##VIDEO ID:uENQtlSHu4o## you Al all right good evening everyone this is a regular meeting of the zoning Board of adjustment for August 7th 2024 notice has been given in accordance with the open public meetings act by posting a copy of the notice on the first floor of the municipal building and sending a copy to the Montclair times Star Ledger and Herald news this is a public Hearing in which any members of the public are welcome to attend the meeting agenda is available on the Montclair website as is a link to the Township's YouTube channel where the hearing can be viewed live or after the fact the hearing is also being televised on Channel 34 we'll do roll okay chair Harrison here Vice chair molo here Mr Coffield here Mr church here Miss Harris Mr Moore excused yeah is excused uh Mr Moore is excused Mr Simon here Mr Vieira here Miss Grant here miss tally here mruz Mr Cruz here and Mr Sullivan here okay first I'd like to welcome Mr Cruz to the board glad to have you we needed reinforcements and glad you're here um first we have the minutes of the July 17th meeting I have a couple of Corrections um on page four um line 139 um after the beginning line after it says height of each structure and put facing the street because it's only facing the street that they're 2 and 1 half stories and then on line 141 change egress on to in Ingress from Ward Street and then on page six um there are two places where it says Pleasant Avenue it should be pleasant way uh one is on line 218 and one is online 225 and then on page seven page uh line 226 uh put where it says the board respond said the new design responds to put many of the concerns and then on line 248 at the end you have resident capacity and I don't think that's correct I think maybe it's recreational capacity it was someone else on the board asked that I think it was the recreational capacity there is it resident capacity there recreational and then on line 258 it should be pleasant way not Pleasant Avenue and that's all the changes I have does anyone else have any changes if not someone want to move the minutes with those changes I'll move the minutes with the changes second all in favor say I I any opposed any extensions and then we have the resolution for the property on Forest Street um in number one on page one we have the property sizes 342 acres and I know it isn't that big because it's a tiny lot not quite sure what the num should be but if you could change it to I don't know if it's that small that's 0.03 Acres but whatever it is it should be changed to uh anyone else with any changes to that resolution if not someone want to move the resolution with that change I'll move the resolution change second second all in favor say I I any opposed any extensions then we have the resolution for the zoner property on Lloyd Road um on page two number seven okay never mind just I don't have any changes to that resolution there's a typo number two at the bottom of second page engine report spell engineer have the write letters okay other than that change does anyone have any other changes to the resolution not someone want to move the resolution with that change second all in favor say I I I any opposed any extensions okay okay the first application is that of Marin Adam Weinstein for property located at 41 Prospect Avenue this is an application for variance for proposed carport and twostory Edition the property is in the RO Mountainside Zone district and is designated on the Township tax map says Bot 23 in Block 405 a variances requested from Monclair code section 347-3333 A and that with the proposed addition to dwelling will exceed the maximum permitted width um are taxes in order and is is a notice in order and our taxes paid all right I'm going to swear in the they are I'm going to swear in the board professionals this is for all of the hearings this evening uh miss casy m tally would you both raise your right hands do you swear to tell the truth in the matter pending before the board I do state your names and your position with the town I'm Janice tally a licensed professional planner and I'm the director of planning for Monclair okay okay would both of you raise your right hands do you swear to tell the truth in the matter pending before the board State your names and addresses please Logan laale I'm the architect for the application um my address is 40 Leslie Street East Orange New Jersey 07017 Adam Weinstein my address is 41 Prospect Avenue in Monclair New Jersey Mr Lal you're a registered architect in the state of New Jersey correct and your license is a good standing correct okay tell us what you're doing uh so the owners wanted to build a garage and carport for their house which has neither at the at the currently uh they wanted to add a balcony to their main bedroom and um a dormer uh to the second floor on the both the front and the back of the house uh so they can renovate their attic um we looked at historically where the carriage house used to be on the property which was far to the back uh and realized pretty quickly that that was not going to work uh for the clients uh they wanted to build a two-story garage so that the second floor could be act as a family room or game room um and they are very interested in maintaining the historical nature of the house and uh preserving as many of the existing site trees as they can particularly The Cedars that are on the side of the house where the new driveway is going uh we feel that the garage is is in keeping with the president uh in the neighborhood um as well as the carport and the we talked about possibly putting the garage as an accessory building farther away from the house um but felt that the limits uh to the size of the accessory building would be prohibitive and would prevent us from putting the family room uh with adjacency to the house so we located it within 4 feet of the house so that it could act uh and be reviewed as an addition to the house uh and not an accessory structure um and so therefore the the variance that we're seeking is for the overall width of the house which is um exceeds the allowable uh which is 92 92 and change feet uh by 14t in the front of the house and 19 ft at the rear um at the Historical preservation commission meeting they talked about um matching the house style and finish um which we intend to do that's very important to the owners uh there are a lot of historical features that are still in place in the house that we want to uh mimic or maintain uh so Windows fenestration exterior lighting railings um the design the finish the wind uh basically as much as possible we're trying to make it look like it was part part of the Historical house and um not change the overall feel of of the house um like I said the trees uh are very important to the owners they're um there's a Big Cedar in particular that's sort of at the front of the house um that the driveway is designed to avoid so that hopefully we can keep those um and preserve them um we did hear from some of the neighbors who were concerned about drainage and rainwater uh we're meeting and exceeding the town requirements for drainage um it was important to the owners also that we you know respect the neighbors and the issues with drainage that have happened um in recent years due to development and just increased rain flow so um the Civil drawings show some pretty intensive rainwater capture uh measures that we're putting in um which as I said meet the town requirements for added impervious surface should I go through the had it been so so this is the existing house uh on the property with the existing driveway Prospect uh is here and to the west and the city is to the east downhill um the existing house has a wraparound porch that we want to meet with the carport here and then the new driveway will come down on the side of the house um zoom in here uh avoiding the trees that are here on the side of the house um and uh leading to the new garage which is a a two-story garage the foundation is because of the terrain of the of the slope um the second floor of the garage meets the first floor porch here so there's a a small little connecting bridge between the two uh that um allow the the porch up here and the deck outside the Second Story here to connect and then flow down into the the patio down here um the so looking at it from the roof plan the the scope of work is the car the carport here the garage over here and they want to put uh new dormers on both sides of the attic to finish off the attic uh as a as a playroom type space uh and then there's another set of stairs that lead down to the patio on the on the ground level the the cport obviously is a is a a convenient place for uh the owners to park and unload groceries um walk into the house and then if they want or need to they're going to they can drive down here to the garage uh there's on the Second Story here is the family room or game room and here's the connecting deck between the two uh the existing and the new with another little staircase that goes down to the patio um on the master the main bedroom on the second floor they want to put a a small balcony that's like a a tea balcony um and this is the third floor or rather second floor with the attic space uh which is currently used for utilities and storage and they want to finish it off and add a dormer on both sides that mimic the uh existing Dormers and the existing style of the house to allow that space to be utilized as a family room uh this is the existing facade of the house this is the front uh here's the entry here's the porch um right here is the where the new Dormers would go this is the rear of the house and this is the um patio that uh we're meeting with the garage so the proposed here's the front with the added Dormer here is the carport uh it's difficult to see but this dash line here uh denotes the garage as seen sort of behind from the front and then from the back this is the this is the back of the the new edition uh and these are the side this is where the family room is the staircase down to the patio uh the little Bridge connecting the two um with a a little kissing gate between the two and um this is how the front of the the addition would look and um in your set you can see some pictures of the existing house with a lot of the historical details that we would like to um either maintain or mimic uh for instance these these kind of hanging lights on the porch they would like to do something similar in the carport uh the windows are historic these are the original Windows of the house with the the leaded uh muttons and obviously we're not going to put leaded Windows back in but something to as closely possible um replicate this um this style and both finish and shape and size and proportion um that's really important to the owners as well um these are the Civil drawings so here you can see the um the rainwater mitigation measures uh this is the driveway here there's a trench drain um both here and in front of the driveway as well as some um auxiliary drains that capture all the rainwater from the new hardscaping and the impervious surfaces and bring it back down to these their four very large um catchment basins they're 3 ft in diameter and 40 ft in length uh buried in the ground here and then an outlet structure uh that will slowly dissipate the water um I know this is not really a huge part of the purview of the board but I I wanted to address those comments from the neighbors and and show that we're trying to um be as considerate as we can that's it Mr M do you have any questions thank you Mr chairman and uh thank you Mr laal for your uh introduction I have a few questions for you and um maybe Mr uh Weinstein you might want to chime in on a couple of these as well sure so um and they're not in any particular order so I may swing around a few times so first of all uh a lot of the questions I have are related to design features and sort of what's the intent um that you're that you're trying that you're reaching for so first of all in terms of the car port why why is the car port an important feature to what is being proposed design wise or function wise well you can speak to both but but particularly I mean because there is no carport that currently exists and since you're you're you're proposing to build a garage um it's sort of unusual that both a carport and a garage are being proposed so that's why I'm really sort of asking the question in terms of necessity yeah the um the carport was uh a request from Mara because she often Parks uh this is one of the owners just speaking yeah sorry Mar's the other owner uh I'm going to go back my wife so with the placement of the garage if we wanted to um you know bring it even closer to the house so that it would offer you know a way for the owners to get into the house covered and dry if they came home with groceries there was no way that we were going to get that as close to the house or attached to the house either on the side because of setbacks uh or because of the trees that they wanted to save and we didn't want to build something that was U imposing from the street so much so from the beginning the goal was to keep the garage towards the back of the house but that does mean it's a it's a pretty decent Trek to get from the from the garage where you park with all your bags of groceries into the house so um just based on what I I've seen of how they use the house currently with the driveway as it is they often Park you know on the sides here or in front of the house uh in order to get stuff like groceries in and the carport felt like a natural addition both aesthetically it felt that was something that Mara really liked about some of the other houses in the neighborhood um but also functionally it makes a a really easy place for them to park and then walk up the the stairs onto the covered porch and right into the house okay so it's it's uh primarily designed for loading unloading um it's not necessarily designed for permanent car storage no I think part of what's being proposed is to eliminate the necessity of the vehicles having to be parked in front of the house all the time is that part of what's I think they would like that yeah okay just all right um then uh as far as the as far as the garage is concern so you you have a two-level garage here so you have um a slope U so that you're putting the vehicles on the lower level and you're have a um so we'll just call it recreational space on the upper level um had there been consideration of doing it in reverse the family room on the lower level so that the instead instead of having to to slope the vehicles down you just kept them on an even Keel no um mainly just because trying to uh design something where cars could drive up into a structure on top of a family room felt um like that would be a lot of structure a lot of you know intensive and costly building to get the cars up High um and it just seemed easier to keep them on grade uh drive them into the garage and then put everything else on top of that I don't know if that answers the question no I just wanted to know if they were you know if you were considered Alternatives we didn't we didn't really consider that that option no yeah I mean based on uh the presentation you know here it looks like it's a pretty steep drop uh to put the vehicles under yeah into the garage the the the lot is quite big it does but it does slope down and Prospect uh from uh from Prospect down it slopes you can you know they have a nice view of the city um because of that slope but it's a it's a decent descent okay and then you you talked about um you talked about uh uh mitigation of water and uh so in the yard behind the garage it continues to slope is that what we're talking about yes it's a I don't if I pictures of it but you can if we look at the Civil drawings so each of these lines represents I believe two feet uh you can and the the closeness of the lines uh denotes steepness of slope right so um you can see even just from this they haven't tooed the the whole thing here but the you can see that the slope continues pretty I mean pretty evenly it's not like super duper steep but it does go down to the end of the lot the back of the lot with enough slope so that rainwater does roll downhill go down to the uh the lower Street the street below and you mentioned that uh there one at least one of the neighbors had expressed some concern about the water runoff and making sure that their property was not being impacted by that yeah and it's it's difficult I mean we can't really guarantee that that we can prevent all water from going downhill I mean we've all seen recent storms that have gotten worse and worse and worse um but this is a this is a substantial mitigation I mean this they have to dig up their entire backyard here um and these are massive you know huge tubes four of them that are 40 ft long each uh along with this Outlet structure here that will that will slow the dissipation of the water it's it's not really possible to just prevent it I mean um Adam and I were talking about previously a conversation that he had with one of his downhill neighbors where they have a big retaining wall in place and water will still enough water and enough pressure and it'll still get through or around are over it so these are pretty these are major measures that they're taking I I can't guarantee that the downhill neighbors will never see a drop of rain on their property but I think um I think this is a major Improvement to what they have now so you you feel as though um uh you and the owners have made a good faith effort to try to mitigate the problem as much as you reasonably count yeah absolutely yeah um then I guess uh the question for Mr uh Mr Weinstein is relative to the to the balcony that you want to build the small balcony so that'll be overlooking the backyard is that correct uh yes sir okay so um speak about that in terms of uh whether or not that'll have any impact on the neighbors that in any way would that violate any of their privacy um I mean I I don't see how um so I have pretty good in terms of violating their privacy like I'd be able to see something that I don't you know now see um right now we have like um bay windows in that room so I can you know see out of you know so I have that view currently this would just create a little uh porch you know on top of the deck of the the back porch which has a you know roof line um so I I don't think it would change my view in that respect also my neighbors all my have tree tree line so I don't you know that's mostly what I I see okay so you don't see it as as being problematic um yeah I don't think it would change what I see all right um then the last question I have is you you wanted to to put a um yeah an outdoor shower area what what's the intent that was my suggestion actually they have two boys and uh three boys sorry three boys and more boys uh it's it's a handy way if they're playing outside and dirty to hose them down and clean them off um one of them actually one of the neighbors did bring that up and was concerned about the Privacy nature I guess and it's not really a shower meant for like we would take a shower during the day it's it's more for just a a recreational rinse off kind of shower okay I noticed I noticed uh in terms of looking at sort of the aerial view of the neighborhood that I think your neighbor to the left and to the right both of them have um uh built-in pools and I didn't see one on on your property and I didn't know if this was a signal that this is something that you're planning on doing eventually or uh no we we don't don't have current plans for for a pool only my neighbor it depends which way you face but um you know facing the street it would be on the left he's got a pool the one on the the right doesn't um yeah we I mean we've talked about it but uh we we like the yard okay and um and I'm not sure where where to put it all right all right thank you Mr chairman Mr corfield thank you um can you tell me what the um without the garage with the building width percentage is the frontage yeah the uh 106 percentage I think you know did that too was the that's with the garage I think okay I just want to see I want to see if it has um what the difference is uh you said the um without the garage currently is 87 ft uh with the porch uh and the proposed is 106 ft at the front where the cport goes to and 111 in the rear at the garage okay and I mean obious that those aren't translated into percentages in that sense but I mean I guess 82% is what would be with the garage I guess so how how what's the width of the garage 20 yes okay so it's got to be yeah okay so it's got to be somewhere in the 70s I think I think in that in the zoning report actually it said let's see uh so the allowable is 65% of the width of the lot Frontage and the proposed addition increases the building width to 82% of the lot frage okay in in that plan in that uh the plannner report there's a planning considerations there that I mean I thought you you somewhat addressed uh um number two of that right if you move the building back four feet it's not considered okay which I I it's kind of a weird you know it's there anyway even if it's a foot back or not right can you speak to that at all yeah I I think I understand the the idea is that if it's if you're building a structure that's close enough to the house they will consider it an addition if you're building it more than 4 feet they will consider an accessory structure which has different requirements and it's much the allowable size is a lot smaller a lot smaller okay so for instance I think the allowable height is 15 ft for accessory structur which we looked at originally but doesn't allow much of a family room on top if if the cedar tree does die would the carport with its roof hide the garage height of the garage from looking at the street the cedar the current trees are pretty close to the existing house so even even in place uh alive now they're not going to block completely block the the garage to the rear but so if the if the trees all died it wouldn't change the view from the street too too much and it would the trees are basically all in a line so it's not like they're a bunch of trees that you know provide a screen gotcha they're just kind of running along the side of the house gotcha um um Janice a question to you like I mean we're talking about adus in this world right like we're and there's no description about adus in that situation but this is kind of an example of maybe a possible Adu down the line no like it it it could be but there's no cooking facilities proposed correct right so it's it that's the big difference that's the big that's a difference that you'd have to have right it's not a separate it's not a a dwelling unit because there's no cooking facilities Etc so so um I don't really think that that that's not part of of this I just don't know too much about the law okay all right thank you thank you Mr Simon John actually covered a few other things well one question is um what's the distance from the proposed garage to the property line on that side so uh I don't have the distance called out here but the the setback this this dark line here is the property line and this lighter line here is the setback is the required setback line and the garage is uh I think it's about 6 ft from that so 6t from the line so it's about 20 24 ft from the property line and then what's do you know what how the distance from the closest structure on your neighbor's side from the property line I don't know the distance off hand but if you look at the neighbors pretty far yeah that's such a relative term would you say it's the same 24 50 ft okay all right this is the subject house here so the proposed structure would be here and their adjacent structure is here I no that's not a distance but um um and Mr Simon if you look on page two of the planning report that aerial photograph will kind shows where the property line is in proximity to the neighbor's house so that'll give you an idea okay and that would be 33 the 33 side uh 33 Prospect versus 43 is it 33 or 37 it's um uh that would be 30 yes it's 333 okay yep and I was trying to do some quick calculations but so from 92 to 111 is about 18 ft the proposed garage is 29 and I guess that basically cut it in half if you were to try to cuz the only reason you're only here for the width portion so if the garage was narrower you wouldn't need the variance but that would reduce it potentially to a single car maybe a car and a half is that insufficient for your needs I'll let Adam speak to that I know they have two cars now so but if you plan on using a carport and a garage would a one and a half garage be suitable so you wouldn't even need to be here I think they want to have the same uh you know ability to park their cars in a garage and covered out of the snow as um a lot of the neighbors do and ideally not Park their car in the carport where it's kind of a you know it's still in the front of the house it's kind of an isore they still have you know right now they Park their cars in the in the front driveway cuz they don't have any other place to put them so ideally they would have a place to put both cars storm but again as a matter of not having to come before the board I think they would rather SE Vari yeah all right thank you and this is just I know this doesn't really show uh what you were trying to get at but the if you if you this is the side of the house where the addition would be you can see the size of the trees on this side uh if you the neighbors have similar trees on their side as well so there's a pretty substantial gap between the two thank you Mr Vieira thank you Mr chairman um some of my questions were already answered uh the other questions that I had was regarding the HPC report so there was a comment about um larger columns is that because why structurally I think they felt yeah structurally that it was not sufficient to hold up the size of the cardboard roof um and you know we're going to build it structurally substantial enough obviously but I think in addition to that they were U they wanted to see some of the proportions kind of mimicked from the house as well which we would obviously respect and wanted uh do as well yeah so you will also comply with that comment about the the pitch of the roof that was the second comment on that the pitch of the roof is is hard because the the pitch of the existing house roof is pretty steep so if they increase this pitch of the of the garage roof it will make the structure much bigger which in addition to making it more visible from the street um and more you know a bigger building for the neighbors to look at uh it also blocks a lot of their porch view of the city uh and potentially the view of their from their second floor as well and in your opinion that will also impact the the setback distance or the the the width of the of the building the roof pitch yeah um not really I think they were looking for some deeper overhangs potentially because the existing house has some has a de EES but it's not really I don't believe it's the size of the the edge of the roof that denotes the edge of the structure I think it's the structure itself so it's the wall the wall so which is not to say that we're going to build 20ft Eaves either but we would certainly take into account their their uh suggestions for following along with the proportions of the existing house okay um and the last comment that I had was around storm water management so that new the proposed uh Basin is uh designed to collect um storm water of the roof and also the garage and the driveway including existing and proposed uh conditions it it won't for instance um one of the neighbors had the question well will the rainwater mitigation uh measures let me get back to the survey here so I the neighbor the one of the neighbors raised the question of what about the water that's on the north side of the house and and to that we can only say right now um this mitigation system is mostly for the new hardscaping down on on the south side of the of the lot um it would be too cost prohibitive to try to do the whole site I think I think the owners would probably scrap the project if they were required to do that and it would also just it would be it would completely tear up their backyard um I think this is this is a lot uh of work to address the issue um we could certainly look at en Charing that if it was an issue you know if it was a a board requirement um all I can say is that this you know this meets the requirements that the town has in place um if cost wasn't an issue I bet you that the owners would probably try to do more but it is what it is and it's it's going to be cost this is probably a big chunk of the cost of the project and of itself thank you m Grant do you have any questions I wanted to know the height of the trees do you know that are being demoed oh that are being taken out mhm well ideally we're going to save as many as we can the very biggest are here uh at the front closer to the front of the house there's one massive Cedar one that from the beginning they have always said that's we got to keep that one um so it's it's difficult to see from this but here and here are that's where that that really big tree is and I don't know the the exact height but it's it's way way taller than the house okay thinkk and and so when I I'm looking at um the Civil drawings there's a lot of work as far as site work um there's the um that's a a large area for the driveway and then the Basin um the tree removal um so would you have one contractor or you you plan on having like a lot of different subcontractors to do kind of like this um the drainage work or is it like one GC and then they're going to coordinate everything or you may have um hired different Subs separately for all this different scope I don't I don't want a GC the you don't want a GC the job no it it would be one GC one GC yeah um I I brought that up just for um sequence of construction um if you have if you're coordinating multiple um Subs with um the equipment that's needed for all of this that's just a consideration for um parking on the street the neighbors and sometimes each um contractor may have a hold up and then they would then let's say the um the site work um the Basin there's some type of hold up and it may um May the work may have to extend out and uh so that sequencing is important to make sure that um there's not like a lot of equipment everywhere and then it's becomes um a complaint from a neighbor so I just I board it up for that reason cuz there is a lot of scope here there's the basine the Dormers the um the tree removal and all of those would be a different contractor or different special that is a concern um you know we would the contract I can't speak for the contractor but U I would assume that the contractor would follow a pretty normal sequence of construction do the site work first before getting into the other trades so it's not going to be like the painter and the sheetrock guy are trying to park on the street while the site work guys are pulling out it's going to be most of the site work done first and then the the rest of the work yeah that's what I was thinking the site work first um that was it Mr Cruz do you have any questions um yes uh would you be able to elaborate at all at some of the the green infrastructure components of the storm water management um is that detention Bas in infiltrating infiltrated yeah is the underground detention Basin providing infiltration or is it just storing the water uh it's to catch and then slowly dissipate so the the soil condition of the lot is not that permeable so in order to try to there's no there's no way to catch and store the water but uh this is the best option that the engineers felt to hold it while it slowly is released and there are two measures for that the the C these the large catchment tubes and then this Outlet structure here and then the scour hole down here is sort of a final um you wouldn't happen to know if like bio swes or a rain Garden were considered as part of the storm water management um I'm fairly confident that the engineers did not consider that okay thank you Mr church do you have any questions uh no question I have a number of questions um the width of the garage you were asked but I'm want to get that narrowed down how wide is the garage part of the garage the the garage like the the garage part yes uh down here is 29 ft okay and I guess um and part of that is because it's behind the house and obviously the cars can't make that sharp maneuver but I you know we've done a number of garages and you know we've and usually we're dealing with a sidey guard variant and trying to shrink it and that's but the issue is the same whether we're talking about building width or side yard setback I guess you know we've normally been you know not letting them exceed 20 ft wide um and that's you know still 10 ft per car which is you know wider than a standard parking space and to go let me know where I'm going so to help you you know respond um I guess you know you're proposing the garage to be 5T 5 and 1/2 ft wider than the carport and it would seem you could shrink it by and so it it's corresponds to the the Varian are seeking for the carport I'm going to return to the carport but I'm not understanding the justification for that extra width contributing to the building width and if you could explain that I think the overall building width could be reduced a bit I think we would still if we cited it where it is now it would still be over it would still be over the proportion of the width proportion allowable but you still need a variance I right you know I'm not pushing you to a onecar garage but it's the extent of the variance is um not IM immediately understanding why it this needs to be a greater variance than the carport um primarily due to the fact that the the trees that are on the side of the the building here as many of as possible we wanted to save so the driveway was pushed away um and like you said the turning radius to get out of that you know becomes difficult to manage if unless you get rid of these trees uh um Additionally the the porch is a a big feature for the family it's got a really nice view of the yard it's got a really nice view of the city uh they go They're they've spent a lot of time in the backyard and if we push the garage farther in Not only would we not be able to get into it very easily U but it would block a lot of that enjoyability of the the views well I'm I'm not I mean I'll leave it to you I to shoving it further to the north I'm I'm trying to reduce its size and I'm trying to okay so let's start off with what tree are you talking about because on the engineering plans it seems all those trees that are along the north side of the the either in the driveway obviously are being removed but also along the um between the driveway and the house and patio are being removed so which tree are you talking about that they're trying to save this one which is the the biggest one okay but can you go to the engineering plans here I mean he seems to have exes through all those trees yeah he did and we I've spoken with him about it he's not willing to say that um well obviously the ones that are in the driveway we have to take out but the um he wanted us to confirm with an arborist how to best preserve those trees okay but um um not seeing why what I'm saying is changing the width of the driveway I mean the the driveway you're you're restricted I'm going to say whether you view it by the deck the house um you know so you can't you have the portion you have the two cars shown on your drawings you don't have to go back to that but um over somewhat to because they're not pulling in behind where the deck is um I understand that but I'm you're you're still seem to be based on you know a what I will call a normal 20ft wide garage that you have room to reduce the size of the garage keep the driveway exactly as you're showing it and not have the building with the exceeded to the extent that you're showing it so is is is the suggestion potentially that this line of the carport could be met with the the line of the garage as well so that the I think you might need a little more than that but yes um you know that that you you know you would still have room to park two cars I'm not changing the drive I think it's dubious you're going to save that tree but that's between you and the arborist to Mr Petri um but um um you know you're you're showing a greater width than you need to I I think I'll let Adam respond too but I think I would be fine with reducing the size of the garage to meet the edge of the carport provided we could you know manage to get the cars in and out okay can I ask a question like having the carport makes you push it closer to the house that's going to take kill all those Cedars technically what happens you get rid of the carport move it away from those and make a little better driveway sorry Bill we did talk about that the carport was a later addition so originally we didn't have it um I think the the issue Still Remains how do you get your groceries into the house without having to you know you y um I could certainly talk to the owners about getting rid of the carport I think it's it's pretty highly desired but so is saving that tree um so I I'll certainly discuss that with them and contining on the carport um I understand in terms of where that side entrance to the house those stairs are but does that require that the carport be in front of the house rather than lining up with the house I know you don't need a front yard but still it's it's sticking out I guess is Right which makes the building width more apparent building width variant um the the carport was was located where it was um primarily because of these stairs here which lead up onto the porch and around into the the back of the house where it's easy access to the kitchen um if if they wanted to build stairs from a carport somewhere in the middle of the house I guess they could but these stairs are already there uh it's it's pretty convenient for them now I I I understand you want to use those stairs that's why I was assuming that that was the purpose um um if how does I'm trying to figure out your your drawing um how does the carport relate to where those stairs are it it partially covers them and extends out uh this way so it's so if this is the front uh entryway the and this is the those steps onto the porch it's difficult to see but this little small dash line here is the bottom of those steps so the carport goes in front of and over those steps and and aligns with the front of the existing entry Portico okay but I guess my question and you know you're lining up with the stoop but the if you moved it back up I'm trying to see there no real dimensions on what I'm talking about so I I will say that originally I had the carport pulled back and Mara said what are you doing you idiot I can't can't get into the front of the house that way so she wanted it that's you but I'm letting you cover those stairs which I understand is part of the purpose so you'd only be going back that far but you're going several feet in front of those stairs and that's what I'm trying to understand why you're doing that it's because of the tree if we go any further back already it's pretty close to the tree as you mentioned it's as I noted before Mr Petrie's plan show you he shows removing the tree right and I understand they want to keep the tree but I guess um what how deep wide I'm not quite sure what dimension is the carport you know the the the East West Dimension well this you mean um this Dimension here is 12T so big enough to cover a car where you get out not cover the car entirely cover the car entirely uh and pulled forward enough so that we hopefully stay away from this heater and when are you bringing in the arborist to determine what trees can be saved um we haven't scheduled one yet but we will okay and if we did a condition that said if it's determined that that tree needs to be removed you'd move it back so it would not go any further than covering the stairs would that be acceptable over here not covering the St if if let me if let me correct me if I'm I'm misinterpreting if preserving the tree um Let Me If You Can preserve the tree where it is you can build the carport where it is if it's determined there's no way the tree Will Survive based on the driveway the carport then you would move the carport back so it is still covering the front those stairs on the side you know going to the side but it wouldn't cover several feet in front of there so you still be able to walk from the carport to the stairs not in the rain snow whatever and if we pull it yes if we pulled it back until the maybe 4T was covered in front of the stairs to about here that brings it much farther back away from the front of the house and less obtrusive from the street but obviously would mean losing the tree yeah be know where to C so would you be okay with that condition we didn't really want to change the the tree line but no no I'm say if the arborist says you can save the tree you're building the carport where it is if he says there's no way that the tree can be saved I'm not sure what we would do cuz we really wanted to you preserve that I understand so and and if the arborer says if you do X Y and Z you can preserve it fine but he may say just too much damage to the root system it's you know you're creating a risk of it toppling on the house or on your car or on the carport whatever um yeah we me and my wife have not discussed ultimately which one would be more important the carport or or the tree that's why we designed either you're getting theboard it's just its location I guess the question is if if there's no way to save the tree if the arbor says you can't save the tree you know regardless of what we're doing it's just no way would you guys be okay with pushing the cardboard back some and and potentially making it smaller is that part of what you're asking to or not really I'm I'm not shink I mean you can shink it if you want I'm just saying if the the reason you're giving for or having it in its location is so you can preserve the tree and I'm big on saving trees so I'm not objecting to that being a basis but I'm saying you know you're you're we have engineering plans that says in the engineer's opinion that tree is going to have to go um I understand you want to save it and and you know what I'm going to saying is that you'll retain an orist which is what you said you're doing any way and if he says yes the tree can be saved you build the carport will go where it is if not it's moved back you know roughly 4 feet so it's more in line with the front of the house but still covering the stair those side stairs that like a good idea to me to be in line with the house back towards the back of have still cover but you would have to take out the treat back so what he's saying is if the AR says there's no way to save that tree no matter what yeah but we'd have to make a decision about whether yeah if you want yeah you thing if you want to if the tree can be saved the carpt can go where it is if the tree can't be saved would you be willing to move the carp back I I have to make that decision with my wife um in term yeah I can't answer because I wouldn't make that decision without consulting her and making that you know jointly well this is this is more of a conditional thing so it's first plan a is what we have and that's the goal they're saying if plan a isn't feasible you can't save the tree however says there's just no way then would you consider back sure um the only thing that's not in that drawing is that there's stone slabs that actually go forward that um are not shown there and I think we line this up with those stone slabs right PS no the um the yeah do you have the photo of the front with the so it does kind of align with the front of the house but just towards the the front main entrance but in any event I guess we'd have to consider if we if if we would have to lose the tree no matter what I mean I think it it what may my what my understanding is when you when it comes to actually building this at some point you may be required to take that tree down for the construction and if that tree comes down then it has to be moved back yeah so I think this happens all the time when you when you start with construction and they're out there they say that tree we can't build it unless that tree comes down that's what might happen to you so if that happens my understanding is the board wants if the tree comes down then you have to move it back I get it that's fine and so he found the the picture so you can see that there are those stone slabs that that come out further it's it's not a it's part of the foundation of um there's like a one and a half floor that's right above that where the Dormer is and it's just part of the foundation of the house but it comes out I don't know how talking this here no the front door here yeah those and I thought that the carport when you we were looking at it it was kind of even with that it's even it's even with this part here okay so basically what they're saying is there would still be enough coverage for you to walk from the carport but they just would like to see it push back a little bit more okay does seem okay I thought you I heard 4 feet you know we extend 4 feet that's what I heard you say the okay I just have one more question which I just want to understand currently there's a stub of the driveway going back on the other side of the house um and I assume that was when there was a carriage house that was how people got back is are you is that staying in place or yeah I wasn't going to uh demolish it or um because there there's also a door to the side of the house so it's um it's been cut off to kind of the property yeah Bill are you talking about this part over here on the other the opposite side from where the yeah any other questions from members of the board are there any members of the audience who either have questions on the application any comments on the application anything you want to say about the application okay uh anything further either of you want to say before we discuss and vote on the application no okay we'll start with Mr mullik yeah Mr chairman I'm I'm generally in favor of the uh application with the modifications that you'll be proposing Mr corfield I'm not in favor um I I mean I I've never parked a car in a garage in in Monclair um and it's okay and I I get along so I'm not in favor thanks okay Mr Simon uh I'm undecided uh I'm again I think the the the the luxury of a wide garage is great but um not necessarily you know the uh the town's um responsibility to suck it up so I'm still on the side I'm waiting to hear from my colleagues okay Mr Vieira thank you Mr chairman I'm also partially in favor of the application I think I'm leaning more towards the smaller garage as opposed to 29 ft about 20 ft which is normally the standard and the the other condition about the the width of the cardboard thank you okay Miss Grant I'm in favor um the comment that I have is um just an extension on the comment I had before about the um the scope of work um there is a lot of scope there um there's a lot of um you didn't go over a staging area um you're you may have to remove a large tree and um I think the logistics of everything it it to me it feels like um a lot to not go over almost like stag in area and um like I said also the scope dictates the sequence um but even though it does it's there's still like um contingency for if this doesn't happen and that doesn't happen cuz there is a lot of scope that's that's the only common I have okay Mr Cruz because you're the eighth you're not going to get to vote but you do get to participate and give us your thoughts which we will appreciate um I would be curious to see what the arborist says as a result of that uh tree since um if I'm not mistaken if there isn't a condition and an approval uh you would have to be back before the board to with the new design does that sound about right I'm trying to avoid that since we're busy and well I'm sure they've had a fun evening I'm sure they don't want to have another one Mr Church uh I'm not in favor of the application okay um you know I think the you know there are a number of houses in the neighborhood that have the same circular driveway and um some with garages some without garages I um I think you know I'm going to say somewhat contradictory things in terms of I agree with Mr Coffield as you know I have a nice two-card detached garage which we have never once we parked a car in um um it's very useful for storage but um on the other hand you know the the ordinance well this is a pre-existing non-conforming situation the ordinance does require that uh provision be made for parking cars not in front of the house uh without doing this they cannot meet that you know the house does not meet that requirement of the ordinance maybe they will be atypical residents and use their garage you know as I'm thinking on my block I there aren't many of them who use their garage they all have them but um it's but I think you know given that that provision of the ordinance and we're providing an opportunity for them to park the cars not in front of the house which currently is really the only place they can park um you know I I would be in favor I you know do think as I said um that they haven't Justified the full width of the proposed garage and that the the garage should addition should result in the total width not exceeding 106 FT 1 in which is the width of the carport um that the um the prior to any construction the applicant shall retain an arborus to evaluate whether the tree that is immediately behind where the carport is proposed will be able to survive the proposed construction if it does the if the arborist concludes and the report of the arborist should shall be submitted to the planning department um if the arbitus concludes this tree can be saved that the carport can be constructed as shown on the plans but if the arborist um determines that there's no way the tree Will Survive and recommends its removal for whatever reason um that the carport be moved back to the extent that it will still cover the stairs leading to that side of the house um and I'm not going to give you a dimension I'll let you figure out exactly how that is but so someone will be able to walk from the carport up the stairs without going being exposed to precipitation whatever um and I think with those conditions the uh this will not result in a substantial impairment to the Zone plan and is eliminating one non-conformity by creating another non-conformity but clearly there's no um way they can do this and totally conform um and um it's not uh resulting in a substantial detriment to the public good any further discussion among board members members so the condition is that it's limited to 106 to carp 106t 1 in yes okay if it if not uh you want to call the role well let's make a motion oh so um hold on I'm sorry did you also was there also a condition about armers yes it was there so I'll move approval with the conditions as stated by the chair second could call the rooll just chair Harrison yes Vice chair Mulla yes Mr Coffield I'm going to pass right now Mr Church no Mr Simon yes Mr via yes Miss Grant yes Mr Coffield you're gonna vote I am no Mr Coffield no I'm sorry thank you all thank you I'll just add that having been on the board for a while I I really appreciate that you are all giving up your your week nights to be here it's a public service that I didn't really understand before I got into it and now I'm deely grateful for you being here so thank you okay the next application is that of Jay Turner and Alexandra leel this is for property at 274 Park Street this is an application for a variance to construct a one-story Edition at the rear of the dwelling the property is located The r2250 Zone district and is designated on the Township tax maps as Lot 12 and block 253 a variances requested from Mont cler code section 34751 to permit the side yard back of less than 6 ft from the north property line um are taxes paid and is the notice in order yes okay is the applicant here bad time restant okay would you raise your right hand do you swear to tell the truth in the matter pending before the board I do state your name and address please uh J 274 Park Street M New Jersey 0743 thank you why don't you explain to the board what your proposal is sure you can sit if you want you can stand you do cartwheels Whatever insired by the gymnast so um my house was built 112 years ago and I guess back in folks great so my house is built 112 years ago and I guess back then folks were okay being a little closer together so now my house um my property my house is perpendicular to the street but my property line goes back at an angle so the corner of my house is within the uh setback the allowable setback uh to the property line so I'm trying to um add on to my kitchen and so if I can't go straight back to add on to my kitchen because I'll get very close to my neighbors um well I'm well inside the setback and we'll get closer to the property line so what I propose to do is to go back 4T and then go over 3 ft and then go back an additional 8T so that I can um modernize my kitchen and have a eating area and also a back door to the house for some reason my house has no back door so that would give me a back door as well Mr MCO if you have any questions yes uh thank you Mr Mr Mr Turner um I guess you know I was trying to understand in terms of the The Proposal um why why in terms of the design did you not feel that you could slide the additional the addition over so that you would not have to deal with the with getting a variance in terms of the setback well um there was really no way to do it and end up with anything that was there was no way to do it and come out with a larger kitchen that we wanted uh and make it look um make it functional and aesthetically pleasing and not apply for a variance we we spent months and months and months doing every configuration we could come up with but our kitchen is very small um to the point that um we don't have a dishwasher or anything like we can't fit it in there so we're we were trying to add we were trying to add enough room to put modern appliances in there and have some counter space and um so we we couldn't figure out a way to do that and not not get a variance and and also have an eating area right now when you walk in the front door to my house the first thing you see is the table where I eat MH so I I'd like to like to not have that so I I mean I noticed that you were removing a portion of the driveway and recing it as a as a planting bed right well so the like I say my house currently has no back door I don't I don't really understand it but the only way in in my house is to the front door or there's a a basement door to go into the you know the U unfinished space but there's no door on the driveway side of the house so the idea is to have a back door into the house so if you pull up the driveway you can get out carry your Packaging right into the right into the kitchen of the house you know no yeah I guess I guess part of why I raised it was because I was wondering why with the extension you couldn't I mean the the portion of the driveway that you're removing to put the to put the the the planting bed why you couldn't move move the new addition over to cover that area I see that you have a looks like a a stairwell right to enter it through the back yes so you you wouldn't be losing that with that feature um if if you if you moved it over now so the um so there's a you you couldn't you couldn't really you wouldn't be moving the kitchen over you'd be moving the uh eating area over which goes behind the bathro bathroom Okay um it wouldn't the the kitchen is kind of there so in other words it it's here the bathrooms over here so if you pulled it over you wouldn't have a continuous room as the kitchen as it is as it is all we're doing is extending back 4 feet the existing kitchen that's all we're doing MH and then and then cutting over uh 3 ft and then going back so we have a an eating area so if wey to pull it over behind the the uh bathroom and if we had we would either have to eliminate the back entrance to the house or would would lose half our driveway okay so the the design the new design of the kitchen your cooking area you would be maintaining the cooking area essentially in the same location yes sir that's correct cooking and and Refrigeration I guess right yes sir correct okay yep so where currently you have um sort of a kitchen table in that same area you would now have that area um I guess an island or whatever that is uh and and and the new breakfast area right yes sir we' be keeping the additional the current kitchen area I can't afford to move all that somewhere else it would be too costly we're just extending it back 4T so that we have more room and we can add modern appliances I've been there 9 years I actually forgot dishw existed and wor so many dishs by hand um so that's that's what we're trying to accomplish there and put a a uh an island in and then like I say I currently don't have a a place to eat outside of I don't want my my dinner table to be at the front door so I'm trying to create a an area to eat back there okay and you're you're um the your cooking area uh vents out on onto the side side of your house is that correct um yes sir I guess that's correct all right and you have a neighbor on the other side of do you have a fence there is yes sir and how close is J ne's house to that to that fence so on the other side of the the fence is the neighbor's driveway and then out on the um other side of the driveway there's about I'd say 5 ft and then their house so maybe 15 ft okay so as far as you're concerned there's no issue as far as ventilation from you cooking uh into that would be encroaching upon your neighbor's property no sir and I don't think that would really change at all I mean we'd be putting a it would be better vented than it currently is because it's part of it we'd be putting a you know a vent Hood in and everything so it would be it would be better but it I it wouldn't I don't create I don't think it would create any kind of negative situation for my neighbors all right I don't have any other questions I just I would just want to comment and that is just noting from the um the uh TLA design report on March 25th the satisfaction of the negative criteria um that it makes reference to uh the proposed designing have no adverse effect on the adjoining properties the neighborhood or the city of summit I'm assuming that you are talking about the city of Monclair yes sir that's a typo okay thank you Mr ffield um you know like having uh how can I put this like having the architect here then I could ask him some questions but it's only a 9 in difference between the back line that comes in at 5T 17 17 ft right to getting it at six it's only a 9 in difference so I don't know why we couldn't start at that as the start line bring that line all the way down kept the kept the 6 ft clear in the back there you know even if we to move over 9 in I don't think it's going to cause that much damage in that direction to the driveway or the stairs in that sense well if if you look at the if you look at the the plan that shows the back of the the back of the house um I I would respectfully disagree with you I think that it I mean I'm I'm a I'm a huge fan of the um Integrity of the the beauty of the older homes in Montclair and I don't I think which drawing you talking about when this drawing right here when you see the back of the house yeah and you start seeing it it I think it starts to look very odd when you start continually pulling it over to the right and then I I either I my staircase would either be in the middle of the driveway or I would have to eliminate my back door Al together this is 9 in this is not 9 ft and and by the way specifically agree with you this is the back of the property so the historical aspect of keeping Monclair where it is is the back of your property it's not the front of the property in that sense so you know I it's just a 9 in it's I it's about like that much Mr CI 3 feet to me is a big concession to go over because if that that 9 in 9 Ines not 3 ft no sir I'm talking about the 3 ft I already went over in other words my my my point is this the the whole idea is my I I I got to have a counter for my kitchen it's got to go somewhere the only place I can go is down this wall the only thing that make that allows it to make any sense at all to jut in is to run the counters to the wall and then go back you understand so counters are typically 2 feet deep or slightly more so I'm already going in an extra foot I mean if I had my brothers I would go in 2 feet I would it would look much better on the inside of the house it make for a much better kitchen so I'm already going an extra foot over what I would want to do to try to accommodate with the fact that since my house was built the town decided to change the diff the distance that they thought it should be to the property line so you know I I guess to your answer why don't you go another nine Ines over my answer would be I'd prefer not to go 3 feet over I'd rather go 2 feet over so I'm I feel like I'm making a tremendous concession to try to still make something that works that's also a nod to the town so that entire where it says the 3 ft go uh that's an entire counter off the stove there the counter runs the whole length back and will end where it goes in 3 ft that's what it runs into and underneath that counter is what um Cabinetry yes sir all right thanks Mr Simon just one question just one question in that space between the four feet that you have between um in the back of the house where behind the stoves you have a a an outline of a box what what are you proposing to go there this is where the set back reduces to 346 on before you do the indentation oh so you mean on the counters where there's a like there's a box on the counter yeah that that's where so instead of having instead of having the counter and then having an upper shelves going across the whole way my wife doesn't like that she likes it clean and open and then on the end you have like a tower that goes up on each end where that that's where all your shelving is where your plates and everything go in got it so so that whole length where you have the the I guess that's a six burner stove that you represent so that whole length is um going to be the countertop yes sir that's correct got it okay thank you Mr VI thank you Mr chairman I would like to follow up with what my colleague Mr Cofield said so and I will ask it in a different way the um that proposed um Corner that's uh 3.46 ft from the property line that's the that's basically the shortest distance to the property line that corner yeah I'm sorry to interrupt you I would say that that it it's actually more than that to the fence so I don't know maybe when they put the fence in they put it more on my neighbor's side or whatever but if you put a tape measure those dimensions are actually greater than what the architect shows okay okay in the drawing it says 3.46 so understand so that corner what would it do to your layout the way you're planning to use this space if you remove that corner and kind of start the construction from the existing wall basically and then just draw a line directly yeah it wouldn't be worth doing because I wouldn't it I wouldn't be able to do anything to make my kitchen bigger than it currently is that I can afford to do I'm not the winstein I can't you know I don't have that I have to work with what I've got and try not to have to you know um you know run all new plumbing and all new gas and everything so uh all all I'm trying to do here if I don't extend back I don't I can't extend my counter I can't extend my counters if I can't do that then I'm not making my kitchen any bigger so what am I do it yeah okay does that does that make sense did I do a good job explaining that or no it it does make sense to me I was just trying to ask if if you had considered removing that corner because you your existing side yard setback is four feet and now it's going to be smaller than that but it I mean it's it it does make sense what you explained yeah it's not it well anyway that's what it shows I understand yeah okay thank you m Grant no questions Mr Cruz no questions Mr church I'm hold off my questions can I make one comment to follow up on your question sure okay so my you know my property line is running at an angle but it but I think the the interpretation that the architect put there is a little misleading my property is not going like this it's going on a slight angle my lot's I don't know how deep but maybe 175 ft or something like that and in that 4T I'm probably losing maybe 2 Ines you know I mean it's not it's not like it's it's uh going from here to here it's a very subtle difference as you go back in in reality maybe not on paper but in reality okay I just have a couple of questions and one to explain your answer before you know your the survey shows that the fence is 6/10 of an inch you know roughly seven in outside your property line so that's why why when you measure from the fence to the house you get a larger number because there's that 7in differential but I I want to um ask the fence is your fence well actually we went on it we went in it uh together with our neighbors we got together with our neighbors on all three sides decided on the fence that we liked and then we went in on it with them so we bought it together okay um and they're um there shrubs along the property line before you get to the fence are those your fence shrubs or the neighbors well we take turns trimming them so I guess they're both of them I'm not sure technically whose property they're on okay then but there are a number of shrubs on your neighbors by defense which I'm assuming are are his there's a rose there rose bushes yes yep those are theirs um okay okay I don't have any other questions are there any member Jade you have um are there any members of the audience who either have questions comments anything you want to say about the application this is your one opportunity to come up and speak about this property okay anything further you want to add before we discuss and vote on the application um no sir just that I'm I really put a lot of time into this I'm not if there was another way to do it that I thought I could still get a functional kitchen out of it I I would be happy to do that but I I honestly don't believe that there is and I think if you came over to my house and saw my kitchen you get it start discussion with Mr corfield when you build this and you look at that corner think of me I pass I'm I'm in favor of it thank you Mr C I'm in favor Mr Vie I'm also in favor Miss Grant I'm in favor I had a question what you you said in the corner is a um cabinet for dishes yes ma'am oh okay that's it Mr Cruz looks good I'm sorry looks good to me Mr Church uh no I have no questions um I have a query um I understand that some of these houses the way they're constructed it gets very costly to make it a I just did it in my kitchen didn't come out anyway from the footprint because I couldn't afford to go the extra two or three feet so I appreciate your problem this um but um I have no problem with your I I understand your concern and I have no problem with this application Mr M yeah I mean I I think like my colleagues on I mean I I I support the application but I do agree with Mr Coffield I I you know just looking at it I can't it's just very hard for me to imagine why there couldn't be just that enough of a subtle shift uh to uh sort of avoid the necessity um of of a variance here uh especially since it's new construction uh and when I look at it I mean I I understand what is the existing kitchen um but and and I understand uh the statement that with this if if there was to be this movement that then there wouldn't be enough gain uh with the with the extension but it is an extension so it it it I mean it just feels like it it still gives you more but nonetheless with all that said I I would support the application thank you I'm also in favor of the application I think you know clearly due to the positioning of the house in relationship to the property line since the house is straight but the property line isn't you know goes at an angle to the street uh creates a situation I think you know the larger part of the Varian is for the small area that he's continuing the um wall of the existing house back um there's a minor additional deviation where he is but he is Shifting it back so um to minimize the variance for the bulk of the uh addition so I don't think this will result in a substantial impairment to the Zone plan or a substantial detriment to the public good and any further discussion among board members before um and if not someone want to make a motion move approval approval of the application second all in favor say I I I any opposed and Mr Cruiser abstaining okay right thank you all very much I appreciate it and we're going to take a a two-minute break wow Mr Jenkins you should get set up and um this is 2 minutes really was there on the drawing e e e e e e the next application that is of Grace Point SE 7th Day Adventist Church this an application for renovation improvements to an existing building and property located at 86 Mission Street identified as block 4,17 lot two on the tax maps of the township the property is located in the r2's to family residential Zone churches and charitable uses are permitted conditional uses within the R2 Zone the applicant seek site plan approval in addition the applicants seeks conditional use variants pursuant to the municipal land use law for its continued utilization of the property for religious and related Public Services conducted on the property as the proposed use does not meet all the conditional use requirements under the the township ordinances specifically where a premises sh Frontage on a street having a width of at least 30 feet and the existing P not less than 30 ft and where a minimum lot area of 10,000 square ft is required the existing lot is 4,017 square ft whereas the off street parking shall be provided amount of at least one space for every 8 seats or one space for 16 seat seating capacity if benches rather than seats are used used with adequate landscape screening from adjoining Residential Properties in no off street parking is provided the applicant seeks to the extent necessary both variance relief pursuant to Monclair code section 34751 and 34720 B for the maximum permitted impervious coverage 55% and the existing imp purose cover is 79.9% and Monclair code section 347-1122 thank you first of all thank you it was green before okay brighter green all right brighter green okay now we're cooking either way so for the third time thank you very much for that introduction and it uh took a lot of the summary that I was going to uh uh introduce the key thing here is we're here for conditional use approval um and in doing so we're uh fixing a problem that or an Omission that should have taken care of been taken care of about two decades ago uh the church has been in Montclair since the 30s not before um at their primary location at 90 Mission Street 199 96 the church purchased this uh adjacent property n at uh 86 Mission and has been utilizing that property ever since on a part-time basis it operates it on during the weekends as an ancillary as an adjunct to its primary uh religious purposes at the primary building out of this building it conducts things such as uh pastoral care and Sabbath school and church school um and counseling and it has deacons meetings um and all on a part-time basis all on a staggered schedule such that this is not a new church building that has thousands of people coming into it and having Services all the time uh the building is in disrepair and the church to fix that disrepair uh to fix certain structural issues uh sought and obtained a grant from the county to allow them to pursue those uh and it was only after its contractor went to the city and tried to pull a b building permit was it flagged that the conditional permitting that should have taken care of in 1996 had not occurred so we're here as we call it n prot Tonk to to ask for the permission that we would have gotten back in 1996 um with that just in terms of the tax exempt status just so the board should know is as a as an indication that the operations here have been open and notorious to secure its tax exempt status they have to file uh you like every two years every four years with the city and lets the city know what they're doing so everything we're talking about here has been disclosed to the city periodically and continuously um as part of its its operations but what is clear what I'd like to make clear is that in this application we're not looking to expand anything we are not looking to expand the footprint we're not proposing any New Uses on the in the property um all we're asking for is that original blessing that we need to allow us to get that building permit that we need to allow the building to be refurbished uh with that um I'd like to go into the witnesses that we have this evening we have three um and first I'd like to to my right is Pastor Errol Stoddard who is the pastor of the church we then have our architect who will go through the design plans that are uh the main uh component of this application and then to round it up in a nice pretty bow we have our planner George Williams who will go through as the board requires uh the positive and negatives uh criteria with regard to the relief that is being sought this evening so Mr chairman if there are no questions of me I'd like to uh introduce uh Pastor Stoddard would you raise your right hand do you swear to tell the truth in the matter pending before the board yes I state your name and address please I'm Pastor Errol T Stoddard address is uh 70 Sullivan Drive West Orange thank you very much uh Pastor Stoddard uh and it's in it's inherent in the title that I just used but what is your position with uh with the church here I'm the pastor of the Grace Point SDA church thank you very much and in that capacity you are familiar with the church and its operations correct um you heard my general opening statement do you agree with what I laid out in general absolutely and we're going to go through some specifics but in general you agree with the statements that I made absolutely um can you just briefly for the board confirm what goes on at 86 Mission um we have have our first of all thank you all for uh this opportunity to present to you and uh we have our typical Sabbath school program on Saturdays we have our board meetings uh typically on um on Sundays uh we do Bible studies uh we do our community services um program and uh General uh Church programs as a standard operating procedure for the 7-Day adven Church okay um how many staff people do you have at one time uh we don't have any permanent staff people no full-time staff people we have volunteers um average 2 three uh maximum is going to be probably four or five okay On Any Given weekend okay and they are coming between your this building and theur yes okay um with regard to things like the uh food pantry that you operate yes is it primarily operated out of this building it's operated out of both buildings okay um so we do some storage here in this building uh and some in in the church basement so we'll be using both buildings so but for the food pantry you don't have people going in and out of this building no it's just for storage absolutely and again am I correct that it is a staggered schedule for the operations you have such second and fourth okay uh weekend second and fourth Sundays and then for your other activities again they're just on the weekends correct but there's no time where you are having all your Bible studies and services and all the deacons meetings happening all at once no they typically would go once a month um that's the average okay um you heard me say that in confirmation of your tax exempt status you make uh periodic filings to Town correct um and in those filings you've disclosed all of the activities that go on at this Annex Building correct thank you and I'm referring to it as the annex I've identified that in the submissions that we've made to uh the board but just to uh for again that's how we might refer to it from time to time now can you just briefly and we'll have our architect go through it some more but briefly what are we seeking in this application what if what is the church looking to do uh with this building by way of improvements basic renovation uh the building is pretty um dilapidated uh so painting uh room sizes remain the same uh all things remain the same but um we do need to uh do painting we do need to to to um do General repairs and upkeep the roof needs to be redone um so from the basement to the roof the building needs renovation and there's also going to be some structural uh improvements and struct and impr um strengthening absolutely but in all of these Renovations um there's not going to be any additional uses put on this property correct that's correct there's no new business that's coming in it is all the same activities that that you have been uh providing and services providing since 197 1996 correct that is correct okay and again so this is not going to entail increase of the population um again or people coming in and out of this building that is correct and again you've created you've uh secured a grant from the county for the proposed improvements for this building that is correct um are we under a time constraint with with regard to those Grant monies can you explain that a little bit please yeah the bottom line is the U the county the state has given us a certain window uh in which the renovation needs to be completed um there's a possibility that they'll withdraw those funds if we are not able to complete the renovations by the specific time periods they have already given us some latitude but uh they are pressing us now to get the work done okay um one last thing um because this was brought up in the report and I think you're better able to speak to this than uh the architect but one of the request was for a snow removal plan um which how is snow removed from this this property so snow is removed the deacons we have a snow blower and the Deacon will come and blow the snow off the sidewalk or blow the snow out of the driveway okay so so that's typically how it's done and this has been how that's been uh taken care of since this property has been used correct okay uh Mr chairman I have no further questions of Pastor Stoddard at this time Mr M do you have any questions yes thank you thank you uh passor stutter yes sir um just a couple of things uh just to clarify in terms of how the facility is used so you have just say partial driveway is that correct that's correct all right uh and and it is actively being used or not the church bus is parked the church bus is parked there okay and the area behind this this building is uh used or not used uh no it's not used it's not used at this particular time there's a metal shed back there yes and that's used for um basic basic storage of um shovels and stuff like that so the custodial staff and others utilize that but the gravel area the Slate paved areas those areas are not are not used no no we we don't drive anything back there we don't park anything back there presently and is it your intent at some point to utilize that space and no so it'll just continue to be un space yeah just like it is it's it's the the way back there is a narrow so it creates a little challenge okay thank you you're welcome Mr Garfield um for the food pantry is or is are foods prepared there for the pantry no no it's like dry goods type of thing exactly okay thank you Pastor um can you tell me what the grant is from the county with the name of the grant uh I don't know the name of the grant off the T my head it's in the addendum that I provided to the board um of Community Development block yeah it's a yeah it's a CBD cdbg Grant okay yeah cor um and um uh the neighbor to the north of us to the left um they have a driveway that part of the curbs on our property um you're going to keep that the way it is not putting a fence down the line at that one point at all no okay all right thank you Mr Simon hi um yes sir has any work started um in the renovation to the house no we were waiting to get the building permit so not even you couldn't even do start any painting or any basic renovations to the per principal um and what's the deadline uh I'd have to go back and check that roughly this year next year we have to this year has to be done by this year be done this year and and if truth be told the actual deadline they had has passed yeah so yeah you're working off an extension yes exactly and it's a it's a handshake extension and what's been happening unfortunately I'm not saying this in a disparaging way but to get to this point has been an incredibly long time and so the county has been rather understanding that we've had to have a municipal interaction but their patients will only go so long right so and with the August in the four months remaining can the repairs be done within the time frame and if not what happens if you lose the grant well so and I think and I'll speak I'll ask the pastor to speak to the second portion of that but I think that once if the approvals are in place and if they can demonstrate that there has at least been a start yes to it um then the grant money is is secured uh at least that first trunch so we have to establish that we're making affirmative progress with regard to this building because they want to see it utilized absolutely um I would I would only add that uh we've already uh invested in this entire process in the whole development process so funds have been expend expended from the church so we we need to get this done ASAP okay no other questions Mr era thank you Mr chairman uh good evening I I have a question about the structural enhancements that you mentioned there there's going to be some type of um improvements to the structure itself is that because it was determined that it's in repair or why why is that yeah and we can have our architect speak to that uh more directly but at the end of the day it's an older building and it's in need of repairing yeah and and currently the building is being used so it's it's it's okay right there no we have not been using you're not using we have not been thank you Miss Grant so yeah um for the proposed there's an assess um assessible route and also a wheelchair lift are those stipulations of the grant yes um are there other stipulations of the for of the GR that was uh that was the main one because it has to be handicap handicap accessible um thank you you're welcome thank you Mr Cruz uh no questions Mr Church uh in relation to the food pantry activity that you do where do uh where is the food stored if it's stored or is it brought in for each event the food is delivered twice a month so it comes in we put it in the basement of of the house and of the church depending on how much comes in okay and then it is then bagged and distributed on on Sundays is there any um feeding activity it's a bad choice of words but any any uh activity in the building feeding people that come to the food pantry or it all pick up and go pick up and go pick up and go and you have adequate storage facility it's safe yes for that um that's correct um we have storage refrigerators refrigerators and that's in the building now no the refrigerators are in the church building in the church building so then when they come to the house so let's say it called the house to pick it up it's transferred over from the so what we do typically we'll have tables set up outside members will already bag the food uh we have tent set up in the backyard of the church would bring the food up put it on the tables and serve the community in the future once you get this these permits out of the way and your finished construction is there going to be any change to that I don't think so you're going to keep it the same way nothing's going into the building for the food pantry yeah I think uh I think we'll keep it the same way it's efficient okay uh it engages the members and uh it works and it's well it's well utilized well utilized and well supported okay thank you you're welcome I just um this is more I don't know somewhat to give Mr Williams a suggestion um somewhat um but let let me do my concern here and um I'm not quite quite sure how best to address it you know there was another church in town that did a food pantry that expanded wildly I'll say and raised some problems in the neighborhood um you know and then and you're you described a variety of uses and you know my understanding and observation is these are not really impacting the neighborhood but the variants you're asking you know one of the variants as you're asking for is not providing any on-site parking and I I'm wondering is there a way we can condition this that um you know the church you know whether they on their own or they decide in the future do they found better premises and sell both buildings um whether um you know that suddenly there's a lot more traffic than there is currently um you know and if whether Mr Jenkins Mr Williams whether this witness has any thoughts on how we can you know make sure we don't wake up and suddenly there are five times as many cars coming and going than there are now um you know um then the the one the question I have um the the planers report recommends that the two lots be consed Consolidated does that raise any issues for the church I don't know that it does it's something that we would have to research and see how practical that would be um but um I don't see that it'll be a problem one we another we'd be open to whatever recommendations would be made but it's something to be researched and uh are both Lots in the same ownership now I was I was just about to say with regard to that and following the uh technical review committee meeting we did take a look at that or least I took a look at that and the two lots are in uh common ownership so you know first we can say we there's been a you know merger by operation of law uh with regard to that but either way um the pastor is saying that we are not seeing an impediment to the consolidation of those okay are there any members of the audience who have any question questions for this witness okay want to call your next witness thank you thank you thank you all so much would you raise your right hand do you swear to tell the truth in the matter pending before the board I do state your name and address uh my name is Michael Marvin the principal architect at mrv and Architects 307 Bloomfield f Avenue and Caldwell thank you Mr Marvin can you provide the board with your uh experience in professional background please uh absolutely I uh have a bachelor's of architecture degree from NJIT a master's of uh engineering and product architecture from Stevens uh I am a registered architect in the state of New Jersey and my license is in good standing it will accept him thank you very much Mr Marvin I'm just going to wind you up and let you go uh can you uh advise the board what you have uh prepared in relation to this application and then just walk us through please uh absolutely so our office was engaged to prepare the site plan application uh for the subject property um brought a board slightly wrinkled due to this lovely weather that we're having um uh these are the drawings that were submitted to the board previously um the subject property as it currently stands you can so that the audience can follow along we do have your your submission available on that screen is this on yeah it's on hold it close um so the the subject property currently has um sorry the subject proper property currently has a couple of uh challenges associated with it um starting kind of front to back uh currently the existing front steps are in a state of disrepair um they also uh protrude beyond the front property line uh of the building uh and are quite steep they're not complying with current uh building code um as we move backward uh and as uh as the pastor had mentioned before uh the building is currently not uh ADA Compliant uh there is no way for uh wheelchair access to uh for wheelchair users to access the building um there are a number of um of considerations inside the building as well uh which kind of go beyond the site plan application obviously mostly pertaining to uh direction of door swings things of that nature um that would be uh reversed as part of the uh the updates to the the property as well as um just general repair uh paint uh structural uh sagging damage a little bit of termite uh damage here and there uh but nothing that actually changes use or general configuration of the Interior um going to the proposed site plan uh that we've prepared um the general approach kind of again going from front to back of the building um is that we would first off be going and reconstructing the front staircase um and relocating it rather than um going and um descending down from the existing front door perpendicular to Mission Street uh we would be going and uh turning it to come off of the side of the front porch uh with a new uh code compliant staircase um descending down and landing on uh the existing driveway um moving backward and we highlighted the um the accessible route uh to get back to a new uh proposed uh wheelchair lift in the back of the building um um we would be going leaving the existing asphalt driveway in place um but going and upgrading uh kind of the area immediately adjacent to the rear of the building um to go and be uh concrete uh it's currently just gravel um we would be going and putting in a concrete uh area back here um to uh allow um uh unobstructed access for wheelchair users to the back of the building um as a way to just go and kind of screen things and make it a little bit more inviting of an entrance we're proposing cling a small planter area with some uh uh just some small uh Street trees or Street trees I guess um and then uh the building as part of the renovation would be getting um a new heating and cooling system um so we're proposing uh new uh condenser units uh in the back as well um there are some upgrades that are proposed as well for going and installing just some general lighting um just to go and provide Prov a little bit more illumination on the uh on the pathways to and from the building um other than that though it's really intended to leave the existing building more or less as it is today just restoring it to uh to its former glory so that it can get back to its mission of serving the community thank you um Mr chairman I don't have any further questions of Mr Marvin at this time yeah thank you Mr Marvin uh first first of all can you um help me to understand uh the location of the chairlift why was that location selected uh mainly because we have um we've actually got access uh into a rear stairway in the back of the building um that we're able to go and get in there and have a straight shot into the rear of the structure um previously a location in the front of the building had been looked at uh the problem is that due to the to the uh the issue of that front staircase protruding beyond the front property line uh we can't fit the wheelchair lift and the reconstructed staircase uh in the existing front yard I see and so the as far as as far as ADA compliance the the main focus is to make sure that that that there is access to the first floor correct of this building what goes on on the is there a second floor of this building uh there is a second floor yes um it's mostly small class uh additional small classroom spaces I should say MH um the um intention with it is really to make the uh the more uh public facing spaces the meeting rooms things like that uh wheelchair accessible MH uh because that's uh that's really where the um uh where any any wheelchair users coming into the space would would more likely be using those spaces and similarly obviously I mean the the the base there is a basement in this building correct as well right it's mostly just a storage space though the um so from your from your Vantage Point given uh the challenge from time to time inclement WEA um it is it is feasible for uh I guess I guess the assumption is that that um someone who needs to make use of the of the lift their vehicle would use the driveway come up to the end of the driveway and then make their way across the new concrete area correct yeah that's the that's how you envision that yeah is any of that concrete area going to be covered or is it it's all exposed uh it it's all planned to be exposed right now simply because we didn't want to um we didn't want to incur the cost of going and creating a completely sheltered area uh coming in mhm and what what kind of when you say a concrete area what kind of are we talking about just a cement uh pad pad patio or are we talking about pavers or what what kind of a concrete area are we talking about uh intended to basically just be a um brush you know uh brush surface uh concrete um Min minimal cost but aesthetically not you know inoffensive I suppose is the best way to put it but something that uh a person in a wheelchair would easily be able to Mane correct yeah built to a built a standard similar to a public sidewalk um the the building currently is not air conditioned uh it is not okay so you you're you're putting in a new condenser unit um the location of the condenser unit presumably would have no impact on the neighbors uh correct yeah the um the location of it uh the location of it was it's tucked back here uh behind the existing jut out of the uh the exist existing rear stairway mhm um and the reasoning behind that is we really wanted to kind of screen it from the neighbors um obviously modern condenser units are not terribly loud these days um but you get it behind a building and then it's definitely not going to be bothering anybody okay the uh the new plantings that are uh bordering the concrete area is that is that within your area experti uh we hadn't specified anything yet um if I had if I had to make a recommendation on it probably some sort of an arbor VY or something that's uh relatively hearty in this climate zone and uh is Evergreen so it would be something fairly tall in other words yeah that's the idea sort of the intent meaning to to sort of close off from view the rest of the backyard area and just provide a little Greenery and otherwise kind of gray uh gravel con area mhm and now just from uh from the perspective of of Public Safety again um for uh persons that need to utilize the lift um your sense is that there would be sufficient lighting uh which is being proposed in this area I mean if you're going to have arites they can be pretty tall they can be they could Shield um somebody who may be behind those alitis I mean so what is there is there sufficient lighting um to secure the safety of persons that would be utilizing that facility um I I can't say for sure what exists in the existing um uh in the existing rear yard uh the lights that we're proposing are essentially um intended to be sort of a wall pack that illuminates the area pretty well um certainly were're we're not looking to go and create any Shady spots in the back though um and I I believe there may be lights on the back of the church as well that would would existing lights I believe so yeah I'm not sure per the pastor would be able to comment and the uh let's see the the bill bill Cod door that is there is in reasonably good shape uh blue so yeah and stair the stairwell leading down to the basement is in good shape yeah no problems with water down there uh no more than any other building in Monclair has been experiencing these days would you kid to elaborate a little bit more on that uh I wouldn't go putting a whole bunch of cardboard boxes on the floor down there but it's not flooding either okay I mean Since U I mean there will be some food storage down there yeah and everything's kept up off the ground as well and there's a cement floor down there correct I guess the other question that I would would just have is because this is an area that OB obviously is is um a neighborhood that is obviously going through a lot of uh renovation updating a lot of new um apartments and and town houses and whatever there a lot that's a lot that's going on there so um your in terms of the design elements of what's being done um particularly externally uh would be uh complimenting sort of the development that is taking place in the in the neighborhood itself is that how you would you would see it uh that is the general design intent is to bring it up to the a similar level to what we're seeing elsewhere in the neighborhood MH all right thank you Mr chairman thank youi um the house is that clabber board what would you call that on that on the house on the ex the exterior of it um I believe it's a shingle shingle and clap yeah are you planning on what are you planning have you gotten to the point of what your finishes are going to be on that building are you going to keep that or you going to go sighting like uh it hasn't been finalized yet um one of the things that's been discussed has been trying to salvage the existing wooden paint it okay um I I I see some leaders on some of the buildings but the back corner does not seem to have a leader to that I mean maybe it's all being driven out to the front but if we are going to have a hand handicap and there and you know we'd like the water not maybe not to go in that corner where the handicap person comes through um last question um on this on this grant uh there are two phases to it do you know if you're the first phase or the second phase uh this is the first phase where we are right now you don't know anything about the second phase uh I I do not know okay thank you hi um in terms of the driveway and the bus is it a is it an actual bus or is it just like a a van I believe it's a van um and is it parked in the driveway or does it parked all the way in the rear um question being is there enough room for the van to be in a driveway and provide enough space for wheelchair access so I think I can that's a good question for the pastor I believe however that as part of uh all of this this that is just a temporary solution it's you know it's sitting there like temporarily uh so so the the van is where is it normally parked when it's not being used oh okay all right um uh and the other question I had was in terms of the inter or any interior walls being changed no on either floor no so as they are and as they are yeah okay that's thank you thank you Mr chairman um I have a question on the planner's report there's a comment on um the proposed uh staircase encroaching into the driveway um do you think your design addresses that uh I I do um for the most part the um the the way that we're currently showing the um the way that we're currently showing the landing um it's a little bit misleading um we're coming down we're landing on this we are encroaching on the driveway however it is not it's not an active driveway um as was said before it's it's essentially used to park the bus sometimes um and the rest of the time it's really just sort of a big sidewalk um so for the most part it it's kind of a non-issue um you know from from that perspective um just cuz there's not there's not vehicles moving in and out of that driveway essentially there's not a lot of traffic and you you have some space between the driveway and the the last step correct yes yeah okay um the other question I had is about the structural modifications can you elaborate a little more um so and and in full disclosure our office has not been retained to design those um those modifications in there um but essentially what it is is that just due to the age of the building um there has been some settlement of uh some of the structural beams um and in an effort to go and really kind of stabilize everything and make it good for future use um it's going to require repair of some of the um some of the load bearing Center members in the basement um as well as sistering of some of the um uh first floor joists um so nothing terribly out of line with what one would expect to see on a building of this age so essentially no major no no new beams or columns or anything just just repair of existing repair and or replacement of existing ones but no new long span members nothing nothing crazy like that that's good okay thank you great um on page eight um there's a view of the rear and the area where the door is is um is there a window on the other side and this is of your planner report correct um uh I'm sorry page eight of um yeah the planner report um the section of the house in the rear where the um the door is are there any windows on that portion uh yeah there there is a window on the wall opposite the um the door that you see there oh like on this wall here uh yeah okay yeah nothing on the rear wall though obviously yeah on the part you can't see okay that was my only question uh no questions how much of the traffic I should have asked the reverent this but how much of the traffic there is brought by car or do the people walk mainly to this church you're talking about to this Annex portion itself or the the church and its entire the complex yeah uh those that use the house and those that use the services of the church um people walk or do they drive and if they do they're going to use that driveway to park in the back right no and we can bring the the pasture back to to answer that question that's not a problem okay uh and I think that's a better question for you know for him so do you want him now or can we finish with Mr Marvin it looks like he's coming up he's anxious to get this done so so um we have uh we need you you need to use this the microphone just so we have you on yeah the people coming to it's got to be really green there we go there we go the people coming to use the anex Do Not typically Drive okay um and um they're neighborhood yes they're mostly neighborhood people um so uh and and if there's anybody that drives they typically would park on Elmwood so Elmwood going back towards the park okay so you're not that back area wouldn't be used for parking no so that driveway wouldn't have to be no it would not be expanded correct okay thank you and just one other elaboration on that indeed the bus that we're talking about is also used to help transport some people who need to get to to the site absolutely if if we need to do that absolutely thank you where is trash being stored uh there is currently uh there's currently a trash enclosure uh in the back area here uh which will be retained okay so so you're not doing anything to change what's currently there okay that's why want to Mr Harrison I have a concern about it's a question about the the trash enclosure because it's it's it's enclosed on the three sides facing this property but it's not enclosed on the side that faces the neighbors would it be possible to make that a full enclosure so that the side that faces your neighbors is enclosed with the fence and then a gate added Mr Mr chairman we could do that yes that would meet our requirements what is the access do you go around the open side now to access the trash en closure or do we need to say if you enclose all four sides does there need to be a door or a gate well I mean I'm I'm assuming that whatever enclosure design would be workable to be as efficient as possible to for Ingress and egress from the garbage there any members of the a audience who have any questions for this witness okay Mr Jenkins you want to call your next witness thank you um at this point I'd like to uh call our Final witness uh our planner George Williams Mr Williams would you raise your right hand do you swear to tell the truth in the matter pending before the board I must certainly do state your name and address good evening Commissioners my name is George rle Williams uh 105 Pro Street Suite number three in montler New Jersey thank you and can you provide the board with your uh current position and professional background please certainly I'm licensed by the State Board of Professional planners uh nationally certified by the American Institute of certified planners uh completed my Graduate Studies at Ruckers now the blousing school have been practicing in the field of planning for a little over 30 years with a primary focus on land use of course but I am my firm practice in a variety of other planning specialities including the preparation of Master plans zoning ordinances Redevelopment plans um Civic engagement I've appeared before numerous land Sports throughout the state of New Jersey including this August board and I have offered expert witness testimony in support of houses of worship uh in other municipalities and your license is still current my license is still Curr mrman thank you that's what he told me this morning so Mr Williams the we're getting late in the day um like I did with Mr Marvin If I Could Just Wind you up and let you go uh with the request that you can provide the board what you have reviewed and what your professional conclusions are with regard from a planning perspective with regard to the application before the board this evening certainly um and I will try to be uncharacteristically brief because this is a relatively unique application as you heard from Council in his introductory comments it's an existing uh building site and use uh and what we're really looking for is approval to continue that um that use on this site uh the site is commonly known as 86 Mission Street and identified in your Municipal tax records is block 4107 Lot number two and it is in the R2 Zone District um the site improvements that would be a part of this application if you were to approve our uh proposal would include all those things uh that you heard from our project architect and and the applicant uh including most importantly perhaps the Ada improvements to the site um the uh Code Compliance stairs um replacement of the gravel with a concrete pad uh to commissioner Church's Point appropriate screening and lighting uh for the site the relief s were mentioned in the Chairman's introduction uh this is a D3 application for a permitted conditional use that does not meet each of the conditional use standards and those standards are outlined in section other pre-existing non-conformities uh for the conditional use standards including maximum lot coverage uh where the permitted maximum is 55% what exists is 79.9% or actually reduced it slightly Frontage uh 30 at least a width of 30 ft on mission where currently it is 26.5 ft that is an existing condition that would be continued uh further lot area uh 10,000 squ ft is required we have 4,017 square ft and intend to continue that again it's an existing condition and last but not least the conditional youth standard is uh there should be no adverse impact or effect of our uh site on the adjoining residential sites um I think you've heard from the applicant their mission is to be a good neighbor and serve the neighborhood and I suspect there will be um no interested parties here that would contradict the pastor statements uh to that effect um again very interesting application because this site has been there for uh decades purchased in 1996 but the church has been there uh since around 1929 to the best of our knowledge um the annex is primarily used on the weekends for very limited or will be used on the weekends for very limited purposes as you heard outlined by the pastor uh and would have what we would consider a negligible impact other than a positive one on the surrounding neighborhood I would also point out that it is uh within walking distance to Bloomfield Avenue you heard the pastor mentioned that uh the van is available to transport parishioners and other users of the campus uh many walk and you heard that from the pastor in response to one of the commissioner request questions excuse me uh and uh uh last but not least the use itself is considered an inherently beneficial use as this board knows the municipal land use law does identify uh what a inherently beneficial use is uh which is a universally considered value to the community because it fundamentally serves the public good and promotes the general welfare there are also a number of court cases that speak directly to houses of worship and their ancillary uses as being inherently beneficial um in terms of the overall impact of this application on the neighborhood from a planning perspective I would submit to the board uh that it would not have any negative impact in point of fact as Council mentioned in his introductory comments it has existed for decades with no complaints from the neighborhood and of course its mission is to serve the neighborhood in a POS of way we're merely seeking uh the approval to continue the use as it has existed for decades with the improvements that were mentioned by uh the project architect and the applicant and of course Avail the applicant of the funding that's a um being offered by uh the county to make these changes in terms of the proofs the D3 variants uh as this board knows the municipal land use law uh provides that you can have uses that are permitted with conditions those are are conditional use standards the uh test for the board in deliberating a D3 use variance is a bit different than a D1 as this board knows uh you are um able to accept the the use is appropriate uh in this area um and is legislative intended to be there and then if the applicant does not meet each of the conditional use standards we're properly before this board with your jurisdiction but the deliberation is really focused on the deviation from a standard or standards for the conditional use and they're treated almost more like bulk and area standards specifically the proof of special reasons to support the variants from one or more conditions imposed on a conditional use should be relevant to the nature of the deviation from the ordinance and a conditional use must showed at the site will accommodate the problems associated with that deviation as this board knows there is a landmark court case the Coventry Court case uh Coventry V Westwood which gives further guidance uh some of which I've just mentioned in the board's deliberation and review of the requested release uh and as might have been intimated earlier on in your deliberations given all of the Coventry uh guidelines one of the uh guidelines includes that the board can uh ask that conditions be imposed reasonable conditions may be imposed uh to um as part of the approval in terms of the proofs for the D3 in this application I would submit uh that the purpose of zoning would be Advanced uh and there are a number of um trade-offs when it comes to the parking in particular all the other conditions are um exactly as is if you were to grant our relief in my professional opinion subsection I of the purposes of zoning would be Advanced and subsection I is to create a desirable visual environment and good Civic uh design and Arrangement um certainly if you were to grant our relief the overall um visual environment would be improved as you heard um outlined by our project architect in terms of the Civic design uh the improvements to the site that were also outlined by our project architect would serve as um to advance that purpose of zoning with respect to the parking deviation in particular uh I would submit that um the again current operation will be the future operation for the site and the campus they have managed to operate without the parking on site and are confident that they can continue to do so there is a court case Valente V obsin that suggests that if the board is comfortable that the realistic um parking demand for a use such as this is less than that of the strict application of your code then you can grant the relief uh in this case the deviation from the conditional use standard uh the planning literature also suggests that there is Merit to rightsizing the parking Supply such that you don't have an abundance or excess of Madam on a site where it's really not needed or nor will be used again as I mentioned um there is uh mass transit close by on bloomfi Avenue and there is a bus transportation system that's uh owned by the house of worship for those that are in need I would also finally add that in terms of uh if we were looking at this as a c uh variance that there is limited space to comply with the strict application of your code because of dimensions of the property and of course the structures lawfully thereon uh in terms of the surrounding neighborhood this is an interesting street because there are a number of houses of worship of similar size uh on Mission Street most of which do not do not have parking on site either terms of the negative criteria as this board knows uh two-prong test no substantial detriment to the public good no substantial impairment of the Zone plan for any deviation from uh the conditional use standards I would submit that there would be no substantial detriment to the public good in point of fact if you were to Grant this application there would only be positive impacts on our neighborhood given the current condition of the building and the site would be significantly improved and leveraging public dollars to make those improvements uh a reality the second prong is the impairment to the Zone plan uh I would just um preface my comments by saying there be no substantial impairment to the Zone plan and under Coventry uh the board may be satisfied at the grant of the conditional use variants for a specific piece or a specific project at the designated site is reconcilable with the municipalities legislative determination that the condition should be imposed on all conditional uses in that District but more importantly in my opinion if you were to grant our relief uh for the conditional use approval uh there are goals and objectives of your master plan that would be Advanced certainly to provide objective uh on page seven provide convenient access for all residents to Essential Day to-day goods and services in this case uh both the services offered by the house of work ship and those goods that will be provided V Visa V the uh food pantry uh in my opinion overall uh the application before you this evening is fairly straightforward again a longstanding use at the site uh without the appropriate um blessing as Council mentioned in his introductory comments uh we're looking we're seeking your approval uh simply to ratify a use that has existed there for a number of years and that would conclude my direct testimony perhaps the fastest I've ever got I was I was impressed Mr chairman thank you um I have no further direct questions of Mr Williams Mr M you have any questions yes good evening Mr Williams good evening commission um just a couple of questions um um I think you know basically I understand the conclusions that you've that you've uh reached um as a as a result of your research um but I would like to test them out just a little bit sure uh so first of all um I agree with you that the the improvements that are under consideration would visually uh enhance the the property um and and and that would that would include the building itself and the concrete pad uh and the chairlift area so I'm being very specific in terms of the area that is that is uh represents improvements the area behind um stretching out to the to the rear uh border of the property would be another matter uh and so I'm just wondering you know for uh the property owner and in what I believe is is five Elmwood Avenue um I mean at least two stories of their house perhaps the third as well sort of has a clear view of basically what looks like an empty lot I mean except for garbage you know enclosure and and a shed um and so and so I'm I'm sort of tying this question of sort of the visual uh impact uh with um with the question of of whether or not historically um this area had ever been utilized um as a parking facility um in I mean has your research yield in anything like that in the in the past it has not but my research uh was not extensive in terms of historic use of the site the pastor may have better knowledge than I again the church the house of worship has been there uh since 1929 I think so I mean is is the main is the is the main reason to oh I guess let me and let me also um uh ju simply point out if on on page nine of the of the um the uh planning memorandum um there's a photo um if you look at that page nine yep okay you can see that there's a row of aritis uh in the back that stretch from a neighbor I don't know if that's behind the church or that's another neighbor I I can't quite tell but there's a row of aritis that stretches along the border uh in the same which would be moving in the same direction as as this particular property and so I'm wondering you know is you know could there not be an effort and and I understand I think from the testimonies that we've heard uh thus far that there are significant financial challenges so I I I fully get that um but uh could there not be something like a row of opes that would um potentially lessen sort of the visual impact um that this vacant would essentially is a vacant property um uh for for the for the Neighbors uh on Elward so commissioner before I try to answer page nine is it figure 11 or figure 12 uh that would be figure uh 11 okay oh I see them okay um probably the answer more uh for our project architect I did hear him testify that no final decisions have been made it sounds like it would be a reasonable condition of approval if it's fiscally feasible for the applicant but certainly I see your point that additional screening would not be a bad thing whether it's fencing or or uh Landscaping uh certainly would not be a bad thing yeah I mean the the you know the fence there obviously there's a good faith effort to sort of provide some screening but again I mean for you to make you know the argument that you know from a visual point of view you know there's um this should be acceptable to the to the board I think there are alternatives that may not have to be that costly and yet would be beneficial to the neighbor um as well as still serving the need of the church right um in terms of how the space is used if if if in fact there is a strong desire to not utilize the space for parking um I mean I could make the argument you know I mean it's just it's just land that's sitting there not doing much of anything I mean there probably couldn't be a lot of vehicles that could be parked there but there could be some uh which would potentially provide some relief on the street itself um but um uh I didn't hear anything in terms of of um uh the um items that are delivered every two weeks for the pantry you know I mean I I think the the chairman made reference to another church that has uh an active program uh and um truck deliveries are a concern for the neighbors and I don't know if that's a concern in this particular case the volume is is anywhere near that kind of magnitude but it it just sort of raises the question about you know how do you help sort of mitigate any potential problems in terms of additional Vehicles even if it's just for a couple of hours every other week or that kind of thing that's that's sort of a there's a question inherent in that but well but but you're welcome to just simply make a comment if You' like okay and if if I may before he comments on that just um uh two observations one with regard to and I'm looking at page eight of the planners report and I think it's one thing and I think it's inherent in what we're saying is we actually have a real world uh study here of how this place works um and we have the real world existing facade of this back which if any Improvement on this facade which was the first thing we're trying to do here is going to be an improvement to the visibility from the neighbor behind uh with regard to the uh parking and access there at one point we were we said well maybe we will throw parking back there because we thought that was a mitigating and something that the board would want in the technical review uh of this application it was uh suggested to us that we remove it entirely uh because particularly of the choke point which has been brought up at certain points of of this hearing so uh we had contemplated that for be we had contemplated that but we were dissuaded from doing that again what we're trying to do here is again not making any changes sure we have an operation that has worked and is working without uh comment and detriment and complaint by the neighbors um it should be noted that none of them you know are here and what they're just trying to do is they have a building there that they've utilized for a long time and they can't now because of its poor condition they just want to get back to where they were before and in doing that it is going to be still a marked improvement in the visibility and also lastly with regard to some of the things that are in there now we've already stipulated for example to the garbage enclosure that's going to be redesigned that's going to be nice so the visuals will uh improve and most likely once you get through this first trunch of just trying to get the building stable then they have the ability to do even more the Cosmetics that I think go to some of the questions that that you're raising right so we're not looking to shut that down um they're they're just trying to get the building up and running yeah no I I I I appreciate that very much and and I you know I will say that I think you know when the development Review Committee uh it makes recommendations and it also uh in terms of its uh review tries to anticipate what may be questions that would emerge uh so um so uh one doesn't necessarily uh uh displace the other uh but uh none nonetheless I mean I think I think the the you know the emphasis that you're hearing uh from me and maybe you'll hear from others as well is just let's make sure that you know this is our one time uh as far as we know uh as the zoning board that we'll be looking at this particular property and we want to make sure that whatever um ultimately is approved in fact enhances the public good you know that that sees itself or you know visually see and and is impacted by this this property and that's that's the that's the main point understood yeah thank you Mr corfield um I think last time you were here you did your presentation in three minutes I think it was and nice to get the long version uh no questions thank Mr Simon no question Mr Vieira no questions M Grant no questions Mr Cruz no questions Mr Church no questions okay Mr William just um you know uh Mr mccullock brought up and I brought up and give you a forewarning is you know are there realistic conditions we can impose so this doesn't morph into something much larger than what it is today um I understand the question I'm not sure how to answer so when you say doesn't Morphin it's something larger my recollection of your comments Mr chairman were uh is that you were comparing what's uh occurring on this site in terms of the food pantry service to other operations in the neighborhood where that service has mushroomed into a much larger operation um I I think uh you heard testimony from the pastor that it's not the uh uh Grace points intent to grow much larger uh than uh they currently are the only other condition I could envisage would be um that the pastor uh consent to that in terms of the resolution but I'm not sure how that would be in forced that's what I'm struggling with to be honest with I understand if I had a specific condition being much easier I hoping you could help me but let me um you know I think some inherent constraints on the size of both this building and the church on the adjoining property um do limit what can occur but you know on the other hand this is not um an area where there is a lot of on street parking right um there it's a narrow Street which relates to one the conditional use variances it's a one-way Street um that um you know the appearance of you know I understand now there's minimal traffic generated but you know this is something where wouldn't take an awful lot more traffic for there to be an impact and I'm um struggling at you know let me let me ask it this way um the you know the the the courts have given a and very appropriately so broad range as to the types of uses that occur in conjunction with a church as being permitted part of the church wouldn't require coming back to this board or planning board um and um Let me let me give a an example of something that you know the courts have said okay is what if they decide to set up a daycare Center you know you know is is that something that we shouldn't care about is that something that could have an impact uh something the board should care about and could have an impact the demand or intensity of a a daycare center Child Care Center is different than what exists currently it certainly has um considerations in terms of traffic and pick up and drop off and Etc so uh two things this is not getting to your direct question about a condition but uh we have done a fair amount of research on food pantries and what we're seeing is a trend towards uh when the food pantry operation grows exponentially there's a model that's uh customer choice is what it's called and it limits pickups to more like appointments as opposed to the current operations that's one consideration in terms of a condition of having to come back to this board should an additional use be added I mean I think that's a reasonable condition but I defer the council yeah I mean I think again if there were another use being proposed on this that is I think a clear difference uh my concern and question is is there going to be a condition put on this church that doesn't exist for other churches doing and providing the same services um but also the whole thrust of what we've been saying here tonight is we're not looking to expand we're talking about what we have here today and you know what I the main thing I would hope is that well you know if there's an expansion of people needing you know food and and you know Pantry Services we have a bigger problem you know that's it's not this church it's people in the community coming out of desperation and if there is that desperation in the community I would hate to have any condition that keeps this church from providing the service that is in their mission um so now I think what we would have is uh reasonable say police controls I think we can say that if there is huge overflows that there be uh cooperation with the local police maybe to um handle traffic but and and I would I there's no condition that I'm thinking out of my mind that is going towards what you're you're saying the other thing I think it's important to note we're talking Mission Street you said that's a one oneway road but that's not where all of this is occurring it's the as the pastor I believe stated uh there is Storage at this place but the distribution where people are coming they're coming to the the main building they're on the lawn there so we're not clogging up Mission Street um that street is the two-way street where people are are as he said most likely accessing it by walking so I understand your concern in general um I'm worried about what condition might be let me do and and I'm not you know and I don't even want to limit you to services that are currently being provided um but let me do two things and let me ask if you have uh the applicant has problems with either of those one um is that the food pantry not include any um eating of meals on site that has not happened okay and then the second is the daycare which is totally different from what the minister testified to as to what goes on now in terms of spaic activities scattered on different days of the week versus a daycare which would typically be in every day um with a lot of parent drop off pickup we have no interest in such okay yeah there's there's out of this building there is no daycare happening and as confirmed it is not intended to so that would be an acceptable okay any members of the board with further questions for Mr Williams any members of the audience with any questions for Mr Williams any members of the audience who has any testimony statements comments anything you want to say about the application other than I'm assuming the members of the church thinks it's the best application they ever saw okay um Mr Jenkins you want to sum up quickly thank you Commissioners thank you um my summation is this this is an operation we have a real world view of what this is and it's been going on for two decades and in that two decades all they have been doing is God's work and they've been doing it without complaint they've been doing it without uh Interruption to to the local area all we ask is that it be allowed to to continue and improve in a much better looking building than what it is now um with that said this works and it should continue to work thank you very much okay start discussion Mr Simon um in favor I think U continued use is uh definitely appropriate for dislocation and per of Mr VI I'm also in favor of the application I think this is a good Improvement for the site and um I'm in favor of the conditions as well Miss Grant I'm in favor Mr Cruz I'm also in favor Mr church I'm in favor Mr mcculler I'm in favor Mr corfield I'm in favor okay um I'm also in favor I think you know the the church serves a very important mission in the community um this is you know it deviates from numerous conditions the church unfortunately saw it needed additional space several decades ago and no one noticed that they needed a conditional use variance but they're here to correct that um so they can greatly enhance the property which is something of a mess at the moment and provide handy AP access um you know I certainly don't think you know with the conditions I'm going to do that this will result in a substantial detriment to the public good or substantial impairment of the Zone plan um conditions are that to go where I've left off that no daycare child care preschool used to be established that um the food pantry not provide any on premises consum ion of the food associated with that um that the handicapped access be ADA Compliant um that the two lots be Consolidated and couple of reasons for that but I think most importantly the stairs leading from the side of the church buildings encroach in one case slightly in another case somewhat more significant on this property I think it's better to that they be consol Val at um that um one the Landscaping used native plants and a landscaping plan be provided for for approval of the planning department since we don't have anything and in addition to what's shown on the plans that um a row of shrubs that mature height will be at least 10 ft tall be planted in the vicinity of the rear property line from the southern property line over to where the metal shed is but not behind the metal shed because there's limited area there um and provide some screening from you know the as Mr mccullock pointed out the rear of the property is not pretty um and just to provide some screening I you know if you were a were affluent applicant I'd require greater Landscaping back there but I just you know I think something should be done and that the trash enclosure be enclosed on all four sides and conform to the ordinance any other well yeah with I think that's inherent in conforming to the ordinance that they don't have to throw things over the top what um one point of clarification for that I think would be helpful in the resolution with regard to the lot consolidation can we uh state that o can be done by deed yes and that um well I know there but there's been times when if it's not been stated and then we go back and then the building department has a particular question so that we can uh do it by deed that we will and okay Inc just to finish the thought be provided for review by the boardy um and I and also in addition to the conditional use variants we're gring site plan approval any discussion among board members and if not would someone like to make a motion motion to approve with the conditions stated okay all in favor say I any opposed Mr Cruz is abstaining okay all of you thank you very much go do it quickly we're trying thank you people than you the next application is that of Stuart B and Sarah massone owners of property at 315 Claremont Avenue this is an application for conditional use approval and site plan approval to construct a 2 and a half story addition to the existing building on the property convert the building from a two family to a three family dwelling property is located in the R3 Garden group zone is designated on the Township tax maps is block 1507 lot 17 um it's a the use is a permitted conditional use um and the the applicant does not eat all the conditions of the conditional use VAR and specifically uh requirement that all the entrances be a common entrance from the front wall the develop building and not all the entrances will be so located Mr tulac you want to give your appearance and run thank you good evening Mr chairman members of the board first of all thank you very much on behalf of my clients for staying late and hearing this application at this late hour especially this time of year um I represent Stuart ball and Sarah U mastone who are the owners of property at 315 Claremont Avenue this is an application for site plan approval and uh two conditional use variances property uh located between Valley Road and North Mountain Avenue on the uh north side of the street contains a two family uh dwelling uh my clients who are longtime Monclair residents are proposing to construct an addition to the rear of the existing building uh to be um and create a third dwelling unit in the building which would be occupied uh by their son and his fiance property is located in the R3 Zone District uh which allows for and permits the conversion of existing residential buildings to provide more than two dwelling units a as a conditional use uh I believe the ordinance lays out six or seven conditional use for requirements uh we meet all of those except for two um the two requirements that we don't meet are the requirement for 15,000 square ft of lot area within 150 ft of the street um we have uh 14,126 ft it's obviously it's an existing condition and we can't do anything to um um reduce that non-conform secondly uh the ordinance requires uh that there be a common entrance for all of the units located in the front of the building facing the street and we're proposing separate entrances for the uh for the three dwell three dwelling units I had noticed for a third conditional use variance uh related to the square footage of one of the units the the one of the existing units um the requirement is 800 square feet actually as Mr SAS will testify to in a few minutes we actually meet that requirement so although I notice for it I don't think we need that variance um and so we're requesting the two conditional use variances otherwise I think the plan that's that uh will be discussed this evening is essentially fully conforming to all site plan requirements I think there may be one or two very very minor di Minimus variants but otherwise it's fully conforming uh application you know which in addition to providing for the uh building addition to the rear also provides for a number of site improvements including a reduction in the amount of impervious coverage and the provision of additional Landscaping uh and improved lighting um you know before I call uh Mr Sionis who prepared the plans as the project architect to discuss those plans as well as the variance variances I'd first like to call uh one of my clients steuart ball to provide some brief background information regarding the property and the plans for the expansion as I just discussed so unless there's any preliminary questions for me I ask that Stuart ball be sworn him Mr ball would you raise your right hand do you swear to tell the truth of the matter pending before the board I do sir state your name and address I'm steuart ball I live at 315 Claremont Avenue in M Clair New Jersey thank you Mr B you one of the owners of that property I am okay and you own that property together with your wife Sarah mastone is that correct correct and when did you and your wife purchase the property in 2020 okay and you currently live in the house as you said we do okay um where did you live prior to 35 to acquiring 315 CL I lived at 33 Steven Street in Monclair for many years we moved there in 1984 when our two wonderful children were just becoming School aged and we were looking for a good public school system that was also integrated and there are not many of those and we were very happy to come to Monclair we're very fortunate to find a great house on Steven Street where we lived and raised our kids our kids went through the mon cler school system and thrived there uh we've been very happy there but um as we aged uh we realized and particularly our children realized that it it would be harder and harder for us to handle the stairs and other factors so we began to look to to change our living situation the house we found which we're very fortunate to find is probably as big or bigger but for us it's better because it has a separate unit uh that we rent out that replaces some of the income that that drifts away when we get older and um it also is such that it's configured in a way that we can shrink to one floor at the at the point that we becomes necessary I plan to have that never necessary but you never know um and the next very fortunate thing in terms of us staying in Monclair and living in the town that we have really come to love in so many ways is that um our youngest son Alex who's here tonight and his uh uh partner uh have now configured their lives in just such a way that it turns out they're prepared to live in my CLA uh they need a separate house of course but um if they have this dwelling they will live there um and they will be able to both reain in anything stupid that Sarah and I do and take care of us when we need to so it works out very well for us and uh we're really hopeful that we'll be able to do this okay so the purpose of the addition that's being proposed in the creation of the third unit is to provide a a dwelling unit for your son and his partner as you said exactly okay you currently have another tenant in the building is that right we do okay um okay that that's really all I have for Mr Paul none I just have I would have bet that you and Sarah moved to Steven Street long before Lois and I moved to Harvard Street but I discovered it was a year after we moved I you were always voting and I just always assumed you were predated us I I defer to you sir thank you thank you all by the way I Echo the thanks for staying tonight and hearing us out all thank you yeah yep seat Paul Sayers Mr cus would you raise your right hand do you swear to tell the truth in the matter pending before the board I do state your name and address my name is Paul Sionis my address is 8 Hillside Avenue Montclair New Jersey all right you're handing out a PowerPoint presentation we're going to mark that as exib A1 correct okay Mr chair you want to let me just before you start Paul Mr chairman I'm offering Mr Sionis as expert in field of architecture and professional planning and I hope the board would accept his qualifications thank you thank you um I'm also passing out besides the PowerPoint copies passing at um drawing sd11 the drawings that were submitted um in the last 10 days on SD 101 there was a opaque uh hatch covering the entire parking lot just on that one page and we noticed that this morning so um the drawings I'm passing out now is the exact same drawing but with a transparent hatch over the parking area is there a new revision date on this or is it just a correction with the same revision date correction with the same date all right um Paul we've Mar already marked as a an exhibit your PowerPoint presentation um so I would ask if you could um run through the plans uh for the board using your power presentation as you normally do okay thank you um and and advancing the slides is Alex ball who will be living in the the new dwelling unit we just practiced this at the historic commission and Alex did this very well thank you um so again I prepared a PowerPoint exhibit which is basically a collection of the drawings that were submitted with the application some of these have been colored for better visibility but again the beauty of the PowerPoint is we're able to include photographs and additional notes um so 3155 Claremont Avenue it's on the north side of Claremont Avenue between Valley Road to the East and North Mountain Avenue to the West um it's directly next to a single family dwelling uh to the West um and a mixed use building at the which is at the corner of Valley Road and Claremont Avenue um there's an existing dwelling directly to the north of this subject property that faces onto Valley Road and then across Claremont Avenue are a lot of mixed uses there's a garden apartment complex there's dwellings uh plus office es uh so the neighborhood is is a mix of both commercial and residential uses um next slide please slide number two this is the survey map uh the property is known as uh lot 17 in Block 1507 um it's about 11 18.94% 37 Acres there's a 100 feet of Frontage along Claremont Avenue the site's relatively flat it has a slight slope from the top left to the bottom right or from Northwest down to the southeast Corner um the site is currently improved with uh two structures uh one is the two family dwelling that's in the front of the property and then there's also a two-car garage or accessory structure at the rear at the northeast corner of the property uh currently this is a gravel driveway um and then a large gravel parking area in the rear of the property uh the main building which is the two family building was constructed in 1920 and the property is located in the R3 uh Garden group Zone uh next slide please uh so this is um photocopy of the uh Township zoning map for this uh section of town uh so 315 Claremont Avenue is in the R3 Garden group Zone and multif family dwellings or permitted uses as conditional uses within this Zone um so the application does not comply with all of the conditions and that a common entrance is required to all of the units in the wall of the building that faces the street and the dwelling units uh entries currently are separate and are um also proposed to remain separate so the two units currently do not have an entry from the front uh of the building um we're proposing one new dwelling unit uh also with a separate entry so the applicant is seeking what's known as and you heard Mr William explain this very well we're seeking the same variance a D3 variance um for a deviation from the conditional use standards and then in 2020 under a previous ownership um the front building contained three dwelling units so we were retained by Mr pler who owned this building at and prior to the ball walls purchasing this building and at the time it had three dwelling units in the building um between 2020 and um and and now um one of the first floor dwelling units was merged with another resulting in the current two dwelling units that exist today next slide so next slide is um a compilation of three photographs from Google Earth street street view and in the center of this slide is the subject property 315 Claremont Avenue to the left or to the West is 320 Claremont Avenue and then to the right or to the east is 311 Claremont Avenue Slide Five um contains three photographs uh that that we took back in September um the top slide is a view from Claremont Avenue uh bottom left is the rear uh northeast corner of the building and the bottom right is the rear northwest corner of the ex existing building so according to the property records as I stated the building was built around 1920 it's a large 2 and 1 half story craftsman style building um the front and partial sides contain brick on the first floor um and then stucco on the second floor and then there's a rear Dormer that has wood shingles um the windows are primarily double hung windows and many of them have um very nice leaded glass lights uh the first floor from front Bay as shown in that top photograph um is topped with a a wood grid pattern decoration almost like lattice but this was a nice wood design from 1920 uh the main roof is a hip style roof with certain gable roof bays in addition to that shed roof at the rear of the property um next slide so slide number six um this is the proposed site plan colored for V better visibility um so the existing 2 and 1 half story two family dwellings proposed to be enlarged in the northwest corner with a 2 and 1 half story addition with one dwelling unit at this corner of the building um the dwelling unit is proposed for the owner's adult son who's um ad Alex who's standing uh behind me um the new dwelling unit will have a separate entry which requires a conditional use variants it will have no interior connection to the other dwelling units in the building um the existing one-story accessory building or garage in the northeast corner is to remain but it will be used for both trash and recycling storage uh the owner's Workshop uh and then um certain tenant storage for large items such as uh bicycles and and strollers um the existing gravel driveway and gravel parking area is to be removed uh the driveway is to be replaced with a uh what we're calling a pav a ribbon driveway which is two tracks of pavers um separated by a lawn between the two tracks of pavers um and then the the gravel uh sort of unorganized parking area in the back will be replaced by an asphalt parking area for six parking spaces the uh the lot will be striped uh paved and surrounded with granite block Paving um no Varian is required for the parking based on the three units 5.9 parking stalls are required and six parking stalls are proposed we're also proposing one new HVAC uh condenser unit for the new uh the new third unit the condenser unit will be placed just to the left or west side of the the new edition it'll be placed on a concrete pad and I'll I'll show in one of the next slides um will'll be surrounding that with Evergreen planting um the project um is designed to reduce the impervious coverage so the 46.5% existing impervious uh 43.2% is proposed so we're reducing it by 2.3% but the maximum allowed by calculation is 43% so we have a slight um deviation from the uh impervious uh allow so even with this addition we we've still reduced the impervious coverage um next slide please next slide is an enlargement of of the site plan just for better visibility uh for board members um again so this shows that the new paveed parking area at the rear of the property for six cars it also shows the two tracks of pavers um that will uh continue from The Claremont Avenue sidewalk back to this rear parking area um at the development review commission um there were several uh items requested or suggested one of them was to install a new uh fence to block headlights from this parking area um so I marked in Orange there's a new 6' high wood fence proposed uh that will be aligned with um two of the parking stalls parking stalls five and six so that the headlights from those stalls uh will not um go into the neighboring property to the east um also on this site plan um it shows and I'll talk about this further um we're proposing two new dry Wells to collect the storm water from the um the new edition and those are shown just to the uh north of the proposed Edition um another item I'll point out is that originally we had the entry to the new addition to on the west side of the building um and at the histor commission it was recommended to move the entry to this addition to the rear of the building where it would would not be visible from from Claremont Avenue um so we've made that change since the historic commission meeting next slide please slide number eight is the front half of the enlarged site plan and again you could see the um the two tracks of pavers uh going from The Claremont Avenue sidewalk um heading north towards the new parking area in the rear um next slide Paul before you you know you're going to talk about site Improvement before you do that just a quick question uh will any trees need to be removed in order to accommodate the addition or the any of the other improvements no no trees will be removed thank you okay next slide uh slide number n nine is a colored version of the proposed landscape plan and lighting plan um so we're we're proposing uh new Evergreen plantings along the north lot line um and it was noted at the development review commission that the neighboring property to the North and I'll show it in the photograph has a lot of volunteer trees in the um in the rear of that property um so we've put a note on the drawings that the plantings are to be adjusted so as not to disturb the existing tree roots from the adjoining lot to the north um the we're the property to the north is is undeveloped in the rear um but we're we're proposing the Evergreen plantings um basically to put a finish ing touch on the north side of this subject property um we're also proposing two new flowering trees two new red bud trees um on the drawings we showed them 7 to8 feet tall at the time of purchase and planting um these are trees that would have multi stems in the engineer's review letter um he stated that the minimum size of of small trees should be 2in caliber um um multi- stem trees are not sold by calber they're sold by height um but we I looked it up and found that um you know the closest to a 2-in caliber for a multi- stem tree would be uh 8 to 10 feet high at the time of purchase and planting so we will revise the plant schedule to show those Red Buds slightly taller um we're proposing five Evergreens uh to surround the new HVAC condenser unit those are to be ink berries um uh planted at 3 and to 4 2 in tall at the time of purchase and planting they would screen the HVAC condens unit from the neighboring property to the west and also from any view looking down the driveway um all the plants um the cedar trees at the rear the ink berry shrubs and the um Red Buds are are all native plants um currently the property has a lot of mature vegetation you could see on this colored drawing um there's there's a lot of vegetation um on on this property already that that's mature um lighting we're following the township standards for Sight lighting um we're proposing one new wallmounted light at the rear entry to the new unit um we're also proposing two new uh pole mounted lights for the rear parking area those will be uh 15t tall poles with uh LED light fixtures and then we're proposing um one light on the existing garage wallmounted light um on next slide please so before you just one quick question before you turn the page I think you're showing on this slide a snow storage area I just want to ask snow snow will be handled so so we're required to show a a snow storage area so on on this slide um it's I have an arrow pointing to an area that is the suggested snow storage area uh so it would to the uh just to the east of the proposed red bud tree um but would um snow could be uh move moved or plowed into that that specific area um the next slide is um slide number 10 thanks so this this is just an enlargement of the partial landscape plan and lighting plan um so on this plan you could see the foot candle spread from each of the light fixtures on the um engineer's comment uh engineer comments he noted that at the Western property line um the um lighting level is shown is 04 foot candles and it's has to be a maximum of .1 ft candle um and I'm pointing out that there's a 6t high wood fence along that uh property line that would uh prevent any light spillage um you know at 6 feet and below onto the neighbor's property and then also on the top right is the plant schedule where I'm noting that the um red bud trees uh we'd revise the size to be 8 to 10 foot height rather than the 7 to 8 foot that shown on the plan uh next slide please slide 11 um top left is a photograph uh taken by me uhu looking to the west and that's showing that 6' high wood fence it's it's actually on the neighbors uh neighboring property just to the west of the uh common lot line but in my opinion that would serve to cut off any light spillage from 6 fet and below and then the right photograph um is looking to the north that's what I describ the neighboring property which faces Valley Road or fronts onto Valley Road uh the back of it is um all volunteer trees um it's an existing chain link fence along the property line that's where we're proposing to put the cedar trees um in front of that chain Ling fence on our subject property um the um and then there's a large tree stump on our property uh as you can see in the left side of the photograph and that that's proposed to be removed but there are no trees on on 315 Claremont property that are proposed to be removed next slide please next slide number 12 this is we were asked to provide impervious uh calculations to prove our our numbers so basically uh the left side of this slide is um we've cross-hatched where the existing gravel areas are um and all where all the impervious areas including the the building walkways um and the gravel Paving which is impervious uh so that's 7,635 point8 n ft of impervious existing and then with the changes we're proposing such as removing almost all of the gravel Paving uh removing several uh walkways and then having more efficient walkways from the back of the building to the paveed parking area um we're reducing it from 7,635 point8 n ft down to 7,90 square ft so um it it's a reduction of um little over 545 square fet of impervious um next slide please next slide 13 of the floor plans um the very top uh is the existing garage uh so the existing garage which is the accessory building in the rear northeast corner of the building the proposal is to divide it in half internally the right side or the E side uh would be um storage for the owner plus a home Workshop um it's currently partially used as a home Workshop but this is to um s solidify it its future use as a home workshop plus storage for the owner the left side or west side uh would be common storage for the tenants for larger items such as bicycles and strollers that they would not bring into the house plus uh organized trash and recycling storage and the proposal is that the owner would be responsible for bringing trash and recycling out out to the street for collection the bottom left drawing is the basement plan um so there's the existing basement um has the mechanical equipment a laundry room in the top right or northeast corner uh there's a open storage room with a toilet in it and then in the center of that existing basement um we're dividing up three storage spaces three interior storage spaces um top top Northern one is would be uh for the owner 372 cubic feet and then the bottom two would be for tenants one at 250 cubic feet and the other also at 250 cubic feet so it would be individual tenant storage areas within the building uh and then the addition top left uh would be built over a crawl space so the addition is has a footprint of 21 ft by 35 ft um the right side floor plan um shows the U with a blue arrow shows the entrance to unit number one unit number one is the owner's unit um and then to the rear is a green arrow which is the entrance to uh unit number two which is the current tenant space top left side of this drawing is the proposed addition and the excuse me uh the entry to unit number three is the top left so um someone would go up four steps uh to a covered porch a roof porch and then enter this unit number three um unit number three again is for the owner's son um it will be 2 and 1 half stories containing two bedrooms and 2 and A2 bathrooms it'll have a total of 1,750 square ft uh we had a discussion at the historic commission um about an existing window um so there's an existing window on the first floor um to the west of the existing fireplace that's shown in the master bedroom um we originally proposed to remove that window since we're connecting the new addition to the the existing building at that point uh it was decided at the historic commission just to cover the window and save it for the future in case it could be reused um the um okay next next slide please um next slide is the second and attic floor plans the leftand drawing is the proposed second floor plan uh so the unit number two is the current rental unit uh that's entered from that uh hallway and you can see the entrance with the green arrow unit number one is the second floor of the owner's unit uh so there's a den and bedroom and bathroom on the second floor the top left is the second floor of the new edition um so that would contain um you know kitchen dining living area and then the right side drawing is the proposed top floor or the attic floor um unit number three is again um the new addition they'll have a studio on that top floor with a balcony and French doors um there'll be glass along that east side because there'll be a view towards the New York skyline from this top floor of this building um and then um top floor of the existing building also belongs to the owner's unit unit number three there's a a open space bedroom plus a bathroom on that on that top floor um and here I I noted that that existing second floor unit has a floor area of 958 Square ft okay next slide please complies with the comp with the your calculations correct it says measured by the ordinance because it's excludes stairways all that kind of correct yes okay slide slide number 15 the exterior elevations um top left is the north elevation which is the rear of the building the the addition is shown in the right side um you know the pretty much this will was designed to match and complement the existing building um roofing shingles will match there'll be wood shingles on this Dormer at that top floor to match the existing Uh Wood shingles and the Dormer on the existing building um the windows will be uh either wood or wood clad double hung Windows uh one over one pattern they will not have the leaded glass inserts like the existing Windows have and then the new entry to unit number three is in the bottom of that North elevation again it's a a wood stoop and steps leading to an entry door with a a a wood roof overhang over that rear entry um the um top right drawing is the proposed East Elevation um and um the East Elevation the top floor is the windows that I I said we have the view of towards the New York skyline um to the left of those um four Windows there's a triangular area area where we're coping that um what I call the lattice design from the front of the building within those triangle triangular areas the Triangular area on the on the left of this drawing um uh will be uh above fixed glass so um it'll be pretty interesting to look from the inside through this uh decorative wood pattern um the right triangular area will uh have the wood pattern but it will be covering a stucco wall no glass there uh the exterior of the building will be stucco to match the stucco on the existing building we're copying the same flared stucco detail that's at the top of the first floor bottom of the second floor um bottom bottom left is the west elevation uh which is the view along the the driveway um again we're matching the wood shingles um on the existing Dormer um the front of the house uh currently has has brick just at the front and wraps around to the sides uh for a small portion um the height of the existing dwelling is 33 8 in the height of the proposed Edition is 32 ft 10 in so this is a it's 10 in shorter than the proposed Edition is about 10 in shorter than the existing building um next next slide please um next slide 16 is is a 3D view um uh looking from the uh Northeast um so the existing building is on the left of this 3D view the proposed addition is on on the right of this 3D view um next next slide please uh slide number 17 is a 3D view um looking from the southwest it shows the um the two strips of pa uh uh tracks for the driveway shows the pave parking to the rear it shows one of the two red bud trees um it also indicates the um Evergreens that would Evergreen ink berries that would surround the new HVAC condenser unit uh and again uh you could see the existing building to the right and then the proposed addition um to the left um the existing building has exposed um rafter Tails uh so in other words it's not a covered sopit um at the edge of the roof but it's exposed rafters um so we're proposing to match that above the second floor with the new addition um next slide um next slide is 18 of the existing plans um and again this is just to show the um um existing basement at the top top left existing first floor at the bottom uh Center uh bottom left Center top right is the existing second floor plan and the bottom right is the existing attic attic plan um next slide 19 are the existing elevations um again the top left is the North or rear of the building uh bottom left is the West as you know seen from the existing driveway and then the um bottom left is the East Elevation uh looking you know towards Valley Road um slide 20 oh good so on the what I passed out the rendering some for some reason didn't print um well um so the uh addition to the rear sorry the addition to the rear ENT at the northwest corner of the existing building which um basically minimizes the impact on the existing building and it results in a low to moderate reduction in historic integrity and that was a direct comment from uh the new historic commission consultant um unit number one's the owners of Department the owners as you've heard from Mr ball from Stuart ball um they're longtime Monclair residents who moved here to this property in the last few years in order to have space for themselves and and ideally to age in place uh and now their grown son um would like to move into the proposed unit number three um and we didn't mention it but I'll mention um Alex ball uh you know grew up on Steven Street and after college he moved to Peru and basically he's been in Peru for the last third 18 years how many 18 18 years sorry and and the goal is to be able to come back to Monclair and live you know with his family um so the exterior design and the materials are similar to the existing so that they're compatible with the existing building the addition is to the rear of it at the corner of the existing building so it'll serve as an indication that this is um um not necessarily part of the original building and that was important to the historic Comm um the location of the addition is subordinate to the original building uh with minimal impact on the view from clemont Avenue um there was as I said there was discussion about the one window that will be covered um so that will remain in place and be covered rather than be removed all of the new windows will be either wood windows or wood clad Windows all of the exterior trim will be either wood or composite painted to match uh the original wood um and the existing building layout the floor plan of the existing building precludes the new unit number three entrance being located at the existing unit one entrance facing the street so because of the Interior layout um we couldn't put the entry to unit number three at the front uh we think at the rear as suggested by the historic commissioner is is the next best thing well before you go on to planning testimony because I think you're at that point just a couple of things things um you already mentioned the HPC report HPC had two recommendations both of which have been incorporated into the plans is that correct that's correct okay um and I know you provided a point BYO response um to the latest memorandum from NLEA engineering uh dated July 30 2024 I'm certainly not going to ask you to review that um tonight but um just a couple of things um negli had two comments regarding lighting one of which you addressed which was the lighting along the Westerly uh property line and uh the other comment is section 8.4 of the letter which referred to the illumination levels near the um New pathway correct can you just discuss that sure basically um it was suggested to add additional lighting along the new pathway at the rear of the building building um in order to um provide a minimum of 05 foot candles and and we will add a fixture a fixture if required by the board another light fixture on the building um I mentioned to Mr tulac that it's funny at the historic commission meeting they they uh commented that they thought it was too much lighting at the rear of the building um that's proposed but this is what's required by ordinance so we have to comply with the ordinance okay um and uh um again I think you've really covered all the other comments in the legi report I was going to ask you to briefly discuss drainage and storm order but I don't think I want to do that at 11:30 um well basically we'll we'll comply with with what's suggested I'm going to suggest we would accept the condition Mr chairman that U you know the drainage and storm water management plans would be subject to approval of the board engineer um okay you want to go on and talk about the uh variances uh sure um basically we're asking for this D3 uh variance for conditional use variants um um the property is located in the R3 Garden group Zone and uh there are certain conditional uses uh we comply with almost all of those conditional uses uh the floor area of each each dwelling unit um cannot be less than 800 square feet um and and the proposed and existing floor areas are greater than 800 Square ft the principal building on a lot shall occupy not more than 1/4 of the ground area of the lot and we comply in that um the existing and proposed buildings uh building occupies 16.6% so we comply uh the G ground coverage of the building exclusive of open porches garages and any other area um shall be not less than 1,50 square feet and we comply in that the ground coverage is 2,223 square feet um the area of the lot on which the building is erected shall not be less than 15,000 square ft within 150 ft of the front uh Street line well um it's an existing condition that that we don't comply with the existing condition is uh it's 14,1 128 Square ft rather than the 15,000 square ft so the lot is slightly under siiz sized as anticipated by the zoning density shall not be greater than 24 units per acre um with the proposed uh total of three units we're at 7.97 dwelling units per acre um and I noted that based on the density you could have six units on this property but um we're proposing three units um fire escapes of or stairway leading to the second or any higher floor shall be completely enclosed um there's um there is an exact existing drop ladder at the rear of of um uh second second floor of the building um it's it's not required by code if the board requires um we we'll propose to remove that drop ladder um the interior design number six the interior design and arrangement of the dwelling unit shall be consistent with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development minimum Property Standards volume two we comply with that and then the item that we do not comply with is item number seven which is the reason we're here um access to all dwelling units Within a converted building shall be provided by Common by a common entrance situated in the wall of the building facing the street on which the lot has Frontage uh so unit number one is accessed by the the owner's unit is accessed by the front entrance in the center of the building so that complies unit number two however is accessed by a rear entry uh that's an existing condition and then the new unit number three will be accessed by a new rear separate entry so we deviate from uh condition number seven therefore we're seeking the variance um to talk about the you know legal standard for conditional use variance and then your analysis of the positive negative criteria sure so so D3 variance is required for deviation from the conditional use standards and in order to Grant the D3 variance um both positive and negative criteria must be satisfied um and governing bodies have determined that the use in a D3 variance is appropriate to the Zone in which it's located but it's subject to conditions so the use is appropriate but it's subject to conditions um so I'll start with the Positive criteria so the applicant must demonstrate that the site's appropriate for the proposed use in spite of the deviation from the conditional use standard um so the principal building on the lot shall occupy not more than one qu quarter of the ground area the lot so I I've just gone through all these I mean we comply that uh you know we're at 16.6% of the lot and the the maximum allowed is 25% or one quarter uh the ground coverage of the building shall be not less than 1250 Square ft um shall be I'm sorry a minimum of 1250 Square fet I misspoke and have a typo so we comply at 2223 proposed density is um 7.97 dwelling units is much less than the 24 dwelling units allowed um so because we um we meet those site conditions I think we comply with the Positive criteria as to the negative criteria we have to demonstrate that the deviations from the conditional use standard do not cause substantial detriment to the public good that they do not impair the intent and purpose of the Zone plan and the zoning ordinance or that conditions can be imposed on the approval to mitigate any substantial detriment to the impairment um so the access to the two existing dwelling units are already separate um so we're not seeking something new here it's already separate U access points uh that one is not at the front of the building so one is at the front one is at the rear existing the existing internal Arrangement as I stated will not allow new unit number three to connect to the front entry prior to the applicant's purchasing this property it was three dwelling units when I was contacted you know probably 2019 by Mr pler um there were three dwelling units in this building uh we um measured and Drew the three dwelling unit building for the previous owner um and then fourth the HBC consultant recommended that the entry to the new dwelling unit number three be relocated from the west side of the building to the rear North Side so as to be less visible from the front of the property and then I think the important argument is um and you heard this from Mr Williams before um courts of found that um imposing the same standards to a D3 conditional use variance that would be applied to a D1 non-conforming used varant is is inappropriate so the Coventry Square case from 1994 which was Coventry Square versus the Westwood Board of adjustment uh they established standards that you've heard probably many times they've established standards for granting a variance for a deviation from a specification or standards or standard pertaining solely to a condition use the standards reflect the fact that a conditional use is neither prohibited throughout the Zone nor is it permitted at every location or on every property within the Zone rather it's permitted at those locations in the zone where the use meets the conditions set forth in the zoning ordinance so a conditional use is is not a prohibited use the governing board determine that the use in a D3 variance is appropriate to the Zone in which it's to be located subject to conditions so we're here because we don't meet the one condition to have all of the units um use the same front entrance and that that concludes my direct testimony I'm sorry I rushed through it but it's late trying to I have a 7 o'cl flight in the morning so and Mr cus and Mr Tren we're going to Mark um I mean Mr as you can tell it's really getting late now sorry we're going to Mark uh revised or corrected sheet sd11 as exhibit A2 thank you okay no further questions for Mr cion just just uh uh the the two balconies that are proposed um I would presume that neither of those would uh violate the Integrity of neighbor neighborhood properties other neighborhood properties correct there there's one balcony proposed was at that top floor of the new edition yeah on the new edition but then it looks like on the the the current on the second floor over the back deck on page 16 of your exhibit correct on on exhibit 16 um you could see there's a an existing balcony at the rear of this um second floor above the first floor deck and then um I'm assuming that um this um property uh your perspective is that this is not property that could be converted back uh into a single family property the um the existing build the existing building could could always be converted back to a single family if someone wanted to do that right but with the additional the additional piece that would not allow for that right the the internal layout would not allow for that correct and we tried to read minimize the connection from the new addition to the existing building okay all right thank you thank you Mr um Paul I'm not sure the terminology but this the West Wall of there's like is that a hip wall there Southwest is that an architectural feature there um which slide are you page you looking at 17 17 thank you oh Jesus thank you so so there's um there's a hip roof over that that bump out on the first that bump out is just architectural it's AR architectural yes and uh that that little that window on the second floor for the kitchen you feel confident that that's going to bring a lot of light into that kitchen area uh yes um sorry back to the I I I do um there's also uh light will be coming in from the East side so it's an open kitchen dining living area okay thank you thank you yeah just got a couple questions um is there a second exit or method of uh erress for the new unit no it's a totally um separate unit that's connected but uh to the rear wall of the existing building but uh it's not required to have a second exit it's like a single family house um very similar there's no requirement I thought I thought you had to have like a a window oh we're required to have egress windows in every sleeping room but um so there will be egress windows they have to be a minimum of 5.7 Square ft that that's required by building CO yes um and sticking with the windows it looks like on page 15 the the windows don't exactly line up I don't that could just be the factor of the drawing but in compared to the to the old existing structure and what's proposed um just seems like the windows are yeah I see that the the the first floor window is sort of a skew from the the second floor on the second floor compared to the other side we had the triple and the double I I I think that should be corrected thank you just want to confirm that and for the the I made a note was was there a variance required for um for unit two back when that was uh for the for the for the rear entrance for unit 2 I I when unit two was a two family I mean the requirement for the common entrance only would apply if you're looking to um increase the number of units got it above two okay no no other questions thank you thank you Mr chairman um just a few questions um on the first floor plan um I guess you you have a window an existing window that will be covered correct yes yeah and so the does the wall there requires any additional like fire proofing or yeah basically a separation between it will have to be a fire rated separation yes the separation right yeah okay and then on the second floor of the proposed unit um in the kitchen area is that supposed to be a high ceiling to the third floor yes and and you could see that to the right on that third floor plan um so it's just a high ceiling above the kitchen dining area and then there's three large glass uh roof uh uh skylights Skylight um yeah so that's a high ceiling yeah okay and the guess the last question was there any thought about uh EV charging stations in the new um um yes yes I just put an e and having the two 240 line put into the garage so the answer is yes the the 240 Vault line was put into the garage all right thank you thank you that's great I don't have any questions Mr Cruz uh no questions Mr Church okay well just a couple of things to go over for um you you you know you you did a response to Mr negle as I the response from nly engineering's memo I just want to be clear and then I'm going to contradict myself in a sec other than 8.04 is there anything you're not going to comply with I mean there's some there's some of his things that are statements there's some of his things that are um recognize the plans have been revised and I don't really want to go through and sort out 20 conditions that still apply but is there anything that other than 8.04 you're not complying with no no no okay U now to contradict myself okay on 8.01 on the red bud that's just silly and I know you Revis the plans to show the larger caliber hence taller trees but I mean that's silly and I it's very nice you're willing to comply but we're not going to require you to comply okay but you understand that multi stem trees are sold by height not calber yes I understand and I so than you know so I you know you're going to go back to your original slightly smaller trees which I assume are slightly cheaper and yes um and then my well no is there any member of the audience who has any questions any objections from Sons and future daughter-in-laws to what's being built for them uh okay Mr TR no further qu no further Witnesses do you want to sum up I'm going to be very brief uh the two variances we need there's there's recent precedent from this board with respect to these uh the two D3 variances for the building uh I'm sorry for the lot area requirement as well as a requirement for a common entrance um a little over a year ago this board granted uh variances uh for 70 Grove Street which involved the creation of a third dwelling unit in the basement that property was 12,23 Square ft compared to the requirement of 15,000 square ft um and um the board you know approved the application and also approved uh variance from the common entrance requirement to permit separate entrance uh from the rear of the property for the new third unit um the other application that I'm very familiar with and Paul would also recall it two years before that 41 Harrison Avenue again same two variances were granted in that uh application the lot size was LE was just about 10,000 square ft compared with the 15,000 foot requirement um and the board uh granted the VAR the D3 variants for the lot area and also uh permitted um three separate entrances for the three uh dwelling units in that building and quitting an entrance to the on the side of the building to the rear for the new um um dwelling unit that was created so you know those are just two examples of similar variances granted by this uh by the board I mean the lot area here is almost compliant and if not for the fact that the property sort of tapers in the rear you know you've got a lot that's 100 feet wide and and like 170 feet deep which would meet the 15,000 ft² requirement but again there's a little bit of an odd shape to the rear where it pinches in and results in a slightly less uh area but as as U as the board found in those prior cases and as I think should be clear from the from U Mr Sis's testimony here that not withstanding those deviations this property is certainly um U suitable and appropriate for three family use as evidenced by the fact that there's plenty of land area we've got suff ient uh uh parking um provided so not withstanding those deviations um the the the we think we meet the centry uh Square uh standards in that the site is still appropriate for the proposed use and as I said earlier I think we have an minor uh the Minimus variance for impious coverage I think that would be the only additional variance um and other than that um you know subject to the conditions that have been discussed I would ask the board to approve the application and thank you again for staying late start discussion Mr Simon um I'm in favor Mr VI um I'm also in favor of the application I think I don't really have an issue with that separate entrance so I will support the application Miss Grant I'm in favor of the application Mr Cruz uh I'm in favor of the application Mr church I'm in favor Mr mullock I'm in favor um I'm in favor Alex I have a one quick story my parents did the same thing uh moved in with my dad's family they did they built the same situation it was great for babysitting but uh when they went out to dinner my grandfather my dad's father didn't understand why he had they had to walk outside to go see the kids so when they came back the wall was knocked down and they could get into there very easily the next day my mom started to look for a new house um I'm also in favor of the application I think you know the it's a minor deviation from the required lot size uh the existing configuration of the house dictates with the two existing units that there be the entrances be separate so even if they wanted to combine have the new addition have a same front entrance which would have defeated the whole purpose it they still wouldn't have met it um you know so I think and as Mr Trula pointed out we've granted similar variances um I think but due to the existing configuration of the entrances of the house they could not have conformed to that requirement uh this is certainly not going to be a substantial impairment to the Zone plan or substantial debt detriment to the public good and the conditions are they adhere to the engineering conditions except 8.1 and 8.5 and they correct the window alignment that Mr Simon spoke to um and other than I'm generally opposed to constituents leaving the election District we will tolerate this for them anyway um someone want to make a motion to approve of those conditions to approve second is there a second second okay all in favor say I I any opposed any extensions good luck thank you very much thank you motion to adjourn well I think we have to I think we have to carry the last application do we make an announcement no do we I don't I don't remember doing it that's why I ask yeah I don't think we did application 2889 for 204 Claremont Avenue Monclair Dental Spa will not be heard tonight they be they'll be carried to the August 21st meeting with no new no new notice required thank you okay that was not good I didn't realize my bad um the um so we have Wheeler Street we have that anything else on for the 21st let me take a check do you have the 21st agenda here when's the next meeting August 25th yes AUST 21st I will not be here say right now I don't have the agenda we don't have it with us right now I can tell you what's on it okay go ahead So currently for the 21st is uh 50 Church Street uh art of rain use variant for the tattoo studio um 2018 Mountainside Park Terrace uh which is the bulk variants for a swimming pool and a Breezeway and then um 204 Claremont Avenue which is the um second floor conversion to dental offices um and then there's one more when we continued Wheeler Street to Wheeler Street is on for October at the moment okay so they put put it off yeah okay good everyone have a good morning motion to someone move we need a motion to adjourn all in favor say I Mission Street e