##VIDEO ID:Sv9y27Dovo4## there we go e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e you hear me yes Marina uh Jason Flor has just asked me to let him in he's trying to get in Jason is our superintendent public works so absolutely let him in oh I'm sorry Jason Flores is Costa associate is Costa's associate yes yeah sorry got the Jason's confused for a moment moment good evening mayor good evening everybody how's everybody goingon well Jason and yourself evening I'm doing well hello everyone hey I I only be able to uh speak for the first part I will get to a computer as quickly as possible Marina that's acceptable that uh former councilman guier who's been sworn in tonight can will have to uh be off camera for a little while or not you're muted sorry about that yes that that's fine oh I apologize Chris I do this whole time I'm so used to running the meeting that was not a question to me that was a question to you apologize okay somebody's got to drive the bus yeah but you don't need four Hands on the Wheel yeah you already have a Clum okay that's good what hello everyone hey Steve happy and healthy New Year happy New Year happy New Year Happy New Year Mara yes it is fine for me to be part of this meeting tonight correct um that's up to Rob if he said it was okay then it's fine uh well uh the conversation that we had was that it might be a conflict since you know he is with the 200 foot of the current application so we were not not sure so you know we we left at the description of of in this G will be you I mean it's not my conflict so if Rob said it was okay then that's fine all right so you know what let me make a phone call and I will Marina get back yes hold on a second so Rob is a resident of River Edge and that's the conflict does that conflict extend to his company is I think what Jason's asking if so Jason can't be present it's not Rob's call it's your call as the attorney to determine whether Costa Associates are are in Conflict uh must uh recuse themselves or just Rob Costa the principal okay I I'll um I'll talk to I can give Rob a call now is he available Jason uh he should be available uh we can get him a call so yeah okay one second then welcome Mr Sala uh good evening uh pleasure to be here thank you hey Bruce how you doing good George how are you nice to see you happy New Year Happy New Year to you Happy New Year to everyone else who's here I have a question for Chris did you go to reges I did so did I 90 all right I don't know if I look familiar to you at all it's been a while oh good to have you on board yeah I know same here man bball as well likewise one of my best friends went to reges Dennis Ryan you guys know him uh doesn't ring a bell must have graduated in like 98 or 99 oh way younger than me yeah all right we won't we won't disclose age in this call I'll leave it at that yeah yeah we're just trying to work out one administrative matter we'll get start I think we've got everyone here at this point so just give our Council a moment moment all right sorry about that um Rob is going to jump on in a in a minute and I think he'll talk to Jason too okay well you know we can get started because yeah he's um you know we're having appointment of professionals anyway so he could be here for that part certainly so why don't we get things going since we've got everybody here Lisa how are you you all set I'm good yep I'm ready all right let's call the meeting to order good evening everyone this is the regular scheduled meeting of the municipal luse Board of the burough River Edge today is Wednesday January 8th 2025 it is now 7:32 p.m. this meeting of the municipal landu Board of the burough River Edge is being held remotely and recorded via Zoom due to bur council chambers unavailability and is in compliance with the provisions of the open public meetings act and Associated regulations notice of this remote meeting was published in the Bergen Record posted on the front doors of burken H of burrow Hall and posted on the Burrow's website the notice included the dialing and login information necessary for public participation and access to this meeting remotely copy of the agenda for this meeting was made available on the bur's website near the posting of the meeting notice and included the dial in and login information during the public comment period of this meeting if you would like to make a public comment please press the raise hand button on Zoom or dial star9 on your telephone keypad to raise your hand the board will address You by name or by the last four digits of your telephone number you may mute and unmute Yourself by pressing the microphone icon on Zoom or dialing star 6 on your telephone keypad you must state your name and address prior to making a public comment um and just for purposes of see let's call the LA miss stying all right thank you Mr Mayor here Mr caslin here miss Boland is excused tonight Mr cray here Mr Gibbons here uh Mr kigo here Mr feffer here Mr gotier am I pronouncing that correctly sorry you're on mute here all right and councilman glass yeah and then Mr Sala sorry I was unmuting yes president thank you thank you also President we have our zoning officer Mr dekin and our burrow engine or board Engineers office um Jason Flores yeah good evening everyone happy New Year welcome back hope everyone had good holidays and a good New Year U one item of housekeeping this evening as we get started we're going to have a 9:30 curfew this evening uh our first item on the agenda for the evening is under the approval of minutes uh we have a draft set of minutes for our meeting on the 11th of December 2024 draft of the minutes were circulated to the board prior to this evening's meeting for review open it to the board for comments and or questions on those minutes silence being golden I will look for a motion on the minutes please move to accept the mo the minutes as submitted thank you Mr C is there a second second thank you m canu Miss sty I think we have some folks who are are not eligible to vote on the minutes yes um Mr Gibbons Mr feffer and then the our new members cannot vote but everyone else can participate in the v Voice vote okay so with those exceptions noted all in favor I I I any opposed okay thank you very much our next agenda item this evening uh we move down under memorializations the applicant is Nicholas ARA the property is 428 Elma Avenue block 811 lot 16 resolution granting relief uh for various uh setback encroachments draft of the resolution was circulated uh prior to this evening's meeting for the board's review and comment open it to the board for comments anual questions on the draft resolution there being none I will look for a motion on the resolution please move to accept the resolution is submitted thank you Mr C there a second second you thank you Mr Keno all right thank you and I'll only call those eligible to vote Mr Mayor yes Mr kaslin yes Mr cray yes Mr kigo yes and councilman glass yes okay the motion passes okay thank you everyone moving along we come to the reorganization of the L use board the first item this evening is the election of officers uh open it to the board for nomination of chair Mr chairman I recommend Chris castlin yourself for chair second you gonna do it to me again huh guys doing a great job anyone else want to throw their hat in wow don't everybody jump at once come on okay uh with that so we have a motion from the mayor and a second from the councilman Miss steinley do we do a um I think in the past we've done voice votes okay all in favor I I any opposed any abstain okay thank you all and happy to be back I think in the driver's seat the next position on the board for vice chair open it to the board for nominations you know there were big shoes to fill in Mr merman but I know we've got I'll Nate Mr cray so Mr kigo has put a nomination for Mr cig there a second second second Mr faffer all in favor I I any oppose I'm considering it yeah did anyone ask this to pray I think you just found out yeah I'm still considering my vote here well welcome Mr Craig we look forward to driving things together with you uh our last position on the board the see is for board secretary are there any [Music] nominations hello Mr gibons uh we have a motion Mr Cano for Mr Gib there a second second second from councilman glass all in favor I I I any opposed any abstain Mr gibons welcome back thank you all right next items under our reorganization this evening appointment of professionals to our board first POS professional this evening is for board attorney I believe we have uh Mr Mayor so um my motion would be for uh Maria Marina I forget what is the name of your law form again uh Clary jacobe alferi and Jacobs so moved second have a second Mr GI okay motion of the mayor second for Mr given all in favor I I I any oppos any abstain congratulations Mar you're back thank you looking forward to another year our next position is for board planner I don't believe Mr Barons is here this evening given the uh uh given our agenda but Mr Mayor yes I would uh recommend uh to the I would move uh Mr bearings and his um planning firm which I'm blanking on right now b b Associates I second that I second that okay so a motion from Mr Mayor and the councilman on a second all in favor I I any opposed any abstain okay congratulations all right uh moving along we have uh two new members of the board this evening to be swor Mr CN don't we want to do engineer oh I apologize I glanced over that thank you Mr Mayor one uh last position is for the board engineer I make a motion for Costa Associates back okay we have a first from the mayor and a second from Mr Keno all in favor I I any oppose any abstains okay now we can move along to the swearing in of our new board members um so Mr Caston if you would permit me Mr Mayor floor is yours all right Mr Salva and Mr gordier Joe I know your cameras not on but uh could you unmute yes yes ma can you uh if you're driving pull over and raise your right hand let us know when you've achieved that yes mayor good uh so both of you if you can repeat after me I state your name I Joseph Salva do somly swear or firm do swear and firm that I will Faithfully that I will that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of and stop there of the office of and Joe you're gonna say class four member and class four member good and George you're going to say alternate member number one alternate member number one of the burough of riverette of the B of Riveredge of the burrow of Riveredge Municipal land use board Municipal land use board to the best of my ability to to the best of my ability and that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance will Ali to the same to the same to the same and to the government and to the government government established in the United States established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority authority of the people so help me God so help me God congratulations to both of you and thank you for offering this service to the people of River Edge thank you mayor thank you Mr Mayor um Joe and George do you wish to say a few words I normally allow um with with your permission Mr clyn um by all means yeah uh George or uh if you'd like you go first this time uh sure uh thank you mayor uh thank you for nominating me and thank you for the rest of the me to the rest of the members of the land you boort I look forward to working with all of you good George you don't need to but if you want to you can uh yeah sure um pleasure to be here thank you uh thank you Bruce for for nominating me and great Mr Mayor for meeting with you a few weeks back and I I look forward to working with you and and contributing uh as I can so thank you thank you Mr Kasten for that um for that time excellent gentlemen welcome aboard look forward to working with you and and um in the interim um we've been joined by the newly appointed bur engineer Mr Costa good evening sir okay Mr chairman good evening um Mr Mayor thank you so much the board thank you and um if I do any WR anything wrong which I probably will just don't don't even hesitate to yell at me but we King around thank you thank you and thank you um one other thing tonight actually my next door neighbor is coming before the board tonight so obviously I'm conflicted out I'm within 200 ft but I just want to put on the record as a uh as a resident and and the adjacent neighbor I have absolutely um no issues with with the application and and the addition that they're doing with that the board it's in your hands and and look at it closely and hopefully you vote uh in the affirmative because like I said I think it's a it's Summit Avenue and I think it's it's a good addition to the uh to the block and it's probably a hardship because actually he he actually lives next door to me so that's probably one of the hardships he should use as the proof but other than that um I'm gonna get off this way no one can say I I did anything and uh and thank you again chairman and then again everybody on the board mayor thank you councilman thank you very much dly noted welcome back we'll see you and Joe welcome back Mr Sala congratulations Joe thank you Robert thank you all right everybody have a good evening thank you you too you too all right the formalities out of the way we'll continue on with our agenda for this evening the first uh for the next item I should say is under completeness review the applicant is Eugene and Angela and I apologize if I'm mispronouncing your name Goen putut 8:30 Summit Avenue block 206 lot 16 application is for a proposed addition alteration and renovation of an existing residence um seeking four variances propose improve building coverage maximum lock coverage Miss styling yes thank you so prior to the meeting I reviewed the proofs submitted by the applicant's attorney and found them to be sufficient for the board to hear the application tonight also reviewed the documents submitted with the application they submitted a complete application form a survey from October of 2024 a grading plan and Architectural plans so I think the board has sufficient documentation to um review the application tonight okay very good thank you uh Mr dekin good evening good evening yes um chairman um I I find the U the application complete uh with the site plan architectural plans uh my zoning review um and um feeling to move forward okay thank you sir and Mr Flores I think oh I think that Rob was going to excuse myself right so yes correct so I'm just gonna I'm going to put it that on the record that uh uh is the belief that since Rob is the owner of the company and his conflicted out is also you know he also you know Brands into us so that's why I'm going to excuse myself and just put the record um that there is a conflict that's fine yeah we get that on the record that's fine thank you thank you questions from the board as to completeness of this application okay there being none I will look for a motion to deem the application complete second think have Mr CR first Mr gibons on a second uh oh okay one second sorry about that all right Mr Mayor yes Mr klin yes Mr Mr Craig yes Mr Gibbons yes Mr Keno yes Mr feffer yes Mr gotier yes councilman glass yes and Mr Sala yes all right thank you the motion passes okay thank you everyone we're going to continue on now into new business applicant is Eugene and Angela ginput property is 830 Summit Avenue block 206 lot 16 applications seeking variances in connection with an addition alteration renovation of an existing residence uh variances for uh maximum lot coverage uh improved building coverage and height leave uh the has council with them this evening Mr capy good evening good evening Mr chairman pleasure to be before you this evening good to have you you have your K you have your client and who's who's with you this evening we have our civil engineer Tyler Vandal Faulk our architect Chris Lopez and our planner kathern Gregory with us this evening before I call my first witness if I can just give a brief summary of what the application involves and then we can start with Mr Vandal faul to go through the civil engineering components okay yeah we'll get a buddy sworn in uh after you've uh done your done your presentation in that case thank you thank you Mr chairman so this is a project cited 8:30 Summit Avenue it's on the easterly side of summit in the Burrows R1 Zone uh the property is improved with a single family dwelling that was constructed in 1900 1901 there about uh it sits in substantially the same condition as it did when it was originally constructed with the exception of a one-story Edition that was constructed sometime thereafter uh that sits on the left or the northly side of the main portion of the dwelling uh a particular note to the application uh in addition to having a two and a half story and a one story component there's also a detached garage in the right rear corner of the lot which requires a long driveway along the right side yard in order to gain access to that detached garage the driveway itself is quite narrow it doesn't really function uh as intended uh and the last item of me of note is that the grade of the property drops off substantially as you head from front to back with Kinder kamak Road being to the East off the rear property line so the closest property downhill from us is a multif family development that's actually lower and elevation by about 30 or so feet that Mr vandar will speak to uh what we're proposing to do by way of the application is uh Eugene and Angela have owned this house for approximately 13 years and reside there with their three children and some uh other people that reside in the home with them they need some more living space for the family unit as the family grows and are looking to stay in River Edge for the next 30 or so odd years obviously continue to stay within the burrow uh for an indefinite period of time and in order to accommodate the family's needs we're proposing uh a two story Edition along the left side of the dwelling as well as some amenity space in the in the rear essentially inclusive of a raised patio with the patio needing to be raised really just to work with the grade um when we initially presented the filed the application we were also providing a an ACG grade patio a stair assembly along the left side yard to give access to the basement as well as a bit of a wider walkway in the front uh and in preparation for this evening's hearing uh we didn't want to maintain we didn't want to increase the existing impervious surfaces at at site um the site essentially has about 3,800 square feet of existing impervious surface the bulk table doesn't reflect all of that because the ordinance doesn't pick up the portion of the driveway from the front right corner all the way to the detached garage which is a few hundred square F feet or so but in reality the amount of impervious surface at site on the site today is about 3,800 square feet and we didn't want to exceed that the initial concept that we filed showed a slight exceedance of that but in order to not increase the amount of impervious surface at site we decided to eliminate the atg grade patio uh eliminate the stair assembly along the left side yard and to reduce the width of the walk in the front this way even though we are proposing building additions there's no more additional impervious surface on site in the postbuild scenario and our engineer will speak to that uh we have an exhibit that illustrates those minor modifications both from our engineer and architect one last update uh I understand there was uh a little uncertainty about who was going to be at tonight's meeting from a professional standpoint whether it was going to be the board planner Tom Barons or whether it was going to be Mr dekin uh and Mr Baron had called me around 3:00 this afternoon while he was reviewing the file and and preparation for this evening's hearing and he had said that we really should be looking at the raised patio uh a little bit more conservatively and treated as though it's building coverage because the raised patio is part of the foundation of the principal dwelling he thought it best that we treat that as building coverage even though it's unroofed it's open on all sides obviously it's not conditioned or heated it's not your typical building coverage um but nonetheless when our engineer speaks he'll also talk about that adjustment to the building coverage number again was not uh um an intentional Omission the ordinance was recently updated and I I think we're all trying to live with it and understand how the new ordinance should be interpreted and with that uh update from Mr Baron's of this afternoon Mr Vandal Fork will also have some update updated figures relative to that um as with regard to the Varian that we need yes there is a um if we look at just the enclosed portion of the building there's a minor uptick in building coverage of approximately 140 or so square feet the impervious coverage as I mentioned under the modified scenario that we'll discuss this evening doesn't propose any increase in overall impervious surfaces and the building height is as a result of the dropping off of the grade as we go from front to back because the building is getting a little longer and as the grade drops off as you head towards the rear when you reset the averaging that's why we are requiring that Building height variance just wanted to give the board just a brief uh explanation as to the project and and the basis for the variances so you can have that in mind when we hear the testimony from the various professionals if there are no questions of me Mr chairman I can have Mr Vandal Fork sworn and have him go through the plan set questions from the board for Mr capy okay there're being none uh we'll proceed please thank you all right I I'll I'll swear everyone in at this time and then we can go through the um qualifications so if you please raise your right hand do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're about to give will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes I do I do all right and Mr Lopez you're on mute yes I do thank you um and will the applicants be providing testimony as well it's not anticipated at this time but we might as well have them this morning the event it becomes necessary all right so if you just please raise your right hand do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're about to give will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do I do all right and so we'll start with the applicants just state your name spell your last name and provide your address for the record Eugene ginput 8:30 Summit Avenue River Edge New Jersey and I'm Angela ginput 8:30 Summit Avenue rivered New Jersey all right and the engineer Tyler vandervalk v n d r v l k uh business address 64 Valley Road Butler New Jersey 07405 all right and Mr Lopez Chris Lopez lopz uh on behalf of plan architecture business address 267 pasac Road Township of Washington New Jersey 07676 thank you and Miss Gregory uh Katherine Gregory Gregory Associates business address is 96 Lynwood Plaza number 350 in Fort Lee New Jersey thank you and then um Mr capes will you um Vader the witnesses sure do you want me to do with them collectively or just as they testify we can go we can get everyone um taken care of now certainly Tyler can you tell us the your educational professional EXP experiences please sure I have a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology I'm a licensed professional engineer in the state of New Jersey my license is current and in good standing and I've been accepted as a a witness in this capacity before numerous boards in the state of New Jersey although not yet uh before this board is that sufficient Mr chairman any questions from the board as to Mr valks qualifications okay thank you Mr you can proceed thank you sorry Mr Lopez if you can tell us your educational professional experiences well please sure I have a bachelor of architecture degree from New Jersey Institute of Technology I am a licensed architect in the state of New Jersey my license is in good standing I have testified uh before boards uh in in buron County Bay County just not in front of this board in rivid questions from the board as to Mr Lope has his qualifications okay thank you m Gregory uh good evening uh I have a master of architecture and a master of urban planning from the University of Illinois I'm a licensed professional planner in the state of New Jersey since the year of 2000 I've been practicing planning for longer than that um I'm also a municipal planner myself in the Bureau of Edgewater I'm also the zoning board planner in pamis in fairon I'm also the housing planner in the Bureau of Ridgefield and I've testified throughout the state of New Jersey in my 27 or so year career um I have testified in Riveredge before but it's been a number of years since I've been here so unfortunately I don't recognize anybody but um and my license is in good standing well welcome back any questions from the board as to M Gregor's qualifications okay Mr kesy thank you Mr chairman Tyler in my opening I had mentioned a in a a modified plan set that you prepared would you mind bringing that up for discussion and let's just describe it by title block preparation and revision date and then um Miss sttinley we should proba I gather we should have that marked yes excuse me yeah so this plan which we're presenting as an exhibit tonight is essentially a revised or updated plan from what previously submitted uh and that revision took place up through today so it's dated January 8th of this year so we'll mark that as A1 please Tyler this uh do you also have a plan that shows us the existing conditions at the site yes I do have the survey available one moment is it sharing the survey or still my last plan no we're seeing the survey okay yep so this is the boundary and topographic survey that the plans were based off of uh dated October of 2024 and that that was previously submitted yes so don't need we don't need to mark that as an exhibit thank you Tyler using the survey can you take us through the existing conditions of site please yes happy to do so so um as Matt mentioned in his opening we are located on the easterly side of summit here uh we have the house somewhat centered in the property you know left to right uh the twostory portion of the home is on the right side and then the left side is is simply one story uh and it doesn't have the same depth but behind that we have a fairly large deck uh access to the site is through a a fairly narrow driveway on the southerly side of the house uh that extends all the way along the property line until we get behind the house at which point we deviate from the property line by a couple feet and we have this uh rear detached garage uh front loading uh with a small ashall area in front of it um as you can imagine this driveway uh is tough to navigate it's only 8 ft between the house and the property line uh so quite narrow and uh one once you get to the rear of the house of course a very small area not much in the way of turnaround space or or the ability to park more than a couple vehicles uh besides that we have the front walkway uh the property from a topographic standpoint uh slopes from west to east or from front to rear it is um somewhat uh not not too steep through the house itself maybe a few feet and then it drops off severely uh at the back of the property as far as existing drainages or anything on site today uh there is not thank you uh when when we get to the year bulk table if you can just or while we have this plan here I had mentioned also in my opening about how a portion of the driveway is not picked up in the coverage table portion of your site plan bulk table can you explain that to us that's right so based on the zoning ordinance uh driveways that are behind the dwelling do not count towards the impervious requirements uh when you have a a detached garage scenario behind the house um so that portion of the driveway on the on the bulk table has been excluded um if we if we go to that and we'll get to it eventally but you'll see that we have a total existing lot coverage number of 31 193 Square ft um that number once we include the full driveways is actually 389 so it's approximately 600 ft in change of driveway that's not counted or contemplated under the zoning requirements so the the total amount of impervious surface at the site today from a square footage perspective can you give us that number please right so our total hard surface would be 3,819 square ft thank you Tyler as far as the proposal can you walk us through how we're seeking to renovate and expand the dwelling sure so taking us back to exhibit A1 I'm just going to zoom in a little bit here um really what we're doing is as you mentioned in the opening the intent here is to maintain the same impervious coverage although it's non-conforming today not to go beyond that and while doing so um to basically condense that impervious coverage into the center of the lot rather than having so much of it along the right side right adjacent to the neighbor's property and I have an exhibit that will get to eventually that shows that um depicts that more clearly as far as the proposal for the site uh we're dealing of course with the Demolition of the detached garage that's in the rear so this structure will be coming out and that area will be replaced just simply with lawn and then as we get close to the property line uh we'll have some vegetation planted there for some good uh screening uh as well as demolition of the driveway that runs on the south side of the property uh so we are removing that existing concrete apron that's at the front uh and removing all the paved driveway alongside of the house and in the front yard uh that will be the demolition for the site what we're proposing is uh a number of additions first off the primary addition will be two stories off the rear leftand corner this is the uh northeast corner of the existing structure uh the existing deck will be coming out I should have mentioned as well and that addition will take place largely over that deck and then somewhat more beyond that towards the rear as well uh we will be constructing a second story Edition over the uh leftand side of the house where it's only one story today this was just one slight modification on this exhibit because that wasn't labeled on the original submitt although it was clear in the architecturals we thought we'd clarify that here so this area we'll get a second story over top of it and then we have a one-story Edition out the front which is just to provide enough enough depth in the garage area uh and that addition will be compliant to all the setbacks for the Zone access to the site will now uh come to this side of the property where we'll have uh a single width driveway coming in and then widen out to use the double garage doors uh located at the front of the home this driveway will be constructed out of a perious p uh so a p material that allows for the infiltration of rainwater uh so that will eliminate uh possible runoff of a pave driveway uh scenario and we've also used a reduced coverage number of 50% uh based on that and based on the um recommendations of the manufacturer for that block as well as uh the new ordinance which permits um that reduction and impervious for the use of perious pavers uh for the front of the house we'll be reconstructing the front porch which will be covered and then we have a couple of stairs down to a 3-ft wide uh pervious paav walkway that walkway on your plan as submitted was labeled as 5 ft wide again with the intent to get us back down to the pre-existing coverage number we've reduced that to 3 ft wide as we move to the rear of the structure uh we have all our Mechanicals located on the left hand side or the Northerly side of the house uh those will um meet the required setbacks uh to the property line we're removing a number of trees on the left hand side and along the front in order to construct the additions and then as we get to the rear we have this raised uh patio uh the intent for this is to have a an Easy Flow between the outdoor living space and the indoor space uh so it's just one step down out of the house onto that patio and because we have the slope of about 5 or 6 ft between the front of the house and the back of the house uh that patio ends up being up out of the ground around um about 7 ft or so as we're get to the back of the patio so that's why it's raised and elevated above the grade and as discussed um we will be amending our numbers to include that as part of building coverage although it is not covered this will be open uh it does have this countertop you know built-in grill type scenario as part of the patio uh but there's no roof over this structure uh then we have stairs that bring us down to grade and we get into the rear yard which is relatively flat before we hit the steep slope you'll notice that we removed the sunken Pat fire pit patio from the rear here again just to get us uh to that pre-existing number the one other change to note here is that previously we had a stairwell that went down into the basement on the Northerly side of the structure that was removed in favor of a window well the client actually you know realized that they didn't necessarily need stairs there we could just provide the window well for emergency um egress for that basement space uh no need to actually access it from the backyard so that's the layout of the property from a zoning perspective we are located in the R1 Zone we have about 10,500 Square ft here where 7,500 is required uh we have the required width and Frontage exactly at 75 ft and we have um a depth of 138.5 feet where 100 is required again most of that exp excess depth over the 100 ft is actually this steep slope area that remains untouched excuse me setback requirements as mentioned uh we are compliant on our additions the existing um portion of the home is encroaching um 1.1 ft you can see into the front yard but the new component by the garage will be meeting the setback uh will match that encroachment it will be stepped back to be compliant uh we have both a single side yard and combined side yard requirement in this Zone we're meeting those uh with some space to spare in all cases and then the rear yard setback uh we have plenty there as well 25 ft required almost 50 ft uh provided maximum height as mentioned we are requesting a variance for the height uh the reality is that height in the zoning is measured from our highest peak to the average grade as we extend this house further to the east or to the rear of the property because we're dropping a couple of feet in elevation just across this back addition that's bringing down our average grade around the entire Foundation um and therefore our height is being increased uh resulting in the need for a height variant from a building coverage perspective the existing uh structure is non-conforming at 28.6 uh% and that's inclusive of the deck uh that is existing today that will be coming out and the number that we provided on the plan submitted was 29.9% that does not include the raised patio which again understanding this afternoon uh speaking with I think the the board planner maybe the zoning officer uh was determined that that should be included in the building coverage uh so we're going to have to increase that number it's 328 Square ft which brings our total from the 3148 up to 3476 which is uh 33% on the nose so 33.0% from the 29.9 again our overall coverage numbers were going to remain the same uh but we're going to switch that from just impervious to building coverage given that it's elevated off the ground again the reasoning for that if we have to come down the 10 or so steps in order to get the outdoor space we just don't have that flow uh between the indoor and outdoor it makes it very difficult for hosting Etc bringing in and out food that sort of thing so the idea is to kind of keep it all on the living level um for that reason the finally we have our lot coverage which is our other variants requested as part of this application uh lck coverage you see I've split up into two scenarios here one is excluding yard amenities and one is including yard amenities and this has to do with the revised ordinance that's supposed to preserve 5% of coverage on the property for side and rear yard amenities and other words patios um decks mechanical equipment pools Etc so uh in order uh to maintain that 5% what we're saying is lot coverage excluding those yard amenities is really limited to 30 and then with the yard amenities we're allowed the full 35 uh so that's how we come up with these two different line items and you can see in both conditions we would be non-conforming um we have 32.7% coverage proposed when we're excluding the Y amenities uh so in other words this variance would be for not maintaining 5% uh of the lot for yard amenities instead we're preserving uh 2.3 in this case so that would be the requested variance uh again this applicant is building house for themsel I understand why that yard amenities um has been put into place uh essentially we've seen it a lot over the year last couple years where we have flippers coming in maximizing the house turning around selling the house and then the owner says wait a second I can't have a patio I can't have a pool what's going on uh and it's because uh the flippers took advantage of maximizing the impervious coverage without providing that rear space in this case you know we have an applicant that's building this house for from the they're prioritizing the living space over the outdoor space they see that as a higher priority and and they're the ones that are living with this they're not coming back next year asking for a pool Etc so this is um really case specific in that the 5% is not being preserved and then when we look at the total lot coverage again the intent here is to maintain the existing coverage you could see in the table where we're saying 30.3% being increased to 36.2 that's a fact fact of that portion of the driveway in the existing condition not being counted because it's behind the house uh when we consider all hard surfaces as I mentioned we're really looking at this number under the lock coverage table 3,819 and in our proposed condition will be at 3,813 so a very slight decrease uh but again the goal being maintaining the existing hard surfaces on the property I just want to uh bring up another exhibit and maybe we can go ahead and get this one marked uh this is essentially an a comparison of of coverages so this is entitled coverage exhibit and it is dated also today January 8th A2 thank you so on the left hand side what we have basically is just this the base survey and I've highlighted all the coverage uh as part of our calculation in red and then on the right hand side here uh we have this bluish color and that's representing the proposed all the proposed impervious coverage and as we know from the numbers we're looking at just a couple square foot reduction so essentially these are the same but what we're doing is consolidating it into the center of the lot so we're taking that coverage that's really hugging the southernly property line uh making it impossible to have proper buffering between properties uh and also again we have an existing non-conforming garage that garage structure is only 2 ft off the property line whereby ordinance would need to be 4T um so by nature of the application we're removing that non-conforming condition I believe we're also twocc car garages are limited to 450 Square ft this is over that I think it's maybe 475 so not by much but again it's non-conforming in two instances we'll be taking that out and really this exhibit just uh highlights the fact that we're taking a lot of impervious off of the property line and really condensing it behind the structure where it has a lesser impact on neighboring properties uh when we're talking to about impact and neighboring properties one thing I want to touch on here is the drainage uh as mentioned the existing site doesn't have any dry Wells or things of that nature where we're recharging runoff from the roof or from the driveway in this case we're implementing a number of uh features that would mitigate the impervious coverage variants uh in this case well I should say in most cases typically what we would do is we design recharge to handle the increase in runoff so if you have a certain amount of impervious on a site and we're adding more we're going to recharge that difference in this case where we're actually reducing impervious coverage we typically would say we have no obligation for drainage but understanding that we are asking for a variance for coverage uh we want to take this opportunity and get a bunch of that runoff into the ground uh to help mitigate any uh impact to neighboring properties so we are collecting all the roof runoff from this house and from this structure and we're going to recharge it in the ground in the backyard um of note is that if we consider the impervious coverage um that's required in the zone and what's being provided we're talking about 132 Square ft different uh the storage associated with that 132 ft would be 160 gallons uh for a typical design storm and in this case rather than the 160 gallons of storage and recharge we're actually providing 770 uh so a significant increase just to get that roof uh water into the ground and make sure it doesn't impact anybody down slope or adjacent to us uh so I think that's a a huge factor in this application um in addition to that testimony I have one more exhibit which I'd like to share uh this is what I'm calling an aerial overlay exhibit and it stated yesterday can mark this is A3 maybe yes what this does is it takes an aerial image from uh just from Google Maps um and it provides us a context for the neighborhood and a scale of our project and compared to neighboring properties of note is that the properties downhill are commercial and multif family in nature so we have significant amounts of coverages between Pavements large buildings parking lots Etc uh we have this uh wooded slope behind us that's all going to be maintained as part of this application the trees that are coming down are large usually along the uh property line on the left hand side but the the rear uh vegetation will remain on that slope and that won't be disturbed we can see the existing garage and pavement that's all going to be coming out that hard surface is going to be removed and what we're left with uh this is the footprint of the home as well as the raised patio uh the only other impervious on site is that front walkway and driveway not shown here but this was really about the scaling of the house itself uh and you can see in the neighborhood you know while while bigger than some of the houses uh we also see to the left here uh some large Hardscape improvements to the rear which we don't have as part of this project uh but I think this just gives some good context from a scaling perspective that really summarizes my testimony uh Matt you have any questions for me nothing further Tyler thank you okay uh let's turn to the board if we may uh for questions uh let me start with Mr Gibbons if I may yes so I have a few questions um so you spoke about the height um is the height of the addition higher than what is present on the house so from an elevation perspective the ridge is going to be 6 in higher than the current Ridge um and that's largely a factor of the depth of the house right so as we're extending that house back and probably Chris Lopez will have more to say about this but that increases the the ridge line by 6 in so I think we figured 6 in is due to the ridg line increasing and um 7 in due to the grade decreasing so if you if you're looking at this house straight from the front it will be higher than it is today it will be six the ridg line will be six inches higher but that ridgel line will be set further back from the street okay has there was there any consideration to have it still level with what is on the site currently because I know I know you're already over but we're now making it bigger than it is already over Mr Lopez has uh a response to that when he testifies but yes we did consider that and there is an option available to um to bring that Ridge line down okay so we can discuss that then um next so the basement um and I don't know if this is more for you or or maybe this is even for Mr dekin the uh so we I know we have a bedroom in the basement is that correct I saw that on the plans that's correct so there's not a walk out in the basement right you took out the a door that goes to the backyard that's that's correct there's not a walk out there would just be emergency egress yeah okay what size window is that and what is our code in this again I think might be for Mr dekin what what is our code of having a basement basement bedroom and the requirements for that egress and are we meeting that requirement uh that that will be checked uh through the uh plan review um but the erress window has to be five square feet and 44 inches above the finished grade of flooring um but as long as they have an egress window with a window well uh to access to the exterior um then that will comply with the two means of egresses out of that bedroom and do we so Mr vandervalk do we comply with that or uh so Chris is probably a better person to ask that but is certainly our intent to comply with that we're not and and there's no reason we wouldn't be able to okay and that way Excuse excuse me if if there is a bedroom in the basement they will need to comply yeah and that that can be a condition of any approval is that they the applicant would agree to comply with the burough code and any State Building requirements for bedrooms in the basement certainly excellent okay yeah every time I see a basement a basement bedroom I just get concerned that obvious you know for obvious reasons that there's egress and you know whoever's sleeping in that room is safe I agree um okay and then my last thing you know uh I know you you know you talked about this is you know owner occupied owner owner building with the 5% that we've put aside for backyard amenities um I may be wrong but I think you're the first people to use that new law which is great um you know but I'm concerned that we're on the first application and we're being asked to not comply with our new ordinance um I what what is the percentage your your 2 and a half% is is that accurate 2.7 something in that range for the back we're 2.7 uh over so we're leaving 2.3 for the yard amenities so my concern is that we just put this ordinance in and we're already gutting it um the only thing I would say Mr given is certainly um the ordinances are every land use ordance is is designed to have an exception granted when appropri rate um I understand it's new I understand that there was an intention behind enacting the ordinance uh I think here as Mr vandol spoke to earlier during his testimony uh my understanding was predominantly enacted to deal with new construction to preserve open space for the ultimate end user here I I think a deviation is is appropriate given the fact that we lived here for 13 years and uh obviously that the architect cure that Mr Lopez will speak to momentarily was specifically curtailed to the gsin puts Direction it's so it's Our intention to stay here for quite a long period of time and we recognize the self-imposed limitation that results from uh the request before the board uh and just and finally as I'm sure the board's aware variance grants are not precedential in nature so whatever you do here is not binding upon the board in any future application no I understand that I know the intent of you know why it was why it was put in I'm just concerned that the first application were were already not abided by it so I don't know how the rest of the board feels about it but I'm just putting it out there um you know just a couple of the concerns that I had um I think that's all I have for now thank you okay thank you Mr given Mr Craig yeah um Mr vand um when you're doing the calculations on coverage you're taking the 50% credit on the pervious driveway that's correct okay so when you're saying that the hard surface or the coverage is equivalent you're kind of you you're kind of picking and choosing which code calculation best benefits your argument because you're you're including the driveway behind the house which is not to be included per the code when calculating coverage but when you're calculating coverage for the new driveway you're taking the 50% credit you can't take both it's got to be one either either you follow the code in both instances or you you know you don't but you can't say I'm gonna I'm G to use the code to calculate the pervious driveway and only have 50% coverage there but I'm going to ignore the code on the pervious coverage behind the house and I'm going to I'm going to pretend that that's part of my coverage yeah I I certainly understand that um and our plans reflect that you know I'm not putting on the plan that we have that that counts towards our impervious coverage that's why our existing coverage is the 30.3 and not the 36 .2 and you know that being said from a practical standpoint that driveway does shed water that driveway does appear as hard surface when viewed from the neighbor um and so that where we're trying to compare it from a practical standpoint on why the variance for coverage could be granted is that physically you know the hard coverage is there even though zoning doesn't count it so I'm not trying to you know deceive the board or anything that is the case certainly that driveway doesn't count from a zoning perspective um so from so from standpoint of Code Enforcement when we look at what you're increasing it by we got to use the real nums absolutely yeah the approval that we're looking for yes you're trying to make the argument um but you know you're saying well you know even though here's what I'm showing you on on the on the coverage chart but my real argument is I'm going to use the difference the different applications of the code to my advantage and I just want to make sure you know that's kind of clear that you can't really play both ends against the middle I hear you and I think our planner is going to talk about this but when it comes to variances a lot of it has to do with intent of the Zone plan and are we you know harming that in any way and that's where I think I'm coming from is that um intentionally zoning ordinances are put in place to keep the impervious coverage to a certain number um the fact that we're not trying to hurt homeowners who have a garage behind their house so we're excluding some coverage doesn't change the fact that it's physically there so I'm just speaking from that perspective okay from standpoint of you know variances and and their applications and kind of the why I have um this property is an oversized lot it's 10,500 Square ft roughly compared to 7500 which is required awful lot of houses in River Edge are lower than that and you know in my mind that hardship is where the variance comes into play someone's on an undersized lot or a small lot or a lot that has uh strange geometry so that you can't use parts of it um in in this case you know at 30% you can get 3160 3160 square feet of coverage okay 10,500 foot lot compared to 2200 on a 75 by 100 lot it's 40% difference you have 40% more coverage available to you than somebody in a typical 7 by 100 lot here so you've already got you know 900 to a th000 square feet depending on whether you use the 30 or 35% more coverage available to you than the typical lot I have a hard time making an argument that that requires a variance to go even above and beyond that yeah I think and before you get into you know you know the hardship side of it um the fact that you're you're lot slopes down in the back and you have you know maybe less available space there that means you're packing more coverage into the smaller space into what looks like a typical l so now your excessive or your additional coverage that you have is now being put on squashed onto a lot that's actually visibly like a typical 75 by lot you're getting the advantage of that that space in coverage but it's all being it's all being put into smaller parcel or portion of the CL I don't agree with that characterization Mr Craig I mean it's not being compacted we're complying with all the required setbacks and and predominantly the coverage is occurring in the rear yard where it's imperceptible from any passer by on the roadway or from any adjacent property again our our property to the north took no to took no issue with the application the property to the east is 30 ft below us so yes there are topographical challenges but it's not requiring anything to be compacted typically you'd have a garage Central to the dwelling you don't have the detach garages are not a common assembly these days so yes bringing the the garage to the main portion of the dwelling is a component of what we're seeking to do as well as Place additions onto it and as Mr Lopez will testify to when you're seeking to place additions onto an existing dwelling you look for the logical place to place the addition depending on where the existing house sits and what spaces are looking to be created I I certainly appreciate your your commentary but you know perhaps we can have Mr Lopez go through the the floor plan and maybe that discussion will uh help bring things into perspective M Matt I also want to add just that you know not all variances are going to be granted because of hardships I I don't think we're trying to make the argument that we have a hardship for coverage in this case um like you said the lot is oversized I think what we're looking at here is a benefit analysis and that's the fact that we're removing existing non-conformities with the garage and we're removing hard surface that's immediately along the neighbor's property line and and that's an improvement to the area that's not an improvement to us you know some people try to argue improvements that are really just for themselves this really is an improvement to the neighborhood we're getting pavement off the property line we're controlling runoff um in a way that's going to relieve any runoff issues from the neighbors so there are some good benefits to the application I think that's where the variance analysis can be variance can be approved okay well just overall I mean you know Mr Gibbon's commentary about you know kind of coming out of the box with us making variances and then you know having a variance of this size on a lot of the size I I find the I find it difficult to convince myself that that it's just toi understood Mr crave we can you know have the benefit of presenting uh at least our architect and then we'll we'll go from you know hear from the balance of the board members on Mr vandar testimony and then uh hear from our next witness I'm good thank you okay Mr Mayor I have to be honest with you uh much of what Mr Craig said is what I'm already thinking um the discussion about the 5% that we wanted to save for the re yard is not an objective idea but a subjective idea it's dependent upon keeping the property to 30% um maximum loot coverage 30% and we were giving the 5% not to give a 5% difference between um maximum life coverage sloting yard amenities and maximum coverage inside so we're we're we're looking for the um the maximum lot coverage to be 30% uh I agree with Mr cig and with um and in previous um discussions that um that um this is an oversized lot and so um the benefit uh extends uh multiplies with the size larger than standard and so um I don't I don't see grounds for granting uh the lot coverage um variances I see grounds for granting the maximum height I do understand the benefit of um uh maintaining the coverage I get that argument but um I just don't see why we as a board other than the requ is being made I I I wonder if the if the residents couldn't simply uh reduce the size of the Improvement and therefore not require a um a variance except for the maximum height which I think would be uh something I could easily vote for because I think it's unfair for um them to be penalized by simply um uh the the slope in the yard so these are my thoughts that um I'm not yet convinced that there is cause for the maximum Bill building coverage the maximum lock coverage with and without the amenities but mostly the maximum lock coverage with and without the amenities so I I look forward to hearing something that would convince me um we have an obligation to luse board to uh to find sub substance ative reason for granting variances other than the requests being made thank you yes and we do have we do have a planner coming up whose primary objective is to prove and validate the variances so um I did get into it a little bit here but my testimony is largely engineering okay councilman thank you Mr Chen um so let me ask a question I'm sorry if I missed this the the new elevated deck or patio what can you describe the construction the what was construction what what will the the the floor the surface be I let's leave that to Chris if you don't mind he's going to cover that in detail okay I'm asking because it ties into my understanding of the lot coverage calculations with respect to permeability so is it a permeable Sur Serv or an impermeable service that's the question yeah that is not intended to be permeable well Tyler you didn't take any credit for that it's not that it's not int it's not permeable correct so that might be something to think about guys right well I'm sorry M Council what what with regard to I think he's suggesting we could reduce our coverage if we went to a permeable p on the raised patio corre um yeah you have to answer it would it comes from a construction standpoint that's where it gets a little tricky right because you'd have to let water in it and it's 7 feet off the ground um so where's that water going but it could be possible it's something I would have to review with Chris so it's not an elevated deck on piles it's on Earth well I think they're basically building extensions of the foundation wall and then it's it's probably infilled with like DGA or something yeah okay uh I have no I understand the prior counts but I just want to say that for what it's worth I have no bias with respect to the proposed variances in relationship to the lot size I just want to go on record saying that um final question um if I understand correctly recent revisions were made so you have to change your adjust your calculations related to lack coverage right when were those revisions made and when were they submitted to the borrow yeah so um there were a couple different things one was the applicant and you know us as a team decided that we wanted to come in without increasing the physical coverage again zoning versus physical aside um and so we did changes like removing the rear patio which was at grade and reducing the front walk things like that um this was I just want to know the time yeah this was a few days ago and then today is when we learned about 3:00 today is when we learned about that raised patio being counted as building coverage not just lot coverage uh so that was today so these that's why we're presenting these as exhibits it wasn't actually filed with the board thank you thank you uh I have no further uh comments or questions Mr chairman thank you okay councilman thank you Mr feffer thank you um a lot of the questions and comments that that were already made um were the same that I would make so I'm not going to repeat them um I will say that for the for the witnesses who are still to testify um I would uh hope to hear on the one hand yes the justification for the variance but also whether there's any wiggle room there because I I definitely concur that um this board has struggled a lot to come up with a formula uh that would be a more standard approach to these type of situations in terms terms of the lot coverage and the percentage of lot coverage and so you know I I I share Mr gibbons's um uh concern and reticence about uh right away being asked to and this is not a criticism of your of yours it's not your fault but to be almost immediately being asked to make exceptions to a rule that we thought would prevent a lot of people coming to the and asking for exceptions um so here we are again so so that's what I would encourage the the next uh witnesses to focus on not just justifying the variants but also um giving us some guidance as to whether you're open to scenarios that would um remove the necess the necessity to go beyond the the extra 5% uh so that's that's my general comment I do have a a a couple of quick uh what I think will be easy questions for Mr vandol um the first is there was a mention of tree removal along the side and by the way I will also say that there's a lot there's a lot in this uh proposal that I do like I like the consolidation approach I like the additional drainage that's going to be put in so this is not just to slam the the uh the proposal um there is a lot in it that I think is good and helpful um but we may need some tweaks to it so as far as the trees the tree removal um do you have a do you have a figure in terms of how many trees are there now and how many trees would have to be removed as part of the application we're removing or we're proposing to remove nine trees three of those are sort of in the front in front of the house and the remainders along the side and then there's a number of trees in the rear I don't have them counted but it looks like it's it's probably over 10 maybe close to 15 that are uh remaining so would would it be fair to say that all the trees along the side of the house that right now sort of are on the border between the two properties that all those trees are going to be removed that's correct okay um all right we'll we'll just leave it at that I I just wanted a factual answer so you gave that to me I appreciate it um the the removal of the garage is there any plan and and I'm sorry if I missed this but is there any plan to construct a new garage well the garage is moving to the main house so where we see our front driveway that's leading to a a two-car garage right off the front of the house okay okay but that's that's a new construction right because you're demolishing the one in the back we're de correct we're demolishing the one in the back and then the left side of the H existing home which is just one story that's essentially being converted to a garage as part of the renovation and addition I see okay um and in the well actually I I did have a question a question about the the tree removal so that strip where the trees are being removed along the side of the house is that just being replaced with Earth with you know some sort of H what kind of surface is going to be there after the trees are removed yeah we didn't put together a landscape plan typically and most commonly on these projects I see owners line that property line with Evergreens just as a visual buffer uh but like I said there hasn't been a landscape plant put together as part of this uh but it would be landscaped in some way okay so you're not anticipating PVE or no absolutely not okay uh which leads me now to the other side of the house where the the long driveway was and that's being removed is that the same expected scenario where you're can to have landscaping and some sort of soft surface there yep that would be a combination of lawn and and Landscaping yes okay uh just a couple of more yeah just um a quick question on the uh the patio it it do I understand your testimony correctly that beneath the patio as it's anticipated now it's it's just going to be a solid extension of the foundation that's going to be it's it's just going to be solid uh material whatever that whether it's concrete or something else underneath the patio well the walls around the perimeter would be like an extension of the foundation of the home is my understanding but then you would just infill beneath the patio either with you know fill material from when you dug the excavation for the addition or stone or some combination of the both again Chris is probably the better person to answer this as the architect but that's my anticipation okay so I I would just raise it now as a question for Chris to answer later on at the appropriate time uh as to whether something uh that would allow an open space beneath the patio so that there could be some drainage through the patio whether that's something that is feasible um that can be answered later on at the appropriate time and I have no further questions thank you thank you Mr pepper uh Mr Keno uh thank you most of my questions have been uh asked and uh answered so far um I'm going to keepy my comments to uh later although I have exactly the same concerns as every body I just want a uh simple clarification on something because something Mr vandervalk said confused me are you claiming a hardship well the variances in this case I believe the height has a hardship component M Mr Vander for Katherine Gregory our planner will address that sir it's it's a combination of a C1 and a C2 case sir but our our planner will testify to that when the time is appropriate that's fine earlier he test ifed on the record that you were not claiming a hardship that's why I'm asking for clarification but I'll wa with regard to the height variance the topography a lot is contributing to that so that would qualify as a C1 basis and then the balance of the variances are being justified under a C2 basis that being that the granting of the variance would Foster some of the purposes of zoning that Miss Gregory will speak to right so you you'll let us know when the time comes which one is a hardship and which one is not correct all um that's all for now I'll wait until everybody else testifies thanks okay uh Mr goia thank you um I just have one question uh the you mentioned that in the revisions the walkway was reduced in size is that correct yes uh now is the walkway permeable is it pavers or semi- permeable it's permeable pavers so uh we're using a 50% on the walkway as well gotcha okay thank you Mr Sala um yes I I don't have any questions just just uh listening I I do uh agree with Mr feffer that if there's a way that there could be some modifications made um while addressing the concerns of the board that would be uh hopefully we can work something out great thank you Mr KY I'll turn it back to you thank you Mr chairman if I could have a moment just to have a two or three minute recess just to talk to my client if that's possible um sure we could do that uh time now is 8:50 PM uh let's reconvene at 8:55 I'll look for a motion to uh mov second all in favor I any oppose any abstain all right we'll be back at 8:55 thank you [Music] e e you e e e e e yeah if everyone can come back online call me to order it's 8:55 PM Miss steinley yes I'm just going to call the rule Mr Mayor here oh Mr caslin here Mr cray here Mr Gibbons here Mr kigo here Mr peffer here Mr gotier here councilman glass here and Mr Sala here all right all members are present okay thank you Mr tyy uh Mr kaby thank you Mr chairman so so what we'd like to do is have Mr Lopez testify as to the architecture plans hear the balance of the board's thoughts on the architecture plans certainly we appreciate the board has some concerns relative to what we've already heard relative to the civil engineering testimony but we'd like to get a a full the full input of the board on the design documents and then once we complete the question and answer per for Mr Lopez uh carry the matter to a later date so we can see what we can do to make some adjustments uh to see what we can do to respond to some of the concerns um so I just want to let the board know what our our thought was as far as moving forward um and continue on with Mr Lopez I I find that proposal acceptable any objections from the board okay Mr capy the floor is yours thank you Mr chairman m Mr Lopez if you can bring up your plan set please sure can you all see my screen we can and so this this is the plan set that you revised just to match the the hardcap modifications that Mr Vandal just testified to that's correct two changes I made was to eliminate the basement St walk out on the left north side of the property of the house and then the the lower patio at grade uh below the Below on the on the east side of the house and this revised plan set is uh prepared as of and revised as of what dates today 18 thank you so this would be 84 I believe yes and this is just one sheet or is it are all the sheets have all the sheets been revised just the two just the two sheets the the proposed basement floor plan and the proposed first floor plan okay thank you sure I'm I'm sorry Chris the the sheet numbers that we revised as today if you can just give us the sheet numbers as opposed to just absolutely VA 300 and VA 400 thank you so Chris if you can tell us a little bit about the existing house and some of the shortcomings with the existing dwelling and what we're trying to achieve by way of the renovation absolutely absolutely good evening ladies and gentlemen of the board um my name is Chris Lopez I have had the pleasure of working with Eugene and Angela Goen putut since August of 2003 uh in between now and then I've wore many hats uh marriage counselor financial advisor armed wrestling referee um but I'm happy just to wear my architecture one for this evening um they have been in town since 2012 they are looking to stay in town they're very stapled in the community they have three young kids uh one is a teenager about to start driving hence the driveway and garage discussions um and we really want to make this their forever home a home that they can Envision bringing their grandbabies home to uh with that being said the first we obviously wanted to do was address the site uh right now you can't quite see it because there are some overgrown trees here uh there is this one story Edition on the left side the north side if you will which uh both Tyler and Matt have have mentioned uh this was an addition done after the original House was built in early 1900s uh it's not built very properly it's not insulated properly it's not very functional for them uh so we obviously wanted to address that and then again as everyone has has has mentioned this this narrow driveway um and it to this detached garage in the back which is not functional whatsoever so uh naturally we wanted to create a forward-facing garage uh conventional with the neighborhood in the context uh go to a Center Hall Colonial if you will uh but before we do that I just wanted to again call out sort of lopsided nature of this mass that you can't see behind the tree in the front and both the back uh as you look from this view you know there are lots of canal levers it's not it's not very appealing Ally pleasing uh so this these were a couple of the things that they wanted to address on the outside uh as you go in through the inside uh first floor front door orientation Remains the Same um this is their foyer again this right side of the house was the was the original house just this portion there was a kitchen Edition at one point and then this left great room Edition uh so foyer there's a fireplace in it again not functional not really suitable dining room Powder Room uh upstairs there are four bedrooms although this one we call it the Harry Potter room the youngest son gets stuck in here the poor boy um so obviously this is a very Antiquated house layout it's it's Antiquated in both a number of rooms size of spaces um etc etc so we needed to address that we wanted to address the site the topography and obviously do something that's not too um not too bold so we we put forth the design um that captures uh a functional garage uh large larger spaces for the family to gather uh they do host holidays dining room that can be extended into the corridor family room larger kitchen uh you know Pantry this is the guest on the first floor uh you know mud room mud room amenities like I said they had they have three kids two boys one daughter teenage daughter um and then going upstairs again so four bedrooms here nice size um all three children are excelling in school they are bilingual they have tutors so an area for desk and homework and musical instrument practice was very important to them for their children um uh both Eugene and Angela are hybrid schedule work from home so an office component was was was important to them as well um and just to touch on a couple of the things that the board has brought up as I go back to the basement here um so these two windows for the basement guest bedroom would be egress this is the area for the for the uh for the window well um the the existing basement if I can go back a couple sheets again with three young kids there is no room for winter Recreation here uh the ceiling Heights in this existing basement are very low they're about 6'4 uh so even hit I mean I'm hitting my head in the light fixtures if you will so that was also something that they really wanted to address uh in doing so we've created a you know conventional laundry room in the basement and then a larger recck room which ultimately had the walk out but we changed the window um with that being said to talk about the patio I'll flip to the renderings if we can um so this is the sort of back let's call this the southeast view uh once again this is the patio that was removed just yesterday um this this patio this open patio is intended to be a wet laid Stone whether it be Limestone or blue stone um you know I did I did kick around with my colleagues here in the office the permeable papers up here to Tyler's Point bringing drainage in below this around the perimeter of the house where we do have existing basement um it's something we would like to avoid if at all possible just on a waterproofing feasibility construction standpoint um but you can see we're trying to maintain as much of these existing home as possible as you see the existing Canever here uh and and and ultimately in in dealing with the topography and dealing with the site characteristics we wanted to um have this house present itself to the community to the neighborhood in a way that it it's it's concise it's Compact and it and it's got the vernacular the context of river inch right with the stucco finishes as the original house probably once did uh the the beautiful thing about Summit AV in all of river edges there's there's a lot of beautiful homes a lot of different materials uh so it gave us it gave us a nice blank canvas if you will but in keeping with the true context of the original home this is sort of where we landed um Chris as far as the the objective of creating balance here now when we look at the property from the street under its existing condition we have a two and a half story element flank by a one-story element and you had described that as somewhat lopsided can you tell us how that's essentially we're cleaning up the streetscape and providing a more desirable visual environment by virtue of what is under the proposed elevation correct yeah you can you you again you can't quite see it because the overgrown trees here but um this is the existing twostory with the walk up attic uh this one story portion we didn't really feel comfortable with adding on to it being that it was built in a certain way um so in order to in order to make this more geometrically pleasing aesthetically pleasing uh oops I'm sorry wrong button um we we we brought this second story Edition over what is the existing one story which is now the garage um in a fashion that makes this more uh not so much symmetrical but but more uh more concise more more Balan I I gather you've had the opportunity to visit Summit Avenue and get familiar with the various housing Types on the Block yeah absolutely yeah uh can you tell us your your opinion U from an architectural perspective about how this home will will sit on the site as compared to other homes on Summit Avenue sure absolutely as as you as you address it from the front um it's not any larger or wider than than obviously the permitted side guard setbacks but also of the adjacent houses the the house on the left has a similar configuration uh garage the left hand side two story on two story across the whole entire front um they're actually I feel like a touch forward to the street from us uh house on the right is obviously we know of um is also very nice similar fashion similar size most of the houses on this street on Summit AB are are equal to or are larger in in front facade if you will uh than than than our property here um to address the the question about trees being removed if we can stay with me for a minute as far as the the increase in the ridge can you point out to the board on your rendering where that's occurring sure sure so uh existing existing the existing ceiling Heights are to be maintained from the existing portion into the new portion uh that Ridge increase occurs here uh we like conventional uh no less than a 4 on 12 roof pitch on an asphalt shingle so that's what we've maintained here that's what brought us above the 6 in above the existing Ridge uh we can certainly uh look to accommodate that request to lower that Ridge uh but it would just be it would just mean a little a little atypical uh construction methods but it is achievable if the board so requests as far as the ceiling Heights of the first floor and second floor can you tell us what they are specifically again because this house was built in the early 1900 they're anything but normal if you will uh we've got an 8'8 ceiling height on the existing first floor which we are going to match throughout the entire first floor we've got an 8'4 ceiling height on the second floor again which we are to match on the second floor as well so um there's standard Chris if you were going to compare the existing ceiling Heights as they going to be carried through to the additions versus what the ceiling Heights would be in new construction how do these ceiling Heights compare far less uh lots of houses we're doing right now have 10 foot ceilings on the first and nine on the second you end up with flat roofs uh no pitch roofs uh low pitch roofs and and and that's not the architecture that we wanted to achieve here so so the heights the height variance isn't driven by having a request from the client to have generous ceiling Heights here it it is not as far as the two-story Edition in the rear that I we know we can see when you go to the rear yard rendering but staying with the front elevation if you can zoom in on on that for us the the component of the twostory rear Edition as well as the rais patio any of those elements visible from the street no no we as far as again going to the raised patio uh Tyler had talked about the desire to try to keep the raised patio on plane with the finished first floor elevation of the first floor right can you delve into that for us a little bit absolutely so I'll flip back to the floor plan just for a minute here the proposed um you know we we we we typically do not try to have because of because of the gr change the DraStic slope and topography of the site uh it would it would be uh seven or eight steps out of this door from the kitchen to grill to entertain uh just just to get anything to this outdoor kitchen from here or there so as far as a safety standpoint a flow a flow standpoint it it's the most logical and safest sense to have this patio uh just 6 in below the first floor height uh and maintaining the flow of the home and obviously the amenities that are out there we have some other quasi outdoor amenity space that's contributing towards the building coverage in the rear yard is that correct centrally located there correct Yep this is we've dubbed it as a Four Season room uh not heated not cooled exterior space this is one large Overhead Door uh you can catch a glimpse of it here in this rendering um so this would open up into this patio uh for their holidays for their parties for their children's birthday parties entertaining purposes um that that is the function of that space again we're showing these as Windows per se um but this this is a true uh I know I'm flipping back and forth on you and I apologize for that this is a true outdoor covered outdoor space going can you take us back to the rendering Chris [Music] absolutely and if you can describe what's occurring on top of that and how that's accessed correct so this so this is a covered Terrace over that Four Season room access from the primary bedroom uh this by Nature was uh you know in order to maintain windows in this in these rooms with this with this we didn't want to have this this roof pitch on top of here looked uh it did not look proper so we decided to add this covered pad this covered Terrace accessible from the primary uh bedroom so they can look out into their wooded area uh into their wooded yard and Chris just enclosing as far as the facade materials that you've selected and and how that is in keeping with what we see in the neighborhood yeah once again the existing home we believe was to either be stucko or stucko and brick um we're looking to maintain that Angela and Eugene they they both really love this aesthetic uh and it is it is it is sort of the vernacular of um old style River Edge uh and and we were happy to honor that thank you Chris I don't have any further questions Mr chairman thank you Mr py uh let me turn to the board now for questions uh Mr Keno can I start with you um I mean I just don't see how that fits into the neighborhood I've walked that street maybe a thousand times and this this doesn't look like anything that's on that street so I'm not crazy about it I don't think that some of our questions from before have been answered but I'll let everybody else jump in thank you okay uh Mr feffer uh just one question about the extended patio um is is there drainage on that patio and if so where does the water drain off to so we we would handle this one of two ways probably it would obviously pitch down to where there's an opening but we would also put um not weep holes but P pockets for drainage to come off as the water sheds cor foot away from the house okay so it's it's basically runoff SC yeah into the yard okay that was my only question for now thank you uh Mr Mayor um thank you for this presentation I have no further questions at this time okay thank you uh cilman just a couple minor things um I recognize the I think um we were told before the elevation of the ridge line is literally increasing only six Ines right so there's really no line of sight concerns with respect to neighbors or other types of line of sight issues that's correct yeah this isn't going to interfere with or obstruct anyone's line of sight to anything it it is not no we have a hip we have a hip roof on both sides uh we don't have Gable roofs that are coming out with a peak uh even though we are meeting the side yard setback because we are increasing the height we put a hip roof on each side thank you and then um just to note I mean several times tonight I heard that there was access issues to the existing garage because the driveway is so narrow uh close to the existing property line but now I'm seeing two very narrow garage doors so just a comment um you might want to reconsider that everyone drives these big SUVs now I see these garage doors like this all over River Edge and no one can ever get into their garage so maybe think about putting a single garage door that allows access to the garage especially because there's not that much driveway here and you might want to be able to use the garage to put the cars in um just a thought there that's all I have thank you okay thank you uh Mr godier thank you uh no questions at this time thank okay uh Mr Gibbons uh thank you um so I appreciate the the explanation on the roof I guess I'm just not I I this r ing just makes it look to me that the right side is taller than the left side but I guess it's really just my eyes playing tricks on me is that really the case here uh so it's it's essentially one Ridge height if you look at the elevation on the last sheet uh the second to last sheet rather you can you can see that we've matched this Ridge across uh but again as it falls back toward away from the street uh as far as visibility goes all of these ridges do meet halfway through the house from front to back so they're not the tallest part of the house they are not they are not okay they just look like it from this vantage point I guess correct you can see it comes back like there's a ridge here that goes back and this Ridge goes back and they all die into the main roof of apps okay I'm just looking at that it just looks like it's you know a lot bigger sure um so was there were there backup plans or you know I I guess there there may have to be but to make this compliance because this is you know looking at the numbers we're talking about a 7,000 ft house um you know I know that includes the basement which you know usually isn't included but this is a very large house um and it may be similar to other houses in in town but it's a very large house um have there been any conversations of trimming this down to make it fit into 35% we will be discussing that because I think that's a concern looks beautiful looks very nice I'm sure it'll come out great um but it's a lot of house on an oversiz lot and I'm you know I think we heard that from a few other people on the board already um it's it's a lot of house gorgeous but it's it's a lot of house so that's just my comment thank you that's Chris you're on mute Mr Craig um I I have no additional questions at this time okay uh Mr Sala no further questions thank you okay Mr chairman I did have a question um so underneath the patio since right now it's raised 7 feet or so is there an intention to put a room or crawl space under there there's not that would just be on fill okay and what are are their proposed utilities to that patio it said that it's going to be an outdoor kitchen there would there would be Gas and Electric and obviously uh sanitary lines coming from the basement back towards back towards the amenities on the on the outdoor kitchen okay but that would all come from inside the house all right and I think those are all my questions right now thank you uh one question I have for you Mr Lopez the fireplace looks like you have a chimney extending in the back there is that a gas fireplace or wood fireplace this is gas yeah okay okay Mr capy I think that wraps it for for our questions thank you Mr chairman I think there may be a member of the public that's in attendance that may uh wish to comment now so we can potentially avoid them having to come back at the subsequent meeting if that's okay to have uh that person speak at this time it's up to you Mr chairman um stying do we have anybody in the public yeah we we do have one attendee and they're raising their hand so okay um all right well at this time let's uh we can certainly open it to public commentary only on the testimony for architecture and uh uh engineering so that I'll look for a motion to open to the public no move thank you Council there a second Mr gibons all in favor Iain at this time we're now open to the public for questions on the testimony that's been heard this evening and I think we have one person with a hand raised would you yes so if you please state your name and address for the record hi John minio 824 Summit AV River Edge New Jersey all right good evening could you spell your last name please sure M an OC C hio thank you and to full disclosure uh where the gosin puts neighbors um on the right side of the house so the southbound side uh and just to uh to to put it out on the on the record we're completely in support of the plan that they've proposed um you know their existing driveway butts up against our uh property line so obviously they'd be removing that um and uh we'd get some relief there um and otherwise you know uh in terms of runoff we have no no issues currently and their driveway obviously is impermeable so I'm not concerned with that and I did want to respond you know there were a few comments made I think one by the mayor with respect to you know what why would you give this variance just because they're asking I think the the reason I would you know support it is when the gsen puts were originally contemplating this they were considering moving out of town and when they said that they were going to stay in town we were thrilled you know they they've been here for 13 years we've been their neighbors the entire time they have three kids in the school system that are the same age as our kids so you know I think these are exactly the type of people that you would want to Grant these variances for frankly um you know there was another comment with respect to you know this house doesn't fit within Summit I disagree with that wholeheartedly we've lived in Summit for 15 years I think the one great thing about Summit is you know there is no distinct house on Summit every house has its own character we live in a Dutch Colonial that might be two other Dutch Colonials um you know there's several Center Hall Colonials there's there's all different types there's tutors so I think they're preserving the character of their house and they're fitting very nicely with the rest of the houses so we wholeheartedly support this um this variance in The Proposal in its entirety okay thanks for your commentary this evening thank you Mr D I don't think we have anybody else left in the public so at this time I'll look for a motion to close to the public so moved gibons there a second thank you Mr faer all in favor hi hi we're now close to the public uh time now is 9:23 I know we have it at 9:30 curfew so Mr capy um if if we can carry the application Mr chairman I believe there are uh two meetings that you have in in February if we can have the uh if you can minders reminding me as to what the second me meeting date is in February and if we can carry the application to that date without further notice so I'm going to turn first to our uh luse clerk Mr alter and ask you for the available dates um the first date is February 12th the 2nd is February 26th February 12th already has an application on it February 26 is wide open if we can be placed on the February AR 26th agenda please okay and if we can carry that without further notice and certainly the applicant grants the board an extension of time as necessary up to an including uh February 27th Mr cin I would make that motion okay is there a second I'm sorry I didn't get the second we have Mr we have the mayor on the first and Mr C on the second all right and we can take a Voice vote all in favor I I [Music] Iain okay M NYY if you'll do the necessaries as to the announcements on the all right so the applicant application for 8:30 Summit Avenue block 206 lot 16 will be carried to the board's February 26 2025 meeting without further notice okay thank you Mr chairman we'll see you then thank you Mr KY have a good night take care you too uh we have reached the end of our agenda for this evening is there's no further comments on the board I'll look for a motion to uh join meeting move go is there a second second thank you m all in favor I I'm saying we stand a journ at 9:26 pm thank you everyone night everybody thanks have a good night take care thank you take care everybody [Music]