e good evening and welcome to the Bridgewater Township planning board regular meeting for Tuesday March 19th 2024 adequate notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with the open public meetings Act njsa 10 4-6 on February 7th proper notice was sent to The Courier News and the Star Ledger and filed with the clerk at the township of Bridgewater and posted on the buletten board in the municipal building Please be aware of the planning board for public hearings no new applications will be heard after 9:30 p.m. and no new testimony will be taken after 10: p.m. hearing assistance Avail is available upon request accommodation will be made for individuals with a disability pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act or Ada provided the individual with a disability provides 48 Hours advance notice to the planing department secretary before the public meeting however if the individual should require special equipment or services such as a Cart transcriber 7 Days advance notice excluding weekends and holidays may be necessary I'd ask everyone please to rise to salute the flag I pled aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay Miss probes grab a roll call please here here here here here here here yes here thank you Nancy I'd like to Quick make a quick note before we proceed uh Ashley sakur was not at the prior meeting uh at the reorganization however she was sworn in uh before uh this evening before this evening's um um meeting uh we can move along we do have some minutes for review this evening for February 6 2024 are there any questions or comments to the record for this set of minutes hearing none I'll move the minutes of February 6th councilman Cur could have a second please I'll second Mr meora could I have a roll call please yes yes here yes yes yes yes moving along just another notice here uh at our reorganization in January the board did not designate a planner at that time however uh every member of the board should have a resolution in front of them I'd like to make a motion or I'd need a motion to adopt Katherine sarmad as our board planner and to adopt the resolution memorializing her appointment oh my both motions that's Miss sakur could I have a second please I second it to Mr chowri could I have a roll call please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes please yes welcome Miss s moving along we do have a courtesy review this evening it's the Bridgewater aren Regional School District it's uh the district referendum project a high school field house sight Improvement please that would be on April 2nd I believe right very good an announcement that if you're here for Hidden River Farms that will be carried to April 2nd without further notice good evening who will be representing the Bridgewater Regional High School District this evening good evening um I'm Alexis Goldman from Solutions Arch Ure and Keith Smith from French and pillow Engineers um so are you okay if we move forward yes we are okay um so we're here tonight to uh give you a bit of an update an overall explanation of the improvements planned for 700 garrettson road across the street at the Fieldhouse um in and around that area um so we'll just give you so I have uh some I guess you can see this on the screen we just did a some colored imagery for you to look at it's the exact same information that was already in the packets that you were provided just a color version to make it a little easier for us to present um so just giving you uh a general overview um on the first screen you can see oops sorry I'll go back uh this is the overall area and so everything you see in colored is the area that we are working on in this project um for the Bridgewater ran Regional School District um it includes uh repaving the entire front uh parking lot that's along uh Garson Road and a little bit to around the corner towards uh common way that's all clearent is currently student parking and it will remain student parking it's just you know being repaved and slightly reorganized um it's okay on their screen you they usually work just didn't know you know in the interest of time if if if what you're showing is any of the pages in this packet and you want to just tell us which which image that is yeah if you go to the oh I'm sorry I don't have the numbers in front of me but the overall should be an overall site [Music] plan we don't have that full set in front of me um maybe you could can you see those screens slightly at least you'll know the area we're talking about would you reference perhaps a drawing number of the plans let me you got C5 C5 c5.0 yes it's it's close it's not exactly what you're showing but it's close enough there's yeah we have the other one is the enlarged area too so they should be that's the one we have Okay C okay so I'll just keep going and then we have any questions so um covering Paving in the front uh parking lot and around the bend for the students um and also looking at walkways around the entire um area which completes access around the entire existing field house and all the way down to the stream before we switch over to the area where the high school is um we're adding a restroom building to the right on the plan right page right um of the existing building that places the current um portons that are there and the inside of the building um we're changing to provide some offices where there were currently bathrooms um and then we relocate the entire main entrance to the field for major events between the existing building and the new toilet building so you'll see there this new Plaza area entrance um and that comes all the way around to the back and provides access to the bleachers and to the field builds um you know as they currently do and everything is that we've done on either side of the building is Ada accessible so you can um have Ada access on either left or right side of the building that takes you to the bleachers um there's uh new basically new paved areas all around the entire uh Fieldhouse some are concrete areas some pavers we've reused the there are engraved U brick pavers in the rear so we've relocated those in the layout to maintain those and we've added additional plantings to add a little bit more shade to the area because it is uh quite wide open um and then the pathways go all the way down to the bleachers and we all also replacing the home bleachers uh this summer as well um and I'll let Keith maybe want to cover a little bit more detail about the site yes uh so in general the idea was as I mentioned was to relocate the main entrance for the uh for the facility so that it's a a clean shot past the building through to the uh stands into the concession area the area to the rear has uh has been redressed uh between some concrete scoring and some pavers we're also bringing you into what is the will be a uh an area for the basalone monument uh which is to be restored in that uh location um the entrance from the parking lot will uh have lit and inviting to bring you into the the site as Alexis mentioned the areas all around have been made Ada accessible at this time uh we do have uh some steps where they're not accessible we we've maintained the access for uh service vehicles to service the uh the area and bring equipment in uh the um walkways going to the uh ball field area have been slightly modified and the reason for that was they basically there's only a walkway between the Dugout and the uh back stop so if a game was going you would have to walk in front of the Dugout in order to uh access go to the high school so we've created somewhat of a a uh loop Road around the back of the Dugout for that uh period of time I'm sure that during other times that Gates will be open and it'll just continue as it does now you'll walk straight through uh the area by the uh Grand stands has been adjusted to provide for um some storage under the grand stands as well as you know uh the ramping and better configuration of grand stands and uh also of the uh Press Box which will be located at the grandstand area there have been some drainage improvements that we've done a lot of the areas are typically wet so we've added in a little bit of uh storm water piping and uh smaller inlets to allow to uh for that area to drain um more efficiently um and again the as Alexa indicated the parking area is being completely reconfigured well it's basically being reconstructed um and restriped uh as part of the project there are no new really uh it's mostly reconstruction it's not as though we're adding new parking there we're just reconfiguring what is already there to provide for a better flow on the one portion of the parking we've created a a loop road for the students so they don't uh so they have to come out basically to the main exit and and go to light uh to better control the traffic within the parking lot itself basically eight toilet oh sorry about that the toilet building has eight toilet stalls and three sinks in each um each side men's and women's so uh a lot more than what is currently being provided and that should uh help with the flow and it uh for events um the images you can see on the screen and they're also in in the handout towards the back are the renderings of what the building would look like um we're using um CMU block to match a little bit of the design of the current uh buildings that are there um and it's a low slope roof and the drains from the roof whe drain connect to the underground system storage system that's that's existing and we're expanding um so the water will not be draining onto the new Plaza uh and we're adding um basically a new Marquee entrance sign that you can see in some of those renderings um so basically this view that's on the screen is The View when you you know you park your car and you're walking into the approach um you know entrance into the fields there isn't a ticket window per se the the school district is now doing ticketing um through an online app so there'll be somebody there just checking that scanning that in at the front at that gate there there's Gates that close for you know um safety when when there's not an event happening uh also ballards as you can see in the image um again to protect the pedestrians in this area since it's quite wide so that's just a this is just a closer up view at the entrance area and we'll be adding some graphics uh on the existing buildings since there's uh you know not a lot going on with the facade of that building we we figured a on a simple and cost-effective way to improve the facade a bit so that's what you see in that imagery again this is just a closer up view of that graphics and the entrance and the peers so this is as you walk through that Plaza and you've past now past the toilet building on one side um this is a a monument area baso Monument area that we've created uh I don't know I'm I'm pretty sure that you're all aware that the school district was donated a monument from from Newark so we've created a little area and some seat walls uh with some lighting um to highlight that Monument there and that also helped to create to the right of that image you can see a nice seating area for um people out their concession outside of the concession area and this is just a view of the concession area we're not necessarily changing anything except we are repainting the exterior of the building um the roofing is getting improved and replaced so so some of the roofing the coping around the edge will be improved and a view looking in the back this the back doesn't change as much but the Paving areas get much much wider so that uh during events people aren't just all congested into a smaller section so that's all the new Paving sections towards the back um and this is to the right of the building so if you're in the parking lot on the right side this is where there's a big slope down so we added some stairs to make this a a more um a safer condition there's there's just a big slope there right now and that's that's basically the over overview um let's see if I I think that's it perhaps we could open up to the board for any questioning sure please oh I'm sorry I just wanted to answer a couple questions that we saw in the um commentary we had received the drawings that you have list a whole bunch of alternates um and there's all Bubbles and section and the those are basically because we needed to for the purpose of bidding we needed to separate some of the areas to get different costs because some of the the areas were being paid for out of different funds so where you see alternate bid almost everything actually everything that you see on the drawings was accepted and will be completed it's just uh that's why it's listed as alternate bid and um I think there was commentary about EV charging Keith did you want to comment on that yes I again this is not new parking it's basically reconfiguring the parking that's there uh so as we understand it the EV parking would not be required for this thank you I'll start on that note I do have a couple questions myself um my first question you just answered whether or not there's going to be electric vehicle parking uh would there be the preparation for electric vehicle parking in the future would the groundwork be laid for that there is Conduit under the parking uh we did that for the potential for future lighting if it was ever needed and we didn't want to have to obviously rip up the parking lot at a later date so there is Conduit under the lot we haven't necessarily planned spots for Ev parking it's student parking so it would become incredibly complicated to manage that so it really hasn't become you know a thought process for the school district okay I've been there a few times myself so you're saying the parking lot essentially is going to remain with as many spaces as it has today yes uh the plan mentioned something about storm selles being added on the interior of the parking lot could you potentially reference on which drawing that would be so that we could see for the board is it existing are those storm swells existing at this time there the uh the swells that are there were maintaining those same vegetated swells that uh you know take the storm water however what we are proposing at this time is to line them with a lowf flow Channel because what happens is as as the waters uh and we're plac new head walls at uh basically at the end of each pipe will going to channel the water into the pipes what happens today and and has been for a while is that as water gets from one swell to the other and tries to get into the pipe it scourers out the the soil and it deposit it further down so it's not efficiently flowing through there and water is sitting there all the time so the idea at this point is to line the channels just on the the very center at the bottom bot with a low flow basically a sidewalk that the water can continue down it'll eliminate the need or for continuous cleaning of the soil and sediment that gets deposited there and the the toilet area the restroom building that's going to be a new construction correct yes okay will the swells be adequately sized to accept that impervious coverage yes they basically it's going where the the pavement is now okay so it's um and there's an existing storm water system and we are extending that to pick up roof trins okay last question about the restrooms uh what's the current situation with restrooms at the site today today there's there's um in right on that side of the building there's toilets that are available that are accessible from the exterior and there's additional um porta-potties that are outside so those are currently used in like together to support the amount of people at this this current time okay and as far as the accessibility goes for the future site um would that be accessible to the general public or or only only during events well I nothing in the functions of of the property would change whatever the current conditions are would stay exactly the same okay that's all I have for now thank you I think it's only available during events or when a school when the school is using it for for practice I'm really glad that you're adding been many games at that stadium so adding restrooms that are more put is great I go back to the parking for one moment uh the exit at uh common way students aren't allowed to turn in there uh get into school is that going to be changed under this plan are those signs going to be altered or entrance no that's not going to as far as I understand it that's not going to change well they what we have done on that commonway portion is to there is going to be a fence there uh which will and we've modified circulation through there to make it a loop that the students won't be cutting through Transportation building to get the have to turn around within the parking lot and exit at the uh and come to light in order to make the right turn there so right now so they won't be able to exit through there okay so that whole portion uh south of uh where the green starts um that that's all going to be cut off for parking for students this is all Curr supposed to be okay this bus parking goes uh probably to the limit of the parking we adding a few bus spaces in there basically okay because I know at some point where it uh extends uh South that uh parking is uh is extended as well I want to know where the line would be drawn it's being drawn a a few spots above like basically losing a few of the spots from where it is right now because they needed a few more bus parking but it'll be separated now so it won't be as right now it's a little confusing who's supposed to be where because there's no defined like separation but now it will be clearly defined where the student parking ends and the maintenance both lanes go in the same direction at this point lead you to where you so in this case again we're we are um securing that area with the fence and a gig at the end of the fence so that there can be access if necessary but the uh students that enter on the one side will circulate around looking for a spot exit through the parking lot have a question on parking on the the CCTV camera will be on a parking or uh there'll be no CCTV camera and parking they do currently have cameras so we're we we were not planning to change any of the cameras okay I see you know whenever I come from that road in the evening uh there is no activity but there are few cars always there their lights on um I know they are not the school cars at least so uh that's why I'm asking you so is somebody monitors the parking lot anytime I don't necessarily have that answer if you um some of the board members and the superintendent here if you need them to answer it but I don't have that information oh okay thank you yes yeah ask him to come to the microphone could you please come to the the podium please we we are also broadcasting so it's not just being able to be heard in this room okay thank you so to answer your question as far as is anyone monitoring the parking lot we have cameras in the area so that's monitored but at a certain point in time so we know the school closes activities are done Etc and then it's really just the Bridgewater police who under controls are are going through there yeah I see couple of days actually in know police goes there to talk to them for something but and nevertheless it is Police do monitor it yes okay thank you thank you and for those of us that aren't familiar with who you are if you just please say your name and address my name is Robert beers superintendent of schools at bridgew Ron thank you for the record thank you thank you thank you Mr bear Mr chairman two questions if I may Council M sure uh one is um the anticipated timing of this construction the contractor is um has submitted drawings to the planning board um I'm sorry to the building department for review and they're planning to start site work shortly um they're prepping and ordering materials and getting ready to start that so they will be starting around April um with the site work and uh some some building work related to that and hopefully be the schedules for them to be finished by the time football season starts I thought that was the answer but you never know uh and second um just want to make sure I don't know if this this may be a question for our staff or for our attorney um under application fees escrow is current um so we uh our staff uh is is being compensated for their review correct correct okay thank you any other questions Mr moror okay we're dealing with the kids at the high school right and I see plans for a skateboard barrier how about um some plans for bicycle locks for electric scooters things that school kids might use to access the field um bicycle racks is a good a good suggestion I do think there are bicycle racks now um but I'm I'm not we're not really necessarily designating a spot for it but we can look at that I was just thinking about that that we're dealing with kids and how they get there is different than how I would get there since you've got the scooter barriers or the uh skateboard barriers yeah thank you okay yeah Mr chairman if I may uh regarding the the parking lot Renovations when is that expected to happen um again same timeline but they probably won't do the paving of the parking lot until the very end of the summer until they're they're done bringing large materials in so that they don't ruin it once you know they'll deal with the toilet building first basically and then for those uh individuals that park there for like the summer sessions and everything where are they going to be parking I'm sorry I didn't hear that one like so if there's like summer uh summer programs for like football and what not whatnot where where are they going to be parking um yes summer parking for the first part of the summer might be okay but probably for all of August that that area will be off limits the gravel section that's are they going to be encouraged to park somewhere else then is is my question um we haven't we've sort of come up with temporary paths for pedestrians we haven't gotten um exactly that far on temporary locations for cars during that time but it'll we'll obviously have to figure something out the area that's gravel that's close to the stream obviously can still be used during that time so that's one area for sure and if it needs to be beyond that we'll probably have to or or they'll have to park in the Solar lot and walk again it's just for the month of August really the month of August yeah thank you any other questions perhaps some questions from our board professionals um I had indicated in the joint memo with Mr bur's office new's office um dated March 14th um just a question raised um on sheet C 1.1 there's a bubble around the lower portion of the parking lot the southeast portion where the office for buildings and ground transportation uh located but I wasn't sure if any if there actually any changes to that portion of the site no I I noticed that on the drawings that is confusing no the only areas on the common way that are being affected is that parking area that we discussed there's there's no work in this project around building and grounds okay just wanted to clarify that um and then the only other thing that wasn't included in the memo um was is there a calculation or do you know if there's a net change in the impervious coverage um as a result of the modifications to the pavement um the walkways around the building I don't have uh like any specific um numbers calculated for that but the changes are generally di Minimus I mean we're going from probably some areas a little bit larger now which are being reconfigured and moved to other areas the area that is currently the uh driveway is being removed and replaced with the pavers so it's really pretty much in kind not expanding to any true extent okay thank you Mr wineski currently the um the swell along the the front that that extends all the way down is um act an extend water go to the next um the remaining portion of the improvements really are all just upgrades what Curr go low into the system that's continuing storm drains is in areas that are currently swes and the intent is simply to remove the combination pip it's a little bit different your regular pipe but it's perforated Stone around so in period yeah periods of non rain it will keep that area Dr so when you get rain get wet thank you you had a general question I I noticed that the main asphalt walkway going into the complex between the ball fields and the uh building site it's going to be expanded to about 12 ft I think from existing six feet I read that right over yeah right okay so it's if you have a service vehicle be able to open up the gates and drive along that a golf cart that type of thing or even even an ambulance if if necessary okay uh and how about the general walkway that goes back to the school area I think there's one that extends to the school yeah okay okay just in poor condition so we're the only other question I had was um the board received a memo from our director of uh um SE utility I'm not sure if you had a chance to review that memo or not okay uh there's several um comments that he did propose on there and um some of them were quite detailed in terms of sewage um he wanted to know essentially if um uh the laterals were going to be inspected with um Clos circuit television that type of thing so uh would it be possible uh to potentially speak with the planning office to to discuss these plans because there's there's quite a few recommendations that he had in his review fine our office has been in touch with with s dep because we want to make a connection what ising now is a believe a belly in the uh the pipe so it's not that well we connecting the new BS to it it's a new line and we're making that and we've been speaking to them about what they need I I haven't seen that memo though but we can certainly make any of those was televised already very good and as for the board any comments or questions regarding uh Mr Genova's memo no but just for clarification for the public and and the applicant just just to pick out a couple of them for a for flavor uh number two uh notes need to be added to the drawing specifying that the sewer utility be notified 72 hours prior to connection being made to the existing sanitary sewer and or manholes to schedule required inspections uh and I'll just read one more in the interest of time number three note need to be added to the drawing specifying that the sewer utility requires that sanitary sewer service lateral pass a leakage test I think that was what you were referring to performed in accordance with code enforcement department requirements following completion of all site grading I mean essentially he wants to make sure that you end up with a working facility specifications the testing of any other questions all right hearing none at this time I'd like to open up to any members of the public that have any comments regarding the testimony just heard hearing none seeing none I will close the public portion of this application I'll open up for deliberations given that this is a courtesy review I think we're going to have each member of the board essentially give their thoughts and their comments on the testimony just heard this evening actually actually even even Mr chairman with your Indulgence even before we go there can we have um maybe our legal counsel just remind us what is at stake here and and what action essentially will occur as part of a courtesy review so yes as a courtesy review um the district is coming before you and this board's approval is not necessary no act no formal action will be taken um any comments or conditions that a member or the board has regarding this application may be placed in a letter and submitt it to the district um which they may consider um following this hearing or this this meeting so again no formal action or resolution will be required from this board no approval or vote will be had very good given that there is no vote uh is it still appropriate for a deliberative session yes the board may discuss um what they just heard as well as discuss any possible comments they would like to um submit to the Board of Education Mr mura any comments um except for my minor comments I have no objection Mr Wang um I I think the Fiel house um um needs some renovation and uh the plan looks uh beautiful to me and thank you Miss chtz I am fine with it I agree I think that it's a good addition because more bathrooms were needed Mr Chow yeah I just want to make sure that at least you get this uh Memo from uh Mr zenova and there's a 10 Aon item please kindly look at it um and rest of the things are okay thank you Mr Atkins some bathroom uh Renovations were definitely needed so I think it's a good Improvement there but as long as uh the flow of traffic on Garrison and Commons isn't uh impacted I I think it looks good Mr Banger echoing the comments uh welcome changes no comment Mr Sora I'm excited I think this looks great and my kids will enjoy it themselves as they go through the school district too so good job the bathrooms I Echo definitely needed councilman kersch yeah I just want to reiterate what was what was discussed and said about this Memo from from Mr goova um you know the under the the underlying purpose is to make sure that you have you end up with functioning uh facilities which I know is in everybody's best interest you know that there are some some you know requirements and things in here uh and and I you know I think if we could just make sure that in any commentary uh that that uh you know our um uh strong desire that uh the items uh mentioned in this memo be addressed and if there are any follow-up questions I'm certainly um you know bringing them to Mr Genova's attention thank you councilman and I would Echo each and every one of the comments just heard and I'd like to have the addition that I appreciate the addition to Landscaping as well so it's a welcome chains welcome to the township and thank you very much thank you [Music] okay moving on to the Land Development applications for this evening we do have AR Bridgewater 2 LLC this evening for an extension of preliminary and final major site plan with bulk variances and who'll be representing this evening good evening Mr chairman Nicole Dory from Connell Foley on behalf of the applicant AR Bridgewater 2 LLC welcome back missory thank you um so this is an application for an extension we submitted a letter to the board dated February 9th 2024 explaining the basis for the extension this is the third statutory extension request for the application and this is a bit of an unusual extension request it's in furtherance of settlement um so this is that's the reason all the steps for the settlement have not yet been completed we expect them to be completed this year um and and this is the final extension request and it's for that reason story I understand there's some delays in construction which necessar to request for the approval um would it be possible to potentially put on record some of the reasons for the delay some of the process that have to take place throughout the rest of the year yes well actually as I was mentioning this is a bit of an unusual request for an extension because it's related to a prior site plan application as many of you on the board might be familiar there was a prior approval for this project for a mixed use development so as part of a settlement with the township and the board there was an alternative project approved that was happened last year so this is actually an extension of the prior site plan approval where all of the steps for the settlement related to the alternative projects are completed and we're actually nearing the expiration of some of the appeal periods for the actions um you might remember recently this board actually adopted an amendment to a settlement agreement related to this so because the appear periods for all of those um events have not yet expired um prior to February 2015 5 th of this year which was when the original uh resolution was adopted on February 25th 202020 we're we're asking for extensions related to that but it's in furtherance of settlement and um this project uh that we're asking for an extension for assuming this all goes as it should within the next couple of months that approval would actually be terminated so it's a bit of an interim extension to allow these settlement steps to be completed thank you Mr Dory there any questions from our members of the board regarding the extension request any questions from our professionals I would just note that the review comments um includes that the recommendation that the um resolution reaffirm all representations made during the prior public hearings on the approval despite whatever the outcome is going to be sure from the settlement uh you know to protect the board all those prior um commitments and representations be held and just make their way into the resolution certainly thank you any other questions any questions from the members of the public seeing none any further comments Miss finina what's the type of motion that we would need just a motion to Grant the extension request who would like to make that motion I'll make that motion Mr banga call second Mr sakur I have a roll call please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes thank you m Dory have a good evening thank you okay moving along we do have another application this evening that's for Dr Bradley McAdam 794 Route 202 North I believe that's m ad chiropractor that's there currently who is representing them this evening evening Mr chairman my name is Michael sober I'm from the law firm deep franccesco baitman located in Warren Township New Jersey good evening Mr Silber how are you I doing great happy to be here okay we're happy to have you so um I have the privilege first off let me start off by by congratulating Miss uh Miss ad as uh getting appointed as the board planner had the uh wonderful experience working with with Miss doole the past three years um she's she's taught me a lot but looking forward to to working with you Katherine so um I have the privilege of representing Dr Bradley McAdam this evening the purpose of this application is to request the removal of a condition from a prior approval concerning the property located at block 549 lot 9 more commonly known as 794 Route 202 North property is located in the Township's r4a professional zone so you have to go back to October 12th 1999 when this board granted preliminary and final site plan approval with variances to Dr McAdam the approval allowed for the conversion of a single family dwelling into office space and the construction of an addition to the existing premise enabling Dr McAdam to establish his successful Chiropractic practice on the property condition number six of the resolution of approval required that and I quote the applicant shall prepare a deed restriction limiting the use of the existing structure to General office uses only confirming that medical and dental uses are strictly prohibited end quote so so the reason for the board's imposition of this condition as will be testified to later this evening by Dr McAdam was to address the board's concerns with parking on the property in fact again as Dr Dr McAdams will McAdam will attest to later tonight um he had to undertake significant site improvements which improvements ultimately violated the Township's loot coverage requirements in order to provide sufficient parking on the property under the 1999 Township parking requirements Dr McAdam was required to provide 15 parking spaces for approximately 1500 ft of medical office space plus four additional spaces per doctor that total 19 spaces the remaining approximately 1,000 square ft of the premises was deed restricted to be available only for general office space which I classified as an affirmative feed restriction or uh an affirmative obligation to have a certain use rather than just to refrain from a use um so why was this deed restriction put into place so the property back in 1999 could not accommodate an additional 1,000 ft of medical space as this would have required Dr McAdam to provide 10 additional approximately 10 additional parking spaces on the property bringing which would have brought the total parking on the property to approximately 30 parking spaces this of course would have resulted in an even greater lot coverage violation for a lot that is undersized uh furthermore I I think that the board can appreciate that the Township's r4a professional Zone district and the immediate sounding surrounding area uh has become increasingly more commercialized over the past decade which is something that Dr McAdam can speak to so another point I'd like to bring to the board attention is that the condition condition number six did not establish what I consider to be a standard restriction so as I mentioned earlier typically when a deed restriction is recorded individuals agree to refrain from certain uses on their property so here the board imposed what I classified as an affirmative deed restriction uh stipulating that any additional space on the premises can only be used as general office space so what if Dr McAdam or a future property owner wishes to have a use in the property that is neither medical nor general office use what options does that property owner have based upon the imposition of this condition so this condition mandates that Dr McAdam can only have general office space um and this affirmative obligation if you actually look at the text of the resolution if you look at the whereas Clauses uh it's not supported meaning that the the condition seems to be different from the whereas Clauses and what again Dr McAdam will testify to what he understood the actual restriction to mean back in 1999 so obviously it's 2024 we're here before the board 25 years later approximately why now so since 19 1999 the township has amended its ordinance where 23 parking spaces are no longer required for the Chiropractic and office uses the parking requirements for these use these uses as outlined in our application and as confirmed in in Mr mad's and M and Mr bur's joint report dated March 14 2024 um confirmed that it would be 10 parking spaces or approximately 10 spaces I think it said 10.1 uh just just so the record's clear I I did receive two reports but I think that they're essentially the same um it's just that the more recent one the March 14th report clarified that it was a joint report um so anyway the the property is now overp parked by approximately 14 spaces and even if the property were to consist entirely of medical office space for example it would still be overp parked by approximately 13 spaces under the current Township's parking standards so clearly the purpose of this application is to seek approval from the board to eliminate and remove this condition in its entirety that was set forth in the 1999 resolution of approval uh we are asking the board to remove this condition since it's our position that the original R rationale behind the board's imposition of this condition is no longer pertinent given the updated parking requirements so before I call my first and only witness there's one more uh item I wish to address before the board so I've had the privilege over the past couple of years appearing a number of times before the zoning board probably two dozen times so um and I I try to always be upfront and and give more information than less information so in in my application as a gesture of transparency I did indicate that the application that should this application tonight be approved that ultimately Dr McAdam will go through the legal the appropriate legal process to lease the remaining portion of the building to what we've characterized uh as a med spa tenant but what I want to highlight is that this again this reputation was just made so as to not hide the ball from the applicant's future intentions it I just want want to be clear that the med spa use itself is not the subject matter of the application before the board this evening and that Dr McAdam will use every appropriate legal Avenue to pursue this change in Tennessee assuming that this perspective tenant that I identified many many weeks ago is still still viable um so just to be clear there have been no zoning zoning permit application submitted at this time to the township zoning officer uh no use variant application submitted to the zoning board and probably perhaps most importantly in the context of this hearing the applicant has not sought an interpretation of the Township's ordinance under section 70b of the ml um and and that interpretation power is expressly reserved for the township Zoning Board of adjustment so for purposes of of tonight's hearing uh while hope that the board appreciates our transparency I would ask respectfully that the board focus on whether it would be appr roate to remove the condition uh from the original 1999 approval irrespective of the future potential use of the property um I had the opportunity to speak with uh Mr peek before tonight's hearing and we both agreed that the board's main focus since it appears that this condition was most likely imposed as a condition connected to the variance relief granted back many years ago that the board should Focus uh on whether the removal of the condition would somehow result in substantial detriment to the public good so understand this is a little bit unorthodox of an application I imagine that this board doesn't routinely hear applications uh and applicants looking to amend conditions that date back nearly 25 years so if the board at this time has any questions based upon what I said I'm happy to address them and if not I can I would ask for permission to uh call and swear my my first witness only Witness any questions for the board yeah M Mr chairman um first of all thank you for that transparency um you know because we you know we do aim to operate as a municipality with a level of consistency and um you know understanding uh what the left hand and the right hand is doing so to speak so I I appreciate that thank you uh for for that sensitivity I want to just make sure that I understand what the what the belief is in the act in in the intention the action taken near 25 years ago maybe we'll hear that in in the testimony it was related to it it was really related to making sure that there was adequate parking correct that's so so at that time in 1999 for that use the parking requirement was like something in the middle 20s it it would have been uh I think it was I think it would have resulted in uh based upon both general office and medical use it resulted in a 23 space requirement had it been all medical use it would have resulted in a 30 space parking requirement I do obviously I wasn't there and I wasn't present before the board that evening what Dr McAdam told me today and previously was that he had initially submitted an application where he wanted to utilize the entire building as for his Chiropractic practice and he was only showing 10 parking spaces and the board at that time referred to and I don't want to testify for my for my client but my understanding is that the board said come back this this is essentially unacceptable giving our our parking requirements and things have changed and let me let me Focus for a moment on on the change because we are here in 20124 not in 1999 if there was uh um an application to do a facility uh like what is there right now what would the parking requirement be if somebody were to submit an application and just to keep things simple if somebody were submitting an application with the same premises same square footage and they were using going to use the building for all uh medical office purposes and this is in the joint report I believe the parking requirement would be 11.1 spaces so I indicated that it's approximately overp parked right now under the current standards by about 13 spaces okay okay and and maybe this is a I'm not sure maybe this is a question for our planner um I want to make sure I understand is there going to be more intense need for parking when there's office space because presumably the office people are there all day as compared to a medical portion where people are there for you know shorter appointments is that the rationale um so me medical office generally has a higher parking standard than general office simply because with turnover of appointments and booking of appointments there's usually some overlap so despite people not being there all day like an office worker would because there's turnover um kind of like you know a shopping mall or something like that there's people coming in and out have a reservation of space that's why the parking generally higher what happened in 1999 was the parking standard for medical office was significantly higher uh than it is today uh you can look at the Joint report um which kind of you know answers a lot of the questions you just had Pages seven eight and eight um provide what the parking standards were under table two back in 1999 during the approval so what was required what was provided table three on page8 provides what would be required today for the medical office and the general office as it exists as it operates right now which would be 10.1 spaces so they're overp parked by 14 spaces and then the paragraph following that just underneath it says basically if this were all medical it would require 11.2 spaces so it would still be overp parked by no but I just want to make sure that I also understand the underlying planning purpose so like a medical office I I I understand the the the revolving people um and the overlap you know one person in one person out but there's also staff that's going to be there all day there's usually like uh staff there could be shifts staff um there could be support staff that's there portion of the day there could be nursing staff there could be doctors um right now the me when medical office parking standard was changed I don't I don't know what point it was changed from what it used to be in the9 approval but it's 4.5 per thousand works out to like one per 222 whereas general office requirement is 1 per 250 so they're not that far off really to in today's world in today's parking standards Bridgewater they're not much different I know this is a tough question cuz we weren't here in 1999 I didn't live here yet um is is it is it different today because appointments are quicker or it was just determined that that was far too intensive like like what what do you why do you think that standard has changed so much I actually and maybe it's because was you know when my professional career started I've never seen a parking standard like the one from 1999 uh it was one per 100 gross square feet of gross floor area plus four spaces per doctor four spaces per doctor which logically doesn't make any sense to me people must be camping out all day the doctor had four cars apparently so um yeah so it was it was very very very restrictive um and that may have been to be protective Med office was popping up like crazy in the early 2000s you know local um it was becoming different that it was becoming less um concentrated in hospitals and so uh maybe there was parking issues with other medical office that that spurred that maybe it had always been that way I can only surmise um but whatever happened or an ordinance change was made to make the parking less restrictive so so it must have been an issue um in the township for that to have been looked at and been changed to be less restrictive board's probably familiar with the it standards uh with respect to parking I don't know them by heart but I would imagine that many municipalities are up have overtime updated their ordinance to be consistent with the it standards again I can't tell you what they are for for medical office but that that may may have been um aside from the concerns of being just blatantly overp parked for for medical office but that you know there there might have been an effort for the town ship to bring their parking standards uh in accordance with that thank Youk may ask a question please Mr uh yes uh m c on a 11.1 or two or 12 or whatever it is that does it also consider the ambulance parking for medical offices generally no medical offices they're talking about like a like a generally talking about like a a specialist so you know at a foot doctor at a podiatrist there no need for an ambulance Ambulatory Care is usually for emergencies um not even an urgent care probably would need ambulatory Services because if you're an emergency you're going to a hospital probably so these are medical office generally contemplates smaller uh smaller Medical Offices um or you know not a hospital not a hospital use essentially okay I have a question Mr cor um so I know in this in the this report that I'm reading the I think it's a joint report um it said it's it's saying that the applicant is requesting that the planning board consider modifying or eliminating the existing condition in the prior approval which would allow for the deed restriction to be changed to remove the limitation on medical and and dental office space are are you stating that you're looking to remove remove it because of the of parking or is it is it for parking issues or is it for or not parking issues but the amount of spots you have or is it to remove the condition for a medical to add medical and dental office space so so the ultimate goal would be to have a not be limited to only an office tenant to take over the that existing 1,000 square ft it could be an expansion of of Dr mcadam's uh practic practice it could be as I had stated in the application a med spa I'm not exactly sure and I'll get to it you know with with the testimony of Dr McAdam but what I am representing before the board is that the board imposed a condition on the applicant and forced and essentially said if you want an approval you need to record this deed restriction and the reason why as Dr McAdam will testify to is because they were concerned that if Dr McAdam expanded his operation there would be a parking issue on the property so the board addressed that concern by saying you you need to restrict your property so you can't expand your operation um now that the ordinance has changed and that there's no longer a parking issue which again I can't testify to but that's what Dr Adam is going to say Dr McAdam is going to say that's why the board imposed that deed restriction what I'm saying saying is that it it no it's it's moot the rationale for the deed restriction is no longer relevant there's no longer a parking concern it's overp parked by somewhere between 13 and 14 spaces based upon the existing premises you know the the board the planning board and the zoning board don't lose jurisdiction over the property should they remove the deed restriction if you know there's a concern that uh you know a future property owner not Dr McAdam but a future property owner might come in and uh greatly change the proper well they'll have to go in for site plan approval they're still they're still they they may need to seek relief my point is the board still has jurisdiction over this in the future should anybody change anything but ultimately again the reason why we're seeking the removal of this deed restriction is to afford Dr McAdam with the full right to use his property simply it not to reduce the number of parking spaces that are currently there there's no uh we are not seeking any like site plan changes you know it would be maybe down the road if it may make sense for Dr McAdam to increase the size of his building now that the parking requirements have changed today in my office uh Dr McAdam had said that was originally what he wanted to do he wanted a bigger office less parking so I can't speak to what the future holds but tonight certainly absolutely no site changes no site improvements nothing of that nature purely looking at just the the deed restriction and that condition and maybe this is more more for is do you know of any other reasons why we would there would be a restriction on medical and dental office space I I'm thinking I'm trying to think of the whole rationale I'm thinking that it's because in order to have the entire building the medical office they would have needed more parking and they could not comply with the ordinance in at that time so they put the red restriction on it to make acceptable the amount of parking that they had there but at this time they don't need that amount of parking for the size building so they're just trying to remove the deed restriction because that's the reason it was put there because they couldn't comply with the parking got it I I guess yeah that makes sense my just ask is is there any other reason why there would be a deed restriction um I posed the question in the memo because the action or the condition that the board imposed at that time I think is highly unusual generally you know parking ordinance is law if they could didn't comply with with it at the time or they weren't contemplating a full medical office but maybe in the future wanted to do that they'd still have to come back before the board those protections were still in place they could have thought a parking variance if they did want to expand it so the action that was taken by the board I wasn't there none of us were there probably and so it was highly highly unusual to see a deed restriction I don't know if I've ever seen something that's like this where Ward um something like that um and it has implications you know forever it kind of got that site stuck in time where whatever the 1999 zoning was and the parking requirements it's it's kind of you know a de restriction runs with the land um so it's a little bit strange for that reason because clearly the parking standards have changed and freed up you know some of what they were nervous about and but the deed restriction hasn't changed so that's you know what they're requesting tonight so I pose the question because I wasn't sure if they were aware of anything else besides the parking that we would need to be privy to that may you know help us better understand what other impacts the deed restriction was based upon um if it you know Mr silbert has provided that it was pretty much just parking um and you know I I will you take that truth and I think you know it's thing to note as we considering thank you I have one more question to you Miss kathin so on the Medical Offices obviously there has to be some handicap parking so is a 12 parking that 11.1 or 12 parking that you know you are providing it that also include handicap parking obviously doctor's parking and patient parking that include everything okay spaces are based on the the total number of spaces per the ADA requirements okay thank you Mr chairman one additional question um and again I'm not I don't want to focus on the future but I don't want to ignore the future sure um and I just want to validate that um whatever alternate either continuation of use or alternate use on this site would be subject to our parking requirements for whatever that use is under current standards okay so so whatever goes there whether it's permitted and does not require relief is not permitted and you go down the pathway of seeking relief we have the protection that the appropriate amount of parking and then as a subset of that the appropriate amount of handicap accessible parking would be on that site correct okay okay thank you counc and if any changes to the building or anything in the future were to happen he would have to come back for a variance if it didn't comply with parking or plan let's say pre-existing non-conformities on the site related to the impervious coverage related to I think that back there was four you know VAR two three variances that were physically you know physical attributes to the site um that were that were approved so if those are changed in any way they'd have and um yeah so that also like any exterior changes to the to the building so if there's like a tenant fit up or a tenant build out that's not something we would return to the to the board with unless there unless the use was in question Miss I know you have a comment yes I do if I can just um sort of bring this all together and I want to reiterate what attorney silbert has previously summarized just to make sure we're all on the same page um the issue solely before this board tonight is whether to Grant the request to remove that condition number six from the prior approval um uh provided back in 1999 um because of the abundance and transparency and based upon the information provided by the applicant many of the issues and I think perhaps concerns of the board would be addressed in a later application um obviously that is too premature to um discuss and also contemplate for this application and for this application I want to make sure the board is aware of the legal Authority again attorney silbert already set that forth but it's the negative criteria proofs and that's whether the removal of the condition will not detrimentally impact the neighbors or offend uh our zoning code so that is what I would like the board to keep in mind uh when listening to the testimony and that's what should be considered thanks thank you Miss Pina before I move on sure please just relation to the D restriction provision please miss sment yes as I I read the deed restriction I agree it's affirmative um I think what was written in the resolution was somewhat captured you know there was pretty much the similar text about General office not MediCal not Dental which may have gotten skewed in the writing of the deed just be general office I think it probably intended to say office except for um anyway I was a little bit confused about the provision that said with the exception of the applicant owner Kathleen o Conor LLC a corporation in state of New Jersey or Dr Bradley J McAdam chiropract and staff employees agents or servants would that mean um and you may not know the answer would that mean that if if Mr McAdam sold his practice to a dentist or another chiropractor or his son inherited or something that that would mean uh the deed restriction would still be imposed he would not be able to utilize the medical office so I purposely chose not to focus on the text of the deed restriction because I thought I I basically had concerns whether the deed restriction itself the language was even uh legal to to be put in place I I've never seen a deed restriction like that I thought it was written in a very strange manner so that doesn't I understand what your question is um in terms of this application let's say let's say that deed restriction was invalid and we'd have to re-record it it's still the condition would still hold true so that's why I wanted to see if I could remove the condition and then it would become irrelevant whether the deed restriction was actually a valid deed restriction I tried to research uh whether again I've never seen a deed restriction like that usually runs at the land doesn't run to a LLC or a property owner in that respect so I my my antennas and red flags went up too I chose to focus on the on the condition okay I just wanted to make make that kind of clear I did find it overly restrictive probably similar you know a big red flag but um I also wanted the board to ask that question so the board is kind of aware what's what could be at stake for the property owner and keep that in mind um I had raised a question in the memo about if you know they sought to remove the deed restriction entirely or if they were going to you know fit in different offer other conditions you know I don't it doesn't matter me what it is I just want to make that clear what their what the request is yeah it's definitely the entire removal um if the board came back to us and said that we have XYZ concerns we think that this part should really stay in place then it's something obviously I would discuss with with Dr McAdam but the intent is is certainly to remove the entire restriction thank you m Mr wki any comments any members of the public wishing to address the testimony please feel free I actually so it's probably important that I call my witness so that we we have a record here because I spoke a lot and made a lot of representations I'd like the opportunity to back that up with my witness please bring him forward thank you SW I believe we'll need to swear you in Mr mam could you raise your right hand you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God thank you so why don't you have a seat and there's a mic here I think this all right doctor so um if you could just provide the board with an overview of your experience owning and operating your chiropractic practice on the subject property and in Bridgewater Township overall hi good evening um I moved in to Bridgewater in 19 1984 I was practicing in the BC complex running an office space and uh I kind of grew the office space and I was starting to look for a place to build an office or acquire an office and and I was introduced to Bill Strow and he says listen I got the perfect place for you it's 794 us2 202-206 it's an abandoned house uh it's a perfect location it's on the highway it's not a very good place to raise a family and that's when it all started um being a lay person in this business I we proposed 10 parking spaces at first they kind of laughed at me and sent me home and then we had to come back and rework it and it came down to land use and parking spaces and the size of the building so the the building was built 2500 square fet approximately I was able to use 75% of it keeping the parking lot down to 24 spaces so the overall land use was not abused and the driveway was moved closer to the property line because the state wanted that because of the traffic light on the road with telini but um thank you for that I think that's that's helpful and I think probably uh perhaps certain board members are familiar with with your with your practice so I've obviously been to your office before um you've been at that location for proximately 24 years would you say yes and you've been you said since 1984 so 40 years total in Bridgewater yes wonderful so um so I I've been to your office before as I said so if one were to go to your office they would see on your walls pictures of Somerset County's athletes obviously we just saw the presentation earlier this evening on the on the high school so I saw would one see pictures of uh Bridgewater high school athletes immaculada athletes Somerville watching ET yes uh we really enjoyed taking care of the student athlet um we have a service that we render soft tissue we have some uh modalities like cold lasers uh shock wave therapy that really help with the injuries that the kids sustain and um it's uh it's been working out we still see the general public and um all the other uh computer people who sit too much so you you touched on this and I I appreciate that back ground um just so it's clear so would you say that the key concern raised by the board during that hearing in 1999 regarding the the proposed improvements to the property what would you say that that key concern was the parking lot requirement okay they sent me home a couple times and and I'm not sure whether whether you recall this or not but you did not receive a unanimous approval right uh we had one gentleman that was outstanding um but uh one of the board members or the employees of Bridgewater I can't remember the gentleman's name finally stood up and said listen you might as well give it to him he gave you everything you wanted as far as what they were looking for and requirements to the building the parking lot you got if I said to you you got three affirmative votes one denial does that does that ring a bell yes okay and and again I've already asked you this but do you remember any of the concern concerns raised the man who who voted no on your application was was Mr uh Mr Jones by any chance do you remember why he had an issue with your application I didn't really understand George Jones's position so I I can't really answer that question I mean I you know um like I said the other gentleman stood up and said listen might as well give it to him he gave you everything you wanted all right so you obviously agreed to a deed restriction on your property right um I I didn't really understand it because I thought it was I I couldn't use the whole building myself which meant I couldn't like rent it out to another medical doctor but it opened it up to whoever else I wanted to rent it to but um I guess there was other wor sh there and um but but is it fair to say you agreed to that restriction because you felt like that was really your your best path forward to getting an approval yes okay and so when I look at the resolution and I don't know if this is if the whereas Clauses are correct or if you have a different uh different recollection of things but when you agreed to the uh deed restriction do you remember agreeing to only use the space for general office or do you remember agreeing to deed restrict the property to limit medical uses on the property limit the medical use of the property I couldn't move into the space myself okay so that was the intention behind the deed restriction yes it w well you don't recall agreeing that you would only have office there you just recall agreeing I'm sorry you don't recall agreeing that you would have general office there you only recall agreeing that you wouldn't have medical office there right uh no medical office because I would have to have more parking spaces okay appreciate that so let's talk about the um let's talk about your neighbors I mean obviously you look around the room and this is I pose this question you you don't see any of your neighbors here right no and and would you say you have a good relationship with your with your neighbors uh we have a very good relationship most of them are um patients of ours um some borrow the parking lot when they have a a gathering at their house uh so no complaints great and you've actually you had said to me you had the opportunity to speak with with one of your neighbors about this they asked you about the notice they received yeah they they got to notice they wanted to know what we were doing with the parking lot gotcha okay so overall in your approximately 25 years at that property you've never really had an issue with any of your neighbors no issues okay so I want to just shift gears a little bit and I just have a couple more questions um so obviously I representative to the board your desire to lease the remaining space in the future to a med spa user but are there other reasons why this removal of this condition is important to you uh yes it's going to be a family-owned business uh my son who's in his early 30s is uh the primary chiropractor there now so he's going to be taking it over and um it's not going to go nowhere so is it important for you to ensure that the property is free of any incumbrances or deed restrictions in other words can the board infer irrespective of the possible tenant that you don't want to leave your son property that is mar in anyway especially unreasonably so yes I don't want to leave it uh you know with uh issues and obviously you're not a professional planner but is it your position that the elimination of this condition will not pose any substantial detriment to your neighbors no great great and just couple more questions um just about your about the the rental history of the property so you can you talk about what that space was used for in the past uh when we first opened up uh an All State Agent uh rented out his the space he stayed there for 10 years and then I struggled to find somebody else and finally found uh a gentleman named Dr Bob who is a retired biomed physicist from J&J he developed the the baby shampoo whatever so he was a gentleman that developed different formulas but he didn't produce it there he just developed it he did a no swipe for Co um all kinds of really cool things then he's turning 90 and he wants to retire I just don't understand that um so have you had have you had any success trying to lease it recently for general office space what what kind of what kind of tenants have been interested thus far not many um as you look around the uh anywhere the commercial real estate market is um pretty slow you mean for the uh for office real estate yes okay um so I think that that that concludes my questions I think that the board has a has a decent idea of what transpired at the at the hearing in 1999 um and I would turn it back to the board if the board has any questions of Dr McAdam please thank you Mr silbert any questions regarding Mr mum's testimony no chairman actually I I know his office very well many of my friends go to his office so I also travel every day there hear right thank you chairman I I do have a question Mr B Dr McAdam thank you for your testimony uh this evening uh can you just help me understand so right now right now the the lease is for office use only correct I'm sorry the the space that's being leased right now is is mainly for office use that's how the no residential just office no no residential correct but you're surrounded by Resident by residential on both sides is that L accurate yeah um across the street there's a a hair cutting salon there's a nursery two doors down there's a mortgage guy Three Doors Down and two doors down I'm not sure what they're putting in there but they've been doing a lot of Renovations on that building but uh and then with regards to um and I believe Mr sbert you you had kind of mentioned about this med spa could you just could you just help me understand what how you define that uh she does from what I understand like facials and things along that aspect of it you know the to help women look better I've actually a Manny Petty type I've had the opportunity to speak to speak with the uh potential tenant um she has like a licensed doctor that works out of the works out of the facility so I have never been to a med spa before personally I'm trying to understand what that means um she's also licensed also in the state as a practitioner as a a doctor andology whatever I'm not I'm not sure what her what her license is med spots are typically like botox and and things inject injections you know um work done more than facials facials and um like if you do a hydrofacial or things like that you don't need a physician for right that's more of a day spa right what she described is the procedure that she's doing by state law requires a physician a physician present um unlike like a deeper micro different like but you know I I don't want to speak for Dr McAdam but I don't I haven't heard from from that tenant for uh a number of probably about good two and a half months and things things obviously are very fluid so I have to assuming this condition is is removed we we would have to go back to her and and and take the proper legal course whether that's an a zoning permit application if we feel confident that it's something that that would work within the underlying zoning then that's the Avenue we would go if not then a use variance is always a possibility which we would obviously go before the zoning board and just your overall intent for this other space not being you since you're not able to find a tenant for the office space is it is it to kind of keep it within a medical type no um right now in this day and age you run it out to an All State Agent to uh um whoever needs you know a th000 square feet of office space it's uh got you know good location good parking uh handicap accessible so it's um I don't really see us moving into it because it's you know we're busy but we're not that busy thank you Mr banga any other questions maybe you can help us out here we have this requirement of four parking spaces for a physician for a doctor and I may be intrusive here but I'm thinking okay you have a receptionist maybe a an assistant yourself maybe a technician comes in once in a while to calibrate machines which could come up with a four spaces per per doctor do you feel that the four spaces is um yes no maybe um with the other 17 uh there's plenty of parking in there um we have we don't have a technician that comes in really uh if anybody's going to come in and work on so um yeah uh with the four spaces I think I mean with 24 parking spaces is is um a lot we don't fill it up even with the tenant that's occupying the the rental and again I may be a little bit intrusive Fe and stepping overboard but how often do patients come through your office I mean how long do they stay there 15 minutes a half an hour hour I I don't know if I can ask that hour something like that cuz I sense again I may be stepping out here is that the um insurance companies may be suggesting how long a physician can stay and see a patient and that you have to see not you but physicians in general seeing four per hour which is a quite a bit of a turnover maybe a few years ago 25 years ago it was 20 minutes instead of 15 minutes so they saw three an hour so I'm just trying to get a handle on the turnover of V vehicles in and out if you can understand what I'm trying to do um I would imagine that we see probably eight every 30 minutes maybe six every 30 minutes okay okay it gives me an idea gives me an understanding okay I mean you would always want to see 10 every 15 minutes but that doesn't work that way now granted that part of the highway has changed since 1999 you go down the road there and there are other Physicians other Medical Offices yeah on that uh that road much larger and I imagine a lot more turnover yeah I don't know if I would want to raise a family on that road it's a a very busy road yeah and I see your drawings here are 25 years old and they use the old spelling at T mini cuz we couldn't figure out how to spell it back then thank you Mr Mur thank you Mr chairman just a question because I'm I'm really trying to understand what the mindset was in 1999 and my reason for that is the 25 years from tonight not tonight but 25 years from now something that we've done on this de could be questioned and and people say what what was what was the rationale not on this case maybe on a different case you know what was there and I'm going to say I well I hope to be alive 25 years from now I don't expect to be sitting on this de maybe a few who are here will I I I don't know um so you know that's the reason why I think there's so much focus on trying to understand the rationale because I we don't take lightly um undoing an action from 25 years ago we want to be fair to the applicant we want to be uh reflective of the modern needs and modern planning but you know I I think the reason why we're diving into this as much as we are is is to really respect the process and the possibility that 25 years from now some action that we're taking hopefully the individuals here would would would would do the same um so so so looking through that lens particularly right now you're over you're over banked in your parking correct yes okay requirements I mean I can't believe they changed the requirements the way they did they cut it in half if not more okay so so other than the fact that it would be expensive you could take out parking spaces tomorrow and still be compliant yeah that'd be expensive okay but that's really the only thing asphalt is very expensive now right well removing asphalt right okay um all right that that was that was my question thank you Council any the comments from the board I'll say I have been to Dr mcadam's office in the past and I don't recall it ever being busy but I don't know if it's just because there was an abundance of parking I felt like I was always the only one there even though I probably wasn't so I will just say that being there as a patient you're you're not in need of parking you know there's always plenty of parking so just just to state that thank you how about our professionals Miss Sid thank you um I I apologize to the applicant and to the board for the you know the long discussion about the future use I I think you know from just from the application from Mr silbert including that including some other documentation to that I just wanted to make it clear I did not know if that was being proposed or not or if that was seen as a as a permitted use so I just wanted to make that clear um that I raised a question about you know if it was permitted use or lot not and the jurisdiction of a medical spa but we're going to get to that at a later date so that's not something for consideration what I did want to talk about was the um the r40a Zone um I did actually speak with Scarlet Doyle the previous planner just about you know this application just getting you know um up to speed about the zoning and um what I found curious about the prior approval and I think Mr silbert um kind of alluded to it was that the board was willing to approve variance conditions for impervious coverage um they were willing to permit U to move the driveway and create a condition at the driveway um the lot was undersized and I think the biggest one is that there is a specific provision in the r4a zone for what's it says under M contiguous Development Office developments constructed under this section shall be contiguous to any existing or approved office development so that no single family dwelling will be isolated as a result of new office development on dissection and they received variants relief from that where this used to be a single family home and basically was converted entirely to office so they were willing to make those concessions um basically uh against a deed restriction because of the parking um and so I don't take that lightly the board was willing to Grant variance relief they were very very very concerned about the parking it seems if they were you know imposing that condition in exchange the parking has changed as I mentioned before it's incredibly unusual that that's the path that they took to protect the site from a parking variance in the future which they would have would have had perview over anyway um regardless of that I think um that all that variance relief has already been you know it's in the past it's something that was it's not being changed uh it's not being requested to be changed simply I think you've heard the full request now from Mr silbert from a legal perspective you've heard it from the applicant himself who has occupied that property uh with his business for over 20 years um and I don't think we've had any you know zoning complaints there hasn't been any traffic complaints there hasn't been any safety issues there haven't been any parking issues um and so you know I'm always wary as Mr kers said I'm always wary about judging a decision from the past and you know wondering why they did something and wondering if that's going to happen to us in the future but because of how unusual the deed restriction was I really do think um that it warrants a look from this board a warrant a consideration from this board um to either extinguish it or amend it in some way that they that you feel comfortable um I i' had offered that in my memo simply because I wasn't sure if the previous seed restriction was only related to the parking if there were other considerations made by the board at the time of the previous approval I wanted to make sure that those were protected that the deers continue to protect those um and maybe that it'd be amended in some way but I think it you know the most simple the most simple move forward is exactly what's being requested is the deed restriction be extinguished um so that this property Isn't So unusually encumbered um and you know I that's just my professional recommendation to to this board I'm sorry can I just follow up because I know I know I asked you this before but I think it's very it's very important just to reiterate it as a followup to what you just said we as a Township have the Contin Ed protection of current standards for parking on this and every other facility every other other property that in order to get a building permit or go before a board if you need to you will need to follow the current parking standard correct um and the current zoning standard for permitted uses as well protects this site from you know anything outside the purview of what the permitted uses are in the r4a zone so those protections and and and the reason I asked that is you know I I I you know I want to make sure that we don't have a law of unintended consequence here you know the the the the the request seems pretty straightforward um I just want to make sure that you know we're we we are potentially going to Grant what we want to Grant and not you know open up a you know a crazy can of worms um for what some future circumstance may be that would essentially be our protection against some some unended consequences existing land use law existing procedures existing standards correct and that's the the exercise that was undertaken in the review memo on pages seven and8 tables two and three was intended to show the change in parking so we can better understand the hypotheticals it only goes through you know the current conditions the medical office and general office and then also medical and medical but if there is a parking standard I'm not intimately familiar with the parking standards for Bridgewater yet that I could tell you off my head if there is a more restrictive one but if there is a more restrictive one and they offer that use in the other tenant spot and it generates a requirement higher than the parking that is exists on the property they would have to be before the board for a parking variance so but it would it would seem that that because they're such you're so over banked now the likelihood that anything would come into that facility to trigger a parking problem seems to be pretty low yeah I I I'm I'm fairly confident that there's not a more you know there's not a higher standard there's not many uses that have a higher standard than one per 250 there might be some one per 100 or something but um there's probably not without an expansion like a vertical expansion of the building then you'd be triggering okay and then you'd be maybe triggering an additional need for Park to go as well that any use that goes in there will have to file a zoning permit that zoning permit application process will trigger begin okay thank you Mr chairman can I ask one more clarification question to miss cathen please so considering that all 2500 square ft of Dr Madam uh property will be filled up with the medical offices you know spa or medical offic Whatever It Is What will be the maximum parking lot requirement with the current standard so if the entirety of the building was occupied by medical office the parking requirement would uh under the current ratios of medical office 4.5 spaces per thousand square ft would be 11.2 spaces same as before then okay and there are 24 existing okay good thank you but if it were something else say it's a day spa cuz we're were just talking about that not a many Spa what would that change it to um that would probably fall under health and well-being uses um which would be four per 1,000 Which is less than medical 4.5 per thousand 4 point per per thousand actually just one per 250 okay so it's same as general office actually right now close to it one of the reasons why I included all those definitions is because when you look up like Chiropractic use in 2024 you can put that use in so many different categories so the board back in 1999 and I would imagine the ordinance reflected that chiropractic use plain and simple that was a medical office use use 2024 Bridgewater Township puts that type of use in multiple categories which it's again not something I found fascinating maybe a little bit confusing trying to determine what the parking requirements would be today um but one that's one of the reasons why I had all those uses in my application putting aside The Med Spa use was just to kind of show that you know you can put Chiropractic use in health and we well-being use also um or Wellness Center so any other comments any comments from our members of the public seeing none I'd like to close the public portion of the meeting Miss have we satisfied all conditions and requests my only question was Dr McAdams your only witness you was I do not have a planner I just wanted to verify I don't know if this time uh attorney Sil wants to closing remarks I I think um you know I don't I don't think that there's any further remarks that need to be made I think that the board is focusing essentially on whether the removal of this condition condition poses a substantial detriment to the neighboring properties and the overall uh community and you know I'd ask that the that the board consider the testimony that they that the board heard but also look around the room and I think that that speaks volumes the the fact that there there really was nobody that felt inclined to object to this uh application thank you Mr Silver okay I'd like to close this portion of the meeting and open up for deliberations Mr mura well I think we have a unique deed restriction here uh which I don't quite understand but it's there it is uh and if there is a reduction in parking spaces and removal of the impropriate surface that would increase the uh well decrease the surface water runoff which would be desirable so um and just in general we you're overloaded with parking spots so I would agree that somehow uh we remove that restriction and improve this uh application Mr Wang um thank you um I think the for 25 years the the the Restriction is uh I can't I can't understand this um for 25 years only one one parking space less right is is limited the use of the property and um to me I I I can't believe this um and under the current uh Township ordinance I think this this restriction should be removed thank you Mr Sora yeah I I mean I I understand overp parked by by way of what the curent ordinances are I there's just a little bit I I I have a hard time understanding why that was the only thing that blocked you from the other piece and I didn't see that see much notes through the the 1999 um meeting minutes so um you know if it were about the parking or the ability to use the extra space I'm in agreement with with both I just if there's anything underlying that we don't know I I'd appreciate knowing Mr banga yeah very unique restriction um like my colleagues trying to understand why it was so restrictive in the first place but based on our current ordinance um you know I see know um we should you know it should be Mr Atkins we briw sorry about that um I do believe that the requirements imposed on you were a bit erroneous so I think it uh it's really beneficial to bring it up to date this Charter WS yeah I don't see any detriment to the surrounding Properties by removing the Restriction I think as long as we're you know in compliance with the current ordinance which we are I don't see a reason to keep that that deed restriction so I would be in favor Mr chry yes uh thank you chairman uh So based on uh purely expert knowledge and testimony uh and also the current conditions uh I think you know we should uh definitely rebok the restrictions uh plus we know them very well at least I personally know may not know it but we know them very well all our uh friends and everybody they are very happy with his business we like to continue it at least thank you councilman kersch yeah I I think I largely made my statement before um you know the importance of respecting the past trying to understand what was done why it was done seems to me um that that you walked away from the planning board uh 25 years ago with a sufficient uh solution at the time a solution that's allowed you to be successful uh for 25 years obviously we're sitting here today in 2024 and we need to apply today's standards um so I think that removal U of of that that condition um um doesn't disrespect the past but it I think it acknowledges um the the the current and then presumably future needs for this uh for this property so I'm I'm comfortable uh supporting the relief um and and hopeful that it allows uh whom ever utilizes this property to have 25 years or more uh of prosperity uh as as as you have I think you know to Echo what was said uh on on the day it's it's a it's a it's a great Bridgewater story I hope there there are more of these um where you know you know with the assistance of of our municipal government um you know we can allow people to to to be uh successful especially if it's in one place for for for a generation yeah or more difficult to Echo the rest of the sentiments here U Mr silbert I thank you for walking us through that introduction because it provided us with a historical background some legal background that we needed the board needed a perspective on this there's no way that the board could have done its job without that perspective understanding 25 years ago in relation to today it's it's a different story um this is a unique deed restriction situation I don't think that from what we've understood through this testimony that there's any precedent being set I would be in support of lifting these need restriction as well you with that I'd like to ask for a motion I'll make a motion that's Miss sakur second and just for for for clarent what that motion is if that could be that motion to approve with all conditions being met so for my purposes uh a motion to Grant the application for an amendment to eliminate condition number six of the prior approval and Grant the request to remove the deed restrictions all conditions being met yes thank you yeah thank you that's M sakur and the second M chard M Char I'll take a second from another board member please I'll second that's Mr Atkins could I have a roll call please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes thank you and congratulations thank you very much thank you we'll see you in 25 years oh there you go don't blame us after 24 years good night thank you maybe we'll just see the attorney in 25 years there you go okay moving along there is no other board of business I do have a question for Miss probes uh what are the upcoming dates if you have that handy second of April I think mhm okay be here okay okay nothing in May okay just saying uh the second is the week of spring break so I know I'm I think you said here I'm I'm away during that time too so just as a head up I think we should do an informal poll yes yes for the date of April 2nd starting from this side April 2nd I'm here should be here yeah I will be absent should be here I'll be absent should be here unless I'm invited on one of these trips uh I'll I'll be here I'm planning to be here um I'm not sure it's spring break yeah but most likely I'm here okay and if there are any changes in those statuses just please feel free to email Nancy uh the second reason why I ask so there's only one application on each of those two nights correct okay uh many of you are familiar with the fact that the township is working on a master plan process for quite a while and uh it's something that's that's nearing its its final stages and um we're looking for the board especially since there's so many new members on this board within the last few years and this year alone we're looking to catch the board up a bit on what's taking place and where we stand uh Miss sorat perhaps we could uh give the board a brief understanding of what we'd look to accomplish at one of these meetings so the there's currently there's an ad hoc subcommittee um for the master planning process um and I think you know as this document as this process moves forward there's going to be upcoming Workshop meetings open to the public to get feedback um in April and so I think at the second on the night of the second we'd like to provide an overview kind of a brief update to where we're at the process kind of some of the steps forward um answer any questions you know even just in general about what is Master planning what's the master plan look like um and then also just you know kind of put a PSA out there that there is an upcoming Workshop that we'd like you know if anyone can attend especially from this board and if anyone from the public is here during that night to invite them so they're aware of it as well so um maybe we have answer to put it on the agenda as another business item so that we can you know have a placeholder for that discussion okay and that date should be April 11th from what I understand for that Workshop Workshop is supposed to be Wednesday April 11th so it's the following so if we do meet on the second I think it would be very very helpful to kind of put that out there on the second so that everyone is aware in advance of the 11th okay and just for for clarity um because I'm more familiar with the requirements of the open public meetings law on Council than necessarily for a land use um if we are all invited to that April 11th meeting or we're not invited to it we'll have to see so so what so the way I do understand one of two things would need to occur either it would need to be advertised as a public meeting which would permit us more than half of us to attend or we would have to make sure that no more than half of us attend do so do I understand the principle correct has to be advertised as a public meeting or you can't have a quum so yes okay so so so I guess my question is do we want to advertise April 11th to leave open the possibility that more than half of us could be in that [Music] room okay am I only think notice is going out tomorrow okay cuz we're cuz we're a nine member board with two alternat correct so that's that's an 11 member board but five of us make a quorum um and and I you know I you know it I I would hate to be the fifth person interested in being there and being told sorry you you can't be in the room right now as far as and to follow what Nancy said as far as I'm concerned it will be a publicly noticed meeting I will double check that as well on my end um and make sure and we'll know on the second we'll be able to say with confidence you know if it is an advertised adver meeting which would allow all the members so so your intention essentially is to is to workshop with all of us in public or pre-workshop with all of us on the second to bring us up to speed yeah and then that will open on it okay and then that will open up the door for those of us who are available and interested very likely more than four of us to be in the room on the 11th subject to the proper notice being being given yes I'll talk more details about what the 11th is going to entail it's going to be much less of a presentation definitely more of an involved you know feedback process so uh what I intend to talk about more in on the second is kind of like the background where we are where we're at you know it steps forward so that this board is where because a planning board is is the sole uh the sole responsible entity for master plan adoption um it's it lies the responsibility lies solely with the planning board is not a council it's not a governing body document it's a planning board document it's not a zoning board document it's a planning board document so uh I think as much as we can make this board aware of the of what's going on I think and getting feedback from you know the very involved board members would be helpful thank you mrman I think it would be wise for this purpose yeah so so we may have a brief meeting on the second okay any other comments that being said I'll take a motion to adjourn yep motion that's Miss chtz Miss chtz with a motion to adjourn and I'll take a second that's Mr banga all in favor hi hi I thank you very much everyone thank you thank you