e e e e welcome to tonight's meeting of the Zoning Board of adjustment of the township of Union which has being held pursuant to the open public meeting law c231 laws of New Jersey dated 1975 notice of this meeting was advertised in the local Source Andor The Star Ledger the two newspapers of record and notice has been posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building adjacent to the municipal Clerk's Office roll call Mr Wy here miss Martins here Mr bent Vaga here miss Scott here Mr Johnson here Mr mcneel here Mr grav is absent M rickets here Mr Champion here let the record show that I was not in attendance for the last meeting there being a quorum present this meeting is now declared open Mr mangusu at this time are there any Communications uh no Mr chairman there's no Communications at this time proceeding with tonight's meeting our first order of business is the adoption of a resolution for calendar number 3432 jcats located at 553 thorough Terrace block 25 09 Lot 10 and it was for the addition with insufficient front and side yard setbacks you've all had a chance to read the resolution are there any board members at this time that would like to comment make changes or modifications to this resolution as it is written hearing none may have a motion in a second for the adoption of the resolution Mr chair I move that this board adopt the resolution as modified as accurately memorialized the previous findings of second motion roll call Mr Wy yes M Martins yes Mr paga yes M Scott yes Mr Johnson yes Mr mcneel yes and Mr champy yes our next order of business this evening is calendar number 3435 779 Rosner Drive LLC located at 779 Rosner Drive block 3102 Lot 19 applicant wishes to construct the driveway without a garage good evening Mr chairman members of the board may it please the board be on Adas on behalf of the applicant for purposes of the record I did submit my jurisdictional submissions to your board secretary via email I do have my originals can I you have for the record thank you very much Council yes as was mentioned by your chairman this is an application to construct a driveway in the front of a one family home located in your ra or residential Zone we do have a garage at the rear of the property however the client is looking for an opportunity to drive through the front and be ever able to enter the front door of his home and actually brings this property more into conformance with the neighboring properties we have one expert to testify before the board this evening and that is our architect Mr Manuel peras would you like me to be sworn in yes can I ask you to swear or affirm that the testimony you can provide this evening is the truth and the whole truth I do Manny peras P spell your name for the record please Manny peras p e r EI i r a s with peras Architects ubiquitous we're located at 1116 Summit Avenue in Union City New Jersey thank Mr betas would you be so kind as to give the board your qualifications as an expert I'd be very happy to I received a Bachelor's of architecture in 2001 from NGIT where I attended on full academic scholarship I also studied at the eold de boar in Fountain Blue friend where I received uh the architecture prize there I am licensed in New Jersey as well as many other states stes I serve on a number of professional boards including I am currently the vice president of the American Institute of Architects the board will accept his credentials thank you very much thank you so much Mr Bas are you familiar with the property at 779 Rosner Drive I am and did you prepare the drawings that are before the board this evening I have and would you kindly describe the application for the board be very happy to Mr chairman board member excuse me councilor I just I just wanted to one second I just want to be on the record that the photo that you're showing us is the old zoning map and that's uh as though the it's still in a one family Zone that is the older map okay thank you record to C before you begin I do have the submission that you referen I've marked A1 the application with the supporting materials as it was submitted and I marked A2 the architectural plans it consists of three sheets Z 0102 and 03 for the record collectively those three phases are 82 81 and 82 for the record thank you Council and the same drawings that were submitted to the board are the same drawings you see before your screen right now and I'd like to use them as a uh presentation Tool uh I'd like to start with our zoning table and please understand that this building and its existence is fully conforming uh in this Zone where 5,000 ft is required we have 7,321 Square ft so we're an oversized lot 50 is the minimum lot width we're at 64.2 uh minimum lot depth this is 100 we're at 109 ft 7 in the minimum front yard is 25 ft we're at 26 ft the minimum rear yard is 25 ft we're at 45 ft 10 in uh the side yard minimum is 5 ft we're at 11' 4 in Building height uh you're allowed two stories we are two stories Building height is 32 ft full in compliance building coverage is 40 uh% we're at 19.6 also in compliance and the lock coverage currently uh the permitted is 60% we are currently at 46% and that's the one thing that we're changing on the table we are changing to 55.5% lock coverage which is also permitted uh and well well in we're actually here triggering two variances um one variance is that driveways in this district and in your ordinance have to lead to a garage and the second one is the actual width of the driveway and I'd like to present to you why we feel that this is appropriate in our case here and just to be very clear on the left of the screen on sheet uh on our second sheet is the existing condition of the site and on the right is our proposed condition and if you could see where my mouse is covering that is the proposed driveway that we're looking to do the driveway starts at the edge of the house and continues to the curb and it's 18 ft wide what we're proposing currently in this house has something a little bit awkward and a little different the garage of the house is located underneath the house and access through the back through the service road and so the the applicant currently pulls into the back and that's his driveway and he's entering through the back of his house it's a little dark a little inconvenient and a very narrow road this is an aerial photograph taken from Google maps of the area the property in question is I have no excuse because I have a Surface tablet as well so but let me walk through it the property is where my mouse is right now it's on the left hand side and as you can see here we documented how every single house in this neighborhood has a driveway in the front of the house let me see if I could zoom in to make it a little bit easier to see and here we are on Rosner Drive starting at one in the street we have driveways for every single one one of these houses showing across and entering the property and without exception every single house has a driveway most of them two cars wide uh in front of their houses and the only house that does not have a driveway is this property it's actually feels like a very like almost like a missing tooth it feels awkward in this block and we're looking to bring this house into more conformance and provide that driveway right there in the front so that the applicant and his family can park the car in front of his house and walk through his front door just like every single one of his neighbors does as well can I just ask the the architect Mr chairman how many of those houses while you were showing them is this plan for the aerial that have driveways in the front also have two far with driveway in the rear uh I believe only one does and I'm I can't confirm that it's only what I could see from the aerial photograph so yes that's what makes our property very different than all the rest we have that rear um it's skipping a page we have that rear driveway to access the garage right now we're looking to replace that and provide the front driveway you're not replacing the rear you're going to to maintain the rear the applicant wants this driveway in lie of the rear driveway he's not looking to add more cars he's not looking to add more driveways he just really wants to be able to enter his house through the front door like everyone else on the Block feel like it like he's part of the neighborhood and be able to drive his car in the front of his house that's all he's seeking to do then then what would we do with the drive with the garage in the backyard what does that become we could do like every other neighbor in the block and put a fence there and almost all these houses facing that service road have a fence along the back we could provide the fence just the same way he has no objection to that but they have no driveways in the back there's only one other one and the and the no there's lots of houses that have driveways and garages in the back on both sides of on other sides of the road not on not on Rosner there's only a couple not on Rosner on the on that service service road yes on Fairway Drive cuz there's two Service Roads there but that but every faway dri side but every single one of the houses on Rosner also face that service road and all those houses have or the majority of those houses have fences on that they don't have driveways that's what we're saying we're willing to provide a fence there are you saying that you're willing to close that off access yes if if the board has concerns with additional Vehicles we'll close it off so there's no access so in effect he wouldn't have access to his garage from correct and he wouldn't use it for a parking area he wouldn't no he would not I mean he would prefer that it'd be easier not to have to modify that but we understand that the board has concerns of multiple vehicles and in order to comply with those concerns and make sure that you feel comfortable with it the applicant's very willing to fence that off is he available to confess that to the board we can make that as part of the resolution well would he be willing to would would he be willing to take the MAA and make it all grass well right now he has his son's basketball hoop there I I'd like him to he would like to keep that and we're fully conforming with the impervious area so why would that have to be changed so the fence don't ever come down and cars park back there if he were to do that it would trigger another variance and he would have to come before this board he we're we're providing a fence it's not a driveway he would eliminate the curb cut and it would be fully compliant that's not currently shown on the plan correct that's correct that's something that that came up today with comments that we heard today without a doubt I would I would as the zoning officer I would defer that to the engineering department and along with uh the drainage in the front and the sight line issue that I believe I I'd like to remind the board that the impervious coverage is compliant the this does not trigger any drainage issues it is the Minimus in nature your own uh expert your engineer wrote that in his report there's no additional um Engineering Services that are needed we're adding because and to comply with the board we would be adding offence to close it off does not impact any uh storm water issues whatsoever that's with the existing layout you're proposing now to end the driveway in the back if understanding correctly so our application today was strictly for the driveway in the front as we understand it the board is concerned having too many vehicles and re and and as a solution to that we would eliminate having an additional driveway in the rear the way that is accomplished is by providing a fence no more no less and press rep we could replace the the Press curve there's not much of a curve there it's really a service road um but we'll we'll make it a full curve just so that cars can't roll through that is there any concern in put the driveway day I see from the aial there are very large shrugs there uh car backing backing out of that driveway um you know cannot see you'll have a blind side so another car that's that's coming in an opposite direction um was there any concern um with sight distance all that would Bey I know from satellite it looks very dense it really isn't on site and it's no more impact than the property directly across the street if you look at it or no more impact than any of the other properties along this entire block you see that they all have beautiful landscaping beautiful little trees I I don't see a a problem a safety problem there right at a radius I mean everybody else on the onur I don't think it's consistent every other and the question is did anybody look at it to see if that was an issue there is about 8et from the shrubs to the actual curb those 8 feet will provide ample uh s sight lines and those shrubs are on the neighboring property not his are there any other board members that would like to question Mr prieres hearing none are there any members of the public that would like the question and the testimony this witness has provided hearing none are there any members of the public that would like to comment on this application hearing none Council would you like to make a summation absolutely again thank you for the opportunity to present this application to the board this is a client and an someone who's lived in this uh neighborhood for quite a while and he's only looking for the concern and safety of his family and I think it's very important for all of us as individuals who have homes to walk in through the front door um and to have your wife and your children access through the front of your home instead of through a a service road which I think you can appreciate is not the ideal solution so this is a simple application it brings us more in conformance with the neighborhood and we hope that the board would agree to um approve this application all right at this time I believe we can conference this Mr benna would you like to begin good evening Mr chairman thank you uh let me start off by saying I find it kind of odd that the applicant or homeowner is not here but anyway maybe you had something to do um like you said all the homes in that area you have one driveway so two would I think would be a little extreme I'm also concerned concerned about the site issue backing out only because it's on the curve and Bas on the testimony I'm going to vote no tonight Mr Johnson unusual the homeowner not here to say that he would agree to putting the fence up we don't we have no guarantee that plan for that guarantee home I would also miss morons thank you Mr chairman um I just feel that this is a safety issue the uh adding a driveway could you know turn that way could issue I Mr Wy yes Mr chairman I'm going to vote no Mr mcneel chairman I would agree with what's been said by my colleagues which is a concern in mine also um is is the site distance but a bigger concern um is that the concessions um that's look exp proposed the owner is not here to affirm those those those changes so I would miss Scott thank you I think know should be here you know he's not here so we don't know how important this really is to him so I agree with my colleagues you know the safety issue is little OD have two different dway but and he's not even here to justify why he one as for myself uh I feel the proposed driveway is a little out of character for the area and the applicant failed to prove and Justify both the negative and positive criteria associated with this application so I too will be voting no uh at this time I have a motion to deny the application Mr chairman I mooved that the board denied a variance applicable to this application and that council is directed to prepare a resolution consistent with the board's decision second roll Mr Wy yes uh yes or no motion to deny so yes would be the support toy there Marts no motion to deny motion to yes is yes yes I'm sorry Mr Ben DEA yes Scott yes Mr Johnson yes Mr mcneel yes Mr champy yes meting was that was the I'll try to get it on yeah July 24th July 24th we'll put it on for the resolution can I have a motion to adjourn Mr chairman I move the board excuse me m there being no further business coming before the board this evening I move the we adjourn all in favor opposed so moved