##VIDEO ID:ZBvL1jOGJ1s## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e I to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one na God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right everybody Welcome to the Jackson Township planning board meeting and uh September 23rd and this meeting has been adequately noticed under the open public meetings act and all the appropriate forums and places therefore it's been adequately noticed and I'll pass it off to Madam chair will and we'll uh have a roll call please Mr Brey here Mr Bernstein here Mr marzo here Mr heler here Mr rker Miss Rose Mr tremor here Mr weart here Mr wall Mr Sullivan here Dr Campbell here and uh we have a a vote for the voucher for the recording secretary please second Sullivan you want a roll call roll call please okay Mr brei Mr Bernstein yes Mr marzel yes Mr heler yes Mr Tremor yes Mr Ward yes Mr Sullivan yes Dr Campbell yes uh and a move for approval of the minutes from the August 18 19th regular meeting please motion we approve the minutes tramer okay eligible to vote are Mr marzo Mr Herer Mr rker sorry he's not here Mr Tremor Mr weart Mr Sullivan and Dr C so Mr marzo yes Mr heler yes Mr Tremor yes Mr weard yes Mr Sullivan yes Dr Kem yes and a an approval of minutes for September 9th make a motion we approve the minutes for September 9th trer second heler Mr Brey yes Mr Bernstein yes Mr marzo yes yes Mr heler yes Mr Tremor yes Mr Sullivan yes Dr Campbell yes and uh for the minutes um Mr wall has Mr wall is here thank you thank you yes uh resolutions please see resolution JY granting a 10-year statutory extension period for the preliminary and final major site plan approval and preliminary and final major subdivision approval for 482 single family Residential Building lots for krupnik realy holding company LLC block 1 19301 Lot 4 eligible to vote are Mr brei Mr marzo Mr heler Mr Tremor Mr wall and Dr Campbell take a motion please motion second dreamer Mr brzy yes Mr marzo yes Mr heler yes Mr trummer yes Mr wall yes and Dr Campbell yes and we have a second resolution yes resolution 202 24-32 resolution of the planning board of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey granting approval amendment to resolution 20233 to the preliminary and final major site plan for a daycare facility for Bennett Mills realy LLC block 12201 lot 16 and 18 eligible to vote are Mr brei Mr Bernstein Mr marzo Mr heler Mr Tremor Mr wall Mr Sullivan and Dr Campbell a motion please so move Sullivan Mr brzy yes Mr Bernstein yes Mr marzo yes Mr heler yes Mr chmer yes Mr wall yes doc uh Mr Sullivan yes Dr Campbell yes um Miss dearo we have a Master Plan update yes good evening earlier this evening um the master plan subcommittee met um with our consultants and we are continuing our work on finalizing uh the land use element right now the master plan we'll continue to keep you apprised as we continue along thanks uh we have some um changes to the agenda schedule BL 6501 lot 42.0269038 9 3902 lot 58 Belleview Estates LLC carry from December 16th to January 6th for scheduling purposes only um we'll take a motion to approve that move so move Sullivan all in favor I um any engineering and any planning matters and any legal matters not at this time okay then we can get right into it m Jennings thank you good evening for the record I'm Donna Jennings from the law firm of Wen Goldman and Spitzer on behalf of the applicant we're here this evening seeking preliminary and final major subdivision approval to subdivide property located on North County Line Road and Picadilly drive and identified as block 5202 lot one on the Township's tax maps the applicant proposes to create three New Lots to be identified as proposed block 5202 lot 1.02 and 1.01 and block 5201 lot 1.01 Additionally the appan is seeking preliminary and final major site plan approval to construct a two-story approximately 20,000 ft house of worship with an accessory mikah and related site improvements on the new proposed block 5202 lot 1.01 the current property is approximately 14.6 Acres uh houses are worship MC or permitted uses in the zone prior to the adoption of the new ordinance the proposed house of worship was permitted as a conditional use and the applicant previously received a conditional use permit variance from the Zoning Board of adjustment which was moralized by a resolution dated November 15 20123 to construct the house of worship with related site improvements further the applicant is seeking bulk variants relief on proposed block 5201 lot 1.01 and block 5202 lot 1.02 two with respect to minimum lot Frontage and minimum lot width these variants were also previously granted by the zoning board the applicant will however tonight present testimony that's entitled to the C1 bulk variance relief because the proposed lots are uniquely shaped severely restricted by wetlands and contain a portion of Picadilly Drive which cannot be relocated due to the wetlands located on both proposed lot fronting North County Line Road the property must be subdivided because a previous subdivision for the property was never perfected and a portion of padil dve between the proposed Lots was never dated sedated to the township although it is used as a through fa far to get out to Hampshire Hills which was constructed by Kaplan uh second the record will show that granting the bulk variances will not cause substantial detriment to the public good or substantially impair the intent and purpose of the Zone plan no improvements are proposed on the two lots and the two lots will essentially look identical as they are today the applicant rely on the witnesses testimony of three Witnesses uh Gran McFarland sitting to my left the engineer and planner naftali gut the architect and Scott Kennel the traffic engineer the applicant would like to acknowledge for the record the following reports the board planners review letter dated September 16th 2024 the board Engineers review letter dated September 20th 2024 the Jackson Township Police Department Traffic Safety review letter dated July 9th 2024 and the Fire review memo dated April 30th 2024 so with that if we could have Mr McFarland sworn in we can begin our case it's like I just saw you because we just saw it everywhere I go I see the same people you swear or affirm to tell the truth the hold truth nothing but the truth I do please state your name and spell your last of the record short it's Graham McFarland ma f a r l a n e professional engineer professional planner previously qualified and testified before this board many occasions just few few times back the board accepts credentials thank you very much okay if you could um Graham just uh walk the board through the existing site conditions and the applicants proposal and if you're just going to rely on any exhibits just please identify them for the record yes as you can see we have exhibit A1 up on the screen which is an aerial map showing the subject premises uh the property in total is about 14.6 Acres or so the property has Frontage on North County Line Road which basically runs uh left to right on the bottom part of the of A1 that you're that you're looking at uh Picadilly Drive runs north to south through the parcel in question uh you can see on the map that we do show there are two tributaries to the uh to the South Branch of the maicon river uh they're import important to note those because that's a category one water so there is a 300 foot riparian buffer associated with both the the uh the east branch of the unnamed tributary and the West Branch of the unnamed tributary and they show on that aerial map for uh for reference Mr mland before I before you start rolling on you're testifying as both an engineer and a professional planner correct correct correct you can also see the proposed LW to be to be devel sorry do you have a pointer thank you what would you like me to point out very high maintenance tonight so we have North County Line Road on the bottom we have Picadilly Drive runs uh runs up and down the sheet you have the boundary of the parcel of the total par outlined in Orange we have the two uh tributaries to the matit one on the west side of Picadilly one on the east side of Picadilly uh we have Wetlands Corridor in here and flood Hazard area basically uh in in here and in here close to the stream this black this black line heavier black line here represents the limit of the 300t riparian buffer which is measured from the top of the bank of each side of the the of the Stream So the west side and the East Side each have a 300 foot riparian buffer uh that create this curved line and this curved line that leaves about it left about 1.6 or 1.7 Acres of the site here which is not encumbered by the wetlands or the riparian buffer so that's where the development is proposed uh we are proposing to subdivide this parcel to create a new lot for the uh for the sh for that for the synagogue to be developed which is going to be on the the Northwestern corner of the property and you can see that um see that in yellow that that's you know the site improvements that are proposed uh as part of the application uh go to A2 for me next so A2 is the uh is the site plan uh you can see that we are proposing which is the new synagogue which has a total building area of about 21,000 Square ft a twostory plus basement you can see a single access point off of Picadilly a loop around uh the the driveway that provides that provides for Access circulation and parking uh right now this plan calls for 104 parking spaces based upon a lot of discussion we've had with uh the board's professionals and getting this this new ordinance interpreted properly I would stipulate that we're going to provide 110 parking SP spaces uh we have 100 spaces physically proposed plus the statute does allow us to provide for 10% EV parking spaces and get the bonus credit for that so we're going to add some EV parking spaces right now there are four EV parking spaces proposed we're going to add another six EV parking spaces that will get us to a a total parking credit of 110 parking spaces uh that will require us to make a very slight adjustment to the uh to the building as a right now we have uh three three areas that are utilized for the parking tabulation we have a main assembly area or the main assembly area we have a secondary assembly area and we have a and we have a gallery that Gallery area right now is about 15520 square feet plus or minus uh running through all the math if we take about 30 square feet out of that Gallery area that gets the math to work to the 110 parking spaces so we're going to be making that adjustment to the build bu just reducing that Gallery area touch to get us down to the uh to 110 required and 110 proposed um one question um the EV parking spaces will they be away from the building will locate them uh wherever the town would like them uh right now we have we have the first four shown uh shown here but I frankly I don't I don't have any preference whether they're close to or away from the building usually we prefer having them away from in the building for uh fire protection right and there there's pluses and minuses to each but you're correct the fire department typically likes to see them a little bit further away from the building I do believe that one of the handicap has to be EV and then it has to be near the building okay correct and how many handicap are required uh I believe it's three it's either three or four three it's whatever we have shown on the plan it's three so we have three handicap spaces shown we do not have an EB space shown right now at the handicap of course we'll we'll have to rectify that all right thank you uh you can go to A3 next for me Anthony A3 is the uh is a subdivision plan that Donna spoke about briefly um a little little twist in this application that we were all kind of uh perplexed when we when we started diving into this project and everything you look at when you look at tax maps and and you know the physical Improvement everybody would say that picadeli drive is a is a public Street that's been dedicated to the township as part of the development of Hampshire Hills but unfortunately there there was no documentation to confirm that this last piece of padil was ever dedicated to the municipality uh the county didn't have any records for for for a final plat um so the property as it exists today this is all one one partial one tax lot block 5202 lot one even though there are are lands lying to the west of padil you know padil which is obviously improved and then lands lying to the east of uh of Picadilly so this subdivision uh plan is required the subdivision application was was presented to create three new tax slots plus to create the right of way to dedicate Picadilly to the municipality when the Hampshire Hills development was approved about 20 years ago uh this section this was section seven seven sections inside Hampshire Hills this this area was known as section three and section three was approved with a stipulation on on the map that it was an area of reserve for commercial development so at the time of the approval 20 whatever years ago that's what the section 3 map said but however you know we were the the owner of the property and the original developer of of the property Kaplan Kalan group uh they could not provide any confirmation that map was ever presented for filing that any Bonds were ever posted um or that the street was ever dedicated to the municipality so our understanding is that process has has to has to occur uh the first step in that process is presentation of a final plat subdivision for this board to approve uh Next Step would be for map to be filed uh bonding if required by the municipality we I don't believe there's going to be any improvements necessary so I don't think there's going to be any B any bonding needed but we let the township engineer determine that and then finally there has to be a procedure for the municipality to actually accept the roadway improvements and the RightWay dedication so there may there may have to be uh some inspection by the town engineering department there may have to be some asphalt cores to determine pavement thickness and how that road was improved in accordance with current standards so it's definitely going to be a a process to make that happen but I believe that process does have to occur for this to be um finalized the way that it it should have been finalized this I I'll bet money that the township has been plowing that road for the last eight years nine I was just there today it's looks like a real yeah the road's been there since 2008 yeah right so looks like a road acts like a road feels like a road but again looks like a road there's no uh there's no documentation to show that map was filed to create the right of way and no documentation to show that uh the improvements have been accepted or or the road ever accepted by the I I would even think it's safe to say the township has paved that road since it Madam chair if I might yes sir um In fairness to the hearing I agree with everything that Grahams said as it relates to the non- dedication of Picadilly Lane um Mr CLE and I have been here a long time um I can confirm I was a Consulting engineer for the town in 2001 Picadilly was there then um as Hampshire Hills progressed with sections um so to the extent that there's not a good answer what I can give the applicant credit for is cleaning this up so to the extent that they talk about a hardship or talk about this or that please just understand when you drive down a road the first right-hand turn after the White butterfly is Picadilly it's been there for as long as we can remember so it's not a situation necessarily that this applicant caused it may have been a predecessor entitle it may quite frankly have been part of the township we don't know they've done some research and I can't add any additional information because we've gone back in records over 25 years and can't find any of the same information that I believe Graham and Miss Jennings have researched so I thought it was um necessary to make a record at least from this side of the table that what they've said is true as it relates to the either the applicant the owner the board's professionals or the municipality to verify that that road was ever um dedicated it's not it's not in the tax map but we know that it gets taken care of and it doesn't get taken care of by a Home Owners Association it gets taken care of by our public works department so thank you thank you and uh I was there today there's there's new construction on that road as of today so it exists it's it is what it is well I think we can we can kind of handle this a couple different ways number one that road it looks like from the historical evidence was born as a result of a residential development and it was made pursuant to the you know rsis standards so it looks like it was it was constructed according to the township standards now I would just do two things two conditions and then we can just kind of move on so one just simply being that the road has got to be met to Township standards right to constructed inspected and Township engineer they'll conduct all that um and then the second condition is is just that the dedication you know formally takes place that's it um yeah because it's not you know it's it was born as a result of a residential development um and it looks like it's been in operational use since about 2008 in its current in its current form which means that the performance bonds had to be released to a certain extent um you know which also means that Township inspection had to have happened in 2008 so that that's that's as far as I'll go into that years yeah right and and again this was designated section three I I was not a I was not provided with any documentation regarding bonding or inspection of section three the the owner of the property did give us some uh documentation which related to section two but nothing on section three so anyway that's the that's the facts as we understand it related if you put the conditions in there everything has to be you know copesthetic anyway Madam but if you could then just touch on the variances that exist they kind of exist today but we should ask for them formally again correct um so you can again referring to the uh the final plat we have up there which is I I think Mr CLE wants to chime in just real quick I think Graham was you know headed in in uh in this direction but the variance relief that's being requested Ed is driven by as a result of trying to clean this mess up correct but just just for the record again referring to A3 which is a subdivision plan I believe there are four total variances that would be required and they they relate to the New Lots uh being proposed that have Frontage on County Line Road uh for for lot new lot 5201 lot 1.01 the lot Line West of Picadilly uh there's no Frontage on County Line Road actually Ocean County has you can see these triangles here we call those triangles Corner Clips we submitted this to the county we originally had a radius and a radius Ocean County wanted those Corner they call Corner clip right away so ends up in a little unique condition where there's actually no Street Frontage of this new lot on County Line Road is just a just a corner uh so anyway 200 feet is required and there is no no no Frontage on K Line Road for that lot uh lot width 200 ft is required we measure that at the setback line which falls about here and we get about 100 ft of blot width required so that variance is is requested and for the lands remaining on the east side of Picadilly uh similar condition but the the deviations are not as significant the front and John County Line Road here is about 170 ft where 200 is required lot width at the setback right in here or so is about 180 feet where the 200 is required so those variances are requested uh you know they satisfy the C1 hardship you conditions and circumstances and and no significant detriment to the ordinance or the uh or the Zone plan uh as to the uh the building itself Anthony go to A4 for me real quick and I'm just going to show the uh show the rendering uh that's your architect's rendering of what the building is is going to look is going to look like main entrance this of course is is the parking area this would be the side of the building facing Picadilly uh there is access to around both sides of the building both on uh this west side and on over on the east side as well that show on the uh on the architectural plan views and I'll let the architect provide some more discussion about the building but this is the uh the concept of what this building is is generally going to uh going to look like uh and just one one other item to discuss because it was it was such a significant issue when this property was developed that the that this particular uh parcel before it was known as Hampshire Hills it was known as uh it known as a PO farm and a PO Farm had some documented contamination that did undergo remediation all overseen by the uh by the D that has all been all been completed uh there was correspondents from the DP issued in 2015 that that indicated any remedial action items had been had been satisfied and completed uh the only requirement uh continuing for any to be built on the parcel or any buildings to be built on the parcel is a passive ventilation system in the in the basement of any of those buildings so the homes in Hampshire Hills have those and this building is bound by that same requirement in accordance with that again that previous contamination from you know from dumping and activities that occurred on on a power Farm decades decades ago uh property is going to be served by public water and public sewer uh we have been progressing with the D on a What's called the wqmp update because the property is not in the designated sewer service area that's actually been recommended for approval by the D and hopefully we'll have that in another UH 60 to 90 days and then we would be able to file for SE extension permit and get that portion of the job uh of the job completed and we do have uh letters from both professionals uh beginning with Mr Peter's letter dated SE September 16th of course he uh discusses the application and gives some um summary of the past history and the use variance that was obtained as Mr Peters was uh the planner for the zoning board at the time as well he summarizes our proposal to subdivide the lot tabulates the uh the bulk requirements indicates that the plan as presented would have required a variance for parking but I stipulated that we're going to rectify that condition and say that uh no variance or parking is required uh Mr Peters of course points points out some of the environmental um facts uh Loi has been issued for the project flood Hazard area determination has been issued we made we made those applications to the uh to the DP application for riparian disturbance is currently pending at the D we've been working with them on getting that um that buttoned up and let's see Mr Peter comments about sidewalk along padil and Anthony maybe go back to a to to two anthy go back to A2 for me so Mr Peter's comments on on the need for sidewalk and I think this is something that the board has to uh has to re has to rectify um you can see that this is the proposed lot for the synagogue this is the lot line we have sidewalk proposed from from the driveway leading back to the Hampshire Hills development all of the development of course is located up here to the the uh to the north going down towards County Line Road wrapping around a corner other side of padil wrapping around a corner all those lands are within the reparan buffer uh we're not proposing sidewalk within those areas um I don't think there's any any benefit to it um I think the board has to uh Rectify whether we're required by ordinance to have sidewalk or make contribution we're only proposing to develop this portion of the site and we're we're hopeful that the board interprets the ordinance that we only have to have sidewalk on the portion of the property that's being developed not the PO property that is just being subdivided but uh I don't think I've ever dealt with that condition in front of this board so I think that's something that needs to be discussed and you know we love sidewalks I do as well for the sake of safety Mr Peters what's your thought here Madam chair if if we're going to build a community facility we should think in terms of the community if folks are going to walk on County Line Road they ought to be on sidewalks period not looking to spend anyone else's money or make anything more difficult if the applicant needs help putting a safety measure like sidewalks in from a permitting process I'll volunteer and go to the council and ask them to say we need a 4 foot wide sidewalk for a couple hundred feet to get people safely from County Line Road to the job site regardless of whose property it is um you they have to get a permit to develop their entrance to the site off Picadilly because it's in the 300 foot buffer I understand that but let's look at this from a use perspective we we are we don't know what's going to be going on on that stretch of road um on County Line Road in the future so we're always thinking of the future and safety is our main concern so perhaps and I understand the The Pedestrian nature of the facility for much of the time not all of the time and we really like to encourage so I agree with you Mr Peters it it's if we can recommend that there be sidewalk there I really don't care who puts it in uh we do have a fund and that fund could fund sidewalks but we would recommend as a board sidewalks for safety all all the way mam chair yes sir on the issue of sidewalks I think we were talking about from the site down to county line does the I'll call it the Westerly property line does the sidewalk from the Hampshire Hills development end at the property line you pull up A1 pull up the aerial for us maybe we get a little more information and uh see where we're going and maybe maybe zoom in here for me can so you can uh you can see we have you know the shoppr plaza immediately to the West we have this is all across the street is all wetlands and or a reparan buffer as well uh you have some you know existing single family home some of them being changed to commercial right here next to the uh you know next to the site uh what I what I was really asking is um if the ordinance requires sidewalk you know along this portion of the property that's not being developed and you know this portion of the property that's not being developed and you know if if so we of course would would would request a waiver from that um nobody our understanding is nobody who's going to use this facility is coming from County Line Room everybody is coming from inside of Hampshire Hills which is up behind up behind up behind the shore well how do you know somebody's not coming from Cook Road or Bon well I mean I can't I can't say that no one so you need a sidewalk because they walk to to sh right and of course I can't say that no one's ever going to do so let's let's go on the side of safety and put sidewalks in but by and large the majority of the congregants are coming from Hampshire Hills which is which is north which is north of where the of where the shet is and County Line Road is one of our most well-traveled roads so I wouldn't want to put anybody on foot Madam chair yes sir if I might and I I don't mean to sort of beat the developer up about about this because it's not their Frontage right um as a community facility if folks do decide to walk along County Line Road to this new proposed facility and there's an issue they're going to show up at the governing body and the governing body is going to ask the planning board why is it that you didn't put the safety measures in place that are necessary to service a community facility so I again I I'm I don't want to necessarily get on one side or the other but this is the only opportunity that Jackson Township has to get someone else to pay for the sidewalks which is what I'm saying too thank you Mr Peters and given that we can never get a 100% guarantee that no one is ever going to travel to the sh from County Line Road I would always decide on the on the side of safety M Madam chair um good questions um and I think glad we resolved it but I'm I was talking at the other end where the sh comes into padil headed I guess I had my directions wrong North where I see sidewalk being extended to the um the tracks Northerly the property line but how far away is sidewalk within the Hampshire bills development maybe can I know I uh the houses on this culdesac are currently under under construction I know that there's sidewalk on the uh west side of Picadilly up right up right up in here uh I I'm assuming but I'm I'm I'm not certain that sidewalk would be provided you know for for these homes on on the on the culdesac uh I we didn't do those plot plan not sure if they're wrapping around the corner to come all the way down here but that would be the obligation of these individual lots to construct sidewalk in accordance with ordinance requirements so our sidewalk right now has proposed a long hour site Frontage from the access drive to to the property line so it's it's potentially that the developer of that lot will extend sidewalks down padil to match your Northerly property line correct than well thank you thank you good thank you let's see say then Mr Peters discussed uh required parking Dr Campbell I just have one more question yes sir could you again point to all the properties across the street you mentioned Wetlands I just if you could just identify them again over here yeah well that sorry on the other side of County Line because we're talking about if residents are coming to the facility from other neighborhoods if we could just identify where where those neighborhoods would be I'm not aware of any to be honest with you um there are I don't believe there's any other residential developments in close proximity to this property uh my concern always with adding sidewalks where it's not necessary is if we're going to end up pushing people to take walks in areas where we don't want them really walking if if you if you come out of that street and there's a divided highway there if you're going down this way uh the former White butterfly which is now a florist down in that area there are there are possibilities for some construction along there and of course there's always people walking to um the uh shop right area well CRA I mean there are a couple of single family homes but these are in a highway commercial Zone I know that we have one application that's you know finishing up to take down one of these homes and you know which this board approved turn it into a into an office building uh there there's no residential you know really to the West is shop right there's no residential really on the other side of County Line Road there's I believe this is that the warehouse uh building that's over here you know the Edge Restaurant down there so the only our testimony is that the only people who are using this congregation are coming from Hampshire Hills but anyway the ordinance requires sidewalk to be provided so I think the board has to make a decision what they're going to uh going to to require I'm with you know Madam chair I I believe in in sidewalk for for everywhere but everything also has its own set of unique circumstances uh continuing Mr Peter's letter he makes some comments about landscaping and notations and and things to be clean up and we're uh going to clean up those and then he again just talked about the variances for lot within Frontage which I talked about uh Mr C has a letter dated September 20th where he uh just just clarifies for the board why this is a major subdivision because again again technically it's a new rightaway being created so by Statute that makes us a major subdivision he uh tabulates Z own criteria also picks up the uh the lot width and Frontage requirements talked about the environmental uh concerns Public Water and Sewer um and then he had some tech techical comments which we would agree to comply with uh one item that Mr CLE pointed out which I think we should discuss briefly is Anthony go to A2 for me uh at the top property line we have a buffer required uh the the new ordinance that that was adopted last year uh which is specific to this Zone and and this use provides for a 5ot buff buffer being necessary adjoining to or adjacent to residential uses or properties so that's what we have provided a different section of the ordinance would require a 10- foot wide buffer based upon building size uh my opinion is that the requirement of the 5- foot buffer is more specific to this particular Zone and actually part of this Zone requirement so I believe the five- foot buffer criteria uh applies and that is what we have provided uh we do not have any site signage proposed and then Mr CLE has some technical comments and things for us to to cross te's and Dot eyes on the plans and we'll agree to address those comments Miss McFarland the the um the variance relief that you're seeking are we classifying them as C1 C2 how are we identifying those I believe there C1 variances C1 hard unique condition affecting the property yes um as to I'll go through the letters first so we'll come back uh we also have gotten letters from from the uh fire department dated last one was dated April 30th we did make an initial submission got some comments I resubmitted and we got comments back on April 30th and uh there's just a couple of technical comments that relate to the knoxbox emergency communication uh he confirms that we added a second fire AR that they had asked for and then asked for the fire uh you know give some requirements for the fire department connection which we will age agree to comply with we'll satisfy all of those comments and and then we got a review letter from the police department dated July 9th uh and actually provides two comments which really both relate to the need for a sidewalk um whether it should continue or not and we've already had some discussion on that so those were his his comments Dr Campbell quick question do we have a copy of the wet lens delineation where exactly the wetlands end yes we have uh we've gotten an Loi from the D P any the information shown on our plans is is consistent with the so how far from County Line does do the wetlands go uh well if you can go back to uh go back to A1 for me and Anthony maybe just zoom in a little bit here again for me so again what we have on this property is we have looking at the west side we have we have um you know the stream cardar Center Line is basically this this black line and then we have the limit of wetlands which is this yellow line here 50ft wide buff and then we have a 50 foot wide buffer that goes all the way down to the orang that follows here and here and it's also on the on the west side as well so back to the sidewalks are we proposing sidewalks on top of wetlands well we currently are not we're proposing sidewalk up in here which is outside of the wetlands correct but if we had put sidewalks all around the property we'd be on W if we are required to provide sidewalk all along Picadilly it will not be in Wetlands it would be in the be in the buffer raran the three the 300 300 foot raran buffer corre right okay correct I still want uh as to um operations of the building we did submit a statement of operation and you know there was some history with this application we did go through a process with the zoning board before this new ordinance was was in place and a statement of operation that we've submitted is the same one that that the zoning board had agreed to and I'll go over it briefly and then if there's any particular requirements you know the applicant is is here um again this building is about 21,000 square feet of basement with two stories above we anticipate multiple Services per day seven days per week uh morning Services held from sunrise to approximately 9:00 a.m. afternoon Services Before Sunset and then evening Services between 8:45 until 10 p.m. at night a Sima room or a social hall will be used for Post Service Gatherings so there you know the the main assembly and the Simka um you don't have two two separate um Services going on at the same time congr go from one room then to the then to the other room is the the general way that it is um no excuse me no rentals uh correct correct other social events included circumcision ceremonies and Bar and Bob mitf are proposed um again the applicant can provide more detail on the bar and Bob mitf because again we did have some discussion with the own word about that but he should probably put that on a record for the for the planning board uh the basement has a warming kitchen only there's no food preparation on site uh there are separate men's and women's mikah facilities uh both of them limited to approximately six people at a time uh weddings school and youth camps are not to be conducted at the facility so that is a restriction um and and there's no there's not going to be anybody residing at the facil No No caretaker nobody's living at the fac no weddings no banquet holes no correct that's correct and then of course the owner is responsible for all the operation and maintenance and parking side walk storm drainage and the ref collection all that all that stuff is is private would the applicant be opposed to no parking Zone from the North End of the property all the way down to uh County Line Road well that's going to be Municipal street that would have to be done by Town Council would recommendation that's fine recommendation both sides of the and then we did have again I'm I'm touching on what happened at at the zoning board we did have a a letter of no concern from the enviral environmental Commission in March of 2023 when the application went to the zoning board we did submit this whole packet to the environmental commission I do not have a letter of no concern yet but I know the environmental commission has been having some difficulties with their with their staff meetings but I this is consistent with that all the information previously presented so I don't anticipate any difficulties there that summarizes my direct any questions from the board Madam chair yes sir um Mr McFarland in our report on page seven under subdivision and site plan issues um General comment A1 um the new ordinances that were adopted 24457 E1 indicates Lots shall not have their sole Frontage on a residential access or residential neighborhood street or any lower order street is defined by rsis right let him finish a house of worship is permitted on a local Street however there's only one access point along padil can you please provide some testimony because I believe if you as shown you may require relief and that is under the zoning section of the code which would make a variance I just want the record to be clear on your thoughts on this section of the ordinance before before I answer that question I think I'm GNA punt at this time and Mr Kettle is gonna answer that question he's going to provide traffic testimony and discuss that in some detail and I can come back if I need to Mr Kelly doesn't do variances wait so hang on so if we're g to identify this as a different variance how do we um is that what you're Mr Peters is that what you're referring to we're identifying this as a okay all right so so we'll wait until Circle back any other questions from the I have a question for the attorney thank you whether it's this application or another one if if there are prohibitions on the topic would on a macro level be should the board whether it's in the law or in practice be reimagining what the street is what I mean by that is if the method of conveyance by ritual practice custom or religion is walking does the sidewalk become in a sense the street uh so if just reimagining what a sidewalk is traditionally uh and and contrasting that with when whether it's this application or another I don't know that's why this question is for the attorney um does the law speak to um applications whether this one or others where there are prohibitions from from arriving at a location for example in a vehicle and you can only arrive there uh as a pedestrian does a sidewalk then become the primary method of convenience and essentially become the street how does the law apply to that that concept this is a perhaps a question for for another time but I think it's important if that is the only way you can arrive at a location does the street become the sidewalk do they become the same and then what new standards or what standards would apply in that respect as it as it relates to developers agreements or other offsite conv you know Ingress egress things like that it may not apply here I don't know but putting that question out there because I I think it's a legitimate topic all right so so you got we got to break that down to two different answers first you got to go directly to the ordinance to see if the ordinance uh has some kind of standard for requiring the um pedestrian access pedestrian access or or sidewalks or whatever you want to call it second uh question of that would be with the developers agreement that's kind of like a negotiated agreement between the township and and the developers so really I mean you could put anything you want in there um but when it comes down to the customary practice I mean if you have if you have a type of business that that says you know um people are always going to walk to um to that place or or they're only going to drive to that place and that kind of becomes the course of conduct between the parties but but if the ordinance contradicts that you have to go with the ordinance um so it's a it's a multi-layered answer I'm just putting it out there for example if you have a Waterfront Restaurant and the only way to get there is a boat you're not going to have a conversation about sidewalks right it might be the dock right which is the means of arrival is is uh right but and you still got to and with that you got to get the approval you know or CF approval for for the docs and for the peers and stuff like this with this I think they would act actually um because of the fact that part of the street is in the reparan way um correct me if I'm wrong but I I think you may have to go and get D approval for sidewalk that's correct yeah so so even even if we require it they still would have to go and and get that out Outside Agency approval for the construction of it and they may get shot down which recomend brings us back to um thank you are you going to jump right on top jump so that that's it that's all I got with that said that's why I was thinking about these sidewalks you have to go to the DP no matter what maybe we can stipulate instead of putting them in and you you stipulate you will apply to them and see if they'll approve it because then if they don't if they don't and we order you to do them you got to come back to us so if you stipulate that you'll apply to them if they approve them you'll put them in yeah we can agree to that I think that's a lot lot safer for everybody's concerned especially dealing with the EP and the timing on them and everything else now I think maybe the magic word might be recommend we we recommend we wouldn't require because that would give you uh another opportunity to enjoy our company all right so so stipulate that you'll apply for it um and then and the board recognizes that if you get rejected for set approval um yeah you can move forward uh the environmental consultant is basically saying it would be easier if you really want the sidewalks for the township to apply for it um because they might actually listen to you guys and not the applicant because the D as you know is not the easiest agency to deal with so we're not adverse to um doing it I just if you really want it I was just trying to figure out the easiest way to get it accomplished if you think going to the township is easy I know you deal I will make our effort we will uh apply and see what happens at the D let's just all do our best we will I have a couple questions Mr yes you know me with the fire department can we bring up a shot of the building's I think he's looking for 82 please so how would the fire department get to three sides of that building well we submitted the plan to the uh to the fire Bureau and they uh did not give us any comments about circulation they only gave us comments about what they want us to address and we've addressed their comments I only see their letter well I have their letter it was dated April 30th 2024 you can have my copy if you want it we make a copy of it I mean to me that's a major concern especially you have a loading ramp where you want to now turn into EV parking how are they supposed to get a firet Tru if they have to pull alongside to Lad it well again my uh my testimony is that we submitted to the fire Bureau they didn't ask us to provide any other circulation or any other access than what we have shown on this plan no I'm I agree with you apparently fire department dropped the ball on that one I'm just asking you if you have any concerns because I do I want to comply with the recommendation of the fire Bureau all right well they must have dropped the ball on that and it's a shame because it's you could lose a building because you don't have any access for a fire truck but that's just my professional opinion um let's so part of the problem with this building is you're infringing on Wetland so that's why we can't uh no there's encroachment into the riparian buffer not the wetlands pretty much the same my um let's see right that's it for now M de Marza um can you tell me about the a few things on the statement of operations I don't know if um you were indicated the applicant was going to also speak to it but um how many what's the capacity how many people can it hold well a question of a occupancy I would defer to the architect okay um and as far as seven days a week um so that's even on Saturdays it would be sunrise to approximately 9:00 a.m. and then um the afternoon Services would be from 8:45 p.m. until 10: that's correct and then during the week um I was in the area this morning and there's a lot of school buses that go through there um I was there at about 8:30 so um so they would be what time would they start uh those specific question I think I'll defer to the applicant he can okay I'm sure he can give you more specific answers than than I can okay on those items anyone else we'll move right along thank you yeah I'm going to bring up the architect next all right do you swear or firm to tell the truth the hold truth nothing but the truth yes I do all right please state your name and spell your last with the record naot G licensed architect New Jersey multiple other states I have testified for this board and these drawings were prepared under my supervision all right thank you and the board accepts the credentials we do thank you if you could enough Tali um just describe the floor plans and the elevations and if you're going to rely on the exhibit could you please identify it and then when you're finished with your direct testimony if you could address or maybe incorporate in your testimony the question with regard to the occupancy that was raised by board member dearo yes for sure if we could uh start with exhibit A7 thank you Anthony so again this application is the construction of a two-story synagogue with a finished basement the proposed first floor is 8,318 Ft second floor is 3,959 Ft basement is 8,367 Ft total of 2,644 proposed building will be 5 be construction it will be fully sprinkled will contain an elevator to all the levels and does contain two means of igis to all RS with the occupancy load more than 50 starting with the first floor the main entrance is facing the parking lot brings you to the main entry foyer to the left of that is is one staircase to the right is a hallway leading to the coat room coffee room at the end of the hallway is a second main entrance which which comes with a ADA Compliant ramp on the other side of the hallway leads you to the sink room bathroom straight ahead is the library to the left is the main vestibule which leads you to the secondary vestibule which leads you into the base medish on the back right is the rabbi study with with a bathroom and access to the elevator and the secondary stairs if we could go to A8 the second floor contains a gallery contains a lecture room which is used for small study courses there's a kids room room for kids to play while while it's while the the function is going on there's a storage room there's men's and ladies bathroom and another little coat room for the woman if we could go to 86 please in the basement we have the multi-purpose room we have a staircase for men and women coming down each one has its Lobby and there's a men's woman a man's bathroom and a woman's bathroom Man's coat room lady's coat room we also have two separate mikas in the rear is the woman's Mikvah with direct access from the outside on the front we have the man's Mikvah with four showers and uh and a dressing room and we also have in the back right in the back right we have the sprinkler room and utility rooms just some other some other um the basement ceiling height will be 11 fet the first and second floor height will be 10 ft exception of the main base Mets which be double height which going to adds up to 22 feet of height the total Building height will be 29 ft 5 in till the top of the roof which is 33 ft till the top of the parit the proposed material if we could just take a quick look at A4 our main material is going to be a stucco around the windows and front is going to be engineered wood paneling and at the at the base we have stone and on the left side we also have a light colored Stone um the occupancy load base Mets is 287 people the library would be 14 people the gallery is 101 people the share room which is upstairs is going to be 15 the kids room is 19 and the men's mikah is is around like 78 and the women's MF four occupants three in the prep room and one in the raing room and just to address the the occupants all these uses are not concurrent so we'll never have that many people at the same time but that is the occupant loan for each use and that concludes my testimony will the uh roof be solar ready yes it will be thank you you don't have to ask I wouldn't want to disappoint you by not asking Mr Marza wanted to clarify um the multi-purpose room that the capacity of that is 111 did you say no it's 228 oh 228 yes 15 and could you uh point out where the woman's mikah is I don't see it and that's A6 that's the access into the woman's mfer from outside there is no direct access from inside it's a separate use that's what I was wondering okay thank you thank you and I believe and because I had a little trouble hearing you you did say there will not be two events at one time correct thank you any other questions from the board from the professionals I just like to say that I think I commend you on a beautiful layout addresses all safety concerns I see this eress everywhere just a really wellth thought out plan in my opinion I've seen some shows in my time so thank you congrats I think Ray likes it also okay I'm I'm wondering if this would be a good time to open it for the these two professionals uh to be questioned if there are any questions from the uh audience from the public just because it's fresh in everybody's mind do you want to hear maybe from the applicants representative and you can ask them some questions we can hold traffic because they may he may be able to answer hold traffic I well it's up let's make it up to you which do you think would be the more efficient well we can hear their questions if that's it seems like what you prefer fresh in their mind from these from these two uh from these two so what we're going to do is we're going to open it to the public just to ask questions of the two professionals who have testified is there anyone who has any questions seeing no one come forward I move the close the public cross examination second all in favor I good that way we know that that's taken care of well just just to be specific close the the public cross-examination of these two professionals later there will be opportunities to discuss the project in its entirety thank you thank you next witness at this time I was going to call the applicants representative up Moshi liberon all right please raise your right hand we got a new face we don't get any of those all right uh do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I affirm all right and please state your name and spell your last for the record Mishi leverson l i b r s o h n all right please State your credentials for the record I'm a member of the building project committee he's a fact witness oh okay fact witness gotcha welcome thank you and if you could um Moshi just for the record you had also testified before the zoning board in the original application correct okay and I know that Graham went through a lot of the um operations but if there was anything that he missed if you could clarify a little bit about exactly what other activities would be going on at the site I think that would be helpful okay so I did hear a question before exactly about the times in the morning so the services are there's a few different service times to accommodate different people most of us work and need to get out pretty early so most people tend to participate in the early services and are out of the way we're back home by the time our children are getting on the bus or already heading out to work there are a few people who it doesn't work for them so well so it's a probably I'd say maybe about 20% or less who attend the service at the later side of things um but majority really are really got to be in the office by 9: so they're really kind of done by the time the school buses start really coming through so that's typically the day is mean say there's they'll be staggered two or three services probably in the morning and then most people are at work throughout the day and then in the afternoon they come home around sunrise sunset around Sunset we'll have another set of services and then in the evening we'd have Services as well where we typically at the beginning of it we'll have prayers and then some people will stay to study and then there'll be another option for those who come later to pray at the end and that's kind of how we stagger it it's the same people but during the week typically they not have once on the same schedule so we have a few different times any questions from the board for this witness so how many members do you anticipate having so we currently have about 100 approximately 100 families um we expect that to grow somewhat um not not really sure how many um It ultimately uh I mean assuming that somewhere probably between 100 and 100 Max maybe 150 families that's 300 people is it safe to say that the uh growth uh is covered by the size of the building meaning that the building is sufficient for any growth potential growth we believe so it's current bigger than what we need we kind of had that in mind so like this you know we can accommodate the people moving in so like this everyone can have it and we don't have to start having issues that we're out growing and we need another plan there's really precious little room for growth as far as the property is concerned um correct that's why we're trying to maximize it at this point so this we can have for those potential exra few families that still move in to be able to join and have space for them without any overcrowding I I was driving there today and thinking what a perfect spot what a perfect spot this is that it's almost like it was meant to be uh that that uh particular area has been left very nice thank you thank you we we started this project we kind of took like a an aerial maps we're looking okay where can we find a place that would be out of the way not in anyone's way could comply and we said wow there's one piece of land left untouched let me congratulate your congregation for picking that perfect location and working uh to make uh it work for everyone in the town we appreciate that thank [Applause] you the members of your congregation I don't know if that's the right word to use but are they all from Hampshire Hills or do they live on Cook Road Bartley Road in the proximity of the area they're pretty much all Hamshire Hills nobody from the county line side at all um I'm pretty sure that everyone's from Hampshire Hills there really is there's nobody on County Line at all for sure not um again just this the block before is Bartley and the block after is cook right correct on Cook Road there's nobody as well and I'm trying to think if there's Bartley if there is then they would become there's an entrance from Bartley in tamire Hills but there is a possibility that there could be people from there I I again if there would be I can't imagine that they would walk in county line cuz the all the houses are are are further than Hampshire Hills yeah but I can imagine them cutting through from um from that area behind uh shoppr right and cutting through that parking lot it's not a long walk so it's a possibility right but there's nobody there coming from that side as now as of now um if I may because we seem to have kind of segwayed into this um I've been getting a little vibes from people who are a little bit nervous about the sidewalk proposal to to the corner they're nervous that it's going to attract their children to heads toward county line where they'll ride their bikes and things like that where now it's kind of given that this is where the community ends and you don't go there so I have been getting these kind of concerned messages and people ask me can you please say something because we really don't want to attract any of the children to head towards county line right now they're contained in a very beautiful residential community and people do have a little bit of concern with that no and that's my concern too and even in the police department letter they have the same they express the same concerns you can't guarantee that nobody's going to be coming from either side it's impossible to know so it's just a concern I just want to put it on record any other questions we appreciate your coming tonight thank you thank you okay at this time I like to call the traffic engineer Scott Kennel we get a new face and we get in old face you might take offense to the word old young old old young all right do you swear or affir to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I do Scott Kennel k n NE L with MCD and Ray Associates located at 1431 Lakewood Road Mana Squan welcome thank you board accepts your gr thank you and just Scott if you could just for the record your office prepared to traffic impact analysis dated April 16th 2024 that is correct and if you could run through the um your findings for the board's review yes as part of the traffic study prepared for this application uh we did an inventory of existing traffic conditions in the area as well as traffic counts traffic counts were conducted in January of 2022 at um Hampshire Boulevard and padelli drive and they were done from 7 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. uh was determined that the peak hours occur from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. and 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. uh the next phase was to estimate traffic and based on the statement of operations and the type of use we project Ed approximately 150 peak hour trips associated with the proposed sh uh we had basically assigned traffic within the community based on the testimony you heard most of the congregants live within the community and then consistent with the Ocean County planning board protocol we expanded the base traffic volumes and evaluated a 2034 uh utiliz a 2034 design year and that included basically increasing the traffic volumes by approximately 12% and then search charging the the traffic generation onto the intersection of the site driveway and padelli drive and determined that due to the low volumes of traffic on padelli Drive the intersection would operate at level service a for both the morning and afternoon peak hours basically indicating that there be very little delays uh exiting the site and that the driveway would operate safely and efficiently uh Grant provid a testimony on the parking and site and the site PL site layout and it's my opinion that the site has been designed properly to accommodate large wheel-based vehicles and that the um Park and Supply satisfies the requirement of the ordinance uh so in in summary site plan has been designed to provide positive on-site circulation we have parking that with the adjustments that Graham had testified to satisfies that the township ordinance and the site Drive will operat safely and efficiently that concludes my direct based on the April 16 2024 traffic report and I just wanted to draw your attention U Mr Peters had raised a question with regard to ordinance section 24457 one which states lot shall not have their sole Frontage on a residential access or residential neighborhood street or any lower order Street as defined by the residential site Improvement standards period then the next sentence says a house of worship is permitted on a local street can you give us an opinion as to whether or not you think the applicant needs relief from that section yes um in reviewing Mr Peter's comments I've also then reviewed uh the residential site Improvement standards referring to the latest uh publication November 6 2023 and referencing table 4.2 under Section 5 col 21- 4.1 which is the res residential street hierarchy definitions and in my opinion when looking at that it this picadeli between uh Hampshire Boulevard and County County Line Road would fit the definition of a minor collector and and I and I'll I'll go into detail here the rsis also provides uh traffic volume thresholds but they are they represent maximum in that they say a maximum of 1500 would qualifies as a residential access a residential neighborhood but at the same time and I'll read the definition for a minor collector minor order of residential streets provide Frontage for access to lots and car carries traffic of adjoining residential access streets designed to carry somewhat higher traffic volumes than lower order streets such as Rural and residential access streets with respect with traffic limited to motorists having origin or destination within the immediate neighborhood and it is not intended to carry Regional traffic furthermore there are no residential dwellings along that section of padil drive so taking all that into consideration it's my opinion that Picadilly drive along the site Frontage uh would be classified as a minor collector and then satisfy um Ernie's comment in his review there is we were pointing out there is new construction still going on in that neighborhood not a great deal but they're building homes there there are a couple homes but there north of Hampshire north of H north of Hampshire Boulevard with no access directly to padelli so I guess that's that's my qualifier that there's no residential dwellings with direct access in that section of padelli drive and to that end we've we as a board have discussed and I think we've agreed that we will recommend to the township there be no parking on either side of Picadilly from Hampshire Boulevard to County Line Road well the 100 foot is already no parking right from county 100t is already no parking but let's just cover ourselves there that's his direct testimony any any questions for this witness from this board thank you Mr C good to see thank you and that concludes our direct presentation uh we'll open to the um unless our our uh professionals have some questions first or comments okay then let's open this to the public for any uh questions uh or comments on this project well I just I say I I have what I got one issue that we may need to address M MC forland if you want to come back up just for a second um when it comes down the uh the fire report because I don't have it in front of me it doesn't mean that it it hasn't been yeah that's that's okay I I believe you um so right now you're going to be applying to um for D approval for the sidewalk anyway um what I would recommend is that the applicant at least make the attempt of of applying maybe for a cut through of the grass area and the reparan for maybe a a drive a something like that so that emergency vehicles can can have access if you get denied you get denied you know um but at least the at least you've tried at least you tried and made the effort to to see if an emergency vehicle could hit we can certainly take a look at that make an attempt right and try to work it into the application that's pending for the DP for the repairing disturbance all right and Mr Tremor would that be it's better than nothing sorry to me I wish the building was in a different spot so was you know we we're trying to improve things and it just drives me crazy that we sh shoehorn these buildings into these little Corners instead of building a building that fits the property well the the reparan buffer would give plenty of room if it were grass pavers um would would take care of that grassers hold a 90,000 lb fire truck but an eem some emergency vehicles could correct at least get there and we we do our best you're right it's all about compromise but why are we doing these applications in my mind I expressed this to Mr Shay earlier in my mind we're here for the taxpayers too and we have a general public out there going well I couldn't put a pool or a shed or a garage on my property because of this why are they putting this building here here and while they do meet the basic standards it behooves the board I think to kind of push to let's change our thinking with what's going on here to me that's an issue and this is why people have grave concerns we're not trying to Har harass Miss Jennings or Mr McFarland but we're trying to make the town better you know we we want sidewalks so we don't have people on on the street walking on the street getting run over like happened on farming Road this year you know and it's about safety me as a firefighter what if they have to have a mass Exodus out of that building something went wrong yes they're going to go up on padelli but you're going to also have people that do live on cook or uh Bartley maybe not now later and there is a good possibility of them running out in front of a a a vehicle or a fire truck well I think the reality of the situation would be if the back of the building is on fire the fir truck is going to shoot across the lawn anyway regardless of a repairing right being there you know and and try to get to the so if the applicant's willing to make the effort to get an emergency access Lane uh to the back through the repair in and get the D on board um to be able to to safely have the 990,000 lb vehicle access to it you but that's part of the problem now we want to manipulate the EV parking you're going to be blocking it all with with vehicles you know yes it we're trying to compromise here but in the grand scheme of things the way the general public looks at it is this is very simple pull the cars out of the way blah blah blah it doesn't work that way especially in a crisis situation that's why I take the stand I do because I know the difference I am the guy who's had to take a fire truck and push a car out of the way and then you're getting sued because you're destroy somebody's property so I'm just trying to we're trying to change things the fire officials I know are having a lot of meetings the town is growing the town is changing and you know it's an issue that's why I I pursue it uh Mr mcaren I think step in the right direction I did look that we maybe those EV Vehicles could be moved over to the farle corner instead of uh where we were talking about them earlier on the right there's a there there's a line of uh parking spaces there would that are not adjacent to the building or even close little farther away we agree with that okay good I mean maybe you can put the handicap parking because you have greater space it's easier to get one car out of the area there you know so if You' look at that that's good I'm looking out for the benefit of the building you like Mr hel said you're putting up a beautiful building let's protect it that's my point you know you have bunch of people here that are very concerned and want this building we have to protect them whether it's a sidewalk that is not a popular idea but we still have to protect them that's my point thankk you good thank you so those those little those changes may may make things possible more possible thank you all right now all I now may we open it to the public for any uh any cross-examination of the this witness or oh let's just do cross-examination first and the fact witness and the um traffic traffic engineer anyone coming forward for questions for those people seeing no one come forward I move the close the cross examination all in favor I now we will open it for general questions for this project from the audience see all right please raise your right hand do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the hold truth nothing but the truth I do please state your name and spell your last of the record I read d d a v i d an address please my address is 16 Cedar all Road Jackson New Jersey first of all I wanted to just say thank you for taking the time tonight to hear this application we are super excited about this opportunity to have a Sho um which is being built on a Big Lot in a big property as Miss Campbell said very M Campbell said far away from all the um noise and all the houses it's a very safe property I just wanted to bring up about the sidewalks that was uh mentioned here tonight um if countyline Road had sidewalks I would say as a resident it would be great to connect that throughway but since County Line Road doesn't and it's extremely dangerous and nobody from this community comes from that direction or ever plans on coming from that direction anything that would be built there would have their own shools and their own um infrastructure I think it would be as he said earlier much more of a danger to have that access unless County l Road itself is going to have a full sidewalk going all the way to Bartley Road because otherwise now we're opening up a way to get it's like kind of like the bridge to nowhere where like you just have that sidewalk that goes nowhere so if it would end at the synagogue then it would actually push people to go into Hampshire Hills as opposed to out into a dangerous area so I just wanted to make that comment and as far as the fire goes as well it's a very open area so it's not a building that's crammed between other buildings so yes there may not be access for pavement but there's plenty of access to get to that building there's there's nothing around it besides for trees and grass thank you thank you seeing no one else come forward I move the close the public portion of the testimony second so i' I'd like to have a little conversation here among board members uh we usually encourage sidewalks because we don't know what the future holds uh I I do see your point so your thought is that you're restricting people from potentially going from Hampshire Hills down to County Line Road to perhaps the shopping center uh which might be an attractive nuisance uh and and potentially you want to keep people off County Line Road for safety sake that's your point any thoughts from this board on that thought it is an unusual situation um we'd love to have a guarantee from from the uh applicant that they will not have any members coming from County Line Road but I don't know how legal that is or even possible that is but it is a good point and I that I did not think about that this would be a sidewalk that leads to Nowhere nowhere because there are no sidewalks at the County Line side and also I see the point of not wanting to make this an attractive nuisance because you have the Turnin to shop right right there and there are a lot someone who uses it all the time knows it is not somewhere you want people walking good point anyone else from this board so I would I I actually also just wanted to um I guess agree um I've seen residents taking walks all the time after services and other things and I definitely do not want people leading in that direction um I'm a big advocate for sidewalks throughout town but we also only if it has a connection so I would I I personally would I'm okay with them applying to DP let's see what happens um but I I'm not a big advocate for sidewalks over here Mr brei Madam chair you that whole discussion about sidewalks is out here pretty quiet I don't normally do but I I got to say I sat quiet because I was not totally with the idea and that's why I tried to come up with a a medium at least apply for them my personal opinion I don't think as much as safy is concerned in future you're inviting trouble by putting him down from the end of theirs to County Line Road you're asking for problems I'd like to see that part removed from the stipulations okay anyone else anyone from this board all right I think I think that we all agree that the residents know their community and that there's a recommendation to Cease the sidewalk at the end of the shes property okay should we make a motion for that let's make a motion for that I'll make a motion I'll second it is this a moot is this a motion for the sidewalks just a motion for Where the Sidewalk there's a nice book called Where the Sidewalk Ends It's s sh Silverstein it's excellent poetry for children the side where the sidewalk will end and it is as recommended in the plans all in favor I I anyone opposed I am okay just so we have it on record so let's do a a voice let's do a formal a formal voice so what is being proposed is that the sidewalk will end at the end of The Shaw property Mr brzy yes Mr Bernstein yes Mr marzo no Mr heler yes Mr chmer no I have grave safety issues Mr weart yes Mr wall yes Mr Sullivan yes Dr G yes thank you madam chair will we be getting a contribution to the fund for the sidewalk then we'll get now now now we get to it very good watch out for the township we will now expect a contribution to the sidewalk fund thank you you're welcome uh you're welcome Mr councilman all right now um you have you're going to finalize and you want to summarize summarize please sure just uh as indicated the applicant is seeking both plary and final major site plan and subdivision approval with a couple of bulk variances really that are triggered by the Picadilly road that was never formerly dedicated and not going to look any different than it does today or looked yesterday it'll look the same tomorrow and so we think that the applicant demonstrated a hardship for those variances due to the unique uh features on the property and the location of the Picadilly Road that's already built and we therefore ask the board respectfully to Grant the applicant approval right all right I'm just going to sum up the variances real quick so that the the applicant no longer requires the parking variants uh they're going to comply so that's off the table uh but there's four variances um that are that are kind of textbook quite frankly uh there's a minimum lot width and minimum lot Frontage on the left side as a result of the existence of padilly way uh there is a minimum lot withth minimum Frontage on on the right side as a result of the um as a result of the reparan buffer um so the type of variance that the applicant's seeking is a hardship variance um and we're allowed to give a hardship variance in the event that uh the applicant is able to deviate from the ordinance when there's a hardship caused by a unique physical or topographical feature of the property um kind some circumstances under the case law is either narrowness shallowness uh depth regular shape of the property um circumstances like like d situations delineation lines repairing buffers existing roadways uh things like that uh once you identify that then you have to go to the negative criter and say one of two things all right either the variance can be granted without substantial detriment um to the zoning plan and it will not substantially impair the instent and purpose of the zoning plan um in the situation that we have guys this is very textbook um because of the existence of padil way and because of the reparan um reparan buffer um which cuts the property off significantly uh it it would be a textbook C1 variant so I'll leave it to the board to take a vote but those are the stand that's the legal standard you have to apply all right we'll look for a motion a motion well everybody wants to make a mo you go Ken based on the application I think it's a pretty good application need application explained well I think the movement you were willing to make on the side is what we finally came up with as M Dr Campbell said the location seems perfect for it um and I know that in a perfect world we can't get every building to have a radius all around it for Emergency Equipment but the back of that facing nothing so I I think it's a great application I think it's a good application I think was explained well I make a motion to approve I second that uh Sullivan just um it's a good application wellth thought out plan for the building um if there was ever a location that would be perfect for something this is it so I second that all right now we'll take a Voice vote Please Mr Brey yes Mr Bernstein yes Mr marzo yes Mr heler yes Mr Tremor no Mr wiard yes Mr wall yes Mr Sullivan yes Dr Campbell yes thank you so much apprciate it [Applause] than Dr Campbell can we take a fem minute break we we'll take a 10-minute break please um e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e welcome back thank you for the evening Donna Jennings from the law firm of L Gman and Spitzer on behalf of the applicant as the board is aware the applicant is here this evening seeking preliminary and final major site plan approval to construct a new synagogue with an accessory uh mikah on property located at 9:2 to heison Road and identified as block 1204 lot 34 on the Township's tax map the property is situated in the R1 Zone on approximately 1.29 Acres both the proposed house of worship and the Mikvah are permitted uses in the R1 Zone when we initially submitted the application it was variance free however after receiving thoughtful comments from the board's professionals minor revisions were made to the proposal which now require two variances from ordinance section 24447 from Maximum impervious coverage and minimum setback from a property line for the circulation Drive applicant is also requesting two design waivers from ordinance sections 244-9720 and to permit a 60 foot setback from the parking access aisle to the RightWay where 100 ft is required and also to allow parking stalls to utilize the required entrance and exit drives as parking access aisles there is also one existing non-conformity on the property related to minimum lot width for 150 ft is required under ordinance section 244-4183 7.18 ft the testimony will show that The Proposal conforms with all other requirements of the Township's ordinance in support of the development proposal applicant will call on the following Witnesses Ari Stern the applicant's representative sitting to my left leie Al Bert the applicant site engineer and he also is a planner Lewis Garfunkle the applicant architect and Scott Kennel the applicants uh traffic consultant as a matter of recordkeeping the applicant has received the following reports the board planners review letter dated August 14 2024 the board of Engineers review letter dated June 26 2024 fire Bureau review letter dated June 24th 2024 the police department Traffic Safety uh unit review letter dated May May 23rd 2024 and the township Tree Specialist stated August 2nd 2024 so with that I'd like to have Mr Stern sworn in and he is a fact witness not an expert all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I affirm all right my name is Stern and my last name is SN there we go okay okay I don't know if you heard that but s RN okay if you could Mr Stern just uh give your affiliation with the you are the applicant and affiliation with the actual Shool that's being constructed sure I'm a member of the 922 Heist and LLC and um I plan on developing the Sho on that property um goe you want to give a statement go ahead sure so the heis road sunnywood area of Jackson is rapidly growing with members of Orthodox Jews including two of my children and their families that live there um there's no synagogue in that area that uh to service them and I myself I bought a property to move into that neighborhood as well uh therefore this side is very appropriate um as we don't drive orct shoes who don't drive to Sho Friday nights Saturdays and on holidays currently the property has a single Family Home and a shed on it proposed Sho we open to serve approximately 180 congregants in the adjacent neighborhood Sho hours of operation will be as follows Sunday through Friday first morning service commence with uh sunrise or 6:30 approximately 8:30 the evening Services fluctuates with Sunset and there'll be evening Services approximately 9: Saturday first servic commence at 8:30 and last till approximately 11 with additional prayers after at and around Sunset the pros community will be utilized mainly as a social Gathering space after services and therefore will not be used at the same time as the main sanctuary and it will also be used to host smaller Sho related events Bar B misses large celebrations like weddings will not be permitted there will be a men's Mikvah that will be available for members uh that's open daily before morning morning services and Friday afternoons before Saturday other than Saturday will be no uh overnight parking um there will be security and Camera monitoring system installed there will be no on-site food preparations will use warming devices for already prepared food Liberties will will be only when there is an event in the Social Hall there'll be one full-time maintenance work employed by the Sho employee will also be the employee will also be responsible for operations and maintenance of the parking years sidewalks Landscaping lighting utilities storm water management system and building trash services will be provided by private contractor no I think I think he h everything um that's his direct test testimony any questions from anyone on this board anything from our professionals m m dearo I just wanted to add one thing it's my third time here and thank you for listening to this application I appreciate it one question sorry I did have a question um so you said it could hold up to 180 congregants completely and how many members do you expect to have probably expect sorry between 40 and 50 members and where would they be coming from from within the proximity of the area furest somebody who walk on a shice is is a mile so but there's with within that close proximity there's a lot ofu shes okay thank you and uh I think you're stipulating no rentals you won't rent it out correct thank you does this have sewers or septic I we'll have the uh site engineer answer that thank you Ellie if you can come on up my turn do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the hold truth nothing about the truth I do all right please state your name and spell your last of the record Eric Halpert h a p r t licensed professional engineer in planner in the state of New Jersey I have provided testimony before this board multiple times and these plans were prepared under Bo accept credentials welcome back thank you and just to make sure the record's clear he's testifying as both an engineer and plan and a planner okay thank you if you could um Ellie for the board just uh describe the site and the area around the site if you're going to refer to an exhibit just identify it for the record this uh um this exhibit could be marked this whole set could be marked um exhibit A1 the board is looking at the aerial the property is located on the north side of heisen road at the intersection of Farmer Lane it is identified as block 124 Lo 34 um uh the board member just um asked regarding septic and sewer and uh the applicant is um has obtained preliminary approval from the MUA for both public water and public sewer connections and the site will be served by public water and public sewer the uh water connection will be on Farmers Lane sewer connection is going to be off of um on heison road can you go to um exhibit B uh to um page eight of this exhibit set which is the site plane the applicant is proposing to construct a synagogue it will contain two stories and a basement with main sanctuary a multi purpose assembly area and a mikah area the um parking um access access to the site is provided both along heisen Road and along Farmers Lane the applicant has obtained um conditional approval from County of ocean for the access along heisen Road there are some comments regarding increasing the radius um otherwise no right of weight dedication is required um for this application the um main sanctuary assembly area is 285 Square ft the multi-purpose Social Hall assembly area is 2,410 square ft and the women's assembly area is 1,196 square ft and using the um New Township ordinance that comes to a parking requirement of 59.2 uh parking spaces the applicant is providing parking greater than that number 68 physical spaces um which includes three handicap spaces as well as EV spaces which are provided away from the building and the total credit would be counted as 71 although the applicant doesn't need um the credit the applicant is over Mark excuse me one one thing we did discuss the last uh application was that one of the EV stations would be a handicap station the will the third one down the the applicant will need to comply with that requirement of providing handicap EV and that will be revised the applicant is um uh seeking to um provide circulation around the building there is full access all around the building the property slopes a bit the applicant is proposing walls along the northern and Eastern side the storm water surface Basin is at the heisen road along the heisen road Frontage and not shown on this plan but there's also subsurface um additional subsurface Basin I'd like to go um [Music] through the letter the applicant is in receipt of the board planners letter dated August 14th review number two the applicant is um the applicant is um providing a Mikvah that is less than 2,000 square ft the architect will go into more detail regarding the um floor plan area the total proposed square foot area of the building is um approximately uh 13,000 square feet between the first two floors and the basement floor the architect will confirm the exact square footage regarding signage the applicant is not is not proposing to supply any um site identification um signage as part of the original applica as part of the uh proposal if the board um requests the applicant would be willing to supply um there are there is presently no no site no site identification um signage proposed regarding um circulation this plan is showing um is a revised plan and the plan shows um full access around this was a plan coordinated um with um the Fire official the plan um requires a variance uh two variances associated with providing the full access circulation namely the circulation Drive is 5T off of the property line as well as the added circulation drive and the parking brings the impervious coverage to over 70% I'll provide justification at the end of the testimony it should be noted that lot 35 that the applicant is adjacent to and is 5T off of is owned by the applicant as well Mr St our application is Lot number 34 it does not involve lot 35 it is only 5 feet the circulation Drive is 5et off of lot 35 lot 35 is owned by Mr Stern as well the applicant is willing to comply with the um with the um comments regarding landscaping and is able to provide the required Landscaping the applicant will provide both offense and buffering along the property lines except as was just mentioned the 5-ft width not a 10-ft width along the easterly property line adjacent to Lot number 35 the traffic um expert will provide um testimony regarding the justification for the design waivers regarding the um entrance drives and parking access off of the circulation drive as mentioned earlier um there is um the applicant mentioned the uh refu um is going to be provided by private hauler typically twice weekly collection will suffice and the refu collection is located in the northeastern um corner of the property to go through the board Engineers letter dated June 26th 2024 the there are comments there are technical comments and the applicant is able to comply with the technical comments regarding um regarding um soil cut a complete um cut fill calculation was not done a preliminary cut fill calculation was done the the property will be generally in cuts it will be right around 1,000 cubic yards and if a soil uh removal permit is needed the applicant will need to um request one regarding um there was a comment regarding the survey addressing the survey um noting an easement which was abandoned there is a um final plant major subdivision filed um with the Ocean County Clerk map h265 3 file 21396 that states a 25 ft wide access easement is to be abandoned if and when a roadway is installed from Jackson Mills heison Road through the proposed 60ft road to the proposed Green Hills Farm subdivision and that is referring to what is now known as Farmers Lane and so the filing of the map referenced the abandonment of the easement with the installation of Farmers Lane regarding the um property regarding the variance that the applicant seeks the applicant sought um this plan was developed actually um it um is not always an applicant is not always able to supply um full circulation around the building um over here in conjunction with the Fire official the plan was designed in conjunction with the Fire official and full access is provided around the building as noted earlier the property exhibits an existing non-conformity of lot width and in order to provide a um aesthetically pleasing and useful building the applicant is placing the circulation Drive 5T away to provide the access um to provide the access all the way around and thus the variance is required for um for um variance relief is required from complying with the ordinance of it being 10 feet away Additionally the added pavement brings the um proposed impervious to just over 70% under 71% so I believe that this could be justified under C2 the um the applicant this application um is proposing a house of worship and to provide justification under C2 the applicant must demonstrate that the purposes of the municipal land use law are Advanced without a substantial detriment to the public good and looking through the municipal land use law the purposes um several purposes can be identified that are Advanced through this application a to encourage Municipal action to guide the appropriate use or development of all lands in the state in a manner which will promote the public health safety morals and general welfare the applicant is looking to construct a synagogue that is useful on a slightly deficient um with uh property um number uh um um letter H to encourage the location and design of Transportation Roots which will promote the free flow of traffic while discouraging location of such facilities and Roots which result in congestion which result in congestion or blight the the proposed um application the application is looking to provide good circulation throughout the site um parking which will be sufficient um for all for for for all members I to promote a desirable visual environment through creative development techniques and good Civic design and arrangement to have a um Sho a synagogue which would be too narrow would not be as pleasing and having the synagogue the way it's presented provides a desirable visual environment in order to uh justify the two variants there must not be a um substantial detriment and what is being discussed are the requirement to provide buffer and screening the applicant is still able to provide um the screening there is a 5- foot width which will be able to hold the um some bus landscaping and um fence the 10t buffer is not being supplied to to this applicant um to the uh adjacent property owned by the applicant and the positive criteria are certain are met this is not a substantial um detriment in order to for the applicant to be granted variance relief under C2 the negative criteria needs to be met in that there can't be the Zone ordinance there can't uh be a substantial deviation from The Zone ordinance or substantial detriment to the public good and regarding this deficient um this lot which is deficient in lot withd I believe that this is a good um plan which um is um not deviating substantially from The Zone plan this is certain this is not a substantial detriment to the public good this is a benefit to the public good and I believe that the um board is Justified in granting the variance relief requested associated with the application thank you so so just to sum it up so so it's uh under the mlul uh 55d right so it's it's a b h and I AB a Ab H and I it's all I got until later any questions from the board for this uh Witness M Mara there's an existing um home on the the lot right now correct correct and um so that'll be demolished correct yes okay and what's the square footage of that house please give me a minute approximate approximately 1950 Square fet 1950 Square fet footprint footprint and we're looking at of worship here that's um that the footprint is approximately 4,860 Square ft and so if you were to not have request the variances what would the size of the the synagogue or the house of worship be the um the size would be narrowed by approximately 5 ft if you're looking for square footage it would go it would be 4,410 square ft it would be more narrow and why wouldn't we want to do that because a um the synagogue has several uses within that the are several uses within the um it has the mikah in the basement it has the the multi-purpose room and in general the main sanctuary a certain width is desirable and our original plan actually we had a narrower aisle behind the building and we met the bu buffer and we met the maximum impervious coverage and we don't technically have to have any lane behind the building but the fire department asks us to make it wider and so we did and that triggered the buffer issue and the maximum impious coverage ISS Madam chair I'm gonna I'm G to cut in I disagree with M Jenning statement about the fire department requested it they couldn't put a vehicle back there that could make its way around the back of the building because they were using less than Pavement in the area so while I don't mind the debate I mind the characterization fire department said they couldn't turn the vehicle around the building without putting more pavement out there and they wanted to use grass pavers [Music] and you're also um are there going to be any trees left because I went out to the site and I saw that they all the trees that are around the the home right now all have ribbons around them I'm assuming that are you planning on knocking down every tree as part of the requirement the um not every tree needs to be knocked down the um light the um tree expert will need to have a walk take a walkth through and determine trees along the buffer that can remain and would not um interfere with the project um most trees will be removed that's contained within the impervious within the um parking lot there are trees along the buffer which can be saved and which will be saved and the tree expert will need to have a take um make a walk through to determine that okay that's that's the township tree expert yes thank you this is the uh the U Tree Experts applied a letter to the board I'm looking at a a letter from the Jackson Township Police Department the traffic safety unit um from May of 2024 and they're indicating that um they do not want access um to the site from Farmers Lane I um I will let our traffic expert um speak to that okay thank you I have a question um sidewalks sidewalks are being proposed um they are sidewalks are proposed there is existing sidewalk along heisen and there is sidewalk being proposed along Farmers on your side too you're going to put them in this this hatched area where the pointer is is is our proposed sidewalks yeah that's because I was having trouble understanding why there was that Gap but that Gap is where sidewalks already exist correct the reason why there's no right Darkly hatched area is because there are sidewalks along heis than any other questions from this board Madam chair yes sir uh to Mr Halper I didn't see a dimension can you tell me how far it is from the building to the access aisle along parallel the Farmers Lane so of the front of the building Mr Peters you're looking for the width of the sidewalk right in front of the building what a the width of the sidewalk in front of the building and B the total Dimension from the access aisle to the building face the total the total Dimension from the um face of curb to the building face is approximately is is slightly over 6 feet and take away the curb and the sidewalk is uh slightly less than uh slightly over 5T plus the curb provides that six foot okay and you're satisfied that folks can get in and out of that main entrance um within those distances yes thank you that's all I have Madam chair anyone else thank you don't go far uh no this time I'll call up the architect Please Mr garfinkle we're looking out we got we got a new face again okay good evening please raise your right hand do you swear or affirm they tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I affirm all right please state your name and spell your last of the record Lewis garfinkle g a r f i n k l all right and your credentials yeah I graduated Pratt Institute with a bachelor's of Art in architecture in 1990 I received my New Jersey State architecture license in 1998 I'm also licensed in New York state I've recently appeared before the zoning board here in July and I've appeared in other municipalities such as tenek pic New Jersey and uh many many times the New York City Board of standards and appeals you know for zoning matters and your license is current today yes except his qualifications welcome to the planning board thank you if you could then Mr garfinkle um just for the benefit of the board uh let's go through your floor plans and elevations and if you're going to rely on exhibit uh please ask Anthony to pull it up on the screen okay Anthony can you pull up the architectural plans okay we can go to the uh first floor a few pages uh next page basement let's go to the first floor okay next page is this okay okay the plan submitted to this board dated 41624 regarding a proposed house of worship okay have been prepared by by office under my direct supervision the proposed building is two stories measuring 90 ft by 54 ft with an occupied basement resulting in a gross floor area of 12,463 Ft on the first floor we have proposed a main sanctuary that is 2,85 square ft and will seat 139 people there's also a Lobby coat room and a library for about 35 people there's a coat room there's a coffee room here and there is a rabbi office bathrooms elevator and two stairwells uh let's go to the second floor again next page second floor will be occupied by the women and it it will have an open viewing area that'll Overlook the lower Sanctuary uh this this area this uh area is 1,196 square ft and has an occupancy of 80 people um bathroom elevator there a coat room storage there's access to the roof right here um okay and then we can go to I think go back two pages to the basement okay in the basement we have a Community Hall um which is 2,420 square ft with a capacity of 161 persons there's a food preparation area and there's also a Mikvah maybe six seven people at a time here for men only um women's bathroom and there's a unisex handicap bathroom and if men need more bathroom you know they they can go up to the first floor which is by code acceptable um there's also a third direct exit to the exterior um again to be noted there'll be no cooking taking place in this food preparation area okay we can go I guess back to the first page uh or the proposed height of the building is 34' 6 in with a 3' 6 in parapet wall uh it's important to mention that the parapet wall is not included in the maximum Building height per ordinance have ADA Compliant restrooms I would also like to note that this building will be solar ready um thank you okay we I can go over the El got the memo right you got the you got the memo um if you want to go over the elevations I would bring up the uh Ellie's um on page seven he has there's a color rendering from the uh site plan if you want to switch back I think P I think I saw page seven would I think that just one go oh oh no oh was I'll keep going back then okay yeah there it is on top if you can you zoom that in right okay so um all the all the elevations are similar uh light gray stco with black a brick trim around the windows the same brick will will be used at the 4ft base water table meaning the bottom four feet um regarding signage there will be a lettering a fix above the entrance facing farmers's Lane the lettering will be half inch thick stud mounted cast acrylic the area required for the sign will be approximately 7 feet by 4 feet and this concludes my testimony thank you anyone have any questions from this board Mr Marza can you talk about the lighting around the building the exterior lighting well as you see in the rendering there will be lighting I don't have an exact plan we're going to have Lighting on all four sides that that would be sensible for a parking lot you at night I I don't have an exact and will those lights be on all night um let me think they'll be on timers but they won't be on all night and what will the timers what time will they go off I would imagine 11:00 you know as soon as the building is emptied out which is usually around could be 10 o'clock 11 o' and you don't know anything the detail about the lights like how how bright they'll shine I don't have that information no sorry thank you we would have to meet the ordinance standards and we will you'll uh have sign on the street entrance no sign no no freestanding sign just a sign in the building okay can we have a small entrance sign at your Entrance Drive just so that people know the address sure on heis or Farmers or both on both okay really for the sake of the emergency vehicles yeah understood is there a is there a a lighting plan for the parking lot did I see that someplace I can't Lo there is a lighting plan it wasn't part of the exhibit set it's part of the site also we're always concerned about neighbors you know that the lighting will not affect it it yes there's a lighting plane and there are comments and the applicant will will comply with the comments thank you uh from our professionals you madam chair Mr garfinkle thank you for your testimony um I was ruffling through when um when you're questioned about the lighting is there is there Lighting on the building we have Lighting on the exterior as you can see in the rendering fac I'm sorry does lighting you asking if there's Lighting on the building yes there is okay at what height is it under the eve of the parit at 34 and 1/2 ft or is it no it's it's about 15 feet up and they're light the lights are pendent and they're going up and down just just it's just for a okay so for so for compliance with the ordinance requirements there'll need to be some designation of lighting from your plans on Mr halpert's plans for Mr CLE the board engineer to do resolution compliance to make sure we've met the standards because respectfully we don't want there's a limit for height of lighting that's going to be on all night long because you're in a residential area well we said we were turning it off at 11: need to have his information on mr's plan yep you got it yeah I understand you want to have more more details on that okay um we also heard from Mr Halpert that there's at the main entrance to the building facing Farmers Lane there's about 6ot of space in front of the building to the access aisle and about 5 foot of concrete sidewalk are you satisfied from an architectural perspective or building perspective that that's sufficient to get people in and out of the building safely yes so 6 feet and we also have a twoot uh the entrance doors are set in so you have 8T at exactly the entrance but 6 ft is sufficient thank you that's all I have Madam chair thank you any other comments from the board thank you welcome welcome thank you at this time I'd like to call up the uh traffic engineer Scott Kennel I think you live here yeah get you a cut right you swear or affirm to tell the truth the hold truth nothing but the truth I do Scott Kennel k n NE L with MCD and Ray Associates office is located at 1431 Lakewood Road manisan I think the board accepts your credentials at this point Thank you thank you just uh Scott for the record uh your office prepared a traffic impact analysis dated May 1st 2024 correct that's that's correct and if you could just run through your uh findings of fact and your conclusions for the board's benefit thank you surely so we have a traffic study dat of May 1 2024 it summarizes our our tasks that we took place on this matter including the conduct of traffic counts at heisen Road and Farmers Lane those traffic counts were conducted in September 2023 from 7: to 10:00 a.m. and 3: to 6: p.m. uh we then from there not having the existing conditions projected traffic volumes in our report we indicated that we projected the peak hour traffic volumes to be approximately 120 vehicles uh associated with the proposed sh the consistent with the Ocean County planning board protocol we uh looked at a design year of 2034 consulted the New Jersey Department Transportation traffic growth rates and basically increase the existing traffic volumes by approximately 10% to establish the no build condition and then we superimpose the site traffic onto those traffic volumes and we had approximately 30% of the site traffic volumes oriented towards Farmers Lane access with the balance on the heison road thereby qualifying that that that Farmer Lane would be the secondary access serving the site but we also then analyzed not only the heison road and Farmer Lane intersection but the new intersections created by the site driveways heison Road and Farmers Lane is operating a level service B for the morning and afternoon peak hours and will continue to operate at level service B upon full buildout and 2034 traffic volumes the heis road in sight access intersection is projected to operate a level service B again a design threshold typically is a c to D we're well below that which means that we have plenty of capacity uh at the site driveway to heison Road as well there's plenty capacity at the Farmers Lane in heisen Road intersection as far as Farmers Lane it is a lower volume roadway and it's projected to operate a level service a during both the morning and afternoon peak hours analyzed as far as the site plan's concerned as was discussed earlier this site will be served by two two-way driveways we sit on a corner lot and we'll have full access to both heisen Road and Farmers Lane uh we're providing 68 physical parking spaces which exceeds the uh Township uh ordinance of 59 so therefore we meet and exceed the requirement as far as a site driveways based on my inspections they provide um sufficient sight distance at both locations and based on the level service analysis it's my opinion that they can operate safely and efficiently uh which I guess is also supported by the Ocean County Planning Board review in which they've given us a conditional approval of The heisen Road Site access uh that completes my direct testimony as it relates to the May 1 2024 traffic study okay and and Mr Peter's review letter on page six he calls out a couple of design waivers with respect to the instance Drive drives and the location of the parking stalls I think you're familiar with these sections of the ordinance we've had them in other cases if you could just from a traffic uh perspective uh advise whether or not um those were acceptable yeah it's my opinion based on review of the uh intersection analysis which includes a calculation of Q lengths where the maximum Q length was determined to be one vehicle where we can accommodate two vehicles on the driveway throats for both locations so in my opinion this the design proposed will not compromise the on-site circulation uh and the other ones with respect to allowing parking stalls to utilize the required engin netive drives as parking access aisles I mean again this is consistent with other types of um non-residential uses there are there's basically low volume low speeds and in my opinion this design can operate safely and efficiently thank you we have questions from the board Mr Sullivan yes um about the entrance and exit on Farmers Lane uh given the Jackson Township Police Department traffic safety unit recommendation that it should not be allowed what are your Arguments for allowing it oh in my opinion it it it makes sense when you have Frontage on two roads and that we can provide direct access to any of the congregants that live in that neighborhood rather than having them utilize the heisen Farmers Lane intersection and then making another left turn into the site so this is a more efficient means of access and direct access to the site uh I would respectfully disagree with their their opinion I mean we have good sight lines at that location uh that the driveway can operate safely and efficiently and take into consideration any pedestrians or cyclist that may be on that section of Farmers Lane Madam chair yes sir Scott I kind of agree with you because I don't see the sense in when you can eliminate traffic going into a busier Road where you can put it right into the local Road for their use to go where they came from and so forth I definitely agree with that I I don't like detouring traffic into busier roads when you don't have to and haven't we said more than once on this uh board that we like dual access and egress that it we think it reduces traffic backups in the property itself as a safety concern and I agree and then the other comment about uh promoting cut through traffic in my opinion to leave the um site via the Farmers Lane driveway it's a sec circuitous um roadway Network on Spring Brook Road summerh Hill Road and winterway to get back out to Chandler that in my opinion it doesn't it's not going to promote cut through traffic uh so the end of the day it's my opinion that the community as well as this site has best served the two access drives any other comments from the board Mr Marza um so you performed your traffic study um when when was that the specific dates were Thursday September 7 2023 from 7 to 10: a.m. and Tuesday September 5th 2023 from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m. so at that time you were able to see the school traffic as well the buses were coming in and out that's correct they were all accounted for in our traff our data collection program okay thank you you're welcome any other comments from the board questions conc concerns thank you would this be an appropriate time to open it to the public for uh just for cross-examination purposes of the um the experts yes good we'll now open to the public not for General comments just for cross-examination purposes thank you that's a simp I was getting a little worried that you were sitting back there and was say anything but make sure you're all right all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I will try ABS Jim suia s ECC hiia six hardfield Drive Jackson New Jersey um the fact witness started earlier tonight and said the congregates could come from a one mile walking distance so that includes includes people across the street on heis road so my question is is anything been discussed with the county since heison road is a county road to put in a crosswalk into this complex to support safety for you know I think we've been through this before one of the issues that happens with the county that we've asked a number of times they do not put cross and places where there are not corners or traffic signals and that that was actually going to my next comment because on the other side of heis the Sidewalk Ends short of where the corner of farmers's way in heis is so but it's not a four-way corner I agree there in lies the problem with the county I agree but now I know okay thank you very much that's all I thank you anyone else like to come and ask any questions of the uh applicant seeing no one else come forward I move to close the cross examination all in favor I I now we will open the uh questioning or comment section from anyone who would like to make any comments about this project seeing no one come forward I move to close the public portion second all in favor I thank you Miss Jennings thank you um that is the applicants presentation um basically seeking pan final major sight plan for permitted use with some what we deem uh di Minimus variances and design waivers and we would respectfully request that the board Grant an approval any comments from the board any comments from our professionals thank you I'll just put the the uh good variant standard on the record so uh so what the applicant's asking for here is a uh C2 variants uh it's different than the one we have prior it's it's called a flexible c um what needs to be proven uh is that the purposes uh for the variance Advance Municipal land use law under certain sections and the benefits outweighing any detriment to the neighborhood or cause any substantial substantial detriment to the zoning plan um what we have here is that the applicant is uh identifying that the purposes that they are uh that are benefiting the community is a uh for the safety and the general welfare B uh for the uh design of the uh roadway uh to fight against any potential fires H uh to increase and promote the free flow of traffic and I to promote a good Civic design um this the purpose of this variance was to both comp and and comport with the recommendations made by the uh fire officials to make sure that they're complying with the full 360 access to the property um that's what you guys are going to have to weigh vers any potential detriments to the zoning plan if you see any um and the uh the waivers that are being requested are are a reasonable standard and you have to weigh that against any potential detriments uh against a neighborhood and and zoning plan um but I'll leave it to the board to make those decisions thank you we'll look for a motion please I'll make a motion to approve on the variances as the attorney explain them and the representation of our professionals and theirs and waivers waivers looking for a second second heler we'll have a Voice vote Please Mr brei yes Mr Bernstein yes Mr marzo no sorry Mr heler yes Mr chmer no Mr weart yes Mr wall yes Mr Sullivan yes Dr Campbell yes congratulations thank you very much have a good night please um Mr TR may I see you for just a second I want to Dr Campell no that's all right no I want to see you for something else we get a a motion yes we need to make a motion to close the meeting motion to close second Sullivan all in favor I ear than