##VIDEO ID:gm5o0acJLCI## e e [Music] welcome to the Clark Township planning board meeting Thursday December 5th 2024 in compliance with the open public meetings act chapter 231 pl1 1975 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by mailing the annual SK schedule of meetings to The Star Ledger Union County local Source Union County Hawk and tap into Clark by posting such annual meeting schedule on the bulletin board and Town Hall reserve for such announcements and by the proper filing of said notice within with the Township Clerk formal action may be taken at this meeting this meeting is a Judicial proceeding any questions or comments must be limited to issues that are relevant to what the board May legally consider in reaching a decision and toor appropriate to a Judicial hearing must always be maintained take attendance mayor Bon Corel Mr ol here councilman manetti here Mr cotch here Mr triola here Mr Alman Mr Jacobson here Mr Steinberg Mr bado here Mr orcio here Mr Cruz here Mr O Conor Mr Ricky here okay we'll stand for the Pledge of Allegiance hope bone had a chance to read the minutes of the last meeting as such any questions or comments seeing not I'd like a motion to approve the minutes thank you mayor second second thank you Jo uh correspondence all correspondence is available to the public at Town Hall they can view it at their Leisure um as such I like a motion to dispense with the reading the correspondence thank you Mike second second thank you okay referral of ordinance 202 24-15 an ordinance amending and restating chapter 195 L use and development ordinance of the codes of the township of Clark for a master plan Inc consistency review Mr Paul reio our Township planner will present this to us I think so good evening everyone um I was asked to uh address the the recent ordinance introduction I'm just a matter of business the the board should have received uh several items in your packets notice of first reading of ordinance itself 2415 uh associated with that with the introduced ordinance you should have received exhibit a which concerns the the full proposed version of the ordinance uh exhibit B which shows a a Redline version that shows the specific changes as well as Exhibit C which has attached a new zoning map uh for the the township you should should have also received a summary of the changes to the ordinance a copy of the Township's most recent 2023 master plan reexamination and you also should have received a draft resolution if the board finds that this is indeed uh there are no inconsistencies with the the municipal master plan uh again I know the board is has done this before I know I'm on the record so I'll very briefly just discuss why we're we're really here this evening uh when any ordinance or Land Development ordinances is introduced by council is referred to the planning board number one for the planning board to make it a determination whether there are any inconsistencies with the municipal master plan so realistically what the what the statute wants to find is that that the ordinance is is designed to effectuate a master plan but it's your responsibility to identify any inconsistencies and also if there's anything else that you would like to to State uh to the township Cil was part of this part of this process um and just a little bit of maybe a quick step back of of how we got here I'm still relatively new in town as a as a as a Township planner um when I was brought on board U the town was already working to to update its zoning ordinance and ultimately there was a committee that was that was formed it was the township administrator uh Township engineer planning board attorney Township attorney the former Township planner and and my myself and and and part of the process was first and foremost is that the town zoning ordinance or Land Development ordinance wasn't updated for a period of time so there was a lot of just dated information in there and light that that had to be updated and and through that process it was also you know determined that you know the the needs somewhat changed of the Town um it clarified certain issues and I'll go through that more um in a moment but also at the same time when that was occurring um the township was close to its 10-year need to reexamine its master plan per the law and that under the law when you do when you make revisions to your zoning ordinance because they have to be or they're designed to be they should be uh consistent with the municipal master plan um the master plan was prepared to look at um issues facing the town but also to specifically address this provision in it and that is identified in in section five of the municipal master plan um and while it's not my intent to read that entire provision um it essentially recommended and this m that master plan is adopted by this board of course it's specifically in the 2023 master plan recommended the mayor and Council to update and modernize its Land Development ordinance and and and and the ordinance itself I mean just to give a quick summary here you know it did a lot of clarification of certain uses um very few land uses in terms of the zones uh changed as part of this process um Self Storage car washes were identified permanent cosmetics and definitions and and EV charging or or a few of the uh changes in terms of um permitted land uses in certain sections but the majority of the work that was done was updating parking regulations based on Modern parking standards um clarification of how residential accessory uses uh are permissible sizes of structures setbacks and the like um there was a substantial revisions to definitions in the Land Development Ordnance new ones are added old ones were updated um a lot of changes to the administrative duties and requirements um there was an overhaul of signed regulations um that was both in updating the regulations adding regulations for things like drive-thru facilities that never existed as well as specifically prohibiting certain types of signs and being clear about that uh fees that are charged by the township those were changed and then as part of the zoning map there was a couple districts that the map had to catch up with he had to catch up with consolidating um one district and also identifying your um your affordable housing districts from your housing element of the master plan as well as identifying your your Redevelopment areas on the zoning map so it it's it's my opinion as as the primary author of The the reexamination report and being a part of this committee that these changes um we're we're essentially or being or essentially effectuating your master plan and I'm not aware of any inconsistencies because you're effectuating your master plan as as part of this process so that's that's really my summary of of how we got here what the purpose is and I'm really here to answer any questions that the the board may have regarding this thank you that explanation I do have a couple points i' like to clarify or get clarified um under Section 19510 b um it's an application for rezoning this seems like a new section what is its purpose why is it needed after all these years um 19510 can you just let me see this if I have that here 10B applications procedures for filing rezoning yes um um the purpose of that is is if someone would like to request a a a zone change there's a formal process of how that would be under taken we just didn't have it previously it didn't exist previously clear Direction it's something that um not all towns have but I know Cranford and some other towns in the area have that process and it and it creates a process for how that should be undertaken under Section 195 d8 capital letter E small letter F it it looks like a new section or new variance under variances it's a height variance it says uh I guess a variance for 10 ft or 10% of of what um is that in addition to what we have in these regulations now or um well height Varian is I think it was just clarifying what the municipal landage law says anytime that um if it's a principal structure if the height exceeds by 10 feet or 10% so if the height requirement was 35 ft and you go to 38.6 Ft that would be considered a d variance and that's something that the misal lus law addresses outside of this ordinance and this is just really um modernizing the Township's ordinance to be consistent with the municipal land use law and which supersedes the Township's orders we have to follow that nonetheless even though later on in the document we do list various Heights for the different residential buildings um zones we're in I think we just I think here and I have to read the the exact language adding a subsection stating a height or principal it here it's just clarifying when that height variance is required um under sections actually 195 136 and 195 137 one was uh CB plan commercial district and limited industrial district um both of them have been stricken and listed as reserved or we not plan to have these sections or we don't need the guidance anymore for them let me catch up to you 136 one 136 yes I think it's just catching up with the map and this is something that you know I'm I'm some of this is still fresh to me because I came along after some of these changes were made but it's my understanding it's just um that District was Consolidated and the name changed would be the same for 137 then it's a limited industrial district but there it's saying that it's um it was amended to allow for self self storage facilities in the massage is that what you're referring to well no there's a whole section that's been stricken like the commercial District it outlines the different limitations and that's to to update I think it was deleted basically to to consolidate it into the code yes okay anyone else on the board have questions councelor is this something that's open up to the public or um a public hearing is not necessarily required but my own recommendation is there's a member of the public here if you want to open it up that that's acceptable like a motion from the board to open this to the public thank you Mike thank you from the anyone from the public wishing come forward to offer comment regarding this document please do so seeing no one come forward like motion from the board to close this motion thank you thank you Jo Mike no further discussion I'd like to see if we have a motion to accept the resolution thank you Mike a second okay second any any questions comments on it yeah i' just like to Mr chairman members of the board I'd like to thank um the committee that worked on this and that is again Albert Mark Dugan our two attorneys uh Jim ol our administrator Paul our Township planner and Kevin o' Conor our former uh O'Brian I was OK Conor O'Brien Okay Kevin O'Brien our former Township planner um and our Township engineer Richard ' Conor this group literally met for I think it was over a year correct over a year yeah it was over a year over a year and I mean for four five hour meetings at a clip going through everything and I think their work uh will speak for itself and cleaning a lot of things up and uh cing to uh compliance Mak sure everything's complied with the master plan so I do appreciate their efforts and they work very hard on it thank you thank you mayor mayor Bon Corso yes Mr ol yes Mr Manti yes Mr cotch yes Mr triola yes Mr Jacobson yes Mr ricado yes Mr aono yes okay good pass okay on to public session I'd like to have motion from the board to open the public the meeting to the public thank you Mike thank you Garmin if anyone from the public would like to come forward and discuss any matter with the planning board please do so seeing no one come forward I'd like the motion to close the session motion Joe thank you thank you Mike any new business any old business our next meeting will be January 2nd 2025 a reorganization meeting I'd like a motion to join the meeting motion oh TI there Mike Joe thank you meeting is adjourned very