##VIDEO ID:_Ek6XNefdQE## I missed the last here for sh good all right we're going to call the meeting to order it's 7:01 uh it's October 22nd 2024 Bridge order Township Zoning Board of adjustments a regular meeting uh both adequate and electronic notice of this meeting specifying the time plac in manner in which such notice was provided in accordance with open public meetings Act njsa 10 col 4-6 specifically on January 9th 2024 proper notice was sent to The Courier News and the star lger and file with the clerk at the township of Bridgewater and posted on the municipal bulletin board Please be aware the zoning Board of adjustment policy for public hearings no new applications will be heard after 9:30 and no new testimony will Taken after 10: p.m. if you're able please rise for the salute to the flag FL of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right good evening Katherine if you could call the roll for us please okay roll call Mr fous here Mr widley I here Mr min Mr Sweeney Mr Fresco here Mr bonjourno here Mr gesi here Mr siket absent Mr kulak here Mr vesio here Mr gabbit absent we have a we have a quum all right we have Mr Aller and Katherine Shad present as well for the record all right I'm going to open up the meeting to any member of the public that would like to speak on any land use matter that is not on our agenda tonight see none I'm going to close that portion we have no minutes up for approval we have three resolutions first up is going to be Sabella looking for changes comments please there's none I have a motion please I move that was Mr widley I have a second Mr bonjourno Mr yes Mr widley uh yes Mr min Mr Sweeny yes Mr bonjourno yes Mr gesi yes and Mr that's all we got Perfect all right next up is Chen I am not eligible but I can look to the board for changes and comments please uh I have no changes motion I move Mr Wiley second journo Mr widley uh yes Mr min Mr Sweeney yes Mr Fresco Mr Borno yes Mr gesi yes and Mr kulak yes thank you and the last resolution is shabby changes comments from the board so I do have one on page five paragraph 15 1 two three four lines down it starts with the word ordinance the sentence that then after says the board finds that the increase improved laot coverage should be increased with a d increased anything further that's all right thank you a motion with changes please I move with the change all right second second Mr bonjourno Mr fuss yes Mr widley yes M Min yes Mr Sweeney yes Mr bonjourno yes Mr gesi yes and that's it all right let's move on to our cases tonight Rich why you take us through what we have and what's been punted for this evening the um application for St Bernard has been um adjourned at the applicant's request that is now off until January 14th and that'll be for scheduling purposes only at the board's reorganization meeting so there will be a additional notice once we assign a new date to that application um the Patel application will be heard this evening other matters still being carried by the board are 821 Bridgewater LLC and Jewish Community Center that one is now carried till November 12th um without notti without further notice um the application at the Bridgewater realy 2 LLC which is the Starbucks application that one is uh now adjourned until January 14 2025 um meeting of the board for purposes of assigning a new date there as well the CX Towers application will be on new notice for November 12th 2024 kind of assuming that they will be continuing on that evening uh the belly Holdings LLC application is being carried till December 10th 2024 also with no new I'm sorry with new notice um once they get a little further along to be sure they'll be heard um and the 1200 route22 land investors and 1200 route22 LLC holding matter is also being carried till December 10th um and there'll be new notice for that as well thanks Rich all right uh we're going to do Patel that's block 107 lot 1.02 Mr Sullivan good evening sir yes good evening my name is John Sullivan I'm an attorney with the offices of Basta Sullivan and uh if Mr Aller gives us to go ahead in terms of the notices and that we have jurisic we have reviewed the notice it's in proper form uh sent by certified mail to the list within 200t of the property on October 2nd published October 4th so the board does have jurisdiction thank you I'm representing uh shm and Amy Patel they are the owner of the property at for Franklin Street it is lot 1.02 in Block 107 as designated on your tax map and we're essentially here for bulk variants approval tonight uh property is located in the R20 Zone it's fully improved with the single family dwelling and we're here tonight um seeking a rear yard setback variance to allow them to construct a partially covered deck in the rear yard uh the variants that we need uh 50 ft is required um 50.8 ft to the principal structure is existing and with the deck on there we will have reduced that to 3555 ft the plans that we have submitted to you is the architectural plan prepared by William Al that is dated uh July 17th of this year and we also provided a marked up as built survey originally prepared by Dynamic surveying dated October 10th of 23 and we've superimposed on there uh the location of the deck that we are proposing to be constructed our Witnesses tonight are simply Amy Patel uh she is one of the applicants and we have our planner here John Chadwick uh so if I may I would begin with uh Miss Patel if we could have everyone just stand so Mr Chadwick as well if You' stand I'll um swear in everyone okay and Katherine yes sorry would you raise your right hands please do you solemnly swear that the testimony you will give to this board will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God yes yes okay just for the record I'm going to run left to right of everyone that would just wor Amy Patel thank you very much everyone thank you uh Miss Patel uh you and your husband are the owner of the property at Fort Franklin Street yes we are and how long have you owned the property we um we purchased the land in June of 2022 um we had a new construction um that was built uh so we moved into the house in November of 2023 and you're residing there now yes we are and who else resides there with you uh my daughter she's three years old my son he's one and we also have a dog and that property is currently improved with a brand new single family dwelling yes and you proposed to construct a partially covered deck in the rear yard yes can you explain to the board why you want to do that sure um so my husband and I we have been in Somerset County for almost nine years now uh we started out in Branchburg um but as our family grew is when we moved to Bridgewater um so like we mentioned we moved about a year ago um and now we plan to become lifelong residents of Bridgewater um we built what we would consider to be our forever home and so we plan to grow old here we plan to raise our kids here um we also want to create a lot of memories here um but the only piece that's missing for us is our backyard space currently we have no backyard space we have two steps that go into grass so the main reason we prefer a raised Deck with a partially covered roof um is for a couple reasons so the raised deck portion comes in because of the safety of our kids and our dog so given their ages and our dog who you know could potentially Chase wild animals um we are prop proposing a deck that has railings that fully surround the deck and then the stairs will also have um a gate that we hope to create an enclosed space um this will kind of prevent the kids and the dogs from running off but then also we have noticed a lot of wildlife coming from the Somerset County Woods that are next to us they come and walk through our backyard all of the time so between for those two reasons um kind of the enclosed space would be our preferred um uh deck uh we also have an odd-shaped lot it is an L-shaped um so if you are standing at the back of our house on like looking out into our backyard you wouldn't be able to see kind of that back left corner of the yard so if the kids were to go back there um so that's kind of why we prefer that raised Deck with a enclosed um railing we also would love to have a covered portion um we like to enjoy all of the Four Seasons here in New Jersey um my husband and I were both born and raised in New Jersey so you know in order to enjoy the snow in order to enjoy the rain um you know the kids can enjoy it in the open portions of the deck but you know us as parents would like to stay under the closed portion we'd also like to use it as kind of a landing area to clean up once the kids you know need to come back into the house um because that opening for the deck is directly attached to our Main Kitchen family room space and dining room space so um I'm sure everyone has also noticed recently our summer months have been very very hot um so just to kind of prevent burning from the strong sun when we're in the backyard that enclosed or the covered space will kind of protect us from that as well so overall just the safety of our family and the overall enjoyment of all four seasons is kind of why we would feel that the proposed Deck with a partial roof would be the most ideal for us you happen to know the approximate distance between um right now the rear of your home and the uh in the rear of the neighbor's home that's directly behind you yeah so from the rear our house to the uh rear of the neighbor's house it is on a diagonal and I'd say it's about 100 to 120 ft and is there anything between you in them like uh trees or um plantings or a fence yes so currently there are um tall standing trees that kind of divide the property line um and they also have a um like a a see-through fence um it's kind of it's It's not really strong it's kind of a little bit flimsy but they do have something that divides where those trees are now um I want to cover a couple of the things that came up in the um the the joint planning and Engineers report and I believe you have the answers to these um the first is the um the height of the uh of the uh Ridge of the roof for the deck uh for the covered section of the deck um do you know how um high that is off of grade yes so per our architecture the it is 14 ft above grade and how and how high off off the surface of the deck it is uh 12' 8 in above the surface of the deck and what would the um if you can the deck material the railings and the post um what will they make consist of so the deck um is is a composite decking so similar to like track decking um the posts themselves are um are going to be I'll just read what the architect wrote the deck is framed with metal joists above the existing graded yard with composite decking and custom aluminum railing the roof is wood framed with seal self-sealing asphalt shingles to match the existing home surrounded by wood columns with aluminum aluminum column covers and in in your opinion how does um the style of the of the deck and the covered portion of it uh relate to the principal dwelling sure uh we hope that the design will pretty much pretty much align with the current home that we have so um to kind of keep with the architectural style of the current home we are planning to build a modern Center Hall Colonial with multiple Gable roofs and the deck flooring um does that have slats or uh uh gaps in between the uh the the floorboards yes it does okay and what are you propos to go under the deck are you going to keep that just as a grass area or are you going proposed to change that at all um it'll maintain at the current grass area and are any trees proposed to be removed in Connect ction with this no and what about lighting is you going to add any additional lighting um so the ceiling of the proposed covered roof um will have four recessed LED light fixtures um there's also going to be one ceiling uh fan light combination fixture and then there will be um some warm yellow LED lighting to be installed to illuminate the stair riser so you can see the stairs as well as um segmented warm yellow LED under the rail lighting and in connection with this um is there any proposal to to change the grade of the property in any way shape or form no um I I would just ask the board to consider we did um the I believe it was the planning board had approved the subdivision of this property not too long ago and I did include in our packet the resolution of approval and uh it has a fair amount of testimony from the project engineer there about the grading in the storm water um which includes a rain Garden along the right of way um some in some inlets and a bio retention facility I know that your engineer in this application um asked us to address that um so we would just ask the the board to consider you know what was previously approved um which seems to be um uh pretty significant to to cover not only this but the other couple of uh houses that were in the development um and otherwise I I think um Miss Patel we are able to comply with all of the requirements and the comments that are in the uh joint planning and Engineers report um with the exception of miscellaneous item number four um which calls for a plot plan grading plan um as a condition of obtaining the building permit uh based on on Miss Patel's testimony um and the fact that there's not going to be any change to the grade uh we would ask that that particular condition be waved and and not made a condition of any approval yeah Mr svin I I think that's fine I just want to make sure that if Mr Burr our our Township engineer does have any problems that your applicant would agree to work with him on any changes if it's necessary absolutely okay so that would be a stipulation all right and that's the only questions I have for Miss Patel all right board questions for Miss Patel on her testimony board professionals uh just one question the resolution that uh Mr suin just referenced included um a fair bit about how an HOA would be established are you part of an HOA with the two other homes in the subdivision um yes we do have an HOA okay I just asked that question because the responsibilities of the of the storm water tension fall on the HOA to maintain it and so um I think the comments about storm water uh and impact Mr suin referenced the memo and again this was done about two years ago I think our house was just built a year ago um or they occupied it a year ago so um the storm water mechanisms are fairly recent and the HOA is a responsible party for maintaining which I'm I'm satisfied with okay um as far as any other questions um I think this Patel has done a wonderful job uh in addressing all of the uh all the questions we had all right thank you Catherine uh let's open up to members of the public questions on Miss Patel's testimony you can come forward all right see none thank you well done thank you uh that would bring up our planner Mr John Chadwick evening good evening Mr Chadwick can you uh describe your qualifications to the board yes I'm a licensed professional planner in the state of New Jersey and have been for a number of decades and have appeared before you infrequently but vote annually um in cases such as this and my license is current and U Val good to see you again Mr chair yes good to see you uh the for accepts you as an expert in planning testimony uh I've heard the testimony of M Patel have been to the pro property looked at your zoning code reviewed the report from joint report of the engineer planner um and the variance is your ordinance provides for an encroachment into the rear yard of 12 feet for a deck and we are 16 feet so we're 4 feet beyond that but if you look at the shape of this lot this is with l-shape described it's it certainly meets the standard of irregular it's got a tail on it so if you measure from the deck to the tail portion of the lot we're about 80 90 feet and we're 34 and Ines from the other portion of the rear property line but we're also 100 ft from the nearest home home plus 100 ft there's a Grove of trees in between the I believe the application meets both the C1 and C2 criteria C1 being is there an irregular shape to this property and certainly there is uh in terms of curing it you can't because the adjoining property is right on the uh standard for a Halfacre lot in terms of C2 is it a better solution than making squeezing the deck down simply to conform to the regulation I don't think so I think everyone's probably has a deck or familiar with them in terms of their own home 12 feet is just narrow it's simple as that and my my opinion 16 as they said they would have liked to made it larg but realized they're asking for a variance and took a moderate approach but given all the circumstances you're still nearly 34 feet from the back property the closest portion of the back property line well over 100 feet for the other portion of the back property line and you're in between a Grove of trees between the adjoining home that is more than 100 ft away so in terms of impact or encroachment I don't see that applies and in terms of the variation is significant I don't believe so when you look at the standards for this lot there are 10 basic standards we are in violation of one of them and that encroachment is a 4 foot encroachment into a 50 foot rear yard I don't believe that is significant either it's a as described by m Patel it is certainly a facility that accommodates their family and it serves as the outdoor recreation area for the for their family and in my opinion that supports uh the criteria for a proper planning solution for an irregular shaped lot uh within the township feel that there's any um substantial negative impacts either to the public good or to the Zone plan and zoning ordinance none the the facility one is it it it's a low close to the ground if you look at the diagrams provided uh with a simple uh hip roof covering a portion of it the central portion of it uh none of these none of these constructions in my judgment rise to a full uh building so to speak no sides no extra windows none of those things that uh protrude into uh the rear yard so my judgment there's no impact on the neighbors uh and no impact on the zoning plan thank you questions uh Mr Chadwick is there anything that would be add of character here with the neighborhood none thank you other board questions or professionals no just comment um I think that this is a case of just a rear yard setback variance um luckily when the subdivision was done and the home was constructed they didn't max out the coverage and the F which is what we see sometimes before this board where a deck adds to compounding issues or an addition adds to compounding issues and there is Room to Grow here because of the way the house was built according to the subdivision um the lot size really so um you know the the only implication of this is the is the rear yard um setback variance and I do agree with Mr Chadwick's testimony I do think he provided the the necessary proofs for the variance as well thank you members of the public questions on Mr Chadwick's planning testimony see none thank you sir thank you nice seeing you all likewise that does conclude our witness presentation all right thank you Rich won't you take us through any stipulations or any other materials we need for deliberation are really simply to satisfy the issues in the joint report and with respect to that uh paragraph four you mentioned in the event or the board engineer does require that information um you'll provide that right unlock coverage we're going to open up the liberations uh Jim want you kick us off um um actually I'm happy you chose Bridge Water to come here from Branchburg uh I came here when my kids were well my youngest when was youngest 30 over 30 years ago I'm glad you're want to put a deck out there and stay here for hopefully for years and years to come straightforward I'm all in favor of thank you start down to Mr vessia good evening sure um look attic application definitely uh understand the um sort of l-shape of your backyard definitely requires you know variants to build off the deck I kind of looked at a little scientifically seeing that you had 5200 feet in that back shape and if your property actually was squared off you'd actually have a setback of 77 ft um if it wasn't in l-shape so I think it's totally um um I'm all for it um yeah it's I think it's a good application when I went out to take a look at the property it was I was concerned with what was behind the house since that's where the deck is going to extend and it was nice to see there's a fair number of trees back back there um further or additionally buffering neighbors to the east um so I'm in favor of the application and we'll vote for it this A also helps in uh preventing the neighbors from uh taking a look at the extension so on so forth and uh it makes the house much better by adding the back so I'm in favor of approving I'm also in favor and I had never measured my deck before and I actually have a 16ft deck at home and I think it's kind of narrow so uh uh I think 16 ft is very reasonable and I think you have a beautiful street I'm glad you're going to stay here in in Bridgewater it truly does look like a forever home uh as far as a C1 hardship variant I think this meets all the criterias and certainly the benefits outweigh any any negatives if there are even any negatives so uh well well done Mr bonjour now um I must say I was impressed with your knowledge of the application in terms of all the specifications of what's going on what's going to happen um because this is an L-shaped property I don't see how else you could have added the deck that would have you know eliminated the need for a variance I'm in favor of the application good luck Mr gki yeah I agree with everything uh my fellow board members have said and I'm in favor of the application thank you Mr kulak I would agree as well I think the irregular shape lot posed the challenge I think you your solution is not only adequate for your family but considerate of your neighbors and of the little development in which you live so I would support this as well thank you I'm going to do one thing that I did forget I'm going to open up to any members of the public that would like to speak for or against this application now is the time to come forward please if you could just come up and and give us your name and address just for the record for the microphone my name is Peter sakell I live at 826 Route 202 206 I actually came for the 64 unit condo I didn't realize that it had gotten pushed to a different date and I had know till last minute either what was the date that it was going to be changed to 21 is going to come on Starbucks tonight November 12 November 12th November 12th yeah okay thank you per all right thank you good luck with your dad all right so again uh we have no members of the public speaking for against I'm going to close that portion we're going to conclude deliberations and Mr suan is nothing further I'll entertain a motion uh yes nothing further okay good uh entertain a motion to approve I move it all right Mr widley and Mr bonjour no second I think all right Mrs am Min second Mr F yes Mr widley yes s min yes Mr Sweeney yes Mr Fresco yes Mr bonjourno yes Mr gesi yes motion passes all right good to see you good luck everything thank you good to see you all again I did the same next meeting C is in week election week yes so the 12th is the next meeting and the 821 Bridgewater application is the only application on that evening I believe what's the one on our application what was that 821 Bridgewater LLC and The JCC joint application for one that we were supposed to hear a couple weeks ago today tonight today so there's no further business we'll see everyone November 12th 7M I move everyone rear set back yeah like they're not going to get it