welcome everyone to the Wednesday March 27th 2024 uh meeting of the L pacon Township planning board please uh join me for a moment of silence followed by the oath of Allegiance Pledge Allegiance the flag flag States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy Justice adequate notice of this meeting has been provided indicating the time and place of the meeting in accordance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 by advertising a notice in the Star Ledger in The Express Times and by posting a copy on the board board in the municipal building members Co Harman lindz Leo here Coy George here Vice chair womano here chman Samson here alterate okay quum we have a quorum okay so the first order of uh business here did everybody receive the the minutes in the email yes does anybody have any questions [Music] or comments or anything no okay um can I have a motion to approve those minutes motion second second call that members poo yesy yes yes Vice chairwoman Deo yesman Samson yes okay so on to the next order of business ordinance number 24-5 an ordinance to vacate paper Street known as block 95 lot 18.01 to become part of adjacent Lots this matter has been read on first reading at the February 7th 2024 council meeting and is referred for review and recommendation before second reading and adoption could you explain to us what a paper street is and if this is sure of course um thank you chairman um yes so this lot is a lot that um was a former um paper well it is an existing paper street that was established lished in the 1960s when this area of Striker Road was developed um this applicant was before the Zoning Board of adjustment earlier this month uh with an application um and what I'm referring to is the the individual the homeowner that purchased this property is the one that made the request to vacate the paper Street to the township Council U that was in February if they made a request in February right so they were before the zoning water adjustment this month it was a Frederick and Kimberly peion uh they had made the request um and it was a recommendation actually by the planner as part of the planning review U Mr Ritter had prepared a report as part of their variance application before The Zing Board of adjustment to explore the possibility of vacating that paper Street the paper street is you know was a RightWay that was established in the 60s with the potential of extending uh that area of the township into the um Architect's Golf Course property Architect's Golf Course was never developed into residential homes so the street was never extended uh there was a curb return installed two curb returns installed at that location but as we sort of informally were discussing it when you drive by there this home has a loop driveway two entrances on the strikers and it just looks like part of their driveway so uh you know I think the Mr peion at the at the zoning Board of adjustment mentioned I think the home was built in 1962 or 196 5 um somewhere around that time and that driveway has been there that entire time um so uh you know so the recommendation was made uh the request was made to the Town Council the Town Council considered it and asked that uh our office myself and Paul sturing prepared an ordinance I prepared the ordinance uh at Paul's Direction um and this indicates you know the the map that was filed the ordinance I don't if you have a copy of the ordinance but the ordinance indicates uh that essentially the map that was filed by the applicant the plot plan prepared by French pero referencing that and that paper Street that's listed as block 951 1801 now are formally with pack on Township so the intention is uh and it seems the council had agreed uh to sort of split that lot in half bifurcate that lot half goes to lot the existing Lots let's see I had the tax map here existing Lot 19 and existing lot 18 will each get half of that U the benefit is that and it's also indicated in Mr Ritter's letter that I reviewed before the meeting this evening um to the board to the planning board dated March 22nd of 2024 you know that basically you allowing this uh vacation and sort of uh distribution of those lands to the adjoining property owners actually assists this homeowner these are undersized Lots in the zone uh the lot is in a 2 acre Zone and this is a a uh 2/3 of an acre lot 67 Acres so sort of reduces the the setback uh variance condition improves the lock coverage currently the lock with no you know real modifications to anything else improves the lock coverage issue because it adds some additional vacant land uh to the to the homeowner that's developing you know redeveloping this home that was overgrown that everyone sort of mentioned before the meeting tonight no one ever knew there was house there because it was sort of abandoned for 20 some years um so putting it back into the useful you know useful um into use and having you know someone live there uh is obviously a benefit and George is supportive you know and and you know we certainly were supportive as well speaking to the council um of the vacation um there was an agreement uh of the homeowner and he understands that there's an existing drainage pipe that drains an inlet from Striker's Road into the rear of the property towards the golf course property um it's always been that way and that's going to remain he's not going to change that or reconfigure that that's just an existing feature of the lot um and in the ordinance the township retains rights to maintain and so we're not burdening him with that you know if there's an issue with that drainage pipe the township would be responsible for maintaining that drainage pipe since it is a Township utility facility um so hopefully that gives you a good summary if you have any questions you know can let me know thank you does everybody understand that do you have any questions or anything I I'm I'm just curious the the paper street is that essentially just going to be converted to a right of way then also will we maintain that same width for the right of way for the DPW or is it going to be a smaller right of way it will essentially just be centered on that pipe that drainage pipe and you don't have I'm I'm speaking to a plan here if you don't have the plan but the pipe is identified and maybe it's difficult to see but you can see this heavy dotted line that reflects that 12 in okay uh CPM CMP would be corrugated metal maybe it's some cor corrugated metal pipe but it discharges into a concrete Swale which runs off to the back of the property so that's going to be maintained in its current configuration um but generally it will become private properties so if we don't have a right of way that's wide enough for the DPW to Traverse then doesn't that mean that they have to if they need to get to that they have to get homeowner approval to cross their property first yeah it's a simple whole Harless aging of something yeah be it just seems like it would be logical to have a wider right of way so that the DPW doesn't have to go through the whole harmless part because then you've got you do it all the time okay right well yeah I mean certainly it's uh I think it's 50 ft well 50 ft is wide enough no I'm trying to see the right no no of course I believe the width of the existing I don't have my scale here do I maybe this drawing is not to scale so it's okay you don't have to be precise no certainly but yeah I mean it would as Beth indicated you know if there's an issue there you know the uh the homeowner would have to give permission for us to to to go to go onto the property outside of the uh the envelope of that pipe but the intention would be to replace that pipe and maintain that drainage configuration so okay yeah I mean you know we wouldn't want to limit ourselves to just the pipe itself or like two feet on the either end of the pipe because that would be too difficult to get machiner and equipment in there I mean basically we'd be coming in on their driveway and doing whatever work we have to do there and restoring it certainly back to um whatever Condition it's it's in before it was damaged or collapsed or whatever might happen in the future with that pipe so but certainly the rights are still maintained okay we're just not drawing you know a line in the in space to say like this is where we're allowed to go and this is where we're not allowed to go okay we're just saying any existing facility that we're able to get in there and maintain it okay um yeah a hold harmless would come part of the easement wouldn't it so if something occurs we we withdraw up a whole harmless agreement to allow the Department of Public Works to go on to the property and it's not just there it's it's you know you know um it's if there is An Occurrence so it's just not you know doesn't run with that approval yeah all right okay so the action on this is just going to be a recommendation is just going to be a recommendation for the council so that being said uh does somebody want to make that motion for the recommendation I'll make the motion I'll second members obain poy yes George yes Vice chairwoman Deo yes chairman s yes okay on last order of business ordinance number 24-7 uh an ordinance to amend chapter eight of the revised General ordinances of the township L pacon chapter 243 zoning and land use article 8 General regulations here it comes now let the record reflect that member Melendez arrived at 713 yes start at oh here's your SE a new mic got your special time yourin all right I'll start over with this since Andrews here so Andrew we we got through the first one there with the paper Street we're on the second one that um you know has to do with you ordinance number 24- 07 an ordinance to amend chapter 8 of the revised General ordinances of the township of L pacan chapter 243 zoning and land use article 8 ener regulations sections UH 60 um A1 to permit non intensifying residential expansion introduced at the 26th March 26 council meeting referred for review and recommendation um before second reading and adoption does anybody have anything they want to say about this before we before we vote on it no so the action on this uh is just another recommendation as well correct correct okay that being said does somebody want to make that motion for the recommendation motion second all right um I'll make the roll call here um members Melendez yes poo yes KY yes George yes Vice chairman Mia yes and chairman s yes all right that's it would somebody uh the adjournment uh motion to adjourn second yes hear me out issues that I've discussed with Mr