##VIDEO ID:ACimkXsJ5Zg## e e e e this meeting of the Zoning Board of adjustment of the township of Union is being held pursuant the open public meeting law c231 laws of New Jersey dated 1975 notice of this meeting was advertised in the local source and Norther The Star Ledger the two newspapers of record a notice has been posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building adjacent to the municipal clerk's office roll call Mr Ry here M Marts here here M Scott here Johnson here NE is absent is absent CH present there being a quorum present this meeting is now declared open are there any Communications uh there are no Communications and our first order of business this this evening is calendar number 3439 1865 Mars Avenue LLC located at 1865 Mars Avenue block 2315 12.01 applicant mix use commercial and residential we're going to adopt the resolution tonight members this time you've all had a chance to read the resolution our members make changes or modification to this resolution as it is written hearing none may have a motion in a second to adopt the resolution second a motion roll call Wy yes v v yes Scott yes Johnson yes Mr Graves yes Mr champy yes our next order of business is calendar number 344 410 Chestnut Street LLC located at 410 Chestnut Street block 2606 slot 37 applicant wishes to add a second story in mezzanine area counselor good evening Mr chairman members of the board Stephen H merman of the law office offices the hail offices of jaff Bal morga at all appearing on behalf of the applicant I have with me this evening uh representative of the applicant Mr Michael Poe I have uh two witnesses to presting top of Mr vulpe um and they are um bontis is going to be testifying as to our architectural and Victor V vegra is going to clean us up and uh testify as to the engineering and planning on this application just to give the board a brief overview uh you're all aware of the uh location for 10 Chestnut it currently operates uh as uh All City Electrical it will continue to operate as All City Electrical Michael vulpe is not only a representative of the landlord but he's also the representative of All City he's going to come forward testify uh with the uh operations we need uh only uh two variances have been identified uh one is an existing uh non-conformity as it relates to the parking we will address that of course uh the other uh variants seing ratio to accomplish the uh goals um there will be internal uh Renovations also accompanying this further Ado Michel V for the record to council Mr chairman I did Mark A1 the applicationing materials Ed by the applicant A2 is the harbor consultant site plan consist of two sheets a three is architectural plans are submitted by D group that is sheets five sheets I'm sorry five sheets and then A4 is the uh drainage statement of Barber dated May 28 224 so a134 for the record can I ask the witness to raise your hand swear or affirm that the testimony you provide this evening is the truth and the whole truth uh yes I do and for the record State and spell your name uh Micha did you say spell yes please m i c h a e l v o l thank you so Mr v i uh already identified you as being the uh representative both the owner of the property and the applicant would you tell us how uh what your role is with each the owner and the applicant here tonight sure um I've owned All City Electric this is going to be my 20th year in business uh prior to being uh in Union uh I moved to Union business-wise in uh 2019 uh I was in kennworth um uh prior to that uh I'm actually a union resident I I moved to Union in 1988 I currently still live in Union uh my uh my daughter Goes to School in Union um but I uh actively am presid and run uh my Electrical Company uh I I bought the building from another electrical contractor who was a friend of mine who retired um and I'm basically just looking to uh expand my space inside so I can have some display area um to basically keep more inventory to accommodate my customers and my business so the um the proposal because of the expansion you don't do not expect uh that you're going to be hiring any additional employees is that correct no I'm at a point in my career uh I have honestly like a 10-year plan where I'm trying to wean down a little bit as far as you know business and stuff like that and and and the the amount of time that I spend in the business but um uh literally I just outgrew the space and uh because of how close I live to the property uh because of how close my daughter's school is um I I you know I tried very hard to look for another space in town um so I you know decided to move forward with the building that we have to try to you know obtain that space you know because I did own the building already all right so um currently there are three employees who are uh on the site fulltime correct is that correct yes there are also additional employees that uh work for uh All City Electrical but those uh persons do not work on site correct yeah they're they're field technicians and uh in the guise of field technicians you rep you represent um certain manufacturers do you not correct and those manufacturers that you repres present they have certain requirements in your contract uh relative to display as well as stocking materials correct um and one of the reasons that you're asking the board to allow you to expand uh is to satisfy those vendors correct correct yes they're satisfied to vendor so I'm able to be at the price points I need to be at um because without being a stocking dealer that can hold you know x amount of product and display x amount of product uh I'm kind of limited to to you know the price points that I that I pay for stuff now with with regard to uh this your hours of operation are going to remain the same correct and what are those hours of operation uh Monday through Friday we're typically there you know 8 to 4: our summertime hours we we usually scooch out around 3:00 on Fridays now as part of the retail operation can you give the board just an estimate of how many customers actually walk through the door on a daily basis um we don't really have much I actually uh behind the scenes I consult um I consult L larger projects out of state so most of our stuff is um not really like foot traffic that's going to come in there um it's it's lighting jobs that I spec it's equipment jobs that I spec that I put together um so the foot traffic it's not really my my clientele base you know for SE to have a lot of foot traffic coming in uh it's more for the designers that we deal with uh Architects that we deal with builders that we deal with uh they're able to come in they're able to see the product um and then uh we do do delivery so a lot of our stuff is physically delivered you know to you know contractors and and homeowners and stuff like that you have uh so you you have this component do you also have an internet sales component to it yes we have a a website so um the expansion you do not expect that the expansion is going to bring in any more customers on a daily basis uh no it's not our it's not our um it's not our marketing standpoint either we're not marketing for that we're um just literally trying to uh appease um our our lighting vendor so we can so we can have not a designer price point but a wholesale price point so I can stay competitive with you know the deals that I do you know for business you've had an opportunity to review the reports and uh that we've received from uh cers as well as from the fire department with regard to this application yes and do you have any issues with uh what What's in those reports can comply with everything that's been asked of you all right um I have no specific questions for this witness uh beyond what I've asked already but I would reserve my right to ask additional questions based upon questions that may come from the board or from members of the public are there any board members that would like to question Mr vul's testimony yes Mr chairman hey good evening Mr VY can you explain to this board what kind of products do you display uh let uh like lighting fixtures I have um everything that pertains to electrical like exit signs smoke alarms uh we're a kitty dealer um I'm a eaten eaten dealer so like switches and outlets and stuff like that but the display aspect of what I really need to space for uh is for the lighting aspect of my job because uh most of the vendors that sell you have to be a uh stocking and displaying dealer in order to get a certain price point and that's that's what we're really you're shooting for because when I'm competing and bidding against projects um the price point that I'm at now I I'm not really as competitive as my you know my competition is because of you know my status of not having the space to be able to display you know their products all right next question do you wholesale to uh contractors outside contractors yes do you have like an a window where they come a certain area or they just come right to the uh most of our contractors that we have um they're you know they're the same people all the time uh they have set orders they usually order in bulk and they'll come see us like once a month um but most of the stuff is delivered to the job to their job site okay uh that was my next question we get the delivery um how often do you have deliveries to the to the store weekly daily uh what typ what type of truck yeah we have a truck but our delivery hours are very limited we usually do our deliveries very early in the morning or at the end of the day um but we're not constantly out all day long because we don't have that much staff so the staff that I have once we're in we're in you know you know during the day we have certain restrictions when it comes to ordering if they want delivery it has to be done for certain hours and they have to give us you know 24 hours notice and and so on and so forth thank you are there any other board members with questions um you're GNA enlarge your display area so you'll have more vendors coming in that uh not necessarily it's all my current vendor ERS um but in the lighting World um for me to be um at a certain price point like if if I'm a like right now I'm listed as a designer like you know almost like a lighting designer so I get a price point of say you know 50% off uh what's what's a 2.0 which is the you know which is what you see on the internet uh if I become a a stocking and displaying dealer I will be at a 100% profit margin so if a fixture costs $100 I'm able to sell it for $200 so by being able to um stock the existing stuff that we have in display it with the existing vendors I literally save about 50% on you know what I've actually purchased in the product so it's basically more for the vendors that are coming in now it's all for my existing vendors like I'm already signed up with them I'm already doing business with them but 80% of them um have stipulations in our contract that I have to have a display you know in order to have that price point I was wondering where everybody's going to park I mean where do your employees Park and where do the vendors Park when they come to see you oh the when I say vendors I mean these are the people that we purchase the the stuff from um as far as walk-ins to come in we don't have anyone that really walks in to um purchase stuff a lot of our orders that we do as a company is you know I I ship to South Carolina I ship to Florida I ship to Pennsylvania I ship to Rhode Island I work for a few very big contractors uh Consulting for them and um they they buy very large apartment buildings and we spec out all the lights and we put packages together and you know we do rebates and stuff like that you know we procure rebates for them um it's not more of um like um Let me Give an example of the lighting store that's in Union um was it Union Lighting or Manhattan lighting it's not really that concept it's it's a it's a little bit different I'm more on the the commercial you know the commercial and spec side than like a you know a homeowner you know retail type of side your your main customer is is is not retail it's wholesale no yes correct yes any other board members yes Mr chairman um you mentioned that you have uh field technicians I do how many uh eight and do these technicians have company Vehicles yes they have all have company Vehicles okay and where do they Park uh at night or uh most of the vehicles go home if any of the vehicles do stay they they stay within our parking lot okay thank and I'm sorry how many usually stay in your parking lot uh we only one to two trucks depends on like sometimes they all have access to take their trucks home but sometimes like on the weekend they come and they'll take their car if they have something personal going on you know or if they're taking vacation time then they drop their truck off they won't leave it they won't leave it at home but primarily they all take them home uh two of our employees are union based so they're they're very local and how often do they visit um fors and Chestnut Street the location just in the morning okay so where do they all Park when in the morning um eight technicians all have this oh not this um they randomly come in they'll have like your lead tech will pick up the stuff um but not all of them come in because not all of them are Master techs it's usually two people in a truck so it's you know one one driver and then one one of companies but um they'll they'll come in the morning if they're in their personal cars we actually park on the street you know around the you know around the corner but as far as the trucks being there all day they're not um they're they're gone by you know 8:00 in the morning 8:15 in the morning any other board members with questions how how many vehicles do they park on the street if you don't mind me asking uh two to three okay and that's mostly our staff that's um in the office during the day any other questions Mr chairman I if I may I have a couple more questions based upon the board's questions okay uh was was regard to uh the trucks you do have the ability to also Park the trucks inside the building overnight is that correct I have a bay yes so so you you it's not just the the two spots that are in your your parking lot oh no I can fit uh I can park you know I could park honestly like nine trucks inside my lot you know and inside the building as well right inside the building yeah I can fit you one truck inside there right okay um and and the the expansion that we're talking about this really the majority of the expansion is basically for storage of inventory is that correct yes so uh while you have indicated that you're expanding your showroom area that is all still going to be in the front of the store on the first floor correct and then where this expansion is the mezzanine and the the second story that really is for nothing more than just storage correct yes okay thank you it's for the uh to meet the loophole of the displays for the for the vendors again Mr chairman I have no further questions any other board members with questions for Mr vuli Mr I noticed in the call your letter this is Rob panul I'm the board attorney um he references the eligibility of the parking permit program that the town has is that something that you'd be amendable to in the future uh should it become an issue in the neighborhood I don't know if it is or isn't but since you're here tonight seeking relief I'd like to try to memorialize that that is you are eligible for those permits yeah I mean as they become AV will to do I'm I'm a town guy I'm from town you know I grew up in town I went to school here I'm willing to I want to keep my business here and I want to you know do whatever makes the town better and more you know more productive I'm not uh you know I'm not looking to impede on anything I'm you know just well the the main thing as I hear I mean the three different board members reference parking just because such a shortage parking is parking is paring on Chestnut Street it's a premium you know right and that's why I mean I'm not going to condition it as a mandate cuz I haven't heard anything yet to Warrant it but at least it's referenced in cers uh if we could put cooperatively in the future should we be getting we being the township experiences difficulty with overflow from your business that that is at least an option that you can Implement in the future of course okay Mr merman I'll just note that for the record without than you Mr under the limitations that I EXP if there no more board members with questions are there any members of the public that would like the question the testimony Mr vulpe has given yes come forward please good evening good evening Mr good even everyone um would you please state your name and your address sure my name is Courtney Penacook and I'm a resident of Union at um 408 Winthrop Road which is actually immediately behind Mr vul's business um Mr vul nice to meet you and I want to say um I wish you all the best with the business thank you so um you know our concern I have a couple of my neighbors here with me and our concern is with the parking situation yes um you know I've been living at that Loc a for 21 years okay and um over the past few years things have gotten real tight on the street where we live um I must say though that presently it's better than what it was as far as um your employees were concerned it's it's it's a little better now than it was um however you know there are still times when we are inconvenience um because of vehicles being there and they're there they're there daily um uh one of my pet peeves is that on a Friday I don't when the when the sweeper comes around I have to now be creative in being able to get my space sweat so I actually bought a car a little another car earlier for my daughter to teach her to drive just so it I can park it on the street to save that spot and when I when because I work from home now when I hear the this street sweeper I run out and move the car and come back afterwards because sometimes I'd have to be shoveling grass growing from there because the you know for months on in my street wouldn't my area wouldn't get swept I think some of my other neighbors have that issue and it's not just your guys it's not just your guys so um you know there was also a problem um people coming from uh what's the street beside the people Stratford I have used to have a a problem once in a while it's it it it presents itself again but I'm going to say it's most times it's not your guys anymore because the the signs have been placed on the corner now okay um no parking you know between here and here the distance and whatever and also at the end of the street and they adhere to it so most times it's not it's not um there guys but we had questions about the parking situation that's why we decided to come here tonight are you the gentleman on the corner with a nice lawn is that you no that's that's him well well people say my lawn is nice too but he's on the corner no I walk I I I my dogs come to the shop with me so I always walk I I I always walk the neighborhood oh okay okay so he's on the corner he's in he's across the street from so he's directly behind you gotcha right and sometimes he comes home and he can't park but most times again those are not your guys but we had questions because we thought that you were going to be expanding and probably having more employees and you know needing more no I'm actually looking be the opposite so but so we heard that so we wanted to you know just voice our concerns um I don't know if any of the other gentlemen have anything else to say but ladies and gentlemen I thank you for the opportunity of I have a quick question PR sure so I know you're saying about parking how do you know that it's his guys are these contractor trucks that are parked on your street no it's the it's the private cars so so how do you know that're they're coming from him because there's other businesses in that area so what happens is when they on on a Monday most times when they come to work they bring the van around and they ex exchange tools they take their private tools to the vans so we know who is who understood yeah so and then you know on the weekend they reverse you know so I I know no I'm only asking because there's other businesses there on your fair enough and there's a the the last business that came the um the sushi place that they you know they they're a problem as well yeah it's a tough area over there it's tough corner and also I'm I'm you know I'm having to clean up cigarette butts I don't smoke I'm having to clean up cigarette butts from in front again I'm not putting all the B on your your guys I mean I don't I don't smoke either yeah so I'm having to clean that up I'm constantly having to clean garbage up I hate mess and and I'm having to do that all the time every day I go they are mad they can tell you you know and and I do all the way to the corner and I'll I'll go back to two days later and there's stuff out there so people come and park people go to the stores they come and they Park and they you know so it it's it's a problem for us but we want to coexist yeah amicably so well if you I mean if you if you know me I mean you know if you get I mean you know I'm I'm always out there cleaning the sidewalks cleaning my neighbor sidewalks you know I try to be mindful of everything you I am very conscious with the guys to let them know you know thank you and I I didn't know you before but I'm glad I met you tonight thank you very much thank you consisted with my comment on the permit parking that's available perhaps used by people who might be parking on site and encourage your vendors or the people that he's referring to that might be further down the street basically doing the exchanges in their van I mean that's probably an improper extension of what should be done on a public Street you know maybe you can encourage them to come on your site yeah I this is the the exch yeah first I'm hearing of it so definitely definitely going to be addressed we have company meetings every Monday you know it's you know we'll be somehow I know it's limited space but that's why opening up those one or two spaces maybe for a coordinated uh ability for those vendors to actually access your your lot yeah I I try to also you know that's technically around the block accomodate the gentleman next door because he's very difficult to deal with so I try to stay out of his way out of his store area the locksmith next door who I'm very friendly with you know we kind of have like a mutual agreement where like you know his spots in front of his um facility you know we kind of stay out of so I I try to do my best to accommodate but you know there is a lot of cars during the day there's a lot of traffic during the day um well business to business is one thing but when the residential is where especially when a buts commercial anything we can do as a board to amarate those conditions for the benefit of the neighbors this is the time to do yeah I mean I'm aware of this now this is brought to my attention so yeah definitely get addressed good thank you any other members of the public that would like to question Mr vulpi only only his testimony um my name is Peter mahabier and I live at 412 winrop Road next to Mr Peno um it's good to see your business is growing we're fine with that our main concern is the parking right um and a lot of times the and and the I'm not sure if you they're your employees or they are your contractors that that you work for you but they drive large uh trucks SUVs large very large ones and they park close to the corner right they don't keep that 50 or 40 ft away from it so if you're coming out of Stratford Road you can't see what's coming up wind drop Road and as a matter of fact the neighbor that lives forther down Stratford he told me that he told his wife not to come around here anymore right she has to go out through Ellen or one of those streets right but that's that's the main thing sometimes they my driveway to the road they park right up to my driveway you know on the the right right up to the driveway ler and it's it's it's a problem for me well one of the things we've done in and as a board we can do tonight as I said he's going to encourage him to direct some of that activity onto his site uh to help ameliorate the conditions for the neighborhood he's there he has the right to run his business there the expansion we're dealing with tonight um him and other businesses anyone who knows the area it's a challenge but he certainly is here and seems receptive so uh we're going to try to do the best we can with these conditions and available perhaps permit parking for a couple of his employees is one option that we float it uh and be able to okay help the situation yeah I I don't have any large our employees don't have any large SUVs there's a Toyota Tacoma uh Honda Civic um those are particularly the vehicles that that stayed during the day a Nissan evoke um but you know um anything that's of your concern you can just always walk over to me I'll take a walk over just ensure that it's not us but we don't have any contractors or anything you know like that so those guys who come with the all city van and transfer to their from their truck who who are they not employees they're my employees but the one drives a Toyota Tacoma uh which is a black pickup smaller smaller pickup there there's lots of large pickups there's a there's a Dodge Ram there's there's a there's a Wranglers there's yeah no there's a a white RAM and a black Tacoma silver Ram too silver a on a black Toyota pickup the Tacoma yes silver I'm not sure who is I I don't know we were even talking among ourselves of whether we can get like no parking or or or resident parking signs in in that area because it's gotten so bad you know especially I have a wife and Mr pen cook has a wife too and you know they're not maybe not as accomplished drivers as men would would would would be generally um um they're scared excuse me understand I'm Anthony from the building department zoning department um that wouldn't come from this board we could not put those restrictions on that would have to come from the police department this board does not control the roads uh we just can you know control the vment is that are okay FAL case so if it's worth making the inquiry though for for them you know they they should pursue it either with the township or with the police representative they might be able to coordinate I would suggest you take Mr VY up on his office to when you see something walk over and explain it to him he said he'd walk back with you to see to make sure it's not one of his employees maybe that'll start to help okay and and unfortunately even our office is in the same location we're we're at 370 so we are very aware of that ourselves um the situation is um even if we were to agree not to have our employees Park back on your street which we certainly can do uh under the circumstances we can't control control what anybody else is going to do with regard to that so uh you might be better off with our cars park there because you know exactly who's going to be responsible something goes wrong uh versus somebody else thank you thank you all my name is gongar Kona I live at 407 winar right behind you my question is not about constru yeah that's me yeah yeah my question is now about the parking which we all agree on the parking issue cuz it used to be worse it's got better uh I live my yard is right behind you it's just a concern that I should have if you're going to extent like towards oh no there's no I know the space you looking at is footprint is the same there's no um no we're not going back or or anything so you just adding on to what you have now yeah okay all right that's that's my concern and the noise that we should cuz you know I have little kids that's why I I got all right okay we we're good you know we don't really we don't hang out back there so I'm we all try to go home as fast as possible all right thank you thank you Mr merman thank you at this time I would call Paulo D I ask to witness to swear or affirm that the testimony you provide this evening is the truth and the whole truth yes and for the record State and spell your name with your business affiliation sure my name is Paulo Dantes first name is Paulo p l Dantes d n t owner and partner of Dantes corate architecture located at 427 Chestnut Street Union New Jersey thank you Mr dtis you've appeared before this board on numerous occasions I just have one question for you is your license still currently in effect yes Mr chairman I would submit based upon his prior testimony before this board the board will accept his credentials thank you thank you Mr dtis can you uh give us uh a brief overview of what your responsibilities are with regard to this project and uh review the floor plans and Architectural drawings that have been presented to the board sure so all the submitted board submission drawings that we submitted we do have nothing new uh as an exhibit um I was trying to get this to work okay so the the project scope is is consist to of a second story addition uh we're looking to add 1,850 squ ft um and with a long uh interior alterations uh within the first floor uh we're looking for the addition to be within the footprint front of the building uh this will be a use Group B and in entirely and and I think we have as a 5B uh construction type under sheet A200 uh the existing first floor um we are looking to we're proposing a staircase uh in the front and of for to have a second floor adjacent to the existing entry door so somewhere around here the reception counter which will be designed by others shall be re relocated in order to accommodate the new stair in the front uh the additional egress um has been proposed at the rear of the building that will be fire rated and closed uh we're proposing that being a a second means of agress if needed um this ex uh this staircase will have accessibility to the existing in um existing erass door at the rear and a new door from the existing storage room the existing over overhead door shall be replaced with double doors we're looking to keep everything um the same with the exception of the two staircases and uh additional one to two doors here on the side the proposed the proposed second floor we're looking to do a open concept layout um in order to to provide a display room for the uh display room for the business at the reare we're going to have the continuation of that stair for the additional uh area to put more inventory and that will have also an additional stairs to have accessibility to the mesine above we're looking at think is uh 1,850 ft² in the second floor uh within the proposed mezanine the mezzanine is going to be 468 Square ft open to space to service the needs of the business we have enclosed the stair which will provide the access and the accessibility to the floors below a roof access hatch has been provided in order to access the roof in order to maintain the Mechanicals of the building those Mechanicals will also be screened um and provide uh visibility um from the street the low slope roof um we're looking to provide a low pitched roof slow roof um EPDM most likely roof at uh material um the mechanical platform and location the design will be um coordinated once we get all the engineering information um but this is where we're proposing towards the rear of the building uh keeping it away from the front the total height of this building is 36 ft uh and 10 in to the top of the parit uh the the existing first floor the brick the stone and even the window locations are all to remain um the existing sign is also to remain uh the second floor addition will um incorporate new materials uh we're looking for Hardy Board uh paneling uh to emphasize the main entrance and also we have uh provided other elements in order to have a more cohesive design materials and creative projections recess the planes of the facade and this is all to uh accommodate not only the scale but also the proportion um of the facade with the projections and the recesses um this eliminates the monolithic facades um and also um some of the characteristics architectural characteristics of material selection um aesthetically is from some design intents uh that has been happen in Chestnut and also preferred by the owner that concludes thank you um so the the footprint Remains the Same it is just the building footprint will not be increased that's correct and how many feet up are we going total the total the total the total is 36 ft and 10 in from the original about 16 ft and that's con consistent with the zoning ordinance there's no no variance being requested for height and that's also that's correct so the our our top of roof is going to be 34t 6 in I think it meets the requirement of 35 ft Mr chairman I have no further questions of uh this witness reserving my right to ask additional questions based upon questions from the board and the public thank you are there any board members that would like to question the testimony of Mr dtis hearing no none are there any members of the public that would like to question the testimony Mr dtis has given hearing none counselor thank you at this time I would call Victor vegro can I ask the witness to swear or affirm that the testimony you provide this evening is the truth and the whole yes I do my name is Victor middle initial e last name ofra v i n g r a and engineer planner and Lan surveyor with the firm of Harbor Consultants located in Cranford New Jersey and I testified before this board just last month on a similar variance he's been before the board um we'll accept his credentials I'm not even going to ask him if his license is still in effect then yeah there's still there's still current my licenses and Mr V could you just uh give the board your uh background how you were involved in this project and then we can run through the testimony again I've been an engineer in Union County for long time 35 years uh and not only that I'm a customer of All City I've purchased from them before I've been in the building numerous times uh I've sent people over there uh to buy but not physically normally they the vendor the takeoff people as for a PDF drawing and then they bid the jobs uh I they've been at my office their their folks when their Vans but when I visited their building I've noticed there's only about two a few times he was there but most of the time I didn't see him uh so a stock man stock person and accounts receivable girl so only two people within the building uh now these times when I was there is between 10 and 4:00 just visiting because I he picked up an employee who I knew so uh sometimes I wanted to see a product and they couldn't show it to me i' have to go online and look at it but most of even the way they're set up even their stock where that okay Victor go we we represent this this company that company go on their brochure look at what you want we'll give you pricing so I have dealt with them so so I can just say attest to and actually the building's quite nice inside very modern uh it's it's a good well-kept building so I've been inside I parked down the street I do both work and the architect didn't tell you that his office is directly across the street so I visit him quite often I do get parking on that street but during the daytime uh I haven't had a problem during the daytime between again 9 and 4 but I guess maybe later on when people come home maybe that's when they the issues come up with parking but I've been able to park on Chestnut in front of this store a number of times and this Zone the neighborhood core zone is actually the uh the NC Zone and it's guess it is the uh yeah it is the neighborhood NC's on neighborhood Corp and I'm going to read directly from your ordinance uh the neighborhood coron the purpose is to permit a mix of retail service and residential uses along the neighborhood corridors of Union although approximate too although approximate to residential neighborhoods these businesses serve clientele throughout the community and really not regionally so this is the essence of a small business he's been in Union he grew up in Union he supplies to some of the contractors that I do now and again they normally same I'm old electrician calls up I need so many receptacles so many light fixtures and so forth so I've been there I saw the operation so when they did contact me that he wanted to expand they said sure I'll do the engineering so that so I'm here not only as a customer but also now he's my client and um again I when I when I've been there I I've only seen maybe one van in the driveway um most of the the Vans are already out they probably load up early in the morning or late in at at the end of the day or beginning of the day so I haven't seen anything in their in their driveway so that's what my per my I personally witnessed so when I see when I went into their store they couldn't show me anything everything I had to go online I had to go back to my office go online and search so I see what he's looking to say so because if I wanted to see a light fixture for a client or something I'm doing uh for my own personal house I can't see I want to see it look at it you know I want to touch it didn't have it there so can see what he what he's stating I experienced it so I have your engineer's review letter dated October 22nd and most of the variances um he shows existing variances one through it's on page two exist variances one through uh 11 are all pre-existing conditions that really this isn't adding to it's based on that this building's been there for over 50 years 60 years uh these are all C1 hardship variances we're not going to knock the building down again it's it's it's an attractive building if you go inside the building it is very attractive inside so these are existing variances there C1 heart of variances that we can't really change the the two variances we do create that are new is that total coverage in the zone is permitted at 90 90% that means building coverage what percentage of the lot floor area ratio U the ordinance is 90 we're at 96.3 so we're 6.3% over the envelope but what the architect showed you uh I don't see a problem with that in my opinion as I'm also a municipal planner for a number of municipalities in Union County he's not I don't see him bringing any more employees again most of his staff were at my office in their Vans doing electrical work they're electricians uh so he's really looking to do a display um I think it actually makes I think the building is very attractive then by uh Mr dtis I think it's will be a very attractive building and the newon second variance we increasing because we're increasing the size of the building building uh we're not increasing parking because we can't we don't have additional parking so those are the two new variances and those are considered C2 variances or flexible C variances as we call them can we just uh take a little step back and and talk about the parking a little bit more the um the coler's report indicates specifically that they um the requirements for parking are based upon a re the retail use and so they are indicating that there's one space required for every 200 square ft of the retail space but in actuality um the retail space uh as we have um come to learn about it over the years really is the floor space where they're conducting retail and not necessarily that area behind the doors the back room where storage is is that a correct uh statement Mr veger yes this is exactly that it's for additional storage of product to show to to display because again if you're going to go when you uh what I found is he does sell mostly wholesale he bids a lot of large projects because I went in there he says I really don't really don't do smaller projects like your office Victor in Cranford but then he said I'll come over there I'll send my people over there so but again he didn't have anything to show me I had to just pick everything from uh the internet so but he is servicing local businesses like myself and he is a licensed electrical shop with in the field uh but he's he's unique in that he wants to show you what he's putting in your building and some electricians most of them work at other homes a lot of small electricians they work at other homes sometimes they store in their basements or their garages at home he does not he's been in Union for quite some time B based upon your analysis do you believe that uh the parking demand from the use is going to actually increase as a result of the expansion of the building if it does maybe one car a day not even uh you know because m one like myself may go there once a project so if I'm doing a project that may last six months I may go there now to see the product maybe now you may get one more vehicle a day or every other day because now I can go look and touch the pro the product so to be honest maybe because now you can go look at them so but they also take photographs and they they sent you it on your phone they text it I've bought from uh other people they say here here's the Light Victor here's what it looks like takes a snapshot and they texts it to you right so your testimony is that the uh parking variance is a C2 variance and uh that is correct okay so could you give the board the uh necessary background of two variances and what we need to prove the main the main variance here is your D four variance that's why we're before this board not the planning board because it's a density variance so it's a D4 variance and um again we need some special reasons in here and normally the special reasons are to in my opinion the positive criteria is a to encourage Municipal action for development in land uh that will promote public health safety and general welfare for the public e to promote establishment of uh businesses and persons in the neighborhood where permitted juice we service the area I mean he services this general area and he's been there for quite some time uh G to provide sufficient locations for variety of uses including commercial industrial uses he's a commercial use and I to promote a desirable visual effect and I think the aesthetic uh aesthetically pleasing building done by the architect it uh speaks for itself um now we we we've been talking about the negative impacts already we've been talking about the parking we've heard from the neighbors and the like um with regard to additional uh potential negative impacts um the uh storm water runoff that's going to be totally maintained and controlled on the site yes is existing we're not we're not changing that whatsoever all right so um in your opinion uh the expansion would that have any additional negative impacts on the Zone plan zoning ordinance No in fact the there's there's two parts of a zoning ordinance as or a d variance as this board knows there's a positive criteria which I just touched upon and there's the negative criteria there's two parts of the negative criteria does it negatively affect the neighborhood and and people in that neighborhood and does it negatively affect your Zone plan your master plan and your zone map uh first part we we're permitted use in the zone so we're not negatively affecting your master plan or your zoning ordinance because we're permitted use so we don't negatively affect that uh we're here some of the neighbors came out obviously there is a parking there because I've been there at night getting Sushi and there's a new coffee shop across the street I've been there and the one negative criteria is is the parking there but I think was brought up by the attorney that uh if it gets a little worse you can get permits you can do permit parking out there so uh I think that the street was a little worse before but but I think some of the businesses are doing well there now which is good the new coffee shop and again the the restaurant on the corner they do quite well they do a lot of takeout and I've got food there so the neighborhood in general is underp parked all I think all the businesses there are underp parked and they're all doing they're doing pretty well from what I see so uh but I like that what he's proposing is just to augment what he already has it's not to expand his business it's to so he can again wholesale again wholesale more plans come in PDF he bids that to plans and sometimes they Direct ship he it doesn't even come through his office they'll directly ship from the supplier but he does the sales so it's a nice kind of business to be in that area it's kind of a quas office office bidding shop more so than electrical shop because he does a lot of outside bidding I've witnessed it so uh so again uh I think it doesn't uh negatively affect the Zone plan nor except for maybe one additional car uh every other day does it negatively affect the neighborhood thank you Mr chairman I have no further questions I reserve my right to ask additional questions based upon questions from the board in the public are there any board members that would like to question Mr vra's testimony are there any members of the public that would like to question the testimony this witness has provided hearing none are there any members of the public that would like to come forward and comment on this application I know you have already but you have any other comments or concerns hearing none would you like to sum up I'll just add for the Public's benefit too I know we like when people come out that shows an interest in the neighborhood especially when your residents there adjoining a commercial space take advantage of the fact that you have an applicant representative here who has a commitment to the area he lives here his family lives here ring the bell as I like to say he's offered it the door is open if there's problems that's still and will always be in my humble opinion the best way to try to alleviate problems so if they do arise let him know about it he learned one or two things tonight that maybe he can help out with without needing uh lawyers or police or anybody else involved so uh hopefully it seems like a positive for everybody all the way around if we can make it work that way thank you Mr penso Mr chairman members of the board I usually don't make a very long uh summation and as I was getting ready to prepare for this I thought I'd have to make a summation but this is pretty much the simplest application I think I've done before this board all year so I don't want to I don't want to complicate the matter any more than than we already have we do have two problems we have the parking problem it's a problem that currently exists one that is not going to be exasperated exasperated there's a couple of other ex words I don't remember off the top of my head that I could probably throw out there but that's situation is going to remain the same we're not adding any additional employees we're not really anticipating uh any additional traffic into the store it really is a matter of having the space to do the display which is required by contract as well as being able to be a stocking dealer which means he has to have a certain amount of product on site at any given time in order to meet his contractual obligations now I specifically went into the issue on the parking and how parking is determined in a retail use it's based upon floor area so if we were in a retail store right now and this was the floor area we'd have to have a parking spot for every 200 square foot in this big room but we only have five customers and that's the point at any given time we're not going to require 23 parking spaces which is what the ordinance technically requires of us so if we were to start doing calculations and just look at that actual area where the public is invited to come into the store we may very well wind up with about 400 500 square ft but the remainder of it behind the back room behind the wall so to speak that's where the products are and they don't park we need cars we need trucks to move them in and out and they've already indicated to you how that happens and how that does not create the additional demand for parking so so I'm going to put that aside it's a C2 um we could call it a C1 I think Mr vegra has put sufficient proofs before you on that the more difficult variance of course is the D4 variance now 6% doesn't seem like a lot and it's really not under these circumstances where you have that variance right here is because of the mezzanine area that mezzanine area kind of like adds that six % but as you can understand from the applicant's perspective we want the full second floor we want the mezzanine again it provides us with more space in the building to stock the product and that's the purpose of it that being said I think our proofs have uh come in that we've met our burdens of proof with regard to both variances that we're seeking uh and we would ask that the board approve the application thank you thank you Mr merman at this time I believe we can conference this Mr Wy would you like to begin Mr wild you're gonna have to speak up because staff did not hear what you said no you have to speak a little louder Henry can you hear me now no can you hear me now yes now okay like I said I think it's a good application and um he's willing to cooperate with the neighbors in terms with the parking which I think is a good thing he Al it's also um a uh the positives also we outweigh the negatives in this head situation and uh I have no problem with it and I'm going to vote Yes Miss Scott um good evening I thought the application also was a pretty straightforward application um there was a couple of things uh I constantly heard him say that um that because it was a permitted use that it wasn't wouldn't have a negative impact but just because it's a permitted Muse doesn't necessarily mean that someone can't come into your neighborhood and be a nuisance and so um with the parking as many comments as we did hear about the parking I'm hopeful that you all would be respectful to one another you seem to be and that the professionals also seem to have space right in that immediate neighborhood so I guess it wouldn't become a problem unless you guys can't find parking and so um I thought it was a good application I think it probably will do the you know that neighborhood some justice you got the building looks nice and um good luck to you good luck to you all cuz you all seem to be in that same immediate area Mr Graves as a wh s the applicant indicates to be limited foot traffic therefore I see no negative impact on the community Mr Ben the V now yes good evening Mr chairman like the board said I think it's a good clean application after this Project's done I think the building is going to be very appealing um Mr vpy seems like a very straightup entrepreneur I'm sure he's going to address this parking issue with his employees and vendors and hopefully you know straighten out with the public and I'm going to vote Yes tonight Mr Johnson yes Mr chairman thank you I also agree it's a good application um the applicants willingness to work with the residents impressed me and offering to uh have them come over and need go back and look at any problems they think might be C by his employees I POS that way the negative and I too will be voting yes and Miss Marts thank you Mr chairman um after hearing the testimony uh I first want to thank the public for coming out and voicing your concerns um I wanted to hear exactly how this business was ran and conducted so thank you um Mr for coming out and for us hearing that um based off of that I think that um parking is sufficient um the rendering looks great a great Improvement for the site so I will be voting this as as for myself I agree with Mr betna it's a good clean application building is welld designed nice looking building uh I feel the applicant proved and Justified both the negative and the positive criteria associated with this application and Mr vuli has promise to address the neighbors concern and I too thank the public for coming out and expressing their concerns therefore I will vote Yes for this application at this time I have a motion in a second Mr chairman I not that the board Grant the variants applicable to this application and that council is directed to prepare a resolution consistent with the board's decision second roll call Mr Wy yes Marts yes yes M Scott yes Mr Johnson yes Mr Graves yes and Mr CH yes November 13 very much we appreciate it we don't have to to see the Yankees tonight that's it November 13th will be on the agenda for the board approval of the resolution thank you may have a motion and a second to adjourn Mr chairman there being no further business coming before the board this evening I move the we adjourn all in favor opposed so move