e e e e e e e e e e e e e Ed Town trip of Monroe planning board uh meeting July 25th 2024 it's now 6:30 p.m. please stand and uh salute the flag the it stands indivisible in accordance with the open public meetings act it is hereby announced and shall be entered into the minutes of this meeting that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the following posted on the bll B Board of the office of the Township Clerk posted on the Bolton boards within the municipal complex printed in the home News Tribune in Cranberry press on December 29 2023 posted on the Monroe Township website and sent to those individuals who have requested personal notice or take roll please Mr Rothman here M brosky here Mr Manesh Patel M Amy Annie here Mr Weinberg Mr weiner yes here Dr Kenzie here councilman vanzora here Mr HT Patel here chairman Gaffrey here okay the first order of business is to uh accept the minutes Laura sent the uh the minutes from the May 29 2024 meeting um please if you haven't done so take a look and is there a motion to accept the minutes I make a motion accept second second okay all in all in favor of accepting the minutes I I any opposed any abstain abstain Mr okay the minutes are accepted okay we have uh one application this evening it's the uh permitted uh pb1 1250 d22 Federal business centers Inc request for preliminary and final site plan with both variances Mr Smith Mr chairman uh Bob Smith I'm a licensed attorney in the state of New Jersey and I'm here tonight representing this applicant as you mentioned we are seeking uh approval for a logistics facility total square footage 176,50 Square ft of that it's broken down into 16785 ft of logistics and 9,000 squ ft of office uh I would point out and I'd say this like 500 times what you hear believe you're hearing 500 times it's a permitted use this is the HD Zone and these facilities are a permitted use in that zone we do have uh we're seeking preliminary and final site plan approval we're seeking some bulk variances and some design waivers and if I can for the record Mr chairman let me l L everything okay and and by the way uh some of the variances there's a discussion between the professionals about whether they're needed or not I'll point that out in any case if any of them are needed we're requesting them so the the first one is minimum lot depth um and the requirements in the ordinance are 500 ft uh we've received comments from your planner uh indicating that it may may require that it requires a variance we have had discussions back and forth whether it it actually applies or doesn't but in any case if we need it we're asking for it uh number two is buffer area this this is also a variance the requirement is that the buffer shall consist of a six foot high sculptured undulating berm and we already have an existing wooded vegetation and literally a forest so you may want to consider that that VAR is appropriate uh number three retaining walls the requirement is that no use or activity or sign shall be erected within the buffer area and we are proposing a retaining area located within the buffer area and of course we'll give the reasons why so we we're requesting that with regard to signage the maximum number of signs per year ordinance is one freestanding sign permitted for each use we're proposing three and it requires a variant and remember of course that one of the uh this is a building that we are building prior to knowing who the tenant is so the number of signs may may need the uh the variance uh required or requested uh number five sign location your ordinance says the requirement is that no sign should be located closer than 20 feet to any lot line uh and the the maximum setback is 45 ft we are are proposing uh a variance allowing us to do the sign at 5T from the lot line and number six uh also requiring a variance sign in the buffer area the requirement is that no signs are permitted in a buffer area we're proposing uh signage in the buffer area so it does require a variance and again we will provide a justification for all this with regard to parking loading and circulation the number of parking spaces uh required under your ordinance is 254 parking spaces we're proposing 154 parking spaces and then SE a seven uh EV parking space credit as you know that under state law when you install EV spaces there is a credit to be allowed for that so we are proposing to effect 154 plus 7 to equal 161 of the 254 required so we require a parking variance parking stall size um the requirement is 10x 20 we're proposing 9 by8 and we think that's either a variance or a design waiver you've handle it uh um either way it's handled we're requesting it uh parking stall location uh the requirement is that the parking stalls are not located in the front yard we are proposing in our site plan uh uh no parking proposed in the 60ft front yard setback area but the way your definitions read you may be talking about a wider area the ordinance says or within 100 feet of the RightWay buffer area along Butcher Road or along North dbro Hill so and this was one of the ones where there was a discussion about which side of the lot is the one that should be counted um and there's differing points of view on but if the variance is required we're requesting it um parking in relation to building outer walls the requirement in your ordinance is no parking within 30 ft of outer walls or structures uh we're proposing 20 feet in the main parking area and 8 ft in the loading dock area we agree that that requires a variance and we're requesting it driveway width uh you requ reement in the ordinance is that uh driveway width at the curb line should be limited to 15 to 35 ft we are proposing 65 ft80 ft which requires a variance uh with regard to um site design lighting and Landscaping the design requirements in your ordinance uh requires uh the applicant as we've been before your TRC and revised plans based on commment uh provided so we've revised the plans accordingly but the applicant proposes conceptual building design that complies with the regulations within your ordinance and uh we're we'll work with the borders professionals any way they want whatever they want we're going to do um lighting the requirement is minimum parking area 75% of the average level which is 2.2 foot candles we're proposing 0.3 the Southeastern corner of the lot and um that requires a design waiver we don't believe it requires a variance there are three other design waivers I would advise the board and any professionals don't get a new phone the night before you have a hearing so wish me luck so uh three other design way favors use of hdp storm pipe where RCP is required uh next lawn grading exceeding 20% more than 5T from the building and 2% minimum lawn slope and then lastly request to wave additional soil logs not required by the best management practices manual and that's it that's that's what we're seeking uh tonight it's um we have turned in the jurisdictional documents it's my plan Mr chairman to offer five witnesses I have on behalf of Federal Business Mr Patrick Connelly who's seated to my right our engineer well known to the board Sharif ali uh our traffic expert Eric baloria uh licensed PE traffic specialist our architect is Ron kerski to show you what the project would look like and then finally our planner is Christine kafon who's a well-known uh professional planner in the state of New Jersey with that said Mr chairman I'd like to call my first witness have him sworn so we can give testimony thank you okay this is Mr con you all the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you got I do please state your name and spell your last name Patrick Connelly Co n n l l y okay Mr Conley for the record by whom are you employed and in what capacity so I'm executive director executive director of federal business centers Inc okay and do you have experience in this business I do could you tell us about it sure uh I've been uh with Federal business centers in my current position for 12 years prior to that I spent over 20 years with another development company uh that was actually headquartered in Monroe uh so have extensive experience in in this field great and just I'm sure the board probably knows Federal business but if you give us the short version of federal business's role in this uh in this state we'd appreciate it sure so Federal business centers is a family-owned company it's been in business since 1938 um uh right now we have uh our fourth generation working with us and um primarily we have a a business center and in Edison called Raritan Center which many of you may may recognize uh within that Center we have about uh 8 million square feet of buildings there about 70 buildings and with 180 uh tenants um this property in particular was purchased in 1970 by the company and let me ask you why Monroe why do you want to locate here well um uh the Route 33 quidor is a um very um applicable place for um distribution its proximity to uh Exit 8 and the Turnpike is appealing for um the warehouse and distribution industry and Monroe is a wonderful place I've grown up here and um we have um uh long time sought to actually bring this project to fruition there we've reviewed all the staff reports and and discussed their project with with our professionals some of the staff reports in in fact a couple of them say tell us what what tenant will be there how many employees will they employ what will be the hours of operation and would you explain how we have to respond to that yeah so you like like many projects of this nature we're building this building uh as a speculative Venture without having a a tenant identified specifically uh we've tried to um design the building to be as flexible as possible and to meet the needs of your average um type of use um that said um you know we just don't know what the specifics would be to the the specific operation but we feel we've created a design that is very well adaptable to to the um the needs of what we know uh based on our experience Mr Connelly anything else you want to add pardon anything else you want to add um no just that uh I think um from our perspective we hope that uh after hearing from all of our professionals um and uh testimony um that you will get a great understanding of our project and that we've uh worked very hard uh to maintain the forested areas uh and create a building that is appropriately sized for the site and um just point out that although it is a a a large building by certain people's perspectives is much smaller than the mega warehouses that are um sometimes associated with the negativity and we you also believe the proximity to Route 33 affords its uh location to be very very good good Mr connell's available for questions um did I hear you've owned the property since 1970 we have y any anybody on the board wish to I have a question although you don't have a specific tenant at this time uh based on the size of the building and the uh uh the nature of the the project itself would you be able to estimate um about how many employees could be expected at at such a warehouse and in relation to that the number of prospective uh vehicles or trucks or or things that might be uh in and out of the warehouse sure I mean as well versed as I am I would would rather that our licensed professionals address that during the course of their testimony that way you get it from the from the folks who are licens to speak in on our list we have a traffic expert who has consulted with the it The Institute of Traffic Engineers which has data from all over the United States of America about buildings and projects like this and can provide a pretty good estimate of the kinds of impacts that Mr vanzor wants to know about so if you let us get to number three fair enough we cover it we'll hold that for later thank you anyone else no thanks n thank you Mr um i' I'd ask that uh Sharie Ali our engineer come forward be sworn so they can give testimony you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but I do that your full name and spell your last name please uh Shar Ali A a l y just for the record Mr the uh you've been accepted by this board on uh almost an infinite number of occasions as a licensed professional engineer in New Jersey and you've been recognized as an exert have your credentials deteriorated in any way since the last time you were here no I'm still here I'd ask you to be accepted Mr chairman thank you okay for the record Mr Ali by whom are you employed in what capacity uh amch uh engineering uh I'm the president okay so and you prepared the plans or your shop prepared the plans that's before the board tonight yes okay if you would and I I never like to get in the way of our experts I'd like you to describe the existing property and the proposed development and looks like we have an exhibit yes maybe we need to go back to the existing right okay and what is what is that exhibit you want to go with that one first one yeah what what is that exhibit uh that's an AAL exhibits that uh was downloaded just yesterday okay and are we providing is there a way we can have that identified for future reference for the record absolutely I one of our first meetings where we're using uh the new stuff the videos right same thing about don't get the cell phone the night before Oh the applicant so this exhibit should be A1 A1 and we have a flash drive that we're giving to the board which has all of this on it and in terms of a paper exhibit what else do we have sure we we have all of our exhibits on 11 by 17 Sharie they're 11 by 17 we'd like to pass them out and I don't know whether you want each page uh maybe as we bring them up we'll describe the page same Smith is for the record later on for probably for your benefit too maybe Mark the paper exhibits we can certainly see the uh video screen and I think it's great as than the rest of the audience can see it much better than we ever had before right Mr chairman just quick question for both our attorney and for applicant councel and the engineer is this exhibit the same as what's on the screen uh what you have is a a zoom out exhibits but it's the same it's the same okay yeah discovering more gotcha so it's not it's not identical that's a uh a zoomed uh zoomed in version of what's on the paper the one on the screen is zoomed in okay okay now do we have it I think we're still circulating right or not A1 today's State you're G to put on the paper as well each one market A1 A2 A3 A4 exactly Okay so Sharie if you would do that yep and on the first page if you don't mind put tonight's date July 25th got and you have A2 A3 A4 A5 on marked on okay just check it as we go through yes all right so let's talk about A1 first of all who prepared it and what is it so it's prepared by by amch engineering is an aerial and uh the project side is superimposed on top of this so you can get better understanding let me ask you when did you take the the the when did you take the picture the micop can't hear you uh that was yesterday yesterday so that's what the site looks like as of July 24th 2024 yes okay and move that mic closer so everybody can hear you sure it's on yeah um so we're starting with the uh uh we starting with the uh aial uh if you look at the the map the top of the screen that will be North so if you're familiar with the area and you on putcher road and you're proceeding North uh you'll be Crossing 33 and then uh put your road becomes avagard road and that takes you all the way to fors gate and if you make a a left you'll be going to the Turn Pike if you hit the intersection of 33 uh that will be Eastbound and Westbound uh the uh eastbound is on our side we about close to 600 ft away from the traffic light and uh rout 33 excuse me we don't see 33 on that map so that's the general location as the attorney for the board i' like to announce that you will'll get your turn to speak but the applicant by law goes first so hold your questions and let the uh applicant present its case thank you so again if we uh if we all familiar with the area uh that's where we at just about 600 fet south of the intersection of 33 uh also we we we consider that area of Monroe is the southern part of Monroe so we not too far uh from manalan to the east uh from East Windsor to the west and Millstone to the South uh landmarks in the area uh if we all some the board members familiar back in the '90s started Monro Manor and the five miles of SE and water that open up that area for developments uh also landmarks recently uh been constructed you have Wawa on the east bound of um uh 33 which is about 500 ft away from the site um you also have quick check on the other side of the highway McDonald's and some of the Starbucks is about to come up and some of the uh new developments in the area so that's pretty much the general location of the site now if you zoom in and what you see on the screen is that you see which your road to the West that is a County Road totally under the jurisdiction of the county and we have a limited Frontage on putcher Road uh and you also see North disbo Road that will be to the south of the site and we have quite a bit of Frontage on North thiso Road so that's what you see as far as the location so we hugged we pretty much on the northeastern quadrant of the intersection of Butcher Road and North disb Road so with that said the existing condition you see it on the screen in the middle of the site talking about cultivated area it's been cultivated since I've been here in Monroe back in the 80s and around it you will see uh mature trees vegetations and um you will see also Bentley Brook uh which is pretty much the head Clos to the Head water of ble bantley Brook uh and that is the the brook that crosses the highway there uh where you have the bridge there so that is Thea East and along bantley our zoning ordinance has the flood has a conservation Zone we're not touching that zone we're not developing in that zone that zone is protected with Wetlands moderate slope uh mature trees flood Hazard area and all being confirmed with the state of New Jersey for Wetlands uh verification also known as Loi letter of interpretation also being confirmed by the state for flood Hazard and uh all the buffers that associated with that all on the plan and all being confirmed and approved by the state of New Jersey so um that is the existing and I mentioned that we have frage on North DB road which is Township Road it's a Township Road that is been recently uh some milling and Paving for the whole entire Road been uh so it's recently resurfaced has lighting uh along has light balls along the uh the whole entire Road uh but no sidewalks and no curves just a typical of uh the southern area of Monroe um of uh roadways so that's what we have buter Road as I said that is uh I would say about close to fully improved road but we have some work to do along our Frontage and we'll get into that um and again it's controlled by uh middx County so we have uh 25 acres of land that is and you heard before that designated on tax map the official tax map of Monroe as lot 31 and 32 and we have in Block one uh block three so block one is the other side uh that's the uh tax map where you start block one and two and three that's where they started there so we in block three the whole entire block three which it goes all the way if you drive on on drive on uh Route 33 East goes all the way down to primeville Road that's the whole block of block 3 it's a very very large block and the whole entire block is designated as Highway developments distribution warehouse is permitted you heard it before it's permitted in the highway development Zone you have approved couple warehouses within that HD Zone along the highway we have no Frontage along the highway our Frontage is Butcher Road and Dill Road so with respect to what's out there so our site is vacant to the South is a very large site that also uh belong to our client that is vacant and is going to stay vacant forever It's contained wetlands and flood Hazard and that buffer the site from the single family as well as monal Manor developments for several feet so quite a bit of buffering there uh to the east of our site it's all vacant there is nothing there is the flood plane of Bley Brook to the north and adjacent to a site you have two lots two residents and if you add there you will see a sign for sale the two lots about 6 Acres 7 acres has been for sale for at least 2 three years and they just winning for a user that is permitted in the HD zone so very soon you will see that turn into uh commercial establishment the to the north of that there is a single family and then the you got the J handle that house has been there for long time and again it's been waiting to be grabbed to the in HD Zone to be developed and Northeast of that you have a house that again is waiting for hd's own user and that is a rental to the northeast of that to the east of that you have a already Highway develop user that is I'm not really sure what they do there but it's mechanics tires uh Oil Exchange Towing so that's what they have to the east of that also a single family that is for sale and has been for sale for quite a bit waiting for an HD permitted user so that is the adjacent property around our site to the west of that is the HD Zone and what you see out there which is a mix of Wawa the town homes and the apartments the apartment and the town home that's affordable housing one of our affordable housing site and it's an overlay on top of HDC Zone people moved there they knew that it's an overlay zone so that is the surrounding and that's what we have out there that's the existing condition okay would you describe our proposal to the board just before you do that can you just describe what an HD zone is the HD Zone it we along the highway and allo property along the highway so it's a highway development Zone and if you go in the ordinance you're going to see so many permitted users within the zone and the famous one is the warehouses it's all permitted so um what we are uh proposing you heard that which exhibit are we going to be one the color one that was on before okay and what's that marked in your package I have A1 so I'm assuming that will be A2 yeah okay all right would who prepared the exhibit amtech engineering okay and would you describe what's uh in front of the board in the public so it's a color Zone uh color map sorry a color map of um the uh proposed or the future developments that shows the warehouse and that orange or black color need the mic was that already in the package that you provided so I don't think we this is your mark one would you keep that yeah oh but it wasn't colorized so yeah put them back up Sharie yes need to put okay is there enough yeah for every two so this was provided in the package but not colorized so we might want to call this A9 or not A2 I think Mr Shari just IND Mr Ali just indicated A2 A2 yeah so you heard a little bit about our proposal um as distribution warehouse um that you will see pretty much uh if you remember looking at the aerial and the formed area it's pretty much in that area that will be the building um and you heard that we uh a footprint of 176,000 square feet to be precise 17685 Square fet so let's call 176 to make it simple 9,000 of that is shoved in the corner um I would say that will be the uh the South West corner as you coming in with access driveway from this part of her Road you will see that office right there one level no isn't in it's only one level 9,000 square ft and the remainder which is about 167 plus um is the warehouse so that's what you see in that reddish color along with that you will see two driveway cuts the first one to the West closer to the intersection that is the uh small automobile cars the employees that goes into a parking lot and it's got the parking spaces there two-way circulations throughout the whole entire parking lot and and that's the area that you access the office building uh the office portion of the building the second driveway as you proceed down on this North dbor Road is the the truck entrance and that leads to the Loading Docks in the back of the building so if you if you look and the trailer spaces so if you look at the building and the way that we situated that on a lot we try to be sensitive to our neighbors by putting that loading area in that particular back area away from the neighbors toate of West so and that's where you get the loading docks activities the the light small cars which is the parking lot that is you talking about very light very very light activities there in the darking so along with that you will see that the parking lot the the building is set back 100 ft to respect the township buffer so we do have that 100 foot buffer setback also you will see in also you will see in that yellow or uh uh the mustard color that is the um our storm water facilities which meets the um the current standard that was set by the state of New Jersey recently um also you will see two green storm water facilities we call them B retention basins so it's not what you uh most of you see ad there like detention basins in Monro Manor that's not the case anymore now we design for green infast structures so everything is in green now so the bio retention is all vegetated so even though that they act as storm water facility but it's all agitated bottom top slope so it's part of the pretty much the buffer uh or within the buffer and that is for water quality so that's what you see on the screen that's our proposal along with that uh we have provided um 154 9 by8 spaces and we'll talk about why is 9 by8 that is the employees in uh the small car spaces in the first parking lot what's permitted in the ordinance and the ordinance is not really up to standard as far as warehouses and the way they operate and we have our traffic engineer we'll we'll talk to you we'll talk more about that so we have uh what's it's required 254 per or by the ordinance um so that is one of the variants that you heard about it uh with the introductions uh we also provided within the 154 spaces seven AV spaces that is the state requirement AV uh electrical vehicle spaces and because we provided seven of them the state says you get seven as a credit on paper so we have now we have 161 spaces so we also provided four Ada spaces and that's a federal law Ada spaces and um uh we meet the requirement for that so we for spaces um so that's as far as our parking and uh distribution there the I mentioned that we have trailer spaces uh the ordinance uh has uh what's the maximum permitted by the ordinance the maximum is 33 33 spaces we have 23 so we do meet the requirement we could go up to 33 if we want uh docks the ordinance uh the minimum uh required is nine we exceeded the minimum we have 21 loading docks and also we meeting the space size for that which is 12 by 50 I believe we have 12 and 1 12 by 60 so that's that's as far as what we are uh proposing along with that we are uh extending there is a utilities that the utilities out there gas electric uh sewer water you heard me talking about the five miles of sewer and water that we put out there um so that will be all extended to the building um a landscaping package we have it's been reviewed by your Consulting um any recommendation there will Implement today I spoke to Mr lavalo Gary lavalo he's almost was done with his tree and removal replacement and everything that we provided to him pretty much that's what he was looking for he just need to put his conclusion on it um we also have our lighting package uh maximum height of a lightf is 20 ft we selected PL um HS so that's pretty much the standard out there and uh LD and we have um the lights will be turned off after 10:00 and will be on sensors and that is been uh reviewed by uh your professionals and we have one small variance there and you heard about it we'll talk more about that is the coverage on the ground in the loading docks area and we'll go back to that so um along with that so I did Cover the buffer I covered the Landscaping the lighting the utilities Road improvements so you heard me saying that puta road is a county road we met with the county we have their approvals so put your road the traffic light at the highway there the intersection was D we already met with the county we have their approvals they had as us to do the typical of Mex County pavement widening we will do curb will do sidewalks lighting we will do and it's all shown on the plan um dedicated turn left coming from Butcher Road coming into North This Bar Road will be doing that it's on the plan um ada8 Rams everything that they can as for and we got their approvals the North disaro Road uh is a Township Road will do our side of pavement widening our side of Curbing and sidewalks we we it's not really um required in a commercial or um industrial zones so it's not required for Zone but we are willing to put the sidewalks so we are willing to put the sidewalks from our second driveway all the way up to the intersection of Butcher Road um and that was uh a result of a bunch of meetings with your staff so we are in agreement with that along with the storm sewer everything that the town has for on our side down on the other side we as you heard me saying the road was just repaved so we will protect the edge of pavement by flush G to hold the edge of pavement on the other side we will put guide rails on the other side to stop anyone from stopping on the road as well as signs so will be no truckers nobody will be allowed to stop on the road signs and guide rails will be provided so that was all a result of multiple meetings with your staff uh so that's our improvements um I covered the road improvements uh signs we have the ordinance is very very clear and straightforward saying one sign per one Frontage we have two Frontage we are requesting three signs so we allow two but we asking for one more and the reason for that because we have a second driveway for the trucks we don't want the trucker to keep going and get to that residential area so we're trying to be super sensitive to contain our operation and our future site plan uh and to make sure that everything is tied up that's a reason for that third sign um we also have uh a directional sign we used to have harble time people coming to our adult communities and they drive on AAR Road and they keep going they don't know where they were going so we have Direction so the direction sign is going to be at the beginning of the site where it says Hey next intersection you're going to have to make that so we're trying to contain uh everything U within that interception so that's a reason we have a um a variance that what I mentioned the number of signs we also have a variance for the ordinance required 20 ft set back from the away which is let's say about 10 ft from the curve line well 20 ft you will be 30 ft away from the airline that will make it 30 ft into the woodser you know why don't you take mine's working Sharie is that working blow into I'm not hearing it there you go so um what I was saying is that the ordinance has a setbacks of 20 ft from the right of way which is pretty much more or less about 30 ft from the the curb line which you see out there as you're driving on the road that will put the sign way in to the woods area and the trees so we don't want to have a trucker again driving all the way down and trying to look for the facility because he missed a sign so we are proposing the sign to be 5 ft and monra so far have been granting this because the idea of not um or directing uh the visitor to the site uh so uh that's the reason for that uh variant so I think I covered uh pretty much everything and I would like to go to the bulk requirement within the zoning so the bulk requirement has two component as you know one is the lot configuration the lot area and got to do was a set back the lot width the lot depth and the second part is the building itself coverage in previous coverage and the Improvement so the first part we don't meet all the requirement uh as far as the uh the area uh the LA uh width uh the The Depths even though that uh CME flagged it as a variance I I really disagree with that so I'm sorry but I have to on a record I've been practicing here in Monro since the 80s I went through so many planners they always look at the short the frontage is the the front of the site and this case will be put your road and if you take that projection of that lot line to the the common lot line with the neighbors it's about 4177 after dedication they looking at it as a lot depth we looking at the lot depth extension of that data sign but as Mr Smith said is that if it's a variance it's a variance but I just want to uh see a little bit of it that but so as far as the uh setback the front setback the side setback we all meeting the requirement let's look at the building height the ordinance require um allows 45 ft three stories well that's a warehouse so we one story and we we at the 45 ft Mark so we meeting that requirement and that's a crucial one so we are meeting now building coverage the ordinance allow 35% 35% we only 16 16 and a half it's half of that which is about four acres out of that whole entire 25 acres that's what a building um so we meeting that requirement the in previous coverage and you will see most of the uh Warehouse user do will be asking for 60% just about each one that I did in town 60% we here we here asking for 29 % it's half of that 60% permitted which is about 7 Acres so out of that whole entire 25 acres we only Us in 7 Acres so uh that is what we have uh the uh floor area ratio permitted is 04 you can look at it as a 40% we 015 again so small uh so that's as far as the bulk requirement that we have so I think I I did Cover uh Bob pretty much everything uh the uh we can go through the reports or we can go through the uh variances I can Mr chairman whatever the procedures of your board are if you want me to open Mr sharf up for questions to the board we can do that now if you want us to respond to the reports we can do that now what is what is your direction refer to the uh planner and engineer Mark if you have anything you want to question too not at this time I would let them continue yeah okay yeah all right this one's dead batter's dead right yeah so I'm gonna have do this first of all uh let me draw your attention Mr sharf to the report of uh Center State Engineering specifically Mr rovit report is dated April the 2nd 2024 have you read it so for the record yeah you know what that's a great idea let me move you out Mr connley there is a solution to this problem all right so for the record have you read the report yes okay and uh in doing so uh roughly 90% of the comments are we agree with them or we've already provided correct correct with your permission Mr chairman and Mr rovit and your in your attorney we'd like to only point out those parts of the report where we have some disagreement or need clarification if that would work other than that we agree with the comment unless we note it now and that's fine okay so I'm going to draw your attention to that report and direct it direct your attention to page three of 13 and specifically on that page item 2 three and 10 we would like like to talk to the board about it item two and I'll read it for the board the applicant shall discuss the details of the application and provide a description of the proposed operations indicating the effects of the use in producing traffic noise Etc the description shall include the hours of operation number of tenants number of employees licensing maximum occupancy site maintenance Etc this information shall be provided on the coverage sheet Mr connley up earlier I asked him to to respond to that and he pointed out this is a SPEC Building but we do have a another uh witness coming up our traffic engineer who's going to be able to give you everybody's best guess from The Institute of Traffic Engineers so I'll ask that we save that for for uh our traffic guy number three oh Al so uh I would like to just clarify uh item number two the uh the only part that we are not um providing right now is the description of the proposed operation the rest of the paragraph We are in agreement can't do the operation because we don't have a tenant number three a written description of the proposed operation shall be provided in accordance with Section so and so of the court of Monro Township the code of monor Township and basically it's the same answer that is correct don't know the tenant yet I have this but there you go it's working yeah we got to do it okay we got a new mic so maybe this may it a little easier I direct your attention to number 10 on page three it says the site plan indicates the use will be a distribution warehouse will there be multiple tenants would you respond to that actually that'll be Mr connley if it's okay sure uh as we said the building has been designed with maximum flexibility in mind um ideally you know it would be suited for one uh but there would be no more than two based on the type of uh configuration that is that's there thank you all right uh if you would um turn to the next page page four of 13 item 13 the full width of North disbro Road Hill Road shall be milled and paved along the entire Frontage of the property the road was recently paved agreed to winding so what is our response to that Shere so you heard you heard me before talking about um the uh North this par Road and it's already being repaved so it's not like we're not providing it's already done out there by the township so the work is already been done okay and before we go any further for those standing in the back we've set up an overflow area that you can observe if you go down and go down the stairs uh Mr mcgan will be there and he'll direct you where where you can go so you don't have to stand for this i' it's okay okay proceed okay okay um item 177 on that page the proposed tenant panel sign detail should be revised to provide the pertinent information who would like to respond to that it's item 14 is it 14 no it's item 16 item 17 yeah of course um I think this is the same um situation with the uh the panel sign um once once we actually have a tenant in place then we would agree to work with the township so that they were comfortable with what was worked out okay I direct your attention to page five of 13 item number seven it says per section 108-120 D1 friend one of the code of mon r Township parking areas or fill are prohibited within 50 ft of the 100-year flood plane the distance from the 100-year flood plane to the proposed Improvement shall be provided the meets and Bounds description of the approved flood Hazard design elevation lines and any riparian buffer to the Bentley Brook shall be provided on the plans along with the source uh that is FEMA njde Etc of the same the plan shall be further revised to include a meets and bonds description for the Inland flood protection rule BRS increase of flood elevation and add a dimension from this floodline to the proposed improvements as currently designed relief from this requirement appears required to this extent the variance design waiver list on the cover sheet shall be revised as applicable that is old code not required in new chapter 44 flood plane I think that's your response so I'm sorry I Thunder well actually my my office made a mistake on that one we are providing that so we don't have uh we not uh we're not having any Improvement within 50 ft of the 100-year uh floodline uh I think my office was just a little bit confused about that because the new regulations and the the new ruling of flood Hazard and so um but we are providing that so let's skip that complying complying all right so no dis no disagreement uh page six there are no comments page seven I direct your attention to item 22 uh which is an actually an architectural comment it says the plan shall be revised to indicate all roof drain locations along with the roof drain header pipe for the collection SL conveyance of roof ront of and the limit of each drainage area on the roof shall be documented on the architectural plans number 22 it's number 22 on page seven of 13 now the architect is going to come up and testify we'll comply but the answer is we're we're happy to do it and if you want him to repeat it when he comes up yeah B again uh that is been complied with right yeah we already comply yeah it's on the plan okay then take a look at page 8 of 13 uh item 28 says the soil logs provided are not in accordance with Section 108 d11.4 B for N 16 of the code of Monroe Township additional test pits shall be uh provided or relief of same shall be sought in the event the applicant seeks relief of this requirement same shall be indicated on the cover sheet it shall be noted that any relief granted of this requirement does not relieve the requirement for additional soils testing test pits as required by the BMP and I believe that's an item for which we requested a waiver yeah we we request in a waivers not on a number of logs to be performed at there uh now we follow the guidelines uh of the state of New Jersey that uh two years ago was put was put in place because green uh infrastructures uh for infiltration basins for water quality basins um for lot L INF filteration basins so we um so the number of logs so far we have done on site probably will exceed the township requirement but the township requirement is talking about the distribution of the logs on site which is really kind of like pining to a single family homes uh residential community that will save one for each home and stuff like that so so we figured that to be save is just said for that design waiver so it's you can call Design exceptions all right with regard to page nine of 13 we have no issues and we do understand that a number of these comments are required by the Delaware Ron Canal Control Commission and of course we have to obey the law uh similarly on page 10 of 13 again we back we think it's drcc and then on page 11 of 13 we believe the top half of that is the same and we we're going to do all them it's the law um take a look at item e relative to traffic parking and circulation we offer so items one and two speak to the intersection of North dbro Hill Road and Butcher Road um making recommendations for the intersection and making recommendations with regard to the crosswalk and we're not adverse to that but we simply point out it's middle sex County planning board jurisdiction and we have to obey whatever they say because they have jurisdiction over those uh over those um pieces of the application um and I would now Point your attention to item six on page 11 of 13 says the route for tractor Trail or truck shall be shown on the location of the driver checkin and the location and number of truck stacking spaces shall be provided the plan shall show all proposed signage and there's a reference to the section and I think we're back on the same situation Mr Connelly we we are um Mr Smith but I think what we could do is if we turn our attention to the plan you see that as Sharie pointed out um we tuck the loading as far away from the roadway as we could possibly get um uh so that it doesn't interfere with the surrounding area but but the uh intended benefit of that is also the elongated driveway which will allow for a significant amount of onsite Q area so we don't know specifically what those uh customer use is going to be but it the design does allow for a lot of onsite um stacking so we're feeling that that should uh substantially mitigate the possibility of anyone um lining up outside of the property line thank you U Mr Smith back to item number one we we will comply what page on the same page 11013 okay where is says County yes uh if you recall when we met with the county and Mr rosimo was at the meeting too he requested that to be increased to more than 100 fet and we are we will comply with that okay yeah all right thank you for the comment I direct your attention to page 12 I believe we have no issues with anything on there uh I would point out that uh the last comment on there about permits and approvals the answer of course we're going to any per we're going to get any permit that is required and we'll we'll be happy to provide it to the township for their records and I think that's the end of the memo so as you can see we're in agreement with at least 90% and the other things we're not really in disagreement it's just that they they require that we know who the tenant is and we don't know that yet but there no intent to keep anything from anybody it's just it's not unknown at this point did we miss anything in that response I I would like to just uh with your permission is to elaborate a little bit more on uh the permits that we need to obtain absolutely okay so the township they have um and and it's a common practice in town is that they have the sh commission they arm commission they have 911 they have the police they have the fire we did visit each one of them we do have an approval from uh a letter of recommendation from with some uh green uh infrastructure recommendation whether it's for the side Improvement and for the uh for the building and we agreed to that uh that will be the environment commission so we do have their bling on that uh the fire we already visited the fire our department and they as for a fire hydrant to be located in certain areas by the loading docks we are we agree to that so it's pretty much kind of like an approval from them we have the police we have uh EMS we have that's as far is that 10 we also visited the mud and we get preliminary approval and with your um tonight was granted the approval then we'll be going back to the mud for tenative and final and continue with them uh it's three-way process there uh Outside Agency uh we have a bending application with three Holo District uh we have uh another ones with the drcc that's the Delaware and ran uh Canal commission and then uh we already and and if you remember I uh uh at the beginning I mentioned that we do have the flood Hazard verification from the state we do have the wetlands uh verification also from theate and I mentioned before that we don't have the county approval so we are way in you know obtaining all of all of our approvals uh so that's as far as the approvals and the permit that is required for ass sign anything else you want to add uh Mr alite you done uh report I just want to clarify that that yes we've been working on this for almost two years yeah okay yes if you chairman Mr Lee is available for questions thank you Mr chairman so I think what I heard is they basically agreed to me most most all the comments in my second review letter dated um April 2nd 2024 um couple of the items that I picked up on that you weren't in full agreement with uh item 13 on page four uh regarding the full width Paving North disbro Hill Road um again it is as Sharif has said it is newly paved however I'd like to reserve that um upon completion of construction we take a look at the road and um any disturbances to the road or damage to the road um that we would work out the limits at the uh at prior to final Paving is that acceptable a feder business it certainly is yes absolutely yes we can put a note on the plane indicating the same to thank you with regard to uh curb and sidewalk you are providing proposing curb along the entire Frontage of your property that is correct and um I know you mentioned uh across the street on the opposite side you're going to provide a depressed curb along the edge of the road to hold hold the edge of the road in that is correct flush curb they are providing guide rail on the opposite side of the road again to keep uh vehicles on the roadway so would uh prohibit uh vehicles from pulling off on the edge of the road and stopping and stacking of trucks so uh thank you for that uh we did work extensively on that with our professionals to to come up with that continue page eight item number 28 with regard to the soil logs uh they asked for a design exception uh the one question I have you will still be complying with the uh njd best management practices yes uh thank you and then I have no objection to that design exception page 11 item number E6 uh with regard to truck stacking I know you don't have a tenant at this point so the location a gate May shift but um and you said you have ample room for stacking of trucks i' just like to see that shown on the plan on on one of your drawings uh the number of trucks that you would be able to stack in there and then I'd also like to hear some testimony that the number of trucks that can stack in there um is adequate for the size of the warehouse that you won't need more stacking capacity than than what's available U so perhaps your traffic engineer could comment on that sure thank you and Mr chairman uh that's all I have at this time again theyve agreed to meet the rest of the C my review letter and uh we'll work with them to uh see that all the outside agencies are uh uh have granted their approvals thank you Mr Smith do you want to go through CME letter or should I just ask my questions so we're looking at uh Miss ap's memo to the planning board date of March 5th uh 2024 and um we we have no issues with uh anything on page one uh page two uh I'd like to just point out to the board that uh the app the third paragraph from the bottom Mr apy points out that the we have confirmed that the lots are to be Consolidated and it is assumed that it'll occur via deeds and approved by the planning board attorney and the planning board uh right of right of dedication and setback lines have also been indicated on the revised site plans so for the record we're agreeing to that all right and the lot consolidation we totally agree with and hopefully that'll be part of any action that you take all right um the next paragraph down Mr apy points out this is a permitted use and um the next page we have no uh issues uh I direct your attention to page four um where Miss apy asked us to tell you as much as we know about the tenant and the best we're going to be able to do is the traffic expert with the it uh description of what you might expect uh we we do not a disagree with her bulk table um although we might have the battle of the Titans and we have the planners the planner up to discuss those two variances and why they're not completely in agreement but we're asking for the variances if we need them uh on page five um the uh this is there's a comment about the the variance with regard to a six foot high sculptured undulating burm and that will be dealt with with Miss by Miss cfone um and there's also the comment that additional trees have been provided and that's satisfactory um also miss apy points out that we need a variance for the location of the proposed retaining wall within the buffer area and we will provide the justification for that uh on page six Miss ABY points out that the Varian are needed for the signs uh incl including the location the number and the location and we agree with comment on page seven uh Miss apy points out that the parking variance is required I believe that Mr Ali pointed out what the scope of the Varian is and and maybe just for the record let me ask Mr connley we're proposing these number spaces because we believe this will more than adequately cover the parking needs of any proposed tenant correct that's correct all right and obviously too I'll point I'll be captain in obvious if that if it doesn't work for that tenant we've got to come back to you so you you you retain control of that and the other comment for Mr Ali in terms of the environment is it better to do less parking than more parking um I would like to go back I just remember uh the number of employees there was a question on the table for the number of employees uh so the township parking requirement um dictate that we indicate the number of employees because of parking so on the cover sheet under parking requirement you'll see 75 employees that's what we are on the coverine so that's as far as as far as the uh is black top better or green is better well you hear on the news every global warming the state increased the number of rainfall inches per hour to close to about 13 in where we as a design engineer we used to design for eight so now we design for year 201100 because of global warming part of that and what the state is requiring less pavement if you have parking spaces of 10 by 20 make them 9 by8 that's a standard their nationally recognize less pavement so less pavement better less parking spaces better is what we need it's not what the ordinance is looking for so it's all again green infrastructures green buildings green improvements that's what we have in a nutshell less parking is better L if you don't need right yeah if we don't need them why we have to have them we have a lot of parking lots out in Monroe where you drive by and you will see the empty and you wonder why they empty because it's not needed okay so I direct your attention to page eight uh section V VII uh VI I I and I in which Miss apy points out that variances are required and those are all variances that we called out and requested director attention to page nine and uh there's a comment concerning fencing split rail fence is proposed for the top of the retaining wall the height of the fence is not known per section so and so fences no more than 3 feet in height shall be permitted in the front yard area applicant should provide details to determine compliance and we'll comply no more than 3 feet we will comply right so no variance is required uh director attention to number nine design requirements the architectural plans indicate that the facade is to be be composed of pre-cast concrete or tilt up panels with C with uh clear story Windows the facade is undifferentiated and monotonous this is inadequate the agricultural design should be revised to provide details accents or other architectural features uh to break up the facade um so we're gonna have Mr kasmar ski up to address that so keep that one on hold and number H applicant should car clarify the location of any rooftop equipment and again this is an architectual issues so save those for Mr karski and I think we also have a line of site uh exhibit to show later on exactly so uh lighting the last thing on page nine um says minimum lighting at any location within the parking should be 75% of the average level while the minimum Illumination in the parking area is3 foot candle this is not 75% of the average of 2.2 foot candles provided uh in the parking lot a design exception is required and Mr Ali said you were going to address that why is it why should we get that variance yes um so the area that we have uh we're not really uh in compliance with the ordinance is the loading dogs area so where you have the arrow on the screen that's the area exactly the area right in the middle there so and what we have there uh we have an average of3 and you heard um Patrick is saying uh in his testimony that they they own they operate uh they develop warehouses and they have no issue at all as an operator with that3 so and the reason for that if if we go and decide to uh address the ordinance now we're going to have to go high so we don't want to have a giant Stadium here where we have 50 ft high lightle and more intensity and then we have neighbor on the other side of putcher root so we're trying to not to have that life pollution nuisance uh we want to be respectful to our neighbors and we can live with it as a warehouse so that's a reason for that Mr Connelly you wanted to add to that yeah Mr Al hit it um the the area in question is in the middle of the parking lot so the only you can't put a pole in the middle of the parking lot it would be hit so we'd have to put it very high on the building or on a very high light pole so the goal is to minimize the impact of this facility on the surrounding area so we're willing to we'd rather have less light than more um because we think it's it's a better design so anyway that's that's the reasons for why we're requesting the waiver and as the board planner points out she defers to the board engineer we're happy to defer to the board engineer as well but that's the reason for the request uh I direct your attention to the next page page 10 um item I II at the top of the page says revise the plans to include timers and hours of operation um Mr Ali do you want to respond to that U we will the no we will comply with that with timers yes yeah the hours in operation when we know it yeah and and it's already on the plan and I already put my testimony saying that to okay sa the in the next comment says a dark sky approved fixture should be provided yes will comply okay and then uh on letter k i plans must comply with Section so and so uh applicant shall demonstrate that Solid Waste will be placed in metal receptacles this has been confirmed per section so and so uh at the end of it she says no Landscaping width is shown and a variance is the required how are we dealing with that again you know we're going back that we don't have a tenant so we don't know how they're going to operate U most of the warehouses they have everything within the building compactors everything's inside the building if there is a need for an outside solid waste facility we will come back to the staff and make sure that we're consistent with their concerns correct Mr Smith like just we know that the township has a great very robust tendency review program within the zoning department and within that tency review form we have to ident ify all of those items and that would have to be signed off so we would represent that we would comply with the Township's tenancy review program all right I direct everybody's attention to page 11 on Landscaping it says in accordance with Section so and so the plan landscape plan shall be uh signed and sealed by a landscape architect waiver is required but rather than require the waiver we are saying we don't need that waiver correct we're complying I believe that's the case yes okay yeah and um well if you don't mind I just want to I understand this in the ordinance and we've been through this so many times the Board of Professional engineer really set the rules on that long time ago a professional engineer is allowed to do landscaping that's in the rules there it's very very well defined right we comply we and Engineers really can't can do anything at least they believe they can but the story is that uh Federal Business has a landscape uh certified landscaper on the landscape architect on their team and they'll be able to seal it correct yes we will y who is licensed in the state of New Jersey all right so we're no longer requesting that waiver um item three uh the applicant has provided tree removal calculations indicating a replacement quantity of 2546 trees current Plants provide for a total of 312 deciduous and evergreen trees it does not appear the appan submitted a revised tree removal and replacement plan sheet one of one you respond to that sure I I did so I did touch base on that uh before when I mentioned uh Mr lavalo uh Gary lavalo our arest so that particular item should be completely deferred to Mr lavalo he dictate the number of trees uh that will be removed and replaced and as well as the Landscaping plan so we will wait for his review and then coordinate with CME on that but um the as I indicated before Mr Lalo received all the information from amch today and he even said to me you can say that everything is good that's been submitted and we're just waiting for a letter from him for the number of trees and what type of trees to be on site so he will be the guy that will be given us but that being said I think what the board wants to hear from us is whatever the township requires we're going to do yes Mr Connelly is that correct that's correct yeah and and as I pointed out the um the reason for the burm um variant request is we want to keep all the trees so there's a significant number of trees that if we were to build a burm we'd have to remove so our intent was to leave as many trees as we possibly can I direct your attention to letter V screening is provided around all sides of the property with evergreen trees this is satisfactory it appear select areas of existing trees will require additional evergreen trees to provide adequate screening especially open area at the mat line uh mostly sheet 10 of 19 as well as another small section along Butcher Road and the back property line uh of lot 33 based on Google Images in 2007 the area along North brisbo Hill uh was an open lawn this is now filled in with invasive Vines and shrubs the applicant has provided additional evergreen trees as requested our office recommends reducing the proposed Japanese Cedar along the Woodline at lot 33 uh all the proposed everen trees require Sun American Holly and Native tolerant Evergreen should be provided instead we agree to that Mr Connelly or not yes yeah we we do okay I direct your attention to page 12 um Mr Smith in order to um just assist you I think most of these comments are just Landscaping best based so if your team has read them are an agreement with complying with it I think we can we'll comply as long as Mr lavalo said so so he's got the upper hand the town he's the arborist he's what everybody listen to that's the reason yes the township Arbor yes if he disagree with anything in C report as far as the selection of a tree here's a guy so well first all how you want we no longer have he's the guy that's unacceptable she's the gal all right so the bottom line though we understand in Monroe Township that the order of authority on Landscaping is your arborist so we're saying we're going to cooperate whatever the arborist wants we're going to doy as soon as we received a review from Mr lavalo we'll share with CME we'll do the coordination we'll make sure everybody's happy we all on the same page whatever the township wants whatever does that summarize it absolutely okay um so miss apy does that work for you yeah we we noted that we'll work with uh Mr Ali and the township arborist and I'm sure our Landscaping Department can come up with a solution terrific are there any other comments uh Mr Ellie that you wish to make um on page number uh 14 is the last page um 5A we 5A uh we already um talked about that uh the uh operation in the building and we'll address that later on we've said that on several occasions yes thank you so Mr Ali is available for questions thank you Mr Smith I just have couple of follow-up questions um in terms of I understand this can be one tenant or two tenant um just for our understanding Purp purposes um currently as it's proposed there is a proposed office space to one side of the building and the rest is going to be Warehouse um that is how it's being proposed to the board and approved in case of multi- tenants which is maximum of two do you envision this office space size to move and bearhouse size to change Mr K I ask a question for you again ideally the building as you can see is configured for one tenant um what we find is that there are certain Warehouse uses that have almost no need for office uh you can see that in some of the buildings so we would we would if if there were a two tenant situation it would be one would have to have a minimum amount of office to make it work uh we're just trying to provide flexibility but we certainly would have to modify what you see there is the one office location but the two tenant um the two tenant scenario would Envision somebody that would have you know to have a separate office but would be um separate and you know we'd have to look at what the plan would be but ideally we're working for one tenant um and you know the flexibility of the building would would lend itself that if the second tenant were um interested they would have a minimum amount of office okay just so it's on the record this is the office space size and this is the warehouse size and anytime anything changes you know the parking also changes and that's the reason we want to put it on record that it Remains the Same and I think that probably would come under your tency review process anyway right yeah but your parking is a variance right now right so just making sure that it's on the record okay um the other question I had and I know um Mr Mr Ali differs from my interpretation on lot depth um this is just for again I'm also putting it on record um our interpretation this property is a corner lot but it's not your typical corner lot which would be a rectangle and that's why I think the definition says minimum lot Frontage and the longer is lot depth this is an irregular shaped lot and which does have couple of other rear yard lot line as depicted on your s plan and uh we are pointing to the easterly side as the lot depth which is we we have noted that this is an existing non-conformity and that you know this is the way the lot is and that you're seeking the existing non-conformity and variance um the other item I do want to couple of other things I want to clarify is um regarding the the signage um I understand um the testimony was that one freestanding per Frontage I just want to make it sure that it's one freestanding sign per use and that's why you know the number of signs is three as to one um to to clarify one more thing the the directional sign which is the 5 foot high sign that is being proposed and you might have already testified to that could you clarify why is that still needed even though you have a corner freestanding sign why would you need another directional sign um just proposed along the Butcher Road and that that directional sign is not illuminated right that one is not um no it's not okay it's not illuminated yeah okay no it's not so is that the the direction sign usually is placed at the beginning of the property so in this case if um someone coming into the facility and most likely and you'll hear that from our traffic Consulting uh they will be coming from uh uh Route 33 put your road so as the coming uh South on putcher road you'll like to direct them that that the next intersection is the intersection where you need to make that left turn that's the purpose for that uh we don't want to have a car or a trucker going all the way down there is no way to turn if they decided to do that so literally the text of that sign will show them that there's a turn next right only next left only to move into the building all right thank you um just clarifying again to put it on record um um I can continue um the question on dumpster um the the variance is because as you're very well aware the refuse and recycling in our ordinance requires the three sides to have some buffer and landscaping around it and the dumpster location as is proposed is doesn't have that um on one side um is that something that can be worked out and added or um is this something um you know you you are confident that's where how the dumpster can be it's only on one side that you need additional 5ot B offer and some Landscaping then we'll do okay um also in your professional opinion the way the dumpster is located is it maneuverable with the truck turning radius for it to be accessed and removed yes okay thank you um and I think that's it thank you Mr chairman thank you um we're going to take five minutes for the court reporter to take a break and just so everyone is aware the applicant is going to put on their entire presentation before we open it up to the public open tonight we're hoping to profal I think um Mr Smith said he had five total Witnesses traffic and planner it's traffic and planner oh an architect too an AR the architect be take them five to 10 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e it's a matter okay everyone this is what we're going to do it's it's yes in okay it's it's clear we're not going to be able finish tonight it's important to us that everybody that wants to be heard is heard um your opinions matter to all of us so we're going to go as far as we can and we're going to stop at 10 o'clock and then the fourth Thursday in August is our next meeting and we're going to resume and whatever part of this applic we're at if it's the public portion whatever we're going to going to resume at that time so we're going to move forward Mr Smith has three more witnesses three but chairman I think I can finish in an hour okay okay so with your permission I'd like to call our traffic expert Mr Eric valoria if he come forward and be sworn so you can give testimony it's swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you go I State your full name spell your last name for our record Eric ER not on just turn it on saving batteries Eric valoria all right better your last name V is Victor i l o r i a right Mr valoria for the record by whom are you employed in what capacity um I'm a traffic engineer with Lang and engineering all right and have you ever been accepted by this board as a traffic engineer this is my first time in Monroe but I've been accepted multiple times I'd appreciate if you give the board the short version of your credentials okay I have my Bachelor's of Science and civil engineering from the University of Delaware um I've been preparing traffic impact studies in the state of New Jersey over the past 10 years specifically significant amount of Warehouse development um and I've appeared in front of multiple boards in the state so chairman I'd ask they be accepted as a traffic expert yep credentials accepted thank you thank you Mr chairman so uh Mr valoria in preparation for this application you've been with the application for quite a while did you have occasion to perform traffic studies even though we don't have a a tenant at this point but you do have the the Bible of traffic the it to refer to can you give the board the benefit of your studies concerning this project yeah so I'll go over a little overview of the entire study itself um so as the board's aware we prepared a traffic impact study that has been reviewed um it's revised dated December 22nd 2023 um it includes the warehouse development at that's being supported by 154 parking spaces access to the development will be provided via two driveways along North disbro Hill Road the eastern most driveway will provide uh primary access for trucks and the Western most driveway will provide primary access for passenger vehicles both intersections and driveways have been designed in accordance to um accommodate the designed vehicles for the respective driveways um both driveways will be stop controlled as well to account for and determine how our traffic will affect the roadways in the area we conducted Capacity Analysis at nine intersections in the surrounding area um that includes eight intersections between uh Route 33 and dis bro hill road to the South um and we also looked at our site driveways um in order to do this we had to conduct traffic counts uh we conducted those in June of 2023 when schools were in session they were on a typical weekday during the commuter uh morning peak hours and the evening peak hours um those volumes were then GR own to account for your typical General background growth in the area and then also the traffic associated with other proved developments in the area as well we actually accounted for three other developments too then to account for our traffic um as has been stated we utilize The Institute of Transportation Engineers otherwise known as it um their trip generation publication which is currently in their 11th Edition we utilize land use code 150 which is for warehousing um it and as has been mentioned many times it's for speculative warehouses which accounts for a variety of different type of users um these uh volumes were then we you we had to pick between which uh trip generation estimates to utilize um we specifically utilize the peak hour of the generator which looks at when the warehouse will generate the most traffic and we applied those Ates to get the trip generation and then put them onto the roadway um in order to distribute those trips to the roadway um we had to do two different things for passenger vehicles we had to do a journey to work model which takes into account the Census Bureau data and looks at where employees uh are expected to be coming to and from so we generated those distributions and applied the trip generation to those and then for trucks as has been mentioned uh the Route 33 quarter provides direct access to the national network which is the New Jersey Turnpike so it's a direct access for trucks to be able to go to and from the ports and other areas in New Jersey and yeah and then we took those volumes and utilizing our capacity software analysis we input everything in there and we input the volumes the traffic associated with our project and all the growth I had previously spoke about and we conduct this analysis to determine how the intersections will operate um based on our analysis we determined that the trips associated with our warehouse won't significantly impact operations in the area um we also as has been mentioned as part of the Redevelopment we are providing a southbound left turn lane along Butcher Road which has been coordinated with the county the left turn lane will allow for vehicles to bypass other left the vehicles turning left without affecting flow along Butcher Road um we also performed a site plan review um as Mr Al has testified too the circulation and overall site has been uh designed with in accordance with industry standards and will provide efficient circulation for all the types of vehicles that are expected to come onto the site whether it be emergency vehicles or other types of trucks as well um we also looked into the parking and based on the it Tri or parking generation we anticipate that the average demand will be um accommodated by the parking being provided um it's actually we look at about we anticipate 65 vehicle parking spaces being required on a average and the surpluses for shift turnovers to allow for no o overflow to occur um that's the main summarization of my traffic study and I'd be open to any questions you guys may have Mark M do you have any questions thank you Mr chairman with regard to the Butcher Road left turn lane uh how many tractor trailers will be able to stack on that left turn lane um at this time we designed it for a 100 foot um storage area which will allow for one truck um so when I'll go into trip generation I know that was asked about earlier too the exact amount of trips so right now during the weekday am peak hour we anticipate approximately 48 total vehicles to enter an ex or enter and exit the site 32 entering and 16 exiting and then during the during excuse me let let the applicant make is um Mr Smith continue with no you'll have you have your opportunity you will have your opportunity we willot you spoke about oural at you're not you're not sworn in you can't you can't you can't speak you're not sworn in just let the application go forward you'll have your opportunity 53 ma'am' ma'am respectfully please let the applicant continue so Mr Valeria I'd appreciate if you would go over the stacking and why you think it may or may not be appropriate and if there's flexibility with regard to that of course so as I had mentioned we had spoke with the county and coordinated with them on what they in ipated would be necessary for this stacking and based on our projections as I had mentioned we use the peak out of the generator so we looked at the most conservative amount of trucks that and vehicles that could enter and exit the site um by conservative mean the highest number correct okay and I think what maybe the public doesn't understand when you say the peak hour you're meaning that's the number of trips that occurs over 60 minutes correct correct so it's not like everybody is lined up up at one moment that is correct all right so go into that in a little more detail so I'll break down the trucks a little more um during the weekday am peak hour we anticipate 11 trucks so in that hour span 11 trucks either entering or exiting the site based on the it data it's about four entering seven exiting in the PM it's about six entering and five exiting 11 trips during the hour as well that's about one truck every 9 Minutes in every direction so it's not going to take a truck a truck will come in approximately one every nine minutes let the application go forward please and then I'll to further verify that based on our analysis we do input all types of trucks cars and peak hour factors that determine the capacity at that specific intersection based on our analysis the Q anticipated for that left turn l will be maintained by what we're proposing so so to to cut to the chase on the left turn lane will that be able to accommodate two tractor trailers that's what we talked about uh with the county with the additional so there's 100 of storage and then there's an additional taper that will allow for the truck to fit within there as well so two TR two trucks yes thanks um so the intersection rout 33 and Butcher Road indicated that you did do a study over there yes so we analyze that intersection for capacity as well thank you I'm I'm fine with the Capacity Analysis however trucks coming from the turnpike heading East on 33 making a right turn on the Butcher Road did you analyze the turning radius um that exists out there and if tractor trailers are going to be able to make that right hand turn without Crossing into uh the opposite lane of traffic so so the intersection is currently under the jurisdiction of New Jersey Department of Transportation um they typically design their intersections to allow for these uh tractor trailers to utilize them appropriately um it's not something we directly looked at but we would be willing to look into right not to make a okay Mr continue please so you know for everybody to understand what's going on we all have to listen to each other when the public gets up to ask questions we're going to respond to them right and when they have comments to make we're going to listen to them we'd ask for the same courtesy right we would we will let every member of the public say whatever they want to when the time is right let the application complete please all right so trying to get you back on the track uh if you'd respond to the concerns expressed by by Mr rasimov was there anything else you so I I would just like to see a turning radius on that that that you can accommodate that and any any U meetings with NJ doot on that I would certainly like uh an invite that the township can be there um you know my office and the planner if if necessary and and federal business has no issue with that and if we can maybe we can try to get a quick turning radius into the town to take a look at it absolutely that'd be great thank you nothing else I don't have okay any any questions from the board um quick question on the on North disbro uh Hill Road thank you the turning a left into there is there going to be a left lane and then people can go and so Southbound on butcher roading there on Butcher Road yeah yes there's a South there's a propos not Butcher North disbro there where the entrance is to the site into the driveways there's not a left turn lane proposed no left hand learn uh Lane um won't that stop traffic I mean won't it build up traffic I can't take down what they're saying if public speaking so everybody needs you'll get your opportunity I promise you thank you I'm not sure I'm understanding where you're um after you turn off a butcher Road onto North disb Hill Road that's where the entrance is to the site right okay um truck for the trucks we're not proposing left turn Lanes into the driveways and Mr Connelly would explain more well the the issue with widening North this brow is that the property that's to the south of north this brow is a protected Wetland area and it would be illegal to actually extend the pavement into that side uh with respect to widening on the opposite side would then again impact the um front yard so we are proposing widening the road as part of our uh improvements but to widen it to such a degree to make it a two two-lane road so to speak with that uh would is is not feasible so that's North disbro Road that's where the entrance and on on North disbrow so the for for butcher um when you're coming from Route 33 and you're making a left on the North dis brow there will be a left uh turn lane because there's a significant amount of traffic as the residents will know on butcher there is a significant less amount of traffic on North disbrow Hill so we don't feel that um it's necessary because of the traffic count that we um going under that they would be necessary but we wanted to provide it on butcher because that's where a predominant amount of the transia traffic that's coming down off of 33 going into the residential areas but knowing the area quite well North dbow is not a a heavily traveled road so that's why we thought it was still a good design Mr chairman have some questions I have several questions please do not interrupt my questions and allow the people to answer okay all right let me start I have a couple of simple ones one of the first things there's a driveway entrance from North dbor for the tractor trailers right can you tell me how long of a distance it is from North disbro Road to the back of the parking lot the drive truck it's approximately 700 feet so that would accommodate quite a few sign am might be queuing there would be no way to Quee on North dbor Road because you have the railing on the right hand side correct um now when you conducted your Stu you have no idea what type of what type of business is going to be in here correct correct and I do understand you relied on what they call the it which is some type of basic standard that you use and trying to reach a projection now are there ranges within the it as to between x amount and and uh a greater amount and a lesser amount anticipated so you're talking building size no no I'm not talking building I'm talking about number of vehicles that would be of course you know entering yeah so it's based on the uh size of the building or employee for this uh site we use the square footage of the building as our variable and we anti somewhere I saw someone said 75 people perhaps correct that was the testimony was yes but it could be more you have parking spaces for more you don't know right so the you have found the basic conundrum which is we don't know who the tenant is going to be the 70 the reason that you had a larger parking number if you remember the testimony of Mr uh Ali I'm not concerned about the amount of parking I'm concerned about the amount of vehicles that are going to be coming in and out of this this roadway and at particularly rush hour when when there's already a lot of traffic in the area so when you say you you said before you said before that you thought 32 in 16 out at peak hour I heard that testimony correct now does that how out of that 32 how many would you anticipate trucks how many would you anticipate course four trucks entering in the morning and then the 20 28 Vehicles exiting in 1 hour in a 1 hour time frame now that's coming in correct how about going out at that time 16 uh total so you would have 11 vehicles and seven trucks okay but again you don't know exactly the nature of the business will determine how many are going in and out correct that's a huge variable so as part of the application we also submitted um supplemental traffic information where we actually looked at three warehouses in the state and it was we we had looked at them to determine if the size was relative to the amount of trips and what we found was it actually is significantly higher than the warehouses that we see in the state of New Jersey listen I don't know where were those warehouses um to to be exact they were in Florence Burlington and Mansfield right why why don't you pick Cumberland County and another one down south where there's nothing this is Middle sex County this is right in the center of things I don't believe that that's a fair assessment based on those types of warehouses considering what we're going to have in our now I have another simple question and and I I think the answer is simple whenever anyone exits the proposed Warehouse area whichever driveway it is the only way that they could uh reach Route 33 is by going north brbor making the right on to Butcher Road and going up to Route 33 correct correct in other words you can't go north dbor in another Direction and somehow hook around the 33 correct well for or not not reasonably speaking anyhow correct okay and again depending on what type of business you have you might have multiple employees arriving at the same time like if if if hours were 9 to 5 there might be more people coming at once versus a a varied time for arrival depending on the business and we don't know that because we don't know what kind of business it's going to be and then when they come up here they make that right onto Butcher Road and in the morning hours or even at the rush hour in the evening you come up to that traffic light at 33 that you started to talk about right correct now we have have concerns about whether trucks would be able to turn in off of 33 given the how wide their turn may be and and Butcher Road if I recall is not a particularly wide road but I also have a lot of concerns about any discussions that you had with the state about any improvements to that traffic light there it already gets backed up in the morning and that's without tractor trailers without other vehicles I would like could be satisfied that all the residents in the area are not going to be significantly affected by the way you know Vehicles would be coming in and out of there and I mean even if it was two or three tractor trailers coming in in an hour they get stuck at that light that light that's a long light first of all and then they get stuck there and people are trying to get to work in the morning I I think it's problematic and I'd like to I'd like to know that there was some discussion with the state somehow some way whether it involves another l on butcher whatever it may be to make it so that the individuals who live in the area are not significantly impacted in the morning I don't I don't know I'm not hearing anything that that tells me that that's being addressed so analysis wise we we look at it the same way we would for any project we analyze it based on the timings that the state uses at that intersection and we input volumes based on what's existing we grow them for the traffic that could could be in the future and the traffic associated with our development we then input them in the same software and we look at a uh what the difference is the change and the change in what we saw is insignificant to what this development let me ask you what's your definition of insignificant because I feeling it's going to differ from what the vast majority of the audience thinks so based on it and both the New Jersey Department of Transportation they Define a significant amount of trips as 100 or more trips during a peak hour entering or exiting entering an intersection so let me just see if I understand exactly what you're saying the only way that you will say that it it becomes a significant problem is if there's a 100 or more additional trips in an hour if that is just what they look at as a significant increase to traffic it doesn't mean that there are not issues that there that may arise but it's that is what the definition of significant impact I I understand that they have definitions and books and things of that nature but does that does that draw for a distinction whether it's a I mean if it's a 100 tractor trailers it's a lot different than if it's 100 you know U cars Transportation vehicle and all that information is inputed into our analysis it is taken into account we don't cut any Corners to remove trucks during the analysis so so it does take into account the time it takes for a truck to start up versus a passenger vehicle to start up so it does take into account all those numbers now you have a you told us you got you have a left turned Lane coming from Butcher Road uh so that they can make the left on the North disbro what about coming out of North disbro for people that people are trucks that want to make a right is there going to be an additional rightand lane or or something to to assist them oh as Mr conell explain we can't uh w we can't widen in North this browhill road and not I'm talking about Butcher Road Butcher Road to provide a left turn no right people coming from North dbor making a right turn to go north on Butcher Road can we do anything to widen Butcher Road over there to ease that congestion CU that's that's really going to be the it's going to be the spot people telling you people are not going to be able to get out of there in the mornings quiet please is there anything I mean did the county say anything about that yeah so based on our analysis we determined that again the relative impact at that intersection would still allow for people to have the appropriate gaps to make the turns I'm not worried about the turn from North disbro onto butcher what I'm worried about is once they get onto butcher the backup there so I'd like to see if there could be some Lane you know toward the right that would uh allow other vehicles that are on butcher to to bypass truck tractor trailers that are turning onto the roadway is that possible so so the answer to that uh Mr vanor is that butcher's County where happy to work with Mr rasimov and the county to see what can be done all right you expressed the concern but ultimately the jurisdiction is Middle six it is a County Road you're right um I'm just trying to I see all these people here and I I think I can anticipate some of their questions if not all of their questions and and I'm pretty sure that that's a big concern is the the coming out and trying to get on on from Butcher on to Route 33 with all the additional track that's going to be out of there particularly if there's large Vehicles just saying well you answer it is a county thing I one other thing on a on a side note because I I think I've kind of beat the dead horse there you having what six or seven EV stations you said seven make ready yeah out of a total of 65 projected spaces maybe or 5 54 154 all right um if there was a a need for it could would more be installed if uh depending on your tenants I certainly I think EVS are going to increase in the future and so we're already at that point I know that this is what it calls for and I certainly it's not something I could require you to do but I I think as a good faith gesture we should keep it open because now is a time when when more and more is uh coming forward and uh there's more EVS out there um so if there's some need for it I'd like to see the opportunity to expand it if it was requested sure I guess what we would do is is work with your professionals to understand what we would do is whatever uh is kind of mutually agreed to we go with their guidance as to what we would call make ready uh EV spaces which essentially runs all of the conduit and everything and everything would be ready so we would be open to that we certainly um endorse the EV component as part of it um so yes we would we would certainly take that into the design consideration with respect to butcher um you know we we'll look at it and you know uh see what the county would would uh recommend and um you know can give you that assurance I think Butcher Road is a problem and it's a problem that may have pre-existed your application it may have had nothing to do with you because already it it's not wide enough for what's what's uh what's needed to be accommodated and these people sit here every morning trying to wait for a light three four lights when they're trying to get to work in the morning but there's no doubt in my mind that this is going to aggravate the situation and and it and it's problematic for for the citizens of the town I'm not saying I know the solution I'm not an engineer but I I I think it would behoove us to have further contact with the county about possibly doing something excuse me please Mr rimot has something to Mr chairman the councilman brings up some excellent points I would ask that I I be invited to that meeting with the county I want to be present uh when you meet with them to discuss that and uh back to the intersection at Route 33 I request that we have a meeting with the state and and and I be part of that meeting um I understand from your point of view and requirements under uh both the state requirements and the traffic requirements uh for the it but there's been so much development out in that that intersection you know before you there maybe some coming after you and each time the applicant sits there and and says we don't we don't meet that criteria we don't meet 100 trips um but as as the development is happening out there each each uh development is not meeting 100 trips but in in cumulative to that intersection now it is getting increased in that intersection and I don't know that the state is really looking at that so I'd like to be down there with with you to meet with the state and and to see how we can address the situation out there yeah know we can turn this into a positive for the people if something could be done with the road and you guys could be a part of it and with the county and the state taking taking a little bit of leeway it might make the road bigger that you know solves a lot of problems for everybody but that's all I'm saying chairman this this particular intersections or without this project being considered not look at the traffic from 33 to mon Manor Jessica Drive morning to evening three times the buses comes which is six time actually drop off pickup parents going for different drop off Pi pickup activities of the childrens's because the two schools are there so if you see morning or you ask the Monro Police Department what is the situation over there accident or hazardous conditions from the 33 vawa till the Jessica drive two things are not considering this the width of of the North disbro Hill Road to go for the 18 wheelers in this wherever you are mentioning the truck I'm considering that as a 18-wheelers truck am I right yes truck and trailers so regardless who will be your future tenant so please consider the butcher roads existing width considering the North brro Hills width for those kind of heavy vehicular commercial traffics second thing the at present North B rill Road is through Pass towards a residential area to go all the way to the Manalapan and which is mostly a through passers but mostly private cars so going up to your Frontage of your property the proposed project if you see any trucks waiting to make a left turn inside the truck driveway you know how many cars will be backed up private cars going residents so this is where to be respectful towards the Neighbors at least it is a end property and I can say Zone part of the mandro and starting the Manalapan or millstones or anything why I'm telling you this this is a everyday situation I pass from there few times a week and I see that particular the intersection merge and Junction of the nor North pistro Hill and buer every morning is a situation over there so 18 wheelers is a catch and turning Road width is not at least enough or ample right turn left on lanes are the dadic at a lens which he addressed but I'm talking at present the width as it is is not suits to the trucks that's a 26 understood that's second thing you are you mention about the retainer walls and all that thing hope that meets the compliance of the floods or anything from the front when you do the site work and everything but that is a secondary but front edge is the one where you are going to put your signs and all that which looks like a commercial sign for the corner property signage wait what's the question about the signage I'm sorry signage will come on the corner right which is meting the code and everything so so right so we that was kind of the what we were covering early so so the signage will start uh on the inbound side um Midway up Butcher and then the idea is to have also signs at each of the two entrances so that we clearly identify the auto entrance and the truck entrance so there's no Miss understanding so they don't miss those turns so we've proposed three signs you know and that's a variant so rather than take the minimal approach and comply we said no we need we need more than that so if there was additional signage needed we would be interested but but we thought that the three signs would help educate someone coming in to make the right maneuver is not the property sign right it is a signage for the direction the the the signs that we're talking about would be for um it would have the address the name of the of the of the occupant but also would say Auto entrance with an arrow you know the name the the address the name of the customer and then truck so I would say it be a combination of the two for the driver purpose only not it is a nuisance to the apartment buildings which are there correct okay right thank you thank you hi uh you know most of my questions have have been already uh put forth well the one thing I wanted to know is uh about the environmental impact in in a residential area like that you know it's like uh with all these um backups and you know even though you know you're saying that there not an a significant uh problem until uh well 100 cars or 100 Vehicles an hour but you know it's like even if there is not 100 vehicles um there's uh then with all the idling there's a lot of uh increased pollution or emissions uh during that time and so I want to know what your uh your thoughts on that so uh let me ask uh Mr valoria does the state of New Jersey have uh anti-idling laws yes and what do they require um that the trucks don't idle along a roadway right and how about on the property itself no as well so it would an appropriate suggestion from the board to be to make sure you post notice of no idling you know what the state law is so the drivers would be aware and also the landlord has some ability to enforce that as well correct that's correct so you know um as you as you heard we've going to encourage the you know um EV uh for the um Auto you EV is a future goal I think of the of the nation um for um trucks but it's not there yet but as it as it relates to this for the truck traffic um you know we we would comply with all of the laws associated with those um requirements and um do so in our other locations but you know we can't we would not be disingenuous to sit here and say that the tractor trailers you know don't have emissions um but we're um we created a building that um hopefully um is um doesn't try to over um develop the site as was testified earlier and as you could see on the screen the building does not you know overly um o overly you know impact the site so the you know but the fact of the matter is we want to honest with the your question is that there will be emissions from Vehicles just like they are up and down Route 33 right now uh at the Wawa situation there there are vehicles but you know we we will we will make sure that as far as we're able to control it um that they will comply with the law just a couple of things um first is I want to Circle back to uh a couple of things in your testimony first can you go over again you you said the peak hours the morning peak hour and the evening peak hour what are those hours so typical morning peak hours are between 7 and 9 and during the evening they're between 4: and 6 and in those hours your calculations of how many trucks total per hour for our site yes so during the am 11 11 for both a.m. and p.m 11 per hour or in that window in an hour so specifically so 11 per hour in each of those two hours that are the peak hours so we looked at what is considered the peak operation of this Warehouse so in 1 hour during the day this Warehouse will experience its most traffic so it's not going to experience that every single hour during that peak hour so sometime during the 7 to9 period and 4 to6 period there will be this hour where the most traffic is expected to enter and exit so it's on a sliding scale basically is what you're saying you don't know which hour but within that window of 7 to 99 in the morning at some point there's going to be a 60-minute block where the max estimated uh truck traffic is going to be 11 hours within that heaviest 60-minute window 11 trucks yes 11 trucks yes okay and just to further your comment in so in some studies you can particularly look at a network Peak so we could have said in this specific quarter um 7 to 8 is the peak but for this study we actually looked at the Peak at each individual intersection so we looked at when that specific intersection experience is the most traffic during those two per time or those two hours and then put our traffic on top of that now the other question a couple of couple of points I have were questions is with regard to your calculations you talked about what were your variables and what were your fixed items and we talked about or I should say you talked about in your testimony you looked at square footage you looked at employees correct and those factors are where you using those you without knowing who the tenant is you arrived on your calculations correct okay so essentially whether the warehouse is housing carburetors or flower pots or widgets so many manpowersupply.est of the facility you're not you don't believe there's going to be much Divergence in the amount of traffic coming in based on how much a person or so many persons within so much time based on the size of the facility could move in and out is that correct correct is there any degree of Divergence that you consider so um it actually has five subcategories that they separate for warehouses and we specifically picked 150 L use code 150 CU it accumulates more of a variety of different types of tenants and users um and it tends to have the higher trip generation to make sure that we're looking at the most conservative analysis okay and then with that I mean is a bit of a conundrum I think it's clear and other members of the board have already spoken about there's obviously a sensitivity because of congestion particularly on Butcher Road um and that this can contribute uh further to exacerbate the condition so yet at the same time we also understand that this is a permitted use warehouses are permitted in the in the zone and obviously with warehouses come truck comes truck traffic to some extent that's what warehouses uh draw and use so the question I have is is would the applicant be willing perhaps to work with our staff about perhaps since we don't know who the tenants are and the applicant is not telling us and doesn't know who the tenants are going to be would they be willing to agree as some type of conditional language if our staff was uh uh in line with this about perhaps in the leases limiting the amount of truck traffic per hour um to the facility so this way there could be some type of restriction uh on that or limitation so it doesn't get out of hand so the the the the shortcut answer is no but with reasons and the re the reasons are you have no idea who the tenant's going to be or what their use is I would point out to you that uh Monroe Township and South Brunswick Township approved approved a 1.2 million square ft Warehouse it went to both towns and it ended up that Home Depot rented the space and there's 25 trucks A Day In This 1.2 million because all Home Depot does is to store white goods appliances all right so trying to predict the future not so easy to do that being said you have a tency review process and once we know the tenant you know if if if we're lucky enough to get an approval the the number one the the your town professionals still retain jurisdiction and if there are because of the tenants use there's something unreasonable or something crazy or unsafe they get a chance to weigh in all right so that's why you can't say yes to that dress it's it's predicting the future and generally none of us are very good at that understood thank you um you know I I wasn't clear you know it's like your it model is predicting the traffic flow on for one tenant right it it open it leaves it open to speculative Warehouse which could allow for more than one tenant okay so you know it's like with one tenant you know you can say your Peak flow and everything uh is is a certain amount out with two tenants you know it's like would that double or or more than double exate the uh situation so within the it data it accounts for all types of Warehouse uses tenants it's it's it's throughout the entire country it's not so it takes into a account a bunch of uh data points and it it takes the variable specific to what generating for so a 210 in Warehouse they'll still take the variable based on the size and they'll generate the traffic based on what that warehouse is generating so even though it's a two tenant Warehouse it's still for uh the record purposes it's 100,000 sare ft that 100,000 ft Warehouse is still generating x amount of trips which the data is inputed into the database so it's still looking at the single variable or just to be helpful two tenants mean does not mean double traffic corre it's the number of square feet and employees that generally correct does it and this is based on data from all over the country you're not talking about three inputs you're talking about tens of thousands of inputs correct hundreds else I I just have one more just this is a different topic note not as intense but um you talked about uh lighting um and and trying to be good neighbors for your uh for the people around and I think he said that the lighting would be on uh some type of switch where it was shut off at like 10:00 in the evening yes sir it would be but it's also would be motion activated so if there was a need for someone to enter the property it would it would it would be motion activated um the zone you know obviously allows for use but the the purpose would be to have it shut off when when the there's no traffic or no need what if the tenant wanted a 24-hour operation I would defer to Mr Smith but I think that's the The Zone allows for it um then the motion sensors would would activate when there's activity remember the request for the waiver is for lower lighting intensity so at a starting point you're going to be doing lower than the town requires right now the point is to provide some relief I raised the point of the lighting in terms of the DAT the hours of operation because it it sounded like you anticipated everything being done by a particular time and if we can't put restrictions on tenants in terms of numbers of trucks and things you probably not going to put restrictions on them in terms of the hours of operation either and that's one another additional thing that the the town people are going to be worried about truck and trailers coming by in the middle of the evening yeah know that's that's not a pleasure either just same all right anything else all I had okay chairman should I bring up my next witness witness please uh and ask that uh Mr Ron karski come forward he's our architect we'd like him more and give testimony where they tell the truth the whole truth nothing about the truth I do that your full name is tell your left Ron korski and that's k a c m a r s k y so we have a an architectural exhibit that we'd like to pass around to the board uh would be part of Mr karki's testimony are these U does board have them in a package or is this a new stuff so what we'd like to point out is it in in the CM report I think there was a notation relative to the um elevations and the in that the fact that they probably didn't uh give the pizzazz that was being looked for I believe we submitted the Revis set um at the TRC um for the purposes of of assurance and completeness this is that set it's a two-page set I'll put it on the board as well so that the audience could see but so we think it's been submitted but we're happy to mark it A3 eight a three three and four there's two pages yes now three four it works good A4 call it A4 second one the second page so 8384 all right uh was Mr kmari sworn yes okay so for the record Mr kmari by whom are you employed in what capacity page two page two okay so Ronald kmari Architectural Group is my company and um have you ever been accepted by this board as a uh what I I have not right can you give us the short version of your credentials okay um so I graduated in 1989 from NGIT which is New Jersey Institute of Technology I have a bachelor's in architecture I received my architectural license in 1997 to practice architecture in New Jersey been practicing for 28 years I've have not had the pleasure of testifying before this board but I've testified in front of numerous boards in various municipalities throughout the state right you're a registered architect in the state of New Jersey correct okay I'd ask that he be accepted as an architect accepted thank you Mr chairman so what is it going to look like okay so it's a 176,000 squ ft Earth Tone pre-cast concrete building um of which 9,000 square feet is office um the office has significant glass and that in the corner of the building you think you saw on the floor plan the lower left corner of the building would um would have the office area and that extensive glass would allow for natural light to go into the office area also accentuate the entrance of the building and as you saw on the site plan that entrance is adjacent to the main entrance from the road now for the most part the building itself is really not visible from the road given the existing tree line that's there now so both Butcher and North isbr for the most part the building is screened so you really won't see the building for the most part however that entrance in the corner being adjacent to the entrance way um especially as you approach the building you you would have the um there would be a view corridor to see that corner of the building and then as you approach the building you you would see that corner with the um glass detail and then as for the other elevations of the building and this represents a modification based on a comment so what we did is we have a two-tone Earth Tone building design and along you can see the facade is is uh elongated and to break up that Rhythm we've designed the vertical um Second Color patterns with the clear story windows and the seams in the concrete to add character along the facade of the building and and as you can see too so the elevations which show the office area in the corner represent the buildings which face the street the third one from the top is the truck queue elevation of the building and then the bottom elevation drawing shown shows all the tailboard tailboard loading docks and that's in the rear of the building so none of that is visible from the street and then another comment that we had was with the HVAC equipment on the building so the combination of the powerit roof and okay great this illustration shows it and the sight line from the street no equipment would be visible on top of the building I believe that I believe that was part of the CME uh review so we wanted to make sure we cover that as well anything else you want to add Mr kmari I'm sorry anything else you want to add no no that's pretty Mr km available for questions thank you oh c yes I follow question in terms in terms of the um HVAC would you be willing to provide us where the equipment would be located on the roof plan because I know the elevation shows us and the arrow is pointing to the center we just want to make sure it's y sure thank you certainly we'd make a condition of the approval that there will be no HVAC equipment that would be visible from the street thank you I have a quick question any thought given to uh solar panels on the uh roof of the warehouse well I'm sitting next to Mr solar here um but um so certainly our construction would have the structural capacity um built within it to do the rooftop Soler um the um limitations of solar are you know um significant in terms of how much we're allowed to produce and turn back to the grid but it is certainly something that would be beneficial so you know when we would get a a future tenant certainly the the solar would be a viable thing that gets offered but you really can't size the solar array until you know who the occupant is because right now you can't really there's not capacity within the grid structure to return more than a significant amount out but so so we we endorsed that for this project um uh especially in light of we have the EV charger so so and and I should point out um that the the hund the 100% of the building would be LED lighting as well so that's a kind of a standard for us now too but uh so so although you know we we uh don't have it shown here because we wouldn't know the size of the raid that would be but certainly certainly would be meable for it not anything I would require but it would be something that would be appreciated if it could be possibly implemented in the future that's all thank you I have a question thank you Mr chairman um will there be any access to the roof will they have have to be on the roof yeah so there's a roof hatch inside the building for roof access from inside okay yeah we find that that is a safe er um way to do it it's inside and you can actually have like a rest area um and it's secure from the elements so that you don't have to worry about it being outside thank you okay um I don't see the ramp on on this um on this drawing is it so it is AD accessible the building and it's so the um entrance is at grade you can see that you have the illustration of I see the incline but gone just a little too far let see can you zoom into that so it would be adjacent to the handicap parking let me just zoom out one second just going to zoom out one second so the handicap ramp would be right here yeah and that's adjacent to the office area exactly so the spaces that are are the ada8 spaces are the closest to the ramp even though they're not the closest to the entrance it's that those spaces that are closer to the entrance are at a different elevation so the Ada spaces you see are at the base of the ramp and the closest spaces to the front entrance any other questions okay Mr Smith you can call your next witness okay uh Mr chairman our last witness is uh our professional planner Christine cfone I'd ask that she be call and sworns so you can give testimony you SAR to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the TR yes State your full name what your last name please it's Christine with a c h r i s t i n e cfone c f o n e business address is 125 Half Mile Road Sweet 200 Redbank New Jersey 07701 go ahead testifying this evening as a licensed professional planner I have been qualified here in Monroe before both your planning and zoning boards as well as about 400 or so other planning and zoning boards throughout the state I've been practicing for 28 years now my licenses are current and valid I teach I don't even have to ask her the questions uh Miss cfone uh You' studied this product this project I'm sure intensely uh your purpose tonight is to provide the board with the justification under the municipal land use law to Grant the bulk variances we're not interested in a use for variance tonight were permitted use but the V bul variances that are requested and also if you can some justification for the waivers of course yes so um as Mr Smith indicated we are a completely conforming use and what that means and I know chair you asked earlier you know tell us what the HD Highway development district is all about what does that mean so what that means is that that Highway development District I would say is probably one of the more permissive zoning districts in Monroe and that there are a number of uses that are permitted there intensive commercial uses they list out 13 permitted uses ranging from businesses and professional offices to Regional shopping centers automobile shell rooms of course H wholesale distributive and storage establishments fully enclosed establishments for the sale and repair of machinery and it lists out additional conditional uses such as funeral homes public transportation car washes hospitals shopping centers and the description in the master plan reads the highway development district is in the southern region of the township along New Jersey State Route 33 the district promotes a diverse mix of commercial and light industrial uses that have a regional market for goods and services reaching Beyond Monroe's boundaries so that's the state district so certainly the intent um of this district is to be a permissive commercial area for the benefit of the Court repor can you just slow down a little bit sure yes um so that's the stated purpose and intent of the zoning district and I think if you look at the applicants proposal we're very much aligned with that the other thing that we're very much aligned with are the bulk criteria Mr Ali went through those extensively and they are outlined in your professionals review letter there is not one single bulk criteria that we are violative of and what what that is what that why that's important is because we are seeking some bulk variances which I'll get into but as far as the intensity of the application we meet the height you heard Mr Ali tell you that the floor area ratio so what is is the floor area ratio in the zone that's permitt permitted is 040 so 40% we're at 0.15 and what that means is that that is the total ratio of the proposed building square footage as it relates to the size of the property similarly we are well under the permissible coverages for this zoning District we're allowed a total impervious coverage of 60% we're at 28.9 we're allowed building coverage of 35% or at 16.5 so I just wanted to set the tone for my testimony and frame what the applicant is proposing against what is intended and envisioned for this zoning District because I think that that's important statutorily we are seeking a number of variances I believe there are 11 of them and they were identified by Mr Smith in his opening statements as well as Mr Ali but I can go through them again the first variant that we're seeking um if it's determined and I believe it is Miss ap's position that it is is for the minimum lot depth of 417 ft where your ordinance requires 500 ft I think it's important to take notice of the fact that the way lot depth is defined here in your code in Monroe and that's important because how you define mon lot depth here in Monroe may be different from another community so lot depth here is defined as the shortest horizontal distance between the street line and the nearest part of the rear lot line the greater greater Frontage on a corner lot shall be its depth so when you look at our depth along North disbro Hill Road we're of course far in excess of 500 ft but we do um we do have we have to seek that variances if if that's your interpretation now that's an existing condition so if the applicant were putting a birdhouse on this property they're coming here to get that relief that has nothing to do with the proposed development program and I think that that I'll I'll testify globally as to the statutory proofs I really just wanted to identify all the variances first or we'll be here forever if I go through approves for each individual variant um the second variant that we're asking for is for the six foot high sculpted undulating burm in the buffer area now we are providing a compliant buffer and in M ap's March 5th 2024 review of this she makes an affirmative statement that the board that she they have found the condition to keep the existing um vegetation as satisfactory so and what what that means in plain English is that we could comply and we could put that sculpted undulated burm in there but what we would have to do to do it is we'd have to take out a lot of trees to put that burm in there so it can be done we're not asking for Relief to have a smaller buffer we're just asking don't make us take the trees down because they're existing mature trees and they're actually providing the meeting the intent of the ordinance there so that's that's the relief that we're seeking there we're also asking for a retaining w in our buffer area that retaining wall is proposed um to the east along the western most driveway on North disbro Hill Road so it's in or the west of that driveway really right in that area so there is a retaining wall over there and there are some Wetlands over there um and we're looking to minimize our disturbance in there and that construction of that retaining wall assists Us in doing that so that is where we're seeking that relief I believe we're moving our cursor um to the screen where you can see we're seeking the relief of the retaining wall in that area um with respect to signage I believe that the board has the right and has the authority per your ordinance to Grant additional variance relief given the fact that we have additional Frontage here now in an abundance of caution I believe that we will of course seek the variance relief but my review of section 108-101 11 of your ordinance I'll read that section again if anyone wants to look at it it's section 108-110 do111 and how that reads in your ordinance is whenever a parcel is bordered by more than one street additional signage may be permitted by the municipal agency in accordance with the standards of this section for each Major Street upon which the parcel fronts so here we have um Frontage on Butcher Road and we have Frontage on North disbro Hill Road and we have sign significant Frontage over a th000 feet on North disbro Hill Road when you look at the fact that in the HD Zone you're required to have 300 feet of Frontage and we have over three times that on North disal Hill where we're asking to have the two signs together with the fact that your ordinance recognizes um legislatively that when you have multiple Street frontages it it is reasonable to ask for some additional signage there um so but we are again in an abundance of caution because I believe the way the ordinance reads it reads it the board May um permit additional signage so it doesn't say shall so it doesn't force you to it does give you that discretion so I think to be conservative we should seek the relief um the other variant the other thing I should point out on the the size of that freestanding sign that we're proposing is it's a 6X 24 squ foot sign so it's 6 by um 6 by4 24 square feet sign yes thank you um really not my strong suit is math so um and the ordinance allows for 50 square feet so I think as a team we Tred to be sensitive to what your ordinance allows and not overpower the area with the sign so again so we're clear it's a 6x4 24t sign and the ordinance would allow a 50t sign in that area um we are also seeking a variance for the signed location the ordinance requires um that no sign be located closer than 20 ft to any lot line where we're proposing a 5ft step back and again as we provided to you um in both pictures as well as testimony and if you've had an opportunity to visit the site you know that there's a lot of trees out there and we just felt that placing the sign back 5T um makes it visible given the existing vegetation along the roads um and again the sign in the buffer area would require some relief so that's the relief with respect to um the depth the buffer and the retaining walls and the signs we are also asking for relief for the number of parking spaces um you heard testimony um both from Mr Connelly as well as our traffic engineer and operationally it wouldn't be great business for them and they manage these type of centers they have millions of dollars of millions of square footage of w warehouse space under their management so certainly they're not going to want to build a new asset that they don't have adequate parking because that's going to cause a problem for them to get tenants right if they can't park it they're not going to be able to get this tenanted and that's not really ideal for you them or anybody so I I think and the the parking um is we use the it standards that's an industry standard guideline that's not something you know that's unique here to Monroe or that we use just for this application it's a well accepted way to determine you know an appropriate parking uh parking amount and this is what um our application team feels as though is an appropriate amount of parking and there's really um no need to build additional parking rate that just creates additional impervious service and disturbance and if it's not needed it's not needed so similarly with the parking stall size we are proposing 9 by8 where your ordinance requires 10 x 20 this is not an area where people are going to be coming shopping or we're going to have significant turnover like you would in a convenience store or um food store where you might want to have the wider parking spaces at least in in the more used a that's not that's not how this use is going to perform so in the vehic so in the vehicular parking area where the passenger vehicles would be parked we are proposing 9 by8 which we believe um is an efficient use of the parking the introduction of asphalt and will certainly be appropriate and well matched to this use um other variance relief that we require is to to the location of the parking stall that passenger parking field which is to the west of the existing building you can clearly clearly see it it is um with it is located in the um the buffer area so or the front yard area so your the ordinance restricts you from having parking within a front yard area and we do have um while it's out of the 60ft front yard it is technically in front of the building so I think that conservatively you are considering that to to be aail variants and then the other variant that we're seeking is for the parking in relation to the outer walls of the building we at our closest point um we have parking within uh 8 ft of the loading docks so that is our and that's that's essentially the variance relief that we're seeking um we do need the design waiver for the lighting and again that is to have less lighting than the ordinance requires we are not asking to exceed the lighting requirements so statutorily the board can grant the relief that we're seeking under two mechanisms and when I say statutorily that just means the burden of proof for bulk variances you can grant that relief under the 40 colon 55d um of the municipal Lage law as a C1 variance or a C2 and again this is not unique to Monroe right that's the New Jersey municipal Lage law statute and it applies to anybody seeking a bulk variant in the state of New Jersey in New Jersey the C1 criteria are very specific and they relate to um the shape topography or unique features of a property or the structures lawfully existing there on so we don't have any structures here on our property that are contributing to the relief but we certainly do have some encumbrances such as the flood Hazard area you see that big green swath of um of area of our site that's you know we confirmed and is confirmed in your planners review as being undeveloped given the constraints of that property so that forces us to shift all of our development to the Western portion of the site that this in my opinion together with the shape of this property is what I would consider a textbook C1 criteria a textbook C1 hardship because it relates to features on the property and where we can develop the property and it relates to the shape of the property so if if and I and I do teach Planning and Zoning courses and I would use this uh as an example of a C1 hardship because I think it applies in the absence of any hardship criteria though the board is still with it in its right to Grant variance relief if you feel that one or more of the purposes of the municipal luse law would be Advanced by the grants of the variant relief now statutorily the applicant only has to advance one of those purposes and those purposes again not unique to Monroe Township I didn't make them up in my 20 years of practicing they come right out of the statute at 40 col 55 d-2 um I believe there are a number of them that are Advanced by this application criteria C talks about providing adequate light air and open space um here you have a situation where we are providing um less than half of the coverage required for the zone and I think that certainly we're providing adequate Green Space on the site criteria g talks about providing sufficient space in appropriate location for a variety of uses um in order to meet the needs of all New Jersey citizens so this is again zoned for this type of use it's an as ofri right development that violates none of the bulk criteria so I think criteria G is Advanced by the land use law I also think criteria M which talks about an efficient use of the lands targeted and aimed at avoiding urban sprawl and degradation of the environment so when you look at the fact that um the parking spaces for example of 9 by8 versus 10 x 20 that in my opinion is clearly a better zoning alternative for this type of use it really it lends to exactly what criteria M of the land use law is talking about of having an efficient layout that um that doesn't um result to urban sprawl and degradation of the environment so I think criteria m is applicable here as well and then I think criteria I which talks about promoting a desirable um visual environment I think that the architectural pattern or pallet that we provided provides um you know a muted um a muted view we have a filtered View at best right the ordinance doesn't require us to obliterate completely the view of the building but it is certainly an attractive building with a filtered view at best given the vegetation and the Vantage points so I think certainly criteria I of the land use law and again statutorily you could Grant C2 variances if only one of the purposes of the municipal L use law are Advanced I cited four of them criteria C criteria G criteria M and criteria I which I believed are Advanced by this application so and that's the positive criteria so when you hear planners talk about the positive criteria that's what they're talking about the purposes of the municipal land use law and regardless of which section of the statute the board is invoking whether you're going to Grant under the C1 hardship or C2 flexible C we have an obligation as an applicant to demonstrate the negative criteria and the negative criteria really has two prongs to it right it has the impact on the Zone plan and the impact on the public good and statutorily the land use law does not ask you to hold us or any other applicant to such a standard that there's no detriments that is not the test the test is that the benefits of the grand of the variance would outweigh any any detriment and that there's no substantial detriment on the Zone plan and the planning for the community or the public good um so one of the things I do I have an opportunity to do I do a lot of um development applications throughout the state of New Jersey so this is certainly not the first Warehouse facility that I've worked on so I'm very familiar with the September 2022 office of planning and advocacy um Warehouse sighting guidelines and they those that document would consider this a small scale fa fulfillment facility and in that document it has Warehouse sighting guidelines and there are a number of things in this application that in my opinion are consistent with those recommendations such as developing facilities in close proximity to Highway networks directing all lighting to the interior of the site locating Warehouse dock doors and other on-site areas with significant truck traffic and noise away from sensitive receptors and having a site design that provides adequate areas for on-site parking on-site queuing and truck and um that prevents trucks and other vehicles from queuing circling circling parking or idling on public streets so this application does all of that additionally Monroe last looked at their master plan in 2022 interestingly the master plan acknowledged the need for warehousing developments it specifically identified the covid-19 pandemic has intensified the increase in demand for warehousing developments as more consumers choose to shop online line rather than at Brick and Mortar stores I'm reading this is a direct quote from your master plan Monroe location in central New Jersey near the New Jersey Turnpike places it within a hot spot of Warehouse development in fact the area along the New Jersey Turnpike Corridor has the highest demand for final mile distribution facilities in the country as a result there is increasing pressure on Monroe to accommodate more warehousing facilities while warehousing facilities offer a chance for Monroe to increase and diversify its tax base and bring jobs to the township um and then it talks about having careful considerations on the Township's planning goals so certainly Monroe um Inc also in the land use element of the master plan it talks about encouraging infill development within the industrial park areas and to encourage um development where it's feasible and to create efficient use of the land so I do think that the application as proposed because this area is zoned as of right I think it matches and aligns perfect with your recently um reexamined or adopted master plan element which was done in 2022 which recognizes um the vital importance of the warehousing economy to the state as well as Monroe and I thought it was very telling that the HD Zone as it's described in that Master Plan recognizes um a a regional market Beyond monro's boundaries so this informs my decision this is how I come to my conclusions as a professional planner that the variance relief associated with this site um is not going to rise to a level of a substantial debt and that certainly the applicant meets its burden of proof with respect to the impact on the um Zone plan and the public good and that there will be no substantial detriment to the Zone plan here or the public good in Monroe Township but quite the contrary that this application is um well aligned with the stated goals articulated in your most recent master plan as well as the used program and the bulk program identified in the HD zone so I I have to be the problem here the problem is I think you missed one I think you missed one variance I think you missed one uh and if I'm wrong just correct I missed one or what I miss interrupting the witness so number uh driveway with oh I'm sorry I did miss that you're right all right if you if you wouldn't mind the comments that you made I'll just with regard to the justification is that appropriate Mr Smith I can't hear because there's so much talking so anything further we can continue 1:00 night okay let's proceed with this okay we're going to let everybody have their opportunity to talk okay um yeah M do you have any so I have that one variance it's the driveway with I apologize it was number 11 on my list I don't know how I missed it but I did the required driveway width at the curb line should be limited to 15 to 35 ft where we're proposing 65 to 80 ft um given the tractor trailers associated with this use that's an appropriate driveway withd for saf efficient circulation okay thank you for the short and sweet and one more short and sweet in the list of waivers uh there were three additional waivers that I want to mention and if whatever comment you want to make number one the use of hdp storm pipe where RCP is required number two long grading exceeding 20% more than 5 feet from a building and 2% minimum lawn slope and then lastly number three request to wave additional soil logs not required by the BMP manual which we did testify earlier so Shari Mr Ali testified to the last one about the BMP and Mr rimo it's question him do you intend to comply with the the D um best management practices and I believe he said he did and he said we're not asking for Less soil logs we're just asking for um I believe a different distribution of them so that was testified to so that was number three number two the grading Mr Ali had and I had an opportunity to discuss that and it's his intention to comply so we're going to work with your engineering team and comply with that and then the first one was the pipe so I mean I don't know really what to say on that I I I would think we could either try to comply or work with your professionals to provide I think I think it's I think it's a common commonly used substitute and if you would like any discussion from our engineer we're happy to provide and Mr chairman that that's something if this application got approved we can address at the time of uh shop drawings for construction terrific and and the other one was there one more no that was three that's it okay anything else Mr Miss cfone no nothing all right anything else Mr Conley yes go ahead given the lateness of the hour why don't we let our Township planner ask any questions oh you got it um sorry Mr chairman I don't have I think Miss Kon went through all the variances that uh We've noted in our report and I believe just want to put it on the record that there was one variance that was noted on the dumpster but I guess the applicant is willing to comply with that so that has been removed yes we will comply that's it thank you Mr chairman any questions from the board not it this time last comment just wanted to say thank you you I know that most of you are volunteers or professionals that are staying here very late so we thank you for hearing us all out we look for hearing forward to hearing from the residents but we we thank you for giving us the time tonight we appreciate that that concludes our case Mr chairman thank you what we're going to do is we're going to let two or three members of the public speak and then we're going to take a break and see when our professionals are available to reconvene and continue this application we're not able to finish it tonight because we do want to hear from everybody because what you all have to say is important to us so we don't want to cut anybody short so why don't we orderly um we'll take two or three try to keep it between three and five minutes if at all possible hold on please come on ma'am ma'am no no I don't want to speak I want is there do you have another map that shows 33 along with this come in the front please and face close so you can yeah fine okay where are you comfortable um ready can you hear me no all right ready you have to be sworn in oh you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so it'll be got yes I do okay state your name name spell your last name and then you're ready to go my full name is Claudette kimac my last name is k l i m c z a k I ready okay ready my name is clud kimac and I live in Monroe place literally across the street from the proposed Warehouse which was conveniently left off the map Federal business centers presented tonight I am here tonight to represent my community and neighboring communities in opposing all of the variances Federal business centers is asking for and to adamantly oppose the building of the warehouse and office space to begin with as you can see we are united in proposing in this proposal by the number of residents who came tonight to be clear let's see a show of hands as to everyone here that's opposed to this plan based on the show of hands you can see all of our con how we all have concerns about what this will do to our beautiful communities and we are here to stand to oppose this request the unity you see here tonight was all started by one person P publishing your public notice letter in our neighborhood WhatsApp app a few days ago asking if anyone else received your notice we were shocked to see the notice and immediately began preparing for this meeting we care so much about our communities that we came together over the past few days to express an organize our concerns in Just 4 days we have accomplished organizing the various speeches you'll hear tonight and the next meeting created a petition that now has 800 residents from Monroe signed we we created our signs our signs in the audience and encourage residents to show up at this meeting as we take our turn speaking toight tonight and the next meeting you will hear that many concerns we have about safety traffic pollution increased noise decrease property values and most importantly how our children feel about the impact to the quality of their lives we hope that you take what we say to heart and put yourselves in our places and ask yourself would you want a warehouse across the street from your house we are baffled to think how the planning board even accepted this proposal in what is a predominantly a quiet residential area and even consider the list of variances requested if an applicant has to ask for that many variances they are clearly trying to put an oversized project into a very small area we have to ask how is it that the township rejected variance requests from many of our Monroe residents for a slightly larger deck in their own backyard yet you are going to entertain a laundry list of exceptions for for a warehouse and office building gotcha um yet you're going to entertain a laundry list of exceptions for a warehouse and office building complex in a residential neighborhood it doesn't make sense we do understand the tax revenue benefits to the township and residents by adding businesses like Federal business centers however in this case we believe there are more appropriate areas in Monroe to build warehouses and offices like route like Route 33 Station Road and more remote non-residential areas that Monroe has plenty of rather than building in a neighborhood in addition according to loopnet.com there were Cur there are currently 33 warehouses up for lease in the area with 11 of them in Monroe and there are 69 Office Buildings available for lease in the surrounding area with approximately 20 of them in Monroe so why do we need another Warehouse or office building to be built to be left sitting idle if there is anything this town needs more of is public parks and Recreation areas we asked that the planning board members uh we asked the planning board members have you driven by the area and looked at the surroundings did you see how narrow Butcher Road is and the curves making it difficult to turn left out of Monroe place especially when cars come speeding around the curve we can only imagine what it would be like with large trucks and extra cars from the office building not to mention the backup at the Route 33 and Butcher Road light especially since tractor trailers take several minutes to get moving from a dead stop taking up much of the green light just getting through the intersection and most likely causing a backup of traffic down Butcher Road even worse is the risk of cars or truck drivers running through the yellow light and even potentially running lights red lights as their patients run out waiting to get through the light there are enough accidents already at the Route 33 Butcher Road Applegarth intersection and we certainly do not need more by the way there was an accident today at the corner of North dispro and butcher we cannot stress enough how important it is for this proposal to be denied not just the variance requests but the building of the warehouse and office building we hope the planning board members listen to all all our points that will be made here tonight and at the next meeting and to make the right decision for all Monroe Township residents especially for those who live in that area s and to Federal Business Center Representatives we know you are a very successful third generation family run business your website states that exceptional service is your passion and your greatest reward is your relationship with each of your customers also noting your business is really people people people so we ask you to listen to the concerns from all the people in this room tonight and make your greatest reward a relationship with the residents of Monroe by finding another Warehouse office friendly location in Monroe to build your complex maybe even consider donating the property to Mon Monroe for a much needed Park and recreational area we would be more than happy to add a sign recognizing your contribution to our town thank you to the mayor's representative the planning board members Federal Business Center for your time tonight thank thank you I appreciate it um it's about 5 of 10 we were going to adjourn at 10 but let let us take a short break so we can discuss when we might be able to come back weird because Genie sent me my genie sent me everything e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay uh thank you all for your patience due to the lateness of of the evening again it's really important we want everybody who wants to be heard to be heard and In fairness to you we got to adjourn this meeting tonight we're going to resume it without notice on September 26 2024 6:30 did say the date September 26 and that way I'll give um the applicant time to do additional research along with our our Township engineer regarding some of the traffic issues that were discussed tonight and uh and hopefully there'll be some additional answers for you but again I guarantee everybody will be heard that evening public forum before the start of the meeting today we have chairman we have come here you're not sir you're not on the record to speak so my request is allow at least few to speak and next meeting you allow others to speak then start the meeting that is the I I guarantee everyone will have an opportunity to be heard I guarantee it so so so I'm going to make a motion to adjourn the meeting I make a motion um is there is there a motion to adjourn the meeting I motion second chairman a question so Qui Please Mr chairman if I could ask a question do you want all we have the September 26 date noted do you want all of our professionals back yes we do so so they can answer any questions from thank you for the clarification and there's no further notice or publication required correct thank you give me a there been a second second okay all in favor of adjourning the meeting I I iOS the meeting's adjourned