Florida Township website and bulington board in accordance with all provisions of the open public meetings act it's practice of this board to salute the flag please rise and join us I pledge allegiance to the flag the United States of America to the republ for it stands one nation under indivisible jusice you can call the rooll please Michael jic here Rua here Michael leandi here Mark Scott yes chairman Kenneth Larry here Steve tabakin here we have two resolutions to be memorialized tonight the first one is a 7-Eleven application 6-19 for extension of time decided on April 10th 2024 cherl entertain a motion so moved second second any discussion Marissa please call the role Michael jevic Yes V larua yes Mark Scott yes chairman Kenneth Larry yes and the second one is Richard bar application 2-24 for C variant decided on April 10th 2024 CH entertain a motion moov second please second any discussion Marissa please call the rooll please call Michael jic Yes Richard larua yes chairman Kenneth Larry yes the items on the agenda tonight are the following Alex barard 3-24 for C variants and also I have a resolution honoring Elise hubard or litigation attorney I'd just like to read it into the record whereas Elise Hubbert Esquire has served the SW Township zoning board as their land use litigation attorney for two years and whereas during those years Elise Hubbert Esquire has guided the township as far a zoning board through difficult legal issues now therefore be it resolved by the township of Sparta zoning board that is takes great pleasure in recognizing the significant Professional Services of Elise hubber Esquire and wishes to express its sincere gratitude for the invaluable contribution she has made to the support of Township zoning board be further resolved this resolution be placed in the permanent minutes of the sparta Township zoning board and copies be sent to Elise hubber asquire to the governing body of Township of Sparta and to all the appropriate officials of the township of Sparta New Jersey signs and sealed this 8th day of May 2024 at Sparta Township municipal building and testimony where of the signatures of the members of the sparter zoning board are affixed and also the practice of this board not to hear any new applications after 9:30 and tojin at 10 p.m. and the first application now Alex Fara if you come forward please evening now it's uh we'll swear you in Mr B do you do you swear from the any testimony you provide before the Zone board tonight would be the truth thank you very much now uh Alex do you object to any members of the uh board that reside in Lake Mohawk from hearing this application oh thank you um now is a quick question too is Owen Dyer going to be here tonight just yourself all right and how can we help you well first of all thank you all for uh being here tonight um [Applause] [Music] so uh also Alex when you're done with your presentation we'll open up to our board professionals and this Bo and then open it to the public of course thank you um all right so want to give you guys a little bit of the history of the property I am the current owner of it I purchased it in September of uh 2023 um with plans to move into it with my family um hey Alex you got a microphone on your can't hear me with the just going to modle up the record thank you um so when I purchased the house uh I was familiar with the the condition of it it was in various states of disrepair um not just the physical structure but the property itself um there was um a failed septic that actually the previous owner had bypassed and pumped directly into the lake um there was enormous erosion problems uh around the side and the back of the property um there were railroad existing railroad tie walls and some modular block walls uh on in the rear of the property um all of which failed in in some uh ways or another um and there was an enormous deck uh in the rear of the property that pretty much went the entire width of the existing house um there was a dilapidated abandoned above ground pool um and it it was a mess so um that was the way that I purchased the property um somewhere in the neighborhood of uh November I submitted plans to the zoning department um prior to that I hired an engineer that Owen backra and he redesigned the septic I put in an advanced pre-treatment system um that replaced the old failed seepage pits um and I primarily hired him to redesign and stabilize the rear yard of the property um he came back with a design which I thought was uh relatively straightforward um and would would pass you know through zoning uh I submitted that to the zone officials um and after some back and forth they wound up denying the rear yard aspects of it um but approved the renovations that it was doing to the house um so essentially what I did when I redesigned the IND it was a six-bedroom house I reduced the bedrooms from 6 to 4 um I raised the roof on it a little bit and I put trade ceilings uh inside of it and then I um reoriented some of the rooms inside the actual house um the footprint was never expanded the the footprint of the the structure was never expanded um and the house uh is largely you know with the exception of the Interior Renovations and the and the higher roof uh doesn't didn't change from an engineering perspective um so with with that design I had asked the local zoning department to part of the toning Department to allow me to not only replace the existing walls but build an additional wall and relocate some of the impervious coverage uh that was you know grandfather Dan as a a pre-existing non-conforming um around the lot and then reduce the size of the existing deck um it was their interpretation that that was no no longer continued use because they be it became a new deck and different impervious coverage um so I came back with a second plan which essentially um not essentially which did uh show the exact deck and the exact location and the exact walls in the exact location um that was approved um in January of of this year um so the house currently as it stands uh is under construction um the the structure itself is built it's not sided yet the rear yard is the septic is in uh the rear yard is completely excavated the walls the by right walls that I was allowed to replace were replaced um and I am I was waiting on this meeting um to hopefully be allowed to uh install the second wall um and um reduce the side of the deck um so excuse me for one second all right so the primary hardship on this lot is the topographical neor nature of it it's extremely steep um so if you look at the the finished first floor on in the basement is um 8.28.18 ft um that amounts to nearly a 47 7% slope it's about 35 ft the setback um from from the house to the lake uh which is obviously exceptionally steep um because of the steepness of it uh when we purchased it everything in the back underneath that deck had eroded and there was four or five feet of exposed foundation on the back of the house um even all the way down to the footing so um after we installed the uh the the by right wall we filled um to stabilize the foundation and right now as I mentioned it is sitting in a state where uh it won't last you know indefinitely how it is um the soils will eventually uh if not stabilize correctly um you know continue to walk into the lake um in addition we installed drainage all around the front of the house and the sides of the house to pipe everything underground so it wouldn't surface flow um you know over the property and and into the lake um Alec just just to confirm the record could you just since the your architect and engineer aren't here could you just state which drawings you're referring to that those those are the ones that have been submitted by and who who prepared them and the dates on them that they that they were submitted that's what's been approved by the township that you I am going I am referencing so the the plan that was submitted uh for this application was uh Owen dyra 1129 2023 um the plan that was approved by uh the zoning office and a building permit that was issued uh is Owen dyra um that's an incorrect date but uh 1128 2023 um that was that was that's a mistake the date on that as a mistake but this is the one that was approved showing essentially um the the byright stuff replaced um and I'm not referencing the architecturals in this really at all because the No No aspect of this in in my mind is really architectural it's all from more an engineering perspective maybe the deck a little bit but uh um right now it's just just the engineering um rich I was just thank you Rich y um so as I mentioned um the rear yard is exceptionally steep a 40 7% slope from the finished basement floor all the way down to the to the water um even with the second wall that was already the by by right wall that was installed it's still nearly uh what is it 30 30% slope um from the basement to the top of that wall um exceptionally steep the deck uh the existing deck um is enormous if you can see on the plans it goes pretty much the entire width of the house um and the proposal that uh I am presenting to you guys is essentially to reduce the size of that deck uh from roughly 840 Square ft to 352 Square ft um Not only would that reduce the overall square footage of that deck but it also increases the side and rear yard setbacks um away from the lake and away from the uh the existing neighbors um so I have a couple photos of some walls that were you know these are the exact wall that is installed this is what the new wall would match um I have a color if you guys are interested in that but uh again I just want to reiterate that no aspect of this is uh in reference to the house the only thing that I'm here asking for Relief on is that second wall which essentially it came into an imper impervious coverage issue because the wall a foot thick is impervious um so and and the reduction in the size of the deck now you have pictures as to Alex you see yeah I have this is not of the of the property but this is of the color of of the wall that is installed there take a look at that yet uh Steve do you have to mark those well were they submitted with the application no they we have okay so why don't we mark them collectively as A1 and we'll just call them uh photo photographs and you can f that's just from the uh the block manufacturer um uh brochure can you give me I'm I need to write it down can you give me the two Dimensions the existing square footage of the patio and the proposed yeah yeah so um again I am doing this with a scale ruler so if I'm off by approxim up foot so the existing deck is 840 square feet the proposed deck is 352 square feet thank you excuse me one other thing that's important to note to for clarification this deck is located off the basement floor the proposed deck is loc or is located off of the first floor I guess thank you okay now any other information you want to add Alex no I mean I'm happy to ask answer any questions that you guys have uh but I I don't really have anything further to add all right we'll open it to our our board engineer David if you're so kind with your report certainly Mr chairman and just for the record I'll refer to the report dated April 4th 2024 that I prepared on this application uh uh Mr barardi outlined pretty much what he's proposing to do I'll just read items a through F in the record so it's complete again replacing the existing Deck with a smaller deck located off the first floor regrade the backyard and add additional walls to help prevent erosion and stabilize the existing exposed Foundation he constructed a new septic system they're also going to construct a new water service to the dwelling off the main and in the street they're reducing slightly the overall impervious coverage and as he indicated they're reducing the bedroom count from six bedrooms to four and we're located in the R3 Zone and we got Frontage on Northshore Terrace item one A and B is basically a list of the documents that I reviewed and item two was the completeness with regards to zoning I provided a chart that basically showed the variance that's needed for impervious coverage 25% maximum allowed 47% is what he's proposing again that went down slightly from what it exist before he started the project I also noted uh some existing conditions I'll read them again into the record front yard setback 35 ft minimum is required the existing condition is 31.1 rear yard setback 35 ft minimum 34.6 to the dwelling the total sidey yard setback is supposed to be 20 foot minimum he's got 19.1 the lot areas 8,000 squ ft minimum he does have 9522 sare feet and the building coverage 18% Max and he's got 25.7% and again I know when Mr keing was here they usually like to the boards an agreement Grant variances for those existing non-conforming conditions just so they're Set uh number four with regards to the variance plan any new a HVAC systems proposed that are exterior to the building I know on the easterly side or right left hand side as you're looking from the street there's a proposed AC unit I don't know if there's any other units or if that's it no no so that's it on the on the uh yeah easterly side you'll see that pad over there and that's where they're going to be located that's pretty much right where the old one was and that's just setting it on our there's also a deck excuse me um a big pad on that other wall along with a a shed that was removed and that's where some of the impervious was relocated from as as down by the by the lake and again with regards to to utilities uh they're bringing a new line in off the main in the NorthShore Terrace and that'll be all subject to review and approval of the water department uh type K copper minimum 3/4 inch and the existing water service should be abandoned at the main and shut off at the main uh the plan that we're looking at that Mr Dyer's office prepared does show the location of the proposed septic disposal field there aren't details on there but that's going to be subject to the Sussex County Health Department I assume they've been out there to inspect yeah that was that's installed already approved installed and and and all done okay and with regards to Electric I did note that the existing electric service comes off a Pole located on adjacent or near adjacent lot 15 and Crosses over the northwest of the corner lot 15 to Mr berard's property you should check that to see if there's an existing easement for that so I don't know uh I don't know if that we should talk about this now or that's like a a 60y old pole that you know I don't know it's set in what seems to be the right of way um from the center line of the road it's right at the edge of pavement um I don't even know where where where to start to see if that poll is you know what I what I'd suggest I've got a name and phone number at the power company I can get to you just to see you know it's been there for a long time usually when we see an encroachment like that we like to bring it up so that if there's is an easement for it that it can be addressed and put on the plan so it's noted for future reference excuse me David make that a condition of approval I would yes condition to to somehow document the the uh give some deed reference to the utility easement the the deed reference for an any easement if at all there is one from for the existing electric service that crosses over the northwesterly corner of lot adjacent law 15 yeah now if you have uh when you bought the property and you had title maybe it's in your lawyer file but if if you have a title report if you look at one of the schedules attached to the you'll see if there is a a recorded utility easement it would be listed I search it's not the poll is not located on the property i' I've reached out to se I guess my question I don't know if it's to you or you um if an easement does not exist for that poll um how would this be addressed um I'm thinking there may be kind of a blanket easement someplace with Jersey Central Power Light were maybe from like 80 years ago yeah they're ancient I just want to make sure it's not an issue that comes up where your neighbor if there was going to be a neighbor here tonight which is's not if they raised an issue I wanted them to know about it right okay then with regards to storm drainage again uh the township has an ordinance if you're increasing the impervious by more than 500 square F feet you have to provide storm water mitigation they're not as a matter of fact they're reducing the impervious coverage by about 14 Square fet so that's a good way as far as going they're still over what's allowed but they've reduced from what it existed before the one question I had though on item six double I there's a drain shown on the right front corner of the dwelling but the pipe leading out of the drain isn't shown on the plan the pipe and discharge Point location should be shown right at the end of the driveway it just says drain and it's pointed to that yeah correct you know where that goes yeah it goes into there was an existing leader pipe um that was that was piped all the way down to this South Western Corner into the lake and that's where it uh it follows the the side of the house down almost on the property line and goes right into the lake on the other I what I'd recommend is Mr Dyer's office show that okay because we've run into some conditions I'm not seeing saying it's going to be a condition or a situation here uh because of the way the property's graded but we have had some problems with that in the past I just want to make sure that's where it's headed okay okay uh AR tectural plans HVAC systems we just discussed that before and basically approval from the county health department the township construction department for the building and the retaining walls and the water department regarding the water service and then the last comment that we usually have is standard uh is an as-built plan of the site to be prepared by Mr Dyer's office upon completion of the project y That's my report Mr chair members you can call on board members now for uh their questions Michael josic no questions Richard larua just one quick one on natural gas was the house converted to Natural Gas uh it is it is so that's all done the gas lines are shown is in but it was permitted um by Sabine and uh by um Elizabeth Town Gas I they didn't install it but I signed okay and before that it was serviced by oil and that's all the oil tanks all gone that's all been okay that's all no questions Michael Lei yeah I just want to clarify I guess that we're not seeking any new variances here right we're just confirming all the existing non-conforming situations I didn't really know how the the board was or how the attorney and everyone was going to see it um it's I'm not looking for anything additional I was looking to sort of again minimize the size of the deck but she told me that since uh Dory told me that since it was essentially a new deck it wasn't uh by you know it wasn't by anymore correct you're doing the right thing don't get me wrong I just wanted to clarify yes I'm good thank you Mark Scott no questions chairman Kenneth Larry just um one quick and you have no consideration to enclose the deck correct no so would you be open as that a condition in the uh approval yeah 100% the deck underneath it is going to be open there's a patio underneath it that the top part is completely completely open all right thank you all right any other uh questions comments if not the board will entertain a motion approving this uh application for Alex barate excuse me may I make one one thing before you do that even though there's nobody here I don't know open it to the public any questions from the public see no one in the public it's now closed to the public thank you Steve now the chair L A Tain a motion approving the I had one more question I don't if this needs to be uh asked before you guys vote on it but um the the right to start construction at my own risk uh you know prior to you guys reading the resolution that'll come after the vote yeah we'll cover it out for sure all right the chairl entertain a motion approving the application Alex barard 03- 24 yeah Mr chairman I'll make a motion to have the board attorney draft a resolution approving application 03-242 lot 14 at 8 Northshore Terrace seeking variances for existing non-conforming conditions of impervious coverage of 47% where a maximum of 25% is permitted a front yard setback of 31.1 fet where a minimum of 35 ft is required a rear yard setback of 34.6 ft to the dwell delling where a minimum of 35 ft is required a total sidey yard setback of 19.1 Ft where a ma uh excuse me a minimum of 20 ft is required and building coverage of 25.7% where a maximum of of 18% is permitted uh with the condition of I guess contacting the power company to Define um deed easement and getting it properly recorded having uh civil as built show storm water clarifications requested by Mr Simmons and uh confirming that the de will not be enclosed at a future date thank you Mike have a second second any discussion please call the rooll Michael jifi Yes Richard larua yes Michael Lei yes Mark Scott yes chairman Kenneth Lowry yes congratulations your application's been approved now you like to wave your right to the written resolution correct have a motion so moved second second Marissa please call the rooll Michael joic yes ril laua yes Michael leandi yes Mark Scott yes chairman Kenneth Larry yes good luck thank you now the last item on the agenda is open to the public for comments that are not on the agenda you know when in the public is now closed to the public Carol entertain a motion ad joury so move second second all in favor I thank you when's our next meeting 2 minutes um Wednesday in June forget the date