##VIDEO ID:ac3odFxsdiM## this is the planning board meeting of September 18th 2024 in accordance with the open public meetings act PL 1975 chapter 231 adequate notice of this um regular or special meeting tonight um Regular meeting of the planning board of the township of Franklin has been provided so board members applicants professionals and members of the public please speak directly into microphon so that our recording secretary can properly process minutes applicants and professionals please fill out the sheet on the table when you have completed your testimony um we are now going to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge 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 all right we're going to move to roll call okay so Jennifer Robert Thomas Rebecca Hilbert Mark Dancy and Mike all asked to be excused uh Samy just emailed me and said he can't make it so uh councilman and Barson here Theodore Chase here Robert Lort here and Mah Rafi here and Charles Brown here thank you we're now going to move to the minutes the regular uh meeting minutes from June 19th 2024 uh who here can vote on that everyone can vote on that all right um is there a motion I'll make a motion seconded it's been moved and properly second all in favor I any oppose seeing none motion carries let's move to the regular meeting minutes for July 10th uh 2024 can everyone here vote uh no councilman M Barson Theodore Chase Mahir Rafi and that's it okay is there a motion I'll make the motion I'll second it's been um mov and properly second all in favor that can be in favor I any opposed that can be opposed seeing none motion carries let's now move to the uh resolution there are no resolutions tonight um let's next move to discussion and we have 31 Vorhees LLC uh regarding pn20 0013 and you're looking for an extension of approval yes that's correct Matt Flynn from the law firm of savos shock Corsini Warner gespo grodnik and fiser it's a long-winded name on behalf of the applicant uh the applicant is a redeveloper of a number of uh non-contiguous parcels and received approvals to construct uh various town home uh buildings on a number of block and lots that are referenced in our application form the resolution was adopted on December 15 2021 um we are asking for a two-year extension that would bring us to December 202 um we are in the process of responding to comments and going through resolution compliance and we also were held up from uh receiving NJ DP approval for um there was a uh Wetlands verification that we needed there you know various D issues that that are affecting the site so uh there has not been a change in zoning we're hoping that the board acts favorably on the extension because uh the application was unan unanimous ly approved back in 2021 uh and we'd be asking for an extension through December 2025 all right any questions from anyone I'll move the extension second it it's been moving and properly second it you want to do a roll call on this councilman you do a roll call I'm sorry I think you do a roll yeah you do yeah sorry councilman and Barson yes Theodore Chase yes Robert Lort yes Mah Rafi yes Charles Brown yes all right thank you for your time all right at this time uh we are at public comments uh for General topics uh not pertaining to the hearing that we have tonight um can I get a motion to open it to the public I'll make a motion seconded all in favor I I all Oppo any opposed no all right is now open to the public if you hear from the public regarding any general planning comments or topics please step forward seeing no one stepping forward I move we close the meeting to the public I'll second all right been moved in second all in favor I I any oppos all right motion carries we now move to our only hearing here tonight Jansen Pharmaceuticals P 24- 00009 this is a preliminary and final major site plan with the c variant in which the applicant is proposing to construct a fire service upgrade by proposing an underground meter pit at one Cotton Tail Lane Somerset that is block 57.0 1 lot 8.03 in zone B1 go ahead I don't think so maybe the battery's dead try the other one that work yes good evening for the record Tom malman m m with Dave Pitney and Pary here on behalf of Jansen Pharmaceuticals you've described our application for us Mr chairman thank you very much we do have a application for Sight plan approval in bulk variants we're proposing some structures in the front yard that for part of our fire service upgrade uh on the site now we have a Johnson and Johnson distribution facility the building's not changing the hours of operation are not changing the access is not changing we're just talking about water improvements for the building itself so in terms of what you see now in terms of the operation no changes at all uh we have witness to my right Ralph patella I know we've received some reports we'll address those during his presentation I actually received today approval from the Somerset County planning board just came in this today by coincidence we've also filed with the drcc have not yet heard back from them but Mr Pella can comment on if you have any questions but that was filed just haven't received any comments yet so once you have any questions of me I'll call Mr patrell and we'll begin are there any questions of him or he has to be sworn in sure if you could raise your right hand do you swear the testimony you're going to provide us the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do if you could state your name spell your last name and give us your address for the record please Ralph a patrola that's p is and Peter e t r l l a I'm a professional uh licensed New Jersey engineer uh my license is current and up to date uh I work for vah Harvey division of penon uh 103 College Road East Princeton new Jersey 08540 what type of engineer are you uh civil okay thank you and you're familiar with the plans on file with the board I am and with the site I am and the application yes I am and you previously testified before planning boards Boards of adjustment in this state uh yes I have and I've actually testified in front of this board for okay thank you very much Mr Jo why don't we put up their first exhibit which is the overall site here we go we can mark this as A1 if councel is this just a copy of what was submitted I think yes so this is actually it's the overall plan that was in there the only difference is is that we did an O um aerial overlay on the plan and if you changed it at all then it's A1 we'll mark it as A1 perfect so just tell us what this is then we'll dral down to what's being proposed so this is the overall uh site for Johnson Johnson uh here's the property line This is Cotton Tail Lane uh you can see here's where the parking is in the back and this area that's boxed out is is where the location of the existing uh meter is and where the new meter Vault and hot boox are proposed just this is a corner lot correct we can't see Western Canal Road but that extends correct West Canal Road is there you go there we go right right over there okay and here's the canal got it you can scroll back and the SES about 11 acres give or take correct can you heard me indicate there's no change to the building the operation is that correct that is correct okay so just talk about why why are we here what is this project all about when to go to the next we should Mark this as A2 this is a yes A2 and this is a blop of the area that was in the little box on this is actually the site plan that was in the package again it's just a color rendering of that plan great uh so the the rendering is generally just to show the the area in question uh this area right here is where the existing meter vault is located meter Vault for for water service meter Vault for for the service and you know fire fire protection uh there are two storm 24in storm pipes in this area there's a fence uh there's sidewalk and all the infrastructure that Services the water uh existing water Vault come up through this area and tie into the building in this general area so this project uh again to make sure that the the site can meet the requirements and uh their inspections they need to upgrade their their vault and in order to do that they need to meet the current regulations for those these local regulations or state regulations uh local reg regulations uh so what we're what we're planning on doing is we're going to remove the existing Vault there's an existing water line that's coming up here we're going to tap off of that come in put the new vault in this location the vault is actually underground and it's just the lid that you'll see and that's flush with grade so you really won't see it unless you're standing near it so that Dash rectangle is the underground Vault that's the yes correct that's the limits of the underground Vault and what's in that uh that's the meter and piping for which is typically found in a in a vault okay and then it'll come in and this structure here this the outer line is the actual limits of the concrete pad the Inner Line and the the brownish color that is the actual Hot Box itself and tell what is a hot box so a hot box is yeah I guess I should have said that first it's a backflow prevention enclosure known as a hotbox basically it's a it's a heated space where the pipe comes out of the ground uh there's no uh confined space permit for for anyone that needs to maintain it that's one of the uh main reasons why most of the water companies have moved towards using these structures and requiring them uh for backflow prevention it keeps it out of the ground it allows uh maintenance Personnel to go in and access it they do not have to go underground I don't know if many of you know but water vaults they you know a lot of times will uh accumulate water over time which just adds to to the concern of having people go down to maintain them so this separates uh those aspects uh and really what we're trying to do is just due to the size of the structures instead of just putting it you know in line where we'd have to remove you know everything and then still come back over here we just change the orientation from an East West orientation to a north south orientation and as soon as we can into existing infrastructure that's what we're doing so the the main thing is here is that the electric is really the the only real um excavation work we'll say from the building to the hot box all other disturbance is really going to be limited to this area and if this is install it would comply with this new ordinance you've talked about uh yes okay what of those I see there are five dots in front of the hot box what are those so what those are is due to the proximity of uh Conta tailan uh felt it was uh good to put ballards in front of it as a extra precaution and just saying the ground elevation here as opposed to ktown Lane is approximately 2 feet lower so the grade slopes down towards the building so you know usually you want the grade at the building to be higher and slope out to the road in this instance just given the existing conditions that currently flows to the low area so if this is approved and built this would comply with the new ordinance and upgrade the service to the building correct that's obviously a benefit to this building and for safety yes it is okay and it's in this location so you know is the existing front yard setback which is the whole reason why we're actually in front of you is 50 50 ft and just for perspective the building is set back at 57 ft so that really leaves only 7t in the front yard where theor ically you could do anything without being in the front yard setback but in that area you have underground piping you mentioned drain lines water lines Etc so ET yes and then just to the just to North closer to Western Canal Road is where we had approv the large generator and Transformer uh project so is it fair to say this is really the best place to put this uh yes it really is and if you wanted to relocate it it would be a much larger project much more disturbance uh it would probably impact the the tributary at the rear of the site in order to make everything work so you know fitting everything in this area really is the best choice okay you already mentioned the drcc that application is pending yes it is and we we the how we submitted that is the same as we submit it for the generator and Transformer so with the remove since this uh existing vault is actually exposed above ground that's impervious surface um and this Vault being underground we're putting lawn back so the only real impervious surface that we're doing here is the the lid the hatch and uh the hot box itself so what we did that would still uh end up being a slight increase in impervious but there is a location at the back of the site where there's existing pavement can you flip back to A1 possibly here we go right in this corner so there's 100 square feet of dead dead space that really isn't utilized and can't be used we're removing that such that the project will now have a reduction in impervious surface and so we're uh not only are we reducing the impervious to uh adj account for the water quality and recharge it's an added benefit the impervious that we're installing does not generate dirty runoff however vehicular pavement does we're removing that so we're increasing the the water quality that's leaving the site so you would expect the drcc to like that I yes we would anticipate as they approve this approach under the degenerator and Transformer project which was L much larger they would follow suit here you've seen the reports we've received from the township uh yes I did is a TRC report dated September the 4th you've seen that at several Pages yes I have and I won't go through it in detail but in essence the report suggests a number of plan revisions in fact there's marked up plan suggesting how your plan should be modified any objection to those proposed revisions uh no there's no objection so we accept that in full we yes we would work with the staff to to address those and just to note most of those comments are in essence adding notes there's also a memo from the Franklin Township Sewer Authority have you seen that yes I have an email dated August 28th any concern with those um if you want to go back to the next exhibit this is the Sewer Authority one yes I'm sorry SE Authority one no no no comments on that one sorry and then lastly we have a letter from the environmental commission dated August 21 basically asking whether we can add some Landscaping in front of the if in front of the hot box if permitted and safe is the way it reads here right any comment on that um while in in in in general terms we don't have a concern with doing landscaping the one issue is is that we have less than five feet between the rightaway and the ballards and you know to put Landscaping there most likely would have to go into the RightWay so if there was no issues or concerns with doing that we could work with staff to add some Landscaping in the Ballers are for vehicular traffic concerns like if a what are the ballets okay yes Ju Just in case you again supp it's lower cars coming there it's just added protection you're putting in the structure you want to make sure you you know going last a little while how tall is the hot box um so the hot box itself sitting on the pad is six feet tall okay so I I think with with with the environmental commission's recommendation and you have five feet I think you could probably add a few shrubs in that space you know I mean if it some branches grow into the right of way you know in time I I don't think that causes a problem as long as they're planted on the site so if the board is inclined I think something condition along those lines would be suitable yeah we can work with you to whatever appropriate shrubs you like something Evergreen I would imagine I think that's the intent of their recommendation Y in between the Ballers it can be done I have no further questions any questions for the witness or for me did you address the um was there anything in the um County planning board uh memo they basically said that there's no impact on drainage or um or traffic they no comment all right thank you what about pedestrian safety no one having an ability to run on to the site fall in what sort of uh protections do you have against that is it a secure thing like you're you have protections for if a car runs and hit it right sidewalk right you don't need a sidewalk to come on site no no so they there it's outside of fence it's not inside the fence uh just like the water current vault is okay and it's the it's it'll be the same way I believe uh there will potentially be locks on it so it's only maintenance Personnel can get to it the point of a hot box is to keep water from freezing when it's going through that well the reason why the hot box is heated is to keep it from freezing because typically the pipes are underground but a hot box brings the pipes yeah above ground and so it's heated and that's why you do the enclosure to keep it heated in the the cold months so yeah so the pipes won't freeze good have you considered wrapping it with art have you seen those wrappings like traffic boxes that are wrapped with a visual art piece on it uh honestly no I have not I I think you should if it's going you say six feet how tall is it well it's six feet tall but put it in perspective the generator is about 14 feet tall oh right and it's actually like I said it's about two feet lower than the road so if you're at the road it's actually going to appear to be only four feet tall okay okay uh but the just just so you know and I I forgot to mention this that the color of the HotBox uh will be uh complementary to the existing building uh similar to what was done for the generator it's like a tannish color right some something along those lines you know each manufacturer they only they have their own colors so just to give you a specific color I really can't do that that's why it's complimentary to the building great any other questions any questions no questions any other people coming forward that's all that we have all right is there a motion from anyone on we have to open to the public my bad um yeah a motion to open it to the public I'll make a motion seconded been moved and property second all in favor I any opposed seeing none is now open to the public anyone here from the public tonight seeing none I move to close the public portion of this second been moved and probably second all in favor any oppos none okay all right so can we get a motion for this so Mo been moved and properly second all in favor I who Moved itoll oh she's not she's coun okay Council mov I didn't hear and then Bob Lort second you do that's yes please councilman andaron yes Theodore Chase yes Bob Lort yes Mahir Rafi yes Charles Brown yes thank you very much all right thank you sorry for the wait it was probably longer than your application found out about sports and baseball all right that why it's a hot box we still got a few more things then we can just do casual talk no committee reports right Mark nothing there no work session new business right nope all right so a motion to adjourn second we moov to probably second all in favor all right thank you all okay so the next meeting is October 2nd here in this building and I think it's Hamilton Street management is coming back for those of you uh I'll check e