e e e e e e everyone welcome to the Monroe Township zoning board meeting of April 30th 2024 please stand to salute the flag pledge Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God indivisible with Li and jusice for all in accordance with the open public record meeting act it is hereby announced and shall be entered into the minutes of this meeting that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the following posted on the bulletin board of the office of the Township Clerk posted on the bulletin boards within the municipal complex printed in the home News Tribune and cranberry press on December 29th 2023 posted on the Monroe Township website and sent to those inividual who have personal requested Madame secretary roll call please miss Carrie present Mr Lupo Mr Masters oh here Mr busman here miss katori here Mr Tan Rosie Mr jaffy here Mr Cole here Mr jice chairman LF here okay board members uh minut um I need approval for minutes of the regular meeting held March 26 do I have an approval so move second second all in favor I thank yous okay thank you okay just for those who are here application ba-52 42-23 has been carried to May 28 2024 meeting no additional notice is required it was mentioned at last meeting okay first applicant tonight is ba 5244 d23 s minder core s are you guys here you want me to check in the home please do so sorry for the delay wait till he comes back ah we found them they were loitering in the hallways need to push it at the radio hey guys come on right up front take a front row seat here could sit down relax they're requesting a bulk variance at six elridge Court I'm going to go you're representing yourself correctly individual I'm going to go right to ma since you don't have any yeah who's who's going to be providing testimony tonight out of you guys who's going to be testifying I represent the owners okay so why don't we I'll start with you if I can swear you in if you can raise your right hand you swear any testony going to provide us the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes I if you could state your name spell your last name and give us your address s sing last name is Si i n g h and your your address to El Cod and Township New Jersey and if you could raise your right hand do you swear any testimony going to provide is the truth the whole truth of nothing but the truth you could slide that one over either if they're both going to talk all right if you could state your name spell your last name and give us your address please sure our name is Bashar Harari that's h a l a r i professional engineer from concept engineering manal New Jersey all right and will you also be test F no okay cool perfect okay Ma we're going to jump to you okay so the applicant is Seeking a bulk variance um to locate a 6 foot tall fence in their front yard um our ordinance only permits three foot fences in the front yard and that's the reason they're before the board to ask for variance uh the property is um developed with a single family um it's about um 4.28 Acres um it is in a residential area it's all permitted use the only variance they need is for the fence you have any comments um yeah my review letter is dated January 16 20124 and uh just to touch on a couple of the comments you're agreeable to uh to meet with the Township Public Works to coordinate with a lock on the gate so that they'll be able to get access into the drainage agement sure and that the property line it be located in the field by a licensed professional L uh land surveyor good nothing further Mr chairman you guys have anything you want to say no that's pretty straightforward this uh good do you agree to our professionals comments yes and you'll comply with everything yes um Mr chairman can we just say will you comply with the planner letter also of January 17th okay so you comply with the planner and the engineer correct great um anyone in the public wishes to be heard on this application seeing there's none I make a motion to close the public portion do I have a motion motion second second second all in favor I okay board members you heard off professionals residential home they're looking to put a fence on their property they're here for a an approval do I have a motion I'll make a motion to approve do I have a second second secr M secretary roll call please miss Carrie yes Mr L uh Mr Masters yes Mr busman yes kator yes Mr tany yes Mr jaffy yes chairman L yes you're done thank you thank you you have to wait 30 days of memorialization I'm is that correct for offense resolution for a resolution and then after that you get your permits you can do what you have to do thank you very much you're welcome okay next applicant ba- 522 d22 ravish car kovi just so you guys know whoever is speaking please use the mic so everything's recorded thank you Council you you started this I think in November of like 2022 or something I think for the purposes of this application it probably be best to just start over I'm not sure who was here or not here yeah we're planning okay yep just wanted to make sure we were on the same page perfect thank you FL is all yours evening everyone representing the tonight Council it valuable um we have four Witnesses tonight I have the applicant I have the professional engineer I have an architect and a professional planner I'll be providing testimony hopefully the testimony is short sweet and concise and we can get all the answers that the Board needs to uh make their evaluation um so if could actually first you received the affid of publication and everything we we received your affid of publication and mailing and everything's in order the board does have jurisdiction thank you you got it um so I'd like to start with the homeowner to begin with absolutely if you could raise your right hand sir and speak into the microphone please do you swear any testimony going to provide us the truth all truth and nothing but the truth yes sir if you could state your name spell your last name and give us your address please ranker k k o v i perfect thank you sir and your address 43 kwi Circle mandro New Jersey perfect Robbie you're the owner of that property yes how about how about we shift that mic closer to you and you could shift that one closer to you so we're all we're all live and how long have you owned that property since 2006 and who resides at that property with you uh me my wife uh daughter and son and one mother okay and your mother-in-law res motherinlaw yes okay um and you came in we came in before with the board um cuz we had a project going could you explain what your project entailed what you proposed yeah so I was planning to um can you speak into the microphone please yeah just tilt that down a little bit don't be shy when no one's going to bite you good we need to hear and and it needs to be recorded yeah so I was seeking for the uh extension of my existing house um to accommodate bathroom for my kids cuz it was built 20 years back and then there was no enough room for them to accommodate the bathrooms and also for my age uh parents we wanted to have the uh bedroom on the first floor uh right now all the bedrooms are on the second floor the steps are becoming a challenge for her and also we as a parents are like more than 50 years old now so we are also looking at our future how we can manage staying on the first floor rather than going to the second floor uh so that was the uh intention and and as part of this intended renovation of the property you you also intended to renovate the rear yard area is that correct yeah that's correct so and and what was to Encompass that um renovation yeah it was like INR swimming pool and a pool house adjacent to that um so that was the uh for the physical activity for us um so prior prior coming to the uh valarian we uh we approached the contractor and then asked for the swimming pool and the pool house and then they gave me the um designs and then everything was looking okay so we said okay we'll go ahead and build that and that was constructed and then we got the uh permit for the pool house and then the swimming pool is is about to get the permit approval sorry so based on those plans that you the contractor developed you were all within the the requirements of the Zone correct yes originally uh yes uh there was um uh post construction I think I heard from the uh survey that there was a slight increase in the existing swimming pool and pool house square footage the patio patio section patio section and I didn't know until I actually uh is built and then they did a survey and then they told me that this is what it is that's why we are asking to add that into this variance okay um we if you want to add anything no questions just using it for background you're done with your testimony M take the floor you um Mr Ki just to confirm you had zoning permit approvals for the pool and the pool house also the patio area or you did not yeah it was P okay uh because those designs and details haven't been provided with this plan so um we are assuming that all that was approved and part of the zoning permit thank you um in terms of the um Edition um um our our review of the property is that you're looking to add a new guest bedroom with a bathroom in the bottom in the first story and the second story is just going to have additional square footage for the existing bedrooms you're not increasing the number of bedrooms on the second story is that right right thank you that's it Mr chairman Mark uh at this time out I'll just mention the permits you said you had the permits for the the pool the spa the fire pits uh they're still open they haven't been closed out yet with the construction yes and um I believe there's one also for the outdoor kitchen that's still open yes and uh a heated a heated surface yes um first all part of the same uh permit so we are trying to close that one with the electrician is the last one which is pending so that'll be closed very soon so is the snow melting pad is that has that been installed yet it is laid it's what it's laid already the heating pad is in there that one you don't have a permit for so you have to get the permit issued for that yeah we talked to George I think electrician talked to him and then based on their discussions uh we uh we had laid down but it was not connected it was not being used right so he he asked us to provide some uh further details so we are providing that details now okay all right um at this point you know have nothing nothing more okay anyone from the board have any questions okay we're going to go to the public anyone on in the public wishing to be heard or speak on behalf of this applicant or have any objections to this applicant see chairman um I was anticipating testimony on engineering items and letters uh believe you said he had three Witnesses have to cut you off okay I asked if there was any more testimony he said no so that's why I went to from this guy oh no this guy oh got three sorry Jump Ahead it all back I thought You' changed your style and you're letting go so I just could ask my questions should have let it go no okay so if we're done with him that's okay bring up your next witness if you have please just I need you to speak if you could raise your right hand for me use wordy testimony can provide is the truth all truth and nothing but the truth yes I do if you could state your name spell your last name and give us your address please Robert Civ SIV is in Victor E 100 R drive from Crest Engineering in Millstone professional engineer state of New Jersey I have over jez about 28 years experience now a graduate of New Jersey Institute of Technology testified before this board it's been a while uh but I have testified before this board as well as numerous boards throughout New Jersey we will accept your credentials as a professional Council thank you thank you you want to provide a little background of the board of what's existing currently on the site sure so I do have an exhibit um sure Mike's gonna and I believe these are already marked in as exhibits as part of the original submission one of them is doctored a little bit um the first one one what did we re re identify them as A1 A2 A1 I believe is the plan that was prepared by thas W Scrabble that the original pool pool house patio and whatnot was submitted for approved on okay okay until until you pass them all out and sit down because you need to speak with a microphone we have have to make sure it's recorded walking around in midair it's just not cutting it sure okay yeah was it called this mic up there is it on see if it's on a quick t hold the button till the light goes on or something all right so you can walk around we got which you want to use I'll use this one that's fine so the first exhibit is like I said but I believe is the plot plan that was used to get the Pool Patio Pool House permit and construction permits it was the plot plan done by Thomas W Scrabble last dated July 21st 2021 last survise September 26 2022 and then the second item or plan passed around was basically a copy of my pool or my plot plan or the variant Plan and there's a yellow highl highlighted what I'll call inverted L and I'll describe that in a minute but this plan is my variance plan with that area highlighted in yellow so now that we have the exhibits passed out just real quick um the site is identified as block 62 tax slot 6 and is more commonly known as 63 Keswick Circle the site is situated within the residential r25 Zone has an area of approximately 20,000 Square ft and is developed with a two-story single family residential dwelling driveway and other ancillary structures and utilities typical of a residential developed property as you heard from Mr kovi he obtained a permit and recently constructed an inground swimming pool pool house with prola Associated patio area and two Drive Wells within the rear yard area to mitigate storm water runoff from those improvements those improvements were to have increased the overall properties impervious coverage to just under 40% which is the Zone limit now now as you heard from Mr kovi is part of those improvements an additional 292 ft of patio area was constructed and that increases the impervious coverage to approximately 41 a. half% so that kicks him over the 40% that second exhibit which I believe is A2 the yellow area is where he increased the patio surface area above and beyond what was on the original Scrabble plan so you can see they kind of went one extra course past the end of the pool with the patio and that caused that 292 ft overage which he's now at 41.5% for so that's why we're here tonight is for the impervious coverage variants he's also proposing a 666 squ foot addition to the rear of the house that he described that will increase the impervious coverage to 44.5% and we are proposing a third dryw in the front yard which we will collect the roof runoff from that addition pipe it to the drywall in the front yard and mitigate storm water runoff from that roof area in that fashion and then the the uh second variant that we're here tonight for is a fence height 6ot fence is permitted in the rear yard area of a residential property uh a fence was installed along the sides and rear property line from about the front of the house back it starts off at about 5 ft in height at the front of the house then as you travel towards the rear of the property the fence height increases to a total height of about 7 and 1/2 ft along the back of the property and then as you come back around the other side it reduces back down about 5T on the other side so those are the two variances we're here tonight the planner will get into more of the variance testimony for those variances um I know Mark you mentioned that you want to hear some testimony as it relates to your engineering review letter so unless there's any questions from the board as it relates to what was proposed and what we're here for tonight I can jump right into Mark's letter just really quick on the fence it was done that way because of the Topography of the property right so the property slopes from the back of the house to the rear property line sloping down so what the homeowner did or the contractor did part of the construction was he built a little about foot and a half two foot wall as the property property slop down to kind of keep the property level and then put the fence on top of the wall which is now creating the higher fence height and again like I said the planner has some pictures I believe and we'll get into a little more testimony on that um Mr C I don't know if you mentioned the third variance on the accessory use percentage Yeah I think that's part of the imper I coverage variants that there's two prongs to that the overall property coverage and then the coverage within the rear yard yeah but there are two different variances so yes acknowledged so I have Mr Raimo's letter from April 10th 2024 Mr aimo was nice enough to meet me on the property I believe it was last year at this point um so we've worked through most of the technical engineering items I have no problem going through them item by item if that's the board's pleasure or if there's anything in particular Mark you want me to hit on I can do that as well whatever's well I mean why don't we uh just run through them they're short sure okay so item number one without reading it is basically a summary of what we just described describing the property in the addition item number two indicates that variances are required we talked about the variances and I'll add the application number on the title block and not a problem and get you a copy of the survey which I believe was submitted but I get another copy obviously not a problem um item e on the top of the next page is all existing and proposed drainage pipes for the site shall be connected to the SE pitch pits the plan shall be revised accordingly we can show those pipes they are connected and we will we will add that to our plan item F the grading plan shall be provided to demonstrate stor water flow and the grading for the proposed steps the plan that was submitted had grades on and we can add additional spot grades around the staff that's not a problem okay uh the dryw well details shall be revised to show the true elevations in addition to the proposed Inlet grates and seasonal high water table two separate details should be provided for each drywell I have no problem and it was only one drywall proposed and the other one was already constructed as part of the pool plan in in the rear the one of the rear yard is already constructed I can add that detail for you uh for the front drywell and add elevations not a problem and we' like to see what uh elevations are on the back as well I don't believe there was great elevations or any indication on the plan there's there is no grates as we met in the field we agreed to install grates on top of those dry Wells and we're just setting them at the elevation of the existing ground and right so you'll show those grades yes the existing grade you'll show the existing grade in that area where you're going to set those grates yes yes H is the cleanout located in the rear yard for sanitary two storm or I guess that's or storm um that is a sanitary cleanout that was part of the approval for the pool house to provide sewer to the pool house from the front lateral into the back of the house so where does that go is that going to be now under the addition does that go around the house out to the front it goes around the Westerly side property line down to the front under the driveway and connects into the existing cleanout where it's labeled on my plan proposed sanitary sewer line that is existing now it was proposed at the time the surveyor did the work it's now existing and like I said was constructed as part of that pool house so if you can show that line on the uh on on the final set of plans where not a problem thank you not a problem I is the backwash line for the pool shall be displayed on the plans again not a problem will show that it is connected to the C pitch pit and we will show that line J is the sanitary line in the front yard is labeled as proposed is there sanitary work being performed again it was proposed at the time the surveyor did the work it prepared his plan it is now existing and we'll label it as such okay and what what is that line for that's the line that connects to that cleanout behind the pool house that provides sanitary sewer to the pool house so it's shown going directly to the front of the house right so it comes around that Westerly property line cuts under the driveway and goes to the existing cleanout in front of the house well you're showing two that's the confusion you got one going around the side and you get the one going straight into the house right so there's one that serves the house the primary residence and there's a second line that serves the pool house correct okay you're not you're not changing the existing correct correct so I guess that answers your K question that's there's two laterals correct h l is invert shall be provided for the drainage system throughout the site for all structures and connections and we can provide that for the proposed system that's not a problem and then we will prepare an on andm manual as part of the approval or a condition of approval which is letter M and that's not a problem right and that'll be recorded with the deed yeah we'll do with deed notice Okay C Al have anything else I I do have a quick question what is completed on this property already so it's all the backyard um it's all completed yes pool the fence pool the pool the fence the The Pavilion the patio that's all completed May did we not do this in Reverse no because originally how it was supposed to work out was that wasn't going to require any variance that was just permit construction Department when they started working on the addition which everyone knew would be requiring variance relief that's when it was found that the patio section was actually that 292 Square ft overbuilt that last course was added in by the contractor so we rolled all that in together what else additionally has to be done so with the back other than hooking up the electric for the the heat deck yeah other than that when Mark said in the beginning to close out the the permits nothing else has to be done it's all it's all constructed already Fen is up the patio's in the pools in the pavilion's in all that's in the addition is also done no the addition is not done yeah the addition is separate I thought we were just talking rear yard okay so Vinnie is the fence done the fence is done the fence had to be done for the pool and the defense violates our ordinances yes when was that done that was done some time before we came to the board for the addition and it was determined that it violated the ordinance at that point just like the patio yes because the as buil survey was done and the actual square footage of the patio was discovered and that was a builder mistake yeah I think the Builder was trying to be nice and he kind of took off a corner made it straight and what the fence was a builder mistake too the the the Builder was trying to be nice trying to make it look nice because the way the property slopes off the fence actually blocks the pool area from the neighbor now so the neighbor's not looking into the pool area um if you lower the fence the neighbor's going to be like no I got LEL that's the only Reon in my backyard because I have a six foot I mean if it's talk to the client if it's the board's prerogative not to offer a variance on that then the fence has to be reduced to six feet our ordinance are published right online oh okay so you were doing the extension but we did the yard first and then when we got to the extension we found out everything in the yard didn't comply or wasn't well not everything in the yard didn't apply it didn't meet all the all the requirements yeah the two things were the fence and the the square footage on the patio that was only triggered when we did the when we were going to proceed with the extension because they needed the as Bill to create the plans for the extension because it was never anyone's intention to actually be before the board for that back patio stuff when those plans when Thomas Scrabble originally did those plans they were all set up to be compliant so as a regular lay I'm sorry to interrupt you so if I'm going to do my yard if I'm going to do an extension I'm going to do my extension first to make sure what I'm going to do in my yard is going to fit instead of do my yard now I'm going to be on top of my house or my house has to be aled because I wanted to do my yard first I I understand that I just I wasn't involved when this that's why we're here we're asking questions any other board member have questions pertaining to I have IAL I have one please um if I'm understanding this correctly the Builder did this without the owner's approval I don't think the I don't think it was done with that that's a you can debate that one I think the Builder did it not knowing what the parameters were didn't follow the plans so the Builder didn't follow the plans yeah basically and the owner handed them the plans but the Builder didn't follow him so it wasn't a matter of you know I proof of this and there was no additional charge for this I'm not aware of any Kell can you describe a little bit about what's in that um in the the building next to the pool that seems to be a large building are there any the like pool cabana it's kind of like you know there's a bathroom in there a seating area stuff like that it looks large enough to have additional living space I mean I'm going back to mik's question about you know how many bedrooms does this House have doesn't have living space any other questions does it have a full bathroom there is a bathroom that was the uh the lateral sewer line that runs out there and a shower what is it it's a full bathroom shower shower so it is living space you can put a bed in there and make it right well it's pool house it you know doesn't have a kitchen it doesn't have you know things that make a bedroom any other board member have questions before we move to the next Mr chairman I have a technical question um Mr Sai um in terms of impervious coverage calculation I think one of the questions in uh planning memo a dated April 23rd 2024 was did you include the planters that are shown on the side of the lot as impervious coverage I did not include the Planters they are concrete open blocked rectangles filled with top soil in the middle for the plantings so they they don't have a open bottle base correct okay it's a raised garden bed it's basically as it's basically a raised garden okay so maybe then the labeling it shouldn't be Planters because that's what throws you off if it says Planters you imagine it to be a impervious area um the other question um again going back to the pool house question I believe that was via permit uh do we have the height of the pool house or that was I have the archit exal plans I believe that were submitted for that and it shows it at about 11 foot height okay thank you I would just recommend whatever board decides if a copy of those uh pool house and pool plans be submitted to the planning division the Apple can actually received a CO for the pool house yeah but we don't have the drawings of the pool house and the it just it's something for the planning division to keep on that file I have a question Mr chair go ahead Mr bman for the record I want to make sure that this pool house will not be used as a residents and it will not be occupied by any people except perhaps an animal thank bring the owner back up make sure you use the microphone please you're the question right yeah ahead you got to turn that on that's okay is it on should be on if you didn't turn it on yeah no no one will occupy that space right now it's used for pool house activity only it's for um there's a small gym equipment there so they can work and then um so there's no house actually there there's no nobody is going to reside there thank you Council I have one other question before we move on I'm assuming previously Mr scrael designed these plans yes and he's licensed yes and in it it shows everything but I guess the raising of the fence in the back is that where you're yes because I think the fence was put in and I'm not 100% sure I think it was put in post plans I think it went in after the pool went in okay so if we minus the fence let's say that doesn't exist adding the extension if I'm not mistaken there was testimony that we're going to 44% and it was 41% it went to 41 with the fence so if we remove the fence we're just below four well can can I it didn't go with the fence it went with the patio the patio pavers brought it up that 292 square feet that then he elevated it up the fence is a separate issue from six feet to a Max of s and a half so it's a foot and a half over in certain areas of okay so if we didn't go to that extra Block doing the extension would it have gone over the 40% yeah on the patio it wouldn't have but the extent you're asking about the house extension house extension the house extension would have gone over because that was the whole plan the whole operation was always had to come here for the house extension for full Rel got so let's remove the fence it doesn't exist you still need it to come here for the extension correct yes it would have exceeded the impervious coverage lot area that is correct so how come we never made it here for that and now we're coming for that and the fence because that was never built and what happened was originally when Scrabble plans were done they were made so there was no variance relief required there was no reason to come to the board when he came in knowing that he had to come in for the extension that's when we disc discovered that a you're over the size and the fence is too big so Too Tall so that had to be added in for the for the anticipated Edition the game plan when this whole thing started was just coming for the house Edition it was those those two errors that created the existing stuff to have to be included does this pool house have air conditioning or heat believe it has air conditioning yes so a split system entral system central system so I'm going to assume it has a heat pump I remember it's electrical sorry technically I'm not too sure but it is electrical um panel which is used it's dedicated for the pool house does this property have a generator no we don't have Mr yes yes I just want to be clear so when this pool was built there was always the intention to also build the addition is that correct later later the addition was coming after the fact yet the pool was being built to a lot coverage that was going to be within inches of being over the permitted limit so there was always the knowledge that to do both of these they were you were going to need variances and you were going to violate the vi the variance the law coverage requirement yeah that's correct it wased to come in to the board for that so the pool was more important than the house Edition cuz that came first no I don't think that's fair I think there could be a lot of different reasons for it to come first it could have been timing on construction it could have been finances there's a lot of other things other than you know AK first so that's the most important well not first but the size of the pool was more important than correct because you could have shortened the pull up and we wouldn't be here right now correct you'd have to short well I could take out the block too and they wouldn't be there for that yeah that's a good idea so we can take out the block if that's the board's prerogative well 4% not just the one% short taking out the 290 we're not there yet we're still asking we're in the question session any other board members have any questions seeing there's none do you have another witness uh yes the architect planers at the end please let's remember to use the microphones okay thanks you could raise your right hand do you swear the testimony you're going to provide is the truth all truth and nothing but the truth I do if you could state your name spell your last name and give us your address please my name is hian my last name is spelled e k h i a n uh my address is 42 Maple Street Summit New Jersey don't be shy speak right up we're we're we're all friends here just talk loud all right I'm a LIC the to hear you I'm a licensed architect in the state of New Jersey I'm the owner of space and Mark architecture graduated from New Jersey Institute of Technology in 2008 and I've uh completed hundreds of houses throughout New Jersey um I think I testified in front of this board but we'll accept your credentials as a professional I'd like to walk you through uh our plans to sure if you're G to get up use that cordless mic make sure it's on tap it first there you go talk loud and clear into it please we're starting with the uh basement plan here and if you could just refer to the the plans by sheet as you okay this is sheet number uh A1 the basement floor plan uh here you can clearly see the extent of the addition uh which is shown in these dark thick lines which is the foundation and in the dash lines that you're seeing is the existing house it's an unfinished basement and the addition will have an unfinished basement that's flush with the existing basement area um on the we're proposing the addition to make the house a little larger it's about what sheet are we on what sheet uh sheet A2 this is the first floor plan and uh we want to add more living SP space to the house and pushing we're essentially pushing the house about 10 and 1/2 ft towards the rear yard um by doing so we're adding on the first floor adding a guest bedroom uh and a bathroom enlarging the kitchen and adding a sun room behind the existing family room um the rest of the changes here are minor modifications to the existing in Powder Room which becomes a bathroom adding a closet um um so essentially the front of the house is mostly staying the same this is sheet A3 second floor plan and here we are there are two bedrooms uh on the second floor at this area already we're extending it towards the back in order to make them a little larger and add bathrooms uh for each of these uh bedrooms uh there's currently an existing uh primary B bedroom um and a unfinished attic space and we're proposing to take that existing attic space and turn that into walk-in closet and and also extend the um current primary bathroom towards the back making it a little larger um and then in the front we're converting one of the bedrooms to a a Puja room and that's the extent of the changes on the second floor plan May on page A4 you can find the elevations um the we don't have the front elevation here because there isn't any changes being made to the front uh majority of the addition the addition is towards the back of the house um the right side of the house that we're adding the sun room is a single story Edition whereas uh where we are adding the um the kitchen enlarging the kitchen and the guest bedroom is a double story um Edition with the bedrooms on top and uh we're proposing a balcony um off of these um off of these two bedrooms on the second flooor so that um that's the extent of our work um I'll take your questions regarding that M um regarding the basement I believe the testimony is the addition is going to remain unfinished and the rest of the existing basement is finished basement is that correct um we have it shown as both unfinished this okay yes the back part will be will be unfinished and the uh front part is going to remain as is so if I may ask um why is the basement addition being proposed um it is the foundation of the addition above okay uh we have to have these Foundation walls to hold up the house okay either it would be a crawl space or um or we would dig down a few more feet and line with the existing floor and uh have it used as storage um doesn't necessarily have to be finished right if you've heard the general tone of the uh board today the concern is the the entire size of the building and the addition um today as it's being proposed I understand for the foundations you need that addition but as you rightly said you could also do that as a crawl space and just close off that basement so even today when you're testifying that it will be unfinished basement it getting converted into a finished basement in a larger space is nothing's going to prohibit that but if instead just a crawl space is proposed or just the foundation po um columns are proposed um the basement Edition is taken off the discussion okay just keep in mind that the basement is underground it's not visible to anybody it could it is an additional storage space that and it is it would be achieved uh by a minimal expense by just digging a little more because all this work has to be done um to to be able to build the addition but if it is um understood but the concern is also there is a pool house that could be easily be converted into a living space you are now having three bedrooms above with individual bathrooms and a walk-in um you know um master bathroom with walk-in closet and jacuzzi to alleviate the board's concerns that you've heard today would that be something that can be achieved spoke to our the app the sport prerogative for Coss space cross space goes in so that becomes a non-habitable non-usable area Al together thank you um the other question um is the building height I know testimony was provided regarding the second store and that the attic space is being converted into a walk-in closet and a bathroom or something to that effect um from architectural point of view I know it's in the rear but is the building height changing no it's not okay the building so it's still going to remain within the permitted um ordinance requirement of 32 we're not going any higher than the building actually the roof line is staying uh here's the additional roof the the roof we're adding which is much lower than the existing okay um that's about it Mr thank you w do you have any comments no you have any more witnesses Council one more planner last with us okay we have all night good even if you could raise your right hand for me do you swear the testimony going to provide is the truth all truth and nothing but the truth yes I do if you could state your name spell your last name and give us your address please Allison coffin c ffi n 14 Tilton Drive Ocean Township New Jersey I work for James W Higgins Associates I'm a licensed professional planner and accept your credentials I think you've been before this board before thank you um before I begin our engineer said that I had photos and I did take photos I left them on my desk so Mr vgu can I sh they're here that is that is Magic a miracle hand them out yes you can have Mr lindler Hand them out if you want it's F if that's what you want to have happen thank you very much I was going to ask if I could show them on my iPad without having my iPad taken for evidence but this works I really needed an iPad so I mean I was really banking on you having to put it in so oh if you want it I'll get a new one see if the boss will do that right we're gonna leave it right in so before I dive in okay here we go all right got um some photos that I took it's been a while four five six seven so exhibit A3 is a seven page photo exhibit yes perfect these are photos of what the fence looks like I I visited the site in September walked around um so you can see it is a wood look fence it is not wood I believe it is a metal material that is painted to look like wood so it's not as simple as taking a couple slots off to reduce the height um there is one photo that does show you a little bit of that pool C that we've been talking about so you can see that it is a lot of glass windows this is not going to be a comfortable accessory dwelling unit it be high visibility um and it is not the applicant's intent to use it as an accessory dwelling unit it uh has a gym space a sauna a steam room a shower um it is my dream but it is not an accessory dwelling unit and again the rest of the photos just give the board a sense of what that fence looks like and the sort of privacy it provides oh there is one last photo that shows you uh a view of the existing rear wall of the house and how it lines up to the neighbors so you can see that The Neighbor House neighbor's house comes out further than this house so the addition that's proposed would not uh come further into the rear yard than the neighbor so to back up the property that we're looking at is a 20,000 foot loot it's developed with a single family home it has at present a rear yard pool patio and pool cavana with open permits the applicant is requesting the board's permission to renovate the home by constructing an addition to the rear and to um also approve the site improvements that have been constructed and permitted but built outside their permits including the pool the patio and the pool Cabana for the purposes of reviewing the variants I assumed that this was a clean situation and treated it as though the board was seeing something that has not been built um the site is located in the R20 Zone which permits detach single family dwellings the variance relief that the applicant is requesting is for plot coverage of 44.5% or 40% is permitted and for a fence height that in some places goes up to 7 1/2 ft where 6 feet is the maximum the variance relief that the applicant's requesting is bulk or C variances and there are two tests within the municipal land use law for this type of variance the first is commonly known as a hardship variance and appro is appropriate when a lots unique shape topographic condition or the result of preexisting legal structures create a situation where the strict application of the ordinance results in undue hardship the second standard is known as the flexible C standard this is the C2 standard and it's Justified when the variances Advance the purposes of the mun land use law and the benefits of the variances substantially outweigh any detriments it's my opinion that the variances the applicant is requesting can be granted under that C2 standard uh the variance here advances the purposes of the municipal land use law with regard to purpose G which is to provide sufficient space in an appropriate location for a variety of uses including residential and Recreation uses according to their respective environmental requirements and in order to meet the needs of all New Jersey citizens this applicant is um requesting to provide appropriate space in an appropriate location for a reasonable addition to their single family house to provide a ground floor dwelling unit to age in place not dwelling unit ground floor bedroom to AG in place and increase the the bedroom sizes for their children and also have what is an appropriate and permitted uh type of use in the rear yard which is the pool and the cavana the benefit of the variants being requested is the advancement of this purpose of the municipal land use law and permitting resident to have an appropriate use and enjoyment of their own property creating an addition which allows them again to accommodate aging family members and then later have themselves aged in place with that ground floor bedroom and have an appropriate res recreational features in their rear yard U which with appropriate privacy screening from their neighbors there is in my opinion no significant detriments that result from the variances that are proposed the proposed addition and the rear yard structures are not visible to the public so there's no visual impact that results from these variants the main impact that could result from excess lot coverage would be from storm water runoff and the applicant has proposed measures to mitigate the potential storm water that would result from the extra impervious surface so there's no detriment there and the fence height here is the result of the sloping grade of the property and the applicant's desire to provide a privacy screen from the rear that is effective despite the grade grade change as in my opinion there's no detriment to these variances and therefore the benefits would outweigh the detriments uh the variances also so will not impair the intend and purpose of your master plan or your development ordinance the use and the types of structures are permitted and appropriate the lot um Can reasonably accommodate the amount of coverage that's being requested and the fence itself is visually attractive and the additional height doesn't create a substantial detriment to the neighbors uh so for those reasons it's my opinion that uh positive reasons exist for the granting of the variances they can be granted without detriment to the health safety and general welfare of the public public and they would result in an improvement in use of the site which is consistent with the overall intent of your master plan and development ordinance that's it that's it m do you have any comments I do one second all right um so my first question is thank you for the pictures of the fence um do we have an aerial picture of the site to kind of show the coverage of the lot um um I think it's there on the site plan that's shown um so I just want to bring attention for the board um to look on the cover P or the first page of the uh plot plan that has been provided on the right the key map that shows the um the site and the um current aerial picture does appear to not show the grass I'm sure that was before the grass which either SED or or grew okay everything that's brown is is now grass notot so everything that's light brown is grass and the center white is all the inferious coverage so going back to um I believe the um the argument about C2 criteria and the positive criteria to provide sufficient space um just bringing that G up again to provide sufficient space in appropriate locations for variety of residential use to meet the needs of all New Jersey citizen um I'm sure you've heard the board members concern and um you know the addition the patio the pool house and the pool is resulting in in perious coverage of about 44.5% which is much higher than the impervious coverage that's permitted in the zone clearly the aerial map even if we consider the light brown as green reflects what the neighborhood has and what this alone site is bringing to this property it's almost um for lack of better word it's 60% of site is covered with something built on the property no 44.5% is covered yeah but I mean if you if you are looking just with the the lot area and rule of thumb making it it's it's coming across as that can is 44% all right can I also point out too on that aiel M you got two other properties that are similar again that's that's the I'm making my questions that can be your testimony and that wasn't brought up before just saying um going back to um having said that and the zoning intent clearly the impervious coverage there was a requirement there's another requirement in Monroe Township land use ordinance regarding the coverage of the rear yard by accessory users which is 25% which is again exceeded by this applicant um how would we still justify that um you know this is an appropriate space that is being allowed when the applicant is clearly exceeding what the zon intent zoning ordinance wanted or the intent of the ordinance was and how is it that by negating that we are still uh not impacting um the surrounding neighborhood or the zoning intent of the plan we not meeting uh what ultimately the zoning ordinance was trying to prove and I understand the argument that the storm water is being met but from a planner perspective storm water are technically instruments that the engineers do find a solution for I mean we all know in this today's world they are able to and I'm going to I don't know too much Mark please correct me I mean dry Wells can be put in pipes can be connected and the storm water can be handled but given the situation that it is today and the impervious coverage being a concern how are we still meeting the zoning intent by allowing this for this applicant well the the intent of an impervious coverage limit is to limit storm water runoff and if the applicant is meeting you know can mitigate that impact then the intent of the ordinance is still being met despite the coverage being a little bit larger I don't think it's it's much larger um but because we are dealing with the the impact that the ordinance intends to control there is no negative impact to the ordinance by having the extra coverage in this case so then why would there be impervious coverage of storm water can every time be solved because because you do need to show that you can solve it because it can't be solved every time um I beg to Def I think it can be solved every time and that's that's why there has been a blanket impervious coverage calculation provided for a specific zoning District that it has to be met um and that's where I leave it thank you chairman Mar do you have any comments not no not at this time any board members I I just want to follow up on what mik was saying I think the imperious coverage ordinance is also to obviously storm water is important but there's also in Monroe Prides itself on being you know a sort of a more rural community although it's quickly changing um but there's an open space component and an intensity of the use just like you'd have an F for the the size of your building your lack coverage also goes to the intensity of your use on the property and how much open space we have left and it's not just a you know a um an a storm water on its own I do think that the but let me ask this what is what are the square footage differences between a 40,000 foot coverage and a 44.4 point5 what are what's the actual square footage that they're over buying ask perhaps that we put that perhaps that'll it into some perspective while he while he does that I do want to address the intensity issue uh with the municipal land use law the controls we have on intensity for residential use would be density like the number of dwelling units per acre that's how we control residential intensity of use uh and if you wanted to look at structures building coverage is not really got control of intensity so much as it's control of how much of the land is being used and we're Below on building coverage so the only issue here is that they have more patio than grass in their backyard so just to answer your question 4 and a half% of a 20,000 foot L 900 can you hand what was that how can you use the microphone 900 square feet so so they're they're proposing to be over by 900 squ correct any other messages I any other comments from the board Vinnie I have a com when you drew attention to this picture right I don't know which one it is which is the back of the house I I didn't catch why the the only reason I had taken that picture when I was out and I'm not sure it's terribly informative to the board was to show that when we have the addition on the rear we're not going further into the rear yard than the neighbor's house is but it has nothing to do with the impervious coverage has nothing to do with the impervious coverage but will it so will it be passed I guess the neighbor's house or in line with it I think the intent is to be in line with it but I don't have the neighbor's house on the on the plan okay and then back to the fence sorry before we said that it was a mistake by the builder of the fence correct but you just said it was a result of a sloping grade of the property and the desire of the applicant for privacy sir I never testified that it was a build okay someone else did but yes that's what was said so which one is it I don't know okay I I approached it from a planning perspective what is the benefit that it gives not not was it put in by mistake no I I didn't ask you that that was testified before you yes but you said result of the sloping rate of the property and desire of the applicant for privacy yes okay so we have which which one is it so I just spoke to the applicant did the applicant want it taller no okay Bu you're incorrect the Builder leveled it off on top to compensate for the grade but it's not leveled off on top on top and in the rear it is there's places where it here this is your this is your this is your evidence right it Contours with the slope the property slop is drastically off to the rear so if you look at the ones in the rear they're all leveled and that's where it's raised up okay I'm sorry you say level there yes because ones you're looking at are below 6 ft we didn't say the whole fence was over 6 ft we said portions of the fence were 7 and 1/2 ft the ones to the rear are at 7 and 1/2 ft to compensate for the what's the side of the side installer too what was the what I thought the sides were taller too yes they come down the property slopes it just doesn't drop off so how big are the fences on the side it starts at 6 feet are they over the variance or do they require a variance too the six foot portions no it's not over six foot not not up by the house so generally the fence slopes from the pool house the back half of the backyard down to the end of the property line the backyard that's where it gets higher because the property slops off like that so we're talking about 7 and 1 12 ft from grade and that's what the block yeah block to level it an extra foot and a half to the fence and that's at the very rear where it's the lowest slope any other questions yeah Dy yeah on exhibit uh 82 there's a note in the center of that drawing that was handed out possible removal of 292 sare ft of paper area possible is it removed or is it possible removed that that's not removed but if the board feels that it should be removed the applicant will remove it that was that extra course that everyone was talking about that was added in at the end of the patio so I think Rob that's the one that's highlighted on yours correct that's the 292 square feet that was added on top of what was approved as part of the Scrabble plan correct correct so that's an additional row of tile is that what we're talking about that's what it turned out to be the contractor at an additional row I think in my estimation was just kind of square of it any other question board members Council you have any other Witnesses no that was the last witness good anyone in the public wishing to be heard on this application please come forward we're going to ask you to grab that microphone you need to speak into it loud and clearly if I could swear you in quickly if you could raise your right hand for me do you swear the testimony going to provide is the truth all truth and nothing think about the truth I do if you could state your name spell your last name and give us your address please my name is Raj Chula last name Chi l muu l a so I live at 45 CWI Circle which is right next door and uh so I've come here to strongly object to this uh construction has been going on for the past 5 years well before covid something or the other there's always it looks like a whole dumpyard used to right for four years I've actually put up with it I've suffered through the end endless construction every day and uh last year this proposal was put forth for an extension and I came here to object at that time uh the application was withdrawn and I was assured that all the cleanup work could be done and they were withdrawing the application to First further construct so I went away with the assurance and uh yes the cleanup work was done in the next one month or two everything was cleaned up so finally the neighborhood which we all bought into for families to actually enjoy uh thing and have Open Spaces within the thing and have lots of greenery uh so we have this beautiful uh uh circular all of all of our backyards face each others so it's a nice Circle and it's a it's a used to be a great uh place for all our kids to play around Etc and then this construction started and this monstrosity of a fence is which is not in line with regular fences it's a bamboo looking fence which kind of hits you in the eye and kind of spoils The View U so I've kind of objected to that uh but but I guess it's the OWN decision what kind of offense they wanted but overall it spoils the uh family atmosphere and uh the construction has been going on for 5 years as I tell you right and now if this is going on it's going to exceed uh so it's not going to be in line with my property it's going to go beyond that and it's going to cause endless construction and headaches to all of us again there are other neighbors who are uh on the same same uh thinking as me and they want to do uh do want to object and if you given time they will all come here to object to this too late for that you can't speak on their behalf we can only accept your testimony sure as you're here now they're not here so for now yes but I please implore the board that uh because we we bought into a community which has a certain amount of uh regularity all the houses are equal in uh plot sizing every one of was built for half acre lot sizing was approved by the boat then all houses are in the range of 3,500 square footage so they are all there's a uniformity about this uh 66 homes that we have in this community and now one home is going to be uh totally out of line compared to the rest of the 6 65 homes and that's going to cause U i s to everything and it's going to affect the values of every other property surrounding that thank you thank you anyone else in the public wishing to be heard seeing there's none I'm going to make a motion to close the public portion on this application do I have a motion motion do I have a second second all in favor okay board members we have an application in front of us that's here for approval or denial for what's taking place in the yard already and what they're coming in for do I have a motion I think I'd like to discuss it a little bit your Mr chairman if possible yeah um I mean the applicant came in with specific requests the board has the prerogative to Grant exactly what they've requested or to Grant something slightly different um and I think I do have a problem I have a problem with the fact that they really came in with the pool knowing that they needed and they were going to need variances for the addition of the house um and I just I have I have a problem when it feels like somebody's trying to get around the ordinance and that's not sitting well with me um so can you put that into a motion well and and again I don't I I'm trying to I'm trying to digest it myself I I know I heard some of the comments from some of the other board members I think they might be on the sort of the same wavelength with me so I wanted to kind of my thought is one on the fence I think having it be uneven you need a fence for pool I think having it be uneven is probably going to be less attractive um although I think they should have tried to get it to the right height I don't think changing the fence is going to help the neighborhood at all um because I think having an uneven fence is going to be even less attractive um but as far as the impervious coverage I really think they need to do something to uce it it is one of the largest patios I've ever seen in a backyard it seems out of keeping with this neighborhood um you know adding bedrooms onto a house seems completely reasonable the problem is that they've already gone over their imperious coverage for this enormous backyard amenity of a of a deck and a pole house and a pool and all that um so I I think something needs to come off of the impervious something if it's not off of the house Edition then off of the you know the concrete some of the improves in the rear yard um well ba based on our decision that would be something um I'm going to refer to Pete like if we after it's happen if this Hy application is hypothetically rejected can it be rejected without prejudice where they can come back if they do as long as they substantially change their application so on the rest through the car yep exactly well I guess some so my my feeling is also that the board could suggest we might approve it with a smaller you know smaller PR is give them a number or a guide I don't think the board can design this for you is the where we get into a weird spot um but certainly they have said and they've offered that um the green outline portion that was not supposed to be originally constructed could be removed I think at a minimum I would want to see that happen and I just want to make sure that see if any of the other board members can let me know if that's where their feelings at Council you were going to chime in for say and he can correct me I don't think we could actually I don't think the application would substantially change enough to get past R chicata it depends on what you do I saying I mean just because of the the size of this application I don't think there's enough to make a major deviation and change that so can this application be carried or no okay you can do that well you can carry it if the applicant wants to be carried to well I'm referring to can it be carried for them to go back before a potential decision is rendered what what Kelly's asking us to do is we're going to do this on the fly right now if you tweak this move that if if that's what the board comes to and I don't think that's appropriate I you got to decide whether or not I mean so engineering wise that's true I don't think we could tell you that we can remove X right here tonight Rob's got to go back and kind of figure that all out but I mean if we're hearing that the board wants us to get it down as much as possible I think the applicant would appreciate that feedback from the board and you know maybe revised Mr chair well the 292 is right off the bat I just don't know if that was engineered can I interrupt for moment can I make a motion counter to what was just made by Kelly I'll make well she didn't make anything excuse me she's talking she had discussion so I'll make the motion to reject this proposal so you're making a motion to deny the application yes okay is there a second second there's a second Madame secretary roll call please what's up Mr busman no no okay Madame secretary roll call please so they're voting yes for the if you vote Yes it's yes for a denial if you vote no that means you're in favor of approving it is that all clear it means you're not well it means you're not in favor of denying it it means that need a motion to approve okay yeah I'm Sorry Miss Carrie yes for denial Mr Masters yes Mr busman yes Miss katori yes Mr tany yes Mr jaffy yes chairman LF yes okay thank you rip it up rip it up we going to take a few minute break while you guys get situ your stenographer gets up here de e e e e e e e e e e e e don't back in session please stop your next application ba-52 29-22 Central Jersey storage LLC please come forward good evening Mr chairman members of the board board professionals and public my name is Kenneth Pape I'm an attorney with hurn Pape and this evening I have the privilege and the responsibility of representing Central Jersey storage LLC their application is a use variance in site plan application before we begin a substantive presentation if you'd be so kind as to confirm receipt of our notices and confirm the board his jurisdiction and Mr paid for the record I will confirm that I have received and reviewed the affidavits of mailing and publication and the board does have jurisdiction to hear this application thank you very much of course Mr chair members of the board this is a request to construct a self- storage facility on approximately 29 Acres on the Eastern side of what was the Warren family's mining operation ation the Western portion of the property has been improved with a solar form the solar form has been operational for a number of years and this is the remainder of the property this remainder actually occurred this was part of a originally this was part of the solar facility that was approved and then state law reduced the size of solar facilities so that this portion was no longer a solar facility when it was when the project was actually built we're asking for permission to build Self Storage facilities there's approximately 115,000 ft of Self Storage proposed that includes a little bit less than 10,000 square F feet of a canopy that would be over vehicle storage people who would store their RVs U is or is a commentated on the site the presentation will be made by laurite Totten who is a professional engineer responsible for the plans that are before you after Laurel Laten Kamal Sinha will testify Mr Sinha is your applicant he's the contract purchaser for for this property he is in the business of operating self- storage facilities his current facil is on Route 537 in Millstone just before the entrance to Great Adventure and he has been operating that for a number of years Mr sinho will testify he'll provide operations testimony for the board Steven rasi is the architect he designed the buildings and he'll present the buildings to you Scott Kennel is the traffic expert he'll take us through the anticipated traffic and parking requirements and our last witness is Allison coffen who's the professional planner who will address the proofs that are required for variance relief and with your permission we'll go right to the testimony of Laurel lton is that acceptable Mr chair before we start her um I'm going to request a copy of the sure if if we are prepared if acceptable to the board for the transcript prepared by our court reporter to be your official transcript and we will at no cost or expense to you provide the the transcript to your attorney and to you and your secretary perfect thank you you got it please continue thank you Miss Totton if we could have you sworn share your credentials on the record we'll go to your direct test if you could raise your right hand for me you where the testimony going to provide is the truth old truth and nothing but the truth I do if you could state your name spell your last name give us your address please for the record laurelai Totton Crest engineering associate s Toton T is and Tom o TT n um um and as for my credentials you you've been here before we we we'll accept oh I don't get to tell you 47 years since I graduated 41 years as a last you appeared and so qualified as an expert in the area of professional engineering have your credentials been detrimentally affected at all they have not in fact I just renewed my license perfect Laura I and I graduated from the same school one year apart you you can figure out which one of us is older speak Laur I I'm going to ask before you go into your testimony if you could identify the exhibits that you intend to rely upon during your presentation so that they can be marked into evidence yes uh exhibit number one is called aerial display and it's dated the 24th of April 2024 what what number would you like one one would be sure thank you thank you and I'll just put today's date yes please is the 30th uh exhibit number two is a subdivision display call that exhibit A2 exhibit number three is site Improvement display that would be A3 exhibit number four is supplemental autoturn fir Tru pumper display be A4 and exhibit number five is emergency vehicle display exhibit A5 you're ready I'm going to ask if you could begin by just very briefly identify the property's location and its Zone yes this is lot 18.01 to be subdivided into two lots 18.03 and four um it the parch and it's as you can see from this exhibit aerial display Hoffman Station Road is on the the South or the bottom side and you can see all the lines under the word site those are the installed sorry installed solar panels and then you can see where the solar panels stop and that's the remainder of the site that's under consideration tonight which is a little bit less than 29 26.2 3 acres actually if you could uh very briefly just an executive overview of what this applicant is asking the board to consider this even so looking at exhibit A2 we show where the subdivision line is so you can clearly see where the applic where the project application is so it is proposed to construct 10 buildings and one copy building totaling 114 18,000 Square ft of storage with ,200 squ ft of office it is a stealth storage facility including climate controlled and non-climate controlled storage buildings and all of the development is confined to Uplands there's no proposed development for disturbance in the flood Plains or in the Wetland and Wetland buffer areas if you could very very briefly just describe existing conditions we have a solar farm and on this property are there any improvements there are uh some storm water facilities that are constructed on this three basins and some storm SE piping and Mr chair members of the board we're not asking this board to approve the subdivision the subdivision was previously approved although it's not perfected we are working with your professionals to to perfect it that's already in place the line has already been approved I'm going to ask if we could go through some of the detail of a site plan and some of the details that are have been incorporated into your design and for the boards I I think if we could keep it organized if you could begin by talking about the grading of the site is there substantial grading required for this property to accommodate the Self Storage complex no I am now looking at exhibit A3 and the area in gray with the buildings in Orange represent the proposed development and within in those areas the site is already relatively flat so there is not a significant amount of grading and storm water management how will the storm water management be accomplished you describe three existing storm water facilities and if you could describe how this project would be handled so there are three uh uh wet basins you can see one that's kind of L-shaped on the right side of the property this dark circle in the middle of the two pieces of development is also a pond and then behind it there's kind of a a lowercase b-shaped black area that is another Basin so the storm water will be collected through existing storm sewer pipes plus some additionally new uh storm sewer pipes taken to the b-shaped Basin which then Outlets into the big circle in the middle of the site and which is shared storage with the other uh lower Basin through a pipe and it's finally Outlet it into a channel that goes down to the manala pin Brook I think that the most important parts of stormwater management for the board and the township are the following have you reviewed the storm water recommendations of Mr raso and his report I did and I trust that you will address to Mr Raimo's satisfaction any outstanding drainage comments that is correct as well and the drainage system that you're that we're discussing is not a burden on the township it's a privately owned system that is maintained by the property owners at the property owners's expense is that accurate that is accurate and I think very important an operations and maintenance manual became a a an obligation of the state state D drainage laws a few years ago there would be an operation and maintenance manual prepared by your office reviewed and approved by by Mr rimo it's recorded as a lean on the property that creates a permanent obligation on the property owner to maintain the systems all of those are accurate statements they are so the system is privately owned privately maintained in accordance with standards approved by the township never becomes a burden on the township that is correct and you'll any open revision requirements of Mr resot you will address yes we will I do all of that instead of going into all the details of drainage which I find painful if I may could we go to on-site circulation yes uh if you I think most important is to identifi know that Mr kennel is a traffic expert and he'll take us through in some detail but if if you could confirm that the s that the system of internal roadways was designed with a plan and what that plan was yes there is one point of egress off of Hoffman Station Road there are some 11 parking spaces a to the office part of uh building let's see this is Building E which has the office in it and the condition spaces and then there is a network of roadways in between the other units uh which will be further described by Mr kennel but it between himself and and my office we have designed this to accommodate emergency vehicles trucks uh trucks meaning like pickup trucks and small trucks and uh um cars as well as box trucks and the types of vehicles that would be would access which are expected to access the site when the solar facility was approved there was a circuit around the solar system that came down through this property that was specifically set up so that fir trucks could enter the solar facility travel across the rear of the property and exit from from the driveway that is shown on this plant did you preserve that um circulation system yes we did as you can see at the uh nor southern end of the property this light colored line that is part of it as well as at the top there's another area that you can see that is uh also for traversing and the existing roadway so the the there will be fencing around this project but but there will be gates at the fire access that will have lock boxes on them that will allow the fire uh equipment to circulate as necessary there'll be there'll be nox boxes which are the nox box we're familiar with the Knox Box so that the fire officials will have um unfettered access as they do now you identified that there's 11 parking stalls and they're near the office building yes there are 11 parking spaces uh near the office building actually I pointed to the wrong spot before they're partially in front of the office building and adjacent to the office building before the gate that allows you to enter into the site one of those is a handicap space and while not so designated at this point a second one will be designated for Ev use so we'll be consistent with the federal Ada regulations and consistent with the state regulations on EV charging station that's correct and the parking size meets the ordinance you take us through the lighting design I know that the most of the lighting is on the buildings there's very little lighting inside the site but if you could identify the types of lighting that you use and where the light fixtures are identified yes the onsite onb building lighting will be described by the architect there are some 50 some of those fixtures there are four pole mounted fixtures uh there is one near the entrance there's one uh near the beginning of the parking spaces there's a a third one just before you cross over between the detention Basin and the channel and there's another one at The Far Side um because these areas the light will not re will not reach by the lights that are on the buildings and these will all be on timers and you'll hear from Mr Sinha that his facility is not a 24-hour facility it closes in the evening and the lights will be set to go off after closure the uh if if we could the um Landscaping I know that the shade tree commission um entertained this application we made a presentation to them we're most pleased that we received a positive report from them indicating no further requirements are imposed but if you could describe the existing Landscaping along the perimeter then the new landscaping near the office building yes there is a burm uh along the entire Frontage of both the solar and this facility and it is it has existing Landscaping on it that there was a separate Landscaping approved as part of the minor subdivision and amended site plan that went with that minor subdivision uh that's been installed that's that's existing all now at J at I can't speak tonight sorry additionally there's some uh Landscaping located at the uh entrance around the office area what you would see when you look into the site and the remainder of the areas are going to be grassed areas on the site which where they're not wooded already along the perimeter of the site the Landscaping buffer um is in need of attention Landscaping buffer has some dead material it has some material that is not growing well we place on the record that this applicant is prepared to replace replenish to the satisfaction of the Township's engineer and planner the Landscaping in that burm and Landscaping was approved as part of the solar facility but por the portion that we're talking about this evening will be on this property and this applicant would be responsible th for the bonding of that landscaping replenishment and and the maintenance of it we went to the environmental commission and I the environmental commission issued a comment letter U I can say I don't think the environmental commission had anything specific that they were looking for in the way of revision um but we acknowledge that they have issued a letter of comments to to the board you have received the planners report and the engineers report and I know that you you've had the opportunity to discuss the planner the engineers Report with Mr razim moitz are you comfortable advising the board that you've made yourself familiar with the requirements of that report and that you can and will address the requirements of that report to the satisfaction of Mr resin yes that is correct Mr chair members of the board I have nothing further on Direct of Miss of of Miss tot just before you step down what's that gray shaded there area is that the the overhang no no not to the right at the top of the property with the back entrance yep no bring your finger down just a little bit right there NOP not the roadway canopy canopy sorry yes got it that is the 11th structure which is a canopy and that is where RVs would be stored should you approve this application there one point I did not make it's an easy one there's no you'll see there's no trash enclosure on the site the industry does not accommodate the tenants disposing of their trash the one of the units will be owned and maintained by the operator and in one of the storage units he'll have his trash cans that he uses but there is no trash available to the tenants leas has also address that otherwise they'd be full every day it's carry in carry out like when you go hiking very good if your permission if you wish to examine Miss Toton at this time or go to the next witness we'll go to your next witness very fine thank you thank you Miss tot then I'm going to ask that Mr Kamal Sinha testify next Mr Sinha is your applicant and he this is his industry and I've asked that he prepare for you a description of how he operates his facility to focus on his hours and focus on security measures and I'll tell you his is an a regulated industry the state of New Jersey has statutory language that a lengthy 15 pages of statutory language on how this industry is to be operated it says what you can store what you're not allowed to do can't live there can't put animals there you can't use it for Recreation there a long list of statutory requirements all of which Mr sinow will acknowledge being familiar with and memorializing in his leas agreements Mr Mr CA could be sworn I can if you could raise your right hand for me to you swear the testimony you're going to provide is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes I do if you could state your name spell your last name and give us your address please for the record sure KL Sinha s i NHA my address is five Palmer Circle Millstone Township New Jersey Mr Sinha I don't offer as an expert he is your applicant and he I'm going to ask that he share his expertise in this industry but there isn't the degree in self storage I'm going to ask if you could dis do you own a facility yes I do and where is the facility that you own um on mil in Millstone on rout 537 uh near Great Adventure and how long has that facility been in operation uh December 2019 so you've been an operation going on five years correct and is the facility that you're proposing on this property similar in function to the one that's on that property yes it is I'm going to ask if you could in a narrative fashion if you could describe your operation the board will be interested in hours of operation numbers of employees and very much on the Safety and Security measures that you would impose on the operation sure uh so we would staff uh I I say one and a half to two employees it's probably a full-time employee and and a part-time employee up to two employees typically uh our office hours were are typically from like 9: to 6 uh Monday through Saturday Sunday we tend to shorten our hours a bit um the gate hours for the customers so this is when the customers can access their the stuff in the unit uh we do not want it to be 247 we think that invites issues that I don't think any of us want to deal with so what we like to do is we like to keep it from 6:00 a.m. 6:00 a.m. to 10: p.m. um and that would be Monday through Sunday um and in order to access the facility uh the customers will receive a code which will they will allow to push into the gate and that will let allow them through the gate where they can go access their uh particular unit me ask a question there I show up at 10:30 I punch in the code is the gate opening no it's not opening so the the gate that PIN number only operates the gate from 6:00 a.m. to 10: that's correct and your staff is physically there those office hours at 9 to six in a shorter hour in Sunday that's that's right if you could describe the security measures that you incorporate into your operation yeah so you know as as uh miss tton explained it is kind of fenced around um so that's that's one step of uh security that we have uh sometimes the buildings act as a fence sometimes there's actually a physical fence um we do we will have um lots of cameras placed in uh around the facility so that'll be some inside the buildings will be outside the building uh they'll be very obvious some of them will be obvious some of them won't be as obvious uh those uh cameras can be monitored in the office we'll have a few screens in the office or our our employees to look at and con constantly monitor dur the day uh we also have off hours access uh in today's with today's technology uh employees will able to view things on their phone um and we will also have a call center in place um in case there's you know a tenant does have an issue uh they'll be able to call this call center that call center can provide assistance uh whether that's you know helping them open the gate or whether that's notifying us of any issues so we can go address it um we will we also one of the key things that we do every day is we make sure that in the beginning of the day we do what we call walkth through of the facility where the employee walks the entire facility takes any notes of anything that that are that are noteworthy um you know and then goes ahead and you know if required we'll write up anything that that requires uh address any issues and same thing in the evening so we're very aware of what's going on in the property uh we also get uh daily reports that tell us who's been in the property and who's leaving the property so we can get to see some Trends so for example if we do some see somebody always showing up at 900 p.m. and that seems to be a habit we start to wonder what what's happening here and we we'll address that with the tenant you heard me describe that there there's a statute in place it's the Self Storage industry statute there's a statute in place and it has considerable prohibitions so I indicated there's no residential use that's permitted MH no no occupancy permitted no no animals permitted no no hazardous materials and there's they're all defined do you memorialize all of this in your written lease agreement that's right so the lease is very specific of what's what's what is allowed and what is not allowed when a customer does sign a lease our employees walk them through the key elements of that at least and remind them uh we also post signs throughout the facility to remind them of what is what is allowed and what is not allowed uh just just to ensure that do you steps that are taken to make sure that these units are used for storage if I have rented a unit from you and I opened the door is there a light inside the storage facility no there's no light um there's no electricity um within with any of the units there's no Plumbing either correct no that's it's a it's the door opens there's a space for me to use for storage correct per now yes right um not for assembling not for uh you know working on your motorcycle it's mainly just for storage and this operation that you're describing is the operation that you've followed for the past five years at your facility that's correct safe to say successfully yes we've we've had uh minimum issue minimal issues throughout the years so trash you heard me describe trash you're the operator describe how trash is here right so uh as you mentioned before we have a dedicated unit where we put a trash bin in uh you know we have a service that will come once a week and they will uh pick up and empty the trash it's really only for our primarily our office trash or or for example when we're walking through the property if we see somebody's left some trash we will then pick that up to keep the facility clean uh but it's not uh the only access is to uh employees I use my pin I use my PIN to get in but I don't go to my unit I go to somebody else's unit how do you handle that well so so one you know every every unit has a very specific uh lock uh these are disc what we call Disc locks disc locks are a little bit better than your typical lock where you can use a bolt cutter um so a disc lock one is is our first kind of line of protection the other thing for example is if you have a if in that scenario you have access to a climate control building uh you only have access to that climate control building any other climate control buildings for example you will not have access to so we know that if you only have a unit in Building E you're only going to building a you're not you're not allowed to get access anywhere else so you control access to the individual unit Do You observe to see that someone's car is parked in front of a unit that's not theirs certainly our you know our our employees are trained to kind of look watch the cameras and you know the truth is uh it's not a lot of traffic so they our employees get to know uh the customers very well and they kind of know who's coming in and out um and they know okay yeah okay that's Mr Johnson Mr Johnson always comes in at this time um so we we get a sense of it and they're encouraged to go and you know walk and and meet the customers as well is there anything further about the operation that you'd want to share with the board no nothing else can I think that covers it pretty well if um I turn to the board at this time if on my direct examine of Mr Sina concludes if there's any questions of Mr Sina now or later in the evening he certainly is available this his industry we'll Reserve our questions for later please proceed okay with permission then we'll go to the next witness very fine thank you Mr rasi if you would join us thank you Mr Sen six 66 so if Steve rasi is the architect he's also the architect who designed the facility that Mr Sinha operates as well as a number of other facilities that we presented around the state you could stand to be sworn and then we'll share your credentials if you could raise your right hand for me do you swear the testimony going to provide us the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do if you could state your name spell your last name and give us your address for the record please so it's Steven rasi uh Steven with a pH rasi r a d o s TI and um it's Perez and rasi Associates 379 Princeton heightstown Road cranbery New Jersey 08512 Mr rasi take just a few moments if you would to share your education and professional background with the board and the public certainly so uh I graduated from New Jersey Institute of Technology with a bachelor of architecture degree in 1992 I became a licensed architect in the state of New Jersey in 1996 um I've um designed probably over a thousand buildings throughout the state of New Jersey over the last 30 years um I've presented in front of dozens of Boards New Jersey and I have presented in front of the planning board of Monroe Township uh multiple times accept this thank you your I'm please share with us your licensure is in full force and effect and good standing on this date that is correct thank you if you could describe the buildings that you have that you have um created for the site um and I think the most important thing to share is the aesthetic appearance of these buildings on site and from the roadway if you would sure so uh this proposed Pro consists of 11 new buildings at the site um these buildings will be all be one story utilized for self storage and will be designed of non-combustible Steel construction uh the main building building e will include the office uh for the self storage facility as well as a conditioned storage space um the front corner of this building facing the street would be used as a staff's office area for the facility since this is the building that new customers would need to approach first and is visible from the street we added architectural embellishments to the facades uh we raise the roof area of this portion of the building to draw attention to it and uh added several large windows so the employees can see any vehicles coming and going uh the front section of the building is visible from the street would have a faux stone water table uh a combination of metal and stucco siding as well as a red colored standing SE metal roof the roof windows and other architectural treatments visible at the front at the South elevation would wrap around to the west side of the building where the front entrance is uh the Red Roof would provide a protective canopy over the front entrance uh the roof as well as the um 16-in High metal street numerals over the entry door will let new customers know that this is the main entrance to the office the remainder of the building facades would also have the same warm colors a tan metal siding as well as the red colored standing seam metal roofs inside building e at the southwest corner would be a 1200t office area with an open uh area with front desk and some shelving for packing tape boxes and other moving type supplies uh there would also be a toilet room staff break room private office and mechanical space the remainder of the building would be used for heated and air conditioned self- storage units uh there'd be two main quarters inside the storage section that would lead to these units uh each space would have partial height metal frame walls about 8 ft tall and would include a rollup metal door that can be locked uh the quarters would be heated and air conditioned it would include uh lighting the lighting would be led and would be turned on by motion sensors throughout the corridors the other 10 buildings will be designed in a similar manner but will vary slightly um other than Building E where the office is located there'll be two additional one-story conditioned buildings these are buildings F and K the remainder of the buildings would all be unconditioned these buildings will have different combinations of similar storage units however at these buildings the storage units will be accessed from the exterior overhead rollup doors instead of interior quds so there'd be no corridors in those buildings um The Only Exception uh to this is building J which would not have any doors uh this structure would be used for the vehicle storage it it would consist of a 40t by 240t uh pitched standing seam metal roof supported by Steel columns the intent of this building is to act as a protective canopy for vehicles such as RVs that can be parked under the roof structure uh all the buildings would have a similar look and the same materials as the main building e uh that have tan colored metal siding red standing sea metal roofs and red Overhead Doors uh the three buildings that are conditions will have ground mounted uh HVAC units located adjacent to the buildings all of the buildings will be designed so they're solar ready so solar panels could be installed on the roofs in the future the buildings will have wallmounted led light fixtures at the building facades uh these fixtures will not be mounted higher than the highest portion of each building uh Building E will have a wallmounted sign facing the street it'll be 30 in High by 6 ft long and it'll be uh 15 squ ft in area it would be lit by goose neck LED lighting and in addition to the wallmounted sign we're also proposing a monument sign the monument sign would be uh 10 ft wide and 8 fet high for a total of 80 Square ft um this sign would be constructed to match the look of the buildings with a faux stone water table a stucco and a metal roof in the same colors as the other buildings uh the center of the sign would include two internally illuminated sign boxes each box would be 2 ft High by 6 fet long for 12 ft total or 12 s ft each for 24 ft total uh the top sign box would be conventionally internally illuminated LED sign while the bottom sign box would also be led however be this would be a digital sign where the message can be customized this sign will be static in nature and will not include flashing or moving texts or Graphics the brightness of this sign will be dimmable so the sign can comply with Section 108-101 e2c uh sign illumination um please note that this code section does not specifically include LED signs only incandescent and fluorescent but will'll match the same illumination level in this ordinance section for the lower illumination areas uh in addition to the LED signs at the monument sign there would also be 8 in high nonilluminated address numerals in the upper corner of the sign you indicated that the building would be solar ready would you explain to the board what you as an architect do to make certain that a building is solar ready so um you know the the solar panels uh won't necessarily be installed at the start of the project but we would reinforce the roof structure to add an additional 5 to 7 pounds per square foot so that in the future if they want to we can add solar panels during your testimony you very succinctly describe the buildings there's an exhibit that the board is observing as you were testifying if you could approach the exhibit with maybe that microphone over there will let you travel if you could approach that I think we should ask you to identify it and Mark it into evidence so that be we have a visual permanent visual memory of your presentation I think we got up to A6 if you read into the title block and today's date April 30th this is A6 so uh this is A6 which is sheet AE which is actually this the same exact drawings that originally submitted they have the same date um the only difference is that we've added color to the facades if you could with that in front of the board if you could point to the building where you have lifted the roof to draw attention to importance of that so in this corner of the building we've raised the roof up in order to draw attention to where the office would be uh we want people to know you know which one is the office so we made it taller than the other buildings we also have the sign uh facing the street and we added a large amount of glass here uh one for aesthetic reasons but two also functional reasons so that uh the employees inside can watch Cars come and go so they're aware of of what vehicles are at the site you also on this exhibit there is the monument sign if you could draw it that Monument signed to the board's attention to and you indicate the same color same materials are being used on the monument as the building uh that is correct it has the same um water table it has stucco uh sides that match what we have here on the main entrance of the building the signage in the center uh and then we also have standing seam metal roofing so that the sign complements uh the buildings the lighting that you described as being attached to the building buildings you could just confirm all of those light fixtures are lower than the building so that there's no light that is breing the site yes that is correct not none of the lights will be taller than the roofs of the building and um motion activated so there's no no illumination unless there's someone moving along pathway that is correct Mr chair I have nothing further Mr rasi he is available to your Professionals in the board at this time or later we'll continue with your testimony please thank you thank you thank you very we're up to Mr Scott Kennel Mr Scott Kennel is our traffic expert Mr kennel I think has testified before this board before but well a few times he has if you could raise your right hand do you swear the testimony you're going to provide is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes I do if you could state your name spell your last name and give us your address please for the record yes it is Scott Kennel Kenn e with MCD and Ray Associates located at 1431 Lakewood Road Manasquan uh I've appeared before this board on a number of occasions I'm a principal with McDon and Ray Associates with over 35 years of traffic and transportation planning thank you credentials are accepted Mr chair yes thank you so I think a solar facility is probably just about the only commercial facility that generates less traffic than a self storage going to ask if you could begin by characterizing the traffic associated with Self Storage if you could confirm the adequacy of the parking as designed and most important I'm going to ask that you rely upon the circulation plans that Laurel I Market into evidence to confirm that this site will function safely all right let me begin with as far as traffic projections traffic projections for a self- storage facility is based on this overall gross floor area and Consulting with the Institute of Transportation Engineers trip generation manual we estimated that during the morning Peak Street hour again it's a 60-minute period there would be approximately 11 trips uh to and from the site and in the afternoon approximately 17 trips on a 24-hour basis we're looking at 150 to 160 trips again that's in and out so uh number of vehicles is 75 to 80 Vehicles over uh what we're saying from 6:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. so it's a very low traffic generator and based on the traffic volumes that exist on Hoffman stations Road our traffic report from November 6 2022 indicated that the driveway would operate at Great levels of service and that that driveway is in place today um and the other thing that's important with the driveway and I'll speak to this right now is that the location the location of the driveway provides great sight distance where we have a 50 mph roadway where we need sight distance of a minimum of 500t we have an excess of 500 feet east and west from the site driveway so from that perspective the driveway is designed in my opinion to be safe and efficient um it's also been designed to accommodate the type of vehicles that'll service this site uh whether it's box trucks or other or pick or larger pickup trucks to be used to access the storage units uh as far as the site itself the site has been designed to provide 30 foot wide circulation aisles this is this is a a design that exceeds uh my experience on many other developments where generally they have a a 24t two-way aisle between buildings this site has been designed to provide 30t aisles so that uh you provide an efficient circulation pattern and U efficiency in in vehicle movements and as the um exhibit that laurelai is um chasing to I don't know which exhibit that A4 uh it shows that large wheel-based Vehicles can comfortably circulate through the site um enter and exit without any issues um as far as the parking is concerned we're providing 11 parking spaces typically for a facility of this size anywhere from 5 to six parking spaces is adequate and again a lot that has to do with the fact that um the the renters are going to the storage units themselves uh individual storage units to access the uh uh the storage unit to either drop off or um remove items from that storage unit so the 11 parking spaces provided is more than adequate to support uh the projected demand for this type of use and the side given the size of the use if you could the vehic one second I'm sorry can you get that microphone a little bit closer to you please sure the vehicle that is shown on A4 Laur like could you confirm what what that vehicle is it is a bumper C broader so it's the fire it's the Monroe Township's fire Tru that's what was used to create the circulation plan does the first portion of the property have the same 30 foot roadways that's correct okay cuz that showing the back here if I'm right the entire site is set up with 30 foot aisles uh throughout the site whether it's on the southernly or Northerly sections and if the board can take notice of the parking is when someone chooses to go to the office they don't have to park when they're going to their unit and with online registration the number of people who stop at the office is becoming less and less the paperwork is all being done electronically the awarding of the pen is being done electronically the signing of the leases is done electronically not exclusively but more and more so we're we remain comfortable that the 11 parking stalls that are shown are adequate I have nothing further of Miss Mr kennel on direct and the with your permission Mr chair I have one last witness that's Miss coffen BR your phone thank you Mr K if you could raise your right hand you the testimony going to provide is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth they do miss coffin since you appeared in qualified as an expert in the area of professional planning several hours ago have your credentials been detrimentally affected no just my self-esteem team well played we accept your credentials continue I don't have a follow-up line I that was a good line that was a good Allison yes if you could identify what your responsibility is please identify what you did to be prepar prepared this evening and then if you would identify what proofs this board must hear to support what we're asking of them and then take us through the proofs based on the facts as you've heard them this evening and the law as you know sure to prepare for this application tonight I looked at the plans I read the professional reviews I did go tour uh the other site in in Millstone and it was squeaky clean um I actually test ified previously on this site a great many years ago so I have a a great familiarity with it I looked at the zoning ordinance and the master plan uh what we have here is a site that historically contained a mining operation and a couple years ago the Western portion of the mine was redeveloped with that large solar farm and leaving only this Eastern parcel which is subject to this application uh this lot block 49 lot 18.04 once that subdivision is perfected uh will contain 26298 ACR and that is the area of the parcel that the applicant is requesting a use variance for the applicant is here requesting the board's approval to develop this portion of the site this new lot with a self storage use that has 10 self storage buildings with a total of 104,000 400 square feet of floor area and one 9,600 foot canopied vehicle storage area so it's a total of 11 structures nine of the buildings contain self- storage units which are accessible only from the exterior ior and the tenth that building e that we've heard so much about has interior access units as well as the office space at the front this use is serviced by 11 formal parking spaces up front near that office and it has a site plan that includes lighting Landscaping security fencing a gate signage and one freestanding sign which one freestanding sign one building mounted sign and an address sign the site however is located in the r60 zone and Self Storage is not a permitted use in this zone so the applicant is requesting a D1 variance there's also some bulk variance relief that's associated with this application uh signage no signage is permitted in the r60s on for a commercial use so variance release is required although this could be considered sub assumed within that use variance additionally part of the sign is digital which is identified in the ordinance not as a permitted type of sign so variance is requested for that um there is a parking variance for parking within the front yard no parking in the front yard is permitted in six of those parking spaces do extend in front of the building so they're in the technical front yard but they're outside both the required front yard and the front yard buffer and there's a variance for distance between parking and building where 30 feet is required and those parking spaces come to within 16 feet of building e just at that front corner um there's also a technical variance required required for a loading space where one is required and there's zero formal loading spaces on this site because that is simply not the way a self storage use function so for the criteria for granting these variances it is my opinion that special reasons do exist for the granting of the requested use variants and that this site is particularly suited to the proposed use and there is no significant detriment to the Zone plan or the surrounding properties that would result from the granting of this variance so looking at the special reasons concept for a D1 variance for the self- storage use on this site this subject site is exceptionally large for the Zone overall it has more than 19 times the minimum required for the Zone it's extremely deep it has some environmentally sensitive areas and existing basins which would influence the design of any use on this site it's adjacent a large solar farm and it is separated from other developed residential areas by both manala pin Brook and significant areas of undeveloped Woodlands to the east and north of the area of development the proposed self- storage use is ideal for this unique site the use is quiet it has extremely low traffic volumes the shape and depth of the site and the usable area of the site allows for buildings to be placed throughout which when combined with the landscape buffer along the frontage will effectively conceal most of this use from public View and the quiet nature of the site activity will limit impact on man alipin Brook and the environmentally sensitive areas to the east therefore the proposed self- storage use on this site makes effective and appropriate use of the property and in so doing this variance advances the purposes of the municipal land use law with providing for an appropriate space in appropriate location for this type of commercial use um it's my opinion that there's no detriment that results from the use variant request the use does not generate significant traffic noise odor or pollution the site is large and deep and the use can be screened from public view given the the unique shape of the property manelin Brook and its Associated wetlands and Woodlands separate and Screen this use from the existing residential areas to the East and the lot to the West contains a solar farm which is not going to be harmed in any any way from this proposed use uh there's also some bulk variants relief it's my opinion that these variances can be granted without detriment one of the variances is directly related to the application of residential zoning standards to a non-residential use and so I think that this use this variance would be subsumed within the use variance and that is for having signage uh where none is permitted in a residential Zone it was however designed to be conforming in terms of size and set setbacks where such signs are permitted and they are appropriate for this type of use the remaining variances are appropriate for this use in the context of the proposed site plan the parking parking that's proposed is appropriately scaled to the use um as is the lack of a formal loading zone the parking that's located within the front yard is a technical variance uh these spaces are outside of the required front yard but between the building and the street they are uh just outside the fence but they don't create a visual imposition to the roadway they're behind the buffer spr and screening the parking proximity to the structure variance relief that's requested is limited the formal parking has only a few spaces within 30 ft of the structure at the front corner and the rest of the structure is easily accessible to emergency vehicles the other buildings have no formal parking and under normal operation there would be very few customers parked in front of their storage units at any one time ensuring there will be ample access for emergency vehicles to those structures as well and the digital sign that's proposed is small and appropriate for the use the variances therefore the bulk variances can be granted under the C2 standard the variances allow for the site to be developed in a manner which advances the purposes of the municipal land use law with regard to providing adequate light air and open space providing for sufficient space for a commercial use in an appropriate location and providing a desirable visual environment the benefits of these variances outweigh the detriment the benefits include permitting the applicant to have an appropriate development of the site and it's my opinion that there's no significant devel detriment that result from the bulk variances uh these variances overall will not substantially impair in the intent and purpose of your master plan and development ordinance the site is unique uh and distinct from the remainder of the r60 Zone the proposed use is uniquely suited to this property the development of the site with a self- storage facility is an appropriate use and advances a master plan goal to achieve a balance of land use types that maintains and enhances the quality of life to the township the master plan re examination report also listed some more specific goals for residential zones in the township which are Advanced by this application including avoiding conflicting land uses and create buffers between residential and non-residential uses the subject site abuts a large solar farm and is isolated from other residential areas by the Brook and large areas of Woodlands the development of this parcel as proposed enhances the buffer between the solar farm and residential uses to the east uh another goal was to continue and augment land use policies that reduce residential densities in appropriate areas and preserve open space farmland and critical environmental features the proposed use reduces potential residential density for this area and protects critical environmental features in and around the site and future residential and non-residential growth should be planned to preserve environmentally sensitive areas create open space and preserve rural suburban amenities to the community uh the proposed use in site plan preserve environmentally sensitive areas uh but also Self Storage is a use often used by residents when they downsize from larger family homes to smaller retirement community housing and it is therefore the type of suburban amenity which would support the residents of Monroe uh and for those reasons it's my opinion that special reasons do exist for the granting of the use variance as well as positive reasons for the bulk variances but these variances can be granted without detriment to the health safety and general welfare fa of your public and they would not substantially impair the master plan and the zoning ordinance for this property they usually have all no questions after Allison's testimony concludes I do have a couple of questions I just want to ask Alison to help me make a point this bulk variance relief we're asking for for signage in a residential Zone yes any signage would require both I think it's really important that to focus on building coverage and impervious coverage measur of intensity of use building coverage permitted in this zone is 20% and we're at 10.1% yes would you comment on the intensity of the use as as determined by building coverage I would say that we are at half the building coverage uh that would otherwise be allowed for this property and similarly imperious coverage you're allowed 30% in the zone and we're 22% so similarly the intensity of use is less than what the ordinance con I would say yes the the build building coverage is way lower the impervious coverage is way lower than the ordinance int and you did identify that we're 19 times the size of the of the Zone requirements one last one Building height in this zone is permitted to be 35 feet the tallest element of our our the tallest element of our buildings is the feature the feature that Mr rasi described and that's at 24 feet so draw a conclusion Heights of the building intensity of the use does that support the conclusion that you've reached yes Mr chair members of the board I have nothing further miss coffen that concludes your applicant's direct presentation if I if I could impose if we could have a thre minute recess just and then bring them right back and they're all yours three granted thank you Mr chair I'll be very brief we just don't move PL they could come back e e e question thank you Mr chairman um Mr P I'm just going to start asking my questions and you can decide who is the best expert to answer those questions um starting um I believe the testimony from the applicant was it's a regulated business and they do Supply the list of materials that can be stored in this facility um would the applicant be emittable to providing that list on record to the planning division should the board look at this uh approvingly um the answer is yes and I can say on behalf of the the applicant will submit to you his written lease agreement it's all it's been created and I'll submit with that the statute together they list all of the exclusions okay thank you you're welcome um the other question to that same uh vein is um do you have a restriction on what type of vehicles the uh tenants can bring into the property um or is there no restriction just want to clarify that for storage or for for bringing their materials or anything like is is there um um a limit on what type of vehicles like can they bring in and I'm I know that's possible not possible can they bring an 18 beer to okay you going need to put that mic on just repeat that please we would not allow 18 uh wheelers into the facility so the maximum probably a box truck they can bring to unload their items and what have you thank you um in terms of Building height and thank you Mr for clarifying that but one thing I do want to clarify is the canopy structure height from Mr rasty uh because I thought I heard 40 ft but I just want to clarify what's the height of that structure if Mr rasi could testify that overall height of the canopy at its highest point so the you're talking about the vehicle canopy yeah the building or the structure J so the so the elevations of that build building haven't actually been designed yet but typically an RV is about um you know I've designed RV centers I designed the one in Millstone um typically about 14 ft to the top of the RV but then there's a uh some structure and a pitched roof it's a single pitch roof and it'll pitch to the back so it'll be higher in the front so I would think probably 20 or so feet but it would be it would be smaller than the front building okay which is 24 ft thank you just wanted to clarify that as to whether it would be complying with the um the Zone height limitation of that area yes the second question I have is I believe the testimony was given that one of the signs it's uh the freestanding sign does have digital and I believe the testimony was yes it's a digital but it's going to be a static sign could you clarify what that means like um just for our purposes because as you very well put the ordinance does prohibit um any kind of flashing and digital signs so I think for board and the public purposes just clarify what you mean by Static sure for static sign meaning that the the text won't be moving it won't be flashing um it'll whatever text is programmed into it test text or Graphics it would stay that until it's till the next programming so it's it's not once something's programmed in there that's what you'll see until the next time he decides to change you know change what the image is so it's it's not going to be something that's moving rotating flashing anything like that so is it going to be a monthly like you're providing monthly specials for your um space is that something like that that's whether it's monthly whether it's weekly or monthly it's a it's a message that it might say first month free but it's a static message okay thank you um the other question um is um I believe uh the three buildings that are going to be climate control where would the Mechanicals of that be S U stored like is it on the roof CU we don't have a roof plan or so so the Mechanicals for those three buildings would be uh on the ground okay and it would be adjacent to the building um and I believe I believe there's some locations shown on the site plans um but they would be they would be on the ground adjacent to the buildings mounted on a concrete pad should the board look at this favorably can that be um provided on the site plan and just make sure it's not visible from the street Frontage yes or some kind of buffering is provided around it yes definitely thank you um Under The Canopy how how many according to the way it's designed how many RVs can fit into there uh 12 okay so there's 12 12 individual Bays okay uh and there'll be columns between uh some or all of the Bays which are separating The Bays okay um now I have some um site planning questions um this is related to the fence height I know the the entire site is surrounded by the fence am I correct and would you know like is it 6 feet I know some of it is above the retaining or jarth wall so the entire fence height is 6 feet okay the detail you you noted that the details said four my apologies okay there's some existing fence around the back around the Brooks side of the property that'll be tied into and there's proposed fencing in between the like along the back of the parking areas and it's connected into the building as was previously indicated and the purpose is to keep people in the area they're supposed to be okay perfect um and this way it also blocks off their access to the storm water basins that are going to remain on the property right correct okay um and having said that I know there was some stone structures existing on that property and the testimony is that's going going to be removed however the Basin is going to remain as is is that correct the detention basins will remain as is and yes the stone structures which are a little bit bigger in the northern one and about the same size in the southern one they will be removed for construction of those buildings in any area not covered as shown on that exhibit will be grassed if I may their stone that was put down during the construction of the solar facility there was Stone that was put down for the all of the equipment that was used there was a lot of equipment a lot of trucks and that stone is there's no purpose for it any longer so all of that Stone's to be removed okay and uh is it your testimony that there's no disturbance in what we call the flood Hazard area and no Wetland permits or anything un needed right correct okay um in terms of uh um sorry I lost my train of thought um I think one of the items in uh the our review letter the planning review letter dated April 23rd 2023 uh was uh to confirm that the impervious and building coverage are based on I know the subdivision hasn't been perfected but as testified the lot line are perfect and are going to remain so those percentages are based on those numbers right yes the entire zoning schedule is based upon just the property to be occupied Ed by this self storage facility okay perfect um and uh um question and uh in terms of we had made some few minor comments regarding lighting and Landscaping in our review letter would you be agreeable to work with our office and comply with those items if I make from your April 23rd letter yeah yes okay thank you yes nothing further chair thank you thank you Mo thank you Mr chairman uh the applicant has agreed to uh address my review letter to my satisfaction we did meet to discuss uh my review letter um uh earlier in the week um with regard to the fire access have you met with the fire district yet we did a while ago I mean this application was F or two years ago and there was an early meeting um that's how we got the the proper fire vehicle so you do have that in my letter to uh I think you should meet with them again uh just to meet whatever requirements I know you said you'd have a nox box at at the gates but uh whatever they require for that access there wasn't a written report generated by them so we'll we'll meet with them to ask that they generate a report thank you um with regard to the Landscaping burm along the ENT entire Frontage of the property you uh you did agree that you would address the dead Landscaping along the frontage of this property however I would ask um what is the status of addressing the uh the remainder of the property or the uh the adjacent lot which I believe the owner is the same Billy Warren is the owner he's here with us this evening he continues to be bonded to the township he has um done replac there is dead dying materials that needs to be replenished we will agree that it needs to be replenished and it is his continuing obligation and the Bond's still with the T can we get a time frame an estimated time frame of when that would be because I feel we come to these meetings with new applications but we talk the same subject by the end of June 2024 the contractor to do the work has been has been retained great thank you for that thank you appreciate that uh I have nothing further thank you any board members I wanted to just clarifying the lighting since this is a residential neighborhood um there's two types of lighting right there's the building mounted light and then three or four pole lights and you said five pole lights the building mounted lighting is on motion sensors what about the poll po lights po lights would be on timers they're on the driveway system at the front actually something we had gone over in some detail with your professionals during the trc's Our intention is that they're on the driveways we close at at 10 o'clock at night no one's allowed on could say by 10:30 they're they're off I'm sorry Mr chairman if I can jump in on that um since this is also provides the access for uh the solar field if they need to go in there if they got to have to go in at night will the lights automatically come on on that drive drive uh Mr aot we don't have it set up we could they don't use this driveway at all for anything historically over the last five years they just don't use it it was required so that there was a horseshoe circulation fire vehicles could go in at the Far West come across come out at the East even that hasn't happened um but if it's your request that we have the light poles be motion activated we could do that I I would suggest that Al also if you can review that with the fire as well as police is in my review letter that they may want a security light or two on as well the solar is totally dark solar is totally dark there's a light there I also wanted to just clarify on the um the canopy storage for the vehicles and we're talking about RVs um is is there something something in the lease that restricts it to that I guess my question is what prevents um some kind of contractor from bringing in like heavy equipment and using this as storage for that kind of thing that's the kind of traffic we don't want recreational vehicles period no construction equipment no boats no trailers RVs RVs it's it's an amenity 12 it's just an amenity it's marketing amenity is what it really is thank good Mr tany thank you shair uh I saw there was water okay but I didn't see anything on sewers or anything of that nature is it a septic system that's being installed there uh there one toilet for the office and it's on septic septic okay and my last question is uh fire protection any of the building sprinkled you know because of what's being stored in the storage areas or uh yes it would be a fire sprinkler you got to put that on please I think it's on yeah okay actually I want to recant that yeah so so um the buildings are all under the size that's required to have fire sprinklers um the main building um can be divided in half with a firewall so the two the two halves are small enough that it complies with the building code without fire sprinklers all the buildings are going to be non-combustible um what about the material that's in the in the storage areas you know cardboard boxes papers files whatever that's stored here right so the so the code allows buildings of a certain size to be this would be an S1 uh use Group which uh Self Storage this is what we did for his Millstone project where uh water wasn't allowed or or excuse me we didn't have water available there um so the main building was broken up with two firewalls there this one would only require one firewall I believe in the middle um the other buildings are all uh small enough in area that um that they they wouldn't require sprinklers um only three of these buildings are conditioned so the other buildings um sprinklers probably wouldn't be ideal anyway because they're non non heated um so uh so no and what about you know uh detection equipment smoke detection there would be there would be smoke detectors um and there would be carbon oxide detectors in in uh the three condition building as required by Cod thank you you're welcome uh I uh to get a better understanding your operation I'd like to about how many employees do you envision we typically have uh one full-time employee and one part-time employee we may move that to because of the size of the uh facility that might be two full-time emplo employees okay will uh be will there be any anyone on the premises after 10:00 no there won't be anyone on the they'll there'll be people on the pre employees on the premises from during the office hours um after the office hours um you know we have camera systems and we have uh different things that would trigger alarms that our our employees would manage uh but there would not be anybody on location uh during those times thank you just some clarifications um the RV parking is there power hookup no there there's no intention to have uh any power hookup there or water hookup or any of that that's I was hoping to say that so um does the lease have a size requirement for the RVs there's some big RVs they're going to hang out over the front of it or something no that's a that's a good question I think what we would want to do is you know after it's designed make sure would fit and then we would put yeah just so you know with with any vehicles that come on we usually have a leth adendum and we're very specific in the leth adendum what what's allowed and what's not allowed and you said no boats right no no no boats um no trailers no trailers that was the other one operational question so you said closes at 10 right I come in there at 950 how do you get me out to put it to put it I want to tell everybody but uh usually what we do is we do have a little bit of a leadway to get in you wouldn't be able to get in but to get out we have a a little later of a pass I mean just for that reason but there there's what we'll have is numbers posted uh for the call center and say you can't get out for whatever reason your code's not working something's happening you call the call center they will then be able to remotely open the gate or give you a new code that should help that 3:00 in the morning then no loading a truck or something and again there'll be no lights and no electricity and no you know and yeah it's not it's not a fun place to be um so if people park near the units right any concern that that's going to cause congestion for the fire to come that's why we did the 30 it's so big because of that okay every lane every lane is 30 feet wi and so there's three signs address the static not static sign I like how you put that um and then one on the building what's on the building what is on that sign two separate signs one's really easy I can do the number of the building so fire fireman sees the numeral what's the other sign say the LI it's up at the top of the building well I mean currently it says sign but it's going to say the name of his facilities so so that is 30 in by 72 in um and that'll have um you know name of his business right there at the office so that you know that this is the office Self Storage okay and the one the monument sign has the same thing but it has the thing correct correct the monument sign has two the central portion has two sign boxes but it's still technically one sign thank you you're welcome thank you uh is the millstone facility similar size uh the millstone facility is slight is smaller than this side it's uh we have 60,000 rentable square feet um and we have H six buildings at that facility okay you mentioned small issues over the period of last five years give me an example uh I think the only issue we've the issue that only issue we've really had is um and we're not going to have this on this facility is we do have a moving truck at that facility and sometimes people are supposed to return the truck within their period and sometimes they hold on to it for a day or two and you have to chase them down to get the the trucks uh in terms of in the facility um the only time sometimes somebody leaves and they don't empty their unit properly and then we have to clean it out but typically we've not run into uh you any major issues or or any crime or anything anything related to that so so far so good any other questions from board members I have a just a couple of clarifications uh one you you mentioned that there were there was no electric in any of the storage units only in the corridors only in the corridors and uh no one could access anything from the outside like from the HVAC units on the um climate controlled buildings sorry they wouldn't be able to access it without you knowing no right they'd have to be able to go in they they would have a code to go in so we know and plus when you enter a building we have cameras to see who's coming in and out of a particular building okay and second thing is how far from your facility to the nearest potential [Music] residence so there is a residence one of the Warren family members resides in the house that's surrounded by the solar farm that's a no no I mean from from your facility to the nearest yeah there you go how far roughly roughly scale so from the driveway to about that it's about 700 ft from the the proposed driveway to the edge of the GU property that piece of property there my only concern is that future residences when they get built if they get built um that they don't they're not affected by anything in your operation that 700 ft that was just described is an environmental corridor that that's permanent that doesn't go away that's it okay thank you we didn't get to the we didn't get it to the public portion yet any other board members have any questions seeing there's none I'm going to open to the public now anyone in the public wishing to be heard on this applicant please come forward there you go you could stand there we'll get you sworn in and then you'll be able to use that microphone you could just raise your right hand for me do you use why don't we get our microphone first can she use that there you go all right thank you there we go you raise your right hand you swear any testimony you're going to provide us the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth it is if you could state your name spell your last name and give us your address please for the record Marilyn sewitz SS and Sam a i e w TZ 113 Hoffman Road Monroe Township thanks so you can sit down and relax it's okay fine I I know this property is Zone residential and it's I think it's like approximately one acre zoning right now I don't know what and I know everybody's in the count is very concerned about housing density and all the houses going in I've been in Monroe for 35 years I've seen the changes people need places to live I get that but what they're neglecting to show you on this is that's Thompson park right there above that right and I am in that Park multiple times a week in the trails and you can see the farm and it's fine it's quiet right there's nothing going on there and it's it's passive right and there was the period when they were building it I get that but now you're talking about a storage facility with 75 cars a day going in during the day when it's quiet in a park and you don't have to hear traffic and stuff right now although you do from I walk all the trails you hear it from some of the areas right because there are roads around the park and I get that we don't want houses there but has anybody and I know that's not I know it's not the zoning board but has anybody considered purchasing this property and annexing it to the park because we keep talking about open space but I don't know if anybody's thought about that we've bought up properties in other areas and claimed that we've annexed them to the park and I realize it's middx County Park but has that been considered at all you know for making this passive Land open land for this I can share this with you I think it's responsive to this comment when the solar farm came before this board this board required two things of the property owner one the corridor that we just the 700 foot wide Corridor is in a conservation easement that runs to the township and they require that Bridal paths be built so that people could go through that property walking on our horses and the bridal path easen through the corridor is in place so this board did require of this property owner that restriction on that portion of the property previously it's it's it's in place but no one from the government has come and asked us to sell this property to them okay you have anything else ma'am no I you know because I they answered a lot of the questions that I had about it I'm just the only other concern I'd have is runoff from stored RVs you got the the man alipin Brook there Vehicles leak oil other fluids and then you're going to get it into the runoff there and I I just like I I understand this is better than the houses people don't want to see houses are noisier probably not great for the park either but you know it I would just like people to consider doing something else with this property thank you thank you good evening sir if you grab that microphone I'm sure thanks you swear that only testimony you provide is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do if you could state your name spell your last name and give us your address please for the record George kman 5 Kelly Court Monroe spell your last name check the email you sent me we um the one thing that didn't appear to be addressed um there's limited parking I think 11 spaces one of the events that happens at storage facilities is when uh tenants abandon their property there are auctions there uh the larger the facility the more auctions there are are uh some of the facilities have an auction routinely once a month and some of them draw large crowds um I didn't hear anything about how that was that condition was going to be uh addressed in terms of parking and the other uh you know spin-offs of having uh a cluster of of people coming that uh want to bid on abandoned units um that would be my only question the only other thing I would say is there was a question uh someone brought up just now about uh uh nearby residents there is uh one unit on the opposite side of the street uh I don't know if there's other land on the opposite side of of the street that's ailable for development or not um so that might be a consideration for somebody but U my main question was what seemed to be unaddressed is how to these auctions of abandon unit would be handled and and I got an answer I think we're going to get our answer right now there is no auctions that will be conducted from this property ever the except on television shows the auctioning is is now primarily done electronically online so we will stipulate there will be no zero on premise auctions and I think the answer to your other question is the land across the street is all middle sex County yeah you have is that the house that's surrounded by old middlex County land that was oh so that Land Is All middlex County surrounding that one house across the street all right that's all IE had thank you anyone else from the public wishing to be heard seeing there's none I'm going to make a motion to close the public do I have a motion to close the public question all mo second second all in favor thank you hey board members we have an application before us you heard all the details you heard our professionals you heard the public that's a point of discussion but somebody from the public brought up something for the the back end where the vehicles are how do you mitigate if there's spillage back there or Vehicles leak in oil or gasoline every square inch of the storage area is hard surface and the all the hard surfaces are directed into the storm water control system the storm control system meets all of the standards including cleansing the water before it's released into the wetlands okay and Mr AOS is going to make certain that Miss Toton has all of those elements true is that true that's true so so it's just like any other okay roadway um it goes into a storm water uh systems and uh you know any contaminants will settle out and it'll be uh somewhat treated before it ends up in the street we don't have to worry about it pouring out to the back it's all even know that canopy is in the rear of the property it's all pitched to their storm water system thank you sorry that's okay okay board members we're here we need to uh make a decision on the application do I have any motion I'll make a motion to approve subject to the um engineers and planners report and to all the conditions that were agreed to and discussed this evening I think particularly important since this is a residential area um is making sure that the traffic and the disturbance the noise stays limited so I think has to be definitely a condition as they agreed to 6:00 a.m. to 10: p.m. um are the only hours of operation um that the lights will will be motion the ones in the building will be on motions and and be turned off um I believe there was a recommendation in the planners report for the pole lights even to be reduced as security lighting in off hours um and I'm sure I got I'm sure board attorney got all these down so all those absolutely thank you do I have a second second Madame secretary roll call please miss Carrie yes Mr Masters yes Mr busman yes Miss kator yes Mr tany yes Mr jaffy yes chairman LFA yes Mr chairman all board members thank you all good night he everyone we have no memorializations sorry we're going to go to public portion anyone in the public wishing to be heard on anything pertaining to the zoning board please come forward seeing there's Mo seeing there's not I a motion close the public portion so move second second all in favor I I any discussion items any correspondances I need a motion to adjourn so move second second all in favor I thank you