being requested that the existing non-conforming condition that parking spaces are currently within the setbacks of the site should be uh asked for and I see no reason why they should not be granted it's an existing non-conforming condition but I think we want to make sure the site is up to date with its variances is that correct Mr yeah they were um it's like the law coverage well the existing law coverage anyway it became non-conforming due to ordinance uh amendments that have occurred since 1969 and the applicant's not proposing to change any of those conditions so assume asking for that yes to the extent it's required for the existing condition uh the ideas that you may have in mind for the bank parking presumably most of that parking area isn't a conforming location and that that would be in a conforming location I guess that's a question with the uh conforming setbacks you see see plenty of room within the conforming area to yes we'll find a conforming location for those bases thank you um okay looking at number 12 on page three um in the response and and in tonight's testimony we you know talked about lighting that there's going to be no change to the existing lighting uh didn't see any details on the plans or identification um for the loading space signage that is required per the ordinance uh will the applicant be placing the the signage that's necessary yes we'll provide the required signage and we'll include that on the plans Mr good do you have any any other I'm looking are you finished I'm looking oh okay wait okay I uh have no additional questions at this time okay great thank you um there was a memo for the record from Somerset County they did not have any do you want to speak to that correct we um applied to the Somerset County planing board and received a letter in response from them without any comments for us to address okay and I think the last letter from the environmental commission yes we are in receipt of the letter from the environmental commission and I believe we I addressed the comments that were in there but if I I made for the record run through them the first comment related to best management practices to protect um any sensitive areas that are on site as you saw from the presentation from Mr sophus we are over 300 feet from the nearest water body with both a parking lot improv and a building between us and that area we are proposing a silt fence during construction which is temporary during construction in order to make sure that we don't have any issues with um any of that area sort of spreading into other areas of the site um we are as we spoke about increasing the lot coverage and there was um a concern about the potential impact of storm water runoff and a request that some um plantings be added so we are adding those three trees and nine shrubs around the area of the elevator addition um we did review again the wetlands mapping and um do not believe that there are wetlands in the area of disturbance and as you saw from our plan over 300 and 500 ft away so we're not sure if that comment is a carryover or meant for this particular application but we don't I think that's a misplaced comment the environmental commission makes a comment the second to last paragraph of the memo um above the comment about EV charging stations that that one is accurate as far as protecting the Wetland and water courses to the north of the property I believe there's a couple comment in here like where whole paragraphs were cut and pasted or left from a prior memo and that first one that talks about wetlands and and the surface water body on the property and there's another one about existing wetlands and referring to permits being needed I think those are just misplaced comments I agree okay so I guess my question is how do we address that do we need to have the environmental commission reissue their memo because it has you can just note on the record that those are not applicable to this okay thought there were other coms uh well there's what comment about due to the age of the existing dwelling there may be lead paint asbest umwell it it was built probably around 1970 or so the approvals were in 69 I don't know um um I mean I don't I I wouldn't say that that's I don't know that that's not an issue yeah it's definitely not a residence all right so is it those two paragraphs as far as we know yeah about with regard to the wetlands and the uh and ground tanks okay um is is that all you have on the environmental there's one other comment relating to during demolition um the applicants to consider recycling repurposing or gifting any demoed material we have a very limited amount of demolition that's suppos as part of this application so to the extent something is salvageable to be recycled we can try to do that but we don't believe that there will be much that will be worth respect thank you for considering okay um I is that the end of your presentation yes okay so at this time time I suppose I can um do we go to public comment or ask the board can ask the board if they have any further comments open it to the public before we end that can we just have questions of the witnesses I don't think we open it up to the public open up to the public for question yeah so so thank you first we'll ask the board if they have any further questions regarding these Witnesses or the application itself no I see no questions we can open questions to the public regarding this application yes tile Stein Riverside Drive 172 Riverside Drive can you say your name again sir Todd Edelstein e d l s t e i n everybody knows to I could do it phonetically also if you um can you show um where the par handicap parking is on this plan it would have to gu you use you use the mouse handicap spaces over in this location that I'm hovering over there are handicap spaces in this location and then there are our handy cap spaces on the far side of uh the site now um Mr SCH had mentioned about um banking some parking spaces if you do intend to um use those um Park make parking spaces would you be willing to put EV in one of those spaces that you um decide to um use so the the applicant is considering the potential for future Ed spes um not as part of this particular application but the question is to the extent that we have to um develop and use the new banked spaces in the event that Township finds that there's insufficient parking at the site could one of them be any SP future future one of those say yes yes hopefully they'll be put in long before you need those extra five spaces but right so the moment we mov we to back there is a a plan in in their sort of development process of this site to have EV spaces just not at this initial mve in stage so we can certainly agree I understand that I'm just throwing the anchor there you know if you do you make more spaces you know in those um Bank spots it' be appreciated yes it may be located closer to the building just for purposes of where the electricity is coming from but we will agree to a condition that one of those spes be an EV okay thank you very much is anyone else in the public have questions comments regarding this application I see no no further requests for public comment I will close the public session public session is now closed can I add that that counts as par that's right we would like to continue to ask for the impervious coverage variance based on all five just so that we are covered um but yes to the exent okay if there are no further questions regarding the application I suppose we can ask the board to deliberate and just add your comments how you feel about the application if you're in favor or not in favor before we take a formal vote is anyone Tyler no going on you did a nice J presentation thank you for your compromis yeah and I will add that um I think it's great that you that we have a a a tenant an owner of this property that's going to take this sort of dilapidated building and improve it modify it for pharmaceutical research and development laboratory I actually uh my profession is in the same in pharmaceutical so I understand gmps and Laboratories and I understand what's required um to modify building of this nature I also do project management and engineering and I did attend NJIT I have a degree in engineering myself so I am in favor of this application and I I think it's a great addition to the town and um that's pretty much all I have to say at this point I would I would say ditos to to all of the comments made so far I think um you know noting that the largest vehicle potentially used is a 20 foot box truck um you know noting that um you know that will provide minimal additional traffic uh to mount Ary road which um is a highly used count Road um you know noting that the you know to to Paul's point about or our chair's Point excuse me um you know that this is an existing facility uh that is being elevated and and um aligning with a lot of the other research and development facilities that we have in our town uh so it matches that culture and consistency that we have um you know I I also appreciate the applicant's uh willingness to to um add those uh additional conditions to their approval including the letter of advocacy for um the sewage Authority um as well as the the conforming Lots um related to the banking of parking um I think it's also exciting to note that you know you have uh you know a future for this lot too um you know going from 50 employees to to something much greater so that that's exciting I think um you know from a a Revenue tax based perspective I think that's great for our town um and I'll yield there okay just like to say uh thank you for bringing your business here to burner Township yes welcome yeah and one other quick thing I wanted to add was I think the location with it being so far off of Mount ay Road it butts up against 287 there's a minimal impact to neighbors to site it's a great spot the construction shouldn't really impact anyone it's a very small project the you know the adding the elevator in the existing uh in the construction plan so thank you and having said that I think we can move on is there anyone else no uh to I'll ask for a motion let me just lay out what that motion would be okay so you have a preliminary and final major site plan make sure you sorry preliminary and final major site plan approval there the variances are a little bit changed from uh what they were at the beginning you have a uh maximum lot coverage of 46.2% where 40% is permitted and 45.97 per is existing uh you also have loading areas uh are currently in uh side rear yard sorry currently in the front yard which is Route 287 uh section 21- 22.2 of the ordinance requires uh that they not be in a front yard um you have an exception sorry you have another variance for the existing non-conforming condition of parking spaces within the setx U and you have one exception now the minimum size of loading spaces or both loading spaces uh required is 12T by 25t and is 11.8 ft by 18.1 ft there's also several conditions initially like to start out the conditions are it'll comply with the planners and Engineers letters uh to the extent outlined in this testimony here there are several more specific conditions have uh it will add shrubs around the elevator and three trees uh you'll be banking five parking if needed um update the P to final site plan zoning table to reflect uh new parking impervious uh add ramps and provide barrier free routes uh from the parking lot for uh as close as you can get I guess to ADA compliance um provide a letter from the Sewer Authority uh saying that it is your current amount of capacity um provide required loading space signage per the board Engineers memo uh also that um if you do put in the bank spaces one space on your site has to become an EV space or one additional space on your site has to become an EV space um any other items uh that were not covered here and were testimony and the record agreed to are also conditions and if the board has any other items that they'd like me to add to the condition list thank you C so you need a motion for okay and final cement approval the three C variances with the stated conditions okay I will ask for that motion I'll make that motion so motion for preliminary and final site the pr heces and the conditions as noted by our attorney and I'll second it we have the second and the exception oh sorry and the exception yes floting space size yes good job thank you yes I'm sorry is that second thank you Mr Rio yes yes Miss Mand yes Miss Angel yes Mr yes Mr yes Miss Smith yes chairman Dean yes thank you congratulations thank you very much thank you welcome welcome to basketball all right um we're not done yet so I guess that concludes the application and did I call Mr linski did I not call you I apologize I lost track of my list here I apologize new list okay so um with the conclusion of the application we can move on to next item on the agenda which is comments from Members plan board members good to beb back to be part of you guys okay great and um comments from the staff if I I just wanted to congratulate uh not only our new members our returning members our new leadership um congratulations and of course our returning professionals so thank you for all the work that you do here okay thank you and with that we'll take a motion to I I do have one thing I'd like to make note for the record that um commit MCN Mr Seville Mr Rino Miss Smith all took their o of office prior to meeting so they all been D for the record we have that and um was there anything else do we need to discuss next meeting or no you'll be getting your agenda about a week in advance and we'll go from there okay having said that I will take a motion to adjourn the meeting do I have a second second okay the meeting is adjourned