all right ladies and gentlemen we'll get the show on the road here um in accordance to section five open public meetings act chapter 231 1975 advised not this meeting was made by posting Bon board Town Hall mailing to the officially designated newspapers most of thees annually indicating that this meeting would take place at Town Hall at 7 on February 5th Joseph CFI pres shandrew har here Regina Tru here Priscilla s here Vice chair Jessica here chair here we're going to start with approval of minutes 12823 um any directions or changes um sh Regina Joe Jessica cig um all those in favor anyone opposed um okay so did we do a motion or oh approve the minutes from 12 183 and second I second favor okay moving onization to calendar 3957 23 uh seard 407 H Avenue Short Hills any changes or Corrections who's eligible Joe shandre Regina Jessica um have a motion second secondi yes shrew yes Regina Tru yes yes yes next up to calendar 39623 Arjun and Shea ra at 246 Glen Avenue uh any corrections or changes same crew yes motion I can move approval for calendar 390-23 second second Joseph Coffield yes shre har yes Regina trit yes Jessica glad yes yes next you have calendar 39 6123 short H gymnastics llc at 758 Mars turn any corrections or changes eligible Joe Sean Jess move approval 3961 second I can second Joseph kield yes shre herani yes just yes yes lastly calendar 39 6223 Charles and Mar at 17 Joe SE Jessica and right can I just ask one question um on the dates are is where it say now our be resolved on this adoption of the resolution should be tonight that was the one the board recalls that we we had drafted a resolution so the board can consider the totality of the case and conditions that were imposed before voting on it this is the moralization just that yes thank you any corrections or changes that memorialization if not I have a motion from people I move approval for calendar 3962 d23 thank you a second second Joseph yes yes yes yes all right as we jump into our agenda this evening um we're going to mix the order up a little bit um we're going to first hear um the property located on 53 Sagamore calendar 39 6423 then we'll be moving to calendar 39523 which is 50 Elmwood and lastly this evening we'll hear 11 M hour at 39223 so yes sir yeah I called this morning they said that 11 hour the first um property to be discussed this is the third month I shown up here uh and each time com well we're gonna we're getting it done tonight I mean the order 11 o' no not 11 o'clock but you know the board does retain the prerogative to change the order Mr Skol thank you Richard scholnick from my own Law Firm on behalf of Laura Yuber and Jose Mario Valdez 53 Sagamore is the address block 101 lot 13 on the tax maps we're in the R4 Zone we have an expansion of an existing single family home with what we believe to be three modest variances the first is the height of the retaining wall with two feet permitted six feet existing and proposed and as we'll explain this is the uh essentially a rebuilding and relocation of an existing retaining wall leading to the garage uh the applicant needs to do that to make the geometry functional on the half there's a a wall there that makes access quite difficult the second variance is to add um 1.8 feet excuse me second variance is a 1.8 foot setback in the front yard 1.8 foot uh setback deviation to add a portico the requirement is 58.5 using the averaging and we're at 56.7 again it's 1.8 feet uh into the front yard and 7 feet 3 in wide modest deviation we believe it's going to add a night nice aesthetic uh aesthetic element and also make the house more functional and then we have a sidey guard variance looking at the house on the right we're at 11.42 existing with 22 feet required and we're looking to go straight up to add the second floor and maintain that 11.4 uh the house is not oversized in our opinion uh on building coverage it's at 6.66% when 14% is permitted lot coverage uh we're less than half at 1734 with 35% uh permitted floor area ratio is at about 12% with 26% permitted so not oversized um there's no steep slope deviation required uh even though we're on uh Sagamore uh uh we do have a bit of an unusual condition uh with the house to the right in in two ways first they have a quite a large setback so in total if you look at both houses uh you get the setback the existing uh structures although part of the setback is on the other property and then that house next door has a sort of a large glass enclosure in the rear yard so we think going up there's going to be an addition uh uh going up makes a lot of sense as opposed to going back because there' be more of an impact on the neighboring property and that neighboring uh glass uh structure so um with that we have testimony from uh the architect briefly hike exan and then a little testimony from the civil engineer okay can we have sworn you swear affirm testimony about the G tonight's proceedings do the truth the whole truth onto the truth I do your name for the record spelling your name my name is hi xen h a y k last name xen e k s h i a n and you can can you provide your professional qualifications I'm a licensed architect in the state of New Jersey I'm a graduate of uh New Jersey Institute of Technology um my license is current I've I've uh appeared in front of uh many zoning boards uh including this one uh I believe within this year uh of last year um that is that sufficient your licenses are all turn in plays and valid chairman I'll submit qualifications are accepted by the board please proceed okay can you go over what uh we have here uh pull out the sheet number and the last revision date if anything is different than the plan package let us know IID like to briefly talk about or um give you an overview of uh our thought process how we designed um the home um my client um they they have a growing family and they need the additional space um the house the addition that we're proposing is um well within the uh F requirements uh so the house is um not oversized for the lot um we looked at how we could uh make this addition uh that that's going to give them additional bedrooms and living space and we start looking at the possibilities of addition so going to the sidey yard the two side yards were limited uh basically the uh house is very close to the right the existing hous is close to the right side yard and left side yard is really close still close to the um side yard side back and we're very close to the established front yard head back the only place to go is either up or back now I we rendered this uh View at the bottom right corner of A4 uh to show you the backyard there the the land really slopes down significantly and they have a small flat area in the back of the house that they're using as a patio taking up that space is going to take away the only outdoor space that they have plus the land is rising and it's not it's not ideal to have the backyard higher than the first floor of the home so the that only left us um the second floor to build on so because the current house is over the setback line uh we're here today asking for that uh variance uh over here on the right side the other variance that we're asking for is very modest um we added a a little porch in the front and I'm going to go through the floor plans to explain better um there's no foer inside the house so we needed a space a landing space where people can take up their jackets uh and be sh sheltered from rain and snow and extended this roof out about um a believe four feet and um it's this roof that's over the over the front yard's headback it's very minimal um I believe not only this serves as a a functional element it also Al enhances the front facade of the home uh quite a bit um you can see uh this is U you know great Improvement to what is currently there um it's a tutor Style with some Modern elements um that that's going to really improve the streetcape um here um I believe the um what we're doing here the benefits um really greatly outweigh any detriments um or variances that we were asking for of course you wanted to use the ex the location of the existing structure to go off exactly and that has many other benefits which I'll let our civil engineer explain in terms of if you were to go towards the back we may be disturbing uh steep slopes it may have um issues with grading drainage so I'll let her speak about that going up is kind of um helping us uh not not deal with those other other negatives um so we got the the Portico in front a modest one foot 7 foot front yard setback deviation right got some aesthetic benefits there right do you want to talk about the the wall or you want to leave that for C I'll leave that for C okay um okay so I'll just walk you through the briefly briefly Bri FL plans so have a better idea of call out the street number for us right start with the first floor this is A2 uh drawing number one first floor plan as you can see there's a very small uh porch area just that entrance before you get into the house uh this is we're using the existing stairs which is very close to the entrance door and mostly the the footprint is the same as what we have currently we just shifted some rooms around you come into a living room dining room uh and then towards the back we have an open Breakfast kitchen area we have a small Library powder room and a guest Suite you can see the room sizes are very modest uh it's not a large home uh on the second floor we have uh two bedrooms an office a hallway bath and a primary Suite uh on the first floor I'm sorry on the basement level I'm going A1 we're not making many we're not making that many changes it's pretty much almost the existing layout we have the oneart existing oneart garage storage towards the back mechanical room and wack room and uh and page 83 shows you the um elevations which are the uh 2D drawings of the renderings the renderings do a better job showing you how how it's going to look that up there since it's a pretty picture okay that's that's it question questions for you any have any questions for the architect regarding this application I have a question was there any thought about taking this Second Story and pulling that back side um the the amount of spaces that we needed kind of um doesn't allow us to do that um also it it's kind of hard to fit in all the program into it's a very small small area because we would have to take away the whole uh primary suite and and then the rest of the spaces with the because of the stair is very very small any other questions any questions from the audience regarding this testimony okay chairman we'll call our next witness engineer Kath Muller have sworn please testim yes and name Catherine with a c meller m l l r I'm owner and principal of Paige Muller Engineering in Warren Township New Jersey um professional engineer licens in the state of New Jersey my license is in good standing I have a bachelor's of Science in civil and environmental engineering from Clarkson University and I've had my license since 2003 I haven't been physically here but I've been in front of your boards here in Milburn virtually during coif accept this rece thank you Kathy you provide an overview and certainly want to talk about uh why we need uh to reconstruct a wall to the driveway and talk a little bit about the neighborhood and we're going to pass around and exhibit we're going to call A1 sure just describe what's on this for us please sure the exhibit that that was just handed out has four pictures of the existing conditions of 53 um Sagamore they were taken by the homeowner on various dates uh January 13th of this year is the upper right without the SN and the other three were taken January uh 23rd uh by Miss hu quber um basically the intent of this is to I'll start at the top left uh you can see the existing house in between the two neighboring houses um so it is out of scale a little bit the other houses have been already expanded uh the top right is the existing driveway and wall configuration um what's not super apparent on that on that um photo photo is the wall on the left is not perpendicular to the garage door it actually leans in because it's in disrepair but it's also angled in towards the driveway so as you come up to the top of the driveway your car isn't perpendicular to your garage door so as part of this we're asking for the variant to keep that wall height at six feet and relocate it and realign it on the left side so that'll enable them to utilize it the garage a bit better the bottom left is the a picture of the neighboring glass structure uh that you heard referen to before um it's a pretty prominent feature on the neighboring house so by going and keep it on the bottom right you can see the angle that the architect was talking about if we go out to the back we'd be blocking the side of their glass structure um this also shows the the flat area behind the the property so as you've heard um the property is steep sloped I have the existing conditions on the cover sheet these are dated 11:15 23 the same as what was in your application package uh we're lot three block 101 we took the average setback to determine the establish in the neighborhood 500 each each side so you've heard those numbers already and you can see in the back of the the property now there's a series of walls and tiers and stairs and as I turn to page two it'll make a bit more sense we go from an elevation of 170 at the rear which is adjacent to the county park down to 100 at Sagamore so the property is approximately uh 265 ft deep on average with a 70 foot slope differential Kathy it's possible that the board has some familiarity with the slopes on Sagamore yeah yeah so again you heard we didn't want to dig into the back um as you heard there's no um Kath where's the Glass House in relation to what you're showing here on your site that's the extension off onto the right side so there's I guess they have a hallway connecting and then this Square back here is the glass structure Kath you talk about the setbacks I mentioned that in my opening comments sure the it's 22 required the other side has how much on their side so to the property house to house or structured to property line to lot two they're approximately 32 feet from the property line and we're at a existing and proposed 11.43 so it's it's under it's a pre-existing condition the lot is actually under on lot width required is 100 ft and we're at existing 85.2 so it is a narrower lot than what would be allowed under the ordinance but we get the the 22 and 22 in total you get just about the same 44 as contemplated it's just more on the neighbor's property that's correct we'd have this the same light space and Air in between the two properties um so that was a pre-existing condition on the right side I know the board member had asked why don't we set in the side um we're starting at 11.43 so to get the second floor to 22 we're going to lose a substantial amount of that second floor um with the addition so from an engineering standpoint at least any any detriments that you see I don't see any detriments I don't see any detriment and again the the neighborhood has already expanded their house so um we'll maintain that space in between what banister remain or I guess call it a bister but the the fence like structure that goes up the driveway on the left side driveway is that going to remain because I don't see it in photos but the renderings it's intended to remain um that could be a question for the homeowners we we went around with a lot of different driveway configurations to widen it to two feet two cars wide um looking at all the different ordinances in Milburn for impervious coverage in the front yard disturbances of slopes the usability of their driveway um we did have a number of Concepts um and then we we scaled it down and this is the best Improvement for what they have now without going crazy um and again we had worked with the homeowners back and forth to come up with this configuration so it widens it a little bit up at the top the wall needs to be rebuilt anyways it's in poor condition um and then we'll construct new steps up to the new entrance of the house the overall steep slope disturbance is 450 square feet so no variance is required for that and as you've heard the other um we have some pre-existing variances a lot withd um the front yard setback does comply today but it's measured to the overhang two feet into the overhang per the code so we're requesting 56.7 um when 58.5 is required the minimum sidey yard setback is the same number that exists today um it's one story on both sides so we had the 11.43 non-compliant on the right and the left side at 18.2 for one story is compliant so now the one side the portion that sticks out on the left is going to remain at one story and comply and then the right side is being expanded within that 11.43 feet in terms of A1 I'm looking at the top right hand photo c um those is that vegetation that separates the home from the home to to the to the right is that on your property or on the neighbor's property we didn't have them surveyed so I'd imagine they're just over the property line they they living it's looks like it uh they're green in the picture um they they look like in the bottom left you can see a little what about behind toward the rear there for the upper right corner uh it was taken in January so I wouldn't know the conditions there was no leaves when it was taken so with by going up on the house we actually don't have any land disturbance around the perimeter um they will have construction vehicles obviously up and down um which was also another consideration to get Machinery back there if the house were to be expanded back would be um heavy equipment for the slope disturbance and walls um and this will hopefully enable them to build up more easily than back um there's one other uh pre-existing non-conformance that we were T that hasn't been mentioned is the driveway setback 5 feet is required at the front right corner we're six feet off that property Corner that's the existing driveway and we're not proposing any improvements to it uh the building coverage is going up by 45 square feet only and that's the front area and then the lot coverage is going up by only 118 square feet uh that's the the minimal widening up by the driveway by swinging that existing wall back I think that's everything on our plans um just for the board's clarification the wall on the right that's not going to be changed that ranges from four feet up to a maximum of five and that will remain thank you any questions from the board just for clarification so just just this wall that's on the left as we're looking at the house is the one that's correct and the one on the right is in good shape correct formidable w i saw yeah that is good enough shap to stick okay thank you any other questions from the board any questions from the audience regarding this testimony that's it thank you sure um then I'll open up to the comments from the audience regarding this application I see none so I will close the public portion um board members what are your thoughts Al go I think it's a modest ask I think it's reasonable so i' be in favor of this appliation yeah I mean you know we have a lot here that while while it's a th000 square feet over the um R4 um requirement it uh it is narrow and you know that's clearly the what I would consider you know C1 regarding his property and hardship um so uh I think what the ask here is is minimal I think the the aesthetic of the final product is going to look very nice and uh I would um I would vote in favor appliation any other thoughts can have a motion in this case make a motion to approve the application second second josephi yes yes yes yes yes yes good Lu with the projects thank you for your time I arri at she's here twice now next up we have calendar 39 5923 50 hey folks if you could take it outside i' greatly appreciate it thank you [Music] could be speaking this evening everyone all everybody raise their right hand please swear from testim about to be given toning these Tru by the truth I your name cor please spelling your name um t e j a and my last name is s u k t h a n k a r I'm PR first name p as in r a n a b s and last name is s s u k a t h a n k a r Timothy kle ssse you probably know my name like I think at this point so who be speaking first goad U my name is p and she my wife tja we have been in shills for the LA since 2016 um and we've been in this area for all that while um we have a home on 50 place for which we are going to discuss what we are requesting out of the committee uh but like we love this area our daughter went to Glenwood she's been studying there now she's in high school um we have all but good things to say about um you know where we live today um and as we we've decided that we'll be here for a very very long time just because like we love this place we were very lucky to get a house in the Glenwood area itself and we have been very happy ever since uh my parents are growing old my wife's mom she's also growing old and they come and visit us many times in fact her mom will be living with us uh you know coming May um and the we although a house it's it's pretty good it would be better if we have some more space for our parents as well um additionally uh we are very lucky that we both you wife can work from home so a little bit of additional space will go along with way to be a little bit comfortable um the technicalities we talk about and if you if you want thank you put you guys down okay oh um I'm a licensed architect in um the state of New Jersey and u i attended New Jersey Institute of Technology and I've been licensed for 25 years license is in good standing and u I've been accepted by this board and numerous other boards in the area thank you please continue um the site you know is 50 Elmwood it's an R6 it uh has an undersized width of 50 feet whereas 60 is required has an undersized lot area of 5,500 whereas 6,000 is required the um otherwise the lot pretty much conforms this is a t Revival uh that's in pretty good shape but um we're doing a little interior restoration inside of it um and the ask tonight is really on the left side to increase the size of these two bedrooms that are on the left and um they really to make the bedrooms suitable for both of their parents is what we're really trying to do the rear bedroom the ask is to add 29 squ F feet because the existing bedroom is 11 by 12 and the addition would make that bedroom 11 by 15 the front bedroom is now 9 by7 and we'd like to make it 9 by 13 we can't pick up width because of the building I'll show it to you that's an addition of 54 square feet and then we as part of architecturally what I did to do this we added another another 25 Square ft which is a 5 foot by 5 foot closet in the front so that I could make the front facade work so those three areas are would add up to our total of um 108 square feet of additional F which this request is for tonight we didn't add any building coverage we haven't added any loot coverage it's really just an F ad I go I'm going to go now to my Bo sheets the addition on on my boa1 sheet on the right side is our proposed the addition is really on this right side and it's is 29 square feet in the rear of the building and there 79 square feet in the front which is a combination of that 54 square feet and the 25 square feet and um otherwise there's no work except for uh interior restoration of the inside of the building building's been a little chopped up over the years but if I come to my boa2 sheet which is the second floor right we come up the existing stair I have added F because I have a big sort of um foyer up here which I really wouldn't need if I could do a new house in this case you know I could control my f a little better but I'm in a position here where I have a lot of f sort of wasted I have a very small primary bathroom and then one other hall bath both of them are existing both of them are remaining nothing's being done the work is really in our bedroom 3 area where we're adding on in this rear corner the rear left corner of the building to pick up that 25 square or 29 square feet and then in the front we're adding to pick up the 54 square ft and to the right of that is this 25q foot closet that we had so what I did was brought the new wall out to equal the wall below that's how I picked up that additional area you know there side setback issues here because the existing sidey setback is at 7 feet and the rear it's actually at 6.91 and we are actually extending that so that's one of our sideo setback this impacts side setback above 18 fet and also impacts side combined because the lot is really UND in width I come the way we pulled this off I just went to my boa free sheet is you know the the tutors have a I think it's safe to say that the tutors really have a a 60 degree pitched roof that's the way it goes you know the cape's over 45 degree pitch roof right this is really a tutor so we took that 60 degree pitch roof and we just recreated it above but I added that wall space right there that's what I did the the little area that's sort of dotted in where we put the new stuck out then then we turned our Gable out on the front so that we could create a Terminus to the building and actually remove this area that started on the upper leftand corner so in a sense we actually loow we decreased visually our side yard setback by removing that corner of the roof the only thing that the elevation does remember is it makes the roof look like it's standing up but this roof is laid back on a 60° angle but that's how we created the roof room this Gable in the center is existing and remains this Gable over on the right side where the um fireplaces is existing to remain the height of the ridge is actually the same as The Ridges now we haven't done anything to the building all we did was try to pick up this small amount of area we have an existing Garage in this house and attached garages 189 square feet you know if I could delete that that's actually in this case 3.4% f that's um a huge amount of f for a small lot but you know the garages are included in the favor so if I come up on my side yard setback you can see the existing coming up in the right side at eight and then when it hits the 18 foot it kicks out so that we end up at a 12T set back at 32 the difference between the 32 maximum Building height in the ridge is about 5 1/2 ft right that's kind of a huge deal here because when I look at the street scape everything is at about 25 26 27 feet tall in this street and we've been able to maintain that and kind of just did a little bit of f in the area where we needed it I think um it's kind of safe to say I think that a 9 by7 bedroom is sort of too small even to put your mother-in-law in I think kind of a little bit but you know it's a so I I think it makes sense that we could kind of expand these rooms as long as we can do it intelligently as all and that's all we did to gain this extra space and it it allows us to keep the character of the tutor in place keep the roof pictures of the tutor in place keep the street scape looking the way it is if I look right now I guess i' call this like my exhibit I'll call it a A1 A1 and it really contains first the front elevation of the building with a little streetcape on it and then below it is actually I ran a streetscape gy and I kept my distance from the buildings consistent so you could sort of see how our building fits our building is in the upper picture the one in the middle and in the lower picture the second in from the right and you can see that the building to the left of where we're talking about adding relieves itself from our setback because of the primary element of which is white in this case and then the Dormer that was somehow added at some other point in time Beyond this it's hard to see but the building gets very close to the property line there's an addition on the back of this tutor Revival on the left but it's um it's way off of the picture plane of our building it's actually beyond our building and you can I'm going to flip back to my boa1 sheet you can actually see that on the existing survey where they show the adjacent dwelling it's only about 3 feet off the property line but it's actually behind my building and we haven't gone back at all towards that area this building doesn't really read that way though it reads as if it's about 8 feet off the property line and the second floor reads to be 10 feet off the property line because they are up at that front at the picture plane of the front facade of the building and I can pass this around if anybody wants to see it closer any see closer right but I think our buildings in scale you know we could this is that strange thing where we could have a we could add I don't know 500 square feet of f of added area to the third floor and create a much taller building but we've really allowed our building to stay in scale and um did it with really a relatively small increase in F okay the um the side yard setback is existing on the left side at 6.9 the ask I'm going now to attachment e the ask is to continue that setback right it's really a non-conforming condition and we really don't have any work in that area it's really you know we haven't touched the footprint of the building and then we have the additional setback above 18 ft we're allowed to be at 9.46 and we are I don't know if we're actually at 6.9 but we're relatively close to it we actually improved that but we just let it continue to go at the 6.9 Dimension it's really falling I don't want to mark this but it's at the tangent point of the vertical to where it goes on display that is actually that it's really a continuation of existing we've actually really improved it because we've removed all that Gable end that was there the side combined is again an existing non-conforming condition with no change and the f is really an increase of um this 108 square feet right but the f request is for 318 Square fet because it's already over by 20 25 square feet is that previous editions that did that um I don't know I would think if well maybe this rear area this house would have been a porch probably when this house was built you know they were all porches and I don't know if we have a building over it or not no we're actually a roof over it's never been added to so I think this was this F is the original F I would say yeah just because I I find it a little hard to believe that the initial porch would have been that big the normal porch is were about 8 feet so this looks more like 12 so it almost looks to me like somebody added four feet onto the porch and enclos the porch at some point in time but generally speaking this is the existing F from how this house was built and so what this addition on the left side does for us allows us to increase the size of those two bedrooms on the left remember the one is going from 9 by7 to 9 by3 the others going from 11 by 12 to 11 by 15 and it also lets me clean up that left side of the house archit textually and I think the Gable at the end actually gives me a better termination for the building itself in and the decrease of that Gable that we the Gable that's per the perpendicular Gable is actually an improvement on the side yard setback related to the neighbor uh I think the addition itself is an improvement on the neighborhood the house itself the renovation work we're undertaking is actually an improvement it lets us update the house lets me add egress windows you know help with the fire life safety issues of this house also just clean up the facade and sort of update the neighborhood so I think all in all this is a reasonable case any questions any questions from Mr B what is the exting F I'm looking at a lot of numbers the existing f is 39.9% 39.9 that's what it says the allowable is 36 and you're requesting 41.8 41.8 we're incre it's an increase of I think it's 1.8% yeah 3 yeah 1.9% I guess any questions any questions from the audience regarding this application any comments from the audience regarding this application not close call portion of this hearing your thoughts just remind the board that this is a vares we'll be bringing it down to two one for the F all speak at once all right I'll jump in um I think it's actually pretty modest what you're looking to do um I can see the issues as far as the floor area ratio we know but the fact that you have an undersiz by width lot and also a gross area aren't you we're 500 sare feet under I mean I mean one of the nice thing that you pointed out Tim that that I saw as well is when you brought the perpendicular Gable back in that does take that potential massing if you on the left side produces that so makes it more palatable yeah I would I would agree I think the um you know my biggest issue was really with the floor area ratio but the fact that you are um under size does present a hardship um so I think I could probably live with it so from the math point of view um you know if you were a a proper 6,000 square feet you'd be about 160 square feet over which is not by any means outrageous in the r six uh Zone but being 5,500 s f feet obviously asrat that problem um I think the lot can take the massing um the way you've done it um I don't think the massing is out of control where um you know you're just maxing it all out um even though it is a significant deviation the way it's being presented I think it's in a way that uh not going to be detrimental to the the neighborhood or or certainly the master plan in this case so um I would be in favor of it I Echo all the comments that my colleagues have made and U I think it looks like a modest ask and I would be supportive the application do I have a motion on the D variant make a motion to approve second I can second josephi yes sh yes we haven't heard this before right this is Amy Lawrence yeah reg TR it yes Priscilla s yes yes yes next up we have the sidey set back the additional sidey yard setb along with the combined side yard setb um that go along with this um any thoughts on that or just sort of part of the package pretty much same yeah I I agree with everything I WR by today it's a challenging project the restrictions of the width there so then do I have a motion on the remaining variances thank you and a second I can second Joseph Coffield yes Sean yes Andy Lawrence yes Regina TR yes yes yes yes good luck with the project thank you thank you so much next up we have calendar 39 2523 11 Mount arod Road applicant is Lucky Express us LLC good evening Mr good evening is sorry start so um I believe that this application was originally present on October 16th that sounds yes right well U I don't know about presented it was there was no test there was no testimony testimony there was we had some questions about the garage but but the started according to my notes in October and then was carried to December 4th and then for the carry to right Cor to the state I'm just asking in terms of Eligibility to make sure that we have the right board merser umre Joseph Jess and here was you weren [Music] even when was it October 16 last year yeah I was out of the country yeah so that makes it interesting um you know obviously with the G variant you clean sweep Amy is not eligible correct it's the only discussion about the garage was the size and the size has changed yeah I mean I'm just telling you that there was testimony that was presented I guess what you could do is you could um basically say that you're starting over with the case from from minute one and then it is it is a start over it is a start over I would okay T to agree with that I you're not you didn't as far as I'm concerned yes testimony was presented all variances have been diminished each one has been diminished so it's really different just so the applicant knows and the board knows that if we're going to proceed that way then there's no Reliance on any prior testimony that was presented on October 16th is that acceptable that's acceptable okay so you will make Priscilla now eligible yes okay and eligible okay comfortable with that just we're on the same thank you thank you Mr chairman members of the board my name is Anthony sorillo I'm with the law offices of Lev and sorillo in Milburn on behalf of Lucky Express USA LLC the subject property is located at 11 Mount Ararat Road in Short Hills and it's in the r six zoning District our clients intend to renovate the property for their their family which consists of themselves husband and wife their children and their parents the property is unique in my opinion uh in that it abuts two commercial properties on Morris Turnpike the property abuts its side yard lat line with lat 17 which fronts on 752 moris Turnpike and the property AB buts its rear lot line with lot 20 which fronts on 720 Morris Turnpike we can see that based on the tax map page that's within the application we come here seeking variance relief we have a floor area ratio D variance and four C variances as noted in the zoning officer's denial letter however the plans were revised to diminish the deviation of each requested variance the application was amended with an updated attachment e which is the summary of the requested variances so that's stated uh January 5th 202 correct correct our proofs of service and publication were submitted in September of 2023 I have two professional Witnesses Mr chairman if I may I would like to call my first witness feel free Mr Po woo right from Tes tonight proceeding to retreat all yes just state your name in uh name is Paul p w thank um Mr can you tell the board your academic and professional qualifications in the field of architecture yes so I got a master degree uh in Ria po Tech Institute back in 2004 and I've been practicing and got my license in 2010 and my license is in good standing and I be presenting for a board in in number of board before this board Mr chairman I qualifications are accept thank you um please start with your proposed s plan yeah sure so I prepare a color side plan for better vision for the board right here that'll be new exhibit that has not been presented to the board label it as so on this color on this color um side plan the um the yellow area is what we proposing for the building coverage so we we um let's start from the front to back front we are adding the um a cover portical area um the reason of this portical area is important and our planner going to explain going to explain that later why this partical area is important for the whole uh development of the building um on the rear we are adding 460 square feet at the rear there a building carbage and the um we're adding the garage the garage inside Dimension is 20 feet by 10 feet I 10 ft wide by 20 foot deep so if a common day they uh normal household like most of household uh car will in there and also another reason for the garage is because the current Garage on here and as you can see there's a driveway coming down here it's really not practical to have a garage loc at the back that's why we decide to put a garage at the um a detach garage so it's easy for the uh car to access uh from the street to the house um and the can I interrupt you for a second yeah sure I think you said according to this plan it says I'm looking at your A2 of your plan yeah it says the garage is is 10 by 15 is that accurate No that's the o o o That's o plan a new plan is 10 by 20 inside okay goad I'm sorry yeah and the the green area is quite a CR um that used to be a paper and CR to be a long area so that's the that's a plus and then the um and here I show the elevation of the garage FR uh also I want to emphasize uh the front yard set back is almost to the middle of the house it's like right here right about here um and as for the material of the garage is like um fiber grass door um vinyl sighing and as fion goes so nothing to nothing crazy um I also prepare I also prepare um this this PR what we submit for the for the board and other this plan is what we submit for the board I pr additional three plan going to present tonight basically I just want to compare existing four plan and the propos for plan for you to better understanding the reason of this expansion so I prepare another three additional sheets for tonight are in the pack correct no no it's not new okay it's on new I just put so I'm sorry so I'm looking at your revision date of January 2nd 2024 yeah which contains four sheets yes right what is this now sheet five through what sheet five that's additional sheet just showing the existing for plan compared to what we proposed okay so why don't we Mark as she five we'll mark it a26 with A3 yeah that's another will be A5 or A4 so so A2 is going to be new sheet five A3 is new sheet six yeah and then A4 is going to be new sheet seven yes so why you explain to the board for each new sheet A2 through A4 what yeah a A2 is showing the existing basement plan with the proposed basement plan and A3 is existing first for plan with the proposed first four plan and A4 is existing second FL plan and propose second FL plan how deep is this house now existing I can't find that inside to inside probably like 27 dep talking about and you're going and you're going to what another 20 20 feet and heal 20 and health feet out another 20 fet out yeah so you're 47 feet 47t dep dep okay yeah thank yeah what about what's proposed Now show us what's proposed yeah sure um so this PR show existing basement against the proposed basement plan on the right hand side is a basement PL like I was like what I said before the there's a garage at the back no at the at the right hand side but entry is at the back so it's almost impossible to use this garage just in and out of daily use and we have a narrow driveway down here you remember the side plan and the propose the propose the basement is moving the garage to the to the toward the rear yard three feet from the side three feet from the rear and excessive from the street like one straight shot driveway coming from the street M andl and the um and this area is 460 square propos at the at the back and we are turning the existing garage into the um into the uh a baron Suite um that bom going to be for the um for the parents uh so they don't need to go up and down the staircase and just stay over there and the other area is entertainment area there's a PR room what I call it bar is just there's a way bar area but basically just another PR room and the uh this area the stay well and and the um and the uh mechanical space right here I have a question yeah sure what are the dimensions of the Shaded area you have at the back basement yeah it's around 23 236 deep and around 22 ft wide outside to outside so come up 460 Square ft okay move on to move on to A3 A3 shows the existing first four against the proposed first four again the shady area is what we propose for additional area and the um the first four the first four has one bedrooms and also the of kitchen Living Kitchen dining room and and the and the living room and small sun room of the uh of the kitchen so what we propose on the first floor is um we keep we pretty much the same same configuration and also the same size also similar size kitchen stay at the same size um was similar and we turn the dining room into a study area and living room stay at the same size what we adding is a bigger dining room for the for the family gathering and also the we family at the back uh for the um for the very first hearing our proposed area is to here and we reduce to another five Fe so we reduce the um we reduce the area by almost almost like 110 square ft move on move on to the second Flor again as is in second floor let's propose second floor there's a two pair on the second floor with one share bath and we we proposed four bedroom second floor one two 3 four and three and and three bathroom one is a master the other is um one is the sh base the other is another over here and we put the laundry room on the second floor [Music] um let me see um again so original there is a three bear house we are proposing a five House Point to elevations [Applause] so this is elevation we are proposing um you can see the reason for that front cover pach area is give a sense of scale of the building also um give some character to the building also make a building don't look too tall uh that's why this front P area is important for for the overall design and so for the design of the building I try to bring the modern touch into the um contemporary into the tradition form of the house so I introduce the very Shadow roof line uh large Windows uh a symmetry from door and site configurations and try to put the mod material into the building um and also the um also the um that's the left hand side of the building [Music] and and that's the rear of the building and that's another side of the building uh uh please be noted the driveway and show you the driveway come down from here on street level all the way down to the uh the card area and that's where we propose garage is um Mr yes are all of the uh proposed improvements going to be new materials yes it's going to be new P yes is it's a total renovation of the house yes yes um new looping new setting new windows new uh window Tri new trims um everything going to be new okay yeah any questions from the board um so it looks like to me when it's fin is going to be a five bedroomroom five bath house yes and what is it currently currently three bedrooms and two bathroom okay yeah thank you so looking at this thing um I can't help but notice its lack of shall we say character or creativity and how you designed it it looks like a box why didn't you apply a little more architectural style to this thing I mean from the front from the sides it just looks like a cruise ship [Applause] um I I guess just the I guess just the nature of the for plan we have come up with um we try to keep the WID of the existing building just adding to the back so adding The Depths to the building instead making wider and also the um if you think about it um if you I apply to um different material to the building going to look different instead of understand your point is boring by no sightings exposion goals um and all that but also need to consider budget reason but you know 47t um I don't know answer for that did study um by didn't know I don't I have no answer for that any other questions the just the front yard setback are any of the other houses in the neighborhood this close as you proposed to the street double it is you mean closest to the street the front yard set back seing that you're asking for or any of the other hous close to the street I really I I don't know I don't know what the other what the neighborhood situated um okay you don't know it's okay I I thank you I don't know yeah um if there's other questions from the board uh any questions from the audience in South please come forward have a question sure please come forward you have to state name and address I'm Andrew Pearl and p e a r l and 10 Mount arat roads on directly across the street there's fairly significant flooding when it rains because we've got a very long steep driveway and there's very little drainage so I don't know if that's you know part of you know the scope of this hearing but that would certainly be what's your question for the my question is is there anything um in plans to remediate the regular flooding when R is that something you're prepared to answer um we're going to have the engineer working on this project but apparently to address your concern show you the the gray kind of stuff on here and going down in this area I think that's the area we're going to have collect the water area so the water going to flow into this area and then we can do a drainage in this area to kind of mediate that concern uh that's just a concept I'm preparing but in ter of exactly you haven't taken a look at that from design no I didn't I didn't I just I just know you're going to have some trage in that area for sure you have any other testimon regarding that okay all right any other questions yeah I have another question and as regard to the front of the house are there any plans for uh changing the current Landscaping there's kind of an unusual uh level from the street and then there's a three or four foot Terrace and then going toward the house so it's kind of an unusual situation so I was wondering if that's part of the plans as well I you can direct towards the architect if he's qualified to answer that do you have any acknowledge um yes we want to original PR is to keep that in place so we are try to do a minimum modification for the front as in the area the gentleman is talking about is in this area right here although is not showing on the side plan but this area right here and and he say there's um s retaining wall I think like 2 feet high along the front and kind of drop drop in this area um intentionally we are not purposing any changes to the landscape of the of the of the fr we're not poting any changes yeah anything else yeah just one last question uh so there's a brick wall that runs along the length of the uh driveway toward the street and it kind of Curves right at the very end and it's been cracked for many years so it's just there's like a big ugly piece of Breck that's just sitting kind of dislodged in the road I was wondering if there's a plan to remediate that recurring problem do you know what he's referring to yeah it's a yeah I think it's on the side over here right it's right by the driveway it's it's the driveway oh it's right here yeah right where it reaches the street there's a curve to that wall and a big chunk of the wall is is broken and just kind of hanging there for yeah that's um that's part of our property so we need to mitigate that for sure yeah it'll be time for comment to once we're finished with all the testimony if you have any comments You' like to make any other questions for this uh professional I don't think so 10 across the street I call Bridget Bogart lot of Stu T proceeding be the truth whole truth known by the truth I do your name for the reford bogart BT brid can you tell the board the your qualifications as a professional planer sure I have a um Bachelor's in environmental design and architecture from North Carolina State University I have a masters in city and Regional planning from the University of pen pania I've been named licensed professional planner in state New Jersey since 2001 um I started my own firm in 2012 I've been before this board a number of times but not within the last couple years probably since Co thanks qualifications are accepted please proceed thank you thank you Mr chairman uh so as part of my um analysis of this project I started from the very beginning looked at the um proposed AR arure the master plan for the township uh the zoning ordinance I reviewed the area the neighborhood I looked at the zoning map and the regulations and looked at the variants that were requested and are now requested I advised uh the applicant and the client design team on revisions that may be necessary to appease some of the comments that were made back in October when uh we first went before the board uh first and foremost what I want to note is that we have a fully conforming law with regard to lot area lot width and lot depth but what most important from a planning perspective is how this lot fits into the surrounding area the zoning ordinance and the surrounding uh development pattern and the street itself I uh have an exhibit that has not been submitted or marked yet if I may we're up to A5 just pass down and just real quickly while you're handing them out just describe what we're looking at here sure uh it is uh twofold on the top of the exhibit there are number of photographs of the site itself and on the bottom of the exhibit uh is the surrounding development analysis which uh all the way to the left includes the uh existing zoning map and then photographs of the site and the surrounding area uh it was prepared on October 5th and the photographs were taken by myself uh probably in mid-september so um is everyone have one okay uh so starting on the photograph all the way to the top row all the way to the left that is when you're looking at the house that's the left uh side yard and that is going to remain intact The Proposal then moving to the next photograph you'll see um the D way that's currently existing and actually uh as the neighbor had mentioned you'll see the exactly what he's talking about about that brick portion of the wall coming off and as you heard from our architect we're willing to remediate and fix that situation what I wanted to know from a planning perspective is you'll see that we have a driveway that is I believe over 100 feet long that can accommodate a number of vehicles and I think this is important because we're looking for f variance and one of the important things we have to um address is how the site accommodates the additional floor area for this proposal and you'll see here that we can more than accommodate the cars that are associated with um the proposed development I'll get into that with my testimony the next photograph As you move to the right it's going down the driveway and it looks at exactly where the proposed garage is and you'll see the fence uh along the driveway that is the fence that is a buffer between the commercial uses uh immediately adjacent to it and the buffer all the way uh to the rear and the commercial uses to the rear of the property the last photograph shows is basically you around that corner and you'll see the back portion of the property and there's a number of um items there that need to be stored and so we feel that the provision of a garage really helps this property by providing an indoor storage facility and an indoor um area to accommodate a vehicle so these are all the existing conditions on the bottom row you'll see the zoning map and I probably should have outlined the property itself but you look um all the way to the bottom the B2 District that runs along the commercial Corridor and then you'll see our out road right in the middle of that zoning map in the peach area and the property is immediately adjacent and surrounded on two sides by the B2 Zone and you can see that in the photographs uh as we move forward all the so before you go on with the photographs looking at the zoning map on the bottom left of A5 yes um so what's it's not marked but what's in Peach is the r six zone is that accurate that's correct I cut it off I apologize yeah no worries so if the peach is R six so um the subject property is I mean I see Mount Ararat uh Road where where can you just describe for the board where precisely the property is located like should Mark I apologize uh as you headed up our road it is to the right and it's the first property as you had up there in the r six Zone and it's the first property that is surrounded surrounded by both commercial parking lots so as you head up the road let's see if you look in so two sides is it true that two sides of the lot are bordered by the B2 Zone correct and parking lots and dumpsters and the rear end of retail um commercial uses uh so if you look you can probably see a little bit better uh to the photograph uh to the right this is headed back down looking uh towards the B2 District you'll see the Wendy's building and an office building and this head back down to the highway and I took this Photograph basically in the driveway of the separate property so immediately adjacent to the commercial uses and right under that you'll see this is the driveway that broken wall that the um neighbor has spoken about and you can see the commercial properties behind and the dumpsters and it's also Illustrated um in the adjacent photograph to the right of that there are a couple trees but when I was there I was there three times and all three times there were um garbage trucks taking out the dumpsters and it's there's not there's a lack of buffer there and our property really acts as the buffer between the commercial area and AR Road and the Comm the residential area there's also a lack of parking on our road because it's smaller in nature um and as you can see in the photograph all the way to the bottom people park on the um yards and there's really no able there's really no way to park on the street itself so the benefit to our site is that we have that elongated driveway to accommodate all on-site parking as you go along um I know there were a couple questions about the sizes of the homes and the depth of the homes on that street um on get my directions wrong and I apologize I believe that's the west side of across the street from um our our subject site there are a number of larger homes that have the depth equal to or more than that um than we are proposing and you could see that in the photographs um one immediately adjacent the yellow house across the street these are two homes across the street uh all the way to the bottom right of the exhibit there's smaller homes on our side of the proper uh our side of the street but as you can see from the photographs of the surrounding area this street itself is not um not um is uh characteristic of larger homes and very similar to what we are proposing so I think what's important to know from a planning perspective is not only that site can accommodate the parking on um onsite uh to address our proposal but also that it is in keeping with the design of the residential street itself and that we are surrounded on two sides by commercial properties and what we're looking to do here is not one clean up the property itself provide for indoor storage for all the uh the issues that are outside the property currently and also uh improve the buffer in that back area as you heard from our AR architect and you can see from our photographs to basically on the top the third photograph in in the middle um we're looking to remove a lot of that asalt and replace it with green area and improve the landscape in that back area qu you keep referring to this store the stuff in the garage there's an existing Garage on site correct correct so why is the stuff in it it's full and it needs to be cleaned out and what the architect uh indicated is what we're looking to do is move that garage Out Create a more modern floor floor plan for the house itself and create a nice modern garage 10 x 20 to accommodate the vehicle and the storage okay because the C garage is bigger than one you're proposing correct but it's it's full and what's what I mean that's I'm not really sure how what that pertains to that it's full do I don't even so how's that how's that pertain to this hearing it's uncamp is what you're saying I mean I don't I don't the property is I mean from my perspective it is kept right now okay so I'm I guess going by this what makes us think that it's not just going to fill up the other one and we're looking at the same thing the same owners correct um The Hope from my understanding from my client is that they're looking to accommodate their family in a modern situation to accommodate their parents create a brand new home and basically modernize the house and clean it up and get rid of all this and obviously it's it's a maintenance issue and I'm just not really sure okay I'm not really sure what changes other than the fact that you build something new then all of a sudden you become neat I would assume so I'll go I'll go with what you're saying I just it just isn't if I'm spending my money swear that but I understand what you're saying but if I'm spending my money in a brand new home I would want to make sure it's neat and C I'm not sure a door in the backyard is how you would live normally but continue please just a question here the sheet that you circulated the bottom most the two on the right you said those are pictures of homes across across the street yes and is would you know by chance I mean what is the dep is that 47 ft or close or is that more do you know I did not do those me uh Dimensions but they look like they're from what I can see from areial they look almost twice as large as what currently exists on our property and that picture is essentially from the subject properties side um it is on the same side of the street a little bit further down yes so the the bottom right picture The Brick House the yellow house and White House those are the three houses to the left of the subject property correct okay and are they where is the subject house front setback in relation to it's very similar there's one house on that side of the property that has a portical that similar to what we are proposing since you took obviously significant number of pictures here at this neighborhood tell me which house would be 47 feet deep uh like I said I did not do dimensional analysis but uh on the other side of the prop uh other side of the street there are a number that are larger got it if necessary and the board wants that information i' be more than willing to provide that just around the photos the right side the middle row okay two photos from the right are those across the street from RFP yes and again just under the two under that are on our side um the one under that all the way to the right is on the subject side right the one next to it to the left is on across the street so across the street there there are larger homes and most of the homes do not have the driveway length that we have to accommodate the additional um parking um so as you heard Sor so on A5 the photo that's on the top left hand corner it shows the left side of your house and then it shows to the left another house with a chimney you see that yes is it's a photo was probably taken from your car yes you can see my card you can see the right yes so is there another photograph that shows that house to the left uh not in this exhibit but I do have one I believe it is it's hard to the end of the the that dwelling is if you look at this middle row second one in from the right you could see the end of that dwelling where the white car is parked yes so to the right of the white car I almost 100% positive that's confusing because it can't be because I'm looking at a window in front of the you're right on the left and there's no window and chimney on you are correct I apologize when I was putting together these this exhibit it would seemed so obvious to me that this property was in keeping with the uh the streetcape and in keeping the neighborhood and because it was um surrounded by commercial I felt like this was an appropriate uh proposal and maybe I should have done a little more um for the presentation with regard to where the photographs are taken and to illustrate exactly what the commercial properties are surrounding and as I mentioned to if the Board needs to see that I'm more than willing to provide that because I think from a planning perspective this application really makes sense for this site on this street question about um the front yard again I'm sorry to hammering on this what is the depth of this Portico the new Portico on the first floor that is proposed uh five five feet a little less than five feet 5 yeah so it's uh currently our existing and how wide 8et 8 feet wide okay and that is and then the existing front wall is going to remain the same correct the the variance that we need is just for this little section here for the p is up the first FL yes okay thank any other questions from the board any further testimony I have lots of testim oh good I'm sorry I'd love to talk about planning um so we're looking to add the Portico the garage and the additional family room to the back what is important to note is that the architect really looked to the family and their needs as a family a growing family need to accommodate senior housing their family um I'm working on a number of applications that are looking to basically bring In-laws in grandparents in to accommodate Elders that no longer can live by themselves but don't want to be an assisted living or 55 and older and what I'm seeing from a planning perspective is that homes extended families homes are getting larger because of extended families accommodating the Mother-in-law Suite the father-in-law suite and that's exactly what they're doing here is opening up creating a bigger dining room for the family creating a bigger playroom family area just to accommodate the extended family for the um Elders uh they're looking to provide for a special area in the basement for their bathroom there's private uh living area but also to have them in the house you know itself to um to provide for a uh consistent Consolidated family environment um the rooms are not excessively large when I first looked at this I said an F for what we're proposing seems very excessive so when I first met with the architect and my client I said can you just lay out the the furniture and because I want to see from a plan perspective how these rooms lay out and why are they the size they are as you can see from the furniture that's laid out the family really only accommodates a very small couch and two chairs uh the dining room is a little bit larger but it's going to accommodate the in-laws the existing family they have three children the mother and father and there's Moder Moder excuse me modernizing the kitchen itself there is an existing bedroom in the front that's going to be removed to open up that area you're going to have a living room in the front um and and that's basically it playroom for the kids in the basement and then adding a master bedroom uh in the front uh in the back so it's going the Upper Floor is going to be for the parents and their three children so from that perspective I think when you see the layout and can understand the family that's going to live there I think it's an appropriate floor plan appropriate floor area I'd like to understand one things so this photo this is A5 right yes so this photo here in the top right so this has a door opening out onto the driveway right yes and that's the same door that's in your proposed basement plan that is at the playroom that door that existing door is going to be removed so is this a door here in the playroom or or is this the playroom is going to be an addition there's a door the existing house that door probably okay but there's a new door then yes okay and it's going to come out to the side so that's going to be the area where we're moving some of the driveway to provide some additional green area got it but there's a door to this new playroom right a door outside so from the new playroom door is going to go out to the garage or to the driveway I'm sorry the driveway and then the rest of is going to turn into GRE entally the whole Bas basement is like a separate apartment it's going to accommodate the uh in-law suite and then the playroom for the children got it there's no kitchen in the basement is there yeah there's no kitchen there's no um it's not a separate like a two family okay so um as I mentioned the rooms are not accessibly large really the architect is looking just to modernize the floor plan accommodate an extended family um create a uh the detached garage to accommodate a car the driveway itself is 80 ft long to accommodate at least four cars and we comply with rsis standards so for all those reasons I think that um we meet the standard for A4 floor area variance because what we have to prove is that the site accommodates the additional floor area um and from all those perspectives I believe we do we're creating additional Greenery in the rear we accommodate the parking Etc we comply with Building height The sidey Yards the uh lot area lot width lot depth um so in this instance really this board's job is to look at the physical features of the site itself where it's located how it affects the surrounding area how it disect the street the configuration of the site and the configuration of the The Proposal given the fact that the additions towards the rear towards the B2 District it really has no impact on the residential street itself the the Portico is the really the only thing that's going to be an addition that we need the variance for and from my perspective not only does it provide for um shelter and cover where you're trying to bring in your groceries from a family perspective but also architectural aesthetic features um from the streetcape perspective adding a public benefit so with that regard I believe that this site can accommodate this permitted use with regard to parking setbacks removing of the pavement in the rear yard and providing the additional green space in the rear so for all those reason I think that the number of C variances that we need actually can I hand this out I have another exhibit if you don't mind uh it's it's really it's a zoning chart that was submitted this is going to be 86 it was it's the zoning chart that was submitted with the architectural drawings um but when I saw the zoning chart that was submitted and it's the township chart as a planner who's been doing this for 20s something years I was a little confused and taken back because there's so much information on it so I simplified the chart it's the exact chart that was submitted but it just shows all the regulations that appli to this proposal the r six requirements the existing conditions and the proposed conditions and in yellow it identifies the variances that we are seeking so starting from the top as I mentioned we comply with lot area lot width and lot depth the first variance that we were required that is required from our proposal is the front yard setback and as I mentioned that is where the cortico itself we comply with the sidey yard requirements the side yard setback for building of 32 feet in height we comply with a combined side yard requirement we do not comply this the second SE IR is for the rear yard unoccupied and that is for the new garage and as I mentioned to you that yes we're providing the new garage because we're taking the garage out of that existing area to accommodate the playroom and additional floor area in the basement and providing a more modern Garage in the rear and that garage is going to bake basically act as a buffer to the B2 district and provide family for a more appropriate garage as you heard from an architect the exist garage is very hard to get into because it's tucked under the house so that's why we need the second rear yard unoccupied Varian the last three variances well one is for the floor area ratio which I discussed and then the the other two are for building and lock coverage building coverage we are over by 380 square feet BL coverage we're over by 272 Square fet from me from my perspective from a planning perspective I think these are dimin dominous variances based upon the site and lot layout and as I mentioned I when I met with the architect and my client I felt let's explain and understand how this floor area the floor design works and I think that these rooms are not excessively large and I think are appropriate for to accommodate um my client's proposal and accommodate the extended family accommodate the senior living and really create a very nice modern design for the proposal so as you can see while from a strictly zoning perspective we do need a number of variances I don't think that it's really excessive when you take into account the road itself the design itself the client what is trying to be accomplished and the surrounding development pattern so as I mentioned in addition to the floor variant we need a number of C variances out as outlined in that zoning schedule um they can be accommodated I believe under the C1 because we're really working on with a specific piece of property that lawfully exists and we're working with a existing dwelling that lawfully exists and we're just trying to accommodate accommodate modern modernization of that floor area and accommodate this family that owns this property what I'd like to do is walk through the C2 criteria for you where we have to talk about how we further the purposes of Municipal land law look at the local master plan which I think is the most important show that the benefits of granting the variances outweigh any detriments and then at last address the negative criteria so first and foremost I want to go through um the uh purposes of the municipal land use law that I think you further and there are three of them I believe purpose a to encourage Municipal action to guide appropriate use use of all lands that promote the general welfare public and safety and mor uh welfare and morals of the general public I believe that the pro proposed development of this site for permitted use benefits the street itself because it's in keeping with the surround development pattern I I think from you can see from the photographs that the scale of the proposal really is in keeping with the streetcap itself and the neighborhood as a whole uh purpose G to provide sufficient space and appropriate locations for a variety of uses and as I mentioned this is a permitted use so I think this is a appropriate location for this use and uh this house uh I don't believe that is appropriate for commercial even though it butts and surrounded by commercial development it acts as a buffer so unfortunately it's a detriment to my client's property but the way that it's design really acts as a buffer for the rest the remainder of the neighborhood and then purpose I to promote desable visual environment through creative development techniques I think the architectural improvements are aesthetic Improvement to the neighborhood but also a functional Improvement to the site as you heard we're moving the garage so that you could actually access the garage and we're really uh creating and improving the floor plan and the protocal itself actually adds aesthetic improvements to the from the property so getting into the local master plan which I think is very important uh in 2018 the planning board recognized the single family character of all the districts e R4 or sorry R3 to R six and really wants to preserve that character and wants to avoid development that is at of sync with that underlying Zone in that neighborhood character and I think it's important again to evaluate uh the character of what we're proposing to what exists on that street and that's why I mentioned if the board really feels it's necessary to get the additional information on the size of the homes on that street more than willing to provide because I feel after being out there a number of times that what we are proposing is in character with that street the master plan 2018 talks about evaluating the existing land use regulations and existing homes to determine whether they're compatible with each other and I didn't see anything and I might be missing but I went through your zoning ordinances and other master plan documents we don't see anything where there was any evaluation completed or any read uh resoning or zoning amendments to accommodate that uh goal so all that being said the second portion of the uh the positive criteria is that we have to prove that there's benefits to our application believe there's a number of benefits one as I mentioned adding Greenery removing the driveway in the rear improving the garage situation providing the detached garage providing the Portico for architectural benefits and also the benefit to the resident uh and I believe those outweigh any detriments associated with this application I don't believe there's any detriments it's Improvement and Redevelopment of the site that's currently in need of Redevelopment so for all those reasons I can want to address the negative criteria and that's two prong as this board knows one we have to prove that there's no substantial detriment to the public good and as I mentioned to you throughout my testimony it fits into the neighborhood the new dwelling would act as a buffer for the remaining street because it really backs up to the two commercial districts and you see um it's one of three lots that do that on that side of the street um and there's sufficient space on the site to provide for parking on site so we're not going to impact the street itself which I think is a substantial benefit because when I was there it was very difficult to park on that street and as you can see one of my photographs a lot of people Park um on the grass itself or in their front yard and we're not going to have that situation in our application um and the second portion of the uh second prong of the negative criteria is that we have to prove that there's no substantial impairment to the Zone plan or zoning ordinance and for all reasons that I stated in the goal that I stated from 2018 I don't believe there's any substantial impairment to your Zone plan and one of the most important factors for this board to consider when looking at C Varian is is the surrounding neighborhood including the size and configuration of lots in the area dwellings in the area um and how the uh the development existing development impacts our property as well as the proposed development impacts the adjacent properties so for all those reasons I believe that this board has a right to Grant the D4 variance as well as the 4 C variances that we are requesting thank you uh any questions regards this retaining ww that I see in the upper right hand and that I guess this is the house that we're discussing correctly yes that is the return will that remain uh I believe so yes right yes that's going to remain in that's in good shape yes and do you need to do any like regrading of the backyard to accommodate the addition I believe so we have not gotten to that point I guess from my client's perspective we were looking to get this approved and then move forward because obviously we have to accommodate any drainage considerations from your engineering department but we you want to go through that exercise and so and how far off the property line in the back will you be to the back of the property so the proposed garage is 3 feet off the property line which complies okay uh the proposed house is 25 ft which also complies just the drainage considerations because you were asking understood the uh let me make sure sure uh rear yeah we we compli so the rear setback requirement you can see in my zoning chart is 20% of the uh lot depth so it's 20 feet and we we comply with that so we comp comply with the garage setback as well as the house setback and what's important to not is this green area is the area of the driveway that we're removing so we're actually creating more impervious coverage area in the back D this is all as at this point so so less correct correct yeah okay thank you two clarifying questions I think you mentioned that it's three feet away from the back of the property line I think on the right also was three ft on the right and it's both compant yes and I think you answered my second question is on the lot coverage 51.5% existing goes down to 49.5% we're reducing it because of this green area correct yes we still need a variance but we are reducing the existing lot coverage which is a benefit to application when you went through uh the criteria for de uh you mentioned parking um that we're creating a garage going take cars off the street can you actually turn a car around in that driveway uh yes about 2 2 ft deep on the tourament par right here yeah yeah you you could turn it around there corre yeah care you don't want to escalate back there no no um and how many people are going to be living there it's my clients with the parents three kids and their parents so how many seven so you I know you mentioned turning around and getting out of the site if you look at my photographs most of those houses on that street have parking in their front yard and don't have a turnaround and they have to back out probably 90% of those homes the ones that you talking about are those garages in the front of the home or they in back like propos um most some of them don't have garages I don't um but most of them are in the front of the home I'm only suggesting it's not a typical of that neighborhood in that street you P the tax records for the street in terms of the housing number of bedrooms in these homes number of bedrooms I don't believe are on the tax records they are they're on the chart I I I could pull that no that's right if you didn't I did not do that okay not going further the question I'll pick you back though along those lines did you take a look at um f calculations for other Lots in the r six Zone that similarly AB properties in the B2 Zone I did not look at that it's from my perspective um every variance stands on its own I probably I obviously I can do that that's not a problem as I said as I mentioned I think from a planning perspective what we're proposing really is appropriate for this street especially in this site and if this board wants more information on with regard to the dwelling depth and the number of bedrooms and the F I'm more than willing to provide that yeah I only raised that specific question because you know one of your proofs was that it abuts you know the commercial Zone and that's why it's appropriate and you referencing your photos as thank you any other questions from the board sorry go ahead go ahead if we did like that information are you prepared to hold up your application address it to you if you're the one that's open that's up up to my client my client's attorney I I'm more than one to do it but it's obviously my client I mean normally we are presed that information okay you know for the entire neighborhood to see just what you know what the need you're saying that based on your findings that this is an appropriate application but we don't know that we don't know you want the data I understand I'll let that for Council when he gets back up okay you know just kind of further that you're 499 square feet from doubling the size the house okay at at now whatever 2900 15 or whatever it is it'd be nice to know how many other houses on the street are close to 3,000 square ft um any other questions go ahead I had a I mean along those lines I mean they're going up from you know the the requirement is up to 36% which is 2160 going up to 2915 it's an addition of extra of 755 Square 35 yes was there any thought given to mitigate that as you know maybe an appropriate question for the architect but you know just generally was there any thought given to moderate that increase when we were here in October it was larger and obviously you don't have to compare what we presented in October uh to what we presented today um but we reduced um the proposal and the addition significantly um I don't know if I have that Dimension here um but we pulled back the the re addition okay so the um doted line on V2 shows the previous plan that we had originally done and we pulled it back uh by 5 ft in the basement first floor and second across across the entire addition I think it still comes to 35% above correct but as I mentioned to that's why I had asked the architect to put the furniture on the plans just to really look at how how the house itself would function I'm not exactly sure decorating as much a impact on I understand but from my perspective I I need to justify the variance in the floor area and I want to look at you know are you adding additional six seven feet that are not necessary to have the house function questions the board just just briefly and this is I feel is frivilous um so the and I am sensitive to budgetary concerns the architect that says there is no plan to do Greenery but I think you mentioned Greenery so new landscaping or not new Landscaping um well The Greenery in the back I think was just be lawn area I don't believe oh that's the greenery okay but no new Landscaping in the I there's no landscape plan at this point in time okay thank you anything else just one more question there was a Terrace in the in the front what are the dimensions of that me it's not shown on the plans is that is that does PCO I think there was the neighbor had talked about terrce in front and the architect mentioned there was no plans to change that if I got that right was that a Terrace or was that a retaining wall what's that the retaining wall you can see um in the top photograph second one in from the left it's not really a Terrace it's just because the slope drops off significantly and you can see that in the photographs right below that headed down to the B2 District by the Wendy's so like the front yard is terrorist it's sort of the way it's built you give a Pau then you drop down like a couple feet and then you go to the house correct I think that's what to corre I that's I have um any other questions from the board just a point actually since we're looking at this for the first time Rob fact that they reduced that extension by 5 means nothing here right it doesn't mean anything because they're starting a new tonight although that they can say that in the course of deciding about the design of the house they originally had it a certain size and they decided to reduce it yes right right from your perspective this is the first application you're seeing um but just for your consideration we definitely looked at reducing it based upon the ales could beot set any other questions any questions from the audience pleas comments questions right now thank you very much else in that case I to comments from the audience and come forward this point we will have to SAR you in okay these were from testimony about to give from the proceed your name and address for Carl p a r l tan Mount Road sure is okay so um I guess I have uh uh you know I guess three concerns perhaps the first one would be Financial is this house going to I know it's not really your concern but um how is that going to impact the resale of my home uh so I think that a larger nicer house perhaps uh is uh something to my advantage so I'm not here to say that I am totally not uh okay with this house uh this was the first time I saw the plan and I agree that it does have kind of a boxy appearance to it uh which I mean the street has some smaller houses and some larger houses on it uh does it fit in with the aesthetic I think you all are probably more qualified to render that decision uh than I am um Mount aat is a private road uh which uh you guys are probably very familiar with it uh represents some interesting uh issues that we have to deal with one is that we can park on the road overnight without uh being ticketed um so um and there's a a lot of that on our street uh the other thing is about three or four years ago we pulled our resources and had the street repaved and so I'm concerned about a large construction uh project with large vehicles coming over our road and what kind of responsibility would they have under those circumstances if there was any uh wear and tear as a result of that situation it was a a pretty big ordeal for us to get organized to be able to uh is Association uh an very no not like a formal one kind of tried to come up with an informal one but there's been quite a bit of change over and so no do you know I'm sorry I'm trting you sure is the road owned by any particular property owner I think it's a private road I think it's shared as far as I understand what was that it's typically the way you know typically shared by property right I mean I'm just curious whether it has its own individual law I think we all own a portion of it I think is kind of how it plays out but I I don't that's not depicted on the tax not which means what if it's not depicted on the tax map that means that it's doesn't have its own individual Lot number for identification which would mean that it's probably part of the adjacent plots that form that neighborhood so I the street that's still that's what I understood yeah so um so it's kind of hard to explain on the the middle picture when you're looking down the driveway you can see a large pine tree to the right and extending down uh there are six large uh pine trees which I planted when the uh bagels for you ripped up some large trees which had created a barrier so there were these large uh dumpsters that my living room was just staring down at and it was very unfortunate so I planted these with through the permission of the the mall I planted these which have taken very nicely uh uh we we've been using that we used uh my neighbor to the right sometimes uses that area to park uh their cars in uh just to not have it obscure the road um uh but um the neighbors have been using it as well and at one point they were so I guess where am I going with this um I'm concerned about that whole idea of of parking if there's a family of seven people and I don't know how many drivers there are going to be uh one long uh driveway how are they going to manage those cars and are those cars going to be all over the street um I don't think that the owners of um uh of the house have been particularly forthcoming with you guys in terms of the current use of the house so the um the construction company is living in the house and they have been living in the house for quite some time uh the owner came to me several months after they purchased the house with bearing gifts saying that somebody tried to squat in the house which I seemed kind of ridiculous to me uh and that because of that they were going to have some of their employes employes of their lucky Construction Company stay in the house there were days where there were six five or six large construction vehicles parked in the driveway and along the street uh they've been taken to pulling up on the front of their house so there are large mudded ruts like on the front property and they also park in that area that I was referring to before since our first hearing and since they saw all the show up I think they kind of changed their behavior a little bit but I just feel like it's it's there's like bad blood and I don't know if that has any you know we on your your decision I just I just feel like uh they're not the most forthright uh in terms of the things that they're saying and I think that we all need to be very careful and I'm concerned about you know the parking as an extension of of the promises that they're making versus the reality of how they're going to behave so those are I think fairly significant uh concerns did I explain myself well does that make sense no okay so I guess those are my concerns uh you know one I I think that it will improve my house uh the value of my home uh I think that um uh the Aesthetics of the house is uh so so but I think think that a larger modern house will be a good thing for me uh I'm concerned about uh the Landscaping which I expressed uh the the backyard of their house that one door is only a portion of the mess that's back there and there are there are buckets that are hang down that there's a huge puddle that that forms every time it rains there's lots of debris and garbage that was not photographed uh that's back there so it's been an eyesore and uh I just I just feel like and they're misusing the property right now because the family is not living there and they have they have never lived there um construction workers over there and that's not how the house is is on for I believe it's misuse so those are those are concerns thank you very much thank you that so um I think in the board's review and deliberation the of the application that they should uh the board members should not take into consider ation the statements were made that were just made regarding the the use of the home I I believe whether it's truthful or not truthful I'm not judging one one way or another of course is that that's an Enforcement issue a zoning Enforcement issue this board is not here as as a zoning enforcer we're here to review applications for variances Etc um so I'm instructing you not to take that portion of the testimony into consideration your deliberation very wellcome thank you thank you sir anything further Mr no um any other comment from the audience okay then I close the public portion of this application so board members your thoughts just to remind you there's an F variance requires five affirmative votes we take a separate vote through the F variant Mr chairman before anybody comments on it raise the issue raised before with the planner are we going to expect more information well I look this way I would make our comments and um depending on where that heads then um Council can determine whether or not they want to move forward and with a vote or to adjourn for potentially addressing any concern Serv good um so I'll start off by saying I have some major concerns um with this application we've got a conforming lot we've got a huge ask for the floor area ratio I mean the the size of the house that that they're that they're trying to build um I mean not not all properties are capable of you know amend for you know handling you know certain siiz house and I think that this is a perfect example of it I think the massing on this and especially with the way that it's designed is going to be huge and completely out of character for the neighborhood um and and frankly I don't I I like I don't I don't see the hardships that would necessitate um you know you know granting this kind of application so um so I'm really I'm really concerned about it I would Echo the exactly the same thing um we have building coverage that's an enormous deviation along the floor a ratio which is an enormous deviation and to me when you see those two things combined it's not often that you do um that creates a overwhelmingly large structure and that is I think going to be the to the detriment of the master plan uh and the zoning plan in terms of C2 I don't see this as a C1 at all as Jessica mentioned that we have a lot at 60 by 100 um the sort of qu essential R six lot and uh this is a very large home a five-bedroom home in a neighborhood that's primarily one and a half story uh homes and this I think is not in keeping with the the neighborhood and a very very large structure that um I think we just look out of place I'll go next um I completely agree with everything that you've said um I feel like it's um unfortunate I'm sensitive to the fact that the homeowner wants to bring his family in I'm sensitive to the budgetary um concerns but I feel like for this house and this place it's too much of an ask it's this this it will be out of place I would not support this application way it is AG great I also would not support the application way that it is yeah I'll I'll I guess on the positive side um I'm not saying I support the application but on the positive side I I like the idea that they're fixing up the property and that the lot coverage is reduced and we're creating some green space those things I I like and Beyond those things I think my sentiments would Echo what everyone else has said and perhaps in addition to that my concern about you know we've seen other properties come before this board where people are creating spaces for the grandparents and and that is the intention but but thinking about the future of the property what does that space become down the road this this is essentially from the way I see it creating another apartment in the basement level and that's also concern to me not so much for this but what like what how does that run with the house going forward all right I'll go um the fact it's sandwich between not sandwich but like kind of in an island with a couple commercial zones behind it it's tough It's a tough a tough location that being said I don't think the answer to that is to make it really really big to fight that power I would put a whole bunch of buffer zones in and I would do a complet different thing any that being said I not support ofation would you like us to vote sir uh not really no um can I have a moment with your plan yes e spe yeah it's fine what do you want to do uh there's translation going on can we have just a couple more minutes please oh you can't P up what never forg you [Music] Mr chairman we'd like the ability to revise the plan okay what's our schedule like how [Music] much March 18 April April 1 if I if you're going to beion rec change at the end of a year regarding your so um since the two properties to the right of the subject that we the commercial moving on a residential to the left of the property our new ordinance is prevailing front subject which would be the three to the left three to the right come up with an Aver and in this they they don't default 4 Fe any so if you can provide that it actually might L okay um for the audience's purpos this uh this application will be carried to was it you said April 4th April 1pr April 1st I don't vot anybody can take notes deal but also we don't want to lose voting member so uh can you do March orpr 15 You're Gonna Want have some time if you're G plans let's leave it let's leave it at April 1il um carry it at that time yeah I mean we'll give we'll give you an attendance list for trust me um so I see but we're going to lose Mr corfield right but if if Gary gets up to speed which he will okay you're GNA pick him up so you know that's kind of how it goes and and so Derek get too so I'm not too worried about having a number for you so April one if we can get be ready yes uh and if not we could do something for scheduling sure so so at this point uh anyone else make the viewer at home um we um will move this to April 1st no further notice please check your website um and you know go call Town Hall coming for that next year without further notice no further notice right um and with that um any other comments from the audience regarding anything that's was on the agenda this evening thank you sorry if not uh can I have a motion to a second second all those in favor