e only Board of adjustment meeting will please come to order adequate notice of this meeting was provided in the following ways notice published in the Cur news notice posted on the Bolton Board of the M Municipal Building uh notice made available to Township Clerk notice sent to the curry and news and the Star Ledger will the clerk please call the role Mr wisman here Mr Tillery here Mr Patel here Mr Rio Mr BL here Mr Mondo here and chairman K here will everyone please stand for a salute to the pl flag and to the Republic which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all I assume there were no changes to the agenda tonight Mr K there are none okay let's move on to item number five 24- zb30 31v Anor academy uh thank you Mr chairman uh members of the board board professionals my name is Tim Arch I'm an attorney licensed in the state of New Jersey and I am here representing Anor academy uh Anor Academy is a religious Academy that is currently operating out of the um middle sex County Muslim Center down the road on hose Lane um this is an application uh involving block 63 lot 1.02 uh which is 399 hos Lane um The Proposal tonight is uh we're seeking to utilize an existing vacant portion of the uh office building at 399 um hos Lane uh in order to uh move the Anor Academy which is a kindergarten through fourth grade religious Academy this proposal is going to include uh also site improvements to the existing parking field uh to provide a safe and efficient pickup and drop off area uh for the children um because of time constraints uh related to the upcoming school year um some of the uh improvements are proposed to be phase uh between school year one and school year two um so we'll be discussing when we get to sort of the parking layouts we'll be discussing two separate parking layouts one that applies to that can be immediately implemented for year one and another that it that involves a little bit more um infrastructure that's going to be implemented for year two uh in addition the board should be aware there is a sister application that is pending that hasn't been before the board yet uh that is pertaining to a proposed adult daycare use that's also going to be uh uh proposed on the same site um since it's not yet before the board we're not going to be going into details on that use yet um however our parking and traffic analysis uh does fact factor in and anticipate coordinating with that proposed future use um so you may hear some testimony about how the uses are well suited for one another uh how it relates to the parking needs and the circulation uh but we anticipate speaking more about that later when that other application comes before you but just so you know we may be mentioning a a future adult daycare proposed use there and how that coordinates with the Anor Academy that's here tonight um so the relief that we're seeking tonight is obviously a use variant um uh religious school is not permitted within the bp1 Zone uh there's also an existing sidey yard setback uh variance where 25 feet is required and 24 and change feet uh is proposed in existing I imagine you'll hear about a sentence about that existing uh variance and that's pretty much all all we'll need to talk about that and then the last is a parking variance where 331 spaces are required per calculation of the ordinance uh and we are proposing 264 spaces under the year one layout and 228 spaces under the year two layout that sounds like it's a big deficiency uh in spaces um but what you're going to uh hear is if you break down that amongst the uses the school requires 165 spaces per the uh ordinance calculation um you're going to hear that because it's pick up and drop off and it's K through four that the only people that are going to be utilizing those spaces from the school are going to be faculty and you're only going to have about 25 individuals using it so for 165 spaces required per ordinance there's really only going to be at any given time beyond the pickup and drop off about 25 people using it related to the school in addition to that there's an existing office use that's there it's actually the owner of the property has their office there and that's a that's a company called Onyx and I believe some of the representatives are here tonight if you have any questions for them that office use is calculated to need 135 spaces under the ordinance um and anecdotally in speaking to them they only have about 16 to 20 uh employees that park at any given time there so if you look at the the the discrepancy between what is needed under the ordinance and what is needed in real life you'll see that there is a a vast amount of parking that is available there uh that that will actually um that will that is going unused uh currently um just to uh talk about the reports quickly uh we do have a CME traffic report that's revised through 72 4 uh we have Mr Chadwick's report which was revised through 712 uh we have the fire report uh which did indicate approval uh that was on 73 and then we have what I'm going to call the tri-party staff report because it's signed by three uh professional staff members and that was dated on 724 uh 24 um so I do have four Witnesses tonight uh we'll try to be uh uh quick but thorough um we believe that through these Witnesses we're going to be able to hit upon all of uh address all the comments in the report um however at the close of all that testimony what I would like to do is be able to double back and address specifically that Tri party report because that that's the report that really has most of the conditions um uh requested by the Township in it um and as you'll see in that report it's anticipated that we're going to be entering into a developers agreement uh to address certain aspects uh of the conditions in terms of timing and whatnot um and actually the the township uh and and us have been in disc discussions about that already and have and have actually laid out some specific language and so I think it'll be helpful for the board to hear what that uh proposed language from the developers agreement is going to be uh so that they can take that into consideration when they make their uh when they make their ultimate decision um so that's my plan um unless there's any uh initial or uh preliminary questions or anything from me I think I'm ready to uh to proceed good I Mr Arch there is a report from myself July 23 which was the latest submission that I received on the I emailed it yest yeah you know what Mr Chadwick that's that's my mistake I think I just didn't update my uh my provision date for that I I do believe I got your revised report so thank you for that uh anything else preliminarily I see you put on your first witness okay uh my first witness is uh shame Malik is shame Malik present unmute yourself sir yes good evening good evening I need to swear you in could you raise your right hand you swear the the testimony you're about to give should be the truth yes thank you your name and address please shamal Malik 60 timberhill Drive timber Hill is one word that's in Franklin Park New Jersey 08823 could you spell your first name please s like Sam h o M like Mark a i l last name Malik M like Mark a l i k thank you welcome okay so um Mr Malik um you are uh you're a representative for an no if you can just tell us what is your position for an no um and tell us a little bit about the academy sure um on the board of directors um and uh specifically on one of the officers on the board uh as a Treasurer and Anor Academy has been in existence for about 20 years uh we currently operate out of 1,000 hos Lane in Piscataway um connected to the mcmc um uh mosque um we have about 450 or so students currently enrolled and in matriculation and um we have a dire need uh based on recent um uh enrollments and registration to expand and so we're looking to expand into 399 hose Lane which is the subject of today's matter um for our kindergarten through fourth grade operations okay so just to be clear because you threw out a big number there 400 something that includes the entirety of your uh of your matriculating uh uh students is that correct that's correct yes okay we're talking specifically this cite about your K through fourth grade right yes that would be about 150 to 170 students okay good I just didn't want to uh have the board's heads explode um so uh in terms of employees that are going to be on the site how many faculty and employees are going to be at that at that one location so we anticipate about 20 um teachers and faculty and admin okay the total Point okay and my understanding is is that um the idea for a pickup and drop off is that students are uh driven to the school and are dropped off uh and then are picked up at a at a later B can you tell us that or a later time can you tell us what those anticipated times are or hours of operation for that are sure the drop off will be between 7:30 to 8:00 a.m and pickup will be between 3:15 to 3:45 p.m. okay so in a so sort of roughly to four would be a a rough estimate to to what the operation of the school is at any correct yes and during the day during the school day um do you anticipate uh having ver any many more than just those you know 20 faculty uh parking in the lot no okay that's it um one uh things that was talked about in the reports was um was the the topic of busing um do you anticipate uh you izing school buses uh for uh for this site um likely the smaller bus Vans but not a full siiz bus okay so uh so sort of small van something that's more akin to uh you know a small uh you know vehicle like like a normal person almost like an SUV or a minivan yes correct okay and if uh if there was any uh larger busing that was proposed in the future future we would be able to provide a you know a circulation plan and all that to the uh uh to the township Professionals for their assessment would that' be correct that's correct okay um one of the questions that came up in the reports was about deliveries can you talk about what sort of deliveries you get on the site and of frequency of those deliveries um generally stationary products um so it'd be no different than uh like an Amazon delivery that you would see in your neighborhood Dev velopment coming through to come by and deliver stationary products School products okay so you're not getting uh uh 18 wheelers or anything along those oh not at all no okay uh and if the if the township staff requires it um would you be willing to uh arrange it so that any sort of deliveries or drop offs would be done at the front of the building which we'll we'll actually see uh when we get to the uh the engineering or the Civil sets is separate and apart from where those drop off areas is yeah that's no problem okay um uh so going back to you're now you you're currently utilizing uh mcmc do you do you happen to know roughly how many parking spaces uh are available in the total of mcmc uh approximately 180 okay um so so actually this site provides overall a much larger parking field than what you're now currently uh using that's correct and you're only utilizing a very very small portion of that uh of that overall parking uh in in mcmc correct that's correct okay um So based on your experience based on how much you've been doing it do you believe that the uh parking that is being provided at this site is more than adequate uh for both your needs and the additional uh tenants needs at that site well yes well more than that okay uh and just to confirm uh since this is K through four um you don't anticipate that uh any of your more gifted fourth grade students will be driving parking at the site during school days correct you're going to discourage that that's correct okay good I have no further direct questions uh for Mr Malik um I would turn them over to the board anyone on the board have any questions or comments I have one question is there John in terms of uh lunch how are you handling that uh so the students bring their own lunch Mr chadway so there's no catering no okay thank you John anyone else on the board the last question is there any kind of medical staff as part of the administration administrative staff so as part of the um one of the requirements and it's part of our floor plan as well is to have a nurse on site so yes full time full time full time I didn't notice that okay it John okay anyone else on the board have any questions or comments com I had a question Mr chairman sure uh I was curious if you were planning on doing any special events as a whole school like a graduation or talent show a situation where there'd be uh unusually high traffic coming to the site outside of that 7 to4 window we we have not um talked about that but if we were to do that uh we can certainly do that on our main campus at 1000 hosan uh we have the facilities there with our gym which is used for uh as a multi-purpose type of a room uh most events graduation events take place over there okay thank you thank you I do have one other question sure go ahead in terms of recess exercise is there any provision for that um as of now there is not um we we have in the floor plan proposed uh a gym for light activities dodgeball and that sort of thing um but outside of that there is not there's nothing nothing planned outside of the building currently correct correct okay but there is inside facilities of sorts there will be a room that's sort of a recreation multi-purpose yes or is it going to be a classroom most of the time it's going to be a classroom most of the time but we have have provided um a gym type of a location for light Activity thank you John and and that's to keep in uh compliance with any sort of disruptions to other tenants and so on and so forth so for that reason I I emphasize light activity Tim I think you can call your next witness okay uh our next witness is uh Miss Donna Bullock uh who is our professional engineer it's Miss bullet present Donna you're muted it's okay there you go thank you um I need to swear you way could you raise your right hand you swear the testimony you're about to give should be the truth yes your name and address please Donna Bullock Buu l l o c k 137 Central Avenue Island Heights thank you I I'm a professional uh a engineer and project manager at Morgan engineering um I have been giving professional testimony in front of uh planning boards zoning boards committees for uh for 24 years um in front of um uh for site plan subdivisions Miss Bullock you're fine you're fine are great let's let's babyon that's okay okay so I'll just you know just briefly discuss uh some of the characteristics of the site so we know that it's known as 399 hose Lane lock 6003 lot 1.02 in Piscataway middlex County it is located in the pb1 zoning district and the site contains 4.8 Acres um the uh fully developed existing site is located on the east side of Hose Lane also known as uh New Jersey State Highway Route 18 there's an existing um twostory masonry office building sorry three story masonry office building Associated parking areas um with concrete curb concrete walks uh pavers and trash enclosure and there is a uh two-way access Drive um onto hose Lane at a controlled intersection um which discharges onto a divided highway uh for the propos proposed application um The Proposal as you just heard was to repurpose the existing building um into an elementary school um a nors Academy and to accommodate this use the uh s's parking area and site circulation will need to be upgraded improvements include um additional handicap spaces reconfiguration of parking stalls restriping existing stalls and the addition of concrete walks and traffic control striping the ex I'm sorry I hate to interrupt you um do you want me to uh I can share my screen so I can bring up the uh the overall plan uh were you intending to do that or or do you want me to do that I I have not learned how yet okay so if you want to put up sheet two of 11 I that would be great but I just have a few more brief things before I'm going to get into uh the year one plan and the year two plan just another comment um the existing parking count is um 187 the proposed number number parking stalls is 77 therefore we have a total parking um criteria of 264 where 331 is required um as stated by um Mr Arch previously therefore a variance is required for the number of parking stalls we are short by uh 67 spaces and um this parking uh the the parking criteria for this and improvements doesn't include any expansion to the existing building and there's no expansion to the existing paved parking area it's more of a reutilization of the existing uh paved area so there's no increase in uh impervious area so the intention is to uh complete this in two phases and we have a site Improvement plan year one which is sheet two of 11 of the site plan set which um is dated 61324 entitled use variance and preliminary and final major site plan so as you can see on this plan um if we if we uh talk about all the things that were improving if you go up to the top portion keep going so right here so you uh you you see that um we have the addition of eight handicap parking stocks walls handicapped striping a handicapped ramp that is going to give access onto the uh sidewalk um so we have have that going on and right to the top of that we're adding a 4 foot wide concrete walk uh adjacent to the area that's entitled reserved for drop off parking area and signage right to the uh right of that we have three existing Standard Parking stalls that we will be converting into three van accessible stalls um oversized uh vehicle as as mentioned uh prior um not buses but more of like a like a SUV type uh um uh uh vehicle we are also if we scroll down a little bit we're going to be removing the concrete around the generator we are going to be um providing uh hair prints hair pin striping for um the new 77 uh parking spots that are currently not striped on site we'll be providing traffic control striping um such as the uh the flow arrows for control and we also not shown on the plan but we will provide four EV parking spaces with this phase we will patch and repair the entire parking area we will Implement supplemental plantings and Landscaping as required we will remove a rear fence um located at the rear of the site that would be um in the way of parking circulation and parking to those stalls we will remove that fence and the debris and we will keep the trash enclosure there and we will also add additional lighting at the school's entrances to maintain the uh 05 foot candles as required by the ordinance so that's my summary of the um the phase year one uh improvements the next sheet which is sheet six of 11 so basically right here is is pretty much the the improvements on on this side so we will be constructing a drop off lane and a bypass lane adjacent to uh adjacent and parallel to the existing building we'll provide flush curve and ballards um we'll also construct a uh a curb concrete Island and this would would require the removal of 18 of the parent parking spaces in addition to this at this time we will add four additional EV parking spaces we will Mill and resurface the entire parking area we will restripe the area that's milled and resurfaced we will add Trees and Landscaping within new curbed islands with coordination with um with the landscape architect we will complete all the Landscaping on the site and we will add a PVC fiber optic conduit so in basically that's the phase one and phase two that um you know to deal with the school year as stated before so there won't be an eruption um so that the the phases the construction can't be done in a in a in a nice calm manner so it won't disrupt the school gear and everything will get done and um just come out with a really nice uh a nice site uh thank you Donna one thing I just want to point out uh as you were saying the the this uh new drop off Lane bypass lane um uh that is going to result in a reduction of the uh the parking spaces I just want to make sure that uh the board is clear that this is that this is specifically designed and requested by the township uh Professionals for that phase two um and so I just want to make sure that they're aware of that that this was a design that they had uh that they had wanted us to put in which results in a slightly a slight reduction of that uh of that parking count yes um I believe that is all the direct testimony that I have for Miss Bullock um and I will stop sharing or continue sharing if you want me to any other board members have any questions or comments Jonathan I I have one quick quick question sure sir the Landscaping plan showed additional landscaping around the generator as asse that still stays yes this Island the island that's created with the year two circulation plan is that intended to be landscape yes it is one thing I do want to clarify about the Landscaping plan Mr Chadwick and we we'll when I sort of go back around at the end of all the testimony um is that uh we will be agreeing to uh to Landscaping uh at the discretion of the the staff and and in terms of the timing and uh and uh you know adding in additional Landscaping islands and so all that will be discussed at the end so uh hopefully I'll be able to come back around to that and explain but it's going to be uh up to the staff to there there may be modifications to the Landscaping plan based on the uh Township staff's recommendations there was a lot of information provided in the testimony are is that part of the Developers agreement in terms of repaving ping first repaving second restriping some of it first all of it second is that part of the developers agreement correct it is and as I said at the end of testimony I'm going to go and and highlight all of the specifics uh that have already been discussed about that developers agreement with the township so uh you may get additional Clarity at that point fine and I also did um try as I was speaking through the phases address items in uh the letter so that um as we go back through those items at the end they they would have been addressed in my testimony I'll be glad to to um talk about them again at the end thank you Jonathan you have your hands raised I have yes Mr chairman uh on this on this sheet if could you pan up to the top of this particular sheet please so that's good enough so on the on the year one plan there was a note that said remove the striping for the uh parking spaces here and then now in here too it looks like it's just like elongated parking spaces are you intending to uh uh like fully restrip that parking area as regular parking spaces or what are you what are you planning to do exactly that area oh sorry the the intention was to remove the six Standard Parking stalls that were shown and uh stripe it as shown on this plan now so that the uh the the the uh the the buses or or the small uh Vehicles can park there that are larger than a regular spot it's it's um they're intended to be left just as shown and one of the things that I will add to that um is that uh we will be agreeing to uh restripe as necessary restripe and re signage as necessary in the discretion of the township staff um as they as they review this so again we're we're open to any any you know restriping or reconfiguration of striping that the township staff uh requires us to do is there any busing to the existing School there is uh is there any existing busing yes uh I would I would have to ask uh um Mr Malik again if you're to the mcmc school yes is there any busing yes there is one um full bus that comes with uh students that are based in Piscataway none of the small ones uh not to my recollection every time I've dropped off my kids I don't recall seeing any of the smaller ones Mr Malik while you're available um when does the school year end um we coincide our school year calendar with the public school okay well holidays and all of that so yeah there'll be no no summer classes then uh no not not on this new proposed campus no yeah any other members of the board have any questions okay comments I had one yeah John uh my question was concerning sight lighting one of my comments was uh excuse me uh insufficient lighting at the entrance for the year one I was wondering if you could speak to that condition we uh uh uh um I believe it was testified to but we will agree one thing I will point out is all the oper all the hours operation are during the daylight so uh it may not be necessary but we will upgrade to uh to the appropriate foot candles as uh indicated on the report okay thank you thank you JN I don't think anybody else you can go on with your next expert uh the next uh person to testify will be uh Mr John Ray he's our traffic expert Mr Ray are you present yes I am could you raise your right hand you swear that the testimony you're about to give should be the truth I do your name and address please John Ray Rea a professional engineer with McD and Ray Associates 1431 Lakewood Road manisan New Jersey and I believe Mr Ray has appeared before this board before as a traffic engineer I agree M Mr AR please proceed uh Mr Ray please proceed okay so what my firm was engaged to do was to prepare a traffic and a parking analysis for the proposed Academy and I I will say up front there is also a I I don't want to call it a companion uh application but there will be an application uh coming before the board for an adult daycare center uh which will occupy the first level of the building uh with the K through 4 and nor Academy occupying the second floor of the building so I just wanted to put that out there because when I did my traffic study I assumed uh the worst case scenario full buildout for year two for the Anor uh Elementary School and for the uh adult daycare center which will share the building share access share kind of share the parking lot but have their own dedicated parking in an area that will not conflict with the uh with the Academy's parking so we did do a full traffic impact study for full build that for year two which will include 260 students and for 102 patrons at the adult daycare center so what we did was we've been out to the site on numerous occasions to uh review existing TR traffic and parking conditions uh as you know there is a large parking lot which serves the uh office building which no longer has any uh tenants and that that's why we're repurposing the building we conducted traffic counts at the intersection of Route 18 and uh I believe the name of the street that we're using to access uh hose Lane is Lloyd Drive used to be an office building and on the opposite side of hos Lane it's Erikson drive it's a four-way intersection signalized with a pretty new traffic system signal with all the typical amenities you would find with a current or modern traffic signal so we conducted those traffic counts in early May of 2024 uh schools were in session ruter University was in session we wanted to make sure we got the traffic counts when you know ruter was generating traffic so that's when we conducted our traffic counts we generated traffic for the uh day for the U Anor Academy 260 students and for the adult daycare utilizing Institute of Transportation Engineers data uh we projected traffic volumes at the signalized intersection and again all of our traffic was assumed to come through the signalized intersection uh that's the way access is going to be provided to the property that's the way access has been provided to the property and so we assumed again a worst case scenario all of that traffic comes through through that signalized intersection we projected traffic to a design year of two uh 2026 that is when year two of the academy uh will be up and running and we'll have the 260 students the the maximum number of students that are projected and when the adult daycare will be up and operating as well we calculated the level of service for the build and no build condition at the signalized intersection at hose Lane with a finding that for both the morning and afternoon peak hours for the 2026 design Year we will have level of service C or better conditions at the signalized intersection meaning that the intersection will operate well within accepted traffic engineering parameters uh the second part of the uh study if you will that we did was was to work with the town's professionals and with Mr Chen the town's traffic engineer to provide a two-phase plan for the parking lot and as Don Bullock has indicated upfront in her testimony for year one we will be utilizing a a a procedure where the parents will have to park in a designated parking uh space for parents and there are 28 of them for year one and walk the child into the school sign them in with the same procedure happening in the afternoon where the parent would have to pull into a parking space go into the building sign the child out this is a procedure that is very typically used by daycare centers Child Care Centers such as the Gard School uh Kinder Care all of the different national daycare centers all operate under the same procedure so this is not something that is new and is something that the applicant is well aware of that has to be done for the year one operation and I must add for year one it is my understanding and somebody from the academy can correct me if I'm wrong I believe we will be limiting the number of students for year one to be 150 students and I can tell the board that that is a very typical uh number as far as a child care or daycare center they typically have uh capacities of 150 to 180 students so what I'm saying is for year one we believe as far as the parking and the drop off and pickup procedures the academy will operate very similarly to a daycare center or Child Care Center for for year one the year two plan has been developed after Consulting with the township professionals uh there was a desire for a drop off Lane to be constructed and that's what uh Donna Pollock testified to as far as the year two plan so in year two the drop off Lane will be constructed and the in the population increase at the school will go up to two a maximum of 260 students and for year two the drop off Lane will be utilized for drop off and pickup with assistance from the academy staff helping the parents get the children into and out of the car it's going to be a k through four operation so that will will be the the second part of the operation with respect to the amount of parking that's there I know Mr Chen your traffic engineer has summarized the the need for the parking variants in his report I've gone through the um the plans and and taking a look at the parking spaces that are going to be dedicated for the Anor Academy and for the adult daycare and I've counted the balance of the parking that will be available and it's 145 additional Park spaces over and above what's dedicated for for the uh Elementary School and the adult daycare center and if I'm not mistaken Mr Chen and his report has indicated that the the empty office space that will still be in the building that could be occupied by an office tenant would require 135 spaces under the Piscataway zoning requirements so we have 145 spaces left 135 will be required for the balance of the space in the building so I believe believe the uh the variance for the parking can be granted without having any kind of a negative impact on the parking situation and um I guess that about summarizes it we will continue to work with the town's professionals and with Mr Chen to make any you know Minor Adjustments to to striping signage things that may be necessary but I believe we've gotten to a point right now where the plans are pretty much in conformance with the uh requirements that have been set forth by the town's professor and by your traffic engineer and that basically summarizes it thank you Mr any other members of the board I was gonna ask any any questions first any other members of the board have any questions or comments for Mr rone I have one question uh John you mentioned that the staff would come out to on the uh year two plan where you have the um parallel drop off area yes are the staff going to come to the car to get the kids or is it going to be a different procedure than get the parents getting out of the car and going into the building uh I I can let uh Mr Malik you know U the reason I asked that question is yeah it would seem to me if the staff took the children from the car to the building that the lane provided for drop offs would be fully adequate but I agree and I believe that is the procedure that will be in place Mr mle can hopefully confirm that we will also maintain the the parent uh parking spaces in the event a parent has to uh bring a child into the building talk with one of the teachers or one of the staff right they'll be the possibility to use the parking spaces as well too but for the everyday operation of the drop off and pickup the the uh the drop off Lane will be used because if you get to 260 students all coming in in a half hour period that lane needs to turn over quite quickly it does you're correct Mr Chadwick it needs to keep moving that's why the staff will have to assist correct thank you John thank you I have one Mr Sure Please Mr Ray uh I have one question with regard and I thank you for your testimony you've answered a lot of my questions with regard to the traffic issues um with regard to rout we know that route 18 is a state highway and is there any um is there any procedural issues do you see going forward with the possible need for um access permit or anything any similar documentation from the state yeah Route 18 is under the jurisdiction of NJ do and what we have done Mr Chen is we have applied for a letter of no interest as you know the do has a procedure if you are not making any physical changes to the access to the state highway and you're just changing a use expans in or changing a use as long as the new application does not generate 100 additional peak hour traffic movements you typically qualify for a letter of no interest we have applied for the letter of no interest we hope to get that information shortly but if the do for one reason or another disagrees and wants us to get a new permit we will have to get the new permit but I do believe we uh we qualify for a letter of no interest and my uh other question is um I I I assume that you had a chance to you received my letter from yesterday um dated July 24th yes is there is there anything specific within that letter that you or your uh professional team uh feel that would be you wouldn't be able to comply with no I don't think I I think we can comply with whatever uh you know details you will require we we will work with you and your staff um I did want to discuss the do you know you you asked the question and I I believe we qualify for the letter of no interest we can justify the parking uh variant based on what I've testified to so all of the other items you know which basically pertain to a lot of signing and striping for the traffic flow we will work with your office we've we've provided crosswalks from the handicap spaces to the sidewalk uh in front of the building any other small items that we need to do we can comply thank you Mr Ray at this time Mr chairman I don't have any further questions at this moment thank you Mr chair Tim how would you like to proceed uh we have one Final witness um and that would be our planner uh who is who was right there Kendra lelli good evening good evening could you raise your right hand and do you swear the testimony you're about to give should be the truth yes your name and address please my name is Kendra Ley l l e my business address is two East Broad Street Hopewell New Jersey thank you thank you Mr chair would you like me to go through my qualifications briefly um I'm a licensed planner in the state of New Jersey for the past 30 years my license is in good standing um I have a bachelor's degree in environmental planning and design and a master's degree in in uh City Regional um planning from Rucker both from Ruckers University that's fine yeah thank you sure um I'm not gonna I'm not gonna repeat everybody's uh testimony with regards to the subject property I do just want to mention that the surrounding uses include uh the high school which is north and east of the site an office uh is south and west of the site future Town Center it includes mixed use uh multif family residential is immediately across the street uh Route 18 which is a divided State Highway um the project does require D1 use variants uh schools are not permitted in the B1 District uh it does permit government buildings uh and professional offices Banks research activities for business and Industrial activities as well um so schools are not specifically permitted therefore a D1 variance use variance is required we are seeking a parking variance as was indic ated and a very small existing side yard setback variance which is really di Minimus it's an existing situation could be considered a hardship um and it's really on the it's on the building that's located uh basically adjacent to the to the next door neighbor building which creates a full complex um so I'm going to move into the use variants testimony as you all know for use variance testimony you need to prove the positive criteria and the negative criteria um Mr Chadwick in his July 2nd memorandum which is the first one he provided schools uh and and indicated that schools are considered inherently beneficial I agree with that obviously um and uh that's under the mlul definition which was added to the legislature in uh in 2009 so inherently beneficial use just as a reminder is a use that is considered uh to be of value to the community because it it really serves a public good and it promotes general welfare and examples could could include obviously a school a hospital Child Care Center a group home um and other such facilities um and under this particular case law that um the positive criteria is really uh assumed to be satisfied with inherently beneficial then that was in the smart SMR versus Fair long uh Board of adjustment case and then also most you know most of the time we as planners uh site the the this the siika um case which really indicates that we aren't really supposed to deal with site suitability as it relates to inherently beneficial it's kind of assumed that that is is met um so really want to kind of talk to what uh the the sea case lays out for us for uh proving um the and and for you to agree that this is use Varian can be uh approved so in the the seea there's a there's a a different U I guess weighing um argument that is is made first we identify the public interest at stake uh realizing that some uses are more compelling than others uh second we look at any detrimental effects that could come from the granting of the variants third we look at any reasonable conditions that could reduce any of the detrimental effects and then finally it's a weighing process you weigh the positive um or we would call the public interest against the negative impacts or effects and determine if the positive truly outweighs the negatives um so briefly the public interest at stake I'm going to go through each of these points um as we know this is a uh k k through four education to a community with a focus of religious education um it allows for the lower elementary school students to begin and build their uh their American Muslim identity through the teaching of Islamic religion uh the school is accredited uh in New Jersey as well as follows the curriculum based on New Jersey standards and provides an Islamic educational instruction uh and and the mission really is that it it does that balances the religious academic and cultural knowledge and imp Parts the importance of Civic involvement and charitable work um I think we all understand that the importance of Education in life and and Grant of this relief um meaning that the you know the public interest at stake certainly will broaden the access to educational resources within this community but also the surrounding re region in a meaningful way potential negative impacts I'm going to submit to you that there are no detrimental effects with the this particular application um as John R just testified to traffic there is no significant impact on traffic and the school will operate within accepted traffic engineering parameters um parking uh parking is actually more than sufficient uh while we're asking for the actual empirical data or the use of the property shows that there are sufficient number of parking spaces to not only handle the school the existing office complex but the proposed uh future potential uh adult daycare um so in fact uh we have more than enough parking spaces to not only um address uh a full build out of a of an office space of of the square footage um even though it's being used to you know with with something less than what the Orin would require but uh as as Mr Ray had just testified he feels very confident that um that the parking spaces are more than sufficient there will be no and when we talk about uh negative impacts we look at nuisance impacts like noise and smell or light um this will not operate out of the ordinary noise smell light that would be coming from an office building actually we're dealing with little people and these little people actually generate less of an impact than full grown adults so um you know I just mention that that that is uh something that we don't we don't anticipate creating any additional nuisance Aesthetics we are improving the property not only uh from a parking lot standpoint but also um not you know not having to increase the the parking lot size we're able to save mature trees and green area um and and also uh really improve it by adding some additional landscaping and remove unslightly uh existing uh storage outside uh the site will operate as we said during normal business hours so we're not dealing with any light intrusion or or uh things that would occur out of the ordinary business uh hours uh so overall the you know the this location in the site there there really are no significant impacts and and while that's the case we still have to go through the weighing process um I'm not going to get into the conditions unless you would like me to um but the third prom of the seek test is what conditions can be placed to mitigate any negative impacts and while I submitted to you there's no detrimental effects um the applicant is agreeing to a whole host of um of conditions all the way from providing charging EV charging stations above and beyond the required milling and repaving the entire parking lot restriping uh providing for the Landscaping um and and uh there are other items that I believe Mr will go through as well that we would throw into a developers agreement so on balance uh it's my professional opinion that the public interest in this case uh is a school over overwhelmingly outweighs any potential negative impacts uh the board also needs to address again the weight of the negative impacts if conditions can be imposed and I would I would submit to you that all of the conditions that are are being imposed actually not only mitigate uh any any potential negative impact but uh uh it truly improve the the operation of the property as well as um improve the Aesthetics of the property um so as as it goes to positive aspects if far outweigh the negatives there will be no substantial detriment to the public good or your master plan uh I would just submit to you also that your master plan has several goals and objectives that this particular application is um is is is ensuring and and upholding providing continued expansion of an economic and tax based as we all know the office Market has dropped significantly over the last four years so empty office space uh in order to fill that and reuse it is definitely a benefit to the municipality um we're providing an essential Service uh and that's one of your goals of your master plan as well as providing a uh in my opinion and I hope you would find the same it's a compatible land use to the surrounding uh land uses of which one is a high school um this is a low intensity use uh we don't imp as we as was indicated we don't expect a negatively impacting any traffic congestion so to conclude on the use Varan piece of it um I believe there is and I would ask for you to believe that there is too a compelling public interest at stake uh the use of an existing building as an elementary school for an educational focus on Islamic principles there are no detrimental impacts that uh would come from the grant of the variant there are several conditions that will improve the site um and when you weigh the the public interest against the negative effects it's my professional op opinion um that the positive certainly outweighs the negative and it would not be substantial detriment thank you man you're welcome I do you want me to go through any testimony on the parking variants at this point or would you like it to just be subsumed within the the use variants I I think that we're in a good place right now to be honest with you I think if Mr Arch would just go uh round it up to the Holy Trinity of the three uh Engineers that sent over the site impact we could wrap this thing up yes absolutely if there's no questions uh from the board for Kendra I I'm ready to to Jonathan or John one no we're good to go let's wrap it up thank you kend okay thank you so I do just briefly want to address um uh the comments in the tri party uh report uh number one satisfy uh affordable housing we absolutely will comply with that grading plan needs to be approved by uh by the engineer absolutely we agree application needs to be reviewed by Township Fire commissioner it has been and has been approved we agree with that revised plans um we will correct uh any revisions on the title block we will agree uh five is calling for Testimony we believe we provided that six is also calling for Testimony that I believe we have provided seven also calling for Testimony about buses that I think we provided eight I believe we provided testimony uh to that adequately uh nine it's indicating uh these parent only parking spaces and they're asking for potential more signage and strip we will certainly uh do that per the uh per the township professionals uh same with 10 uh it's indicating just clarification to remove it if it's a reserved for the adult daycare from this application submission we will certainly do that um copy of a cross access easement I believe we may have already provided that but if we haven't we will and if it needs to be amended we can do that as well um we uh uh 12 is no longer applicable because we've indicated that we're removing that fence so we don't have to talk about sufficiency of the uh of the 15.6 ft uh 13 we do agree that uh any additional striping we will agree with I'm going to skip 14 for a moment I'm going to skip uh 15 for a moment I'm going to skip 16 and 17 uh 18 is asking is about lighting I believe we address that 19 uh uh we will certainly uh agree to that if there's any signage that we are proposing that it will be compliant uh or else we would have to come back before the board to request any sort of variance uh we will provide a detail for pedestrian Crossing signage we will remove remove the barb wire on the generator enclosure uh we do agree that all debris located in the rear of the property will be uh removed uh we will agree that the uh as we said the enclosure will be uh removed and a debris will be removed but the trash enclosure will stay uh and I believe we address we will agree uh with the PVC piping uh and the fiber optics and uh the developers Greening so specifically to the ones that I skipped um uh there is specific language that we had discussed about including into the developers agreement so I do want to um just indicate that the CME report does indicate the requirement of 12 Make Ready EV spaces a review of the applicable statute um uh with uh I believe uh the township attorney uh reveals that the calculation for the required spaces should really only be applied to newly added parking spaces and that was part of the uh uh clarification and the revision of the state EV statute that came out recently um nevertheless we are agreeing to install a total of eight active uh charges not just Chargers not just make ready Chargers four of which will be installed and operational by or before November 15th 2024 the remaining to be installed and operational by the start of the second school year in 2025 the only other thing that I want to mention with that which was also discussed and will be in the developers agreement is if there are any delays caused by Third parties such as Peng that for some reason prevent us even though we are diligently pursuing that um I I assume that the township will agree if we can show them that we're reasoning uh um uh pursuing doing that and some and a entity like psng is causing a delay that they will you know work with us to uh uh with that time period and I'm sure that they will um one of the requests was to Mill and pave the entire parking field um if the township staff uh in their discretion believes that the that the entire parking field is in such disrepair that it needs to be Mill and repaved we will agree to do that prior to the second school year um our only request is that the staff prior to that million Paving that the professional staff come out and evaluate the existing pavement area because there is a uh there is a a very large difference between the condition of the pavement in the in the front portion of the parking versus the condition of the pavement in the rear portion of the parking so ultimately if the staff uh in their discretion believes that it all needs to be paved we will agree to do that we would just like the opportunity for them to come out prior to milling and Paving just so that if there is a chance to recoup some cost or save some cost we can do that and I believe that that is a uh that that's uh been agreed to and will be part of the developers agreement yes it has we agree to work with the township staff to prepare an acceptable landscape plan and planting schedule to meet the township standards and the discretion of the staff the landscape plan uh shall incorporate planting Islands at the discretion of Township staff coordinated so as uh to try not to negatively impact parking uh now we anticipate that if we are adding some planting uh islands that it may result in a net reduction of parking from what we're showing now um and we just want to make sure that there's an understanding that if if the township staff wants us to do that and they and in their uh assessment there is not a significant reduction of parking uh that we would not have to come back before the board uh for a minor um uh uh discrepancy between the number that we are presenting here today and what the township staff ultimately uh decides on uh it's common that field changes such in as this can potentially take a um take place during post approval complain iance and so as long as it's not deemed significant uh we would like to not have to come back here for something like that um we do agree that the uh the staff approved Landscaping uh plan will substantially implemented no later than October 15th however with coordinating with the township staff we would like to agree on certain elements of the full plan being phased in such a way so that full completion uh is done on or before the start of the second school year and again we'll work with your landscape architect and and the professional staff to accomplish that um we do agree that no outdoor storage or equipment of materials will be allowed all debris and enclosure fencing in the rear parking area will be removed prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy with the exception of the trash receptacle uh we do agree that the PVC fiber optic conduits will be installed Byer before spring of 2025 um and we do agreed a bond uh for all deferred work um uh at 125% with cost estimates for year one and year two which will be submitted to the engineering department I believe with that said IT addresses every possible comment but I'll find out about 10 seconds does any anyone on the board have any questions or comments I think the clarification on the kids in the second year getting from the car of the school building is important yeah is Mr Malex the one he is uh Mr Malik if you can just confirm uh what we had indicated is in the second year we were going to have staff uh outside and present during the drop off to actually escort the children from the car is that uh correct yes M okay I don't I don't know it has to be a condition or just a statement of fact in the resolution Jim I leave that up to you I'll include it okay I think it depends on how many pages he wants it to be I uh anyone else I'm assuming you're you're settled Mr AR correct uh yes that that would be it unless want me no no no please um any other members of the board have any questions or comments uh just one for me Mr chairman sure I thank Mr Arch I thank you for clarifying the electric vehicle requirement when I was when I was completing the language I forgot that it was supposed to be the proposed paring spaces only so I am in I'm I'm in concurrence with the eight paring spaces that you stated as required thank you thank you Mr chair no other members of the board have any questions good I'm going to open it to the public anyone in the public have any comments or questions about this application no one chairman okay close the public portion and I will make a motion to approve this application with the language discussed can I get a second I have a second thank you Cal call R Please Mr Weissman we lost him he a yeah Mr Tillery yes there he is Mr Patel yes Patel Mr reio here Mr BL yes Mr Mondo yes and chairman K yes Mr orch I'll be in touch with you regarding the uh resolution which is going to have to be quite detailed Absolut I understood uh thank you thank so much everybody uh just for the record I'm loving the 7 o'clock thing and you should really consider that yeah it's SE discussed that today yes we did we did it's coming around the mountain I don't care what Clarkin says um we uh all favorite of an adjournment say I I have a great night guys have a good night everyone thanks for coming on especially you people that are on vacation at PK yes appreciate really appreciate that thank you very much thank you enjoy for