all right house over in G not welcome to the Clark Township planning board meeting Thursday March 7th 2024 in compliance with the open public meetings act chapter 231 pl1 1975 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by mailing the annual schedule of meetings to The Star Ledger Union County local Source Union County Hall and tap into a Clark by posting such annual meeting schedule on the bulletin board in town hall reserve for such announcements and by the proper filing of said notice with the Township Clerk formal action may be taken at this meeting this meeting is a Judicial proceeding any questions or comments must be limited to issues that are relevant to what the board May legally consider in reaching a decision and to Corum appropriate to a Judicial hearing must always be maintained and to take attendance mayor bonacorso here Mr olrick councilman minti here Mr cotch here Mr triola Mr Alman here Mr Jacobson Mr Steinberg Mr C yeah Mr brano Mr Cruz Mr O Conor here Mr Ricky here detective mados Mr Sasa okay let's stand for the Pledge of Allegiance has everyone had a chance to read the minutes from the February meeting any questions comments if not I'd like a motion to approve the amend minutes motion thank you Mike thank you Nate all in favor I okay um all correspondence of planning board is available at town hall for viewing by the public if they so wish so I'd like a motion dispense with the reading of Correspondence motion thank you Mike thank you Nate all in favor I on to the amendment resolution um has everyone had a chance to ring this read the spring enterprise LLC 6062 Westfield Avenue block 106 Lots three and four resolution any questions or comments if not I'd like a motion to approve motion thank you Nate second thank you Mike Mike roll call please hold on one sec mayor bonacorso yes councilman Manti yes Mr cotch yes Mr Alman yes Mr Clay yes resolution approved next point of business consistency review area of non- condemnation Redevelopment 175 and 181 Westville Avenue block 77 Lots two and four has everyone had a chance to read that um before you proceed Mr chair I believe the planner has some comments to make okay I'm sorry I was looking was sure we prepared me can I have a second to pull it up for a second uh we prepared a a Redevelopment plan it's dated January 31st 2024 it's for Block 77 Lots 2 and4 175 181 uh Westfield AV uh this board previously uh evaluated and recommended that the area would uh qualified as an area in need of Redevelopment ment um here uh the the Redevelopment plan um largely is consistent with the existing zoning in place for the downtown Village district with some very minor changes um those changes pertain to um um some some small set Packs along along Westfield Avenue like it's my opinion as the planner that that the plan is substantially consistent with the existing regulations in in zoning today in the DTV District to the extent that there are in any inconsistencies um they're very minor and contextual in nature and it and it's consistent with the municipal master plan anything else that's it have any questions there was no questions on the resolution if not I'd like a motion approves the resolution motion thank you Mike second thank you Nate roll call please mayor bonacorso yes councilman Manti yes Mr cotch yes Mr Alman yes Mr Clay yes resolution approved next on the agenda is site plan application 27 Westfield Avenue LLC 2733 Westfield Avenue blocks 91 lots 8.01 10.01 and 30 councelor yes good evening everyone thank you very much for being out tonight Steven hail representing the applicant 27 Westfield Avenue LLC uh and uh first I also like to thank the board professionals and Donna for sending uh your departmental comments reports which we will be prepared to address this evening it's always helpful to get those reports and get good feedback from from the uh municipality so uh just by way of background this is a presently the again the property 2733 uh Westfield Avenue uh right now it's improved with three separate buildings uh two mixed juice buildings and a and a home uh the property is within the uh DTV District uh which permits uh what we're proposing it's also part of a Redevelopment plan that was adopted by uh with the with oh man you I guess you got to be very close yeah thanks which is was a Redevelopment plan that was adopted last year by the by the township went obviously from Township to the board and then back to the township and what we're proposing this evening is very consistent with that Redevelopment plan and the underlying zoning uh what's proposed here is again a mixed use building 39 units uh and uh our architect will explain that in more detail we will also comply with the affordable housing requirements uh that required also complying with the EV charging requirements uh and there will be a small uh retail SL Resturant a small one I said approximately 1,600 square ft uh we will also be seeking which is permitted under the Redevelopment plan uh we do comply with the parking for the residential component and actually have an excess uh particularly when you factor in the credits that get get for Ev and the Redevelopment plan does allow for waiver uh for the uh retail restaurant again it's small it's only 1500 square fet so uh we feel that again a project a great Redevelopment project I think you'll see based upon the plans that were prepared by our architect we have a nice rendering of the building also our engineer will address the engineering aspects of it drainage Landscaping lighting we then have our traffic engineer to address any traffic circulation parking and our professional planner to address the few uh uh deviations slash wavers variances that I articulated so that's an overview of the the project uh uh Mr chairman and if there's no preliminary questions we we're going to be in if we could please with our architect to take us through the the building and he'll also address the affordable okay like to call upon uh Miguel Martin I I think that one's on and check it all right can be sworn please state your name and spell it sure Miguel Martin migu l m a r tiin please raise your right hand I Miguel I Miguel Martin do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will tell the truth that I will tell the truth in these proceedings at these proceedings so help me God so help me God thank you great thank you Council uh right um Mr Martin if you could please begin with giving the board the benefit your work educational experience area of expertise licenses you hold and whether you've been accepted as a professional uh architect licensed architect in the state of New Jersey before their boards or courts sure um I have a Bachelors of architecture from NJIT uh I've have a u registered architect in the state of New Jersey since 2010 um I've testified before numerous boards on similar applications including um move to accept second great in favor I thank you very much all right so Mr Martin if you could please give us an overview guess we'll touch on existing conditions and then we can move on to what's proposed by way of uh improvements and then we can touch on the uh review reports from the municipality and I'll move away so you can take care of the screen so the the application is for first to demolish the existing structures on the property um there is an existing uh single family dwelling on lot 10.01 and an existing 2 and 1 half story building on lot 8.01 um um and the intent is to uh construct a new four-story mixed use building consisting of three stories of residential Apartments over one story of parking in a commercial space the uh residential portion consists of 39 rental apartments and divided up into 13 one-bedroom apartments 14 two-bedroom apartments and 12 three-bedroom apartments there is an amenity space on each floor so on the first floor there's a 500 ft Business Center on the second floor there's a 500t gym and the third floor there's a 900t club room in addition to these amenities the the applicant proposes an exterior rooftop deck that is optional um each residential floor will have a finished ceiling of about 9 feet to meet the the affordable housing requirement the applicate is designating six Apartments as affordable let me zoom in the applicant is uh designating six Apartments as affordable and consists of one one-bedroom apartment three three two-bedroom apartments two three-bedroom apartments the architectural plans have been highlighted on the various floors to designate the units that um that will be used as affordable housing um the affordable units will have the same finishes and treatments as the market units there won't be a difference the six affordable units meet and exceed the 15% required by the DTV zoning requirement moving on to the ground floor you're referring to an exhibit would you mark them and so we can have some semblance of what you're talking about in the record no issue uh the the exhibit that I'm showing that I'm displaying is the architectural drawings last revised January 22nd 2024 these were previously submitted to the board and available to the public I will be scrolling through one two three four five six when you refer to a she uh you're referring to a sheet just identified as A1 or sheet six or however you want to do it absolutely so moving on to the ground floor which is on sheet 810 uh an open parking garage is proposed with 69 parking spaces a residential Lobby is also proposed with Frontage on Westfield Avenue and with direct access to the parking lot immediately adjacent to the lobby is a 1600t vanilla Box commercial space and will be prepared for either retail or res restaurant use in addition to the ground floor uses the applicant also proposes an optional basement located under the the retail restaurant area and the lobby this space will be used for uh it will be used as a storage area subdivided into storage cages for use by the building's tenants the commercial space will have a ceiling of 14 ft and the lobby will have a ceiling feet of uh a ceiling height of about 10 ft uh as previously indicated the parking garage will contain 69 parking spaces the Redevelopment plan requires 1.75 spaces per apartment which equals 68.2 spaces for 39 Apartments the parking layout is distributed in combination in a combination of 30 tandem stalls and nine single space stalls this provides 39 stalls for the 39 residential Apartments every apartment will have an off- street parking as permitted by the red Redevelopment plan a waiver is request for the commercial parking requirement uh in addition to the residential parking the garage is provided with a short-term loading and unloading area for daily deliveries including moving van and trucks the garage ceiling height will be 12 ft High to accommodate these vehicles including the Township's new ambulance 12 dedicated EV charging spots and an ebike and a and a bike rack will be provided in the garage now I'm displaying a rendering that we prepared this was not provided as part of the uh architectural drawings you want that as A1 uh I think the U floor plans were was A1 this would be A2 so in the rendering the exterior of the building will be a combination of brick masonry fiber cement board and plank siding aluminum coping and PVC trim the color palette selected consists of Shades of Gray with a charcoal black ribbon at the base of the building a slate black cornice is proposed along along with black and white accent pieces throughout the brick masonry veneer is limited to the elevation along the Westfield Avenue Frontage and the balance of the elevations will be a combination of fiber cement siding the overall Building height will be 50 ft the proposed styling materials and colors are consistent with the Redevelopment P plans requirements Additionally the the building will be designed in accordance with all applicable codes for handicap accessibility the project will comply with Americans with Disability Act the fair housing act and New Jersey barrier-free can I go on with the reports yes thank you if you could now yet address any it report that deal with architecture so starting with the engineers report dated March 4th 2024 item item 2A so regarding the adequacy of the tandem parking spaces as previously provided as previously stated 39 parking stalls in in Tandem and single space configurations are proposed the 30 tandem stalls will be reserved for the 26 multi-bedroom units with four single bedroom units receiving a tandem a tandem stall additionally the applicant will have to develop and a parking management plan that will meet the fluid needs of his tenants uh item 2B of the report regarding the EV charging stations the charging unit is graphically shown at the end of the parking stall I'm just going to pull up the actually I'll I'll stick with the exhibit A1 sheet A10 so for example the the charging units are shown at the back wall of the the parking spots so in these spots over here they're against this back wall whereas and and these are sitting at the far end of the tandem spots there's no requirement that these charging units have to be located there one option is to locate those charging units on an intermediate column or on a side wall so that there is no issue that they they can reach um well in addition with a 25 foot uh charging cable there shouldn't be an issue with any uh you know reaching either the far or the immediate uh parking spot so effectively we have two charging spots there additionally with the um some of these uh providers like charge point they um uh they can set up the charging station so that anyone can use it so for example if this uh let's say if we use this column over here as an example and there's a charging unit here that charging unit can effectively charge a vehicle in any of the four spots um an EV vehicle does not need to be charged on a daily basis unless are consuming two or driving 200 miles in a day uh otherwise single use spots are provided for those that that do need an additional charge we're proposing that this last spot over here would probably be a shortterm uh parking spot for uh charging uh anybody who needs an an additional charge uh regarding the so now moving on to item three a I'm sorry 3 a b c and d I'm going to defer to the site engineer so I'll move on to item 3A this is regarding the the EV charging station locations and the fire department's concern there was an additional report provided by the fire department and it was dated uh September 12th 2023 and in this report uh the fire chief uh his recommendation one was to reduce the number of EV charging spaces originally we had 13 it's been reduced to 12 um his addition an additional request was is that to move the charging stations as close as possible to the entrance of the building um so that's the layout that we have so those tandem spots we have four that are immediately accessible from the driveway off of Westfield AB and then we have the additional five along the bottom side and then one so six total off of Washington um in addition the the fire chief expressed concern over the fire suppression in the um in the building the the building is going to be designed uh to code and that requires it to be uh to for an NFPA 13 full commercial sprinkler system to be provided over the parking garage what is different between today's code and what was proposed probably a year or two ago is that that that NFPA 13 has been modified so that uh it increases the hazard level of parking all parking garages regardless if EV vehicles are in it or not uh increases the hazard level so that additional coverage sprinkler coverage is provided over the uh parking uh moving on to item 4A of the report of the engineers report uh all Landscaping areas should include an irrigation system absolutely uh 4B the landscape design should be approved by the Shad Tre director we have no issue with Pro with them providing us input the item 5A is the uh affordable housing obligation I've reviewed the the requirements and uh they that were proposing six affordable units which equals which actually exceeds 15% of the of the required uh affordable moving on to the planners report dated March 1st 2024 beginning with item 2A the uh the minimum lot width on the for the application ranges from 150 to 100 ft where the Redevelopment plan requires 125 ft minimum um the the Redevelopment specifically lists the lots that we're doing the Improvement on unfortunately that was an oversight in the in the writing of the Redevelopment plan uh the owner I believe has reached out to neighboring properties to see if he can expand the project but unfortunately that those properties are not for sale um moving on to item B2B to permit a maximum impervious coverage of 96.0 % with this we will comply and reduce our coverage to to be below 96% and to provide that we have to to accommodate that there's a series of locations where we propose concrete uh surfaces that can be landscaped so one is the bike rack area showing on drawing A10 of exhibit a the bike rack area is shown with a concrete surface we can move the bike rack over a bit so it's easier easily accessible from the drive a and then remove some of that concrete and install additional Landscaping the other space behind this stair Tower is not accessible and can be completely removed to increase um to reduce our coverage requirement uh so moving on to item 2C uh this is regarding the 69 off street parking spaces where uh where between 67 and 89 spaces are required so here we're requesting a waiver a waiver in accordance with the uh uh the Redevelopment plan to omit the the commercial parking requirement the um if we base the parking requirement solely on the residential uh the the residential number we would need 69 parking spaces and because we're providing the electrical Vehicles we get to reduce it by another six to seven spots so we actually would have a a surplus of parking for the residential component uh item 2D uh for not providing a detailed landscape Hardscape plan here the we're requesting a waiver because the uh the minimal amount of landscaping around the the the property we felt it wasn't uh necessary to hire uh to to get a landscape architect involved considering that much of this is is basically low coverage um uh plantings moving on to 2D no 2E for not providing Street trees in accordance with section the uh section 195-209 of the township code here we're trying to uh comply with the requirements so we are proposing two new shade trees along Westfield Avenue there's an existing shade tree located already in Westfield Avenue in front of the property um along Washington we're proposing a new shade tree and then I believe there is an existing tree already in front of the property along Washington item 2f uh again this is another waiver this is for the 5 foot wide side Sidewalk in the back uh originally we did have a 10- foot sidewalk to comply with the Redevelopment plan but after discussion discussions with uh Mr Ricky we uh we all agreed that uh considering the residential fi of Washington Street that a 5 put sidewalk is more appropriate item 3A the applicant should should clarify whether the affordable units will contain the same interior finishes as the market units that was provided in in my previous testimony that yes we will provide the same finishes and treatments as Market units there won't be any difference item 3C while the architecture Cal plans depict the building height of 49.5 ft and the engineering plans depict 50 ft we ask that the building height be verified in accordance with the above definition the architectural plans have been revised so pointing to sheet um sheet 8 a20 the exterior elevation front elevation has been revised to indicate a a building height of 50 ft to be consistent with the site Engineers drawings Mr Mr Martin I believe it's it's a non-issue but I believe he may have changed the back to 49.5 maybe off one of your previous drawing so it's it's an nonissue we're just looking for consistency problem uh item 4A the architectural plans now depict an optional 3,800 ft amenity deck on the rooftop uh that is correct the the rooftop would be used specifically for the tenants of the building uh item 4 a um sorry 5A as previously discussed we're requesting the waiver for the uh the commercial parking if we provide the parking simply on the uh commercial on on the residential requirement we would re be required 69 I'm sorry yes 69 spots with the EV credit that would put us down um six or seven spots of uh of surplus um the so now we're moving on to item 5B um before you leave 5A um I think the comment included a lot more more detailed response as to how you're going to meet the the commercial part of it um and and that would depend on hours of operation and things of that nature are you going to address that or is someone else going to so what I'll what I'll address is that the the 1600 sqare foot uh commercial space um if we uh based on my experience and designing if it was to be a restaurant uh A600 ft space half of that roughly would be back of house space so a kitchen bathrooms circulation so you're probably looking at roughly 40 people at most uh to use the to use that uh that space so if you base that using that number so if I used ,600 square ft using the parking requirement of um 1 over 50 one spot for every 50 square ft 32 spaces would be required assuming that two occupants are per card that would be 64 people to visit the restaurant I would not be a able to seat not probably not even close to 40 uh people in the restaurant so I feel that that parking requirements is a little bit stringent so if we were to have that um I believe the uh uh the uh our traffic engineer might be able to I believe he has done some calculation on based on the uh his traffic assessment that there's additional parking available on the street to accommodate that use using your logic of 40 people only fitting in there or less that's still and you're saying two per car that's still 20 vehicles and there 20 vehicles but we have also if we and all street parking is not accountable for complying with the regulations well the the the residential component the residential component we are in compliance and the Redevelopment plan does permit a waiver on that requirement on the commercial parking requirement provided that there's off street parking I mean on street parking uh and other means for the for the use a lot of spots yeah there will be additional testimony on that on that item including hours of operation and what type of restaurant whether it's a breakfast lunch dinner kind of arrangement the applicant is not proposing the use we're just setting it up as a vanilla box it could be retail it could be some kind of a a food establishment um the applicant is not determining what that use is right now um I have a quick question um the middle the middle section the 27 um it looks to me there's an extra floor I'm assuming that's for the elevator just my clarification so on the on the elevation that the correct that's the stair Tower and the uh elevator Lobby to access the um the rooftop now if the rooftop does not get constructed those pieces would be uh lowered wouldn't they count towards the height of the building then and houses including the uh the stair and the uh elevator Tower are excluded from the uh Building height is that correct Mr Ricky um I'm sorry I was having a cyborg conversation with Mr Cruz what can you just repeat your question please uh the question was we were talking about the section of the building above the number that goes beyond the 50 ft and it was explained to be part of the staircase to the roof elevator equipment I guess yes that's that's my understanding that's a permissible exception under the under the code all right thank you so um moving on to 5B uh two spaces or 2.89% of the parking spaces are not depict are now depicted as compact spaces the project is in compliance with the um Redevelopment plan item 5c parking uh the applicant agreed to this requirement at a technical review meeting this is regarding um that the that the uh that the parking for the tenants is included in their rent there will not be an additional fee to parking under the building uh item 5D the site plan now depicts the commercial area as either restaurant or retail we know that the proposed 1600 square foot feet of space is relatively modest um as previously stated before um the uh uh 1600 feet if if it's whether it's retail or or a restaurant is is on the smaller side for for those establishments uh item 5e uh clarify the tandem parking how will work with the 13 one-bedroom units uh I stated before that the there will be 30 tandem uh stalls where there is believe I said 2 six yes where when there's 26 multi-bedroom units that will take priority to those tandem SP stalls so that would leave four uh single bedroom um units with a with a tandem stall we do not see uh an issue some people have two cars item 5f the applicant now proposed proposes two single-use electrical vehicle charging locations this is to help address the issue with having all the electrical V all the electrical charging stations in a tandem spot the single use spots would be used for whomever uh you know would need a a a charge and not parking in a tandem spot item 5G continuing comment so this is regarding the 24t wide driveway um I'm going to defer some of that this testimony over to the site engineer and traffic engineer however the the building opening itself including the wrapping of the brick into the uh into the driveway that building the the opening is 28 ft so it's 4 feet wider than than the driveway requirement item 5H support columns um the comment was addressed item five 5i the comment was addressed this was regarding the ceiling height in the garage that we are not proposing a 12T ceiling in the garage to accommodate delivery vehicle moving vans and the Township's uh ambulance item 5j this is regarding the temporary loading and unloading area that we're proposing in the parking garage now if I scroll over to sheet A10 again so we're proposing a loading and unloading area that would be used for for movein daily deliveries um uh including uh delivery trucks in in the event there's an emergency vehicle like an ambulance has to enter we're providing the space underneath the the the building to accommodate them um the site engineer um has provided a uh a sign that indicates that no parking loading and unloading uh will be provided at the spot and I'll let him point that out on his drawings if I may just say one thing most of the comments in in the letter are addressed I I show a progression over time in the letter where it starts out and there's a question and this is the third reiteration of the letter and the applicant has has really addressed most of the comments I'm not sure if the board wants to go through the addressed comments or just anything remaining but I don't delete them I show the progression that it shows that you've made changes over time so I'll just want to state that for the record right okay so skipping over addressed comments the uh the next one would be item 6B regarding the sidewalks again we're requesting a waiver as previously stated because uh originally we had proposed a 10t sidewalk to comply with the redem Redevelopment plan and it was uh it was uh after discussions with Mr Ricky we we felt it was appropriate to reduce the width of the sidewalk to to be consistent with the residential uh neighborhood in the back the uh next item suceed C regarding coordinating the Project's uh streetscape with the project across the street the proposed Redevelopment across the street we agreed to comply the applicant uh the site the site drawings have been revised to indicate that note skipping over D skipping over five e going to architecturals item 7 A1 uh this is regarding the the side wall covering the uh shielding the the parking garage originally we proposed 10 ft we reduced the the the height of the wall to uh to six feet so that falls in line with the requirements for a fence um the applicant uh proposes two options as far as a solid masonry wall I'm scrolling over to sheet a20 of the submitted architectural plans one option is a a pier fence combination and the other option is a solid a solid wall um the the actual option to select is going to be dep determined on the um uh the construction budget but at a minimum you would be provided with a uh uh a short brick wall with a fence on top and peers in between uh moving on to item 7 A2 uh the idea of so this comment is relating to trying to uh coordinate the the architecture with the application across the street um the the the whole idea is to be unique to stand out so that the uh in in the best interest of the applicant to try and coordinate um with the uh application across the street it would be more inappropriate uh the applicant is proposing more of a modern look looking building uh the application across the street is is more of a traditional looking Style with Gables red brick and uh white trim and cornices um whereas we're taking the approach of more of a modern looking um uh building the other thing I want to point out that application was uh was approved about four or 5 years ago and work on that project has not begun so uh my applicant is in the process in uh of of getting a construction estimates and preparing construction documents so he's looking to move as soon as possible and construct the building uh item 7 A3 HVAC penetrations we are not proposing any large HVAC penetrations on the exterior of the building all HVAC uh condensers would be located on the on the proposed flat roof uh any penetrations that you might see would be located in the uh uh in the recessed balconies and those are going to be probably 4 in diameter penetrations for exhaust and um uh la for the dryer exhaust and bathroom exhaust uh item 7B building materials uh so the the material selected as stated before is going to be a combination of masonry with uh uh fiber cement siding masonry brick with a fiber cement siding I did bring a sample pallet here to um to show the board um however uh I uh my intent or the you know our intent was always to install a uh construct a mock wall at the site because that's really the best way to look at these materials um item 7B I'm sorry we went over that one 7 C common addressed 7D signage common addressed excuse me did you say you brought an exhibit to to show maybe you wanted to share that let the board touch it maybe pass it pass it around or uh it's kind of heavy I'll I'll put it up I to mark that as A3 um well I'll just hold it first okay and then I'll move around too so everyone can see it so this is the the the Brick that would be at the I'll use the hand so the brick on the bottom is the this is the brick in the bottom which is a a blackish brick that's the the base I'm going to pull up also the um the rendering so you can follow along so there's a black base then we have a uh a pre-fabricated um ribbon that's going to go above that this is uh uh basically a pre-fabricated brick by SCH di this is a another this is the the field brick that's going to go throughout the the front of the building then we have the Slate black that's going to be the corners at the top the panel siding the gray for the panel siding and then any white uh PVC trim that you see in the rendering okay so the panels are a lot lighter than they they really appear on the graphic as correct okay so moving on to uh 7e uh so we address the uh Mr Ricky's concerns so we dressed up the openings into the garage so we added the um the the grates at the bottom of the opening and then I added some storefront paneling at the top so that it looked more consistent with the uh the storefront at the rest of the building uh item 7f the balconies the the tenant the the landlord will provide a lease restriction and enforcement to uh to ensure that no storage of of uh household goods or anything like that are on the balcony and they're kept nice and clean uh item 7g rain gutters they're going to be located uh internally there won't be any visible on the uh exterior of the building trash switching back over to the architectural plan oops so if I this one this is the the top floor sheet 8813 we have a trash room on every floor that's going to be able to store a couple of bins in there and there is going to be a shoot there where trash is going to be sent down to a trash room um on the lowest floor uh trash will be collected in bins in the in the trash room in the ground floor and hauled out as needed on a schedule determined by the uh by the applicant I believe that completes the uh the letter yeah thank you very much I have no further preliminary questions of Mr Martin at this time okay have question um all the affordable units are grouped together or shown group together if there's no different in the finishes why are you segregating them as you're showing that well they're actually distributed among three floors but they're all grouped in one corner that's really for ease of construction because the units just stack but a three bedroom units is a three bedroom unit and you're the six affordable units are going to be spread out between all the units so you didn't have to put the one bedroom unit in that corner it could be distributed through the building just curious yeah I mean I I agree with you I have no issue with indicating so that one is a unit 1 C I can indicate another a different unit as being affordable so that way it's not uh they're all located in the same corner now as we discussed earlier you said all the spots are for the apartments the 39 units and that adds up to the Tandem and singles um and the waiver can be given if so deemed by the board for on street parking have you do you have a plan presented that will show us that there's 20 spots on street that are available for use let so the the site engineer we have a site engineer and traffic engineer um they will provide additional information that now the EVS are only for the building correct that is correct with with less than 1% of vehicles on the road today EVS are is it the plan to only rent to people that own EVS in are you stating that we have too many uh EV asking for isn't it a state law that you have to have so many per lot correct I believe it's 15% yeah it's a state Rich you don't number off top here it's a state law um Mr chairman that you have to have so many and so many parking lots uh so many I realize that but but it's not un like we just approved for the new medic center it's kind of an open parking lot anybody could access those spots these are going to be specific to the people in the building right um it just seems that if a person gets the spot with an EV and doesn't have an EV it does doesn't make sense to give a credit or to be installing it so the configuration of the parking is what I guess I'm saying we're being asked to accommodate this configuration of the Stalls the double stalls and the EV units uh that's probably not um just seems like a concession that we have to make cotch the tandem spaces were part of the original Redevelopment plan concept um that was developed and the state ordinance itself mandates the amount of EV spaces that need to go in um by virtue of the applicant and I believe their traffic consultant is going to provide some testimony but the the EV spaces are essentially effective as a driveway would be that someone with two vehicles would have access to an EV in their own driveway um Mr Conor you're saying that the stacking is part of our affordable housing plan it it was part of our Redevelopment plan for this application yes which was developed years before the requirement of the Mandate for the EV so the two don't really mix together you're saying we have the stacking allowed a few years later the government says you have to put in EV stations and right now you're saying the two don't really mesh in my mind I don't know how the rest of the board feels they're they're providing the minimum number of EV spots required by the law and they anticipate managing their usage that tenants that have EVS would be able to be assigned to those particular spaces that that's my question though is is every apartment going to have or every townhouse or whatever it is uh are they going to have their own assigned spots or anybody can park anywhere in the slot as long as you live in that building what they've been saying is that the multi-bedroom units are going to be assigned to the tandem spots 26 of them four of the one-bedroom spots will be assigned to the other four tandem spots and the balance of the units will be assigned to a single parking spot one last EV question you said that the station next to Washington Avenue might would probably be used as a short-term flexible unit uh flexible station um that would eliminate one of the units getting a parking spot is are you were you just things or so the uh just a reminder the parking requirement uh is is 69 we're allowed to have a credit of 10% which reduces the the amount uh by six or seven spots we technically have a surplus of seven however the the likelihood of the applicant having full 100% occupancy is unlikely so that's why we pick that one spot all the way at the end of the the the driveway to be um and and if and if it needs to be 100 % you know assigned if it has to be assigned to to uh to to an apartment to uh to meet the so that ensure that everyone has a parking spot absolutely that that would be assigned remember the um the applicant will have to prepare a parking management plan that he has to uh adjust to accommodate the the needs of his tenant yeah I also have a question regarding the EV as well uh some of them were already um asked and that is um around the fact that the tandem spots if you have U for the two and three bedroomroom apartment if um you know if someone has two cars and they decide to leave one of the cars in that spot then that essentially leaves that EV you know unavailable to anyone else so I I think back maybe I didn't hear the answer but back to the original question is are the parking spots uh assigned or is it or to based on the apartment uh or the tenant or is it anywhere can anyone can park wherever they want so it's going to be assigned based on the management plan that the that the landlord will have to create now to to address the the the issue with reaching the actual charger in the event someone does park in front I own an EV I've been using it for over a year uh my wife parks in front sometimes I have to park in the back that 25 foot um charging cable gets to my car without an issue additionally where we can we have columns and we have sidewalls we will move the Chargers so that they're more in between the front and back tandem spot so that way there is no issue to to reach those uh those Vehicles board members have any other questions this witness Mr chairman just one other thing on the EV Jay Troutman the traffic engineer for the board uh they also allow a phase in with those so if if we're not if we don't have a lot of EV at the beginning they really only have to build four of the 12 and then after a certain amount of time the next 5% another four and then further out in time the last four so uh they can adjust to the if they end up with a situation where there's not a lot of EV demand the only requirement is that they had they have 12 Make Ready spaces meaning they have to be wired but they don't have to have Chargers all at once board has no further questions open up to the public for any questions for the this Witnesses testimony only if you have General comments that can come at the end of this session we have a motion open up to the public motion thank you Mike second thank you Nate anyone from the public wishing to come forward please do so state your name and address hi Linda marhall 34 Washington Street I live at Jason obviously to the Building Development you spoke about planting trees on Washington Street the first tree is existing I understand that it's on 26 me being on 34 where was that second tree going to go was it on your property my property oops so the the requirement is for the tree to be located in front of the project so the the the tree if I show you here I'm not sure what the address is on this side but you can see but that's your property on this side so this line here is the edge of the property line the tree is right here the shade tree okay so it's in front of the property okay um you talked about sidewalks as well is there going to be a sidewalk on Washington Street there's going to be a sidewalk from property line to property line that's 5 foot wide okay um you also spoke about parking on demand on what the client or the tenants are going to require residents so the residential parking we're going to provide 100% coverage on off street parking so the tenants themselves will not need to park on the street okay well most Town most house owners or renters have two plus cars you have four bom Apartments what happens when four cars go you can't park now on Washington Street because of the apartments and the existing businesses on the opposite end I struggle daily there's cars parking every day in front of my house where are the other cars going to park when there's a four vehicle resident understood so the the parking requirement is established by by um uh an anticipation of having that kind of uh of a need so will we have need will we ever occupy at any given time at 169 spots it's very unlikely because that's the whole the the the whole idea by using that parking requirement is so that we provide more than enough parking for the for the tenants Mr Martin okay well three bedrooms so three cars just want to say okay sorry about that but in three cars and you know part of the concerns with the off Street Park are off premise parking on street oops I'm sorry you say you need 20 spaces there's not 20 spaces on Washington Street that are available for parking ma'am the testimony that you're asking of this witness is probably the questions are better asked of their traffic consultant okay who will appear a little later okay I'll hold that question then um the garbage dumpsters that you uh spoke about where will the existing retail or potential retail customers where are they going to put their garbage is that going to go down the garbage shoots as well that are inside the building so the the trash room is accessible from the ground floor they would have access to it and they would put their trash in there as well okay and are they going to be dumpsters they they would be in carts so they're carts where the trash goes into and then the uh uh since it's a private contractor that that uh that carts away the trash that the vehicle either pull up underneath the V underneath the the building and and take the the garbage uh immediately from the trash room it's unlikely that you'll ever see the trash there's never there shouldn't be any reason to see a a cart or any bins or anything like that on the street okay because right now there's not your issue but there's garbage issues that get picked up and I hear those garbage dumpsters so my concern was what types of dumpsters are going to be there it's not going to be the the traditional dumpster that you're thinking about where it comes you know truck comes and lifts it it's going to be a cart okay okay it looks more like a laundry cart okay and I think most of my other questions will be later on for traffic so thank you thank you name and addressing 45 Washington Street I was just wondering if you had an artist rendering of what it will look like from Washington Street we saw the front of the building building we didn't see the back of it I do not have a a rendering but I could offer you the architectural drawing so on the architectural drawings I have uh sheet a21 which is depicts the rear elevation from Washington Avenue my window that's I'll well this is not showing the Landscaping there is going to be some Landscaping under here but this is what you will see from Washington anyone else from the public okay so you're saying that you have enough excuse me what's that Susan Ray 11 Washington Street 11 you're saying there's enough parking for every resident for two cars in that building not for two cars for one and three4 Cars so there's no on street parking now for the residential component we meet the requirement of the Redevelopment plan which is one and 3/4 cars per apartment okay cuz Washington Street is dangerous now we have parking for people that come from raway businesses from the electric company on was on Westfield Avenue we have the people on Westfield Avenue parking in in the back we got tractor trailers coming up the street for the business across the street and the parking is awful the residents I said you're going to take your life in your hands getting out of the driveway with the Speeders excuse me ma'am this would be a testimony you could State anything you like at the end this is only for questions for the architect well the thing is there's a lot of heavy traffic that come we're a detour Street also so when Westfield Avenue is closed we got the traffic going both ways and there's a lot of obstru obstruction in the way when the cars are parked all along the curb to come out of the Lots we've already had accidents I'm correct they're not going to they're not going to be coming out onto Washington Street there's no exit no am I correct no there's an exit so it's just in and out of the front it's in out of the front correct there's going to be one on Washington now okay I'm sorry I read it wrong yeah so is it it's a parking problem uh there's a speed limit problem on that street because they go 35 to interrupt you but these are questions for the architect so if you have a question that's good that's part of it because they're coming out of their driveway and there's obstruction with the cars that are parked on the street now and the business is in raway and the business is on Westfield Avenue the applicant has not introduced their testimony about their parking demand their traffic circulation they have a consultant who's going to be presenting that testimony after this this is the architect for the project and we're you're asking questions that aren't in his wheelhouse so to speak I'm just saying there's issues on Washington Street with part paring and if you have other people in this building parking on that street and Retail businesses parking and employees parking it's going to it's and and it's a detour Street it's a mess now folks folks sh we can't hear her sh please so that's my concern we'll come back when the traffic engineer has testimony and you can ask specific questions he's coming next next after okay please come forward name and address 15 Washington I'm just curious will the sewer system handle all of this that's really a question for the site engineer yeah well and uh isn't this going to lower the property value on all our houses on the street with this monstrosity where there used to be two homes and parking I mean this guy's going to get beat up not physically um our road sucks and you're going to make it 10 times worse sewer system I because the sewer system sir the sewer system they have the sewer rights from the RO Valley floors no no no okay maybe we got to get to this part now if I can Mr chairman most of us are here for I know what you're here for I understand that no I know okay first off they have the sewer rights to the rowy valley sewage if it will accommodate it because obviously we cannot let them build something that won't accommodate sewage the other thing is the mayor at the town I might as well get this clear right out in the open I know why you're here and I understand your concerns and I don't disagree with you I've talked about this in 2017 at an open public meeting at the high school these projects are mandated by the state of New Jersey through court order let's understand this or something very similar like this is going there let's understand that it's going to happen we have an affordable housing obligation to meet not by me and the township Council by your friends in Tron the governor and the the legislature down there it's not a Clark problem April 17th 2017 go to our website watch the presentation of the affordable housing uh town meeting we had at Arthur Johnson High School where we said this is going to happen look around you in every Community around so we could say excuse me if I can finish maybe I'm going to answer questions are going to come back and forth a hundred times tonight I'm not in love with this but I've got to accept this because we have no choice but to accept this type of project in this town if it was up to me I wouldn't build any of this stuff in Clark if it was up to me it's not up to me it's up to a court mandate through the state of New Jersey the town pursued we had to come up with an affordable housing plan in 2025 we're going to recheck our plan to see where we're going to see if we're on track or they're going to add more look at Cranford look at Garwood look at Westfield look at rway I get it I'm not saying you're wrong and I'm not saying your feelings are being disregarded but understand it's not going to be what it was there ever again so it's going to be this project or something damn close to it and you're you're going to be back here in a month from now or 6 months from now or a year from now with the same exact questions that can the seage handle it yes it can that's done it can hand Mr engineer could the SE chandle it yes okay that puts that question to bad there's no anticipation it can Rec can't it can the sewage can handle it we know that for a fact that's because he works with the roow okay the seage can't handle it we're going to allow we're going to allow feces and urine to flow down the street of Clark town that makes a lot of sense they here we go the sewage can handle it the Roy Valley sewage Authority would not allow us to even discuss this project if they didn't have the flow rights in the pipe to handle the project that is a fact we have next up will be our civil engineer which will address the comments of state do doesn't mean it's right we agree keep voting below all right we we have our civil engineer next which will answer and respond to the municipal Engineers comments on seage does anyone else from the public wish to come forward to ask questions the architect's testimony state your name and address Nick pachella property manager for the condos at 10 to 20 Washington um correct me if I'm wrong the building that's currently at 22 Washington is staying that's not part of this project the single family home yes correct and you mentioned a single family house going into your project as well could you talk more about the square footage of that house what would that look like can we see a picture of it no it's not going into the project it's being removed oh okay okay it's being demolished so the so your your property will just go if you're I believe that is 26 Washington which is part of your yes so the property shape is an L going there perfect okay thank you seeing no one else coming forward motion to close to the public motion thank you Nate second by Mike thank you all right Mr chairman board members I'd like to Now call upon our civil engineer Adnan Khan please State your full name and spell it please Adan Khan a d n n KH H in please raise your right hand I adanan I adanan to hear uh solemnly swear solemnly swear that I that you will Faithfully taste tell the truth in this proceeding so help you God I'll tell the truth in these proceedings to helping God thank you thank you Mr Cruz right Mr Khan uh as did uh G if you could please give the board the benefit of your work educational experience area of expertise license you hold and whether you've been accepted as a professional engineer before their boards or courts to the state of New Jersey sure I have a bachelor's degree in civil engineering master's degree in struction management from NGIT uh testified in federal court Superior Court and hundreds of boards throughout New Jersey as make a motion to accept thank you thank you Mr chairman right great appreciate it uh right Mr KH if you could take the board through uh again existing site conditions move on to site improvements and then we can address the engineering comments related to uh storm water sewage and I'll get out way okay uh so uh as a design engineer or the project engineer we prepared the plans for this project uh civil civil plans and the plans that are in front of you uh I'm going to give you the date they are the exact same copy of the plans that were submitted earlier uh to the board and they are dated January 11th 2024 and uh it comprises of uh let's see 10 sheets eight of them are civil sheets and last two sheets sheet number nine and 10 are the soil erosion uh permit application plans uh the cover sheet that we have I'm just going to quickly go over as Mr Martin made my job much easier today going over in detail about the site layout uh but again we are requesting uh it's in a Redevelopment uh Zone the project we it's conforming except for few exceptions and few variances that we are looking for uh one of the variance as Mr Martin mentioned is the lot coverage where we are exceeding by 0 6% and we have identified the areas where we can gain up uh more perious to eliminate that variance so that's something that uh we are planning to do sheet C- O2 uh of the plan depicts the existing conditions uh or yeah or the survey uh with the with with the Demolition plan what we are proposing let's stuff to navigate okay this is going to be A5 as an exhibit is that correct the site plan uh yes if you can mark it as but there are the exact same copy of the plans that were submitted before so the site comprises of three lots um uh and it's a true lot uh which basically runs through Westfield Avenue in the north and uh to the South onto Washington Street uh the width the width of the lot along Washington Street is about 100 ft whereas the WID along Westfield Avenue is 140 I believe 150 ft so it's an L-shaped roughly an L-shaped lot uh which has multiple structures asphalt pavement areas so the L lot coverage the existing lot coverage is about 84% on the on the property as currently exist and again we are increasing uh that lot coverage uh to 96% uh however like again we are adding more uh landscaping and lighting as Mr Martin mentioned and I'm going to go over to as I go along so the proposal for the project is again like uh let me just zoom this okay as I mentioned that this is a through lot from Westfield and Washington so we are proposing a full access driveways on both Westfield Avenue as well as on Washington Street so the car can come in and go out uh using either of the driveways uh the parking as uh Mr Martin already mentioned we are proposing 69 parking spaces 68 Point some is required with the EV credit we have for the net residential about seven spaces over than what we required but again I will leave it to our traffic engineer to explain it in more more detail as far as the improvements uh again uh we are proposing 69 spaces 30 of them are tendem spaces uh the parking to the West all are tendem except for one space by Washington Street similarly the property line to the east comprises of tendem spaces total number of tendem spaces are 30 * 2 which is 60 and then we have individual uh uh nine individual uh parking spaces we have a loading unloading area again this will be used for movein move outs deliveries and things of that nature uh I believe uh what else uh and again like as far as the sidewalks we talked about Washington Street currently doesn't have any sidewalk throughout the street what we are proposing is a 5 foot wide sidewalk as well as new curbing there is an existing curb exist but it's in a very very disrepair so we are proposing new curb and new sidewalk and one of the variants we are seeking is the width of the sidewalk which I Mr REI as well as Mr Martin mentioned it's based on our discussion during the TRC meeting that instead of providing a 10 foot it's better to have a 5 foot sidewalk on Washington plus some green STP for landscaping and that's what we are proposing uh shade tree along Washington Street there are two other shade trees one in front of our property existing which is going to remain so to totally there will be two share trees as part in front of our property on Washington and the same thing we are proposing two share trees along uh Westfield Avenue okay then uh we are also proposing some grading and drainage improvements the site as it currently exists is very fled site uh it is actually has depressed areas in between which basically basically collects the water as like our pond the water on the side so what we are utilizing is we are trying to create some slope to have a better or channelize better the storm water runoff uh from the project as well as the grading improvements uh to provide a safe and secure circulation along with the adaa accessibility requirements for the parking spaces and accessibility to the building uh we did a detailed uh strong Water Management analysis of the area and uh we provided that uh report uh to gr engineering and we had extensive conversation on that and we finally designed a project where we also did an investigation not just for the side runoff but also the capacities capacity of the St water runoff on the street whether any additional runoff that we are going to generate can handle the additional runoff and we provided all that backup data and calculations confirming that the uh Township system has adequate capacity that this slight increase in the impervious coverage won't have any negative effects on the overall St water for this property adjacent properties and the roadway Network around it uh we are also proposing lighting improvements uh again all lights that we are proposing will be led uh uh very efficient light uh on under the building in the parking area there will be all uh the ceiling mounted light fixtures as I mentioned full cut off downward throw light fixtures so there is minimum glow or minimum spillage and we are meeting the requirements of the township as far as the requirement for lighting up the area for the parking and traffic circulation in addition to this uh lighting for the parking there will be some decorative light Lighting on the facade of the building along Westfield Avenue and again these are also like very low uh illumination type it's most mostly to enhance the facade of the this beautiful building uh that's going to go in that area uh what else uh I think that's pretty much it and again yeah we talked about landcaping again as I mentioned earlier that okay so yeah so again uh let let me get back my train of thought so the the impervious coverage yes we are slightly over as I mentioned and Mr Martin mentioned that there we have couple of areas where we feel very comfortable that we can bring the impervious coverage down to 96 uh% which is permitted in this Redevelopment zone so we will be in compliance with that requirement and then again I know you work worked extensively with the with Mr OK Conor uh any problem complying with any of those terms and conditions uh no I don't see any issues uh I think we can comply with all the comments and we agree this project will trigger and I think that piggy backs can I goad yes address again the so yeah if I can piggy back too like this project again as per the DP requirements any project that generates more than 8,000 gallons per day of uh sewer additional sewer require an automatic NJ dtwa what's called treatment works approval so the permit has to go to D again there is a it's a three-phase or three-step process first it has to go to the town utility they have to sign off on it then it goes to the uh perve uh which will be RIT and value in this case they have to sign off on it then it goes to DP and D has us to ultimately sign off on it before any sewer connections or any permit will be issued and this project again the sewage area map it is designated in ngdp sewage area map and it has the capacity to handle the flow from projects like this and again as I mentioned it it will go through that process to go to D to ultimately get an njd sewer permit thank you Mr Conor uh Mr chairman no further questions of our civil engineer at this Point um in one of the correspondents I saw the reference that it was your obligation to buy any additional flow rights um is that was that needed or sorry can you repeat that any flow rights FL rights the flow rights to the FL flow right again yeah if if he needed the applicant will comply with that can uh the original storm water was for recharge but then the realization of our clay soil became apparent and then it was on onsite storage are you saying there's no on-site storage anymore we have convenance pipes that will store some of the pipe before they discharge into the existing St water system so there is some storage within the pipes that will run throughout the property but you're right the soils in the area are not conducive to permeability so even if you put some kind of a system it's not going to work so your storage would have a smaller diameter pipe exting it to keep the time of concentration similar to what the existing conditions are now that is correct and again and we also did the Capacity Analysis of the existing system and uh we we showed that the existing system system has more than adequate capacity to handle the additional runoff so following the regulations and local ordinances there will be no increase of storm water leaving the site uh it slight increase but it will be handled within the storm water system and again there will be storage as I said like there's a slight increase but it's not leaving the site at an increased rate that's Mr cotch the applicant has submitted calculations that are in accordance with Township ordinances and njde requirements but this is not a major development application and as such there's no requirement that they reduce the volume or the quantity of runoff from the project uh and as the applicant has stated there was already in excess of 86 % of the property was already to impervious coverage so there's a very tiny increase that they anticipate and they've shown that the existing storm sewer on both Westfield Avenue and on Washington Street can accommodate that additional runoff thank you for that I was just bringing that point out because that's a concern that has been brought up and seems like that has been addressed um anyone else from the board have any questions for the engineer seeing none I'd like a motion to open this to the public Mo thank you Nate second thank you mate anybody matee thank you anybody anybody from the public wishing to ask questions of the engineer on his testimony is testimony only General comments can be made at the end of the session please come forward state your name and address again marle 34 Washington Street you spoke about doing the studies on the sewer being able to handle the upcoming with 39 new tenants coming into the facility my con oops I'm sorry my concern is I know that DPW and they do a great job come by monthly to monitor the sewer situation in fact the don't put no wipes in the pipes pipes truck was there today in front of my house so obviously there's some concerns so if the current there's current concerns based on the residents today how do we know that adding all of these apartments obviously are going to increase usage that those pipes really can and that DPW is not going to have to or have to come more often to maintain those pipes actually there is a whole process that goes into designing the sewer system and that's what we're going to do we have we have gen we actually on our plans we have calculations how much flow we are generating and as I mentioned it's about 8,700 G per day there is a requirement as an engineer there are standards that we have to follow in order to design that s the lateral connection then the obligation is for the purveyor to give us an okay to connect it because they are allocated certain SE discharge by D that's called service area mapping through service area mapping so if if once we go and uh and that's the that's the reason there's this three-step process that I mentioned to get the tww permit goes to the town first the town will say if their infrastructure is okay and they can I mean they can convey to the Ron Valley then it goes to Ron Valley and they will see if they have the capacity and the authority from D to accept this additional sewer waste that's going to come to their system for treatment and then they have to adopt a resolution they have to send it to us sign forms then it goes to D and then D verifying those uh that information before the issue of permit until the DP issue the permit we cannot connect or put any time to anything so there are multiple steps that goes into that getting that se connection but the Tian is definitely going to be to Washington Street versus Westfield Avenue that is I think that's what we are showing yes no we are showing it to Westfield Avenue Westfield West yeah we're showing it to Westfield Avenue okay that obviously makes a difference yeah okay um will Washington Street be resurfaced uh repaved recurved after this project uh it will be recurved on our side in front of our property we're going to put the sidewalk again if there is a and that will be the township engineer if during construction if things happens to the street it gets damaged then of course the town will require the applicant to repair those Services um with regard to the deliveries that potential store owners are going to be having um are they going to restrict the size of the vehicles that can be making deliveries because I know today the pet store on the corner is a very small store probably the same square footage that you're looking to rent out to retailers and I've seen tractor trailers parked on Madison Hill Road making those deliveries yeah I'm not aware of what will be the ultimate use of that commercial area uh depending upon the business uh mostly now like again if it's a restaurant most of these deliveries are through box trucks or things of that nature I don't unless it's like a chain restaurant or something then yeah you can expect a tractor trailer otherwise usually it's a box truck that can make the deliveries along Westfield Avenue they'll be restricted to Westfield Avenue versus Washington Street because it practically that's the most convenient location for them to pick up and drop off because the retail area is facing the Westfield Avenue okay Mr Khan the applicant has presented testimony that there's a loading zone within the building that will be used to unload um for the retail space so there's going to be a restriction based both upon the height of the building coming in and the size of the loading space that is correct you're absolutely correct but they they should not be allowed to have a tractor trailer unloading on the outside at any time as part of this okay because that's happening today which obviously isn't the issue today that we're facing and I think applicant will be willing to to accept that restriction I don't see an issue okay my next question is regarding the water drainage you said that you're doing studies so that the pitch goes out to the right um section so that you know my house is adjacent to the property my concern is rain obviously we have much more rain today than we did when this plan first started um snow runoff and when the plows come to plow that property where will they be placed in those snow piles because that's going to create additional runoff okay uh first of all uh under the current condition there is no separation along the property line between the applicant's property and your property so any and plus it's very flat so usually probably you will be the best person to see puddling of water along the property so what we are doing is we are trying to pro pro provide some kind of a drainage a proper drainage that instead of water sitting in the middle of the property we are providing it to run from the property into the uh Township sewer system stor sewer and to protect your properties actually all the properties on either side we are proposing either a separation through via wall or the curb so the water what under the current conditions supposed to go to your property is going to be restricted to go to your property through that wall or the curb so everything we are directing towards either Westfield or Washington Street but away from my away from your property so you will you will see things getting better for you during heavy storms okay um I don't know whether this question is for you it might have been for the architect but are they going to allow pets in those buildings as renters because as we know some dog owners do not take care of cleaning up after their pets the concern is you're going to have sidewalks obviously no grassy Landscaping where they're problem to be honest I have I don't know I don't have the answer for that question yeah um and you talked about the lighting outside lighting will it be shining onto my property or is it going to be reflected out so it's just no actually that's a beauty like the way we designed it like uh again this parking area is 90% covered with with a building above it so what we are proposing is just like a ceiling mounted lights so you won't even see the light fixture from the street everything is shining downward and uh like like let's assume like these lights are ceiling lights so it's just going to throw the shine the parking surface and that's what we going we are planning so you won't see any glow or shine or anything coming to your property or towards the street okay and I don't know whether this is a question for you or not um as far as you know my quality of life obviously is changing I've been there forever um right now my garbage company I pay for a backyard pickup the gate that they currently use faces the parking lot that's existing there there obviously they're not going to be able to access that gate um is there a proposal to put a vinyl fencing along my property line including a possible gate and a pathway from the street uh there will be a wall along your property line okay so and I think as Mr Martin mentioned we are still going to find out which wall to go either it will be a 6' High brick wall or it's a combination of a knee wall with a fence on it so if I understand question you're asking if he can put a gate in there right because right now they're not once this is started they're going to have no access to the current gate that they use oh uh that I think I don't have the answer for that like how to address they cannot access your property from the Washington Street Frontage there's a gate on there's a fence on the other side without a gate and that's your fence my fence I'd like have that put into into consideration if possible you know I also have an inhouse oil tank that gets filled from that side of the house as well I just want to make sure that that's going to be accessible during construction because I heat with oil if that gate is being moved from the side to the front right it will solve your issues as to okay yes that's something I believe he can I think Mr Hil is consider yeah sure on it so and just give me one moment to make sure I don't have to come back up with more questions um I think that's it for now I'll have more probably for traffic but thank you you're very welcome hi my name is Camila I'm a resident 33 Washington my question to you is the light on the outside of the building directly right on Washington they're going to be shining 247 even though they're not directly going into our street but what sorry uh am my yes so the lights are going to be constantly on what you're trying to tell me even though they're not going to be directly towards the street or in our houses um we actually already have somebody whose light is not directly towards our home but unfortunately L what is happening is every single night my fian and I we have trouble falling asleep due to the light being constantly on can it be considered to be a at least motion sensor on the back of the building so that way just in case somebody walks by these lights are not on constantly to where including to myself my fiance we have to get up at 5:00 in the morning every single day so we work till like 6 :00 at night this is not going to let us rest especially since our master bedroom is at the front of our home so that is a big concern for including uh all the residents they're going to be directly in that Spotlight okay uh just to clear like we are not proposing any lights along Washington Street on the building so the only lights you will see as I mentioned is uh these ceiling mounted light fixtures they are basically mounted to the ceiling of the building and so you won't see the glowe but again these are LED very soft type lights but again I think it's you have a valid question that the timing we can put these lights on a timer from dawn to dusk or something or combination of which fixtures to light up at different times so that at least because by uh regulations and ordinances we are required to provide minimum lighting for safety and circulation for traffic circulation correct and I completely understand that but it's the same thing in in the garage an actual garage would that be also the lights will be shutting off a certain time can that be done or is it going to be on all night long uh again we can look into it we can put certain fixtures in order to have enough minimum security lighting in the area and certain fixtures on a timer so that's something yeah we can definitely look into it yes please cuz I know by the parking garage and I had it even in other states I lived in that was a big concern for of residents and not including myself because the lights were constantly on and it a lot of residents were very restful well definitely we can look into it and try to do that very welcome Camila what is your last name I'm sorry your last name your name my name is Camila seor I'm at I live at 33 Washington with my fiance DK linski okay they still didn't get your last name VOR so it's spelled v i l l a s like Sam in e n o r it's like a villa like a house and Senor like Mr just put together thank you anyone else in the public wishing to come forward please come so please do so say your name and address please Jim bernaski 22 Washington Street um when is this project going to start is there any time frame for this right now first step is to get approval from the planning board and then they have to draw their permits after that so depending on the outcome of today he they they want to develop it very quickly okay so it could happen this year or next year or the year after or when is I think there's the target to start sometime in this year so this year okay um you were talking about on 26 Washington Street there's there's a a huge oak tree and on my property there's a huge oak tree the one on 26 is a pretty straight oak tree it's about 70 years old same as mine mine is leaning at a 15 Dee list so once you tear all the stuff out of there that tree is going to fall over because it's leaning so I just want you to the town to know I I address this with the uh Public Works some years ago and they never did anything about the tree but if you look I have a picture of it on my phone I couldn't bring a print out of it but once you start working there I can guarantee you this tree is coming down is it down right away it's leaning you want to see a picture of it oh is it in the town right away or on your property it's on yeah yeah well it's on Town property it's not my tree it's the town's tree the right away it's right at the curb oh you're talking about this tree like the second tree yes yeah I I my concern is that once they start demolition are going to start breaking roots and tearing up the the driveway and the curbing is all holding this tree up once they tear that stuff out this tree is coming down I mean my experience with the DPW is they've got a very adequate tree maintenance program they do not because if you looked at this tree you would agree that this tree is going to fall down can I show you the picture sir I'll take I'll have DPW take a look at it I yeah let me see it real quick okay now all right I'll have it right here Mr Mayor the applicant has already agreed to protect that tree as well so that's that's that's leaning it's leaning but I'll have DPW look at it anyway thank you anyone else Mr Khan May um Mr chair may I have just a follow-up question based on some of the testimony from the public uh Mr KH would you be willing to select a a Kelvin temperature that's a warm light for that under garage area not can not like that very bright Cold Light and can you discuss the appropriateness of having security lighting at nighttime so that lighting would be dimmed to the minimum needed for safety purposes inside that garage area yeah I mean as as a i Institute of electrical engineers Association I believe they have a minimum standard set for safety I I believe I have to double check but I think it's 35t Candle or 4T candle minimum at all times especially for parking areas like this in the car traveling right now again we are complying and we have more illumination when all the lights are lit so that's something we can work it out a combination of maybe dimming some lights or dimming all the lights or turning off some lights during the nighttime uh hours so that we can at least meet that minimum requirement but provide less uh what do you say glow or shine okay so if this application is voted on favorably You' be agreeable to that as a condition of approval correct yes thank you is a plan Mr con is planed to demolish all buildings on the site and start aesh that is correct okay anyone else from the audience Wish Come forward has question seeing nobody come forward like a motion to close this motion thank you Mike second thank you very much Mr chairman our our next witness is Corey Chase from Dynamic traffic please state your name and spell it pleasey it's Corey c r e y last name is Chase c h a s e i Corey Chase I Corey Chase do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will tell the truth in this matter to tell the truth in this matter so help me God so help me God thank you thank you Council right Mr Chase as the other experts have done please provide the board with your credentials area of expertise licenses you hold uh and whether you've been accepted before boards or courts of the state of New Jersey as a professional traffic engineer certainly again good evening everyone Corey Chase principal with the firm Dynamic traffic licensed professional engineer in the state of New Jersey Bachelor's of Science degree in civil engineering from the University of Massachusetts been qualified as an expert before over 120 municipalities throughout the state including the township motion second all in favor I I thank you very much all right so uh Mr Chase if you could please give the board and the public your findings with respect to uh traffic generation parking adequacy and uh address any comments in the review letter from uh the board traffic engineer certainly and as part of my testimony I'm going to be referring to the site plans that were just presented by our engineer which were last revised January 11th 2024 uh as Mr Khan mentioned we are proposing two full access driveways to the property's parking garage one will be located along Washington Avenue or apologies one will be located along Westfield Avenue and the other located along Washington Street there'll be two-way circulation aisles provided throughout the proposed parking garage that are 24 ft in width that does comply with the residential site Improvement standards uh as was mentioned we are proposing 39 apartments in this facility 13 of which are one bedroomroom units 12 of which are two bedroom units and 14 three bedroomroom units a total of 69 parking stalls are going to be proposed 30 of which are located in tandem format totaling 60 spaces uh leaving nine single loaded spaces uh from a traffic generation standpoint we looked at data published by The Institute of Transportation Engineers which is the national and state standard for developing traffic projections using the 11th edition of the trip generation manual which is the current edition of the trip generation manual uh the 39 residential units are projected to generate a maximum of 16 peak hour trips during the weekday morning period uh as Traffic Engineers we focus on the peak commuter hours occurring in the weekday morning weekday evening periods uh during the PM peak hour projected to generate a maximum of 20 trips from the facility associated with the residential dwellings uh to give the board an ideas to what that level of traffic generation constitutes the New Jersey Department of Transportation set a threshold of 100 additional trips in a peak hour is being a significant increase in traffic so this development for the residential portion would generate approximately 20% of that threshold for being a significant increase in traffic traffic so uh the residential portion would not be a significant source of traffic generation uh as it was indicated we are proposing a 1,600 ft commercial component to this facility likely to be occupied either by a retail or restaurant tenant um given the size and nature of that building you know we would certainly expect that the majority of the uh patrons to that facility would certainly be utilized by people within the existing municipality people currently traveling along Westfield Avenue uh depending on the type and nature of that facility so I wouldn't expect uh whether it's a restaurant or retail tenant within that a commercial space to be a significant source of traffic generation I know there's been a lot of discussion on parking this evening as was indicated by both the architect and the engineer there are the the 30 tantm spaces are going to be assigned um so there's 26 multi-bedroom units one of those spaces would be assigned to each of those 26 units leaving the four additional spaces to be assigned to one of the remaining one bedroom units um Ruckers University uh recently published in September of 2023 they published a white paper it was entitled how much is enough parking usage in New Jersey rental units uh they surveyed 175 properties which totaled out to almost 29,000 residential apartment units to survey the parking demand for all those facilities they published the parking rates and it was really done to as the residential site Improvement standards are going through a reevaluation uh they're currently the parking standards identified by the residential site Improvement standards are set as a minimum they're actually looking to change those to maximums because what we found and what was really uh indicated by this research done by Ruckers is that there's an excess of parking provided for multif family residential developments so what that study found was for weer units the average vehicle demand man was approximately one vehicle per unit for two better units it was 1.45 vehicles per unit and for three better units it was 1.8 vehicles per unit uh if you took those parking generation statistics multipied it by the bedroom count R facility that would generate a maximum of 55 Vehicles anticipated to be parked on site so well under the 69 spaces that we are proposing on site um and again as I mentioned you know the residential site Improvement standard the state's looking to reevaluate that and reconsider those uh historic parking standards that are previously published um just by the fact that you know today's occupant of these facilities may have one car at most even if there are multiple occupants in that facility uh it's not the I I think a lot of people assume that if it's a two better unit you'll have two cars if it's a three better unit you'll have three cars you know certainly serving 29,000 residential units within the state um indicates that that's not in fact the case the parking is much lower um we also took a look at parking generation data published by The Institute of Transportation engineers in the sixth edition of parking generation uh to look at typical parking generation requirements for if the this was a restaurant or if this was a retail occupant in that commercial space um looking at data for a high turn turnover sitdown restaurant suggests approximately six spaces per thousand square feet would uh given that we're proposing 1,600 ft of commercial space we come out to about needing uh 10 vehicles to accommodate if it was a restaurant space uh if this was retail like a generic strip retail it's about 3.13 spaces per th000 square fet which would translate to approximately five vehicles if it was commercial so you're looking at between an additional 5 to 10 Vehicles depending on the user in that commercial space um we did do parking surveys along Westfield Avenue between Liberty Street and Lincoln Boulevard uh we did it on a weekday from 11:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. and from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and then again on a Saturday again same time frames 11:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. uh to see what sort of available parking there was along Westfield Avenue in the vicinity of the site uh again you know in my professional opinion given that that commercial space is located up front located along Westfield Avenue anybody that's looking to utilize that space would be looking for on street parking in the direct vicinity of that it's going to be looking for parking along Westfield Avenue um during those times found that a minimum of 25 spaces were available again between Liberty Street and Lincoln Boulevard along Westfield Avenue so again in my professional opinion looking that we're projecting to generate an additional 5 to 10 Vehicles depending on what the ultimate occup of that space is more than sufficient on street parking to accommodate that additional demand Mr Hil that's all I add for direct testimony be happy to touch on anything else or Mr Troutman I know that you issued a review letter I tried to to hit on all your comments in that letter and my direct but happy to answer anything else that you have that the board has as well thank you Mr Chase again no further direct questions at this time the rut Cru study did that include tandem parking spots it just included parking generation so they didn't study the actual number of parking spots they studied the amount of vehicles that were being generated by those units so it's actual parking demand not parking Supply I I I understand the logic you're trying to give but once a two space tandem is given to an apartment even if they only have one car like your trying to portray the two spots are gone so your your your math is kind of jumbled a little bit um the tanm all those tanm spots are going to go to the units and the two spots are gone they are but in in that survey you know they didn't differentiate between cars that were generated by the units themselves cars that were generated by visitors so under the same scenario a person that's assigned a tanm spot has a single car that secondary spot can be used for a visitor if they have that spot um can you just go over the hours again you did the studies it kind of was a little fast my apologies sir 11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m again on a weekday and on a Saturday typ you found 25 spaces on westl Avenue or on side street also just Westfield Avenue sir no further questions any the board have questions for this witness I just have one question if I may Mr chairman I didn't hear U Mr Chase did you provide the the number or demand for this building the residential portion of the building per the Rucker study the recommended calculation under the Rucker study compared to what's proposed I did Paul based on the numbers in the Rucker study this building would be projected to generate a vehicle demand of 55 55 55 correct and we're providing 69 spaces thank you you you said there are 25 spaces on Westfield Avenue how far up and down Westfield EV did you go again we went from Liberty Street to Lincoln Boulevard and you found 25 on both sides of the street available yes what is the um complex going to generate as far as uh visitors uh to the tenants of this building have we calculated that or discussed that in any way so unfortunately sir there's no specific breakout of visitors versus tenant traffic um the it The Institute of Transportation Engineers they publish data based on the number of units it it's includes both visitor and tenant data in that number so I don't have unfortunately a specific breakout of visitors versus tenant traffic so your calculation based on the number of cars is based on the business part of it or both because the tenants automatically have their own spots within the building so that's for the for the business itself I just want to clarify that correct so the the the numbers that I spoke to those are based on the 39 residential units uh the commercial space obviously would have its own independent generation beyond that Liberty to lend it you have the right Street as lynon yeah I'm not finding the street I thought he said Lyon L you said Lincoln sorry yes sir we both heard Lyndon surprised you found those spots because I tried to park there and I don't find them there anyone else on the board have any questions seeing none I'd like to open this session to the public for any questions to this Witnesses ter ony I have a motion thank you Mike oh sorry thank you Nick Nate second yeah two of us Bob rord 45 Washington Street just curious when these people in the condos have visitors say half of them have visitors on extra 20 cars where are they what did the study show they're all parking so again as I indicated you know the the demand suggests that we're going to generate a maximum of 55 spaces or Vehicles again with 69 spaces on site there's going to be a certain amount of people that'll be able to park on site uh any additional uh visitors would be required to park on street again just based on the orientation of the building where the commercial space is located would anticipate that you know those visitors would park on Westfield Avenue hi it's CA again um 33 Washington so my question to you is when you conducted the survey correct was this during the busy holiday time or was it this regular downtown we do it during typical times so that was done at the end of January beginning of February okay January and February so not taking to consideration the Thanksgiving um taking to consideration mostly especially retail um especially at work retail um during the holiday time where most people are here here and including to that there's a ton of traffic including to myself I know on my street um especially during the holiday time I was trying to make a rightand turn to my driveway and I almost got struck from right side including to that when I was exiting my own driveway to go to work early in the morning oh my go gas struck again because cars do not take the consideration that 25 miles an hour they just drive by at 50 miles an hour 50 and that is during the busy holiday time so I can tell you right now on our little Street um on Washington during the holiday time there's ton of traffic not including to putting the retail and the restaurant and including to to the restaurant is is being taken into consideration additional employees are going to be working there up to how many employees are going to be working there because I can't see that day in day me working in healthc care service we not only don't have enough parking for our um uh to to basically to our customers that are coming in we don't have enough parking to our employees so what happens is and our office is is a residential area it is so I see people walking out of their homes every day looking a parking meter two most of houses they have up to three vehicles two parking spaces or each driveway so there's leaves that one additional vehicle including to the unit so that means that these vehicles not only employees due to also the residents going to be parking on our streets in front of our homes so that is not taking to consideration that the capacity of the building including during the busiest time is going to overtake everything is going to overtake we already have a little bit of a battle on our little Street daily with parking we we do we do not only our safety ourselves but to all of are the resident so when we do have the busiest time including to that we have the nail salon on Washington Street we do have other places there people actually Park in our streets so uh no it's my question is how do you consider especially the busy time which is the holiday time of the issue with the actual parking because your surveys was taking from January to February just not very busy time so and again that was really to look at on street parking again to serve the retail and potential restaurant tenant which is located along Westfield Avenue um you know certainly the studies for the residential portion of the development I mean Ruckers surveyed 29,000 units throughout the state and and definitively defined that the parking requirements that we generally look at are well beyond the parking demand that's out there so I'm more than aable in my professional opinion saying that there's more than sufficient parking to accommodate these units all on site the traffic generation as I mentioned by this development it's 20% of the level of a significant increase in traffic as to what the state would identify as having a resultant impact on traffic conditions so 20 trips that's one trip every three minutes during the peak hour that their average person's not going to notice one additional vehicle every 3 minutes on the adjacent roadway Network to tell you the truth that your ratio comparing to the residential to the traffic that is going to accumulate that is not going to increase by 20% I'm I mean I'm not no math was but I know specifically as being you working for 12 years and in retail actually over 12 years in retail knowing that it it's the ratio doesn't even substantially take over the capacity it it's it's not being taken into consideration what exactly is going to be happening during to when people come for lunch for brunch for the holiday time to come and rest and including to that looking at the plant of the actual building so the traffic is going to be coming in through to Washington and through Westfield so looking at the full thing it's it doesn't even make sense to at least to do like including to our street to do maybe a like emergency exit to maybe downsize our traffic flow and to to even and I'm sorry that I didn't ask you this question to even raise up the the restaurant to the first floor somehow to reduce the amount of people that live in there to at least to do kind of like a roundabout so both traffic go through Westfield the in and an out that that makes more sense to at least to take care of the residents on the Washington and to making sure that we do block off and then we do have that emergency exit yes but at least raise up the restaurant and then to do the flow through both sides of the building of the front here your question instead of reconfiguring the building is can the exit be eliminated onto Washington Avenue would that interfere with flow of traffic in urine it would create dead end parking which you know typically we're not in favor of providing dead end parking we look to you know provide two means of Ingress and egress um certainly would defer to Emergency Management whether they would want to see two means of Ingress and ESS this facility that's something that they typically look for and again you know and I'm not uh trying to address your concerns but the the level of traffic generation in this facility as I mentioned you know it's very low on the traffic generation scale that's why I to talked about that 20% threshold uh the state indic if it was 100 trips during a peak hour that's what they consider to be a significant increase in traffic and and we're at only 20 so we're at 20% of that threshold for being a sign significant increase so well below what they would term you know a significant increase in traffic so from a traffic generation standpoint it's very low it's to you is low but to us as a residents of Washington is actually in a significant increase to the traff that we currently have because including to that we can't even have our kids play in the streets but we can't playing in the streets because of the fact is that their traffic flow is going to go 20% up and again it's not going to go 20% up we have again two means of Ingress egress so not all the traffic is going to be entering or exiting onto west onto Washington Street a portion of it's going to be using Westfield Avenue so I understand that but at the same time when we had construction on the sidewalks on the Washington about 90% of the traffic was com through Washington and that was such a heavy traffic to where I I couldn't even leave my driveway I couldn't even leave my for at least 20 minutes Mr Chase did your study just do trip generation or do you split between Washington and West Avenue the number of anticipated just I didn't split we just did trip generation so I didn't do a distribution see if we could answer a question you also have to keep in mind they're eliminating uh that back parking lot to that sushi restaurant all that traffic using that back parking lot to that sushi restaurant is going away with this Redevelopment Linda marhall 34 Washington Street you keep indicating referencing back to the recer survey what percentage of those uh dwellings that they surveyed have access to public transportation where they wouldn't have a car anyway I don't know that information ma'am be curious to know that because when you keep talking about not everybody has a car well they have to go someplace they're going to work they do but I can tell you developing multif family residential across the state uh in New York and Pennsylvania as well the common misperception is that these dwelling units have two three four vehicles and all the studies uh the study that Ruckers did the studies produced by The Institute of Transportation Engineers all indicate that the actual parking demand for these facilities is significantly lower than that it's in really goes in line with what the Redevelopment plan suggested in going to 1.75 vehicles per unit you know I worked on in municipalities where they go down as low as one space per unit help me understand everybody's referring to 1.3 or one and a quarter percent of a car how do you park half of a car you have a car or you don't have a car it's not a quarter of a car so it's it's averages so you know somebody may have one vehicle somebody may have two vehicles somebody may have no vehicles so when you look at that average that's how you get to this ratio okay um you said you did surveys on Westfield Avenue during 11 to2 5 to9 did you do any of those surveys on Washington Street we did not because again it's our anticipation that given the location of the commercial uh portion of this building that that parking would be concentrated on West Field Avenue I'd like to know how many available spaces during these normal hours are on Washington Street as I can tell you maybe there's Limited in front of four houses that you can park two cars yeah and again it's not our intention to add any additional parking Demand on that street offsite which is why we didn't do surveys on that street man' you know and I'm concerned like somebody mentioned on the visitors parking where are they going to park where are my visitors going to park so as I mentioned you know with a signing those tandem spaces to a unit if they only have one car they're going to have the ability to park an additional vehicle on that tandem spot and if they have two cars if they have two cars it's likely that they're going to park on Westfield Avenue okay because you Westfield Avenue you can't park on on a good day I get that you did surveys but 9 o'clock there's no restaurants open there's no facilities people aren't parking there so who's parking in those spots that you came up with there's 25 I believe you said spots available yes and no one's going to park park at call it Catherine Street and Liberty and walk all the way practically to Madison Hill Road to get into we the middle of the block people don't walk they want to park right in front of a store right in front of an entrance and walk minimally I understand that's their desire but again you know and we see a lot of ground floor commercial space with facilities like this as well with these multif family buildings it's very typical to provide a small commercial space on the floor of that what it's really trying to establish is neighborhood retail it's not intended to be a national tenant that's going to draw people in from raway and other municipalities that are going to come here to go to this you know very small retail building it's intended to encourage neighborhood commercial space so that people that live in the neighborhood people that work in the neighborhood will use this facility it becomes more of a walkable destination than than a driving destination so let me just make sure I'm understanding so these retail establishments you don't think Out of Towners are going to come and drive and park here this one in particular it's 1600 square F feet in size it's not a large commercial space so you're not going to have a significant commercial tenant in there it's a very small space and what we typically see is more neighborhood oriented commercial users in these types of facilities I mean I frequently visit a little establishment down further on Westfield Avenue little retail Boutique and there's always cars in that parking lot I don't live in row and that's in row so I find it hard to believe that you don't think Out of Towners are going to use these retail spaces and again ma'am I'm not saying that no one is I'm just saying it's not going to be like a shopping center where it's a destination oriented use giving an example and everyone drives there certain there will certainly be patrons to this facility that would drive there but not to the magnitude that it's going to generate 30 additional part cars on Westfield Avenue in my professional opinion um with regard to the entrance and exit out of Westfield Avenue are they going to be able to make a left-hand turn from that parking lot I know 7-Eleven is restricted you have to go with the flow of traffic uh it'll ultimately be the county it's County jurisdiction so it'll be ultimately the County's decision but it's Our intention that they'll be allowed to make a left turn out of that site um this facility certainly will not generate the the level of traffic that 7-Eleven generates it generates far less um they're you know it's going to be residential traffic so they're obviously going to be familiar with the area familiar with the traffic patterns on Westfield Avenue just make sure I have all my questions answered here that's all I have thank you you're welcome hi Derek sininsky 33 Washington Street where's the fire Lanes going to go on west across Westfield how many is it going to take parking space away from Westfield and Washington for the fire the fire Lan sir uh I'm not aware of the emergency service is requesting that the frontage be striped as a fire line no there's going to be no fire line not to my knowledge sir yeah there is no requirement this pro project has been reviewed by the fire department they never requested and usually you don't put fire Lanes within the rideway it's already understood like if there's a parking you put no parking signs or things of that nature okay not in Washington either right Wasington Street no and what about snow removal when it's snowing outside most of the site again as you know like is under the building so there will be some snow maybe on the cars and things like that so we have room like maybe I mean like within the green areas that we have we can push that but again we are not anticipating because 90% of the parking a deck is covered with the building all right bernaski 22 Washington Street um my opinion of the tandem parking spots is you really only have 35 because no one's going to pull into a spot where they're blocking somebody in that being said the other thing is that it's you're going to be able to drive from westfi Avenue to Washington Street so when the traffic backs up on westfi Avenue people are going to be cutting right through there and come down Washington Street then they go down m road cuz they they they do it now they're driving at 50 mph down the road we really need speed bumps or something on this road there was an accident there not long ago somebody was coming out of the apartment building next to my house and because the guy is going so fast boom he crashed right into him so you have issues on Washington Street like everybody else presented there there should have been a study about Washington Street and there was none as well so I would like to see that still implemented to see what kind of issues is going to come out of this whole mess because it's going to be a mess there's going to be cars from West Avenue you they're going to cut right through your building and come down Washington Street and again sir in my professional opinion you know it's it's a garaged facility I certainly wouldn't anticipate anybody cutting through a parking garage to to access Washington Avenue do you think they're going to cut through I think they will right thank you comes Mr so fani 15 Washington Street um I had asked Mr toll about parking by permit can the residents get that because the parking is going to be the problem with this project Mr SP and I have a problem right now I'm right across from the existing building Mr spaz Annie can I answer that please for you i' be glad to uh I was going to say it at the end of the night folks um if this building or any other there's going to be more buildings getting built along this road it's you know I always hear Mr May when are we going to have a downtown Clark what are they doing on Westfield Avenue well here we are and now we got a million problems which I understand I'm not saying you're wrong I'm not saying your perception is bad but got to get used to it I'm going to be honest parking residential yes we can help you with that Mr spaziani when we see a problem we're not going to do it today when that building is up if that is causing long-term parking effects on Washington um Street you come to us we'll have the PD survey it immediately we've done this in a couple of other areas of clar and we would be glad at that point to make it resident only parking already we have the hair salon Mr span I know exactly what it is I know I already talked to toll I talked to town about six months ago I know you have nothing's gone on not yet it hasn't no because we got to see what this develop see I'm not going to say yes to you as others might already have a problem we understand that there's a lot of problems with parking in different streets in town we do understand that but believe it or not when you have a um registration for your vehicle you're allowed to Park on public streets you know parking on public streets is allowed it's allowed in every other town in New Jersey some streets are more problematic than others I understand that but there's no magic wand what I can only tell the folks on Washington Street if this project adds more to it we will take a strong look at it with our police department and we will then be happy to issue resident only parking for you and passes for your guests when you have a party at your house we've done it in a couple of areas of town we just can't do it because your street is crowded because if that's the case then I'm going to make most every street and Clark resident only parking I mean there's only so much government can do for you it's where you live your neighborhood like I said Mr Mayor when what are they going to do withp when they going to start develop in downtown Clark what are we could do on on Westfield Avenue here we are we're developing it here we are and there's a million problems with it let me ask you another question there was questions tonight about parking if there's a restaurant where do you park when you go to Westfield where do you park when you go to Cranford to eat well I do sometimes I know other people do you never went to downtown field to a restaurant there and ate you should it's very good did you ever go to downtown Cranford to a restaurant there and eat you should they're pretty good why not okay there you go so they you're not going to them they won't come to you you aren't going to them they're not going to go to you I'll tell you a quick story my wife and I were going to go eat in downtown uh Westfield a couple weeks AG it's very cold out had reservations it was about 15 minutes prior to the reservation I couldn't Park you know what I did got on the phone told the little white lie plumbers at my house he's not getting out of here in time I'll see it I went to another town and eight if you can't park you're not going to go there that's the principle that's the bottom line if there's not parking on Westfield Avenue and you're already told me tonight on the record that there's very little parking left on Washington Avenue correct you said that okay so where are they going to park then if there's very little parking on Washington Avenue taken up by the resident there and Westfield Avenue is busy where are they going to go what happens is when we're at work they park in front of our house and then we come home and we don't have Mr spani I understand that it happens in a lot of streets in town stre is actually unique I know your street very well I'm up and down your street EXC me Mr this is a period for and then my other thing I want to say to you is most one bedrooms two people rented boyfriend girlfriend across the street from me everybody's got two cars they only got one spot two bedrooms you got to look at three cars a mother a father and a a sibling might drive you with this you know one car per two bedroom is crazy whatever your Rucker study is is wrong they surveyed 29,000 2023 it just came out sir it's it's I well I'm just saying and I'm telling you that the res how much of these things going to cost they're probably going to be $2,600 of rent for one bedroom you think one person's going to rent that it's going to be a couple that has two cars I just want to throw it out there arity I know you w this project but everything Mr Chase have you had opportunity to do any surveys at your own firm of multif family residential I know our firm's done many and we've seen the same Trend that you just testified to that the vehicle ownership is trending downward we have Mr Troutman and that's correct so we've done similar studies they've all produced uh parking generation rates so the actual Vehicles parked per unit that were well lower than two per unit trending towards 1.5 even some approaching one and again that's really I'm sure what was taken into consideration when they developed the Redevelopment plan and looked at you know the the parking uh requirement that was listed in that else from the audience wish to come forward to seeing no one a motion to close motion second Nate thank you yes Mr chairman as our Final witness I'd like to call upon our professional planner Justin oelo state your name and spell it please uh um Justin oelo uh Ju us s t i n uh Au u c i e l l o please raise your hand I Justin oel I Justin oo solemnly swear do solemnly swear I will faith that I will tell the truth in this matter so help me God tell the truth in this matter so help me God thank you roo you know that sure please provide your credentials um master's degree in in planning Ruckers University I've been a licensed professional plan in the state of New Jersey since uh 2008 move to accept I've all in favor I I thank you very much Mr oel I know we've gone through the the relief that we're seeking generally in compliance with the zone and the Redevelopment plan if you could please provide the uh justifications for any relief being sought in connection with this app sure so the board has heard uh you know extensive testimony this evening about parking um I believe Mr Ricky there's uh there's relief um for parking that's required uh and that's been called out as a waiver uh if if I'm correct just to clarify that the way the Redevelopment plan was written it had a specific requirement for residential spaces that we would consider a separate standard that would trly be considered a variance or under Redevelopment scenario a deviation um because the parking associated with ground floor uses has been problematic along this entire Corridor we were conservative in writing the requirement into the plan but specifically indicated in the plan that you know should the board find that um Westfield Avenue and or other for other reasons that they don't want to require that parking associated with the commercial use it was written in the plan that that's something that was likely anticipated but we were conservative in requiring the parking for that ground floor commercial space if that's clear so we were overly conservative in that regard because we want want to hear from uh a traffic engineer someone else that could justify that this facility can work and operate as well as the board's traffic engineer as well who seemed to have binded favorably about the parking for this site uh this plan was also developed prior to the Rucker study and I I can tell you as a as a land use planner that the parking that we did require for the residential portion of this project is higher than uh at least that I've written in a Redevelopment plan elsewhere where to date so we were very conservative in that regard okay great so you know for the purpose of the of the record I think it's important from a planning standpoint just to reiterate the points that were made uh by by Mr Chase in terms of um the parking uh that's expect that's expected to be generated on the site I think um Mr Ricky um you know raised a good point in his review letter talking about the commercial space is a is a modest space of about uh about uh 1,600 uh square feet um Mr Chase through his testimony uh you know made it clear that the generation from whatever commercial use it may be whether it's retail or restaurant um is going to be relatively um you know minimal um Mr Chase again as a as a uh you know well-respected you know traffic engineer um who has done studies all around the state um I think the board um can rest on his testimony which again stated that the the commercial Generation Um you know whether it may be you know retail or restaurant um will be minimal as Mr Ricky just stated the Rucker study which again uh Mr Chase provided testimony on is showing for the residential portion uh in 2023 when the study was done um residential uses with these type of uses um generate a parking Dem demand uh Which is less than what's required in many municipalities and I can just tell you from a planning standpoint um you know land use ordinances in in many cases have not caught up with the current realities in the state and it's not just parking it's um you know the types of uh of you know permitted uses there are a lot of uses that have evolved um since the pandemic uh that relatively new there's a lot of uh you know um you repurposing going on in communities across the state so I think it's important to keep that in mind from a planning standpoint when you're you're looking at the parking on the site um is that and it's no fault of of Mr Ricky um the you know mayor um or the town it's just that you know ordinances really haven't caught up with the current realities of the state and I'm happy to see uh the ruer study from 2023 which um you know has shown that the parking demands are less than what's written in many Ord ordinances and this also um is just important to keep in mind but in the terms of to be you know conservative and if we do require a waiver uh you know for for the parking situation which has been shown um with the EV credits uh as you heard from um from Mr Martin um there will be a surplus of parking on the site um but I would say that you know the standard for a waiver is is reasonableness um and whether the board um Can can see whether the grant of the waiver is reasonable and I think for all the reasons that have been stated uh this evening from the testimony of the the other Witnesses um I think from a planning standpoint I think the board can be comfortable um in in seeing that uh the grant of a waiver if a waiver is required again to be as conservative as possible is is uh um you know reasonable I just in terms of the the the Redevelopment plan I think it's important uh for the record just to state that the objectives of the plan are certainly being Advanced with this project again a use variant is not required um these are permitted uses um but I would say that certainly the um General Welfare of the community is being Advanced uh there's a provision of a mixed use product again which is um which is one of the objectives of the plan um the affordable housing is a biggie uh I know the the mayor had had spoken about that earlier um there is a mandate from the state uh you know each municipality has a uh constitutional requirement to comply uh with the provision of this type of housing um as the mayor had said it's it's really out of the hands of the municipality and not just Clark municipalities you know all throughout the state and and and really you know this is this is one of the purposes of of of of um Mr Ricky's plan uh to provide affordable housing and that's exactly what's being provided uh through this plan it's being provided uh in accordance with the statutary requirements of the state of New Jersey um the bedroom distribution Etc um so I think that that's really a you know overarching um um you know benefit of this plan uh and also just just lastly um this plan as proposed will also Advance the objective of of an appealing uh uh you know Street cape and uh and visual environment um certainly um I think I think we can all agree here that um compared to the current condition uh what's proposed in terms of the visual environment and the streetscape uh is is a vast Improvement um I know that you know for a waiver it's not the same standard of proof as a uh as a c variance but I think it's important just to state in terms again to be as conservative as possible there are multiple purposes of zoning from the ml that are being Advanced I think the biggie here is is general welfare that's criteria a um you know certainly um this is providing affordable housing it's a much better condition than what currently exists um criteria G uh sufficient space and appropriate locations as evidenced by the fact that uh there's really only I believe uh one potential waiver and no variances uh that are associated with this project I think in terms when you look at the dimensional aspects of what's proposed here the compliance with the the redev plan um is Extreme uh we don't need a variance for impervious coverage that's gone we don't need any variances um for setbacks height Etc so more than sufficient space to accommodate this project uh and lastly uh negative criteria again this is just to be conservative as possible purpose of the record uh certainly uh no substantial detriment to the public good um I understand that the public does have some some concerns about the parking but the board did hear um the testimony from the traffic expert um who has provided testimony and applications like this all throughout the state as cited the ruer study um the parking um you know will work on the site um and as the mayor had said if there is any type of issue the town will work uh with with the residents of the street with permit parking so I think the board can be comfortable that um the grant of this waiver um certainly will not provide for a substantial DET of the public good and and and lastly um I don't see any uh impairment uh to the Zone plan the zoning ordinance or namely the um the the region development plan um that's that's been prepared for the site as I had stated uh this is an application that point by Point advances uh the goals of the plan that was prepared by um by Mr Ricky so I think you know in some in totality um certainly a variety of benefits that will flow uh from this application and and certainly if there are any detriments I I don't see these detriments rising to the level of uh of um substantial and substantial is the term um that's used in the statute and it's and it's important to state that for the record because any type of development um you know two people can can disagree whether something is going to have some negative detriment um I guess you know two people can see one thing and two and see two different things that's exactly why the law H you know holds any detriments to a much higher standard than just any detriment um so that concludes my testimony thank you very much Mr no further questions at this time Mr chairman seeing no one have questions to this witness I have a motion for the open this to the audience motion second M thank you Nate anyone from the audience wishing to question this expert on his testimony please come forward state your name and address seeing no one comes forward like a motion to close motion second Mike than Nate Mr chairman we have no further Witnesses at this time obviously are witnesses that have testified so far this evening are available for further questions from the board to the public if so desire okay at this point um I'd like to open up to the general public for any comments questions or statements they'd like to make regarding this application please come forward state your name and address ladies first thank you hi hi my name is Joan Peters I'm in 1445 Westfield Avenue and I would just like to comment on the affordable piece I think it's great and I think it's overdue and I think if the municipalities hadn't been fighting it for 40 years we wouldn't have to put in a whole bunch at the same time and I think otherwise I like I will say I live in uh woodrest and a lot of the issues that you're talking about can be had but I don't out seee them so good luck but I just wanted to comment 40 years Mr Mayor thank you four years and 40 Dean Russo 23 Westfield Avenue I am a resident a business owner and a building owner on Westfield Avenue and I'd like to say that finally something is happening positive on Westfield Avenue besides the CVS building which looks beautiful when I'm walking up Westfield Avenue um currently it looks like it's a condemned community and something like this building is nothing but positive we need this you know I know some residents are concerned but you know as far as your property values this is going to do nothing but increase your property values people love to walk to a downtown if we can make Westfield Avenue and improve it to a downtown it's going to be good for everyone um within the three block radius of Westfield Avenue your your your property is going to be worth more money because people want to get up walk to a coffee shop walk to a restaurant it it it will be nothing but positive but mayor I have to ask you is there anything in the plan exploratory for a parking Municipal lot yes Dean I'm GL I was going to bring it up in my comments my business administrator and I are talking about that as as we speak we you know I understand the residents concerns I truly do we have professionals up here that are here to protect your concerns you know when they say one in three quter spot and one young lady said what do you mean by 3/4 of a car no I I get what you're saying these are the calculations the state comes up with that these ladies and gentlemen use to look at these type of projects um every downtown that I know of has a parking problem every downtown wherever you go this will be no different I said it to Rich o Conor back in 2004 when we um named Westfield Avenue as a possible downtown Village if parking's going to be the issue you're going to have nothing there because there's not going to be enough parking Jim ol the administrator and I have been talking we are trying to look as things come available for some Municipal parking by meter that people be able to park their car we're looking to do some things on some side streets on the other side of the road on Joseph now that the Investor's Bank is going out we might be able to do some different type of parking down there so yes our wheels are turning to try to solve as much problems as we can down there Dean and to make it vibrant like I said earlier what's going on with Westfield Avenue when's the a going to get built when nights of colum well here it is here it is I mean you're going to get this with it I do agree with you on Washington Street and if people you know don't want to live next to that we'll buy the houses and put Municipal parking in no problem that makes it even easier for us but we'd rather have it on Westfield Avenue honestly but the thing is at the end of the day you are correct if you can walk from Washington street across the street to a coffee shop to a sandwich shop the one lady was saying about a restaurant it's not going to be applebe there's not going to be 200 seats in there it's going to be as the one person said may maybe 40 seats in there maybe you know the other thing is maybe it's not going to be a restaurant it could be a professional service an accountant's office a lawyer's office a one or two person show so there's a lot of things that can and cannot be but it's got to be a development that we want to be proud of we put a lot of work into that pigy that used to be the old Jack Tavern area there was a pig pen up there we put a lot of work into that to make CVS look like a class building that was our doing everybody wants to come cheap this developer is not coming cheap here tonight that rendering he showed it that building is a beautiful building maybe some people's taste is different I agree I understand but overall it's a beautiful building he's not putting cheap material up there the building that's coming in across the street at the old site is going to be a nice classy building again I'm not in favor of these buildings if I had my way they wouldn't be but I don't have my way because it comes from a mandate from ports in New Jersey look at Walnut across the street there you had a bunch of old factories over there look what you have there now again I'm not an apartment fan but that's a beautiful site the people that rented those buildings uh Apartments I met a few people now have said they're beautiful on the inside these units are going to be beautiful on the out inside and and I understand your concerns and we as a town will try to work with you with those concerns but just because you don't like it it doesn't mean I'm going to vote no because we have another authority to answer to we have a uh 2025 a a uh affordable housing uh uh re review is done and we've got an answer to it look what they're building on Walnut in Cranford look what they built all over Cranford Westfield it's way too much as far as I'm concerned but you got got a governor that says I want more he doesn't even want what he's got he wants more and I don't believe this should be built in Clark this should be built in cities where there's Mass transits and people can walk to work and walk to a job but that's not the reality anymore this is not New Jersey circuit 1970 anymore this is a different Progressive uh State we have they want stuff like this and we the towns get dumped on one gentleman asked about sewage well of course we can handle the sewage or we couldn't build it there's D approval survey uh permits that got to go through the rway valley has to approve it if you can't get a sewer connection you can't build a building so a lot of these questions we understand but these are what our professionals are paid for these are the questions that I have the township Council has for them as we hear these projects what about this and what about that and what about the other thing rich and Paul will tell you they hear from me all the time time but this is the reality of it so I do agree with you Dean there's going to always be some bumps and bruises in new developments and not everyone's going to be happy but it's a positive step forward for Westfield Avenue absolutely lastly um is there anything I I know there's a problem with Washington uh Street traffic could you put any blinking 25 M hour signs we can do all that Dean but I'm going to tell you something I've been in government here 28 years now Washington Street has been a problem for 28 years right there's not much we can do I'm not going to sit here I'm not a massager if you want to massage don't come to me I don't have a massuse license I'm not going to massage you and tell you I can make it all better and this is going to be great like some people have in government over the years I'm not going to do that to you it's a reality I live on Featherbed Lane it's a Speedway it's a reality people are going to cut through at a councilman say to me why don't we make uh Catherine Street a one way coming out that'll clear up the problem I said great and we're going to push it up to Bartel down the G and they're still going to cut down Washington Stanton and Harrison they're still going to do that there are certain things folks I'm sorry I've been in this town my whole life in government 28 years and I care about it as much as you not more but as much as you there's certain realities that government just can't fix I can't you know my my own mom she's 85 years old she drives God bless her she's great shape for her age she drives all over and you know I tell her ma it's Union County New Jersey get over it if you don't want traffic then don't go out at 3:4 in the afternoon which I don't want her to do anyway you know don't decide to go to Route 22 in Springfield at 4:00 in the afternoon or Union that's not a smart thing to do you know that's a between 9:30 and 11:00 in the morning then you won't see Salan Corso up that way no matter what unless I'm forced to be this is a reality folks we have to learn to live with it we may not like it we may love it everybody's different thank you you got it Ori Toby at um 26 Westfield Avenue otherwise known as Ace Hardware Mr Mayor board people in the audience I've been here for 40 years owning property on on Westfield Avenue it's long too much too long it's been not having finally have a development going on that building that you're proposing is a beautiful beautiful building it will create more money it will create wealth in our homes and in our buildings it's a great facility I 100% behind it thank you you Nick pachella property manager for the condos at 10 to 20 Washington and 15 Westfield AV um once again I would like to thank the applicant for the time and effort you've put into this project you clearly have uh crossed all your tees and dotted all your eyes um and the building does look beautiful I think it will make downtown uh Clark a much better place to be um the you know as someone who spends a lot of time on Washington Street I I hear the people's problems and I see see them and I live them when I go there every day um but the their problems are not with this building their problems are with Washington Street as mayor Bon Corsa has pointed out it's been a problem for as long as anyone can remember um you know some some things that can be done like have been mentioned if there's any way to make that road wider if there's any way to lower the speed um if there's any way to have you know police enforce the speed restrictions um this would help everyone on Washington Street out once again it's not this building's issue I I think this building will be an asset to this area um but there are some issues on Washington Street thank you anyone else wishing to come forward seeing no one I may ask for a motion to close motion thank you Mike second thank you Nate any discussion in the board um Mr chair before you begin um if you're inclined to Grant this application I want to outline some conditions uh some of them may not have been necessarily addressed but I would hope the applicant would agree with them uh first uh the applicant will comply with all the conditions included in the review letters of the planner engineer uh uh traffic engineer and fire chief um while the plans did call out uh a bedroom room distribution for the affordable housing it did not call out that the units would be income eligible consistent with the uniform housing affordability controls um and that should be a condition that they will comply with that uh the there is an affordable housing developer fee uh it's not attributable to the affordable uh to the uh residential units it is attributable to the commercial portion of this and so whatever the 2.5% of equalized value for the commercial uh space would also be a condition those are all acceptable correct Mr correct Mr Cruz thank you all right let me just go through a few more because they were uh done as a result of of the testimony uh as a result of uh back and forth discussion uh there was an agreement by the applicant that all the affordables would not be clustered in one part of the building but would rather be interspersed through each of the three floors um so they're not clustered in in one corner and that was agreed to correct correct great great suggestion by the chair uh although this is contained within the engineers report um you are going to apply for a treatment works approval permit and uh Ryon Valley seage Authority permit uh approval uh and those are all standard conditions that are subsequent to this approval so you could not build without those approvals being obtained from third parties that that is correct okay uh there was also a discussion about flow rights if there is a need for additional flow rights that will be purchased by the applicant correct correct no tractor trailers will be unloading on the site or in front of the site okay what is what are what did you agree to with respect to uh loading of tractor trailers um certainly wouldn't happen on site you can't we can't accommodate that okay so no on-site loading unloading oh there's a loading s just no tractor trailer unloading no tractor trailer unloading on site and obviously County planning board too yes that that's already in there but yes thank you for pointing that out um think are you done well I I I think this is where I'm going to need your help a little bit Mr Ricky because of the lighting condition there was an agreement through uh with respect to the lighting I have various notes uh including that the lights would be altered to be warm light less bright provide for security lighting uh consistent with applicable standards um and that uh the revised lighting plan would be approved by by the township engineer and planner is that capture it all or do you have more yes an appropriate Kelvin range for the lighting can be determined as well as an appropriate level for that security lighting at night as a compliance item but that would be a lighting plan that would be submitted for approval no objection consistent with these comments correct did you note no extra charge for parking it's included in the rent yes that that that was one of the comments and one of and I think two of the reports so that's covered so again it's all the all the conditions that were enumerated in the reports they've agreed to these are just ones that I want to highlight for the board before you consider this matter just uh clarifying too that the rooftop amenity in the basement are optional under the plan which would be a down the road determination also I I said that now uh okay all right those were the highlights in terms of conditions as I said there are other conditions within the reports that will also be reflected in the resolution of the board approves it no objection thank you um that it Mr Mayor I Mr chair I apologize for interrup rting you before you were ready to proceed no no thank you for that clar that's very helpful Mr chair can I uh ask a question certainly um I think that U Mr Cruz uh will have to answer this but uh the question I have is does this project comply with all the standards and would there be a basis for the applicant if not approved can appeal it and have the decision reversed well the first part of the question I think that's more directed to Mr Ricky whether all this he feels that all the standards uh contained in the re Redevelopment plan and those sections of the general zoning ordinance apply have been met uh as a matter of of of practice there are really two um issues before you there is a waiver for parking for the commercial parking that has been discussed extensively um that's the first issue uh and there was a second waiver that I am slipping my mind right now what was that second um the width of the uh sidewalk on the width of the sidewalk yes um we recommended that reduction because the full uh being forthright we were thinking more along Westfield Avenue and we carried that standard as well to to Washington Street Washington Street clearly more of a residential neighborhood it was appropriate to have a residential Le scaled sidewalk with thank you just one added comment I do believe the planner did accurately um State what the law is in terms of the burden of proof of the applicant and what has to be uh shown by the applicant to obtain that waiver uh those waivers uh in terms of the second part of you or first part of your question about appealing it um yes anyone can appeal a grant or a denial uh the whether or not that appeal is uh sustained will be dependent upon the testimony that's presented before the board and whether you're satisfied with what was presented in terms of the written documentation and the testimony um so yes uh we live in a world where anyone can challenge anything uh the question is is there enough evidence uh to sustain your decision either for or against it thank you you don't disagree with any that correct no I agree with your assessment Mr Cruz any other discussion on the board hearing none have a motion I make a motion to accept the plan uh with the waivers for the parking and the uh sidewalk waiver to accept I think it's a uh good site a good building to begin downtown Westfield Avenue I also go with the concern of the residen to hear what they need and what they say and I think we are a responsive Administration that have been there for whenever we can for the people and we will continue to do that as we try to develop something nice in Clark on the downtown Westfield Avenue unfortunately our forefathers didn't have the foresight to do it the right way so what is really downtown Westfield AV uh Clark Central ritton or Westfield we're trying to develop it down on Westfield Avenue because of foot traffic it'll be safer down there hopefully we can do it I really kind of thought we'd be a little bit ahead of the game at this time we're not but this is going to be the first real kick off this and the CVS all the way at the other end and I will be supporting this tonight and I make the motion to accept with the conditions that I with the conditions as you explained Albert yes sir but with the CVS they came in and they were too big and we came in and said the parking's a little much we we had we worked with CVS in this case the parking really relies on street parking and the more people we the more things we add the more that street parking goes away and I understand you want to put a parking deck or a parking garage or something a parking area but we don't even know where that's going to be and that's the problem I'm having with this oh if I that's you're right hold on a motion a real concern a motion's been made we need a second and then you can have full debate I'll second that Madie all right I apologize I just want to get procedurally that's what's going through my head' gone through this once before we've gone through this once before with TVs and and I I want don't get me wrong I want I want a building I want something there I want a central I want all this but not at the point where I'm we're crushing so many things in that we're relying on street parking when it's really not there and and I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it so that's just where my head's at I agree with what you're saying Mike um parking is clearly an issue um the two applications we did in the immediate area previously have commercial space and they did include parking in their Cal calculations and parking spaces um in fact one of the applicants provided additional parking for the area for the existing demand in this area um I don't believe giving a waiver for them not including commercial space um is appropriate or acceptable in this application um I understand what the mayor's saying um we had to develop a plan based on the state's requirements it was accepted um but you know a smaller building less units would have allowed the same amount of parking that they have now which would have then given them adequate parking for the commercial needs um that's my thoughts on it anyone else you know Mr chairman I can't disagree with you or Michael on this I don't I really don't in theory but let's take the statement less units the problem with less units is as you know you know this but for the people out there is you have to pay for the affordable units that are going to be at a discounted rate that's why high density development in this affordable housing causes these type of buildings and what you're seeing throughout Union County and the state St of New Jersey I don't disagree with my colleagues they're two very good board members up there I think everybody's a good board member on this board they work hard for the best of Clark where we're different is we're going to have to do it and deal with it as we go and do the best we can because we have to have those number of units first question I asked when this was proposed does it have to be that many and when you break down the cost of construction you break down the affordable units and construction now has gone up considerably you all know that since we've had B biomics in uh everything is through the roof it was costing you $80 $90 for a sheep a Ply uh thing plywood this is the results of all that so I do agree with my esteemed colleagues they're good people they have great concerns for the community at large as we all do but I'm going to be accepting this and voting yes tonight because we're going to have to just deal with this on a Case by Cas bases one by one and try to find that additional parking and do this thing or we're going to be stuck with Westfield Avenue as it is forever and not meet our affordable housing units and it's going to cause us more problems in up to in 2025 thank you any other discussion can I say one other thing I guess the question that I have is that if we're taking care if the residential parking is not the concern and it's a commercial wouldn't the commercial space going there produce the same amount maybe less cars than the commercial spaces that are there what abanded kns of Columbus well there's a the sushi place and when the kns of Columbus is open they have cars that go there for parties they've been closed for years yeah but we go back and say I don't believe generating ton of business and you got the bagel store next door that is open in the morning okay I'm just I don't see how you know I want you guys to it's it's not just are you talking it's not just the one place you're you the whole big picture of all these apartments that are coming around and if you're not going to provide parking for that restaurant or whatever it is that's going to go there they're going to park on the street and then another one's going to say let's park on the street another one and those 25 SP spaces that that is supposedly being thrown around that are on the street are going to go away real quickly and and then it becomes congested and you have major issues that that's that's where my issue is no further discussion take a roll call vote mayor Upon A Coro yes councilman Manti I'm GNA say yes Mr Cot no Mr Alman no Mr Clay no application is denied thank you very much for your time we're still in session um at this point um I'd like a motion to open the meeting to the public for any discussions they might have moved thank you Mike Nate second thank you Nate anybody from the public wishing come forward to discuss any issues with the planning board please do so seeing no and come forward like a motion to close to the public oh just a question for you um there's Hoboken okay which really doesn't have any parking and there's hundreds of restaurants maybe not hundreds but 75 restaurants probably in a quarter of a mile so you guys are stifling this project and not advancing Westfield Avenue when there's a sushi place there already that's very busy a bagel shop that's very busy and there's always I'm on Westfield Avenue every day and there's there's spaces across the street there's spaces in front of my store I I'm not following your logic do you want to advance the township or do you want to stifle the township that's my my question to you we want to advance the township but not at the point in making a Township where there's there's nowhere to park there's nowhere going on there's that w i i in my opinion I think you're being unreasonable I I I really really do because you would you like it the way it is I walk down Westfield Avenue I'm embarrassed embarrassed do you guys ever walk down Westfield Avenue are you proud to be a Clark citizen I don't need no hold on a second this is a public common here and not question and answer so you have a comment that's my comment thank you please come forward Susan Ray 11 Washington Street a lot of our problems are right now we have businesses from raway on Westfield Avenue and Madison Hill Road parking on our street plus we have the apartments plus Westfield Avenue businesses and the traffic on our street like I said is very bad they do 50 60 70 miles an hour somebody's going to get clobbered coming out of that back parking lot when people are living there we have we have another town that parks on our residential street I don't think that's fair they could park Park on Westfield Avenue and Madison Hill Road their space is there for them we don't the building we don't mind it's the parking it's the speeding and it's other towns parking on our streets thank youor 34 Washington Street I agree the affordable housing and the units are not going away and I don't think anyone's opposed to the building it's the parking that's the biggest concern the building's going to go up we know that I think I myself has accepted that it's just the conditions of the parking that needs to be addressed before we move forward because once it's up you're not going to find parking and a parking garage is going is in the foreseeable future perhaps but that's not going to solve the problem of what's going up now and the parking that's needed for today well with that comment that's correct but there could be another 5 to 10 years before we find that spot for or could be a week who knows God only knows so basically Westfield Avenue is going to stay the way it is and that's okay with me I don't live down there if that's what you folks want that's fine by me well well then we're going to have a lot of discussions in this town in 2025 when our affordable housing uh numbers come again I'm not an affordable housing fan I'm not an apartment fan I'm against high density development I truly am but I understand the realities of this state and what has to be done and it's happening all around us and guess what there's never going to be enough parking in Downtown Clark that's a reality mark my words someday 10 years from now you're going to say s you were right there's never going to be enough parking and people are going to do what I did when I went to Westfield two weeks ago for dinner I look around it's too cold for me to walk I went to another spot that's what happens I get that for the retail aspect but when you're living there and you're looking for a place to park because I want to go home and go to sleep because the end of my well that's your driveways for correct not a parking space for me because it wasn't planned properly two different issues well we can handle that for you I told you that we can handle that with resident parking if and when it becomes a problem that's what drivers are for people Park on streets it happens and like I said some of the things you're talking about on Washington Avenue I'm never going to lie to anybody but you may not you may love or not like what I'm going to tell you it's never going to be be solved it's always going to be a cut through there's nothing we can do I I've had four police Chiefs look at that for you four different traffic people look at that for you it's always going to be a cutro and you talk about speeding 50 mil an hour with all due respect cars can't get up to 50 miles an hour on that street it's not long enough when you come out of a middle of a street if you tell me you're at one end and a car starts at the other end maybe when they get down but when you live in the middle a car can't get from 50 to the middle it's impossible I've had studies done by police departments I've been working on this for a long time and you know what the area just basically comes we have radar up there we've had police up there we had a meeting in room 30 councilman toll had it it's just is what it is sometimes very good thank you very much thank you seeing actually nobody left I'd like a motion to close the meeting to the public moot motion second thank you Mike thank you Nate any new business to discuss any old business discuss our next meeting is a our next meetings are April 4th May 2nd June 6th if we have material um a motion to adjourn the meeting motion thank you Mike second thank you Nate meeting adjourned good night