e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Township veton Zing Board of adjustment regular meeting of June 18th 2024 4 is now in session adequate notice of this meeting as required by the open public meetings Act of 1975 has been provided by the annual notice published in the home news and Tribune on December 18th 2023 as OPP post to the main lobby Municipal complex on December 18th 2023 please join me the pledge allees to the flages M secretary roll call please Mr Carly Mr Bell here Miss Shaw Mr aat here Mr chabra here Mr Sero here Mr Baron here Mr D here Mr sadaha here Vice shair o Gorman here and chairman K here mam secretary Mr Carly did say that he's here yes welcome back Mr [Applause] Carly Madame secretary minutes for consideration minutes of May 21st 2024 for approval what's the board's pleasure motion to approve second motion made by Mr Sero seconded by Mr sedada roll call please Mr chabra yes the motion Mr Sero yes yes on the motion Mr Baron yes on the motion Mr D yes on the motion Mr sadaha yes on the motion VI chair Gorman no on a motion and chairman Kumba yes on the motion thank you Madam Secretary uh resolutions to be adopted Z10 2023 Edison Muslim Community Center what's the board's pleasure yes and the motion motion to approve second second motion made by Mr Sero seconded by Mr sedada roll call please Mr chabra yes to the motion Mr D yes in the motion Mr sadaha yes on the motion and chairman Kumba yes on the motion next resolution for consideration z29 2023 Twan Nan motion to approve second motion made by Mr sadada second by Mr Sero roll call please Mr chabra yes to the motion Mr Serita motion Mr Baron yes the motion Mr Patel oh sorry Mr de yes on the motion chair a Gorman yes on the motion and chairman Kum yes on the motion next resolution z30 2023 PKG Builders motion to approve second motion made by Mr sedat seconded by Mr Sero roll call please Mr chabra yes the motion Mr Sero yes on the motion Mr Baron yes on the motion Mr D yes on the motion Vice chair Gorman yes on the motion and chairman cumba yes on a motion next resolution z uh z32 2023 sanj ther motion to approve second motion by made by Mr Sero second by Mr chabra roll call please Mr Sero yes on the motion Mr chabra yes to the motion Mr Baron yes Mr de yes on the motion VI chair o Gorman yes on the motion and chairman Kumba yes on the motion next resolution please Z4 2024 me Lind and Bal Shaw motion to approve second motion made by Mr Sero second by Mr chaber roll call please Mr chabra yes the motion Mr Sera yes on the motion Mr Baron yes on the motion Mr D yes on the motion CH o' Gorman yes on a motion and chairman cumo yes on a motion next resolution for consideration please Z10 24 Orlando Santos motion to approve second motion by Mr Sero second by Mr dve roll call please uh Mr chabra yes the motion Mr Sero yes on the motion Vice chair Gorman yes on a motion and chairman Kumba yes on the motion and last resolution for consideration please z15 2024 Steven weer motion to approve second motion made by Mr Sero second by Mr Mr sedada roll call please Mr chabra yes to the motion Mr Sero yes on the motion Vice chair Gorman yes on the motion and chairman Kumba yes on the motion thank you Madam Secretary good evening ladies and gentlemen there's a regular meeting of the township of Edison Zoning Board of adjustment this board is composed of Edison Township residents appointed by Municipal Council who volunteer their time and service to the board MP land use Law requires that members successfully complete a land use training course administered by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs this board also holds in-house training cond Ed by our board professionals the zoning board abides by the Prov provisions of the municipal land use law in addition to our board's bylaws zon board is a quasi judicial land use board which differs from the township planning board under the municipal land use law board members are required to be impartial and are not allowed to discuss any case prior to its consideration before the board at a hearing all applicants will have the opportunity to present their case before the board with the opportunity for board members and board professionals to question the applicant and their Witnesses at the conclusion of the applicant presentation of their case the case will be open up to the public residents within 200 ft of the subject property will be heard followed by residents from outside of 200 ft all residents will be sworn in they'll provide their name and address and then will be given six minutes to comment on the application being considered without the opportunity for a rebuttal residents may ask questions of the applicant the applicants professionals and board professionals the board requests that these questions are asked prior to any commentary being made on the application once commentary Begins the resident timer will begin the applicant would be allowed for the opportunity to cross for cross-examination of their Witnesses under the law the chair is allowed to stop any commentary which is repetitive or is an attempt to filibuster the board further the chair is allowed to stop any commentary that is irrelevant to the case or prohibited from the board's consideration once a public portion is closed all public comment is ended unless new testim is presented testimony is presented by the applicant following the closure of the public portion the applicant will have the right of summation on their application following the case will go to the board for decision this procedure has been followed by the board and is similar to the procedures followed by Boards of adjustment Statewide the mpal land use Law requires the board engage in a balancing act it is not required to strictly apply Township ordinances zoning plan or master plan as a board of adjustment variances are granted when appropriately necessary following all legal considerations as has been the case with prior boards this board will see where we are at if we are still in session around 10:30 p.m. I ask that the applicants professional and residents show respect to each other and be civil throughout all proceedings I ask that you withhold Applause booing or interrupting of anyone while they are speaking the chair will not tolerate any Outburst by applicants professionals or the public further since most cases are being recorded by a court reporter I yes that speakers do not speak over one another mam secretary first case on the agenda please case number z42 2023 Joy deep page at 83 Sagamore of South applicant is seeking bulk variances to reconstruct a non-conforming home with an addition on the rear of the single family dwelling the following standards have not been met Max percentage of lot coverage by all required is 30% proposed is 34.5 9% lot coverage required is 15% proposed is 25.0 rear yard required is 60 feet proposed is 34.5 side yard required both side yard required is 30 feet proposed is 2161 feet affected property is located in the ra Zone designated as block number 1250 Lot number 35 on the Edison Township tax map all noticing paperwork is in order excuse me are you the applicant we are sir okay then you'll be in that table over there we're at that table yes sir thank you all right okay good evening Mr chairman members of the board my name is Steven Pinsky I'm an attorney in East Bruns sir I'm just going to ask you if you could speak into the microphone at all times thank you so much I mean no disrespect if I no no no no not at all not at all not at all make yourself comfortable again my name is Steven binsky I'm an attorney from East Brunswick New Jersey and I represent Joy deep and Shuli p uh pasta the owners of 83 Sagamore Avenue South identified by your secretary is block 1205 block 35 um this is an application to reconstruct excuse me the single family dwelling which was substantially damaged by fire in May of 2023 subject property is located as noted previously in the ra Zone in which single family homes are permitted use under your order section 371 11.1 the plans to reconstruct the house are before you today I'll mark them shortly when our architect testifies because they include a small enlargement to the dwellings family room Den at the rear of the house which will encroach into the rear yard beyond the rear side of the original construction the lot itself is undersized as are most in the neighborhood the house was built in 1985 according to Municipal tax records which appears to predate the current bulk standards your ordinance imposes for that area uh the deviations here from prevailing bulk standards for the zone are not substantial but require relief under your ordinances 37 66.4 and 66.5 as C variances under njsa 40 55-70 uh Mr chairman my first witness tonight is shulie perast could I have a sworn please ma' would you raise your right hand raise your right hand do you Solly swear or affirm to tell the whole truth nothing but the truth help you got yes and please stay could you pull in the microphone closer because we can't hear you yes and could you please State your full name for the record want you state your name uh my name is sh okay you may proceed thank you Mr perast are you the owner with Joy d perast of the property at 83 Sagamore South medon and in until the fire in May of 2023 what was there yes we were there what but what was there what building was there um there is a ranch uh three a single family um single family and with three bedroom to full bathroom with a Dan and kitchen and um deck in the back here when did you first the property uh long time back I think it's uh was it 2007 uh 2007 June and were you living there from 2007 until the time of the fire in May of 2023 yes okay I'm going to show you some pictures and I'm just going to ask you to identify them uh Mr chairman and councel I have taken the liberty of pre-marking the exhibits just so they can be identified easily and then I'll submit them to the board for review after the witness sufficient copies for the board or you just have one set I have one set are they in color or black and white their color that's fine that's fine m just before you start you just bring the microphone Podium just a little closer to you by the way Mrs per as before I show you the photos the neighborhood around your house what kind of houses are those um single family double story okay your house was a ranch as that would have testify correct correct I'm going to show you the first house it's marked picture is marked A1 and in the center is a gray house with a car in front of it is that your house the way it looked before the fire yes this is my house before the fire and that's from the front of the house correct from Sagamore at right okay and I'm going to show you what's been marked A2 can you tell the board what that is this is my house it's from a slightly different angle isn't it yes it's much closer I'm going to show you what's been marked A3 that's a photograph can you tell me where it's taken from uh it's from the talage road from the talage road side yeah okay and that's showing the side of the house before the fire all right and finally I'm going to show you the um last picture I have marked A4 and is your house does your house appear in that picture yeah yeah uh this is from the talud road and this is the back side of the house back side of the house okay and is there a deck that appears attached to the back of the house as well yeah okay and that was all there up until the time of the fire is that correct are you planning to return to the house after the construction is completed yes I have no further questions for Mrs perast does the board have any questions for the applicant seeing none you may proceed councel you want to hand your exhibits up to the board secretary please I'll move over yeah I have some exhibits of going to be is it all right if I move over to that side sure just bring the microphone with you and that's that' be perfect [Music] can we have Mr deipa sworn please would you raise your right hand um you might want to grab a microphone grab there's another microphone as well so raise your right hand do you square orm to tell the whole truth nothing but the truth s you got yes and please State your full name for the record sure Robert theppa I'm sorry what's your last name dppa and Mr deipa if you could just please give us a summary of your qualifications I'm a registered architect in the state of New Jersey for about 25 years and I've been in front of boards um pamis northbergen uh Bloomfield pretty much not not Edison yet so you don't make it as close this this far south uh and your license are current in in uh yes okay all right we'll accept you you may proceed thank you Mr chairman thank you m Mr toip you're the architect who prepared plans for the reconstruction of the house at 83 Sagamore is that right yes okay uh did you bring a copy of those plans with you today yes I have and of those displayed on the U board to your right yes I don't know what your preference is for marking them I I don't know what your preference is for marking them I was just going to mark them um A5 so the entire board will be marked a A5 okay do you have smaller versions or is that part of what your submission consisted of that is the submiss that was the submission that was a submission so you don't need to mark it you can just reference the submission okay that's fine thank you welcome can you explain to the board what the purpose of the application is um we're looking to reconstruct the existing house that was damaged in the fire um with a small addition in in the uh right rear of the house to increase the den um and do some minor uh interior uh alterations to make the house more open more open plan um and and then basically just rebuild it we're raising it up a little bit also because um it's right now it's a slab on grade which is flat to the ground so we're just raising it up about two feet to get it up off the ground and um that's pretty much the extent of it and you've had a chance to review the Zoning for the uh properties that correct yes and does it permit single family houses yes okay and you had a chance to review the neighborhood as well you heard the testimony of the homeowner um uh was that consistent with your observations that's a single family house neighborhood yes um you have page two different pages showing the interior of the house can you explain what that you're showing one existing and one proposed and what the differences are okay um pa2 um is the existing layout which um was prior to prior to the fire um it it had um three bedrooms uh two baths um it had a lundry room and and the kitchen was kind of blocked from view so um and then it still had a one car garage and a small dent in the back um what we did on pa3 was we opened up the plan a little and we um moved the laundry room and the uh the half bath over to the uh behind the garage so to create like a little mud room area and then we just extended the den back a little bit to uh to give the den back the same size so and we opened up the plan so it's a little more modern layout right the um the house is located on a corner is that right correct okay are there any houses to the left when you're facing the property no are there any houses behind the prop behind the subject property Municipal land right is it Municipal land yeah okay and so there's only one house to the right correct okay is there a fence between that house and the property in question believe so yes okay um can you tell the board what the just what the current condition of the property is current condition right now is it's a um the house has been what that was dting the fire was taken down to the foundation so right now it's just a slab that's the existing slab that we're going to be rebuilding on that footprint and just expanding it slightly okay so you're not increasing the density of bedrooms or anything like that you're just enlarging one one of the rooms of the house we're enlarging the the den and um just moving the um the laundry room and half bath over to the uh the side so that we can open up the kitchen because it was kind of blocked view as you walked in do you know how many square feet approximately the den will extend or encroach into the rear yard that didn't encroach before it up there about 60 square feet okay does the uh slight increase in the size of the den and the encroachment to the rear yard require a variance yes okay and there's some other existing pre-existing conditions that are non-conforming as well right correct okay you prepared a chart that identified all of those um non-conformities as well as the variances required by the application and anticipation of this meeting is that right and you have a copy of that Avail I can give you a bigger one I have additional copies of this for the board although it is originally part of the package it's the writer that I submitted when I was retained that was the board has that the board has it thank you okay Mr diipa can you review the non-conformity that are pre-existing as well as the variances that are required as a result of the new construction yes just read them all and explain them okay so the existing um uh the Zone the ra uh PRD Zone requires a 20,000 foot lot um our lot is you know less than half of that it's only 800 8,843 squ feet so that's a non-conforming uh we also requires 100 foot width and our lot current lot is 85.5 um it has a lot depth that's required to be 150 and our lot is only 110 um that as far as setbacks um our existing the required front yard is 35 ft and our existing uh front yard is 27.2 feet and and none of the issue none of the um matters you just testified to would be affected by the Reconstruction of the house is that correct they're all going to remain okay but there are several variances that have minor differences from what existed before and can you explain to the board what they are yes um on the sidey yard we're required a 15ot minimum uh on the left side we do have 12.6 one existing which we're not making any smaller on the right side it's 10.36 which we're reducing to 10.0 because the house is slightly is slightly skewed on the site so when that back um addition extends it brings it over about 36 into the side yard um the rear yard um is required to be 60 feet it currently is 43.5 but by putting the small addition on the back that's going to reduce the rear yard to 34.5 the lock coverage um the required is 15% and the existing was 23.63 and we've increased it to 25.0 eight% and the total coverage um which is impervious and lock coverage is uh the minimum is 30 maximum is 30% and we are we were currently 33.5 6 and we're increasing that to 34.5 n okay which is all due to the small issue I I I think you missed it but the the sidey yard combined also requires variance relief is that right uh yes I'm sorry yeah it's uh 30t required and the existing was 22.97 and the with the new addition is 22.6 so you're reducing the rear you're encroaching into the rear yard for the small area where the den is extended by about 9 fet is that right right and you're increasing the lot coverage as a result of the den by roughly one and a half% yes okay and just uh to continue down our maximum f is 25% and and uh the existing was 21.6 and the proposed is 22.73 which that one does comply so we didn't go over the max F and do you see any potential effect on any of the joining properties as a result of this minor change I have no further questions for Mr diipa the board May does the board have any questions for Mr diipa Mr chairman Mr D so you have a wood patio that separate is that set on on your left hand side that patio Still Remains it's in the side plan I'm sorry where was that this one or no if you look at this drawing surve the patio goes over the property line I believe that's been removed but I wasn't I didn't see if that was removed yet is it going to stay it's going to be removed is it part of f I mean it's if it wasn't removed it's going to be yeah we're not going to keep that that's going to be taken off little oh I see it's like a little independent yeah that that'll be that'll be removed if it has if it hasn't been demolished yet it will be demolished okay all right should it to be gone correct yes thank you thank you Mr thank you Mr Mr chair chairman Vice chairman yeah the did the existing structure have a deck yes it had a it had a deck and it was it was destroyed so by the time when it was taken down I I actually didn't see it but the owner did the owner did testify that it did so so you have a proposed deck is that the same dimensions that was there originally or it was already it was already when I got the survey it was already off I got when I received the survey it just showed the foundation so I didn't see if that deck was the the size of the deck it was it was already demolished by the time I saw it thank you any other questions okay all right Council I have no further Witnesses okay all right so we will now go out to the public um anyone within 200 feet of subject site wanting to be heard can now approach anyone outside at 200 feet of the subject site seeing none can I get a motion to close a public portion motion to close public portion second motion made by Vice chairman o Gorman seconded by Mr sedada all in favor signify by saying i i n the eyes have it public portion is now closed uh council do you have any uh summation very briefly go sit down Mr chairman members of the board this is a application in which the applicant is seing seeking approval of some very minor deviations to the bulk standards affecting the property toit to permit an otherwise permitted reconstruction of a home with a very slightly en larged living area houses no neighbors to the rear or to the left side facing the front and only one house adjoining it on on the right hand side separated by a fence which is shown in the pictures that if I haven't shared with you yet you will see shortly um I think from the evidence presented the board can determine that relief can be granted under either njsa 4055 d70 C1 or C2 the deviations identified here will substantially outweigh any detriment and the board can also find from the evidence presented that the necessary test under njsa 4055 d70 is satisfied in that the relief can be granted without detriment to the public good nor will impair the intent and purpose of the Zone plan or the zoning ordinance thank you okay we now go to the board Mr chairman Mr dve uh I make a motion to approve this application the applicant will comply with the engine's report if this application is approved um this is a very di Minimus request it is not detriment to the neighborhood um there are no objectives as well and the applicant agreed that um the small deck on the left side of property will be demolished if it is already not done so second motion made by Mr dve second by Vice chairman o' Gorman roll call please Mr chabra yes the motion Mr Sero yes on the motion Mr Baron yes on the motion Mr D yes on the motion Mr sadada yes on the motion ice chair or Gorman yes on a motion and chairman Kumba uh I just wanted to say that this is the dimin EST um I remember when the fire occurred um it was quite a large fire first I want to thankful that you and your family are okay um I believe that this is a this is an improvement um to the property into the neighborhood there's been No No Object objectors present uh and I vote Yes on the motion thank you unanimous approval congratul very much Mr chairman members of the board mam secretary next case on the agenda please case number z9 2024 Patrick Amaral at 31 moo Road applicant is seeking bulk variances to construct an addition to the rear of the single family dwelling the following standards have not been met building coverage required is 23% proposed is 25.3% imperious lot coverage required is 40% proposed is 47.8% affected property is located in the RB Zone designated as block number 1106 laot number 28 on the Addison Township tax map all noticing paperwork is in order good evening good evening members of the board sir would you raise your would you raise your right hand sure do you solemnly swear or affirm to tell the whole truth nothing about the TRU self you got I do and please State your full name for the record Patrick Amaral a m a r a l Mr Amaral just please uh tell us what you'd like to do and why you'd like to do it um just a small expansion of the house um we rearranging some of the rooms in the house uh due to a medical situation for the family and um the original house a little small um so we're just looking to expand the house mainly the kitchen because the uh kitchen is a little difficult to cook meals in for more than just a couple people do you have anything else to add uh no I mean just we're looking to update the house to you know it's 70 years old one of the things in in there is to redo the sewer and water lines um just because we're fortunate enough that it hasn't gone yet but we recognize that we're at that age where it needs to be done so what we're figuring the GC and ourselves is moving it to so that when it needs to be done in the future it's not going through the whole house we're literally where the lines are run it literally runs underneath the slab through the whole house which is a very poor design so we're looking to move it alongside of the house and come come in uh on on a different side so that yeah we're going to have to do something similar in the sense of tearing up part of the house but not as much okay all right does the board have any questions for Mr Amaral Jim Mr dve so you basically the existing Where the Sidewalk is the concrete walkway you just covering that and just adding that corner making the house wrecked squ essentially squaring off the house yes okay nothing else nothing else great thanks anyone else okay all right seeing none do you have anything Mr chairman oh Vice chairman the shed is that an the existing shed yes thank you not nothing changing thank you anyone else okay mral do you have anything to add before we go to the public nope okay all right so we'll now go now go out to the public anyone within 200 FIA subject site wanting to be heard please please approach seeing none anyone outside 200 ft seeing none can I get a motion to close the public portion motion to close public portion second motion made by Vice chairman o Gorman seconded by Mr sedada all in favor signify by saying I I I oose nay the eyes have it the public portion is now closed and we'll go to the board uh Mr chairman Mr D I make a motion to approve this application this is very dious request uh it's not out of character it is not detriment to the neighborhood and there are no objectives second motion made by Mr dve seconded by Mr sedada roll call please Mr chabra yes to the motion Mr Sero yes on the motion Mr Baron yes Mr de yes on the motion Mr sadala yes on the motion Vice chair ogorman yes on a motion and chairman Kumba yes on the motion 70 to unanimous for approval congratulations thank you very much have a good thank you so much you as well Madam Secretary next case on the agenda case number Z2 2020 lar advertising of pen llc at 81 and 101 US Highway 1 applicant is seeking bulk and Deus variances to construct a billboard on the Property Standards have not been met in accordance with the master plan the billboard is not a permitted use in this Zone front yard set back permitted is 50 ft proposed is 10 ft Max height permitted is 30 ft and now proposed is 50 ft affected property is located in the GB Zone designated as block number 300 and 302 Lot number 1.01 and 7.01 on the Edison Township tax map all noticing paperwork is in order good evening good evening Mr chairman members of the board um my name is Michael Butler I'm here on behalf of the applicant uh Lamar Advertising um we began this hearing I think back in January of this year the board took jurisdiction a couple months prior to that um at the conclusion of the there were some really good questions and at the conclusion of that hearing uh my client went back to sharpen their pencils a bit and and came up with a bit of a of a of a new plan uh they reduced the height of the billboard uh from 60 feet to 50 feet and they reduced the um the size of the actual panels from 14 feet by 48 feet to uh 12 feet by um 41 feet so it's a reduction of um 27 approximately 27% if my if my math is right um during the last hearing we uh heard testimony from a member of Lamar his name is Eric Glatt um and in his testimony he we entered in a number of exhibits into the record I'm just going to run through those just so the board is uh has a a memory of what we did uh first we entered as A1 a do permit that allowed for the use of the property for a billboard uh we also entered into the record as A2 photographs of the area um as A3 uh mockup of the proposed billboard at the time um and that was from the Southbound Route One uh view shed as A4 we entered into a mockup of the billboard at the time this was from the Northbound uh viewshed um as A6 or sorry A5 I apologize we entered into an an illumination exhibit um as a 6 we entered into the record a night photograph of the billboard um of a sorry of a sample billboard um as I said before uh we did my client did go back to the drawing board a little bit on this application heard some of your questions and changed some of the sign uh so some of those prior exhibits are no longer going to be applicable to this application so we'll be entering a new um new exhibits to show uh what the new proposed billboard is um I have four Witnesses for you tonight um the first witness is Larry Celli he is a representative of Lamar now I know the last time that we were here we had Derek blat who was the representative of Lamar unfortunately he was not able to come tonight so Mr Celli is filling in as DK um and he is available to answer any questions from the prior testimony um so what I would like to do is have Mr Celli uh sworn in and we'll give a little bit of information and background on on his uh his position with Lamar um excuse me um just before we continue I just want to put my appearance on the record I was here at the last meeting you may stepen trip from The Firm of wance cin and Spitzer on behalf of w Rodman and Diane Ryan and um uh at North New Brunswick Edison recreational vehicle sales doing businesses Open Road Honda were directly across from the proposed billboard within 200 feet on Route One okay sir would you raise your right hand do you solemnly swear or affirm to tell the whole truth nothing about the truth to help you got yes I do and please State your full name for the record Lawrence selli all right uh Mr selli um if you could just uh give the board just a little bit of your history with with Lamar um and maybe a little background that there there there were some members who maybe weren't present um and want a little information on Lamar I'm the senior real estate manager for New York New Jersey been here about 16 years uh primarily work in New York and the fire barels a lot and I covered probably mid New Jersey all the way up to Bergen County and that area so been doing it almost 16 years now okay and and Lamar is a national advertising company that has Billboards and different types of ad advertisements throughout the United States that is correct um and uh during his testimony uh at the last hearing um Derek entered into a record a permit from the New Jersey Department of Transportation to allow for a billboard at this site correct correct okay um and what I'd like to do is as I said before with the board with to to to the board um one of the things that that we did uh that Lamar was able to do um was uh go back and really kind of take a look at this site uh because there were there were some questions about the size and the height of the billboard so what I'd like to Mark into the record as I think we're up to A7 at this point um is a mockup uh drawing up sorry mock Mark mock mockup of the billboard the present conditions of the billboard as proposed this is from uh Route One North Reed I'm going to mark it as A7 um if you can just quickly just describe that that billboard I'm gonna come on up and hand out some uh some copies for the board and over to Mr trip okay and we're traveling uh northbound on Route One this is a leftand read and as as uh David mentioned uh we reduced the size to a 12x 41 and we came down 10 ft so we're at a uh top height of 50 feet perfect and and you also reduced the size the of the billboard correct correct when I say the size I mean the the the front panel of it yeah the overall square footage I believe is what 492 or something I'm I'm I'm bad at math but it's it's 12 12 by by 41 ft okay let me grab that I'll grab that back okay all right also would like to Mark into the record as A8 Mr if you could just describe that for the board the same yeah it's the same it's from which which from what direction is that this is going northbound again um up Route One our left-and read as we call it to the billboard and that billboard also once again it's a 50 foot billboard and the the panel size is 12 foot by 41 41 ft okay perfect now when uh when Derek testified at the last at the last hearing um there were some questions I think there were there were good questions about um how often the the site is maintained and I think what he had said at the point was I think it was uh Vice chairman o' Gorman had asked the question about um a path out to the out to the uh the billboard and I think what he had said at the time was that pardon me is that a wood mulch path would be put down from the parking lot that that would allow the um workers to come out to the site and change copy that usually that the copies changed about once once a month correct correct and at that time that that that crew that was going out to change the copy they would also maintain that path and make sure that there's no issues with the billboard correct correct and if the general maintenance schedule for a billboard if if the copy and when I say the copy I mean the ad if the ad isn't changed every 30 days is normally the crew would go out every 30 to 45 days to maintain the property correct and every two years this is uh every two years a maintenance crew goes out and does a more structural um review of the the billboard to make sure that there's no Wells that are um deteriorating correct correct okay um can you just sorry I may also say that they usually do an upgrade on the paint as well so Lamar standard brown is looked at very highly as they want to make sure they're always maintained and there's no chipping or nothing like that and and perfect and just if you could just confirm for the board this there there's no noise associated with this billboard there's no flashing associated with this billboard this is not a digital billboard this is a a static billboard correct and it there are no other signs or Billboards within 2500 squ F feet of this billboard correct correct um and I think Derek had said this at the last hearing but I just want to confirm once construction starts it takes about one to two uh weeks to depending on whether to actually construct the the the panel correct correct okay I don't believe if I have any further questions for Mr Celli does the board have any questions for Mr Celli I'm seeing none may proceed perfect thank you okay all right my next witness is Dan uh Dy perfect I'll do the passing Dan Dan is an engineer with with Dynamic engineering and he's going to provide our engineering testimony I'm going to continue to be Vana White and pass out uh exhibits sir would you raise your right hand do you do you Solly swear or affirm to tell the whole truth nothing but the truth to help you God yes I do and please State your full name for the record Daniel dockerty d u g h e r t y I'm with Dynamic engineering consultants in Lake KO New Jersey and Dan if you can give the the board your uh qualifications certainly um I'm a licensed engineer in the state of New Jersey since 1999 I've been um with Dynamic engineer engineering since 2005 I'm a senior partner um at at Dynamic engineering um I've appeared before um over 100 boards throughout New Jersey including Edison I don't I don't remember if I was before the Zoning Board of adjustment or the planning board but I've certainly been to Edison several times in my we're better looking in this board I couldest you beat me to the punch I've been sworn uh and your license are current in good standing yes okay you may proceed thank you okay um so we have the board all the way all the way over there um W to talk I can just talk through that okay all right so uh I think the first thing we're going to Mark into the record is as A9 uh it's an aerial map exhibit prepared this was prepar by prepared by you Dan right that's cor that's correct this is the aerial map exhibit prepared by Dynamic engineering Consultants just let me know if I'm not speaking into the mic well enough if you just bring it a little closer and if you wanted to to speak to the board you could just bring the bring the microphone with you that's up to you thanks um and it's dated March 19th 2024 we were anticipating being back before this board um in March and that's why the date is we like the heat that's is this is this in A9 okay A9 thanks all right sorry go ahead Dan if you want to explain um exhibit A9 to the board certainly this is um a color aerial exhibit um it's similar to the second sheet in your planning board packet um we um just utilize available um satellite imagery um and we put onto that uh different lines um uh representing both the municipal boundary zoning um boundaries as well as the site um the site is in the middle of the of the exhibit in uh yellow line weight and you see the blue Double Dash lines and and quadruple Dash lines throughout um showing the locations of zoning boundaries with labels as well in blue and to the um left side of the exhibit you see in in um in lavender or purple the municipal boundary with Highland Park um this exhibit is oriented with North being up and as you can see the site is a very uniquely shaped site located um at the southern portion of the township um along the the west side of Route One on the southbound side of Route One um the general area of the site we we're wedged between um route one and uh Fox Road um to the excuse me just grab my notes um it's located at 81 us uh Route One um and our surrounding uses to the north we have an existing Diner which is actually part of our extended parcel um and single family uses beyond that uh along the uh and that's off of the route one Corridor we have businesses and Commercial businesses that are along the Route One Corridor uh to the West we have multif Family Garden Apartments along Fox Road to the South uh we have the route one Fox Road exit ramp and U-turn ramps that go down uh and underneath route one to come back up on the Northbound side as well as the bridge over the Ron River to New Brunswick just past that that U-turn to the east uh immediately to the site is Route One because we are on the southbound side um and across the street is Open Road Honda dealership and single family uses beyond that uh to the north of the Honda dealership are also commercial uses along the Route One Frontage uh the existing site is um is an auto maintenance and repair uh business traditionally I believe we're in between tenants right now and there's some mod some some Renovations happening to the building to the interior um but traditionally it's uh Automotive Support Services as opposed to a true mechanic shop um so there's been an upholstery business in there I think there was also a stereo business at one point um there's overhead doors on the building so that automobiles can come in for those types of services uh but it hasn't been a strict mechanic garage uh in the past at the and I I think we should introduce our next EX well while I'm while I'm passing out the next exhibit and identifying it just uh what zone is the is the property located in we are in the gbh general business district and that's that's generally the the business the district that stretches along Route one that's correct if if you see on that exhibit um that's the business the the district that kind of saw tooths its way up Route One the GD Street grids are are at an angle with route one in this area so you can see that saw too thing of business of of the Zone lines on both sides of Route One okay and now we're marking into the record as A10 if you want to identify what what is A10 so a10's entitled site plan rendering prepared by Dynamic engineering Consultants dated March 19th 2024 um this is basically a color version of the plan sheet uh in your packets we've simply um colored different surfaces and treatments to the site um to represent um their actual physical presence um asphalt locations are shown in a dark gray the building is in a a light brown or tan color um grass and vegetative areas are in in green as you would expect and then trees are in a darker green and also have a texture added to them so that you can identify them Asos to was looking at black and white um before I get into the proposed conditions I wanted to mention I want to have this exhibit to to talk about some of the specifics on the site we have um the building is oh sorry let me just explain our orientation um so the strict orientation north south north is actually on the upper right corner of this exhibit and South is at the lower left corner for the purposes of testim I'm going to really refer to North and South relative to the Route One Direction so North will be to the right of this exhibit and South to the left as I give you testimony um so our building is located uh along the the south side of our or sorry the the east side of our site um facing Route One um there's a driveway uh north of the building that accesses from route one and a general uh circulation area around the north and west sides of the building and then there's parking facing Fox Road uh 15 existing parking stalls in that asphalt paved area facing out towards Fox Road um from from a topography standpoint in general the site grades from Northeast to Southwest so the highest point from a topographic stpoint is at the bottom right corner of this exhibit and of the site and and it goes to the to really towards Fox Road as the lower portions of the site so the highest level uh highest topographical uh level is along Route One and it slopes down towards Fox Road that's correct okay so what we're proposing is a new monopole um build Board sign um single pole is going to be mounted to the south of the building that's represented in that Gray Line work it's a dual face static billboard previously proposed at 672 ft and that's been reduced to 492 Square fet per side uh it's that's about 73% of what was previously proposed and it's a dual side so the total square footage is 984 Square ft and the dimensions of that sign are 12x 41 fet whereas 14 by 48 was previously proposed it's located south of the site to your left on this uh exhibit uh with the sign faces being a vshape as you you typically see with billboard signs that are along um a highway Corridor the um right side of the V or the north side of the V faces um Northbound or sorry southbound traffic coming from the North and the left side of the V on this exhibit faces Northbound traffic coming up from New Brunswick so to those two panels they're they're oriented so that they face the traffic because obviously the traffic is is where the the sign wants to be seen that's correct okay um for tree removal at this location uh previously we had proposed a 60ft sign and we were just close to the tops of those trees with the bottom of the sign we had proposed you probably heard under the previous testimony of Mr blat that there was going to be canopy reductions in the trees to make the sign visible we've since proposed lowering the sign from 60 feet to 50 feet um that was you know an element that was discussed with the planner at the last meeting or suggested uh reducing the height and the size of the sign by the planner so in doing that um we got to the point where it was appropriate to clear those trees as opposed to cut them to such a level where that would make the lower design visible so we do have more tree clearing on the site than what we we proposed before and that's really um entirely due to the lowering of the site from of the sign from 60 feet to 50 feet um I mentioned the Topography of the site um and to you know we're measuring the height of the sign from from the elevation of the base of the pole but it should be recognized that the route one surface is actually higher than that our site is lower than route one so for example at our driveway um from Route One um as you're approaching the site from the north and you get to our driveway that point is seven feet higher than the grade that that exists at the bottom of the propos or is is exists at the bottom of the proposed pole so the effectual height from that point is really a 43 foot sign relative to that point and you could pick other points as well but um in this site it's pretty unique that we do have a drop in elevation from the highway down to our site and just to Circle back you had said before um that uh there was some prior testimony that there's some differences in the amount of trees that are being removed from the site um and that there were some prior testimony uh because of this 60 foot SI size uh billboard um we were Lamar would be able to top the trees take a little bit of take the crowns off the trees and the trees would still live um but now because we're lowering the sign um to try to make it palatable um the those trees can no longer be safely topped so we're removing those trees and replacing them on site with other types of trees that's correct um we do have all the tree replacement calculations and tree removal calculations on the plan um where uh propos there's 106 identified qualifying trees on the site um and we're removing 53 of those um no coincidence to the ratio of one to two there it's just coincidence that's the way it ended up um and that calculates out to be another uh 53 replacement trees um and we we've we're proposing planting 18 trees right now that was the same on the previous proposal where we're planting 15 Evergreen Norway spruce along the heads of those 15 parking stalls again a coincidence in number there um that really to add buffering to the Garden Apartments on Fox Road just from not only from from the site operations if there's headlights and that kind of thing from those parking stalls that's the priority to try and provide some screening and also generally to screen to Route One because that portion of the site doesn't except for the building doesn't have much screening um to the east of that area so we proposed 15 Norway spruce there we put them in a staggered row and tried to kind of locate them where they'd be infill for the existing trees that are there because there is existing Tree Line there um and then we proposed uh three red Maples on the landscape Island between us and the and the diner um so that's only 18 and what we propose is to work with your planner and your engineer to make up the rest of that tree replacement requirement and filling in the gaps and kind of reforesting areas that might be thin uh for specifically we would presume they'd be interested in having us do that for the Fox Road Frontage um and the garden apartments across um it was also suggested that we propose some Landscaping along the the frontage along uh Route One um and and maybe along the foundation of the building and and the building walls as I mentioned there is a grade separation there between Route One and the building it slopes down pretty quickly from the right away but again we'd be happy to work with the planner and the engineer to come up with some additional plantings on that Frontage um just with the understanding of the vertical difference as opposed to just think assuming it's flat and and maybe shrubs might not be very visible because we plant them along the foundation with a 3 or 4ot burm up to the highway you may not even see them it might be more worthwhile to put them in another location or another type of planting so uh the applicant is is open to working with the board professionals to to get some Landscaping that would satisfy um while we're mentioning trees I was going to mention this later at our previous Hearing in January it was um we were advised by uh the board planner that he had witnessed that there had been clearing performed at or near the site um and and we the applicant was unaware of that uh after the hearing um the applicant myself didn't but but our applicant and also Council um spoke with the property owner um to find out if any clearing had been performed um and he he advised that uh NJ doot or presumably NJ doot had come out and done some clearing along the the right of-way Frontage with no prior notice or permission asked um we did visit the site to see what was cleared um and we found that there were several areas that were cleared they were all along the frontage very close to the property line um there's a portion of brush and uner trees or brush meaning that they were of small diameter that was cleared along the um lower part of our properties Frontage on the exit ramp so that's really after you you go past the gore and start to peel off on that exit ramp to Fox Road that area on the right was substantially cleared out there was a lot of brush there previously uh but again there were no tagged trees or surveyed trees nothing over 4 in diameter in that area um and some of that did creep onto our property it wasn't all within the right of way it was right along the line um and then back closer to our building uh near the the location on our Frontage where the signs proposed there's a small group of about six trees um they're located um if you're out there they're loc were located near the light pole at that corner of the building and those were removed um five of those six trees were actually on our side of the property line um really only by a few feet and then one tree was in the right of way so dot came out and took all those out um what we did on our current plan that's before you is we included those trees as being cleared so those trees that do removed we're including an our tree replacement calculation um so we'll be replacing those as if they're part of the current proposal for the B boys so so regardless of the fact that the clearing wasn't done by the the the property owner we're that we're still going Lamar will still honor those trees that were removed from the site and they're included in the in the count from for the tree replacement that's correct okay um I'm glad that you brought up the the NJ do there was a question uh at the last hearing about the uh proposed uh dot Bridge work for the Route One North that's correct um there's two Bridges actually that cross the RAR and for one um one's older than the other the northbound lane was previously or the Northbound Bridge was previously the only bridge for Route One it shared both Northbound and southbound traffic historically and at some point in the past I don't know maybe 50 years ago 40 years ago um they they built a new bridge and moved southbound onto that bridge so Northbound has that older historic bridge and um southbound has the newer Bridge Bridge the historic Bridge the older of the two that has the Arches as it goes across the Ron um that bridge is a historic bridge and it's being renovated and structurally remodeled um as part of dot it's in the planning phases and design phases now um after our hearing we left to try and find some information from the Department about it they actually had a public information session in February so we looked at that documentation there's no I currently based upon the information available on the on Do's website and their public information session there's no improvements on our side of of the road the southbound side it's all Renovations and modifications to the Northbound bridge and on the Northbound side portion of the of Route One um so we don't have any concerns about there being a right ofo taking or new guide rail or pavement being expanded um between where it is now and what's on the current site um based upon our information that we've been able to receive there's no no proposed improvements there um I mentioned the trees well I did a lot that I didn't even know I did yet you were efficient um there was a question from the engineer in the review memo about clearance to wires um we do have um we will'll provide that on the plan it's a 28t clearance to the nearest wire on Fox Road so we have uh that's well beyond any um setback requirements from power companies it's it's 10 feet from conductors usually so we're well beyond that at 20 feet 28 feet um this is a static billboard uh so that means there's no LEDs there's no changeable message or anything like that it's lit with uplit um fixtures um you'll we have a lighting expert here that can talk to you more about that but there's three uplate LED fixtures um and um those fixtures meet the um the ordinance requirement the performance standards under chapter 37423 um and I can read that to you very quickly under F glare there's a specific signage requirement and I'm paraphrasing here because there's a lot of language that doesn't apply um so this is chapter 37- 4.23 performance standards and procedures paragraph F near the bottom lighting of any sign shall be placed in such a manner that it is directed toward the object to be lighted and does not disseminate glare so in this case the light fixtures are pointed at the sign um at 50 feet height there's no other receiving um individuals or eyeballs that can see those signs or see those lights so there's no glare glare is based upon the Observer there's no one to receive any glare from those lights so it meets that um that performance standard uh the lights will be shut off at 11: p.m that was one of the things that was also suggested in the engineer's letter and the applicant agrees to that so after 11:00 the lights will be shut off and the sign will be dark um until the sun comes up and then the lights will go on again at dusk um it's um they're they're set as you might expect by um um by light sensors that when they sense the darkness they turn on the um the lights to light the sign um in summary we we do have variances obviously we are here for a use variance uh for the sign itself um there are also some bulk uh variances that go along with it for height so in the gbh zone Billboards aren't permitted so we are using Building height as the height requirement and that's a 30 foot requirement and we're proposing 50 again that was previously proposed at 60 and now it's 50 we have a front yard setback requirement again this this is a this is a building setback requirement or a structure setback requirement because signs aren't permitted but we only have this to compare to so the front yard setback requirement is 50 feet and we're proposing 10 feet setback to Route One and 28.2 feet set back to Fox Road we wanted to offset and hedge the sign towards Route One as opposed to Fox Road um because of the residential nature of Fox Road um and and it should be noted that that 28.2 foot setback is actually an increased setback thanks to the change in the dimensions of the length of the sign it was previously only 20 ft uh the sign area so these are now bulk requirements that are specific to signs which would technically and I think the pl your your planner had called this out in his letter technically may be determined to apply to this so if they are determined to apply a sign area of 75 ft is required a maximum sign area in this case we have 984 squ ft again that's both sides so we're taking into consideration that each side might be considered a sign um if not that would be reduced to 492 depending on interpretation uh has a maximum sign WID Dimension again this is for ID signs of 15 feet and we're proposing 41 feet and a maximum sign setback of 15 feet or the sign height itself um so that would be 50 feet uh and we're proposing as I said before 10 feet and 28.2 feet and I think that concludes everything I have and uh just just to Circle back that I guess there were two uh review memorandums one from big no planning uh dated July 18th 2023 were there any other um issues with complying with the comments within that memorandum no anything that we needed to address with some sort of explanation I think I covered in my testimony um any of the other comments were um you know standard boilerplate comments um were informational and we would agree with them okay and similar uh Council I'm just goingon to hold you up there before we before we jump reports since we're on the bignell report Mr Bell well Mr chairman I don't know if he covered every point in my report because I'm not sure all his Witnesses have testified yet but if he agrees to our comments then he has a substantial Landscaping he has to do um is somebody going to talk about the cone of Vision study we asked for one of those yes I I apologize there are several items from your report that will be handled by other Witnesses okay and then what about the um the automob repair portion of the site that was a they did like Headliners in cars and stuff I guess that's been shut down what's going to happen with that building do you know um uh my understanding is that it's in the middle of it's in the process of being uh renovated and rehabbed in order to be leased out as what as a permitted juice or yes as a permitted use okay and then the other issue um how many Billboards are located within 2500 linear feet did you determine that or yeah there's there's no Billboards within 25 200 feet okay um and I believe that was um Mr blat probably gave you testimony on that last and that was confirmed by Mr Chelli so I assume in with that property there'll be a loading space for the person repairing the sign or changing the sign message and thank you for mentioning that I forgot to hit that um there's not um based upon the the type of use we had here um historically with only 15 stalls um I'm with the availability of 15 stalls um we would just need one van parking stall for maintenance of the sign the um the the maintenance crew actually walks out to the sign um and they bring the vinyl with them to change it out and they they pull it up onto the sign so there's no reason for vehicles um except for the you know non routine maintenance where they might need a vehicle the area around the sign and between the sign pole uh and the parking area will be cleared um for construction and also for visibility of the sign so that'll be maintained as a cleared area can you tell me like the um the change in the dimension of the sign from the original sign how how much smaller you made it because that was a concern that's right you're entering you're entering Edis in Township right from the bridge at the border and the first thing you see is a billboard sign it's going to be so so previously we proposed a 14x 48 sign 14 ft High by 48 ft wide at 60 ft tall and that's now and that was a total of 672 square feet per side so what's it now 12 feet by 41 feet so it's 2 feet shorter in height or or vertical Dimension and 7 feet less wide is there any chance of low lowering it I mean 60 feet in the air is like the biggest thing out there even your even your display uh pictures we we did lower it we lowered it to 50 feet from the 60 so the pictures I'm looking at are at 50 foot high that the ones you if you're looking at the ones that were marked into evidence today is A7 and A8 yes those are 50 feet high all right let me Mr chair why while I'm asking the questions that why can't why can't the sun even be lower I mean if you look at the building the white building which was the automo repair and then the diner it's like almost double the height of that why why does it have to be so high in the air why can't it be lower I mean if you're in the car you can certainly see it um you know in both directions you could probably lower than another you know 20 20 feet I don't understand why it has to be so high and I and if the planner's going to give testimony and we're going to start talk we'll start talking about the the planning reasons about that too so um I'm you know I'm concerned I like the fact that it's a static sign so the message ain't chaining that's a good thing because that would be a fight in itself but uh it just seems like overbearing and that's my concern and that's my concern from the last meeting as well that's all I have Mr chairman and if if I can just circle back to there was a question about I guess um loading and and maintenance spots so uh what was testified to by Mr blad and confirmed by Mr Celli is that um the maintenance Crews or the crew that are coming out to change the change the copy they'll park in the parking lot probably in the nearest parking space to the to the billboard and then we'll walk out a a mulch path out to the out to the billboard and then they change they change the copy by hand my concern with the parking was it takes away from the parking then for the permitted use in the building and then will there also be a cross access agreement allows them that their parking space so when they want to go there during the day they're not interfering with the with the commercial operation as well right I think I think some of the testimony that was provided was that they time they normally time the change of the ad to be in the off hours so how long it how long does it take to change the ad I mean it seems like you're like a a wallpaper hanger trying to put the signs the the testim that was put into the record by Mr blat was that it was it was a pretty quick pretty quick process if you give me a second it was pretty quick a couple hours two hours four hours I I I believe it was less less than an hour you you could put that s less than an hour both sides not me but but they they but experts in the in the area would Mike if you if you get up to do it I want to you let me know because I want to go have a sandwich and I'll sit there and watch you do it well you and I will do it together Jes not me it's not like the it's not like the old days with with a rolled up and an adhesive sign it's it's one piece of vinyl that just gets stretched over the structure like kind of like a fitted sheet um is that one person doing that or two people doing it or testimony on that from from Derek I'm just I'm just confirming the testimony I don't remember it I apologize so the testimony that was provided by by Mr blat was that it's generally three people that that come out uh they usually come out early in the morning to work around uh business schedules um it takes about 45 minutes to an hour at a most to change to change the the copy they do not they do not need a bucket truck they pull up in a in a regular truck or a van all the same van I guess they all we only using one vase is that what you're telling me correct okay correct they come out to the site uh they climb they climb the uh pole with the um with the sign well they climb it up and then they pull the sign there was a question from from Mr the from the chairman about how much it weighs it weighs about I think it was like 35 pounds um because Derek uh used to do used to do the work and he bemoaned that when he was doing it it was 75 or 80 pounds and it's a lot lot less now Mr chairman I had no other questions other than my concerns that I'll you know bring up with the planner and they're noted thank you Mr BAU Mr Carly thank you Mr chairman uh the board has in front of it uh an April 19224 fourth review from our office and as ever we concentrate on the proposed site improvements uh and that has mostly to do with uh those comments in I'll call it uh section two uh and uh the applicant today and in previous hearings has addressed those comments uh largely if the board uh sees fit to pass a positive resolution there are some things we recommend that the board condition positive resolution upon but they're contained in our April 19 2024 report thank you Mr Cary thank you I'm sorry I was say just just to confirm there were no issues with the the the conditions that were laid out or the comments that were laid out in that 19 April 19th report that that's correct I agree 100% with Mr Carly okay all right does the board have any questions from Mr dockerty Mr DAV the height that you me use said 50t would be the top of the billboard or the bottom of the billboard the top of the billboard so the the most height you to see the 50 Foot at top that's correct okay and then topography you have a section where you say you just mention route one is 10t higher than the property line starts and then it goes down another 10t at the back of the property when it meets the fox load so there a 20 foot drop between Route One and the fox root I'm looking at topography the survey I don't see that kind of drop so it depends on where you measure from so the I'm seeing the elevation 111 at the route one so the look at the Contour and it goes to 110 where your sign is and then by the Fox Road it's still flat and it suddenly drops four five ft only at the Fox Road so sign is basically the same elevation where the route one is roughly maybe 1T difference Delta well depends on where you are on Route One I'm just comparing root one versus the where sign footing is I I'll explain it so it's 109.5 is the elevation at the base of the sign and basically it's between the 110 and the 109 Contours that you see at that location and the in the elevation of the the driveway great at Route One top of curb is 11 16.45 that's all the way at the bottom right yeah that's so that's seven feet so that's what I was saying from the driveway that location is about 7 feet higher 116 16.45 is about 7 feet higher than 1095 I I get it but I'm and then and then the site continues to drop off towards Fox Road um down to about 103 yeah about 103 on Fox Road yeah yeah that's correct but the same time when you see the where the sign is when you cut a rout one and the sign and a fox Road at the corner where your sign is sitting is only foot and a half Delta correct correct yeah yeah at the location of the sign the the difference in elevation between route one and our site is relatively flat at that section at the sign correct it's how it's it's the approach that that gives you that difference in your testimony so it's 7 foot from the north driveway okay I got it I get it all right and then the signage is 12T by 40t vyl basically 12 by 41 yeah and that's going to be handled by three guy for in 45 minutes would be install uh that's my understanding I'm I'm that was previous testim the testimony that was provided is that testimony based upon a 14x 48 okay so this sign is uh 30% smaller by square footage 27% smaller I would assume it's 27% lighter all got it okay thank you Mr chairman thank you Mr D what is your proximity of the sign to the nearest residential Fox Road correct the the um the garden apartments across Fox Road yes what's the proximity you mean you mean the measurement distance distance feet from the from the residential building itself Residential Building the nearest residential building to the sign I just want to go over and look at the exhibit that's at scale don't mind so I'm I'm just going to give a couple numbers here because I'm adding them up in my head so the sign itself is 28.2 ft to the Fox Road RightWay onsite and then the Fox Road right away itself is 50 ft so the sign is 78 ft From The Far Side of the fox or to The Far Side of the Fox Road right away and then it appears that it's about 20 or 30 feet that's just an estimation off of the off the aerial to the first building so I would estimate that it's between 90 and 100 F feet oh sorry 100 to 110 ft to the nearest Residential Building I'm not 100% sure but our planner may have measured that so hopefully you might have more actual field measurement on okay and so on your aerial map exhibit where you have PIQ that is actually the that's the billboard correct PIQ is is the property so it's the outline of the property okay well I'm trying to Billboard's not shown on the aerial exhibit okay if if you're looking at the aerial exhibit you'll see um at the lower portion of the of the outline that's PIQ you'll see the um white portion of the existing building that's the southern portion of the existing building and the Billboard's 23 feet from that to the South okay so you would would you agree with me that from the garden apartments from Fox Road going north on Fox Road to let's call it I'm G to put my golfer hat on and say the dog leg um to by Raymond Street there there's that building you you'd agree with me that the um billboard would be visible from those Residential Properties from okay so he going north on going nor on Fox Road towards Raymond Street it's it's possible I I I there might be locations where it's not visible for sure but I I wouldn't argue with you that it's not visible um it's certainly possible to Vis that it's visible but there might be portions where it's not based upon existing vegetation and the angles of those buildings and their orientation and the spruce trees that you're proposing as part of your Landscaping plan what are the the height of those they're six to seven feet at planting and they generally grow and I just learned this from my landscaper that they generally grow about a foot a year if maintained properly correct that sounds about right to me I'll take your word no he better be right he gets paid enough and and just a note on the spruce trees they're really meant for for the lowlevel buffering okay um through you know through the site we're trying to fill in the cracks with the existing vegetation between Fox Road and the parking lot so there's nothing proposed for the upper level buffering well not to say that those plants weren't going to grow and may provide some upper level buffering but we don't have any of us will be here by the time those reach the 50 we don't have the opportunity to plant 50 foot trees off site or FL plant 30 foot trees um we can plant trees that will grow okay okay all right thank you very much does the board have any question questions yes Mr Mr Cher so from what's the approximate elevation at York Drive approximate elevation standing on York Drive in the middle right away what would you say the elevation drop would be so there was a significant drop in the elevation just curious if you know what it would be and we're talking about our Northern driveway coming off ofth one South pound that's the driveway you're looking at I'm looking completely West on York Drive so completely West my drive on because we have two driveways one off of Route One and then we have a shared driveway with the diner that goes to Fox Road so completely west of the sign there's only one sign right two-sided sign so completely West on York Drive so you're asking about a a York Drive property off I thought my drive your drive I said your drive the road that's next to F drive that's running parallel I I'm I have no idea the elevation of your what about Fox Road what would the elevation be there where it depends on where you are looking along our front digit varies and I have elevations from our near side gutter line so the gutter line at about where our property points in the in the corner of the pie slice the gutters 10177 10221 top of curb and then as we go all the way up to the shared driveway to Fox Road you know nearly at the diner it's 10420 10450 so it it varies about two and a half to three feet okay my only concern is the community south of that um on the corner of York Drive and Fox Drive that Community it seems like it's a 20 foot drop more like more or less with the elevation um could you get an exact number on that we didn't survey that far south I'm okay let me just catch up here on your Drive CU I wasn't ready for that my concern is there's multiple oh multif family there right plenty of apartments condos that are going to be impacted by this you know 500 foot sign that's going to be shadowing a cast over their houses so I'd like to know what the elevation would be on those houses for reference so that you I don't have the topography over there I'll be honest with you I don't if if if like you're saying it's 20 feet lower I would say that the existing plantings that are up by the highway between Fox Road and the sign will probably block that sign I haven't performed a sight line study on that but I think down in that area is one of the least areas of concern it's just my hunch okay yeah I expressed the concern last time as well to the group um that you know there's multiple residents there in that area it's very congested um there got to be 10 there's got to be 10 intervening residential buildings you know so if you're the buildings themselves get in the way of the sight line especially as they go up on upgrade so if th if that those buildings down at York driver um are are 20 feet lower the intervening buildings are higher than those than those buildings and also serve probably to block some views okay thank you you're welcome any other questions Mr BR chair um Mr Butler I want to say a couple of things um I did uh watch the uh meeting uh the January meeting uh and it was very good because a lot was very familiar to me and I have to commend you on one hand that uh you left that meeting with a lot of questions from the board Mr bignell tree trimming unauthorized Heights candle lights a lot and uh I have to commend you on that you did come very well prepared in my opinion uh with addressing all of those concerns thank you um tonight I also heard uh that you reduce the height from 60 to 50 feet uh the size of the screen will call it 14 by 48 to 12 x 41 uh and then also lowering the height from 60 to 50 if I didn't say that I I'm repeating but also that so my question is this with all that you've achieved and uh addressed as asked I still hear Mr Bell's question which is now my question also I can't I haven't heard a good reason why it has to be 50 feet high for reasons that appear to me to be just arbitrary so why can't it be lower than 50 feet as you've addressed most of the concerns uh as asked of you that's my question well um let me let me put it this way let me say I will get back to you on that question because I I'm not being the attorney I I can't answer that question um but I will get you an answer to that question if that if that if that makes sense I can't provide testimony so I guess my question is it sounds like 50 feet in all that I've heard tonight is uh is appreciated but I don't it seems arbitrary that it has to still be 50 ft no one has come up with a A Reason why why does it have to be 50 ft uh especially that it is so high or looking at it and I know this area very well I live very close okay if I'm looking at the Dina coming over that bridge going south it would be I'd have to look up to see the side it's almost like contrary to it's not in my visual I'd have to actually look up to see it so it seems a little higher than it needs to be for reasons that I would like to hear the answer okay and that's un that's a that's a a very valid question and and you know uh Mr bnell asked it so you know we we will we get you an answer on on on that um you know and just just just generally I mean once you start lowering you start lowering it starts losing its purpose as as a as a sign um and you start losing it in not just the in the you know in the you start losing it in the building um at a certain level and I just don't know the answer to where that level is um you know the the my client was able to say you know it still is a viable sign at the 50 Feet um but I I will go back and I will ask that question so I appreciate that answer thank you sure any other questions Mr chairman while you do that you can also get me the answer what the height of the structure you have at the property also the height of the diner and what the Treet toop of the property the height level that you have there so that we know the bottom of this signage should be minimum what level so it's visible both sides okay so you I'm sorry you asked for the the height of the the automotive I'm going to call it the automotive correct and you wanted the height of the diner correct and then you said the the Treetops along Fox property which we may have some of those answers so just sure I apologize I don't don't see any building Heights labeled on my survey I could see if they were collected and of course we could measure them separately and we can pull the diner height to thank you Mr chairman thank you for stoping so Mr Butler I'd like to keep the train moving down the track here so um I'm I'm with you thank you um you guys are getting paid by the hour we're not yeah um so we can if we can keep things moving along if um Mr Docker is able to determine those answers and provide them you know we'll do it while you know while the record's open and you have um any other witnesses to call yep I I am I'm with you I agree I want to keep this going because this has been going on for a while thank you um so Dan thank you very much my next witness thank excuse me um before we go on to the next witness I'd just like to request a copy I had of Mr Big Nell's report because there was a discussion and I don't I do not get the updated report I don't the the what Steve what what report do you have the last report I have is from 2023 yeah that that's the last I have so there hasn't been any reports since no corre the reference to the report you were discussing is that report that's the July 2023 report all right thank you very much thank you just wanted to make sure I had the most recent uh report okay uh my my next witness is John Andel andovi pronounce that correct I'm sorry John so J John is our our lighting expert um he's going to provide lighting testimony I'm GNA jump back into my my guys with Vanna White and pass out um exhibits uh John if you could uh we're going to you're going to be sworn in um and then when you're done being sworn in if you could provide the board with your qualifications um if you hold any patents if you have any trade articles so they they understand that we're offering you as an expert in LED technology and lighning Sir raise your right hand do you solemnly swear or affirm to tell the whole truth nothing but the truth to help you got I do and please State your full name for the record bring that microphone in closer John Adam Alie that was close it's Italian it's tough always always keep this in so John if you could provide the board with your qualifications your work history if you hold any uh titles or licenses I'm uh mechanical engineer Trenton State College now College of New Jersey 37 years 31 years in the lighting industry I also hold an EIT from the national examiners of Delaware uh I have five lighting patents LED lighting patents I'm also been published in three trade articles regarding LEDs and just been doing this a very long time and your license are current in good standing yes it is okay all right you may proceed okay thanks thank you John and thank you Mr chairman would I hand it out um to the board you can use my copy if you you have a copy yep okay what I just handed out to the board and we marking into evidence is as a 11 um it's entitled Lighting Technologies billboard fixtures efficient use of light um is this a this is a a presentation that that you put together yes it is okay um and on the second page of the the presentation um you talk about the bill Mr chairman can I just interrupt for a second Mr if this is a static sign why are we talking about LEDs why is that uh we'll we'll get to that but the the lighting fixture is an LED type lighting fixture that's shining up onto the building correct okay onto the billboard not not L sign not yeah okay thank you sorry go ahead so I I apologize um so on the second page of of your of your exhibit um you talk about a little bit about uh Your Design uh for this uh for this billboard um that that you put together if you could maybe just just run through a little bit of how you came up with this design for this billboard well this is a very novel state-ofthe-art LED fixture it was designed with industry experts from the get-go with their concerns which may be your concerns as well uh so it's not like a traditional older metal haly type of light that just throws a lot of light at the sign it's designed with 66 individual LEDs and individual engineered Optics that create a actual rectangle of light that shines on the billboard so there is very little extremely little overspill of the billboard so um it's also uh uh slim design so it's very Blends in with the framework of the of the billboard and it is powdercoated brown to Lamar color and that uh helps prevent deterioration down the road and keeps it aesthetically pleasing so just just to back up a little bit so this this is um this lighting fixture is different than many other lighting fixtures that are used used throughout the the billboard industry um because it it actually shines a rectangular correct pattern of light on on the billboard rather than uh a circular pattern correct um and just you should you should be proud this is your patent this is my patent um and U I guess the the nature of the rectangle design is what hopefully is pleasing to you that there's very little spillage around it the nature of it having a patent on it means that it's novel and there's not another light like it if they are they're infringing my patn so and then I get paid to fight them um but just just to go back again so you had you had mentioned some some some key words in there that I just want to make sure the board understands you said it was a slim design uh what do you mean when you say it's a slim design it's a uh elated light rather than a box that looks like a lollipop up there you you won't notice it until you look for it it Blends in with the framework of the book okay and you also say that that it's powdercoated with powdercoated aluminum I should say um and and that's to so that it maintains its its um its status it doesn't it's very difficult to R rust or deteriorate right correct okay um what I'd like to do if you could because we were talking about the the the interesting novel rectangular pattern and it its effect on light and light spillage if we could maybe go to to I think it's the fourth page where you start talking about what's being proposed on for this billboard sign and the difference is between standard light that would be used for this type of billboard and the lighting design that's that's being proposed okay so page four are two plots I call them plots they're of the light output that are projected at the level of the face but they are also a wide view if you notice on page four it's 25 ft High 75 ft wide what that shows you is the amount of light beyond the billboard and what you want to see is black as much black as possible so on the left image is the traditional billboard the 14x 48 which was originally proposed correct if you notice there's two fixtures there and they're space 22 feet apart and what that does is it creates at the boundary of that big rectangle just 0.1 to8 foot Candela very little because of this highly tuned optic then we move over to the right image and that is the proposed billboard of 12 feet by 41 and the fixtures are now spaced in of course otherwise there'd be light outside the board they're at 16 ft and if you notice on the 75 ft wide by 25 foot high boundary there's actually zero light at that level to3 foot Candela at its maximum that's a uh an improvement of reducing the amount of uh light on the board itself perfect and and I think when when you were trying to explain this because I you showed this to me and I I my eyes went crosseyed um and what you were explaining to me is that the difference between between what a standard I call a standard Lamar board which maybe is on the left hand side and what the proposed I'm going to say Edison uh deviation because this was designed specifically for the Edison um was that the difference is that the not just the LED which is you know changes the pattern of light but also the space between the lighting fixtures being together closer and also closer to the board correct correct I missed on that um because this optic is rectangular its standard distance from the billboard is 6 feet that's it so six feet out it spreads out 48 feet and 14 feet high but if you move that fixture closer to the board the rectangle gets smaller and then you can control the light that goes around the edge of the billboard and that is also proposed with the U with the uh smaller face moving it from 6 feet to 5.5 ft only a half a foot brings it in that much it's such a highly tuned optic that that's what gets achieved perfect um and if you could maybe we'll go to the last page of your your exhibit um can you maybe walk the board through what these two um samples show okay so the page five shows on the left what I just described the reduced board it's the same exact plot the one on the right is a traditional billboard of other manufacturers if you're looking at that image you see how much light is beyond the board that is not this fixture this is not that light this light controls the light to the billboard very efficiently and uh has very little spillage so concerns uh which were heard from day one in design not to have outside light uh there's upward glow and things like that that are mentioned very little of this and if you see Zero as a matter of fact at 25 fet so so and as that's good that you brought it up there was a question about the uh the board and maybe from Mr bignell about you know the concern about Sky glow from from um from from the from Billboards in general and whether that was going to happen here what you're testifying to is that the way that this is designed and it's specifically designed for Edison um the way that this is designed is to prevent that St that Sky glow um and when I say it's specifically designed for Edison um this actually would be this actually is less lighting that you would than you would normally put on a board um but Lamar if I'm correct Lamar asked you to lower those down so that corre um it would not have any type of issue outside of the board correct okay um and I think you heard Mr um Mr doc doy before just say that uh it was his opinion that this lighting would meet the Township's code uh you did review the Township's code you agree with that testimony that that this lighting would meet the uh Township's uh per performance standards I do okay um I have no further questions board have any questions Mr yeah Mr chairman so this is Led stationary light fixture right it has the ability to change the color or it's just one color white or yellow whatever the color you said that's a color you're not changing colors red blue green purple yellow stationary but change the color you're not this fixure doesn't have the ability this is it be always constant white or yellow whatever you you do it constant white okay and then and what is the voltage I mean I know it's LED light fixture compared to regular hello hogen light fixture probably they putting on other Billboards compared a hallogen light is about 400 watts per fixture these fixtures are 150 watts okay that's consumption but it still gives the output of 400 volt uh Lumin comparative light amount yeah that's Lumin out of the light and yes uh it's equivalent lumens just like if you buy a light bolt for your house so the sky Globe probably would be the same as you're just stopping the spillage by using this fixture because you have led it's not a cob light but it is a small small LED every light LED has different focusing like a bullet and that's how you're controlling the uh the spillage the way this light is designed is each LED has it has the same exact optic and that optic makes a rectangle so when you have 60 six LEDs in this fixture it's creating one image the other technology is creating lots of different circles going all over the place and it's less efficient a lot more spillage light and whatnot but the Reflection from the signage would be same whether it's this light or LED light or the the different light the reflection comes back from the WL would be the same reflectance is uh based on probably illuminance yes right okay right thank you Mr CH thank you Mr D any other questions Mr alafi see none thank you very much Mr Butler yep thank you thank you joh my next witness is Justin Taylor he's a traffic engineer with Dynamic engineering to tell the whole truth nothing but the truth to help you guys I do your full name Justin Taylor t y l o r and Mr Taylor if you just uh present your brief summary your qualifications to the board please surely uh I'm a licensed engineer in the state of New Jersey as as well as Pennsylvania Delaware and Texas I'm also a certified professional traffic operations engineer by The Institute of Transportation Engineers testified hundreds of boards throughout the state of New Jersey including this board in the recent past and your licens are current in good standing yes they are okay you may proceed thank you much all right Justin um if you could just provide the board yeah if you could provide the board with your testimony regarding traffic impacts from this uh proposed billboard sure absolutely I'm G to walk around with uh um so I've been here before this board several times talking about how people see and how people view Billboards I don't think I need to blabber that point again but I think it's critical to talk about the federal studies that have been done in regards to both how people see and how people view Billboards but be they static or digital the first study is the 2006 study performed by the national uh highway traffic safety administration which documented um that fixations or glances away from the roadway of more than two seconds have the potential to cause crashes or near crash incidents and the second study is the 2012 uh fhwa study that again documented that in the presence of billboards people glance on average at a static billboard for3 3 five seconds so the the threshold for creating uh unsafe conditions is two seconds and the visibility and how people view static Billboards is 335 seconds so what we So based on that it's my opinion that the the construction of the billboard is not going to create any type of safety hazard um in this location or or really any uh location so then it takes us a little more specifically into the proposed location we're talking about now route one is an urban principal arterial roadway under the oh principal arterial ALC down I apologize an urban principal arterial roadway with a 50 m hour speed limit that carries approximately 95,000 vehicles per day um we performed a site visibility study or Kona Vision analysis for this proposed location um and that so I guess I will introduce everything that I'm talking about is contained in what uh Mike just passed out to you in a12 a summary of all of our findings and the analysis that we did and the date the date of that is uh last revised August 11 2023 correct that is correct and the second study that I was I was moving on to is uh entitled site visibility study it consists of two two sheets um the first sheet is traveling in the Northbound Direction the second sheet is traveling in the southbound Direction and the date on that is uh April 20th 2023 and uh just just um for the record do you want uh Mr chairman do you want us to Mark uh because this is a two sheet um exhibit do you want us to Mark each exhibit separately or we could do it together it's a packet you together perfect thank you so that that is marked as say a13 perfect it is the site visibility study consisting of two sheets and what we did was take a look at the proposed location of the sign the height of the sign and the uh roadway characteristics of Route One the target audience of this uh proposed billboard in order to see how long and when it was going to be visible to the motoring public now what we in the traffic industry start out with is about a th000 feet from the billboard you start to recognize that it's there maybe um determining some of the the context or if the text is large enough the text that goes along with the billboard and then we want to keep it an analyze within the 20 degree conov Vision or 20 degrees to either side of Center which is considered your center of gaze how long is this going to be visible for uh the motoring public so sheet one of that uh plan set is for the Northbound traffic and and the billboard will remain in the Kona vision for uh approximately the next 720 ft so at the 50 mph hour speed limit that would translate into a VI a viewing time of 9.8 seconds now understanding that people may or may not be traveling at 50 miles an hour we also ran the calculations for both 60 75 miles hour and at 75 it's visible for 6.5 seconds seconds now that gives plenty of time for the vehicles to identify the sign and identify the context and content of the message should they be interested in what's on the billboard um I would note that the average time people spend looking at it which is multiple uh fixations is anywhere between SE 7/10 of a second and 1.4 seconds for a static billboard so in that um we have a view sh of 6.5 seconds even at 75 mph it's my professional opinion that there's plenty of time to view this billboard um as you're driving in the Northbound Direction similarly we did the analysis for the southbound direction that is sheet two of the plan set it starts again at about 1,000 feet out and then is in the Kona Vision uh for another 845 ft so at 50 miles an hour it's a viewing time of 11.5 seconds all the way up to at 75 it would be 7.7 seconds so it's my opinion again that the the location of the sign um provides for good visibility and uh good legibility for the motoring public along the roadway I would note and there's been some discussion I think it's my responsibility to touch on there's a rationale in my perspective of the height of the billboard right I know we heard that it was 60 feet we've now brought it down to 50 feet I think and the important piece to look at and Mike I don't know what we marked the newest ones at this one is a just show you show me show me yours there was there were mockups done of the visibility of the billboard now I agree with you as you're coming out of New Brunswick and you're coming over the bridge it's visible right because you're at a much higher elevation than the actual billboard is did we not Mark all four of them no okay so so I think a more critical import is is A8 that was marked and it's the people traveling in the southbound Direction now you've heard testimony from Mr dockerty that the billboard from the uh driveway location to the base of the billboard is about s feet as you travel further north up Route One You're gaining in elevation now it's a little bit flatter but you're still gaining another 34 5 ft all the way out to that tht so what we find is that the top of the billboard is really only 40t potentially above the road surface at in that southbound Direction and what happens is as we lower the sign you start to lose the billboard behind the other cars in along the roadway A8 is a prime example of if there was an SUV or a van or a tractor trailer that are prevalent along Route One you would start to lose that sign behind the billboard and the lower you bring that the less effective it is for the uh for the visibility of the sign in that southbound Direction and when they mount the boards they don't stagger them they don't offset them so the the height of the billboard is really set by this view shed as opposed to the Northbound view shed where it does appear uh higher in there so I think the rationale behind the lower height is a point where it is still visible and viable as a sign for this southbound uh this South B view shed so in summary um there have been multiple humanistic Federal studies that have shown that the um the presence of billboards do not create any type of safety hazards or crash incidents and it's my opinion that the billboard has been located for good viewing of the uh motoring public from both a horizontal and a vertical elevation I have no further questions of Mr Taylor does board have any questions Mr Taylor Mr chairman Vice chairman looking at this exhibit with the uh the lighting going to the rout one what about the lighting going to the residence the lighting well you show the lighting going to to Route One so you're talking about what we marked as a13 yeah exhibit a13 yes so this is not a um a a an exhibit showing the lighting this is a visibility from the the highway orientation uh of the billboard and where the motoring public would be able to see the view the billboard so my analysis is how is it visible to the road that it's oriented to and the um and the traveling public along the adjacent Highway did is there a study for the lighting it goes into the residence so so I didn't do any analysis of lighting I'm not the expert that does this this is purely a visibility uh study of if I were driving along Route One would the billboard be visible okay so for the record there's no there's there there's no lighting study that goes into the residence so the the lighting expert testified that the lighting is shined up at the board um and it the the design of the lighting is so that there's no spillage from outside of the bounds or very little spillage from outside the bounds the board uh which is different than um sometimes you see studies lighting studies that are done for digital Billboards where you're looking at light shining off and out of a billboard as if it's a a street light shining out from the billboard and you sometimes will see um cones you sometimes you'll see a cone study done for that because that's light that's shining out from the billboard The Proposal is light that shining towards the billboard um and it's designed as was testified to that the lighting is designed specifically for this billboard so that the spillage is minimum to to to nothing Mr chairman Mr B yeah a question for the engineer did you if you can see the sign with the light at night where at the highight that it's at what if you lowered the sign how much lower could you lower the sign and still see the the uh the sign from the vehicles passing by the full copy of the sign it's not a specific analysis I've done but I think much lower than 50 you're going to start to lose it I really do I don't what do you mean much lower than 50 I don't understand so I I think the height that they can see if I can look at your plan you you you passed out these these pictures yes and you show the sign yes and if I can see the top of the roofs of the buildings why is the sign going to be double the height of that why can't it be lower I don't understand if I'm in the car and you took the picture from the car I don't understand so now you're referring back to A8 A7 and A8 whatever you guys label I didn't pay attention to that but I'm talking about the the picture with the from the bridge and the one from the yellow direction if you look at those pictures the sign is almost two and a half times higher than the roofs of those buildings and I can see those buildings perfectly from the highway so my question again is why does it have to be so high I I don't you're not missing anything you're not I you know over the cars I don't see it here's a picture with the with the with the good kind bridge in it so so that one like I said the the height of the billboard is not set by that picture so A7 which has the what am I looking at this picture for then if it's not so that's a mockup example of what the what the Billboard's going to look like from Route One North but it doesn't but this is not what it's going to look like from the height that you're proposing no no that that's that that is the height that's being proposed that's the size of the board that's being proposed and if you could lower that sign one and a half times the the W the width of the the width of the sign you'd still be on top of those buildings and you could still see it from the highway but Mr bignell if you move to the next exhibit which was marked A8 and it's the view shed as you're traveling southbound along Route One as you lower that sign if there was a a van or an SUV in uh the Middle Lane here you would not be able to see the sign even at this height I from your pictures there is a van there is a tractor trailer and you could lower it to the wind length of the sign so another so there's a tractor trailer approximately 6 or 800 ft in advance if there was a tractor trailer 50 ft in advance you would start to lose the sign and as you would travel with that vehicle the sign would still remain obstructed I'm not buying it and so professionally I believe that this is the height that's necessary in order to make the sign uh professionally I think it's too too high and I think it's it's at the entrance of our Township and I think you have a problem with this and and your pictures show it so I mean I my eyes don't just see I don't want to tell a different story but my eyes tell me something else okay Mr chairman so from Mr Taylor in your professional opinion as a traffic expert you start to lose the sign when you start lowering it to a certain point because of the the traffic and the topography that is correct okay and also what you what you had testified to is that the height of the sign is really set by the I'm going to say Route One South read rather than the Route One North read and you don't the way that signs are designed you don't stagger Heights you keep them in one one general height uh rather than stagger in them because that creates a an issue with how signs are Mr chairman that's correct know and then follow up then how close do I have to be to the sign on the highway to read it I can see it in the distance but I may not be able to see the message because I'm I don't have you know Eagle Eye so I how close do I have to be before I can read the message and how and and how long does it take me to get past that to the sign so that I don't see the sign anymore so I'm traveling at whatever speed we're talking about so the sign really becomes uh relevant at approximately a thousand feet from the from the sign all right I can read the detail in the sign at a th000 feet no but I'm saying is it becomes relevant becomes part of your viewshed that you're going to absorb I mean the way you see the way you perceive the things around you are constant eye motions called Cades and you with each glance you pick up information your brain processes all of it and that's not distracting at a thousand feet till you get to the sign absolutely not um and as you move forward you may pick up additional information so say it's a an advertisement for wahah coffee you may see the giant cup of coffee that says WWA but you might not see the price their advertising until you move forward to 600 feet or 400 feet from the billboard so it's one of the reasons that we look at this distance and we measure from that thousand feet mark down to where it falls outside of the cone of vision that 20 degree cone of vision those are the travel distances that I quoted to you earlier at the the rate of speed of the highway that's posted I asked for southbound Direction it's 11.5 seconds I asked for a con of speed study in my report and I still haven't seen that I've seen a lot of pictures tonight but I still didn't see the cone Mr Bell this is the the so the exhibit that was provided a13 right is the site visibility study detailing the cone of vision and the what was documented as a12 is my report that summarizes all of these distances we're going around in circles how about if we lower the sign what would the cone of vision be so the cone of vision you're not getting it that the sign is just too high and and you know I think you need to really kind of reassess what you're doing here I really do I mean and as a matter of fact I know you're not governed by it but the Town Council has already changed the billboard sign so you got under the wire with the with the with your with your application but um like I said I your your own pictures your own pictures are showing a sign that that has to be so big I mean I don't I don't or so high I I'm not getting it and and so you know at the last hearing there were there there were questions that that you had regarding the height of the sign and so what we did is we came in and we reduced the height of the sign and reduced the sign fa so this sign this sign is this sign is at 50 feet high not 60 feet high 50 feet high correct so 60 feet was really high 60 feet was 10 feet higher than than than what's proposed so why can't it be at 30 feet so once again you start losing the visibility of of the sign once you get to a certain height level you start losing it not only in the buildings but as as Mr Taylor as Mr Taylor testified make it 70t and we can see right down the highway I don't why do we have to be so we have to see a sign this this big this high and and and why do we have to see it so far in advance and if the people are coming in the Northbound Direction they're going to see the sign eventually I mean like it's like a tiny little sign I I don't understand I'm not buying the and when the planter gets up he's going to have to tell me why it's particularly suited here and we haven't done that yet so I really think we got some issues okay well I really think you got some issues so okay well once again so you raised issues at the last hearing we went out as Mr as chair uh uh member Baron said we went out and we answer we answered those questions you had questions about the dot we went out and answered those questions you had questions about wait hold on about the tree removal we went out and answered those questions you had concerns about the size SI size the sign and we went out and we I just talking about trees I find it very interesting that that they cut down the trees exactly where we were going to put down put up the sign I find that's not true that's not true that's and that's not what was testified to well so what was testified to proposing a billboard sign so no what was testified to by by Mr dockerty was that um he even showed he he said that the the trees that were taken down were along Route One along the right of way not along not within the property where the um billboard is proposed because we're reducing the height of the sign we're taking additional trees off the property but we are replacing those trees in accordance with the Township's ordinance additionally we are willing to work with you Mr Pau if there's additional plan things that that you would require um on the site so you know this is the first time that I'm I'm hearing that you have additional issues regarding the height or the the size of the my has been the same you just didn't lower it enough my problem still my issue still the same right so I understand I understand what your issue is and and what I'm what I'm explaining is that we did go back and we were trying to to address issues and so you know and what we're explaining is from Justin's from Mr Taylor's testimonies is that you start losing the sign at a certain height but I understand but I but maybe it doesn't belong there that's number one but your son is is is wider than the building that's there do you know that your building is your your sun is wider than the the existing building that's on site from your own picture okay so it's just too big and it's just too high and it's at the entrance of our Township so okay Mr chairman okay m m tayor any questions where have any questions Mr Taylor Mr Brun Mr bartler again extension from Mr Bell here um when I asked the question about why arbitrary is at 50 feet is it that Mr tayor I'm sorry I'm I'm gonna cut you off there Mr BR if we I need a question from Mr Taylor with I'm getting to it okay thank you is it that Mr Taylor has now determined why it needs to be 50 ft because of the traffic visibility that's my question because earlier you said you weren't sure but now I just heard Mr Taylor's testimony yeah so so what I was saying before is I I I'm the one who can't provide testimony as the attorney um and what Mr Taylor has presented part part of the reason was that you start losing it at a certain height um because of the traveling the traveling traffic shouldn't use traveling traffic um but because of the cars and the the SUVs and the the trucks that are on the road you start losing it at a certain height um and the the that was his testimony is the height of the billboard was so that it is a visible billboard from that thousand foot and I'm if I'm if I'm saying a something incorrect please let me know uh but from that thousand foot which is what what you know which is what you how you want to view a billboard you start losing it once you lower it below that 50 foot range you confirmed my question exactly thank you Mr Butler rep have any other questions Mr Taylor okay right see all right we're going to um so the hardest working person in the room is a court reporter we're going to take a five minute recess um to give her a break and give the board a chance stretch your legs we'll be back by 9:30 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e what's that who knows it this board will return to session oh I don't know Mr Butler thank you Mr chairman um after talking to everyone I think I who I could find to talk to uh what we'd like to do is come back uh at the board's next available hearing which I uh am told is September 17th Madam Secretary that's correct um and so we'd like to come back at that hearing and continue with our testimony um and of course I will uh provide the board with my consent for uh the continuation to the hearing of the the approval there you go the except the approval extension okay and then you just would ask uh request that um you have all your professionals available yes um for cross examination by the board by Mr trip Mr trip does September 17th work for you yes it does all right that that's excellent so there's peace in the world for now um so for anyone here present for anyone listening at home uh this case will be continued on September 17th without any further notice um if you have received notice uh on this case you will not receive further notice this case will be carried till sep member 17th 2024 beginning at 7 pm. uh here in council chambers and uh just for a record I'll I will provide the board with a copy of the transcript when I I get it great thank you thank you so much thank you very much thank Youk okay all right so we're GNA take two minutes to allow uh the court reporter to change the tape and the next case to set up okay got that's why e e board will turn to session m'am secretary next case on the agenda uh number four case number Z28 2020 Quick Check hearing for conditions even Mr kenith Mr chairman members of the board Henry kenith Fox raild appearing on behalf of Quick Check um and we're here tonight uh pursuant to an order of April 5th 2024 from The Honorable Benjamin bua um we had filed a prerogative R from the board's Denial in 2023 uh judge bua has determined that the um resolution of denial was to be resent Ed and has sent us back to you for the conditions that would be pertinent to the approval of the site plan is ordered by the court I have worked with the board attorney in terms of of those conditions together we've reviewed the transcripts of all of the hearings and all the representations that we made and I believe that the stipulation of conditions that we presented to this board accurately represents all of those conditions which we have have uh agreed to in the prior hearings um in addition I believe uh Miss Shaw has also added a standard set of conditions that are basically appear in every resolution and again we have no issues with that um the only thing that I wish to just bring to the board's attention on the stipulation is there is a reference in a couple of paragraphs to the plans so I think it probably would be a good idea that we Define what the plans were that the court uh had ordered as approved and um if just so I can put this on the record the plans that were before the board when the board took its action um were uh plans entitled preliminary final site plans for a proposed quick check food store with fuel sales D dated June 30th 2022 last Revis February 1st 2023 and prepared by bowler engineering so I just think that when we're talking about what was the plans that were approved by the court those would be the plans so I think that would be the only thing I would add to the stipulation um that would make it clear that we're talking about that set of plans so with that Mr chairman you know that's what we Michelle so um I think for the record we should put the conditions and stipulations um out for the board so everybody can comment okay because after the conditions and stipulations are placed upon the record then the public will have an opportunity to comment which uh Mr combo will um indicate the instructions for so then Mr chairman if you it's okay with the board then I'll just walk right through the stipulation conditions and what you're going to hear are the transcript citations because I think that's important of the testimony that are the basis for the condition so as I go through each one you'll have a transcript citation without objection that'd be appreciated thank you thank you so the condition number one is the subject property is located in the PB Zone and designated blot 4A Lots 2425 at Edison Township tax map that's from the application applicant was represented by me and Mr changen of fox raild again that's part of the application and then two uh statements of fact one is the public was provided an opportunity to speak and did speak on the conditions that were attached to the approval and the no excuse me I'm sorry hearing on October 21st 2022 sorry that's I I was reading from my notes so the first condition from hearing 1 October 22nd 2022 applicant agrees to comply with the requirements of the township of Edison Municipal Code section 11-4 related to 247 use and operation of the property this is in the uh first hearing transcript on page 18 to page 19 B applicant agrees to comply with the comments set forth in Mr Carly's engineering report report dated October 25th 2022 this is the first hearing transcript on page 50 item number c applicant agrees to restrict trash and recycling pickup between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6: a.m. again first hearing transcript on pages 55 and 56 the second hearing which was on December 13 2022 we agreed to the following additional conditions applicant agrees that tractor trailer trucks will not be permitted to receive diesel fuel service from any of the diesel fuel pumps this is on that hearing transcript page 28 item number e applicant agrees to provide signage on the fueling columns Under The Canopy stating that tractor trailer fuel service is not permitted nor provided that again is that December transcript on page 36 the third hearing on February 21st 2023 item number F applicant agrees to comply with comments of Mr Bell's review letter dated February 17 2012 23 uh I do not have a transcript citation but I distinctly remember we did agree to that item number G applicant agrees to install an automatic self-closing gate for the trash enclosure that is the February 21st hearing transcript page 21 uh item number H applicant agrees to comply with Mr Carly's engineering review letter dated February 20th 2023 that is that same February hearing transcript on page 14 um on that condition um if I could just raise one point which is that this signal that's at the intersection of Kilmer and planfield road is actually a middle sex County traffic light and therefore the county is the one that has the jurisdiction over the road driveway and that traffic light but um I just want to make sure that we're all clear about that because Mr Carly's engineer review letter talked about the do and I just want to clarify that one point next hearing is on March 28th 2023 uh where we have agreed in item number I to present a pres absence letter from the D as a condition of approval that was on page 18 then the next hearing on April 18th 2023 applicant agrees to coordinate with the property owner to ensure tenants above the Stelton Diner are removed pursuant to New Jersey landlord tenant law that's that hearing transcript on page 30 and then there are additional conditions these are the conditions Miss Shaw says uh she puts in as standard conditions yeah and those conditions would be reviewed by the board when they review the resolution um these are just standard conditions that we require okay okay yep so those are the stipulations that we had uh discern from the record in our review in accordance with the Court's order thank you Mr kenith and and without any objection we're going to now go out to the public yes okay thank you so we will now go out to the public um this is not regarding the entire project this is only limited to the conditions which were stated to um as you may remember from a little bit of history on this project this project was denied by the board um at which time quick check uh appealed the board's decision to New Jersey state Superior Court uh in which Superior Court uh agreed with quick check um and sent it back the Quick Check agreed they sent it back to us for conditions so any commentary will be limited to just the conditions that were just testified to by Mr Ken Smith all members of the public will receive will have two minutes so as to approach um and provide any testimony and opinion on just the conditions set forth um if you stray stray past the conditions uh you are going to be cut off um we're going to be just limited testimony to the conditions Micha think you can start okay all right so we willne if you get approach and put your appearance on the record Mr is that is that microphone on I just want to make sure that you're no that's good there you go there you go perfect okay so uh I'll start over thank you Mr chairman thank you David lonsky law firm of Shamy shers and lonsky I represent present an objector um afab Aslam and the company that he runs known as kkc food Inc and uh just for the record on behalf of my client we have filed an appeal to the decision of the superior court judge in an effort to have the uh action of this board reaffirmed by an Appel division or perhaps remanded back to the board uh for either further fact finding or for further decision making so at the current time the matter is under appeal um and we understand and we spoken with Council we understand that uh that the board is is taking this action this evening in an effort to comply with the existing court order we appreciate the position that council's taken um in that regard um and I understand your dilemma right you're here having to put conditions on an application at um performing your statut to duty you determined uh was it inappropriate so at this time uh and in the effort and and at this late hour um I'm simply requesting that the action that you take this evening includes certain language um with respect to um number one that the board continues to believe that its prior decision was supported by the record however merely to comply with the superior Court's order it's determining that these conditions uh be appropriate um under those circumstances and I would also submit uh that the resolution include language that the resolution uh shall be without prejudice to and shall be automatically vacated in the event that any appellant Court reverses the decision of the superior court and reinstates the board's denial or remands the case back to the zoning board for either further fact finding or for further analysis um so with those two caveats uh and I did read the transcripts and I appreciate council's recitation of what was uh the conditions and and uh tend to agree with the conditions that were in those transcripts um being those that Council has set forth um but I just wanted to ask the board to consider making those two um part of its record and its resolution this evening and again I thank you for your time and I appreciate the Elum that you're facing with these thank you Mr Kent Smith if you'd like to respond to that so uh as to item number one quite honestly uh the Court's order was pretty clear and I don't think opining on the board's position relative to the underlying merits of the case is warranted um secondly I do agree that if this were to be reversed by some appell at court yes this resolution that we're discussing tonight if it was reversed in the appell court would be vacated as part of that reversal I think that's just basic law so uh from as the board's attorney I do concur um with both Council and their various positions what I will state very clearly is that I think the Judge has already ruled we have a decision I understand it's on appeal but we're still going to continue to comply with the Court's order and the resolutions simply it's pretty obvious and it is LA that if obviously the Appel division decides to reverse judge Benjamin bu's order of April 5th 2024 then anything we do here today would likely also have to be vacated and we'd have to come back if it's remanded or if it's reversed I don't know what the appell division will do the board itself is not going to um take further position on this matter so let's move forward with the conditions so we can comply 200 start within 200 okay all right so anyone within 200 feet of subject site wanting to be heard if you in 200 feet of site you receive the dose via certified mail seeing none will go outside of 200 feet sir please yes please approach the and then the our attorney will swear you in sir raise your right hand do you solemnly swear or affirm to tell the whole truth nothing but the truth so help you God I do now State your full name for the record and provide your address Andre Caesar 2302 oh sorry 2302 marwood Drive Edison New Jersey and that's an Edison Mana okay and you'll have uh two minutes to discuss just the conditions sure so uh I know uh Mr Ken Smith was mentioning about the signal which comes under the do uh currently the traffic situation is pretty drastically bad during PE cars near the station so you know traveling commuting to take my daughter to to the school or back you know classes it's really a nightmare at Peak time because even talmages are jammed up so to reach 27 if you could just pause this timer I'm sorry but we just need to discuss just the conditions so it's not it's not the idea that that the they have a proposed project going there these are limited to the conditions that were set forth okay so the conditions another one is going to be that they are going to have a fuel pump another condition that was there that is it's going to have a fuel pump right right the quick check will be selling fuel am I right that was part of the that's part of their proposal part of proposal yes correct so that's also pretty hazardous because it's very near to residential schools and very near to a train station I'm going to stop you so what you're discussing right now is the underlying application we're here to only discuss the conditions the application was heard there were several hearings on this matter the judge already reversed the board's decision now the judge has has ordered that we um we set forth conditions and stipulations that is all we're here to discuss so if you have an opinion on the conditions or stipulations you may set that on the record but we we're not here to rehash the hearing yeah but I've not heard any conditions where it's going to be for the safety or benefit of the residents around there so there are two there are two conditions with regards to to the fuel one is that the applicant agrees a tractor trailer trucks will not be permitted to receive diesel fuel service from any of the diesel fuel pumps further applicant agrees to provide signage of on the fueling columns Under The Canopy stating a tractor trailer T truck fuel service is not permitted nor provided those are the conditions so those are the only two things with regard to fuel that you that you can comment on okay understood and noted uh uh how do uh could I means ask how would the traffic situation be managed or was that not part of the that was not part of the conditions that that was part of the of the case that came that came before okay all right then thank you thank you for hearing me thank you very much thank you for patience for this evening anyone else wanted to be heard raise your right hand do you solemnly swear or affirm to tell the whole truth nothing but the truth so help you God yes my name is Jennifer Ryan and could you please provide your address yes 161 Hillcrest Avenue Edison sorry 161 Hill Crest Avenue Edison okay you have two minutes yes thank you um I was um just had a quick question about the conditions for the occupants of the rooming house um what is the where will they go so the condition that we agreed to is that we will fully comply with all the requirements of New Jersey land lord tenant law relative to relocation of tenants that includes the notice that includes the relocation allowance under the statute um so all of the landlord tenant protections will be in place we will abide by them to relocate it's my understanding that they're rather weak and that I think that more should be done for people who obviously have very little money to afford anything in Edison and it would it is in your best interest to encourage um quick check who has a lot of money to provide better housing for them um also the sign on the on the fuel station I think it should be outside um before the trucks actually get onto the site because they can't once they get up to the fuel pumping station it's too late they'll have a hard time getting out of the fuel pumping station those are my two comments thank you thank you very much anyone else uh Mr chairman I was just Consulting with the that's actually not a bad idea we were just thinking that if we posted another sign right by the entrance driveway saying no tractor trailer fueling allowed at this location that that's actually a good idea so we would agree to that five hearings on number six you had to good good idea thank you so much okay all right uh that's it Mr kenith yes okay all right anyone else want to be heard good evening good evening sir raise your right hand do you solemnly swear or affirm to tell the whole truth nothing but the truths of help you got yes I do please State your full name and provide your address yes my name is Robert Carter my address is 433 planfield Avenue room number eight okay you may proceed sir you have uh two minutes uh yes thank you sir um I can't really like say what's going to happen where I'm going to go I mean like that was my home for 12 years and I work at the FedEx across the street and um I don't know like how I'm gonna survive with the rent out here high as it is I mean like the reason I stayed at the place where I'm at because I could afford it and um if they go through with their decision I'll have to be like temporary homeless until I get an apartment or try to find a room somewhere else where I can get to work but um I have you know pets and stuff I have to take care of too and I hate to have to throw them away or or toss them out because I'm responsible for their lives also and um I speak for the other people too I'm quite sure they going to go through kind of hardship where they're going to live in also too and um I don't think it's a good idea having the gas station there because it's going to be lot of traffic I'm sorry sorry the just the the guest that that's that's just beyond the conditions oh apologize you no no problem no problem but um I just hope I think that place should be like a historical place it been there so long you know it's it's a restaurant you know and um it been there for a while it should be like in historical thing or something like that you know preserve it you know I think it was supposed to be across the street from my army base but I would hate to see it go but I would want I wouldn't want to be homeless and um I I don't mean to like beg or immunate myself by presenting this but thank you thank you very much sir anyone else wanting to be heard last call all right can I get a motion to close the public portion motion to close public portion second motion by Vice chairman o' Gorman second by Mr sedado all in favor signify by saying I I oose nay the eyes have it public portion is now closed and we'll go to the board Mr chairman Vice chairman yes I'd like to make the mo motion to um accept trial court judge Benjamin bua order court order in reference to the conditions of approval list from Miss sha attorney from Henry Kent Smith and Ryan oan on the conditions of approve list that was on the record in addition uh the applicant agreed to add an additional sign in reference to the uh fueling for the diesel now required and also on Mr Carly's report item number eight that the traffic light is falls under the purview of middlex County and not the Department of Transportation thank you second motion made by Vice chairman o' Gorman second by Mr sedada roll call please Mr chabra yes to the motion Mr Sero yes on the motion Mr Baron yes on the motion Mr D um Mr Saha yes on the motion Vice chair o Gorman yes on a motion and chairman kba yes on the motion thank you m thank you very much Mr chairman members of the board we greatly appreciate your time thank you madam secretor is there any more further business to come before the board this evening that is all the matters this evening all right seeing none can I get a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second motion made by Mr Sada second by Mr Sero all in favor signify by saying I I oose nay the eyes have it board stands adjourned thank you