##VIDEO ID:cgY0JWNTh8Y## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good evening everyone it's time we'll start the meeting please rise pledge allegiance to flag of the United States of America to the for stands Nation God indivisible withy and Justice please be seated good evening welcome to the Zoning Board of adjustment special meeting uh for this October 21st 2024 may we have a roll call please Mr holl miss Andrew is absent Miss Chevalier here Mr Rizo here Mr scagno here Mr Stoner is absent Miss STI here Mr Victoria is absent and Mr Sing is absent and chairman svin here all right we apologize for those who be watching at home for starting late we had some technical difficulties uh as a housekeeping matter I just ask everybody in the room please shut your phone off or mute it so we don't interrupt the testimony and just to let you know this is being uh broadcast live feed over catv 15 here in the township as well as YouTube live if you ever want to watch it uh you can look that up on YouTube Mr Cheney I'd ask you to swear in our professionals at this point before we start the application gentlemen do you solemly swear to the truth of the testimony for which you about to provide I do I do thank you would you state your name on Mr Dari please raakesh dargy with environmental resolutions zon board Consulting engineer Dan uh Daniel hhan uh zoning officer and acting zoning board secretary for tonight okay thank you board members for being here this evening for this special meeting uh we only have one application obvious viously it's 42- 2024 z uh that's Hudson 90 Matan LP this is in the og5 zone this is block 3234 lot 4.02 6 and 4.02 eight uh the physical location 90 mwan Road it's a commercial sale of diamonds this is requiring a d variance the applicant seeks the lease uh to perspective tenant that purchases and sells diamonds Salvatore Alf alfery Esquire representing Mr alfery good good evening green salvator alfery clear giobi alfery and Jacobs on behalf of the applicant first thank you for uh coming to the special meeting to hopefully accommodate the applicant um they have some time pressure with their current location and hopefully moving into this new location as the board chairman indicated this is 90 990 mwan Road it's on the corner of mwan Road in Cliffwood Road it's the large office building right on the corner the office building is approximately 240,000 Square ft this tenant intends to occupy 5500 square feet um and yes it's a commercial Diamond business it's it's as it's as close to an office use as as you you can find but but the use itself is not permitted in the zone because it is not solely an office use the applicant will speak in a moment and discuss theit the operational um aspects of the application so you better understand what we're asking for um no site improvements are being proposed no changes will take place on the outside they're only going to fit out if this is approved the 5,500 foot space for this tenant's use um we have two witnesses we intend to call there is a representative of the owner of the the office building here as well if the board has questions of the owner um Jim Higgins is our planner which who we'll get to later and Mr hassenfeld who is seated to your right my left is the applicant we're going to ask that you affirm Mr Hassel before he testifies please before he swears them in I just want to advise somebody that I missed something we have followed the open public meetings act and uh adequate notice was given uh in accordance with the open public meeting act at least 48 hours prior of the commen this meeting it's been posted in the municipal complex stating the time to date location of this meeting we've also had a mailing to such announcement to home news and tribune and uh filing a copy of such announcement with the municipal clerk it's also posted on the municipal website as required by law I'm sorry to interrupt sir oh thank you sir can you raise your right hand please do you somly swear us the truth of the testimony for which you are about to provide iirm thank you sir and can you state your full name for the record Isaiah Herz hassenfeld Herz has no we're going to have a problem here so can we get another yeah Isaiah Herz has just need two h e rtz and then hassenfeld is h a s n f LD thank you sir have him Center that microphone Mr FY thank you that's perfect sir and Mr hassenfeld what is your relationship to the prospective tenant of this property I'm the owner relationship to the tenant yeah I am the tenant and you're the owner of the the owner of the company can you tell the board the name of the company and generally what the company does the name of the company is Hassel Stein Inc it was started by my father 75 years ago I'm working in this company 48 years um I joined right after I graduated college have an MBA from forom University the company um buys both rough and Polished diamonds we sell only polished diamonds we do not sell any retail we sell to the finest stores in America and Canada um we the office that we occupy right now in Manhattan which we plan to move here to Manan um is um it's a matter one mailing address but the town is Oldbridge everyone confuses that so I apologies I'm sorry so um I'm learning New Jersey um we do uh um office work inventory marketing receiving shipping and we have two artisanal polish shures as well um we have two diamond wheels which you do some very minor d diamond polishing bit of a background a rough diamond loses approximately 50 to 60% of its weight before it is finished to be sold as a polished Diamond all but the final 2% are done in batswana and a factory in batswana the final 2% on some stones are done here in and our Factory which is just final touch-ups so all the heavy lifting is done in batswana Africa the final touch-ups are done by Master Card is here so there's very little dust very little cutting it's just the final touch-up work so you um in your statement of operations you indicated that your hours of operation are 9 to 6 Monday through Friday is that correct Friday is more like 1 p.m. okay um no weekends no weekends and then you also indicated you have 12 employees can you describe again I know you generally described what they were but what what do the 12 employees do if they're all on site at the same time generally they are all on site at the same time we have a uh an accountant he has an assistant we have a programmer we have um three salespeople we have an inventory manager um we have a marketing person we have two gemologists one uh and and one uh Diamond manager who oversees the diamond Division and two Cutters and then how are the sales first of all there's no retail you indicated that earlier there's no retail at all you don't have customers coming in to buy diamonds from you at your location we have no retail customers neither in our office nor outside our office we sell only to wholesale accounts a wholesale account would come to our office approximately once or twice a month it's done almost exclusively by internet by um um sending images and files uh over email um and electronically always send the diamonds out for approval there's almost no actual coming and buying diamonds that's a relic of two three decades ago and you you were describing to me at least how um the diamonds are you have a Gamal gemologist on site who can over the Internet describe how a Diamond should be cut or cleaned the gists examine the diamonds we have a diamond manager who cuts the diamonds virtually sitting in our New York office or it be in a New Jersey office and they're cut in um in bana Africa the diamond cutting is a combination of Art and Science it used to be mostly art now it's like 95% science 5% art um there is a lot of technology that has been developed over the last five years which is allow us to virtually sit in our office and look into the diamond plot it do all the scanning and do all the cutting we send the file Tu batswana it's put into a robot machine some part robot part humans but it's cut between 95 and 98% of the diamond is cut in batswana sometimes even 100% then it's sent to New York the gists in New York look at to make sure that it passes every one of the criteria we deal with a number of of the largest and most important jewelry companies in America each one has their own very strict criteria and the gist make sure that it matches those criteria if for some reason it doesn't we usually can do those touch-ups in our Factory in New York if it needs a lot of work it gets shipped back to to batana generally we can do all the touch-up work in New York now um how do you receive deliveries of diamonds and how how are they shipped out um normal shipments to all our clients are done in a non-descript FedEx box we have insurance for that and our insurance company insists that it it shipped you cannot tell the difference between a diamond shipment and any other stock of papers once or twice a month we get a shipment from batswana which would be several hundred, or more and that comes by Brinks the Brinks truck is not a major truck it's the same as a FedEx truck but it's an armored car uh it does not need any special facilities right now we live in New York and it it comes to in Manhattan so obviously have no special parking there and over here will not be any different than a fex delivery except it's delivered by a delivery man carrying a pistol and it's um but but that that's be once or twice a month we ship normally every day ship and receive about 10 to 15 packages they come and go exactly like any other FedEx package by FedEx delivery man and they're totally non-descript so um as part of assuming this were approved as part of your business operation here you would not need any specific parking space is allotted to your use it would be simply like every other delivery that's made to the other office exactly the last thing we want is any special notice the whole point is to be routine so we would not have anything out of the ordinary that's done right now we don't want we don't want to draw any attention to ourselves um you can you describe how security is maintained um assuming this were approved that this location how do you intend to provide security the security was set up by insurance company they ran through the the plans they designated which places have to have cameras we're going to end up with something like 20 cameras which are recording at all times we have um quite a number of locks which is are are remotely controlled we can allow people in or out there are several man traps which means before you come into one door the previous door has to be locked so you can't just walk through um there are alarms uh all these things are done with um Direction by our insurance company which is Lloyds of London and they tell us exactly how we want to set up the office um there are several steel doors I think that we put in just five steel doors near the safe near the openings um by the entrance and egress to to the office there are steel doors uh everything can be opened remotely uh the Fire official issued a report on October 15th um indicating that had had to install a key box so that they the fire fish can get access in the event of an emergency you have no issue complying with it have no issue right now in my New York office of fire department can enter and exit that will and we agree to the same thing over here we're insured for that and then in terms of signage the building has a I guess a centralized directory in the building itself is that correct and you'll be on that directory like all the other we'll be in directory like any other tenant it will say house plus Ste Inc and then there'll be a sign on the door in term H steing right but no no exterior signage for your use nothing different than any other office um I believe that is all we had of this witness I oh I'm sorry there was a question in the report issued that some of the parking spaces might be weathered or or the parking lot might be weathered I know you spoke to the landlord the landlord is in phases repairing and or replacing the parking lot within the complex is that correct not my department so well I'm in the diamond business I'm sorry okay we can get to that that's all we have of the witness Mr chair all right thank you Mr El Mr Dar I don't have any questions for this witness chairman Mr Holan you have anything I have no question chairman start with members on my left if they have any questions no very good good presentation cameras cameras on the outside of on the outside for the tenants you have any security for them I have cameras outside my door that's intent outside the building is not my department no outside the door I do have I have a camera seeing every person and what kind of security you have for your tenants no he's the he's I'm the tenant no no for the other tenants in the in the other offices you talking about his New York office no in this building I I am just renting how many how many tenants are around this office that you're looking to occupy I don't know you don't know we could probably get the the landlord landlord landlord is here you can I'm just applying for one space okay we'll ask the landlord that then thank youer no I'm good just SED great on the security aspect so I think that's everybody's concern I just got one really quickly just for clarifying for the record can you the name of the company hassenfeld Stein hassenfeld Stein okay thank you nothing further for me Miss T I had four questions and you answered them in your presentation so very good thank you we could call the landlord up we'll address uh why don't we get that out of the way yeah that' be good happens to be his brother okay word attorney is swear you in sir okay raise your right hand sir thank you do you somly swear the truth of the testimony for which you are about to provide I affirm thank you sir and can you state your name for the record efim hassenfeld thank you can you spell efim for us sorry e p h r a i m thank you and Mr hosfeld you or your company owns the subject property is that correct correct how long have you owned it just over 10 years and be do you know how old the building is itself at 22 years I think okay and um there were a couple questions were raised first of all the the tenant mix how many approximately how many tenants are in the building it's between 15 and 20 all right and they're medical and general office space primarily there's no medical there's all there's insurance companies there's law firms there's uh computer programmers uh Tata has a build office and there all all kinds of offices you heard the question I asked your brother about the maintenance or repair of the parking lot can you describe tell the board what your plan is for and what your plan has been for that parking lot well we've we do big areas at a time we're we're doing we we've done the back we've done part of the front I just want to make I assume if anybody looked at a survey you'd probably know the big parking lot in front of 90 mwan doesn't actually belong to us that belongs to 9 mwan our parking is behind our building underneath the building and to the right to uh wood wood Lakewood wood Cliffwood to so the area between our building and Cliffwood is also a huge parking lot that is a little bit rough and that's the next that's going to be done most likely after the winter but that is on that's it's almost never used and that is the next project that's going to be done and then in terms of garbage there's a refu area for garbage and recycling sure and are there any issues with circulation as relates to fire trucks garbage trucks or anything not at all not at all I mean I they're actually outside my personal window I see them doing it every day they got this it's every single day it works fine I never had a problem with anything okay and then you had a specific question that that's all I have the other than respond that's fine what floor is the office going to be ground floor on ground floor and the people occupying the other offices mhm who are they attorneys there's big insurance company as soon as as you walk walk in and then on the other side uh this judge group I'm not quite honest I'm not sure exactly what they do but it's all General Offices and uh there's actually it's it's laid up there there H valstein is going to be pretty much isolated they they're actually behind the elevator machine room and it's it's a little bit offset but uh in the back they're adjacent to another office I see and you have cameras in the parking you have cameras in the in the there's cameras all over the building in the hallways there's a lot of redundancy his cameras are well I don't have any any cameras in the space but the hallway cameras I have them and he have them it's it's uh I don't foresee any problems okay thank you that was all you had for the witness right uh Mr dogi I don't have any questions Mr chairman Mr Holan I have no questions for witness chairman yeah I did say something in there but uh I knew that the tenant wasn't going to handle those matters but as the owner of the building those are probably going cyclical that you're going to do the parking lot in phases Andor defs as needed right correct and that's going to be probably will be handled obviously in the spring correct because it's a little bit probably a little too late for for paving at this time of the year that's correct okay I'll go to the board members on my left of this witness oh very good any I'm thank Vice chair no this test already counselor nothing for me thank you like to call our planner up then please absolutely thank you thank you thank you sir good evening good evening do Solly swear as the truth the testimony for which you are about to provide yes thank you can you say your name for the record James Higgins hi GG NS I'm a licensed planner in the state I've been licensed for approximately 45 years I reside at 14 Tilton Drive Ocean New Jersey where I also have my office and I have testified before this board on numerous occasions over the past 45 years we had to talk earlier how long you been doing this about 45 years I've been licensed for 45 years you 45 years but you're here tonight sub I'm here tonight that's right how did that happen your daughter sent you here actually yeah my daughter well actually Christine cfone sent me here she's another planner and she wanted my daughter to come and my daughter couldn't come so I came all three are familiar to this board everyone has heard you testify here over the years certainly we we accept your expertise thank you thank you so Jim we need devv variant relief um even though most of this use is office space can you supply to the board the necessary proofs to support the D variant yeah sure the sites in the og5 zone and it's generally an office Zone but there are other uses that are permitted in that zone um besides General Offices and medical offices drinking places are permitted in the zone I'm not sure I'm assuming it means bars but I don't know for sure I'm I'm not sure what what the ordinance intended for drinking places veterinarian offices and veterinary hospitals are permitted daycare is permitted and there are a number of other uses that are much much more intensive than what the applicant is proposing and because of the N the specific nature of the use that a portion of the use is the the final finishing of the diamonds and then shipping them out uh it's not technically a permitted use in the zone I I think really the Crux of the application and the Crux of the proofs are really outlined in your reexamination report uh from 2022 and it talks about on page 22 paragraph J uh with the changing market trends and development needs the structure of the current general office zones shall be evaluated for alternate non-residential uses the OG zones were once areas where small moderate large office plexes were to be developed due to the ease of access to highways and computer access points few of those zones however were ever developed through with office use um basically what your reexamination report is saying is that we need to relook at the OG zones and the type of uses that are permitted and the reason for that is the the the internet basically where people are now working from home rather than working in New offices so the demand for office space has been reduced considerably and there's really a need to look at alternative types of uses that are compatible with office uses and can can exist in the office zones and this is one such use it's much less intensive than many of the office uses that are permitted in the in the zone you have 12 employees that are going to be on the site very few people a couple times a month are going to come to visit the site the deliveries are of the product itself to the site only happen one or two times a month and the shipment of the product out basically goes by FedEx so for all intents and purposes when you look at the use it's really an office type use it appears to fit in very very nicely with the uh with the other uses on this site uh and so when I look at that I think there's a particular suitability of of this site for this use in addition I think it does advance a number of the purposes of the municipal land use law one of which is clearly for the more efficient use of land because rather than having an empty office space sitting there it's going to be a space that's going to be occupied with the viable business that as you've heard it's been in business for 90 years and it's probably going to be in business for quite some time to come so I think it advances that purpose of the land use law it advances the purpose of the land use law with regard to providing a appropriate Lo appropriate land in an appropriate location for for an appropriate use so I think those two purposes of the land use law are also advanced and and tangentially uh it also helps with the uh free flow of traffic because this use will have much less traffic and much less parking required than many of the other permitted uses in the zone so when you look at all this I think definitely there are special reasons for the granting of the variants that's requested and I don't see any substantial negative impact it's I don't think it's contrary to your Zone plan in fact I think it's really getting out out front of the recommendation of your reexamination report in 2022 and being proactive and trying to implement that re recommendation there's no substantial negative impact to surrounding uses uh as far as traffic is terms in terms of the intensity of the use and quite frankly I don't think anybody's going to even know it's there V visually so when I look at all that I think there are special reasons for the granting of the variant I don't see any substantial negative impact to the granting of the variants thank you and that concludes planning testimony Mr chair thank you Mr Higgins uh Mr Dari um thank you Mr chairman I I guess rather than sort of belabor it I I do agree with the applicant planner uh testimony with regard to uh the proofs that are required for the use variance um there is a change in climate that we've all sort of seen coming uh and and there probably is a need to to relook at uh the master plan and the uses that are permitted in in this Zone um and these are the kind of changes these kind of uses that um these spaces will naturally evolve to uh to look at to occupy the spaces that we uh we have that are already constructed so with that I don't have anything further I'm happy to answer any questions the board may have yeah any of these other ones Mr Dary the uh when they talk about the bulks these were all uh they were all approved as part of the original original approval so that uh doesn't need to do anything with with those items that the sign okay thank you that's good good for to know and I do appreciate the the uh Property Owners testimony with regard to uh the site improvements that that they're going to to be uh repairing uh as part of their process and that that's all that uh we were asking for in our in our memo is is so some testimony with regard to what the timing and scheduling is and I'm satisfied with the answers that the uh applicant and the property own given so the memo that was uh authored on uh what's the date on October 21st to your satisfaction yes I've been uh ticking off everything and Mr Al's done as usual an excellent job of of leading uh uh his his Witnesses through our letter so most of the testimony that we requested has already been provided by by the witnesses that uh that the applicant is presented there's no disagreement between none at all yourself or or the applicant none at all okay thank you sir questions on my left of Mr Higgins no Mr scog sir Vice chair not at all no counselor no okay that concludes our presentation Mr chair all right uh I understand that I'm I'm gonna have to go to a public portion as well uh I want you to be aware that this is a use variance there are three four five only here this evening sir so that's a decision that after the public after I open uh that will be up to you and the applicant decide whether you want to call for a vote tonight underst but obviously we've taken the uh bulk of your testimony and I don't think there's going to be anything further right so no further we do meet again it's going to be for a probably for a vote I guess okay let me open the open this up to the public this matter is 42-22 24 Z Hudson 90 Manan LP uh the physical location is 90 man1 Road this is for a uh a tency uh and and an application for uh sale of uh gems anyone here in the courtroom wishes to be heard please raise your hand or stand sir answer most of my question well hold on we have to pick it up on the microphone so have a seat I gotta swear you in sir we welcome you and the board attorney has to put you under oath yeah you somly swears to the truth of the testimony for which you're about to provide yes I thank you and can you say your name for the record mark thank you HCK Mr heck uh you your address please uh 500 Cliffwood Avenue d-9 mwan thank you sir you want questions or something you ad my my quick question is is basically it it says commercial diamonds I guess basically they're they're Diamond Brokers is that that is is my uh I I'm not sure the techn the actual terminology I should say what I'm saying would assume in layman's terms well yeah I think they they they sell diamonds they're they're also responsible for manufacturing but that happens offsite so that so it's a little more than just brokering but not much and not on site okay yeah yeah yes you're still under oath but you have to come forward because the mic's not going to pick you up under there uh back there I should say I'll hand them this yeah we'd prefer you as questions than us works better thank you Diamond broker is somebody works with someone else's diamonds not his own a broker I am not a diamond broker I can be called a diamond manufacturer or a diamond dealer but I cannot be called a broker okay so you're a diamond dealer Diamond dealer that's right that's correct and the other questions the other questions that I have were basically about traffic okay because Cliffwood Avenue is becoming very busy particularly of the the glass place development understood it sounds like if you recall the testimony you can't come from the public and go in there did I get that right that's the way I correct heard that I think it's only those professionals that may show up once or a couple times a month so you or I couldn't walk in there yeah no so I'm fine with that okay and anything else sir no it's just uh for him you know this thing was dated September 27th what uh I don't know meeting notice okay the meeting I got it October 15th I know it's a little quirk in the law the law says we have to mail it 10 days at least 10 days before the hearing and so if we mail it on the 10th day some me people don't get it till the day of the hearing but unfortunately that's the you're in Madan and I'm in Madan it shouldn't take 15 days you're right it shouldn't it shouldn't all right that's that's all I have all right thank you sir thank you thank you thank you all right anyone else wishes to be heard on this matter I saying now I'm going to close the Public Public portion go ahead there there's something here with Walkins customers walking it's on here not not allowed estimated number of customers and Walkins less than one per day yeah I don't what we walk what are you reading off of I'm sorry statement of operations yeah that's that's incorrect there's there's no walk-ins allowed period just no Walkins allow the occasional once or twice a month correct that and it's not a it's not a walk-in customer it's one of the salespeople or you know this isone okay stay here yes you might as well just set up there Mr Dar do you think that was uh misunderstood uh I I understood the applicant's testimony um there's a statement there's a written statement of operation submitted earlier which is inaccurate that point was inaccurate okay but we should make sure it's Crystal Clear again so there are no Walkins everyone comes with an appointment nobody can knock on the door and say I'd like to see some diamonds never zero happen okay thank you good Mr Scott don't go anywhere yes sir good all right uh any other questions before Mr alfery has the final word here tonight I don't know what he's going to do so none at this point back to you Mr Al well um it's always a delicate topic when you have only five members um we'd request if the board members have any specific concerns or questions they tell us now otherwise my client because the time sensitivity would request that the board vote tonight because they're losing their location and they need to move quickly okay I have a question where was where was the previous location Manhattan 585th Avenue manhatt oh okay okay the D is that the Diamond District where that's the Diamond District my lease ran up um a few weeks a a few months ago and um I'm staying the without a lease so it's precarious no wonderful and it's a perfect uh situation that your brother's a landlord why not and you're moving to New Jersey and I'm moving my personal domicile is coming to New Jersey as well ah welcome okay any other qu basically if you have something let's bring it up now in which case I would assume you'll you'll wait for a l more panelists right correct yes so we're good okay uh that's okay it's up to you send that yes please all right uh councelor D1 would be uh first vote correct yep and the bulks really don't exist do they it's just a D1 just a D1 yes okay so this would be D1 for the use uh in that zone anyone wish to move it test is there a second is Mr Rizo roll quote please sir M Cher yes Mr Rizo yes Mr scagno yes Mr T yes and chairman solivan yes uh welcome to the township uh we're glad you brought your business over here uh we're probably more reasonable and I'm sure you're going to love living here thank you so much best of luck to you thank you thank you all so much you know what amazed me that you're all volunteers we all volunteers does not exist in New York so I'm I'm I'm in awe of of your service I really am and I and I recognize you for that thank you for the compliment apprciate was why do they meet at night not during the day I said cuz they have lives lives and jobs an I really have well thank you for that recognition we appreciate that best of luck on your uh good luck ten good night everyone all right board members that does end I do have to ask if there's any general public comments there's only one other person in the room are do you wish to be heard by the board ma'am no oh okay all right she thanks you as well all right you're welcome all right I'm going to close the general public comments as there is no one here thank I want to thank everybody for appearing tonight I'm sure that helped the applicant and uh we can all get out of here early so anything else Mr doy we thank you for being here and we thank you Mr Cheney for counsel so next meeting November 3D right Dan I believe first it's the fir November 7th I comp November 7th because the first is a Friday so be no November 7th all right we thank those for watching at home I'd ask someone for an adjournment please T verie all in favor guys have it we are adjourned thank you all thank you e