##VIDEO ID:0CndWpMpYDI## manner in which such notice was provided in accordance with the open public meetings Act njsa 10 colon 4-6 specifically on January 9th 2024 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 municipal bulletin board Please be aware of the Zoning Board of adjustment policy 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. if you're able please rise for the salute to the flag I to the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands for nation God indivisible liberty and justice for all all right good even Roger if we could have a roll call please here I here here here here here here here all right thank you at this time I'm going to open up the meeting to any uh members of the public that would like to speak on any land use issue that isn't on our agenda tonight all right see none I'm going to close that portion and before we move on um I want to thank Roger for all his work um you've been a great pleasure a great asset to Bridgewater and uh you know you've also just been a very nice person to do business with and I want to thank you uh this is going to be your last zoning board meeting with us and uh I'm kind of bummed out but uh I know you're going to Greener Pastor so to speak to Summit so their gain is certainly our our loss and I want to wish you the best and uh for any reason you want to come back you know I'm the first one that make the phone call for you so Roger from the bottom of my heart and from the board thank you so much and everything you've done thank you Roger you know thank you Roger all right God bless and good good luck to you sir all right we have some minutes um I batched them up into two batches uh Roger I have April 9 April 23rd May 28th and June 11th um and based on the the corresponding attendance I have fous widley Sweeny Amin and kulac eligible to vote um I've already given you some changes from Mrs Amin um we had one additional Small Change Mrs am Min had April 23rd page three paragraph 7 which we wanted to add yearly into that you see where it has the number I'm sorry it just says um the number seven the number seven is there the word years should be after seven and I'm going to ask for any changes additional changes from the board and if none entertain a motion please I move we accept all of those all right again that was April 9 April 23rd May 28th and June 11th right exactly all right that was Mr unfortunately Mr Bon Jordan you're not eligible I have fous widley Sweeney am men and kulak eligible to vote so I have a motion from Mr widley second do Mr Sweeney making the the second yes uh yes yes yes all right and the second batch I have is June 23rd and July 9th uh eligible to vote fous widely ccat am Min and gaski I'll take a motion if there's no changes uh no changes I move all right do I have a second please second Mr gaski Mr gaski yes uh yes yes yes yes thank you uh we have no resolutions AR Rich correct all right could you take us real quick through the our cases where we're at and what's coming up so jumping over um the three that are on the agenda for tonight we have uh carried the application for 821 Bridgewater LLC and Jewish Community Center as being carried without further notice to um 22nd next month the yeah I'm sorry so October 22nd um we're carrying over the Bridgewater realy LLC which is the starbu application uh there'll be new notice on that since there's significant plan changes that's being carried to November 12th application for C CX Towers is being carried with u there'll be new notice and that's being carried to November 12th as well application for belly Holdings also will be on new notice carried to December 10th and the 1200 route22 land investors and 1200 route22 LLC holding is also being carried there'll be new notice on that as well carried to December 10th great thank you for the update uh we have three cases on the agenda tonight two of which are going to be heard Mr silbert I think you're two out of the three so no no 950 sunset Ridge Chen yes that that's correct um I had uh spoken with with Nancy and Roger about carrying it with notice to the October 8th hearing it's a uh fence variance it's an existing fence so I'll work it out with the uh other applicant scheduled that evening to try to see if they'll let us go before all right and so we have you with Sabella yes okay and that's going to be 1377 minor Drive correct correct all right welcome other con year n EXP know be SL call for I can confirm notice was uh adequate it was third Ely andish Ely both on 12th so theard has you know the ropes here Mr silbert you're getting good at this let's swear everybody in if everyone would NR folks too please if you will stand raise your right hand so you somly swear ttim truth truth my left to right for the record sure uh graduate of Lehigh University 1985 received my professional engineering and planning license in 199 90 started out working with my uh family firm for 18 years since 2003 I've had my own firm in Bridgewater and work in the uh basically the surrounding communities in land use to development good to see you again we obviously accept you sure so the uh properties on miners uh Drive uh to the West is Washington Valley Road you go down the hill uh to Sunset Lake which is about a block and a half from the subject property um so everything pretty much slopes from west to east including the subject property there is a single family residence uh a uh driveway off of uh miners uh with a garage uh entrance the uh light tan is the existing dwelling the blue is a above ground pool and the dark tan uh currently is a large deck in the rear of the property and then the uh the rest of the site with the exception of the shed in the back is uh undeveloped or or landscaped uh green Mr to interrupt but referring to uh rendered plan Mark that A1 sure it's it's entitled render rendering variance plan with today's date uh 92424 it's a somewhat of a compilation of everything that was submitted there are no changes to this plan from what was submitted but it is a compilation of a couple plan sets so I can get everything Mark in front of you thank so briefly I'll talk about the proposal then we'll get into the uh variances and the non-conformities the existing deck will be removed as well as the uh above ground pool uh and then what we will do is we're creating a uh a rectangular uh addition on the east side and and the north side of the existing dwelling for 372 square foot one-story Edition the deck will be basically replaced in kind uh with the exception of the uh the stairs are being uh moved a little bit to the north so there's a slight expansion right now the the steps are internal to this darker uh Brown area and uh the the the the new steps will be uh to the north of the proposed deck so the deck will basically replace a portion of the existing deck and then the one-story addition will be to the east of that uh the pool will come down for construction and the applicant has requested that uh that be allowed to be replaced at some future date um so you know it is an above ground pool pools do not count as impervious coverage so I think uh from that standpoint we we shouldn't have to come before this board again for additional variances um with uh respect to the uh nonconformities I'll go through the Planning and Zoning uh review on page four um as Michael had indicated the minimum lot areas required in the R20 is a 20,000 squ ft we're at 17441 one so that's a pre-existing nonconformity the minimum side or front yard setback uh required is 50 feet 38.6 exist again that's an existing non-conformity uh minimum sidey yard uh total both side yards um M minimum have to add up to 50 feet we're at 40.3 again there's no change to that and then it's a pre-existing nonconformity um with respect to uh the maximum improved lock coverage uh 25% is allowed which is 4,360 square ft we're slightly under that existing and the proposed uh goes to 2646 which is basically the 380 some square foot addition and a variance is requested uh for that maximum lock coverage exceedance and then we have the uh maximum F floor area ratio is .16 which is 2790 we're at 0.149 we're just below the the allowable and with the addition we're at 171 which is 2982 square feet uh again requesting a D4 variance for the f um and then lastly for the shed in the rear the uh minimum sidey yard is 20 ft we're at 15.59% properties and it seems to be very logical place for the placement of that shed without relocating it internally setback there was a issue second paragraph page relating architectural plans and then there's a note on our it says 266 minus that is supposed to indicate elevation elevation of the deck not the square so my pad person who's a little bit Young with respect to drainage the third paragraph uh taking a site visit so the trunk drainage of the exist dwelling basically runs like I said east to west a drainage alcohol driveway comes in off the Min and slopes towards the house there's aen the drainage to the rear again it slopes east to west down to the Sunset lakew Drive then it's picked up in a storm system that runs down to the sunset lake so the the uh I think the question is whether or not storm water my opinion 382 is disting the is going to be on stilts so there'll be some you know ground under unforunately the board deems it necessary we could introduce a dry well to pick up roof leaders from that addition if deemed necessary um other than just lighting at the uh the entrance no Spotlight there was one back to the storm water there was a comment on whether we can reduce cious I did have a discussion with the applic about shav driveway he had just installed Belgium Block curb and expanded that slightly so that he coverage waste brought back to the main area to compensate for that's good all right I I have a very quick question I know Sunset lake has a homeowners association how does this application work with with them do do they get any kind of say in this do you know I just want to make sure that we don't upset them in any way shape or form and kind of keep them appraise of what's happening what's the the the lay of the land with the homeowners it's oh interesting okay it's just whether you're a member of the Lake Association or not okay so this wouldn't have any the roads or you so all right fair enough Michael you could get a letter of no interest from the association I don't know if it's it's just the club because we had an application two months ago and the home she was the president of the Home Owners Association she actually had a letter that stipulated that they had no okay all right thank you other board questions assuming there yeah right just as long as you let them know that this is happening I think the board will be fine all right I going to open up to members of the public that would like to question Mr Styers on his engineering testimony all right see none thank you Mr Styers oh I'm sorry our board professionals right um thank you Mr chairman yeah just just a couple of quick clarifications Dave um the proposed addition that we're talking about was your testimony that addition lies in an existing Disturbed area by way of the existing deck is there any new disturbance or the does the footprint of the exterior improvements expand Beyond where the deck was it does not expand obviously have construction sure but no no permanent disturbance beyond that and the addition itself is going to be is it's going to be on on um like can Canever out on whatever you want to call them still piles okay and you described the drainage a little bit and I guess the applicants the homeowners have put in curbing along the driveway and the driveway slopes back towards the house correct and that gets captured by a trench drain that gets daylighted to the left side of the property the West Side yes that just drains into the lawn area yes and where the new addition is proposed to be situated where will the runoff from that addition Now drain to I would assume it's going to have it's going to have roof leaders that drain down to grade yeah so as I explained earlier that the the front portion goes south of house on the corner okay and house so it it based on the existing grades and your site visit the runoff from the addition will not flow directly to the home to the side to the corner lot on Lake View I want to make sure it's not going to flow to that house does not and it makes its way around that home to the Lake View Drive which was I think just improved by the township if I'm not mistaken we just paved that there's the next one parallel to minor right and after the lake is done yeah okay guys are all over the yeah as we know okay and no no new exterior lighting uh no trees being removed to normal at the all right very good thank you thank you Mr chairman you're good okay all right that's it back he I'm a uh graduate of Ohio state with a bachelor's industrial design and a graduate of J University and a bachelor's in architecture um I'm licensed in New Jersey New York and Pennsylvania uh I've been licensed in New Jersey for close to 30 years now um I had done several many projects in Bridgewater I haven't appeared in front of this board before board accepts you as an architectural expert yeah the stairs were a big issue uh with the homeowner there were very unsafe set of stairs uh they were installed or built on probably in a addition that was done many years ago uh to a second level which is sort of a half story over the part of the house that we're adding on to uh the stairs when I say unsafe they're very steep open risers just unsafe for as children and that was sort of the driving force on this addition the addition itself we did not increase the height of the building at all of the existing building nor the new addition it's all the same elevation and that's part of the reason why we have the design of the uh High family room ceilings uh we had to get the Headroom in for the stairs coming from that second level down to the the first level we're removing the old stairs completely so the new stairs will be extending into the new addition which again is a the main feature of this project the uh Foundation I just wanted to touch on that a little bit because I heard some comments on it this is a raised Edition uh meaning that the deck that was there built typical deck style columns and a deck above grade uh we're not using any of the deck structure but we are keeping at the same elevation so there will be new footings and structure posts that will be installed underneath the new addition uh we're not going to be really using any of the the footings that are there nor nor the post the wood is all going to be removed the deck itself is in very poor condition again that's why we're replacing it we're going to be replacing with composite decking and then the uh structure itself is not increasing any more footprint than what is there right now so we basically virtually built right over the old deck but even though it's not there the uh space itself we have 12 foot high ceilings up to about a 16ft ridge height in the middle uh very tall windows and a uh very open feel to the family room but again a lot of that was driven by the height of the roof that we needed to get the stair clearance in from that second level to the first level yeah that's correct it's going to be basically it's just the dirt and rocks under there right now there's no intention on doing anything underneath the deck other than having it as it is today it's going to essentially just be a raised uh ra structure you can walk under there if you want questions for Mr fortunado word professionals just one one question Mr chairman um we heard from Dave's testimony that there were a couple of slight discrepancies between the engineering plan and the architectural plan I noticed that that goes a little bit further as far as the F and the lot coverage numbers from your resp respective plans is one of the plans going to govern as far as what is the correct yes what what we're going to do is I'm I'm stripping the impervious coverage and all the numbers off of my plans okay so when they get submitted for permits you will we're going to rely on the engineer then we're going to rely on the engineer's plan for and that's what we heard testimony on previously as far as what the variances are those are the accurate numbers okay okay so perfect that's all I needed to know I wanted to make sure we had the right numbers for good thank you thanks Bill uh members of the public questions on architectural testimony all right SE none thank you thank you sure my education comes from Ruckers I have my master's degree in planning and public policy I have my professional planners license in the state of New Jersey as well as my aicp license which is the national lure for planners uh this is my first time appearing before this board however I have been before over a 100 boards uh across the state all right welcome Mr and we accept you as a expert planner than sir so I think I can just cut to the chase here obviously we heard that we are talking about one tax lot that is undersized per zoning um at about 17,44 square feet the minimum required lot area is 20,000 Square ft in the R20 Zone um we are proposing the addition that we that we saw in our uh engineering plans in our architectural plans as well as the um the new and replaced deck component as well we heard the motivation behind the addition and we obviously saw that it is going to blend in with the existing architecture and I think complement the building that's out there today so again just to cut right to the chase here we are requesting a D4 F variance 016 is the requirement in the zone we're proposing 0.17 actually 0.171 um which basically in terms of square feet we're talking about 2,982 Square ft whereas what we're allowed is 2790 square feet so it's approximately 192 square feet over in terms of the f um as we heard from our architect and our engineer the proposed Edition is actually not going to expand the development footprint per se it's going to sit right where the existing deck ends um and I think what is left of that deck is actually going to be made more private seeing that the addition is actually going to provide somewhat of a buffer um enclosing the the outdoor usable deck area um so in terms of the municipal andus law the purposes of zoning I think that the project promotes several of the of the purposes set forth therein including purpose a promotion of the general welfare we heard that this is going to improve the living conditions not just for the current tenant but also any future tenants that that might live here um in the future with new safer uh stairs this obviously could set a precedent in the town to to improve uh properties thereabout um and the addition like I said does create a buffer which I think improves the outdoor usable space on the lot uh purpose G variety of uses in appropriate locations again this is a permitted use that the applicant is investing in um modernizing it making it more viable for the continued use of of the of the existing dwelling purpose eye desirable visual environment I think we can look to the fact that we are not expanding the development footprint we are preserving the open space that we have out there today we're complimenting and responding to the existing architecture and the existing deck on the property purpose M efficient use of land again taking advantage of the existing development footprint um not getting any closer to any property lines not bringing the building height any higher um or anything like that I think really the bulk of the D4 variants comes into play with the negative criteria we look at whether there's any substantial detriment to the public or to the Zone uh in terms of uh any detriment to the public again the addition is in the rear of the dwelling it's not going to affect the streetcape um the addition is over the existing development footprint not getting any closer to any property lines um when we look at the location of the addition in terms of the relationship with any neighboring properties I would say there is going to be no adverse impact we're not going any further back than one of the dwellings on the on the right and on the left that dwelling is actually set much further back than than ours so we're not impeding on any um use or enjoyment of any of our neighboring properties um the height is actually well below the maximum at 24 feet whereas we're allowed to go up to 35 feet um and in terms of impacts to zoning I would just mention that since the minimum requirement of lot area is 20,000 Square ft the minimum anti ipated F in the zone is actually 3,200 square ft as I said the the F that we're proposing is only 27 I'm sorry 2,982 Square F feet um so when we look at what the Zone actually anticipates by sheer math we are in line with with that um so I think all of that goes towards the D4 F variance um in terms of the C variance the only new variance we're requesting is the lock coverage posing 26.4 6% whereas 25% is permitted um again just like the F variant I think it's a DI Minimus increase over what's what's proposed or what's allowed rather and like the engineer testified to when we look at what's out there today not expanding the footprint where we have the existing deck um what's going to be underneath this Edition is actually going to be um grass dirt area while rainwater can't fall directly on that land it can flow freely through it um so I think that the board can look at that as a mitigating factor in terms of the lot coverage um I think that that can be justified by the C2 balancing test whereby the benefits that I've mentioned for the D4 F variants carry forth substantially outweigh any negatives um again it's really taking advantage of existing architecture no adverse impacts to our neighbors or to the Zone um really just an appropriate and modest upgrade to an existing dwelling and with that I would say that all the relief being sought is not only diminished minous but it's also appropriate and really will not have a substanti det correct and just to the lot area I mentioned the front setback was mentioned before me obviously this this addition is in the rear of the building not affecting the the the view from the front and the side setback is going to remain the same same which again is a benefit that we get by putting the addition on the existing deck area absolutely yeah what we have on this lot is a basically open rear yard area and then around the perimeter in the back we do have some trees and shrubs and those trees and shrubs actually buffer the the existing accessory structure so I think that is the ideal spot as opposed to bringing it in where we might have a morea board questions on planning testimony Mr Flynn yeah go for it yeah um just on the shed can we have a stipulation that it stays where it is no bigger and stays where it's at no change at all the board is good professionals no questions all right members of the public questions on Mr Flynn's planning testimony all right see none thank you thank you that's it you wrapped up all right uh this time members of the public that would like to speak for or against this application uh welcome to come up and make a state all right seen none we're going to close that portion we're going to open up the liberations thank you Mr silbert uh Mr widley your thoughts please um it's a pretty straightforward application um I have no problem with it nice short presentation you got the point across I'm in favor of it let's start down to Mr vesio good evening sir good evening sorry for my tardiness no problem Transit subject to railroads all right so in state um I think it's straightforward application uh I did listen on the YouTube so during my tardiness um and I I have no further questions thank you Mr kulak yeah I would agree I think the application was well presented we're talking about an increase of living space and part of the justification was to allow for the appropriate uh construction of the staircase which had been described by the architect and bringing that up to code plus you get the additional living space I think it's a really good um expansion of the property architecturally it's pleasing and I would approve this thank you Mr cat um I I agree with Mr kulak I the request appears to be very modest and um I would support the application thank you keski yeah I would agree with on board members I don't think it's huge huge ask here and it's going to be a nice addition to that proper thank you Mr vour I agree with the other board members I I'm in favor of it thank you I to in an agreement I'm going to vote in favor Mrs Amin your thoughts please thank you Mr Sween I also am in favor of the application uh it's a hardship case undersized lot in fact if you take a look at the square footage that's proposed for lot coverage and floor area uh if you compare those numbers with the required 20,000 foot lot size you come up with a lot coverage in a floor area ratio that's less than what's required in the zone than I'm in favor as well especially with the safety aspect that the stair uh construction would add and keeping the kids safe sounds like the will of the board is to uh approve this case and Rich take us through the stipulations we spoke about a couple of uh steps and and conditions of course whatever is in the plan and um Engineers report um in addition or not in addition already in those reports but area under the deck that remain as a pervious material you'll obtain either the association's approval or letter of no interest the arital shed will not be made reloc will not be reloc closer to the applicant can continue to have a p in the rear yard as long as it's in aiss location thank you was there was there a drywell thing it was proposed and and and Bill spoke to it Bill are you comfortable without a drywell on this case I I am Mr chairman I think given the testimony we heard I'm all right great you good Mr gaski great thank you all right with everything here uh GNA open up to the board for a motion please move Mr widley do I have a second that was a a motion to approve yes yes all right right good rer conditions with the conditions who second Mr bouro yes uh yes yes yes yes yes thank you Mr silbert good seeing you sir we'll see you in October for the other case all right all right have a good night all right Mr Sullivan hi there all right next next up we're going to do 233 Shepard Avenue represented by Mr suvin good evening I can tell you the notice is in order proper form served um by certified mail on August 29th published on August 30th so the court has jurisdiction repr this is both variant approval to allow Adder have first have Mr Sullivan could you just pull the mic a little bit closer thank you is the green is the green Lan on in front of you okay re why don't we swear everybody in as well truth Tru my right yes yes my wife and my four kids yes have eight eight and six four and to yes yes one carroom one you have like a dining area downstairs but upstairs is only two uh bedroom and the bathroom is downstairs and the kitchen and the living no no yes yes four three um I've been here for like three years and I love the town and my family is growing now I have four kids my two daughter she live in one bedroom son and we have only one my Adamsville school she really she loves so much she love her teachers and her friends and my son he's enrolled in speech therapy programs to help him develop speech and he's been for one year since he three years old and he's Improvement he's doing a lot of improvement so we have to stay in the town so he can finish his programs this his second year this year and um we love the town and uh right now we are overcrowded the space and that's all yes yes very yep very crowd yep from the stop sign by the Mountain Avenue all the way back to like two blocks down very because it's a two-way street and when the traffic stop in one lane let's create like a blind spot for the up Direction so I cannot make a I didn't see the car coming from the other L it's happening all day say that especially when the school start start much less yes yes very much especially with my kids they have like four years old when we get ins our driveway it's not safe for us they always rushing to open the door the mom should always have curiosity about you know with the shiver there a lot of traffic and a lot of activity going on all right thank you board questions can I get one clarification uh how many bedrooms in total right now the existing two bedroom for the proposed and weos four bedroom and three bathroom okay just the plan show five one on the first floor on the first floor yes so so it's five total going to be five bed room and three bathroom okay thank you yep and you you have one bathroom right now yes and two daughters you just made his case board professionals no I don't have any questions right now just one one question the property now has I see it has an inground pool and it looks like a paer patio around the pool is is that is that going to stay you're going to keep that after if this is approved and the addition is built that pool will remain what mean it's because it's kind of like a narrow to the entrance so it's not like of the house and one of the Varian is that you requesting is a lot coverage which is the amount of Hardscape on the ground is there any opportunity for you to remove some of the existing Hardscape with this project existing hard the existing driveway going to remove the existing driveway you're going to remove the existing driveway and you want to put a new driveway on the side off a Park app right yep and do you have any other lock coverage on the ground that you can remove as part of this or do you need everything else that's there there's nothing left I mean there's nothing more than that it's the house it's FL slab right have no basement and there's the swiming pool and the dick in the front of swiming pool go to the door and the patio and the patio around the pool you use patio is very the frame of the okay B is exactly the same shape of the B and going triangle so we don't have anything extra no extra okay very good thank you Bill could you confirm that Shepard Avenue is indeed busier than Park just because they don't have a traffic engineer just want to put on the record you know our town roads quite well that connects to Middle sex that leads into middle sex I um I worked on a project on on Shephard AV probably in 2006 or 2007 and it was it was an interesting Road Project and saw the traffic trying to get that road repaved and Park Avenue is just a residential side street completely residential in fact I think the board had an application if I'm not mistaken last year for a similar home edition last year on Park so absolutely I think relocating the driveway over to park would represent a much safer safer Arrangement um for sure good thank you uh members of the public that would like to question uh the property owner on the application all right seeing none thank you yes I was licensed to New York insute of technology and I an architect 1976 and on I'll just be closer and louder perfect perfect do that I'm sorry so um I graduated 19 uh 64 however the military took me for a while during the Vietnam war and I spent 10 years with them and then I became an architect in 1976 and then in two years later uh through R proes the uh Planning Association New Jersey uh allowed for reoc to become a licensed planner and I've been doing that ever since uh 1977 or eight um I'm former zoning officer for the city of Clifton for 18 years is also zoning officer for Long Valley where I currently have my residents and uh other towns I'm licensed in uh New Jersey current Plum uh the planning current and uh 28 other states uh I do some Asian restaurants and they take me everywhere Florida to Georgia I don't think there's a Chinese restaurant I haven't done in the state of New Jersey well in that case we definitely accept you as a professional architect and sir yes correct what's on currently is the existing dwelling if you look at the submitted plans on page two photograph of the existing very modest two story and a half house right it's a small very small house with a single car garage attached on one side and the the addition would require removal of the tire roof on the second level and then adding a complete second floor addition over both the uh existing dwelling and the proposed addition to the existing garage the purpose of the existing garage is to allow us to or the client to enter through Park Avenue versus uh Shepherd because uh that he explained the traffic is absolutely horrendous there and he would like it for safety SE first of all secondly putting in a two car garage is morei he's got storage area on it and we had to do was to the existing garage 10 ft into that front second front yard which is uh real hardship on property because two corners on a small lot undersiz l the lot is currently 15,27 Square ft and 24,000 square ft is required we had 24 sure sure well my opinion look at one closer louder I'm sorry um on the first sheet is uh the front as as prepared to uh add the second level and some dormas on the existing roof all the windows are going to be uh uniform uh there's a St a stone and entry to announce where the front door is and the entry and it just makes for a very my opinion date house that would blend with the neighborhood floor plans on sheet two first floor plan what's uh crisscross to the very left is the addition addition driveway and garage then we have a kitchen bathroom on the first floor small bedroom in the rear a living area that type of thing accomodate and then page three is the entire uh addition over the uh lower structure it includes four bedrooms master bedroom and three uh smaller bedrooms master bedroom has a 12 by 30t it's really a bedroom and a half um one of are very young infant area where it's called sitting area baby right in the while parents by and then we have two his and her walk-in closets master bathroom second bathroom there for the other bedrooms three bedroom we will have closets and that's the second floor the addition will be all sighting vinyl sighting throughout all matching down entrance or exit from De my opion brings the dwelling from what it is now to yes yes think they can park in front of the garage doors there's 20 ft which is more than adequate for two cars no yes I understood that and um one comment I would have is I know that the uh area around the pool um is a little larger than would be required we're only over by I think about 170 square fet or not which is really in my opinion the Minimus uh and uh the existing driveway will be elated so that brings it down to that small amount of square footage the other point is uh it the pavers I don't know if they're exactly the kind of pavers that do take water they do take a percentage of water and that's really the purpose of ground coverage is to allow for drainage and uh not having too much surface uh pave surface so I I I think it would I know it will not create any uh detriment to any of the surrounding areas um the lot to describe it runs from uh shepher up hill to the backyard comes down she from the back proper line down towards Shephard and over towards uh Ark so that all the drainage goes to the public Street both Park and Shephard not at all none of it no reason not to all the they all let be piped out to the curb Street curbs I didn't research that I just assume there would be because it's a it's a finished Street I didn't do the engineering but it will all be out to the street sure absolutely they were all positive comments in my opinion thank you well the existing variance is that of the size of the lot lot is substandard both in uh square foot area and in uh Dimensions uh it was an existing lot we didn't make any lose any of it or gain anything we just uh it's an existing condition that has been there was built that way and it will remain that way uh that's the part of the hardship that we have is that in zoning and I've done zoning ordinances in various municipalities when you have a a substandard lot like that to apply the same setbacks coverages and restrictions as you would if you were had a conforming lot of 24,000 square feet makes sense it's easy but to impose on a substandard lot like this is where the hardship comes in uh and and where zoning uh boards make exceptions hopefully uh to uh allow it to um encroach on these setbacks um as long as they don't create any uh detriment to the surrounding properties that's the whole purpose of zoning is to make sure that your activity does not disrupt the peace and Tranquility of your neighbors or the neighborhood or the municipality and this will have absolutely no negative impact on anybody only a positives um the positives are that will be yes existing two newly created ones would be on Park Park required it because it's a corner lot requires 50 fet of setback didn't have 50 fet it only had 30 feet existing again and uh in order to accommodate two-car garage coming in from Park um we had to make the garages 20 ft deep to fit a car cars are legal parking space for vehicle is 9 by8 and these would be 20t de please speak up and also the driveway would be 20 feet where that would also be par behind it as permitted under the residential site Improvement standards can double Park as long as it's your own car and they can use it for company sure well the C1 is is an obvious one as far as I'm concerned size of the lot restricting meeting the C2 is one where the benefit detriment variances that we Mr mleta we're losing you a little bit with that microphone municipality or any uh of the surrounding area so it's it's the benefits absolutely U outweigh any detriment under the C2 zoning ordinance correct well the benefits of the safety that's the safety of the uh owner uh he described it very clearly that it is absolutely difficult uh to exit on this Shepherd especially with the driveway just being a back out driveway there's no K turn on the street or on the property in order to turn a vehicle around you got to either back in or back out one or the other has to be done there's nowhere to turn the car around there so the good solution I thought would be to get rid of that driveway bring cars in from Park and be much safer safer for everybody the people that visit that area and and the owner of the property yes uh the property will be much improved and that's a purpose of good planning is that um you you improve the the appearance of the building and uh yes it's a it's a benefit yes it's a residential Zone it's a residential use of the property and uh all we've doing is upgrading it to current living standards uh the old days they'd raise a family of five or six in a Cape Cod and and one bathroom those days are gone uh it's it's not healthy it's not good but it was the only thing they could do today's living standards uh we brought them up to those adequate bathrooms adequate bedroom sizes not too many people in one bedroom and that type of thing it's big Improvement Absolut windows will be egress windows into the bedrooms which are much larger than normal B the existing windows that are there now and the safety of having all those egress windows plus we're going to have a smoke detectors because we uh it's not a renovation this is a second build of the house absolutely none no negative impacts all right thank you Mr Sullivan uh board questions on Mr mad's architectural and planning testimony yeah Mr chairman please mrto the Park Avenue setback it's currently well 50 ft is required you've got 30 and you're proposing to take that down further to 20 ft I I have the confess when I was looking at the property I was surprised that there's 20 only 20 ft I'm sorry there's 30 ft there now and that was going to be reduced further as I said to 20 ft can you make me feel more comfortable by telling me that there are other homes in the area that have front yard setbacks of just 20 ft as you're proposing here on Park did not do a study of the surrounding areas no but I can tell you in my experience as a zoning officer in three communities over the last 65 years um you have all this isn't development of of like exact houses it it's not so there would never be the similarity not same there's different every house down that n that block is different it was not built as a does not appear to me to be built as a development track development so you can't comment on how this proposed 20 foot setback Compares with others in the neighborhood where can you I haven't done thank you anyone else please I have a question about the so we're coming pretty close to Park Avenue with the addition about 20 ft off the property line do you know what the distance from the property line to the curb line currently is to the right of way line Sorry the from the property line to the curb line do you know approxim me how far that is from you know where the property ends to the roadway Edge right 10 more feet okay all right now that we're okay will that impact at all any are there any existing site easements on that intersection on that corner on the properly that you that you know of at this time okay do you think that the addition would cause any uh site restrictions from anyone making a a right onto rep par sorry it's back from thissection 30t s okay thank you I'm sorry other board questions please Mrs Ave Drive front entrance will be still facing yeah yes the I'm proposing that there would be a walkway from the existing the new driveway uh across the front of the house against the house to the front second question it's what I'm sorry know right now at driveway yes correct and we're going to get rid of that other the entrance from Avenue once you put the G right the asphalt driveway on Shepard that's going to be removed driveway on Shephard what's going to go there yeah that's going to be lawn new lawn okay and and the other question she has the pavers that are going to go to the new driveway new new driveway could be pavers I I didn't choose a material on the driveway to to Park Avenue yet right it would probably be a good idea to put pervious okay well why don't we make that a stipulation because it does yeah what Mr Sullivan why don't we we stipulate that we're going to use a pavus perious paper in the new driveway from Park to the house correct yes sure a good idea that's why any other questions okay you good yeah and then the old driveway when it comes outes covered with grass lawn correct okay you'll stipulate that the old driveway will be it'll be uh a lawn after this covered with grass yes all right great that's included all right let's move on to board professionals thank you thank you Miss I think she brought up a lot of the comments I was going to bring up um and I just want to kind of BU build them um there are a number of kind of I call them housekeeping items in the in the memo but they may rise to a different level simply because the new driveway hasn't been shown depicted on the plans and neither has the calculation for what that square footage will be so presently the asphalt driveway is shown on the there's a kind of a a tabulation of the existing impervious law coverage but not a tabulation of how they arrived at the proposed so the asphalt as a matter of housekeeping the plan should be updated to show the removal of the asphalt driveway so basically that should be crossed off whatever change to the to the sidewalk from the front of the house to that new driveway should also be shown and Quantified as coverage and then the new driveway needs to be Quantified so we don't have those those calculations and the impervious coverage has been based on something the increase that they're seeking the variance for has been based on something um but we never really got a strong or any kind of explanation of what those were what I would say is that if they are seeking the variance for the 26.2 which is about 4,01 square fet that they should whenever the plans are updated they should if they're going to seek that that variance calculation uh or that impervious coverage calculation then they're going to have to stick to it whatever they wind up designing on but we're not going to give a blank check no we're not giving a blank check exactly so 401's the number and they have to back into it you know how they're going to meet that with impervious coverage may it make means making the sidewalk smaller or the driveway smaller they're going to have to show it on their revised plans if this is approved tonight as a matter of resolution compliance it's going be something that bill and I are going to keep an eye out for you okay with that Mr Sullivan yes thank you the other the other kind of housekeeping item that I identified was that the uh zoning chart shows that the the home is two uh is 1 and a half stories and 21.5 ft in height and that the building height in stories is going to increase from 20 two to 2.5 stories and the height remained to 21.5 the the architecturals actually do show the height elevation on one of the sheets and it shows that it's 32.5 so I'd ask that those plans be updated they are still in compliance with the height allowance of 35 ft but they should still show that update on the zoning table the last thing that I have a question about is that that height increase of what 11 feet is there going to be an attic space I know we saw a first floor and a second floor plan um what's above the second floor attic unfinished attic unfinished attic okay thank you and I I think that's all I have right now thank you thank you very much Mr Burr no questions Mr chairman uh Katherine pretty much captured everything that I was going to raise members of the public questions on architecture and planning testimony all right seeing none back to you Mr Sullivan John if we can get you in the microphone thanks first that feel e I e at this time I'd like to open it up to members of the public that would like to speak for or against this application all right seeing none uh Mr s we're going to close your application we're going to open up deliberations uh just before we do that rich could you just take us through any stipulations sure in addition or supplementing the reports uh the um existing driveway would be removed um and replanted with lawn area the um plan would also be amended to extend the walkway to the new driveway we would use uh perious pavers for the construction of the new driveway and so the calculation for your impervious coverage including the new driveway sidewalk areas which amount would not be able to exceed the The Architects plan to clarify the height more also a clarification on the impervious or showing on the plans the impervious calculation the height is shown on the architecturals it just needs to be updated in the zone table to be correct you want to add it to the Zone table correct and that was it rich can I ask a question we talked about the existing driveway being replaced with lawn who we use a different word than lawn because in case they want to put shrubs or something to me lawn means it has to be all well it could just be a perious yeah I don't I'd like a different word if we can thank you why don't you open us up on deliberations Mr widely again I have no problem with the application it's a hardship I'm happy you want to stay in Bridgewater and raise your children here I've been here 31 years now i' love it here I don't intend to go anywhere um again it's a older house you want to upgrade it to accommodate your family I don't see little little small right now I based on what the description was so I'm in favor of the application all right thank you throw down the other end de mret um so having lived in an apartment during covid with two people in one bathroom that was a hardship in and of itself of six people God bless you um and as far as the moving the driveway that seems like a pretty significant safety upgrade so I would be in favor of it um I agree I think the application represents a significant Improvement to the home and also to the neighborhood especially from a safety perspective the impact on the home um so I'm in favor of the of voting in in favor of the application thank you Mrs is a men uh the lot's almost 500 feet under sized um it's di Minimus 183 squ foot Improvement um two ladies in one bathroom and your adventurous man yeah good good job and uh I think that's a upgrade in itself and uh uh Shephard is just it's a wild Street and uh getting on to park I think is a a much needed safety enhancement and uh I'm going to vote in favor I wish you a lot of luck Mr panjo um I don't know how you survive with one bath that would have made me crazy um undersiz lot small changes um I think it's going to be an improvement to the neighborhood and I wish you luck I'm in favor of the application Mr gaski yeah I I think it's definitely an improvement to the neighborhood um I do know that the house directly across the street on Shephard actually has its driveway and park as well believe and the uh the footprint is very similar and I think it's going to be a nice bookend for that area so I'm in favor thank you Mr ccat um I agree with a lot of what everybody said I uh understand the hardship of a undersized lot um my my only concern was the distance of the Leading Edge of the new driveway to shephard a I think it looks to be about 44 feet is that coming from a I guess a busy street anybody turning from Shepard AV to onto Park you know if you're pulling out of the driveway you know is that a safety concern um you know I I and I I don't know because I I the distance seems a little short to me but I would still support the application Mr B anything to add on that maybe to help Mr ccat out on a sight line it's it's 44 feet to the RightWay line I would say it's probably closer to to I don't have a scale with me but it's probably closer to to 58 to 60 feet to the curb line of of Shephard um I don't think you're going to have any sight distance issues um yeah folks are going to have to be careful getting in and out of the driveway but I think there's sufficient you know distance s to to allow this stop rate safely okay thank you Mr kulak yeah I think this this is consistent with some of the other approvals the board has made in this neighborhood especially when we're faced with pre-existing conditions hardships um created by a corner lot and we have approved um other improve um home projects that are similar I think the safety uh benefit here far outweighs any of the any minor negative things that we're seeing so yes I would be in favor of this project thank you Mr vessio yeah my uh primary concern was that driveway now being shifted to Park Avenue and just making sure it didn't interrupt any sort of uh you know sight turning distance uh sight site um view views for turning um I I did look at the area a little bit I understand that the house across sheph Avenue actually that has a driveway also that exits off on to Park Avenue and that probably that setback from the the curve of the actually the sidewalk from the RightWay probably looks up here to be less than 20 ft from my own uh view um I'm kind of little disappointed that Mr Sweeney's questions cannot be answered by the planner you know not not visiting the site not understanding what the neighborhood look like I really really wish we could get that testimony but overall I'm in favor of the application I think it'll it'll it'll help the neighborhood thank you thank you very much uh based on deliberation sounds like the board's will is to approve and if there's nothing else legally to to add here rich I think we're ready for a motion all right let's let's entertain a motion all right Mr widley motion to approve all right Mr bonjourno was the second yes uh yes yes yes yes yes all right m shelv congratulations yeah got it all right that concludes our business tonight if there's no other board business again out Roger want to thank you for everything best of luck in Summit and uh Katherine our next meeting date do you have that October 8th is our next meeting 7 p.m and we're going to be hearing St Bernard's sorry yes October 8th uh it's the St Bernard's church on Route 22 okay have a proposed um additional melum great and that's only case that night that is all that's on the agenda right now excellent thank you very much yeah Chen was ending their notice they're going to re notice and they're going to let us know correct all right great there's no other board business Please Mr widley Mr bonjo good night everyone thank you right hard almost the exact same size hardships too