##VIDEO ID:eni-jBi4UfY## good evening this is a regular meeting of the Princeton zoning Board of adjustment being held electronically via zoom on July 24th 2024 at 7:30 p.m. pursuant to section 13 of the open public meetings act adequate notice of the time and place of this m meeting has been given by prominently posting the sunshine notice of the Princeton's Zing Board of the justice such notice has been placed on the official bulletin board at the P Princeton Municipal complex and by transmitting a copy of the notice to the Princeton packet town topics the times Trentonian and by filing a copy with the clerk of Princeton on July 19th 2024 and has been posted to the municipal website www princ nj.gov meetings pursuant to the extent ition of the ongoing state of emergency by executive order 292 accordance in accordance with the emergency remote public meetings protocol for local public bodies to conduct a public meeting without physical attendance by the members of the public notice that during this extension of the state of emergency all regular and special meetings of the Princeton Zoning Board of adjustment will be held electronically via Zoom was transmitted to the Princeton packet town topics and the times and was filed with the clerk of Princeton on the 24th day of April 2020 such notices have been placed on the official bulletin board at the municipal complex and on the Princeton website and ought to be maintained throughout the year and by transmitting a copy of same to the Princeton packet town topics the times tonium Comcast media and by filing a copy thereof with the clerk of Princeton notices have been placed on all window doors of the municipal complex okay AIA can you call the RO please miss Chen here miss Coulson here Mr Floy here Mr striver here Mr Tenon bomb here Mr Stein here Miss Donna yes jerman Cohen yeah thank you okay um we have three resolutions this evening all were in your packet the first one is uh case number z23 d414 65 Lee Avenue block 6904 lot 26 in the R9 tzone um this was carried from the May 22nd meeting so the uh again the resolution is in your packet if there are any comments or questions if not if someone's like to make a motion moved second okay um CIA can you call the role please uh one second so this was um um hold on let me see yes Miss Coulson yes no no no no now CL only board members who who supported the motion to deny this one this was a situation where it was denied so some board members wanted to approve it but tonight the only board members that can vote on this are the board members who originally voted for the denial of the relief so that would be just Floyd Mr Floyd it would be chman Cohen Michael Floyd Steven shriber i v yes okay Stephen did you vote Yes okay and chairman con yes you did okay great okay the second resolution is case Z24 d490 21 Vernon Circle block 61 lot two in the R5 tzone copies are in your packet questions comments or motions please motion to approve I'll second it okay Claudia please call the rooll Miss Chen yes Miss Coulson yes Mr Floy yes Mr Shriver yes yes Mr Stein yes Miss Donna yes chairman Cohen yes thank you okay um the last resolution and uh is um case z 24- 484 58-60 William Street block 47.2 Lot 36 in the r4b zom board members the applicant the university has asked that this resolution be carried to the next board meeting uh they are still reviewing it and I think they had a couple of technical questions they wanted to review with Derek so they've asked that we carry it to the next board meeting which I think I believe the board is meeting in August correct Derek yes ma'am okay so and that what does the date of that mean it would be August uh 28 yep 28 y yes okay so carry it to August 28 that's acceptable to the board how do we how do we indicate that do we vote I think we just did okay good that we just did being carried well done okay do we uh well I assume if there any changes to the resolution we'll be getting new copies absolutely okay absolutely okay moving on we have two cases this evening the first is 98 Beed lane block 7.02 lock 18 I'm sorry okay in the R1 um uh Karen are all the notices in order yeah the noticing is in order the board has jurisdiction tonight thank you Derek can you give us your summary of your memo please and Derek will swear you in for the evening do you swear affirm your testimony this evening will be truthful yes I do thank you thank you thank you chairman Cohen um Janet GS is the owner applicant of 98 Bayer Lane she's seeking C1 and C2 variants relief to the Reconstruction uh of a non-complying garage that has been structurally damaged by a Fallen Tree subject properties in the r1b zone in the former Princeton burough and the subject lot is non-complying with regard to the lot area requirement of 20,000 square feet the existing lot is 9,988 square F feet it's also non-compliant with a lot width requirement of 125 ft whereas the existing is 50 ft um the house itself is non complying with regard to to the smaller sidey yard setback requirement of 10 the existing is 7.9 ft uh it's not compliant with the larger sidey yard requirement of 20 feet the existing is 8.8 feet and the combined sidey guard um setback is 30 and it's also not complying with that whereas the existing is 16.7 um the G garage accessory structure is non complying as such structures are not permitted within the front yard setback pursuant to section 17A 380 um the required front yard setback which is the prevailing is 63 feet the existing um is 0.10 feet actually encroaches slightly into the state right of way on uh Bayer Lane it also encroaches slightly into the neighboring property by 0.14 feet um the structure was damaged by a Fallen Tree in 2023 applicant informed staff that the structure was damaged to such an extent that it cannot be structurally repaired without being completely demolished and rebuilt new section 17841 permits the maintenance repair and structure alteration of non-complying structures but does not permit the complete demolition rebuilding of them as I mentioned ear earlier excuse me the existing garage encroaches into the state right away uh by 0.10 feet and the new structure will be moved out of that right away we be placed 4.1 ft back from the property line and the existing structure currently sits right on the property line the new structure will be set back 1.1 ft from the property line the size of the sh the it's it's really going to be a shed um it's going to be reduced in size the existing garage is 12 by 20 or 240 square feet whereas the proposed shed will be 16 by 12 A2 or 200 square fet um the height of the existing structure is 8 and half ft and the new height will be 14.25 ft variances are required from section 17 a 380 um due to the front yard setback the prevailing front yard setback is 63 feet and the proposed front yard setback is 4.1 feet um if the board is inclined to act favorably on this application any application should be conditioned upon the applicant obtaining any necessary approvals from the New Jersey State Department of Transportation to perform work within the state right A Way along bar Lane um also known as Route 206 um they've requested consideration both under the C1 and C2 criteria if you have any questions I'd be glad to try to answer that Eric I had a quick question for you when you say the existing height of the structure is 8.5 feet and the new height will be 14.25 feet is that the garage or the garage and the ship no they're they're actually tearing down the existing garages a proposal and it's it's it's a shed structure um I think you'll hear from the applicant that the the garage is mainly used for uh storage of stuff and there's some Utilities in there that um are also an issue but I I think it would be better her testify on that okay thank you thank you thank you um Claudia um I assume the applicant is here I don't see anybody on the screen can we bring Jeff fer over um vadia please and Janet's iPad as well there's Jeff and there's shanet we're good okay all right so please present your case thank you Mr chairman and I'm Chris to representing Jen Giles um Jen is GNA uh be the first speaker and her architect Jeff fler is going to speak as well Karen it might save a minute if we explore the both at the same time all righty Miss Giles and Mr fler raise your right hand do you swear or affirm your testimony this evening will be truthful I do okay and Miss J you're muted so we need to hear you not yet no we lost her okay oops I think she's back gladia if you could bring her to the panelist side please there she comes there she is can you get we hear you we hear you it's great we're ready thanks Jan so uh we have a slide deck of 14 slides and Karen if we could mark it as A1 for applicant one yes Jeff is going to uh put it up if he's allowed to share here we go we set it up as a it's okay the way it is or you could take the full screen if you could can can you see that okay everybody sees it it's it's adquate that the slides are over on the leftand side Jen if if you're ready we'll go to the next slide and you'll take it away great hello good evening I'm Jan Giles I live at 98 Bayard Lane um and um I just give you a quick little background of me I've lived in the Princeton area since 91 my family and I moved to the last piece of the Maddie estate on the corner of Feen Hill and pretty Brook in 2006 um an old structure which we renovated and restored would imagine it might have been torn down otherwise at that time I joined a number of committees and organizations in town and I have been as have my children members of nasau Presbyterian Church served on Corner House and as a um member of the Historic Society in 2010 my children and I uh moved to 98 Bay Lane our current home we were looking for a house that allowed us walkability um it was me and four kids lots of places to go and we wanted enjoyed the quality of a historic home in a historic town so um although I'm not designated historic there is some history and interest to my house um my goals for my garage are first I should highlight the garage cannot contain a car it is too small it was part of the original design of the property in 1920s as is the house they are both exactly where they were when they were built in the 1920s my garage is too small for a modern day car it's too close to to A6 to safely pull out and to build a larger structure that would hold a car would block some of my house and require further variances but I have nowhere else on my property where I might be able to put an auxiliary building um without other variances and um so here we are as you can see my lot is quite narrow you can see on the upper left corner of blue line that is my garage and that line in front of it is the right of way for 206 um next slide please so in May of 2023 a dead tree half of it toppled onto my garage thankfully not hitting anyone on 206 and not hitting any of the cars in my driveway um that portion of the tree was quickly removed and you might see just just to a little bit to the right the remainder of the tree that was there the tree that you see that is still there had to come down as well because there was great concern that the retaining wall would give way and the tree would fall into two6 and injure someone um and you can also see in this picture my neighbor has a building that sits well above mine as there is a steep incline from my driveway and garage to the property south of me one Cleveland Lane um next slide please so here's what it looks like now not attractive at all you still see the building and this is the beginning of the retaining wall it extends from 206 well back to close to my house the south side of my garage is the retaining for that portion of the property and it was severely damaged and a few Engineers looked at it as well as Builders and felt that there would be no way to rein reinforce that in a way they felt comfortable and safe that wouldn't cause further erosion or falling down of the wall and that building above it the fence and other trees we also noticed very short distance from the end of my garage to 206 I did at one point drive a mini convertible and I was able to very skillfully get it into the garage pulling out was quite dangerous with no sight Line North to town and some limited sight Line south as I could just get it out far enough to just Peak uh I'm sorry North to just Peak to be able to pull out safely the next slide please Jan Jan let's leave this slide up one minute I just wanted to have you share with the board you've on two slides now you've referenced the neighbor's shed which is immediately adjacent to yours you and I have discussed this your neighbor is a corner lot but they face Cleveland correct and so that's really their backyard and the and therefore the shed is legally located in in their rear yard it's adjacent to your sidey yard where your shed or garage is located so it's it's an unusual circumstance that uh there's two sheds next to each other there will be yes okay the next slide please just this is the view from my garage as you look downhill North and the site clearance that currently exists next please this is my electrical box that is located in my garage um it was um so it it was not disrupted except for lines came down um to move this is not covered by my insurance because it would be a change in what exists and I was given an in a $40,000 which would fall to me and is um not something I can uh do easily um next slide please this is the view from the front of my garage now as it lies to my neighbor to the north um I don't know what their sight line is from their house from their driveway it's minimal because of the Hedge and fence um that they have and when we if we are able to build the shed and move it back four feet I don't believe they'll have any sight line of that building from their house and my neighbor because of their slope and the overstory also will not have view of the garage Shed from their locations I think it improves their sight lines um immensely and also addresses what I need I haven't ever had a garage that really was functional I've only had a garage that I put my lawn mower my snowblower and such in and so um I don't wish to expand or to build something larger than I need just to build something the size of which I need next please so this demonstrates the slope from the driveway and garage up my house up to my house um so you'll see two Pathways each has a series of steps and then closer to the house there's another series of steps and then to get into the house the entryways alsoo require steps so this demonstrates to you the slope that I have on my property um and the issues in you know beginning to think about moving it back even further in the front next slide please this is just an aial showing you the outline of my backyard which is somewhat unusually shaped I want to note that there in the back in the lower leftand corner of the red square is what I've been told by a couple arborists that it is the oldest and um largest Elementry remaining in Princeton it sits squarely on the corner of the three properties and provides a beautiful overstory for all of us and then there are also other mature trees on the property and um specimen trees along the property on both my side and my neighbors next please this is my backyard from the fence behind me my neighbor's fence behind me um I know this they greatly enjoy this view because at some point the fence had to come down it was so decrepid and it was my fence and I took it down and they needed to put up a fence because they have a pool and when they put up the fence they didn't put up a six- foot fence they put up a nice picket fence because we both enjoy the view and expanded view from my yard to theirs you'll see the koi pond it was there when I got here you'll see the plantings around the koi pond they were not there there was much more impervious space on the property when I bought it and I have worked to create flower beds and plantings to reduce the amount of impervious space and then you see the patio which was here with the original design in 19 27 the last slide please and this is the last part of my garage I mean my backyard that completes the L this was all um imperious space and now this was early in Spring it's the full blooming gorgeous perennial garden um the railroad ties were here I'm also hoping to remove those in time and I think that's everything I feel that um the necessity for the C1 variant St states that it needs to be of exceptional narrowness or shape and exceptional topography topography which I believe I satisfy on all counts and although it doesn't count in a hardship um the moving of my in electrical um utilities it would be a financial hardship for me that's great thank you very much let's go to the next slide Jeff I'm I'm you're going to take it from here and uh I want to indicate to the board that you're uh license as a New Jersey architect is in good standing yes it is and uh you've testified in Princeton on a number of occasions including last night at the HBC that's correct yes um we'll accept you as an expert um thank you you'll have to be sworn you one so go ahead then Jeff um well as the uh two site plans you see in front of you the one with the red um rectangle indicates the existing footprint of the uh 12x2 garage and the one on the right with the blue footprint represents the new footprint which would be 12 by 166 um the current garage is about 240 ft the new one will be 192 square feet um we're proposing to eliminate the flat roof structure and proposing a gabled roof structure um on this slide 13 slide 13 which indicates the three elevations that will be in view uh the front elevation which will be the street side we'll have the high three Windows we'll have the Gable end and we've added trim and brick detail which is found on the main house the garage will be stucco um to match the house as well and we'll have a standing seam metal roof the retaining wall will be rebuilt and that retain your cursor Jeff would you you've got the concrete retaining wall marked there with your cursor could you show the board where is on Lower in plan it's on the left hand side of the the structure and in elevation it's on that left side and the retaining wall is approximately eight and a half feet high um and the the current one like Derek mentioned in his report um actually sits on the property line and we're proposing to pull it in a foot um to to avoid the uh the um Gable end or the sorry the eve end of the the new gable roof to extend over the property line well that's great um and we will be relocating the the electrical in the garage okay so can I ask a question please please sure all right the looking at your front elevation I can see your wall is in a foot or so the eve hits the property line what happens between the wall and the existing property line I mean is that is that area going to be filled in or said it'll it'll be backfilled yes so so your your new your garage wall will serve as a retaining wall for the adjacent property yes like it currently does now yeah yeah it's just it'll just be a foot in yeah exactly yes okay thank you are there any other questions of either Jan or Jeff I have a question for the architect um the retaining wall um that you're going to rebuild is that still going to be in the 206 right of way no because we're we're going to pull the the building back four feet from the the property line from the RightWay okay so the retaining wall will be within the property parameters and not in the right way now well the retaining wall does actually come down to the street so but that part of the retaining wall is currently railroad ties so we haven't really discussed about what happens with those railroad ties but I would imagine they'll have to be rebuilt because the the property slopes all the way to to Bayer to the highway um so something will have to be there to retain but you'll need you'll need permission from the State Department of Transportation to work with in the right way that's correct yeah let me if if I go to I think it was one of the first photos here you can see this this retaining wall is is in the right of way now whether it could be regraded and eliminated I'm not sure but but that that is yet to be worked out yes okay so that original retaining wall is going to stay with the new upgraded garage um it's yet to be determined actually let's differentiate there's there's one that's concrete and there's this one that you're looking at that's made out of wood so there are two parts of the retaining wall right I guess I'm talking about the timber part right right subject to the D is okay you can see it's behind the telephone pole and you know nobody's going to drive into it it's it's our request would be to let it stay there because it's serving a purpose yes yes thanks okay any anything else Mr tar it public well if you have if you concluded your presentation I'd like to wrap up after the public if there is any okay um board members do you have any question of the owner or the architect okay um hearing none uh Mr tar we're going to go to the P open this up to the public you want to say anything before we do that no sir good okay I'm going to open this up to the public Claudia has there anyone indicated they'd like to speak on behalf of this application I see no hands can you take down your um exhibit please yes thank you okay well hearing we'll give it a second here two okay so I see doesn't appear anyone wants to speak speak so we'll close the public portion of the hearing and uh Mr tar once again would you like to say something before we go into executive session let me quickly sum up I think Jan put it just right almost quoting from the uh the ordinance her her lot is narrow her lot is small uh but the it's the topography that's really forces this uh shed to be rebuilt where it sits but move back from the Tre and the architecturally attractive much more so than the rectangular building that's been there for 100 years so uh on the negative criteria uh the neighbor's shed is immediately next door and permitted the other neighbor has a gigantic uh vegetative barrier won't won't see the shed and uh those people who can see it from the street it it's it's attractive but as you saw from the pictures the backyard is just unavailable for any any storage building so that's our that's our case thank you all right uh board members we're going to Executive session does anybody have any questions anything to bring up for discussion or would someone like to make a motion I think it's a nice Improvement to a property and your try you're voting you're are you making a motion oh I'm happy to do that I I move that we approve this yeah I'll second it with whatever appropriate um notes related to the work in the right away yeah I I agree with uh with Stephen and I mean this is this is a very very difficult lot and I think it's a very nice solution so okay what members any questions of the motion before we vote okay Claudia can you call the roll please miss Chen yes Miss Coulson yes Mr Floyd yes Mr schriver yes Mr tenom yes Mr Stein yes chairman Cohen yes go forth and build thank you very much much appreciate okay all right good um nice house all right our next hearing tonight is 300 Ying street it's Cas excuse me case number Z24 d510 300 Ying street block 7303 Lot 4 in the R8 is approved hi pay you're still on with us I'm sorry I'm so sorry in my daughter it is caus for celebration though right nice job nice presentation thank you byee okay back to the next Case Case Z24 d510 300 Ying street block 7303 lot four in the R8 Zone um Derek can you please read your memo Su Steve I'll just notice before I'll just advise noticing is in order the board has okay sorry no problem okay Mr verion Eric you're muted thank you excuse me I apologize uh thank you um the applicant is 300 Ying Street LLC they are the owners and applicants of uh 300 Ying street they're seeking a C2 um variants to permit the construction on a home of a home on a lot that does not beat the minimum lot area requirement um applian intends to demolish the existing on story home and construct a two story home with a detached garage um property is located in the R8 Zone in the former Princeton Township the existing single family use is permitted as of right the existing house complies with the applicable bulk requirements the lot area is deficient the requirements 8,500 square feet the existing 7,000 and 14 applicant is proposing to demolish the existing Ranch and construct a new two-story 2556 squ foot home which will feature a basement kitchen living room dining room Den four bedrooms and three and a half baths a detached onecar garage is proposed um subject lot again is uh requires a variance for the lot area um existing 7,14 the requirements 8500 um I did visit the site I asked the applicant to address the any possible impact on the critical Ro root zone of the trees on the adjoining property uh where the garage is located um and then there was also an issue uh windows were required within 10 feet of the front facade um and the applicant has addressed that that that concern and added the windows um and that's pretty much my memo if you have any questions i' I'd be glad to address it well members any questions of Mr Bridger one other item I will note that um this is a a through lot and it does have Frontage on both lyen and ying and uh they do comply with the prevailing front yard setback on both streets um um they do have a noted on the plans but they did comply with that so it's just a variance for the lot area thank you minor minor question Derek you said a three and a half bath I see four have yes he he's right there's a bath in the Attic as well as good catch thank you Mr striber I have no idea what that means actually I think the first floor bath appears to be a full bath as well it does looks like it it's got a looks like it has a shower in it we can ask the architect that but it appears to be five bath so I mean you know leads me to believe that there's some sleeping situation on the first floor that's no you're right five full bats for the drawings so yeah y okay um yes George I do have a question for Mr Bridger which is in this neighborhood all the Lots seem to be below the required Min um minimum is that correct uh I don't know for sure but I did see a pattern it seemed to be that they're were uh slightly below the the required 8500 all right thank you thank you sir okay all right um we're ready to go Mr chairman okay is the applicant here and ready to present okay please begin so uh Daniel barsky's here now you've raised questions about the architecture Marina rabina is I see her there maybe they could both be sworn just to move it along okay oh there she is all righty um Mr barski Miss Rina do you both swear or affirm your testimony this evening will be truthful do I do thank you and um we've got a slide deck of 12 slides which Daniel's going to bring up if he's allowed to share exhibit A1 thank you ma'am okay does everybody see my screen here we do yes okay hello good evening my name is Daniel barski and I'm just gonna be doing a quick presentation um to go over the facts of uh our request for a variance for an undersized lot and Marina is here as well in case Marina Rubina the architect in case there's any questions of her um this first slide exhibits all the bulk requirements in the R8 Zone the proposed project um is in compliance with all the bulk requirements with the exception of lot area where 8,500 square feet are required and 7,14 square feet are existing this is a slide of the tax map uh outlining the Lots on 300 Ewing Street in in green is um sh shaded and green is the actual lot on 300 Ying uh as Derek mentioned the lot does fall between two streets between Ying Street and Lynden um just like the rest of the Lots on this side of the block currently the existing house fronts on uwing and the proposal for the new house is it is for it to continue to front on Ying Street uh the specific block on youing between guyo and Henry Avenue um consists overwhelmingly of undersized Lots so uh just in this one snapshot here there are 22 Lots out of the 22 20 are under sized they're either the same size or smaller than the lot on 300 uing but none of those 20 Lots meet the lot area requirement in this Zone um again 300 yings outline in green the undersized lots are in yellow and you can see two lots on the corner outlined in blue that are conforming so 91% of the Lots on this block are undersized also the two neighboring adjacent Lots um are also undersized so there's no opportunity to offer to purchase their land or a portion of their land to alleviate the hardship on 300 Ewing Street um without exacerbating the their hardship on lot area size as well this slide here illustrates the existing building which is outlined in blue and the proposed home and detach garage which is transposed in yellow uh as Derek mentioned we're proposing a single family dwelling with a detach onecar garage uh the proposed home is conforming to the neighborhood character ordinance and all bulk requirements with of course exception of lot area but it does meet all other criteria as part of the applications now we're submitting elevation drawings and floor plans this slide illustrates the front elevation of the proposed home looking from Ying Street and uh this is if you standing on lynon lane looking at the rear of the home um you can see uh the rear of the house and the one car as well uh Derek's memo asked for the applicant to testify to potential impact of the detached garage and driveway um to the root structure of a spruce tree on the adjoining lot uh on the slide I've Illustrated in red the root structure in question and you can see the yellow these yellow strips that's actually concrete uh parking strips that we're proposing as opposed to an asphalt driveway and you can see in this illustration the the closer parking strip to the root structure as it crosses has been boxed out in red and um that's the area of concern that Derek has mentioned so what we're proposing to do is use um a metal or steel plate instead of excavation and concrete or excavation black top to bridge that root structure where it passes here in red and um I've had a couple meetings with the municipal arborist on site and discussed different options with him and uh he concluded that this is a safe and viable solution to protect the root structure of the tree I've shared with him the following bridging details and he has deter that this is an acceptable solution specifically in the top right corner is the kind of bridging detail we'll use on the concrete strip as we cross that root structure uh closest to the tree and that concludes my presentation thank you good board members any questions of Mr barski okay um can continue please we're uh we're essentially done with lot areas uh you know you've had them come before you but you know that uh as as you've seen on the uh tax map it's the same size as all the other Lots on the street okay and the other concerns that were in Mr bridger's memo have been satisfied the the the uh the uh solution with respect to the tree roots is quite novel and I think Taylor the arborist was quite impressed as I understand it so I think it's a I think it's a good solution um but the questions regarding the window and the oh yeah Marina submitted revised drawings prior to um coming in front of the board today and Derek has reviewed them and um and we've satisfied the condition with the window she actually has them ghosted in clouded bubbled in these plans in the the package so um so you're you're comfortable with the answers yes you're thank okay Karen did you want to say something oh no no okay all right so uh board members any questions of Mr tar Mr barski or of the architect who didn't who did not testify but you can ask her questions if you like I'd like to ask you a question I'm sorry you know St Steve go ahead because I already asked someone else go ahead can you can you minimize your screen uh there so we can get uh okay thank you Mar I I happen to like the design but I'm wondering how you decided that that fits into the neighborhood I don't I don't think it doesn't but I'm just most of the other houses are one story and and not modern this is a modern structure but I think Mr barski said that it it does comply with oh no Stephen you disappeared there can you repeat the last portion of your oh I'm sorry yeah I I happen I like this I like your design I think it's nice and I I think probably fits in there but I I don't think it's complies with the neighborhood design that Mr barski said it did and just wondering how you got to the conclusion that it does um I think what Daniel said is that it meets the neighborhood character requirements am I putting words in Daniel's mouth but I think that's what he that's capital and capital c the the ordinance right and I think that the way that we feel that it works really well at this location is we worked specifically to um there multiple um trees on the property and we did consider whether to relocate the driveway or to leave the driveway at its current location and reduce the footprint of the driveway which is what we chose to do because that actually allowed us to um keep most of the trees untouched and um completely unimpacted and also literally next door not on the not on the gar side but on the opposite side is a brand new well brand new Daniel would know better maybe 10 years ago twostory uh building that uh we were that's sort of the direction that the neighborhood is going it's twostory with a taller roof so by putting those two buildings together and maintaining the garage on the side that it is even though we're making it more compliant and moving the driveway closer to the center of the property also this is a very tough lot because both sides are fronts so the question about the windows it was a little tricky because the windows in the back have to comply with the rules of the windows on the front so it was a little non-trivial over here so that that was a little bit of a confusion so we kind of worked around the whole thing to make it both front and back but I think the key for us was to make maintain the garage on its current side and have the two taller houses in the neighborhoods be next to each other so that they're working together and the taller trees remain so I think that's Daniel hopefully I'm explaining what you were trying to say correctly yeah that's accurate I was referring to the neighborhood character ordinance itself um and on on another note not just the house next door that we built probably six or seven years ago but a bunch of houses across the street you know all over the neighborhood there's you know probably half or more now two and a half stories um uh but like Marina said given the constraints of the two prevailing front yards and trying to preserve the trees in the rear and on the opposite side we felt that this was a viable solution and the arborus through my meetings with him has confirmed that he finds that acceptable so yeah yeah no that's fine I was just wondering what you're thinking so thank you very much well happy to explain and happy to answer any other questions if anybody has other questions any questions of the architect or Mr barski okay um I was gonna say I was worried about the tree but and I'm not um up on the latest technology but I'm um I'm glad that Taylor and whoever else you mentioned um were impressed with it that it's reassuring yeah it's a good solution for the tree I think um okay um if there are no other questions Mr tardy want to say anything before we go into public session no sir okay all right we're gonna open it up open this hearing up to the public Floria has anyone indicated they'd like to speak on behalf of the application yes one second please Mr Brown hello we can't see we can't see you if you could turn your video on please hello there you go Al righty um Mr and Mrs Brown uh if you're comfortable could you give us your address please good evening everybody sorry my name is Alex Brown and this is Carol yam she's on the the deed here we're at 3:15 Ying Street okay and would you both swear or affirm that your testimony this evening will be truthful yes ma'am I do thank you okay please continue so I'd like to thank you know Mr Bridger in advance for addressing the tree situation and uh stevenh for addressing the the neighborhood character um I like the solutions that you've discussed as far as the trenching I know that in the past there's been some incidents where trees have been taken down so I'm happy to hear that this has been something that's been thought of so I'd like to thank everybody for that including the Builder um the other one is for the neighborhood character um there's definitely been a shift in this area and across town so from a personal standpoint do I think it suits the neighborhood maybe maybe not but I know that this is the way things seem to be going so I don't necessarily have any kind of trouble with the design if you will but there are some things that I just would like to point out that maybe the panel doesn't know about this particular area um and that has to do with runoff rain water and the fact that the back section of lyen Lane on the rear of that house it doesn't have curves and it doesn't have storm drains and I know that the house that they're referencing that they built six or seven years ago has a sump pit and when that overflows it flows on a linen and the same thing happens with the house that was built next to me there's some pit was supposed to go out the back it goes out the side it floods my driveway and it freezes so my request to the panel and the Builder if possible is maybe instead of having you know regular down spouts that come out onto the ground because granted there's going to be less there's going to be a bigger roof line so there's going to be more runoff I don't know if it's feasible if we're trying to avoid trenching in area to preserve the trees to attach to the storm drains that are on youing or some other system I know that a couple houses up the street that the the one that they build on gu has the the the swamp pit if you will and so does the house that they weren't responsible for that's on the corner of guo and Ying has one as well but I know that they fill up and I just feel like maybe that is something that should be looked at a little more in depth because it does freeze it does become a hazard and it is a nuisance I know that there's a solution somehow I just don't know what that is and my neighbors and I you know are all kind of in agreement that maybe that's something that should be looked into but again I leave that up to you I'm just expressing an opinion to somebody who lives here and the only other thing that I'll have to say about the design of the house is that I know that from a height perspective I think it will be a little bit higher than the rest of the houses in the neighborhood my only other request with that and I haven't seen any on the perspectives or the drawings is maybe no exterior lights above the second elevation because it looks like the backyard is supposed to be a a pretty nice living area but I think lights that are above the second level or third level elevation might create somewhat of a nuisance and those were my only two concerns that I wanted to present to you tonight because like I said I appreciate you taking the time to talk about the trenching and um you know the neighborhood character if you're asking me if I think the house is too big I do but I also think that times change so I'll leave that up to the panel to discuss you know the direction the town is heading in and all of that but but if I didn't come on tonight and say something then you know that's on me so I appreciate all of you being here and listening to me tonight thank you for your comments they were very good um okay um you want to add anything else how about they never put in a driveway a subsequent owner never paves over the how do they handle that so are on the plan everything for this secondary structure that's the garage so I like the tracks that are going into it and that tells me that say you know somebody buys it right and two three years from now they want to put in asphalt driveway will that be allowed or how does that how does that work as far as the design or is that just it's your house it's your property do what you want kind of thing is there in a previous coverage bylaw that they're going to have to be restricted by or is that I guess am I wording that correctly I don't know if that question you are um there's a limit of uh impervious coverage there's actually two limits there's a limit based on the lot area size um and there's a limit when you add more than 400 square feet of net new impervious that you're required to do storm water management plan their current plan is slightly less than 400 square ft based on the existing impervious um but it's very close to 400 sare ft so anybody that would expand a driveway would have to uh abide by those rules um only one driveway per property is permitted so they could not get another driveway from the the backyard which would be lyen um so um if somebody added it more than 400 square feet it's it's retroactively counted back to 2017 they would have to install some kind of storm water management um system to address the added impervious okay and that and that garage is going to be a gar I mean there's no way that that can be any type of future ad and there's nothing like that it's a garage at this point and it's going to stay that way is that right he does I'll let the applicant speak to that um yeah I think I can answer that there's without there would be no way to convert it to an Adu and add living space without triggering additional variances which would put us back in front of the board you would be notified and I mean logically no and if someone wanted to do it they would need a whole lot of relief to do it and I find it hard to believe the board would Grant variances based on the kind of variances you would be required to do that all right perfect thank you Daniel thank you yeah and I guess I like to add if someone wanted to put a driveway that would trigger a engine in review so it would go in front of the desk of somebody one of the municipal Engineers who are very thorough and um you know that would again bring up this concern with the root structure so I don't foresee that being an issue in the future okay great thank you anything else i''d like to add no sir okay all right um Claudia has anyone else indicated they'd like to speak no there are no more hands okay all right so we'll close the public portion of the hearing and Mr tar would you like to sum up I think the tax map that Daniel showed you sort of says it all uh the Lots on either side are the same size as ours we can't add anything to make this a conforming lot but it conforms in in its own way to the all the other Lots in the neighborhood and so you've Grant Ed Lotter variances many times over the years it interests me I've been doing this for 51 years and there's times when you want to see the house plans and there are times when you definitely don't want to see the house plans so this this just sort of this just sort of Rises and falls with time but I think Marina's plans are attractive even if it's a contemporary house it it it's conforming in all respects good thank you okay board members um any questions of the applicant the owner the architect one of the same um or does someone want to make a motion I move to approve if there are no other um no other opinions or concerns that people feel the need to express um I just I had a question sorry go ahead you go on bnie um um so uh is correct that the uh down spouts are not connected to the storm sewer or they're just going to be draining to surface well we we'll meet the requirements of whatever the we're going to have to after zoning approval submit for uh through the engineering department with our site so whatever the municipal requirements are for storm water obviously we're going to have to meet them uh to be able to get building permits and move forward so um yeah at the moment I I don't quite know until my civil engineer puts pen to paper but certainly we're going to meet all the municipal requirements I'd like to add to what uh Bernice said I'd like in the uh in the possible uh resolution to add that we specifically want the engineer to look at the storm drainage situation from this lot um based on the comments of the neighbors because that's a problem I mean the fact that things flood onto the street and Dam up and there is is is a hazard so I'd like the engineer specifically to look at this uh do we have a second or Eve did you want to say I'd also like us to add something about the lighting I think that's a very good point um I'm not sure quite how I guess I believe there's ordinances for light Village and no Derek not in single family single families in two families so um so just to be clear about that there's I think the discussion was about exterior lights like a porch light or a an exterior lamp Second Story yeah Chris I would be comfortable to commit now to say any exterior light above the first floor should be shielded and have down lighting as not to spill onto neighbors's property or onto the street I can confidently do that regarding the storm water we have very very specific and strict ordinances and Provisions that are enforced by the municipal Engineers on storm water and and from experience there you know there there's a lot of work involved with that and there's specific rules in place for that and I would like to comply with those municipal ordinance rules for storm water yeah so the language that the chairman suggested was that he wants storm water drainage looked at and that's then that's what you're saying it's going to be looked at so yeah I'm not asking for anything that's outside of the ordinance I just want to make sure it's it's specifically addressed and if it's in the ordinance it will be so% agreed that's all I'm asking for I I have one quick question since Derek called out uh the question of protecting the root Zone uh do you want that to be a condition of approval or simply the resolution will uh you know just just indicate that testimony was given by the applicant personally I would like a condition just because um I would like to see it done I'm sure Daniel would do it and I appreciate him um for taking the time and the effort to uh investigate Solutions and to meet with staff on site and um was uh helpful in the process all right so the the condition would generally indicate that the protection of the critical root zone of the uh Jason tree will be as testified by uh Mr bski yeah okay right yeah and again I'm comfortable to do that but that's obviously something that we're going to see through good good Mr Floyd did you want to make a comment I saw you're right your hand yeah I did um just briefly I I think this this plan actually satisfies neighborhood character code which is different than I think what some people take that sort of title to me um it doesn't ex exceed the height even though there are a fair amount of one-story structures but it meets the neighborhood character code and maybe we could have a training session because I sense and in previous meetings a lot of mixing of what's the code and what is perceived to be you know sought after and neighborhood character doesn't mean that the house can't be completely different I think it's a good suggestion is that something Derek we might be able to do yeah I mean Michael raises an excellent point um you know the neighbors are the neighborhoods are changing all over town because uh the existing zoning allows for larger houses to be built in a lot of cases so part of the impetus for the neighborhood character was so that when new homes do go into a a neighborhood they'll be they'll address some of the issues that we identified um when the ordinance was introduced like garage placement and um length of the facades and window placement so um that really was the intent of it but uh we can have an educational session sometime um we will uh pull the board and happy to do that yeah great I think it's a good idea yeah I think it's a good idea okay um all right any other well we George did you want to say something yeah I wanna return a bit to the issue of flooding I appreciate Mr barski that you're going to apply comply with all of the engineering requirements for that but I'm wondering the the extent to which Beyond those requirements there's the possibility of of connecting to the storm water system sewage system um in other words that might not be in the requirements but it might be something that you could investigate and might be able to accomplish so that that sort of Might extend the comments of chairman um of our chairman yeah I I'm certainly happy to investigate it's my concern is if I commit to something now and uh the storm water for example um like the inverts of the storm water to make connections or disturb other tree root structures is going to be a problem that I don't later have a situation where I have to go in front of the board because I'm exceeding um the My requirement for storm water management uh blindly without having my civil engineer really do all the exploration so I'm I'm certainly happy to investigate it's something I take seriously you know I I was in front of the board not long ago with my own house on on Hamilton Avenue so I'm local and you know um the last thing I want is upset neighbors and personally I I haven't had that experience on my own own homes where um storm water runoff is affecting neighbors more significantly than before I started um a lot of that is because the municipal engineers and Municipal staff you know they're really on top of it and also because I'm local have a reputation in town and uh I don't certainly don't anticipate any problem on this specific lot considering it's relatively flat and all the other Lots around it are flat uh but again I'm happy to explore I just I wouldn't want something to be put in a resolution that puts me in a buying later that may create another problem beyond the obligations that are already pretty strenuous to be quite Frank well perhaps not so much a requirement to do it but a requirement to explore I'm happy to explore certainly I would hope George that having the engineer or Municipal engineer look at it uh he may opine that that one solution would be for it to be connected into the storm system so I think that's I think that's the fact that our engineer is going to review it I think he'll do I think we can rely on him to do make suggestions that are appropriate okay he did someone second excuse me do anyone else want to comment yes Donna did you raise your hand okay I'm sorry wait minute so that that was harland's motion and now the conditions are municipal engineer will be reviewing the storm water management uh exterior lights above the first floor will have uh I guess downward-facing fixtures to restrict light spillage and the critical root Zone will be protected as described by um Mr barski and shown on the drawings yes and the light situation you also mentioned it will be they will be shielded yep yeah I don't anticipate any lights at all but just in case they they absolutely will be downlad it and shielded yes okay so har it was it was your motion and these conditions are are acceptable to you right as the maker of the motion yes okay great thank you and we have a second a second second okay we have two seconds second and a half um okay so we have a motion amendments and a second um does is there any more discussion before we vote okay Claudia can you please call the rooll Miss Chen yes Miss Coulson yes Mr Floy yes Mr Scher yes Mr tenom yes Mr Stein yes chairman Cohen yes thank you thank you thank you Mr bar everybody Rino okay thank you thank you good night thank you okay so I think that's a wrap for this evening unless there's anything else to discuss I don't know if there is um so we'll see you all next month hey Steve yes yeah I had a question basically for Derek um is that solar project on Eder Stone coming back