tent vedon zon Board of adjustment regular meeting of February 20th 2024 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 been posted in the main lobby of the municipal complex on December 18th 2023 please join me in the pledge of allegiance to the flag to the flag United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for Madame secretary roll call please Miss Shaw here Mr aat here Mr chab here Mr Sero here Mr Baron here Mr sadaha here Vice chair o' Gorman here and chairman gumba here Madame secretary minutes for consideration January 30th 2024 for approval can I get a motion to approve motion to approve second motion made by Mr sedada second by Mr Mr Sho roll call please Mr Sero yes on the motion Mr chabra yes the motion Mr Baron yes on the motion Mr sadaha yes on the motion Vice chair Gorman obstain I wasn't here okay and chairman Kumba yes on the motion all right uh a few announcements KZ 32 2023 uh Sanjay thakar at 3 Jonathan Drive uh it's improper notice so Reen notice is required K Z28 2023 Shish Patel 239 West Street uh improper notice re notice is required kz10 2023 Edison Muslim Community Center at 157 and 159 planfield Avenue improper notice uh notice is required to newspaper only uh it's being carried to March 26 2024 all right um good evening ladies and gentlemen this is a regular meeting of the ENT Township Zoning Board of adjustment this board is composed of Edison Township residents who are appointed by the municipal Council they volunteer their time and service to the board the municipal lanus law requires that me Members successfully complete a land use training course administered by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs this board also holds inhouse training conducted by our board professionals the zoning board abides by the provisions of the municipal land use law addition to our board's bylaws the zoning board is a quasi judicial land use board which differs from the township planning board under M 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's presentation of their case 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 they'll be given six minutes to comment on the application being considered without the opportunity for 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 comments being made on the application once commentary Begins the resident's timer will begin the applicant would be allowed for the opportunity for cross-examination of their Witnesses under the law the chair is allowed to stop any comment that is repetitive whereas 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 while public comment is ended unless new 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 summation the case will go to the board for a decision this procedure has been followed by the board and is similar to the procedures followed by Boards of adjustment Statewide the municipal land use Law requires the board to engage in a balancing act 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 Leg legal considerations as has been the case with prior boards this board will see where we are if we are in session around 10:30 p.m. I ask that all applicants professionals and residents show respect to each other and be civil throughout all proceedings I ask that you with hold Applause booing or interrupting of anyone while they are speaking the chair will not tolerate Outburst by applicants professionals or the public further since most cases are being recorded by a court reporter I ask that speakers do not speak over one another that all being said Madame secretary first case on the agenda please case Z24 2023 lucky s Properties LLC 28 Plymouth Place applicant is seeking bulk in use variances to construct a second story addition on the existing single family dwelling following standards have not been met residential homes are not permitted in this Zone sidey yard setback required is 40t proposed is 12.32 Ft both sidey yard setback required is 80 ft proposed is 6548 Ft minimum floor area required is 5,000 square ft proposed is 2590 ft affected property is located in the LI Zone designated as black block number 757 Lot number 2603 on the Addison Township tax map all noticing paperwork is in order thank you good evening Mr sh good evening Mr chairman members of the board my name is Bernard Shire with the firm of conver conver and Shire representing the applicant and owner of the property in question which is 28 Plymouth Place block 757 lot 26.3 uh the principal of uh Lucky Seven properties is Mr hn perves who was here this evening uh he purchased this property uh which is a uh relatively small single family home uh in the LI Zone uh he presently lives in New York and would like to become a resident of Edison and intends to move there uh there uh are several variances one which might seem uh to be a big one is a use variance however the reason for that is this is in the LI Zone single family homes are not a permitted use and he is expanding the existing small single family home uh the other variances are relatively minor bulk variances but are necessary uh to uh increase the size of the home uh and make it more livable uh for Mr perves uh unless there are any pre-existing questions uh I would call Mr perves I have one can you pull the microphone closer to you so we can get you on sure there we go thank you okay all right thank you thank you go ahead Council all right Mr perves hold on hold on raise your right hand do you solemnly swear orir to tell the whole truth nothing but the truth to help you God yes and please State your full name for the record Husain perves um can you just spell that please h a s n a i n last name perves p e r v a i z you could put your hand down you can bring that that the microphone's on a Podium so you can bring it closer to you so you just be more comfortable right Mr Mr perves you presently uh live in New York correct and you are looking to become a resident of Edison Township correct that is right and uh as such you purchased uh this property and would like to renovate it uh in order to live there that is correct um uh right now the the uh existing house is relatively small correct yes and you would like to make it slightly larger in order to to accommodate you that is correct I have no other questions Mr perves does the board have any questions for the applicant one Mr BR Sir Mr P uh when did you buy the house uh about two years ago two about yes okay thank you no problem any other questions from the board seeing none thank you right well John DuPont Mr Dupont would you 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 just State your full name for the record John Paul Dupont Mr Dupont if you just give me a summary your qualifications please I am a professional engineer in state of New Jersey as well as a professional planner I am also a certified Municipal engineer um I've served in that capacity uh for about 30 years now 25 or last I've been the Planning and Zoning Board engineer for the bur of Carterette um I've done private work throughout the state including in front of this board and you want to be qualified as both a planner engine and and engineer that's correct okay all right both licenses are current in good standing they are all right we'll accept you thank you thank you thank you uh Mr Dupont you were hired by the applicant uh to prepare the uh engineering plans for this project that's correct and could you please tell me the uh or tell the board the uh condition of the property as it presently exists so we're talking about 208 Plymouth Place it's block 757 lot 2603 the existing property currently has a single family home on it uh the home's in poor to disrepair has a detached garage and some several concrete walkways on the property if you like me to continue on to the proposed yes please tell the board what is proposed so and I think we've handed out 11 by 17s to the board and I do have a mounted plan as well um but if we look at uh sheet one just to talk a little bit about the applicant is proposing to maintain the existing Foundation but expand the single family home by squaring off the unit so they will again keep the existing Foundation um the existing detached garage and driveway will remain in place but the concrete walkways to the rear will be removed um that is it it will still be second you talking about the two sheets um that were provided today the site Improvement plan I am that wasn't part of the original application it's it's exact copies of the submitted plans but this board likes to get 11 by 17s handed out so I brought those for the board okay so they're the same as the plans already in the application yes okay all right thank so that's the project the applicant is looking to modify the existing single family home for his own use to live in um there are several existing violations I'd like to go through and then a couple of new ones um from an engineering standpoint just a couple side notes this project maintains the same grading as existing it reduces the impervious coverage from existing and there's no other proposed structures so we're not subdividing we're not uh adding another dwelling this is simply modifying the one single family home now as far as variances go there are several um existing and then a couple proposed so a minimum lot area in the LI Zone the the lot area is required to be 880,000 ft this existing lot is 10,53 Ft that will not change the minimum lot width in this zone is 150 ft the existing lot width is 95 that again will not be changed the front yard setback this Zone requires 50 fet the existing home is 9.4 that will remain the sidey yard setback for one side it's required to be 40 feet currently it's 12.9 under proposed conditions it's 12.3 so this is about 6 Ines close to the sideline uh for constructibility purposes that's just squaring off that Foundation the side your setback for both sides in the zones required to be 80 ft currently it's 66.1 under proposed conditions it become 65.4 again that's that same six inches where we Square out the foundation accessory buildings is there detached rear Garage in the rear the sidey yard setback for an accessory structure in this zone is 40 ft currently it's 18.5 and that will remain the accessory rear yard setback requires 50 feet that garage is on the property line there is zero foot setback and that will remain the other new variants the minimum gross floor area for all levels in this Zone again we're talking about the LI so this a little unusual is 5,000 sare ft our single family dwelling total is 2590 sare F feet so we're actually smaller we're not looking for expanded F we're actually about half the size is required in zone again that's only because it's La Zone we're proposing a single family hes and the use variants which is required to construct a single family dwelling within Al Zone we are asking for that even though an existing one we're modifying it so we're going to ask for that variance as well um from an engineering standpoint pretty straightforward I think the plans are pretty basic in front of you and if it's okay with the board I like to switch to the planner side if you don't mind if we can Mr sh do you have any other engineering questions for no other engineering questions so I'd like to um cover engineering questions for you before you change hats and put the planner hat on that's great does the board have any questions for Mr Dupont with regard to engineering yes Mr Brown uh one Mr Dupont yes uh I see that the existing first floor square footage is 1,48 roughly right and the second floor is 1401 roughly right so how are you getting larger on the second floor over the top uh the first floor I'm not the architect but I will tell you it's K leard so I just can't leave the section that's it okay thank you you're welcome so M St just just to reiterate the the setbacks essentially were existing you're just you're just tightening It Up by you're going about six inches further that's correct okay um and the footprint was was essentially existing do you have an estimate as to when this the home the current home was built I do not looking at the condition of it it's an older home I do not know the prior to World War II I would say so out were you there very funny thank you Mr I'm going to put you thank you Mr does the board have any other questions Mr chairman Vice chairman yes you had stated you were going to to reduce the impervious coverage how's that going to happen there are some concrete walkways around the sides in the back that are being removed it's about 124 squ ft Less in perious coverage board have any other questions with regard to engineering seeing none okay you may pres St okay so from a planning standpoint first we'll talk about the use variant so the construction of a single family dwelling within Li Zone requires use variance um the because we feel the single family home is existing and we're simply modifying we think the proofs should be a little less restrictive we've this house has existed there's been no negative impacts on surrounding properties we know of no negative impacts on your master plan or your zone map um and the fact that it has existed for this long without any violations or issues with respect to its use we think it satisfies both of the positive negative criteria for the use variants so we' like to extend that use with respect to bulk variances just the existing ones first the minimum lot area the minimum lot width the front yard setback the accessory side yard and rear yards those are all existing violations that were not um increasing not expanding not making any worse they've been there for years um the building right now if you if you compare the single family home for this project to a single family home in a residential Zone say in Edison the setbacks here are much larger than what you typically see around Edis instead of four or eight feet or 12 plus feet and we're not going to make it anything more restrictive than those so we respectfully request the existing violations to be granted as well now there are three new variants that we like to talk about a little more detail the minimum side setback one side you've heard me say it was 40 feet required 12.9 feet was is existing 12.32 feet is proposed about six inches less minimum sidey yard both sides 80 required 66.1 ft existing 65.4 proposed again there's are 6 in a little closer to the proper lines and the minimum gross Flor minimum gross floor area required 5,000 square feet minimum of all floors combined we're about 290 sare feet so we're about half the size if you look at those three bulk variances we look at a balance test positive negative criteria when we look at that um we feel we have you know we have an existing Foundation that we're going to utilize in our new U modification we're not subdividing here and building a new single family home we're taking an existing dwelling we're squaring it off our applicant wants to live there himself uh this is someone who wants to move to Edison has found a property is not overdoing it not building too large of a structure not getting too close to side and free art setbacks as we see occasionally this is a a applicant who is building the right size home in the right location um the applicant again wants the move from New York into Edison and likes the community we feel it's a very minimal relief needed only additional 6 in um again the existing setbacks just because of where we are this is much more significant setbacks than you normally have in your residential areas as far as the um size the to gross flare area it's a sounds unusual usually we come to the board for FL ratio where we're over by five or 10% this were about 50% allowed so we're we're half the size of what's allowed just again because the Alli zone so we feel our house matches the residential nature and character of Edison so oh I'm sorry just just negative criteria we looked at the negative criteria I checked your zone map your master plan we looked at the history of the property we looked at the area I don't believe there's any negative impact by this project um I think there could be granted you board can grant these variances easily no negative impact your Zone plan your master plan your benefits of this project significantly outweigh any detriment I don't think there is any detriment I think this is a good application for the applicant as well as Edison and that concludes my planning so Mr deont based upon the fact that uh this is pretty much uh a minor enhancement of an existing single family home uh already located in the LI Zone and that the proposed new bulk variances are essentially di Minimus can these variances be granted without any substantial detriment to the public good and without any substantial detriment to the Zone plan and zoning ordinance absolutely no other questions thank you uh does the board have any questions for planning questions for Mr Dupont I'll kick it off so Mr Dupont did you take a look I know we've we've just from you know memory of the area and and applications we've had come before us um we've had similar applications within the neighborhood um you know residential located in in the zone do you have any any numbers as to how many um residential homes are located in this neighborhood that are in the Ali Zone I drove the neighborhood I've seen them I do not have specific numbers I'm sorry I don't have total numbers okay all right does the board have any questions Mr Brown uh Mr tupan in the uh application is a u remodel of the first floor also included yeah yes the whole the entire a total house remodel yes great thank you where have any other questions Mr chairman Vice chairman are you going to do anything with the existing uh detached garage modify the exterior and make any necessary repairs I'm sure and I'm going to switch your hats for a second uh there were no changes to no changes proposed to the drainage patterns that's correct okay thank you any other questions for Mr Dupont okay all right Mr CH uh that's the applicant's case okay all right great so we will now go to the public uh we will go to uh anyone within the public within 200 feet of the subject's site if you are within 200 feet of the subject site you have received a uh notice a certified maale seeing none we will now go outside of 200 ft of the subject site um any member of the public outside 200 feet wanted to be heard sir please come up thank you sir would you raise your right hand Thomas lucky would you raise your right hand do you sol me swear or affirm to tell the whole truth nothing but the truth help you got I do okay please State your full name and provide your address full Thomas Ley l e c KY Netherwood Circle your address apparent sir your your address you said Featherwood circle is there a number I'm sorry I can't hear is there a number it's you said Featherwood uh circle is there awood Netherwood I didn't hear what street do you live on Sir NE Wood Circle okay number what number 53 thanks you may proceed you have six minutes nice okay uh apparently this this lot has some existing limitations building it in the What's called the existing footprint I'm I'm all for course then it your set your side setbacks meet the existing conditions you're not changing anything however we you know I'm I'm I'm not for variances where you need to you know you need to go and change or ask for ask for your you know approval to change to change change the system what do you want to call it a standard a guide a construction methodology whatever for your plan for for this house I'm all I'm all for construction as well as as long as it is smart construction going and use going and building within the guidelines that Edison has set up you all are versed in them there's all kinds of standards and all to build anything here in this state in in this country and this on this planet I'm all I I would like to see the planning board adopt those standards and say enough is enough you need to do your due diligence before you come in to do the to do the con before you purchase a property before you come and ask you know beg for forgiveness please follow the guid guidelines and standards that the that this town has adopted it makes the the uh zoning officer or what whatever who goes out and and then inspects it he he's got a fighting chance he's not looking at if I you know is this one different than than the other one it's it's repetitive it it only helps or you know our toship employees if the bill if the the homeowner builds within the the requirements it makes it so much easier than it's than it's repr St for you for you individuals that's all I want to say let's let's have Smart building in this town avoid the issues that are generated by variances and all it Town's getting crowded I just want to see Edison adopt smart building Tech you know Pro procedures policies Etc that's all thank you very much sir is there anyone else uh from outside 200 Fe the property wanting to be heard seeing none can I get a motion to close public portion motion to close public session second motion made by Vice chairman a Gorman seconded by Mr sedada all in favor signify by saying I I oose nay the eyes have it public portion is now closed Mr sh uh essentially uh my client is asking for very minor approvals to make uh a home much more attractive and livable uh and that is the purpose of the board having the power to Grant variances uh to say nobody should ever get a variance flies in the face of the land use law I think the CL my client has uh proven that he's entitled to these minor variances and the board should grant them okay we'll go to the board for any uh discussion or motions Mr chairman Vice chairman agman I'd like to make a motion to approve this application based on the uh existing structure has been there for over well over 50 years the existing footprint and the setbacks are and are di Minimus there's no negative impact on the master plan or zoning plan it's in an existing Li Zone the grading plan will be improved and the impervious coverage will be reduced and the project will enhance the neighborhood second motion made by Vice chairman o' Gorman second by Mr sedata roll call please Mr Sero on the motion Mr chabra yes to the motion Mr Baron uh before I answer uh Madam I just want to say to Mr Ley that I when you were making your remarks uh I respected very much your concern about uh current building standards codes and compliances and I want you to know that they would be required as of 2024 whatever code requirements exist today to do whatever they're going to do so you can be assured it's going to be with the approval of the township I just want to say that in your behalf I thank you for your comments uh yes on the motion Mr sadaha yes on the motion Vice chair o' Gorman yes and chairman Kumba uh I will add that the applicant has met the negative and positive criteria worthy of uh a approval um I believe that it will be a benefit to the property owner in addition to being a benefit to the neighborhood um the uh while it is a use variance I believe that the the planner has made the case worthy of approval um and the other um the other variances are are rather dominous in nature uh and I vote Yes on the motion thank you case is approved congratulations thank you very much all right good to see you Madame secretary do we have any other more any further business to come before the board this evening that'll be all chairman I'll reiterate my question before Mr sh interrupted me Madame secretary do we have any business comeing before the board this evening that'll be all tonight all right can I get a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second motion made by Vice chairman agor and second by Mr Sero all in favor signify by saying I I oppose nay the eyes have it board stands adjourned until February 27 2024 at 7M thank you and good evening