e e e e e e e all right we going evening welome to tonight meeting of the Zoning Board of adustment town of un is being pursu the law c231 laws of New Jersey dat 1975 notice of this meeting is advertised in the local source and the Star Ledger the newspapers of record and notice has been posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building adjacent to the municipal Clerk's Office roll call Mr W here M Mart here here Scott here Johnson here Mr mcneel here Mr Graves here Mr Rick is absent Mr chair here there being a quorum present this meeting is now declared open at this time I'll entertain a motion for the approval of the minutes from January 7 and February the 7th Mr chairman I move that the meeting minutes of January 17th February 7th be approved as written and dispensed with their reading second motion all in favor I opposed so moved Mr manguso at this time are there any Communications oh yeah yes Mr chairman there are Communications that counc will uh address one uh call for both cases tonight all right then we can proceed with tonight's meeting our first case this evening is calendar number 3431 the Ukrainian Evangelical Assemblies of God DBA Living World church located at 2208 Stanley Terrace block 5404 blot 1718 and 22.01 applicant seeks overnight truck parking which is not a permitted use in the CI Zone Mr Hae would you like to begin yes good evening uh Mr chairman and board memb stepen hail representing the applicant Ukrainian Church uh as you recall we were here uh some time back and I had Pastor Nick give a overview of what the church was looking to do at the site we indicated at that time that they were going to scale back the project down the number of uh parking spaces there and commit to The Limited hours of operation of the proposed uh truck uh parking facility and also no weekend Etc we did send a letter into the board shortly after that meeting outlining those terms uh we were waiting on revised plans from our engineer Ed deck we did receive those yesterday they were submitted in a cover letter to the board and that may be one of the letters that uh Anthony was referring to uh and then we have delivered now I brought this evening hard copies of those plans so uh we don't the reason uh we don't expect the board we did notify our client and and uh his supporters that were here at the last hearing that we would be re seeking an adjournment this evening to give both the board the board professionals colar and the various departments an opportunity to review those Revis plan so I did have an opportunity to speak to Mr manguso Mr pansula and I I think we were targeting July 24th I believe it was I think that was the next available date the board has agendas yes for the record Mr chairman Rob pansula board attorney uh I did acknowledge the correspondence Mr Hill referred to it submitted to revised plans it is dated uh yesterday so we need time for Colliers to digest it uh it seems to address the things that Mr ha had indicated but obviously we should have the professionals review it which is why we need the time um so it's a perfectly appropriate request for the adjournment I assume Mr hail Will acknowledge the waiver of any time constraints should they cor confront the board uh so if we can unless anyone has any questions uh I believe we should carry that calendar number to July 24th with an announcement that no further notice uh will be issued at this time and the meeting will be heard on that night or expected to be heard so noted Mr Pula can I have a motion and a second to adjourn and reschedule tonight's meeting to tonight's case to July the 24th Mr chairman I'd like to make a motion for calender number 3431 Ukrainian evangelica Assemblies of God uh Living World Church 2208 Stanley Terrace uh carried over to the next available day which is July 24th 2024 second motion roll call Wy yes Mr Mar yes yes M Scott yes Mr Johnson yes Mr mcneel yes and Mr champ yes for the benefit of the public there will be no further notice of the meeting uh scheduled for July 24th the meeting will be held in this room at 7:30 on July the 24th thank you Mr chairman of board members and I will send Rob I'll send in a confirming letter to that effect formally acknowledging the new date and the stipulation of the extend of time thank you thank you proceeding our next case is calendar number 3430 located at 2936 voxo Road and it's for voxhall Road Associates LLC block 4703 lot 15.01 applicant seeks to uh SE seems to want to construct multif Family Residence with 36 units and this was carried from last week uh counselor would you like to begin yes thank you very much just for the record Mr Hill before we begin I believe Mr Graves had told me before the meeting that he does live in the area and would uh indicate that he wanted to recuse himself from tonight's proceeding so I suggested to him that was the proper move so we would make the announcement uh Mr graves will be recusing himself and not participating sorry Mr Graves uh good to see you and hope you get somewhere that's air condition all right thank you again for coming out tonight counc yes Mr chairman and board members uh Steven hail representing the applicant 29 uh 36 Fox all Road Associates and we appreciate the board giving us the opportunity to carry it from last week to to this evening uh as we indicated last week in our uh where we just uh gave an overview so we're starting the hearing this evening now but yeah this is an application for multi family building uh at this vacant site uh it is in the NC Zone which in fact permits the multif family we're here and our planner will address why we're before here the board of adjustment and the relief that we're seeking uh as not okay as noted uh the use is a permitted use and you'll hear our professional planner expand upon this and both our traffic and engineer uh it's it's our belief and I think we'll uh provide clear testimony that the proposed multif family use is in fact one of the lower intense uses that is permitted in the NC Zone a number of years ago we had this property we Rec board there was a medical office use we had it approved uh and unfortunately uh there were no takers for that we then came in uh and had approval for a child care facility uh covid hit Primrose had come in here got approved for child care facility and again Co put put an end to that and quite a few other child care uh and both of those uses would in fact generate more parking traffic noise and the like than the proposed multif family use and when you look at the NC Zone and again our planner will touch on this even more the uh other you es in that zone are car washes uh restaurants bars activities that could go on again 247 and uh generate quite a bit more traffic parking noise and impact upon the neighborhood so we feel that this is a uh a great fit for the piece of property it's been vacant for quite some time we will have our professionals take us through the application we'll have our engineer first take us through through existing conditions and then what's proposed by way of improvements our architect to take us through the floor plans and elevations our traffic engineer to uh expand upon the traffic impact study and then we're actually going to recall our engineer who's also wearing the Hat as our professional planner to address the planning relief that we're seeking uh by the way we did work hard on the design of the project we've had lengthy meetings with the township and uh when we had our community outreach meeting sometime back back over at St Paul's Church uh with Bishop Campbell uh the way this is designed with the parking underneath behind it buffers the parking I believe some of the previous uses uh we're looking at putting a building in the front parking behind the building and the like surface parking this is all parking underneath the building we designed it we got feedback we designed it with a turn around in front for any and a nice parking spot for trash pickup delivery so trash isn't going along the side of the building next to the residences uh also uh which is the new what happens in this day and age with uh deliveries door Dash and the like there's a dedicated delivery spot so when things come in they're they're addressed there uh if you recall originally and I'll shut up after this but originally there was a uh uh some concerns that were raised by the fire department we did have an opportunity to meet with the fire department and uh we had gotten an email from the fire uh uh Chief who indicated that he was okay with our uh revisions to the plans our architect will testify to those in more detail but we did submit to the board the revised plan so the board had an opportunity to actually see the plans we will uh have testimony but we did receive a letter from Captain uh Orlando Guzman and I believe the board has received a copy of that wherein he indicat Ates that uh all fire department's uh immediate concerns have been addressed Andor accommodated for it goes it's a short letter of has that been supplied to the board okay so you should have that in your package and we appreciate the hard work of the fire department taking the time to meet with us look over the revised plans and I commend the fire the fire department and and uh Captain Guzman for their for their help so that's overview of the application and if there's no preliminary questions I know Rob will probably Mark uh various exhibits uh and I think there was a you were going to acknowledge I think a letter that came in on this one too so yeah the fur the record I did Mark the application as it was submitted A1 I marked A2 the 11 page site plan at Casey Keller had presented A3 is the architectural plans of Lawrence Appel consisting of five pages and A4 currently is the storm water management report as submitted so we have A1 through A4 and we'll go from there there are other Communications um I'll address them probably at the time there's a letter of support I mean the person couldn't come tonight so I thought it's appropriate since the letter came in um it's from lightstone who was the property owner across the street Jeffrey a dash uh he he wrote to the board members he's the owner of the Milburn Mall located at 29 33 Vox oil Road and he's received notification of the new apartment building on the vacant lot on across the street from the mall unfortunately be unable to attend the meeting tonight because he's uh at a conference out of state uh I do wish to indicate to the board my support for this new project the property has been vacant for some time uh and I welcome the development the additional residents in the area will certainly help patronage at the Milburn Mall as which as you were aware is struggling with Tendencies thank you and I apologize that I was able to attend the meeting so that was the communication reference it was addressed to the board so I want to make sure uh technically it can't be cross-examined it's kind of what we did at the last session where we we accepted commentary from the public without swearing them in so it's just another thought about the application that came in thank you Mr panula all right so um what I'd like to do first is to call upon Michael lonz ofama from Casey and Keller uh and his beginning testimony he'll be wearing his engineering hat to again take us through existing conditions and then he will move on to what's proposed by way of improvements and address the comments that we have received from cers good evening Mr L of can I ask you to swear or affirm that the testimony you can provide this evening is the truth and the whole truth yes I do and for the record just State and spell your name with your business affiliation my name is Michael Lon zaama that's l a n Za f Ma I'm a licensed professional engineer land surveyor and planner licensed in the state of New Jersey I'm a principal with the firm of Casey and Keller Incorporated 258 Main Street Milburn New Jersey I've testified before this board in numerous boards throughout the state and have been accepted in with all three credentials engineering planning and surveying all my licenses are current and um we'll accept uh the board will accept his credentials great thank you thank much Mr chairman right Mr lens ofama I know you're well familiar with this site having worked on this project for quite some time so if you could take the board through again existing conditions through your plans and then we can move on to what's proposed by way of improvements certainly um what you have up on the uh screen at the moment is the cover sheet from the plan set um like to just for a minute here just uh zoom in on the on the aerial image so that you can get a a good sense of no sorry about that I think that one's a touch screen too so yeah yeah I was trying to uh if all else fails Anthony will come help there we go there we go there we go so what you have on the aerial image that you see up on the screen I don't know if I can make that a little bit bigger there we go there we go yeah that's a little bit better so the property in question as as uh Mr Hal pointed out is 2936 voxhall Road uh it is tax lot 1501 in Block 4703 um it property fronts on the southwesterly side of voxhall road and is approximately 150 ft Northwest of Valley Street the property has uh 100 ft of Frontage uh along the front portion of the property along Vox Hall Road has somewhat of a narrow front uh the property is extremely irregular in shape as you can see the Blue Line pretty much outlines uh the property itself and you could see how there's many angles and jogs and narrowing of the property that causes certain practical difficulties in the development uh of the property uh the property has an average depth of 395 ft and has a total land area of 4,289 square ft or 92 5 Acres uh the moving on to the uh survey itself you can see the um existing site is is vacant um except for uh there are some bituminous areas and gravel areas that have been used uh by contractors to store material uh over the years the site historically had been used used as a site contractor's yard all the way back to the 1950s and uh subsequently has been vacant uh probably uh since we got our site plan approval uh way back when for the office building and then occasionally been used by pscg and other utility companies to store their material uh while they did various projects in the area um the Topography of the site is such that it rises up from Vox road to a point about 70 ft into the center portion of the site and then flows towards the rear of the site um where it drains into uh an existing uh 15-inch storm sewer pipe at the very end of the property this storm water collection system then connects into the storm water system on westline Avenue um the property is not impacted by the flood plane or Wetlands or steep slopes there's no environmentally sensitive uh elements of the property uh that caused the property uh to be difficult to develop as we are proposing uh the property is located in the NC neighborhood core District uh which permits among other things multif family structures such as we're proposing here this evening offices retail sales and services uh including things like car repair and and car washes restaurants and or Andor combinations of those things you could do uh Office Buildings and then have apartments above so we feel that what we're proposing here is probably the highest and best used given the location of the property the size of the property and the surrounding areas um going back for a minute let's go back up to uh the the aerial image there there we go so as you can see from the aerial image um there's a variety of uses uh in and around the property um uh immediately adjacent to the property uh is an office building and parking area uh further to the uh East there's a uh funeral home as well as a large garage there a large parking area that extends all way out to westline Avenue across voxhall Road uh is the Milburn Mall uh with their large parking field and um one of the the things we look at as planners is trying to find uses that coexist well and that support one another and by putting multif family apartments close to shopping center that's that in a way supports that shopping center because it puts feet on the ground people that are going to shop people that are going to frequent the restaurants and other uh services that might be located uh in the mall and as you heard from the owner in his letter that he sent to the board he supports our application for that very reason and that just good planning uh we often see this done in downtown areas uh where many municipalities such as Westfield or Summit um and Milburn to some extent uh where they put apartments above the office space and above the retail centers so it puts pedestrians on the ground in the neighborhood and in the area the um uh many of the properties that exist immediately adjoining the property uh uh further to uh above the property immediately adjacent that front on Valley Street are a mix of residential and Commercial um there are two family houses fronting on on westline Avenue immediately adjacent to us is there's a u a commercial building I believe it's a a medical acupuncturist if I'm not mistaken uh there's a the building that you see right here that's adjacent to the property as well as their parking area which sits uh in the front of the property um the uh go to the zoning table here so just running through the zoning table this is the the metrics that govern how the property is developed and and how um it uh meets certain elements uh of the zoning uh the minimum lot area required for the NC zone is 15,000 square feet we obviously exceed that substantially we're at 4,289 Square fet uh the minimum lot withth or Frontage we are currently it's an existing non-conforming condition that we have we have uh 150 fet are required our lot is 100 ft um the minimum lot depth is three is 100 feet and we have over 395 ft so we're compliant uh with regard to that and as I stated earlier the proposed use itself uh the the multif family housing is uh a permitted use uh within the zones um The Proposal is to uh construct on the site let me just switch to um our uh color rendering uh of the site plan this gives you a better visual of the site and how we're developing it and was that previously submitted it's a new exhibit um well it was submitted electronically and was on the thumb drive I believe then we should probably mark it was part of what was marked as A2 I believe it's uh coloriz but it's colorized here so we'll not it as A5 being a colorized portion of the site plan okay okay get this over focus in okay uh and you can see what we're proposing here on the property is three story of apartments above a ground floor garage space for a total of four story multif family building um the building would have uh as I said ground floor parking uh an entry Lobby um coming off the side portion of the building there'll be um utility rooms up towards the front there'll be a mail room package room uh vestibule and Lobby that'll lead to an elevator um entrance into the garage area is from the front face of the building along boxall Road um to access that garage we provided uh what we refer to as an eyebrow or a circular Drive the one-way traffic pattern that allows quick entry into the garage and at the same time we've provided a uh an area a backup area loading area for things like Amazon deliveries UPS deliveries mail delivery um Refuge pickup so it's really really convenient to to have this the the vehicles pull in uh on the lower side of uh the driveway they can pull up and then back into position and easily exit out towards voxhall Road um the building itself is going to have a total of 36 units uh seven uh one-bedroom units 27 two-bedroom units and two three bedroom units um there's going to be six of those units are affordable units and those are the units that uh provide for housing opportunities um uh for people that are local um single moms working professionals um they are definitely a goal of the state to provide that affordable housing throughout the entire State not only in Union but as I said uh throughout the state and one we'll get into that a little bit later with the planning testimony is when we talk about the the positives of having this slightly increased density from what we're proposing is the additional affordable units that are yielded by by the overall project um the uh the parking garage itself uh provides parking for a total of 68 spaces um most of the spaces 42 of them are standard 9 by8 stalls which are permitted uh under the residential site Improvement standards uh however we are asking for a design waiver um from one section of your ordinance 170-20 uh Z 2601a which requires that 9 by8 stalls must have a minimum of a twoot overhang uh in some instances uh we don't have that capability because the vehicles are parking in the garage uh against the garage wall but 9 by8 does work well and is what is uh permitted by the residential site Improvement standards um we have 16 uh tandem parking Arrangements that's the area uh on the on the rear portion of the building uh where we have one parking spot in front of another and these would be assigned to two and three bedroom units um this is not all that dissimilar from when you have a single family house and you have a onecar garage and someone parks in the driveway way uh it's what I've lived with for 45 years at my house my wife of course gets the garage and I park in the driveway so we have to work that out as far as uh maneuvering in and out but it works well we've used it on other projects uh throughout the state and uh uh that projects that have been constructed and it works very well um we also have uh three Ada uh compliance spaces for handicap accessibility um um we also are going to set up um six EV charging uh stations make them make ready we're not going to Institute the um putting in the Chargers just yet we're working that out with the fire department but we will have them made ready so that um in the future uh once we can work a system out uh we can activate them and make them uh available to the potential tenants uh of the space um under the residential site Improvement standards as well as the township ordinance uh we're required to have 66 spaces so we're proposing 68 so we clearly meet the demand uh for parking um the structure itself uh has a building footprint of 22,7 67 square feet or 56.5% of the total lot area uh under the the ordinance were permitted 45% so this is one of the variances we're seeking and um the rationale behind that was to get the entire parking area within the confines of the building so to do that we had to expand the building in certain areas and as a result the uh building footprint uh exceeds that permitted under the ordinance however it's it's important to note that the overall impervious coverage is below the 65% permitted by the ordinance so it's a bit of a tradeoff we took instead of having a surface parking area reducing the size of the building um we we decided to enclose it so that it better insulates uh the parking activities opening and closing of doors headlights from the adjoining properties so uh under the current design we're at 26,1 149 Square ft for Total Lock cover that includes what we call the eyebrow the walkways as well as the building coverage that puts us at 64.9% where 65% is permitted uh the proposed structure is com conforming to both the front setback as well as the rear setback uh 35 ft is required for both front and rear yards uh the front yard is at 39.2 uh 2 feet and the rear yard is set back at the 35 ft uh required um under the ordinance I just want to again review for you and summarize for you what the variances that we're seeking um the first is the existing non-conforming condition with regard to the lot width or lot Frontage 150 ft required versus uh 100 feet proposed the second is a sidey guard setback now that area occurs where where the the the closest point we've indicated it as four feet um come on there we go so you can see that it occurs at a single point and that the building quickly moves away from the L line so that it's not a continuous setback violation it occurs at a single point so 35 ft is required four feet is proposed i' like to point out if we had um a different use on the property or if we had a commercial use built within the building the required setback would only be 10 ft so um it's uh because we're using a less intense proposing a less intense use we're being uh kind of hindered by uh the larger setback VAR uh setback requirement sideart setback requirement uh the maximum Building height permitted under the ordinance is 35 fet we're at 49.4 2 feet is measured from the average grade which is which because the Topography of the site the way it drops towards the back um actually adds about 3 feet to that height so the actual building itself from finished floor to the highest point is is more like 46 feet um the maximum Building height three stories are permitted under the ordinance we're at four stories proposed and you'll hear from the architect about how he worked that into the design by that I mean we we kind of what they refer to as wedding caked the Upper Floor and and by that we mean is we pushed in and set back that of the upper levels from the edge of the building so it's not one massive wall it's a wall that articulates vertically and um you'll hear that from Mr Appel when he describes his building to you uh we talked about the maximum building coverage 45% permitted 56.5% uh proposed uh the density the density permitted under the ordinance is 20 units per acre we're at uh 36 units or 38.9 units uh per acre we're also proposing a ground sign uh along um the frontage along uh V uh Vox Hall Road come on there we go there we go one more there we go you can see the sign that we're proposing uh and that set six feet six feet back from the right away uh where is 15 ft is required if we push the sign further back it would be obscured by some existing vegetation and other buildings that exist uh along the streets gape and I'll get into the planning proofs a little bit later on um we're also asking for waivers the one waiver was the U size of the parking stall the lack of the twoot overhang um we're also asking for a parking waiver for setback to the building uh 10 feet is required and we're proposing four and a half and that pretty much occurs up in the front of the building uh in this area where the delivery vehicle is um we're also required to have that parking area set back 10 ft from the property line where it's actually only a foot and a half at that one corner um we're also required to have a 4ot high Evergreen screen instead what we opted for for was a solid fence uh that would provide uh the necessary screening and meet the intent of the ordinance but at the same time leave certain areas lawn panels open for residents to perhaps sit in also it allows for emergency services to access the perimeter uh of the building uh more easily um just move on to um I also took the liberty of izing the landscape plan that is part of the submission why don't we Mark that then as so that would be A6 so the the landscape plan as can't see yet because it's too small so there's a variety of plant materials being proposed along the streetcape as well as along the common boundary with the properties are joining us um the um the there's quite a variety of both um perennials as well as uh deciduous trees and evergreen trees um there's a number of there's an large existing shade tree that obviously will be retained at the front corner of the property and the shrubs kind of enhance and um really Jazz up the front of the building um in the area towards the rear again we have the fence all the way around the perimeter to screen it off we're proposing a bio retention Basin uh at the rear of the property uh to handle storm water management from the roof area of the building uh the front portion of the property uh the what I've referred to as the eyebrow is actually porous pavement so that is what's considered green infrastructure as part of the new storm water management regulations um and that not only handles water quality but water quantity as well um the uh storm water management design uh meets the standard s for the current uh storm waterer management regulations under the D as well as your own Municipal standards and what I mean by that is the state has now decided and your your ordinance has been updated to concur with the state's goal is to not only meet the rainfall events that occur today in the in the year 2024 but they Pro provide us with uh an opportunity to design for for a what if scenario what is going to happen in the year 2050 and what they've done is they've taken the standard rainfall events and they put a multiplier to them so that the our storm waterer Management Systems not only have to meet um the standards for today the 2024 rainfall events but also rainfall events that might occur in the year 2050 with global warming we're anticipating that we're going to have more frequent uh heavy rainfall events what we call Micro bursts where we get sudden rainfall at large volumes and what we've been able to do is not only meet those standards but we've also met the requirement to reduce runoff rates from existing conditions so we take the site as it currently exists which is a mixture of lawn area trees gravel some small areas of pavement and we take that that runoff rate that exits the site through the storm water collection system in westline Road and for the twoyear storm we're cutting that more than 50% we're cutting that well in half uh for the 10year storm we're reducing it by 20% and for the 100e storm excuse me 25% and for the 100-year storm by 20% and not only are we doing that for today but we're doing that for the year 2050 as well so the uh the storm water uh design is truly going to enhance the area um it will mitigate uh any of the issues associated with the increased uh roof surface area um but again as I mentioned before our overall impervious area is compliant but in any event the the new design the new plan the improvements proposed will definitely enhance uh the not only the storm water quantity but the quality as well uh we did receive re a memo from um Colliers uh what was the date on that I got it right here um I have a a date of March 27th 2024 uh there's a number of issues that or items that um Mr Hatter had uh indicated um I I believe we've we're willing certainly willing to comply with everything that might need some uh a additional work but most of his comments were basically uh that um for example uh based upon our sanitary swer flow rates uh we don't need a what it's called a treatment works approval we less than 8,000 gallons a day um the water supply system is going to be adequate and you'll hear from the architect about how the building is going to be fully sprinklered uh and um that there are no issues that we can't comply with with regard to this memorandum and I believe that's all I have with reg with regard to testimony from an engineering perspective and just briefly you were talking about the uh the storm water the uh at the present time the site has has no storm water Control Systems all sheet flows well it gets collected by that 11 15inch pipe at the rear of the site yeah okay I have no further preliminary questions of Mr L Lama at this time are there any board members that would like to question the testimony Mr lonz ofama has given Mr chairman I do have a couple questions um one is concerning the parking um you said providing for 68 and that includes these six uh EVS charging spaces M but you're not going to make them active or uh corable um according to K coler's letter you need 7 so if you're only providing 60 68 and you're not going to make the electrical charging stations active are you taking the credit for those not yeah the the law the way we interpreted the law was that if they're made ready you get the credit so we're we're making them ready we're providing the conduits the electrical work everything will be set up but they just won't be electrified just yet and um uh we believe that Accord to the law you still get the credit uh for those stations so 70 we calculated 70 cars required but 71 surrounding of numbers three yeah yeah yeah we're just everybody rounds up right yes yes uh so 71 less to six that's that's where we came up with the 65 required and the other question is concerning the we're almost doubling the allowable uh uh unit per acre density uh is there any concern on the additional burden that we're putting on the utilities I know you said that you check your water flows and all that but once it leaves the property site is that going to put any additional have you looked at what that does to the town not the town yeah we we looked at the sanitary sewer system that's right in boxall Road it turns out that this system is pretty much like right at the end of the line we're we're like the first building to go into that line so the line has more than adequate capacity to handle they I think we have like 7500 gallons per day we're going to be generating from the 36 units so it's it the piping system is more than adequate um the treatment plant has more than adequate capacity uh water supply in the system is more than adequate um so we we feel very confident that um this will not have a negative impact on existing utilities are the any other board members that would like to question Mr lonz ofama hearing none are there any members of the public that would like to question Mr lonzo's testimony now it's it it's just questioning his testimony not making a comment comments will be later on do do you want to ask him a question sure would you come forward my name is FL Patterson p s o n uh you mention it's going to be 36 total units you said right that is correct um and of that amount how many multi multi room multip bedrooms oh oh multiple bed how many two bedroom units and three bedroom units uh I believe there were 27 two-bedroom units and and two three-bedroom units 29 what floor would they be on uh they be intermixed among all the floors the building the building does the site does have an elevator right I'm sorry Mr Patterson will there be an elevator then yes sir okay I have another question too I wait for that one that's not for him okay thank you Mr Patterson are there any other members of the public we heard a lot of uh commentary at the last hearing it wasn't in the record just so you and just maybe to cut to the chase a little is there any doubt in your in your engineering uh expert mind that the site is being approved from a drainage standpoint I know the neighboring property owner I believe is here tonight has experienced some water in the basement and other issues do you see as the engineer an improvement here based on what exists say 10 years ago or even as previously approved with the new D standards that this site will will show an improvement for the area as opposed to a it it absolutely will okay um there'll be the runoff is better controlled in the new design uh the roof water is contained within the biob Basin at the end of the property so I don't see any negative impact to any adjoining property owner and if anything that might assist the area because you're you're tackling water that currently is not being handled in that correct improve that thank you you're welcome come forward yes Andrew Bross 965 Valley Street you mentioned that you would you please spell your name p r o SS oh b r oos uh you mentioned that you felt that this project would help the mall across the street working in symbiosis let's say MH are you aware of the current businesses that are there um it I know there uh there's a uh Burger yes or no do you know the business I know some of them okay do you know why melovino closed in that mall I have no idea flooding that's all I want to say another question yeah one one more Steve hello I'm Tina Kim for the record um hi we we use Casey and killer also I'm the building right next door yes I'm um so my question is what is the distance between my building and the wall that um in the front of the build that meets against my side yeah if you can your your building I believe is about 5 feet off the property line and uh give this chance to rejuvenate here there we go I don't know why that screen is there okay I don't know why that's on there but in any event so um you can see that your your building is is the we we added a little Shadow there that's not the actual setback of the building the building itself is back here that's 5 feet and then at this location you could see the building is set back probably about 15 ft uh at that point so you have about 20 ft between the face of the building at at this location and your building okay 15 ft and then so 5T so and also you mentioned the fence um would that fence be behind the Landscaping between our properties it yeah the fence would be on the property line a few inches off the property line so it' be your building the fence and then the landscaping and So currently you cuz in the front right now we do have like a vinyl fence towards that towards the building area um but you had mentioned the material of the fence I thought I heard yeah we we Pro we're I I didn't mention it but I should have it's a solid fence and most likely going to be a vinyl material so would that extend to the front of the property where that eyebrow is um it would it would stop right at the face of the building right about here okay so then I would also want to know how tall the signage is that you're proposing at the front of the building um uh on you mean the monument sign yes um I'd have to check the detail on that uh let me go back to here I don't know if that's on is that on the site plan or was that on the detail sheet variance for the sign is just for the location or not the size right not the size but uh I was trying to see if I have that detail on my detail sheet um there we go so the sign is 5 feet high and then also in that eyebrow school buses would be expected to come in and out of that eyebrow no they could they could fit there we've done an analysis but most likely that wouldn't happen imag kid kids would be picked up at the street I would assume on like any other school bus I'm not sure to be honest with you uh I I don't know how the uh Township of Union operates their uh their busing system whether or not they go on to private property or do they stay on the public roadways okay um and what about um garbage pickup a garbage pickup would be done through the eyebrow they were able to come in back into position there is uh within the building a series of trash shoots uh on the upper floors that come down into a trash room where everything is compacted the maintenance people would then wheel it out to the uh garbage truck and then the garbage truck would be able to exit and I'm also wondering about um guest parking sorry the the way the the parking garage is situated or is or is designed let me go back to the site plan give me a second to get there there we go okay there we go so during the day this gate which control as at the garage door will be open and the public visitors would be able to park in the front portion of that parking garage towards the back we have a second gate that's controlled by the tenants with a key fob and that would open up and that would be what we call secured parking so there's 49 secured parking spots and 19 parking spots that are available for visitors so for 36 Apartments you've got 49 parking spots yes well they'll be able to use the 19 as well th those aren't restricted just to visitors the tenants will be able to use those as well so you know at at after hours then they'll be able to park in that spot too if they choose to um is there any proposed sort of like flashing light or anything for for residents of this property to cross to Milbourne Mall because it's a County Road and it's pry not at the current time no um okay my other question is what happens where is delivery mailman going to park when somebody's in that one delivery spot I know it sounds crazy but this actually happens to us um one our delivery people that's why we have that's why the eyebrow you could have say for example the garbage truck is here even though it's high unlikely you're going to have the garbage truck and the mailman or UPS guy coming at the same time but if there were a garbage truck here or UPS truck and a second Amazon truck showed up they would be able to parallel park here run into the mail room and exit they're usually there only for a few minutes and by parking here you still have access to the garage so you so the delivery people should be going into their garage also no no no no the parallel park here they're able to walk into the lobby in vestibule area and into the mail room here so they're walking along the sidewalk along the side of the building and entering on the side got it okay I understand I think I understand the plans thank you you're very welcome ma'am would you sp would you spell your name just for the record I didn't get it Tina t i n n a my last name is Kim k i m thank you thank you are there any other members of the public that would like to come forward and question Mr lens of F's testimony hearing none counselor yes thank you Mr chairman thank you Mr Lind pom I'd now like to call upon our architect Larry Appel to take us through the architectural plans for the project maybe push the Clos good evening Mr Appel can I just ask you to swear or affirm that the testimony you can provide this evening is the truth and the whole truth yes for the State and spell your name with your business affiliation uh my name is Lawrence Appel AEL I'm principal of Appel Design Group Architects um we're located um on 23 greeland uh Road in Floren Park um I hold a Bachelor of Science uh degree in civil engineering and a master's in architecture I'm here as an architect this evening I'm licensed uh New Jersey since uh 19 uh 92 um also New York Pennsylvania and narb um I have U my office used to be in Union um on mors Avenue um for many years um I've appeared before uh Union but not recently um but as well the board will accept his credentials thank you Mr chairman all right uh Mr Pell I know we've been working for quite some time on this project meeting with the township professionals so if you could take us through the architectural aspects of the property so um just to get um I have one new exhibit I just wanted to get that tagged first um the A7 and A7 which is um a uh photo realistic color rendering um showing proposed colors and materials um and I believe you've already tagged my architectural drawing set as a-3 is that corre okay good and this is what I have here is not changed it's exactly what you have uh in your packages so um I yes I'm uh I've been involved with this project from the uh Inception we've been working very closely with uh Mr Lan saama and the other consultants and we um have uh we very excited to get feedback and suggestions from the township um we really appreciate the input that we got because we believe uh the township professionals helped us make this project better um Mr Lan ofama gave a pretty good overview of the um the site and site features um one of the things that we work very closely to op optimize the site because it does have limited Frontage so I'm going to refer to drawing PB -1.2 so as mentioned the project is four-story uh keep in mind that the ground floor is almost entirely parking U the parking um as was discussed there's a front area shared shared for guest and residents and the rear is um secured and typically is assigned to specific residents with fob access um we've utilized tandem stalls as was discussed the tandem stalls will always be assigned to a single apartment so it's very similar to what um Mr Lama had explained um the lobby is located at the side so I'm going to point uh um on the side area um which allows um access for both of the front area of the garage and the rear area of the garage um trash this was an important amenity um I want to just give a little more information each floor of the building will have a trash room and a Shute which will um uh convey trash from that trash room down into a compactor so um this is the best way to deal with this there's no dumpster there's you don't have to carry uh uh Leaf trash in the hallway you don't have to carry trash and recycling uh down the elevator yes this uh there was the question raised this is um uh elevator service uh building but this is the gold standard it eliminates odors it compacts trash it makes this um very efficient it reduces the frequency that the trash hauler has to come and surface the uh the site um and they will use small rollout containers as Mr Lon lonz ofama had uh explained the trash uh uh hauler will park um typically um they will either um uh scavenge those containers or um a superintendent will pull them out and bring them over to the uh the truck um recycling is handled a little bit differently so um it's usually collected in the trash room we uh provide bins um uh there will be a staff person that will collect bring those bins down to collection at the garage level and then again uh um put in containers and brought out for the hauler to pick up so um also um we've accommodated what you would expect in a building like this this is state-of-the-art it's going to have a mail room it's going to have a package room these are the type of amenities that are anticipated and expected um on the floor plan um one of the there's a a just a faint red line that you can just see and that is important to notice that is the upper profile of the building so the ground floor covering the parking is a little bit larger than the upper areas this was done intentionally and this was actually a suggestion by um the um uh professionals um at the uh Township and the the reason for this is that the building would no longer appear to be on stilts and with cars parked half under and and um half outside and half under the building it's fully concealed the benefit of this is uh less light spill off um less noise more attractive facade and um another important feature is that it better accommodate snow removal um because you now no longer have snow competing and having to um move uh snow by hand out from under the building um the building will have a small generator this is typically to um surface um security um access to the garage and some lighting in case of emergencies it's not a whole building generator this is a small generator um the first floor is um which is shown directly below here is uh rather typical we've utilized the uh space created by um the extended Podium so all these dark areas are actually not part of the building but they will be outside um uh Terrace areas um that could be used by um by the residents inside those apartments I'm going to switch to drawing PB 1.3 so um the 36 units are spread out on the floors um Mr lonz ofama had gone through the unit count there's a a a tabulation on the cover page of the drawings that indicate where each of those units are um uh distributed um several of the apartments um have dens this has become a very important feature um in design now because uh these dens provide a place for people to um work from home um as many uh of us do so um our proposal is that um six units will be for affordable housing these are integrated into the um design and uh dispersed as well I'm going to go to on drwing PB 1.3 on the lower um the lower image is the Upper Floor um we've called this a penthouse because it's not an entire floor um the um Penthouse started out just with some an idea that we were going to provide some amenity space for the residents a roof deck and a small um community room as well um these have become very important spaces um for um residents now this has been the trend and is the um um I don't want to say like state of the art but it's almost an expectation for um renters now to have um some of these amenities so um by putting the amenity space up here um and the outside um roof Terrace it created a need to bring the stairs and the elevator up to the roof and as soon as you brought these up in here we have one stair that's on one side and then an elevator in the middle and then a stair on the other side and it would have been a rather weird configuration to have just the amenity space so what we tried to do is we tried to infill between these to create a couple of units to create a little bit more purpose for that um that floor but most important so it it was um to create a balance with the design and infill the space but more importantly if you can see these dark areas at the front and the rear and actually wrapping around the whole um rear portion of the building in here is we've created a wedding cake type of massing so this Upper Floor is set back and it softens the impact and that's why we called it a penous rather than a whole floor it's only a partial floor um and we believe that this was um successful in design and also that we feel it's it's also a um uh creates a needed amenity for uh residents um the dark areas to the front and the rear also serve as areas to provide condensing units so rather than placing them around the perimeter of the property on the ground we believe that it will um be um better to um place these up on the um the roof out of view I'm now going to go to um PB d1.1 and when you look at the side elevation you can see the effect of where that Upper Floor steps back from the front and rear of the facades um we've also take notice that we don't have a flat wall we have lots of Jukes and jogs we've tried to create some architectural interest um for the uh the project as well so I'm going to switch to a color rendering um I don't know that that this was I don't believe this was submitted as part of your package so this is rather um um is a new exhibit in here if there's any interest I do have a um a small copy if if it's helpful to pass these around so we would mark this as a A8 well it's identical to what oh what's on the screen so it I just thought I I wasn't sure you know whether it's e that's the photo the one you referenced A7 that's the that was A7 yep okay so that's A7 yes so um this drawing shows uh color and material we look to create a transitional Vibe um both traditional architectural materials and details but also uh clean lines and we believe it's um um appropriate and not fussy the materials proposed are all high quality very low in maintenance um the key here is we wanted to building that would look good at the beginning and also stay looking good because there was not a lot of um uh maintenance required um there were um a lot of Det details were not overlooked we took a lot of time and attention to make sure the details were right things like we utilized in the facade on the sides and the rear two different siding colors um and we did that because we felt that it would help Demas the facade we've Incorporated uh balconies as well as balconet balconet are just decorative um balconies that you can't walk out on um and because these balconies um they're um closer to property lines um we have uh elected to use down lights rather than conventional lanterns so that there would be um no glare coming off the um the building due to the balconies now um despite that the ground floor is essentially all parking um and some Lobby and some other support fun functions is we believe that the building um due to the way it's placed on the uh property um um that it's uh relatively close to the street all of these create positive um elements there it's a pedestrian friendly building um we believe it's an activated facade um it doesn't look like a parking lot and that was something that we felt was quite important here and as well as what Mr Lan ofama had indicated is that it's designed to handle uh visitors and delivery as well so I'm going to skip back to the architectural drawings for a bit and I'm going to go to drawing number 1.4 and these um was just to indicate that these are conceptual layouts of typical Apartments we've included uh typical Market apartments and typical uh affordable apartments one thing that is common to both of these is that they um both have their own heating and air conditioning systems so each apartment has its own um furnace and uh with uh heating and air conditioning and each has its own washer and dryer and um these are um starts on the concept once we deal with the structural and mechanical and all the engineering some of these layouts will um get modified a bit but these are um pretty good um um depictions of of what the uh the units will look like um with uh dimensions and uh rooms and kitchens Etc um we were um very happy to get some uh comments from the Fire official Captain uh um Guzman um he had raised five safety issues um that um we um addressed and responded to and that was the reason why we reissued these drawings is to respond to um uh Captain Guzman's uh comments so these included that um while this building is not required to have a full NFPA 13 sprinkler system it it's by code is only required to have a residential version of this but um what we are proposing here based on on Mr Guzman's uh um comments and concerns was to have a full FPA 13 fire suppression system um in addition um we have located around the perimeter um several um um doors and openings so that these will um Aid First Responders and firefighters and having access to the building we have also um agreed um and located on the drawings um a 2hour firewall that will separate the building half and F these fire doors close and it compartmentalizes um the building which uh Mr Guzman thought would be um helpful and enhance Life Safety um in addition what was suggested was to enlarge the stairway so that it provides an area of Refuge so a safety area within the um uh the stair construction which is um a higher higher um fire rating than the rest of the building and this provides an area of Refuge so that um if they're were an emergency that a resident can be there in a safe place waiting for a first responder to rescue them um and uh item number five in here was to provide stand pipes in each of the stairwells and then U Mr Lon ofam had explained is that there was uh a provision that the um EV charging would be make ready until such time that they were needed um and this was a also a request by U uh Captain Guzman um that's all I have for my testimony this evening thank you very much Mr Appel I have no further again preliminary questions at this time Mr chairman and board members are there any board members that would like to question the testimony Mr Appel has given I just had uh plans I couldn't make out where the trash rooms were on the on the individual floor plans would you would would you like me to point that out would you please sure so I'm going to just it doesn't matter which floor just it's a common shoot on all three floors right yes oops so where it says oops where it says TR that is just an abbreviation for trash okay and those all stack floor to floor with a uh with a shoot way too small for these eyes are are there any other board members with questions yes Mr chairman can you confirm if these DS have uh closets or Windows in them uh the so um most of the dens will not have uh Windows just by by Design um so what we're proposing on here is that um these are not intended to be bedrooms um they are um extra rooms um they would not have uh their own closets in here and they and um I think in all cases um I believe that they will not have Windows either any other board members with questions hearing none are there any members of the public that would like to question the testimony Mr Appel has given yes Mr Appel um you mentioned a very very sophisticated um I guess trash removal Trash Disposal system who pays for that is that done by the that collection done by the town is that done by a private collector uh typically it's a private hauler particularly yeah it will be private thank you just want to noers um the other thing the uh color color renom you had up there that one yes you have a side view of that um I I don't I don't have a separate side view and I wish I could uh spin this around and rotate it I can question that's it thank you okay are there any other members of the public that would like to come forward hello hi I wanted to know in the design how come Park wasn't put in the basement or if there is a basement so what was discussed um normally in here is that the uh you in in order to have basement level parking you need to be need to be able to um ramp down there's just not adequate space to um ramp down in here in a meaningful um way plus the rear part of the property as I understand the topography falls off as well so that it would require quite a I'm sorry quite a deep um excavation um I didn't see any renderings of um outo outdoor space for the residents so is there any place that these residents will be spending Outdoors outside of this on the property so we we did um have up on I will refer to the upper level there 's an outdoor amenity space an indoor amenity space and this um hatched area is an outdoor amenity space we've um shown um uh it's about a little over 2,000 square fet so it's up on the fourth floor is that like barbecue area um it's not fully programmed about what would go um there um it's passive um Recreation so typically it's um seating areas it could have a um a a grill but um this is all setback Again part of the wedding cake um uh concept is that it's set back from the sides of the building so it's not overlooking the um the side any of the uh perimeter sides of the building and the facades it's set back and it's uh in the center um I'm also wondering just cuz I like I I told um Jerry that I used to live at the Avalon here in Union and we had like a fire pit there is that also something that's part of your plans cuz I know is part of their plans we haven't gotten that far so normally what happens is that there's a sales and marketing team that will kind of look and compare with all the um competitors and try and find the right blend to to provide the right kind of amenities and they will usually advise you know us of of that kind of detail but it's not it's not going to be like a pickle bow cord or something noisy up there it's passive you also mentioned um pedestrian so if the building is expecting pedestrian traffic um where are they going like there's not much public transportation in the area where are they catching the bus where are they getting a cab where are they taking the train so when I say um pedestrian is that our our feeling is that having um a building you know with sidew sidewalks in the front I think that this um with the right type of development this would be a very walkable um Street right now because of the gaps it doesn't feel that way so our our hope is with projects like this is that it will generate some pedestrian Activity thank you are there any other members of the public that would like to come forward and question the testimony har none Mr hail thank you Mr Rael I'd like not to call upon Joseph stiger our traffic engineer good evening Mr stiger can I ask you to swear or affirm that the testimony you provide this evening is the truth and the whole truth yes I do and for the record State and spell your name with your affiliation yes Joseph stiger s a i g a r 17 Treemont Drive East Handover New Jersey okay Mr stiger I know you've been before this board on many occasions but if you briefly confirm your credentials and that your license are in full force and effect right B of Science degree and master of science degree civil engineering New Jersey Institute technology I've been an Adjunct professor of traffic engineering courses at NJIT professional engineer licens in the state of New Jersey and professional planner as well here tonight as the traffic engineering expert for which I've testified numerous occasions Bo will accept his credentials Mr hail great thank thank you Mr chairman right Mr stiger if you could take us through the uh your analysis of of traffic circulation parking and the like yes did prepare a traffic impact study uh for this and basically it's broken down into three parts uh evaluation of existing conditions assessment of proposed conditions and then working hand inand with the engineer and architect to develop a plan that is safe and ter and efficient in terms of traffic flow pedestrian flow particular traffic flow as well um we went out and we took traffic counts and we actually compared them from three other sources uh New Jersey DOT has traffic counts on Foxwell Road um and uh there was a previous application in the year 2000 for the daycare Care Center so we in between we've had some issues with covid and traffic uh flow uh volumes uh due to that so more recently this past year uh our firm uh took traffic counts as well along Bol Road compared them all and uh it's actually a little bit lower today uh than it was pre uh preco so we used the higher volumes to do further assessments so traffic counts that were taken 2018 were higher than they were in 2024 so again we use the uh the uh previous counts 2018 higher counts um secondly uh trip generation uh the it te The Institute of Transportation Engineers develops TR uh trip generation rates for different types of land uses and that's the Bible in the industry dot uses it your County engineer your Township engineer uh uses that same uh document for projecting what future projects uh will generate in terms of traffic one of those uh land uses is multif family uses and the setting of a mixed use Development Area we do have the shopping mall uh uh nearby and uh in addition to Office Buildings in the area we do have mass transit there are U bus three Bus Lines within walk reasonable walking distance of the site so we do have a fair amount of U of U uh different types of uses and different types of modes of transportation as previous um uh experts T talked about we do have a complete sidewalk system good interc connectivity of uh of um of sidewalks and and so forth there is Davis Park which is within reasonable walking distance basketball court and some other amenities there so there is a there is opportunity for recreation in the area walking distance as well um the 36 units will generate using the it trip generation rates will generate 14 trips in the morning peak hour 14 trips in the evening peak hour seems to be very low volume for 36 units how you come up Mr stiger with 14 trips well uh as we all know uh our commutation patterns and has have changed since uh since preco uh we've learned how to telecommunicate we've learned how to work at home uh so the trip generation rates have gone down in more recent years um in addition to that it's sort of Different Strokes for different folks some people start 6:30 in the morning maybe 6:00 in the morning maybe work night shift uh others may not start until 9:00 9:30 10:00 or later than that if they're going out to meetings while working uh from home so what we've seen is a tendency for people to stay home more more often to do their work uh which has reduced trip generation so what that boils down to is 14 trips uh for the 36 units during an hourly rate this is not the three or 4 hour time period that they they actually will be commuting this is the peak hour uh the 1H hour rate um like to make a point of uh comparison to um the former approvals now I I realize that those approvals have have um since been um eliminated uh disbanded so to speak or or expired uh but this was used as a contractor yard for a time being with construction equipment employees parking there and and and going in and out uh medical office use also was approved on this site and more recently was the daycare child daycare center the child daycare center would generate over 150 trips per hour the reason being is that for every child that's attending the parent or Guardian drops that pulls in drops that that child off and then pulls out out so for every child you generate two trips in that hour and it's more condensed primarily to a 2hour period so you take take that total amount of traffic and it's condensed a 2 hour but the the point being is that what this site was approved for utilized previously for uh was far more traffic than what's being proposed 100 over 150 trips compared to 14 trips is more than 10 times the volume of traffic uh or 10 times less less is what's being proposed and what was what was previously approved in addition to that many of the permited uses would generate far more intensity and Tra traffic and parking noise and other other potential nuisances certainly a restaurant or a Tavern bar uh would generate more traffic than uh than what the proposal is about and those are permitted uses so I'm just making that comparison um we do have a density um uh um variance uh and that density is the difference between 20 units per AC 20 units uh versus 36 so the the difference is 16 units if we were 16 units less we would be uh compliant in terms of density that relates to six trips that's one trip every 10 minutes during the peak hour so the um the benefits that this project um brings to to the table to the board to the township um certainly far outweighs any detriments you'll hear more from that from uh Mr Lonzo F and his planning testimony but the point being is that six the difference of six trips is really minuscule or Minimus in terms of having any impact with the without taking that credit um uh and taking the 14 Vehicles that'll come in and out during the peak hours we operate level service D now d uh is uh levels of service are operational characteristics how much delay will it take in order to come into the site or leave the site and just as in grade school a through f are the levels of service I'm sure you've heard it from other Traffic Engineers or myself uh we're in that dange during the uh during the peak hours which is an acceptable level of service um and um lastly the uh so the the the U uh conclusion of that is that this site will not have a detrimental impact on traffic conditions in the area and it's far less intensive than former approvals former use of the site and permitted uses uh in this Zone and then lastly you've heard from Mr Lon of we are compliant in um in the parking uh couple of minor variances uh 9 by 20 or an 18t depth of a parking space plus 2T overhang we don't provide the 20 ft we don't provide the 2 feet for from Mr Lonzo f um for the reasons for for that it's just the dimensions of the site um that just allow for that but or but I have to say that 9 by8 is a standard it meets the rsis um requirements for minimum size for parking spaces so I believe any granting of any variants related to that uh will certainly oper will still allow the site to operate at safely and efficiently and number of parking spaces we are compliant we're not asking for any type of of deviations from that as well uh just want to make one uh small correction in terms of of the um EV spaces um you need to provide 15% of the parking spaces that are provided uh have to be EVS um Mr lza C U testified to six spaces but that actually works out to 11 spaces 15% of 68 of the spaces that we're providing works out to 11 space 11 EVs and of that um 10% we can take credit of parking for parking of 10% of what's required 72 spaces are required so we can take credit for seven spaces they testim his testimon doesn't change other than the number number of EV spaces a little bit more than um uh per statute than than his his testimony but doesn't change the conclusions we still meet the uh parking requirements and um and to um to answer uh Mr mcneel's uh question about the the make ready uh those those 11 spaces will be phased in the phasing means that onethird of them will be built upon occupancy and then three years another third and then in another three years the following third the statute takes into account that we're expecting to see the usage of electric cars to increase right now they feel that the onethird of the 11 is going to be sufficient for a development such as this based on what's on the road today but as time goes on in three years and another three years we'll see an increase of uh of electric uses so the State statue and their in their wisdom uh our administrators in their wisdom felt that U that was a good a good um way to phase it in put all the wiring in the conduits just the mechanism itself will not have to be put in until the three years and then the additional three years uh in the future right thank you very much Mr stiger you're welcome Mr chairman no further questions at this time are there any board members that would like to question Mr steiger's testimony just two um I hope I answered one of them almost almost Struck it out um traveling I guess that's westly on boxall road towards mbour right are you allowed to make leftand turns into um the building yes uh in fact uh in that direction there two lanes of traffic so if someone had stopped momentarily to make that left-hand turn other vehicles could bypass them in that additional Lane but that's two lanes so now they'll be reduced down to one while they're waiting on him to turn right correct has that been looked at and yeah the level of service so I talked about level of service D that's getting out of the driveway making the left or right which is more difficult uh because you're looking for two ways of a gap in traffic when you're making that leftand turn that is you only need a gap in one lane of traffic or One Direction of traffic when we do the calculations that actually and I forgot I I neglected to mention that is operates a level service a so that left turn will be able to make be made on average less than 10 seconds so it the backup is going to be minimal at that location and just for edification how many levels of service uh there a a through f is six yeah a through F we're I'm saying we're approaching the lower level but but voxell road is a busy road and there is capacity Reserve capacity to allow this minimal amount of traffic 14 trips per hour uh and still not deg grade uh so it doesn't change the level of service I'll say the minimal amount of traffic that we're going to generate any other board members hearing none are there any members of the public that would like to come forward and question just the testimony that Mr stygar has given Mr bruss just out of curiosity when was the study in 2024 conducted in February uh can you specify the dates in February I'm sorry specify the dates in February let me let me refer to my traffic report I'm sorry it was January and I'll give you the date if I can find it you know I I neglected to put it in my report I'll have to go through my file but it was a typical weekday uh we don't do it during snow storms or rainstorms or or anything like or holidays so and we try to get the mid mid part of the week as well which we've done I'm sure so it's it's a typical typical day does this study go from like 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. is it a 24hour cycle the um very good point we know when the peak hours occur and typically they're they're the rush hours we really don't care what happens 2:00 in the morning or even 2: p.m. or unless there's the school there's a school nearby and and and vehicles get out but what we find 99.9% of the time the peak hours occur between 7 and9 a.m. 4: to 6: p.m. so we conducted them during those time periods to get the peak hour of the roadway because the residential use um is is um uh is comp not compatible it is coincidental the peak hour of the of residential use is is coincidental with the peak hour of the roadway they both happen the same time majority of people will be going to work in the morning 700 to 9: coming back between 4: and 6 okay and were any studies conducted on how it would affect the side streets such as Valley Street or going into Milbourne now no uh other than I made that assessment by comparing it to what was already the site was used for what it was approved for and what it could be permitted for which all three of those aspects generate far more traffic than what's being proposed with the 36 units that in itself tells me that there'll be less impact than what is permitted by by your zoning ordinance or what or what other approvals were for or what other uh usage was used on the site okay and does the the 14 point whatever uh percentage does that factor in different changes Society such as Uber Eats increases in Amazon deliveries uh it includes all traffic the uh the actual trip generation rates that uh are based on all traffic that enter and and and or exit the site so it includes uh guests and includes deliveries includes the garbage truck that might show up that morning so forth okay and you mentioned that it f uh the ability to make left turns out of the complex was any since it'll be perpendicular uh to the Milburn Mall were there any studies done on how that's going to interact or inter affect traffic as well the you're saying the driveway the left out of the inner eye how that's going to interact with it being directly across the street from the own from the exit and entance to the Milburn Mall yes because that same th those traffics that were making left out of the mall were included in the traffic volumes uh during the peak hours so when I did the level service D it included those left turns as well okay that's all I have Miss Kim hi I just wanted to correct my title is Doctor um I wanted to ask about the impact of traffic with school buses um we had mentioned earlier in testimony that school buses would potentially be stopping on boxall road and so how would that impact traffic in both Milburn and further down in Union well just as in any roadway the safety of the children is far more important than the the minimal delay that's caused by the uh School Bus stopping so how will it impact it'll stop traffic both the CS while the while the stop sign is on is up and and the lights are turning red and the child gets on or off the bus so I'm thinking it's a 36 apartment unit unit apartment building so there's going to be multiple children's getting on un off each bus twice a day so Elementary um preschool Elementary Middle School maybe even high school so that's at least four times a day potentially sorry more eight eight times times a day um I also wanted to mention just being right next door the average time for me to make take a left turn out of my driveway I would say probably takes me I have to sit there probably anywhere from sometimes nothing um but at times I've waited literally 6 minutes so your you mentioned 10 seconds um I would say that that was probably on the very rare end that's the left turn in uh coming out would be over 35 seconds it's on average and also that goes not to account all the people who are blowing their horns at me um and so that I just worry about that aggression on that road because it is high it is a high volume of traffic it is Speedy traffic and it's people that are going places they're getting to the highway they're getting home and they're not wanting to stop for us to pull in and out of driveways yes well as I pointed out before your ordinance allows for certain uses that are permitted on this site and many of those permitted uses are we would not be before this board we would not you would not be here asking these questions if it was a permitted use uh we are far less traffic volume than a permitted use uh on this site so I understand what you're saying and I hear your testimony repeatedly mentioning the previous permits but I just feel like we're here to discuss this particular permit and this if this project goes forward how it's going to impact us as a community and and a D1 variance uh a non-permitted use on this site and uh and how does that affect the master plan and your zoning ordinances but if your zoning ordinance and your master plan allow for a restaurant use or a Tavern or an office building even that generates more traffic than what you're proposing well then we're we we do comply with the the traffic aspects of your zoning ordinance and your master plan so are you saying that your testimony is then based on what the what the proposed uses no my testimony is based on this use generating 14 trips but it's fair for me to compare it to and which is a non-permitted use which is fair for me to compare it to permitted uses such as that restaurant and and so forth which generate far more traffic so your your question is well what are the impacts of your 36 units um should be as it compares to a permitted use on this site because we would be before the planning board and not the board of adjustment and traffic impacts for a permitted use are not in the purview of of a planning board we actually are a permitted use just want CL we're here because of the den density I'm sorry just want to you're right yeah that's good point all right good point and uh and so that goes to my second aspect that the difference between um between the what we're allowed I mean let me I'm going sorry but I'm going have to retract a lot of what I just said but I did mention before that we are here before a density uh of to more density than what we're allowed but that difference of what's allowed and versus what we're proposing is a matter of only six trips per hour and that again same same rationale however that those six additional trips do not create a significant impact on traffic and still is far less than what a permitted use would generate well for me what I'm hearing is it's still 40% more more than what so six trips 14 it's more it's way more than six trips um also I'll say you know just with the tendency and I understand the study was done in January is from the people that I encounter is that c um companies are requiring people to come back to work and they're required to come back into the office more days a week and it's progressively returning back to what we were required to do in terms of commuting pre pre-co and so I just wonder about this January study and the numbers in terms of traffic January is also kind of a low traffic month in terms of that area I mean if you were there in no November I don't know why it's busier in November but it's quite traffic in time shopping probably and so it's you know it's it's like I said I've said this last week too but it's um it's a high volume traffic area I was told that the traffic is due to some construction um which I can't handle it I can't I that has nothing to do with me or this but you know just I'm just one thing well that's why um if you heard my testimony we there's four sources that we took traffic Counts from and three of those sources were preco so if we're going to go back from January anuary 2024 to what happened preco those are the volumes that I took into account I took the counts in January 2024 but I put them aside and I took the higher volumes in 2018 from the traffic data we had and then I bumped it up for two years times one one and a half% because we see traffic does increase generally speaking uh in the future so I took all of the the measures I think that you would have expected if everybody goes back to work again which I doubt very much I mean we've we've learned a lot through covid that uh for instance we had a pre-meeting with with Mr um hail and and the group we didn't have to go into his office which we would have done in 2018 and met there and now we're all on zoom zoom is something new that we've all learned to use uh since Co so I think our levels are going to maybe go up a little bit because I agree with you some offices have required their employees but many have not so I think we've done as best as we could to account for that aspect and be conservative in our our assessment I would say where we're not going to work we're ordering door Dash right we do are there any other members of the public that would like to come forward hearing none Mr Hill yes thank you thank you Mr tiger I'd like to recall uh Mr Lonzo to now address put his planning hat on and address the relief that we're seeking Mr Lonzo you were previously qualified you're still under oath thank you and confirm again uh professional planning license also that is correct great thank you so Mr Lama you testified previously wearing as we said your engineering hat if now you could put your uh professional planners hat on we've said in numerous occasions this is a permitted use but we're seeking some relief and if you could address that relief sure I just um took the liberty of I got to get it a little bit smaller one one extreme to the other there we go okay um I took the liberty of taking uh an aerial image uh of the neighborhood the surrounding area um uh from the intersection of Milbourne Avenue and Vox Road looking up voxhall road towards the subject property which is up on the right hand side um we may have to mark this as guess would be 810 88 I believe right 89 I thought we were higher than that I said A8 but that was I think I had that was Larry's exhibit a A8 A8 what what A8 is uh is an aerial image uh of the surrounding neighborhood showing the buildings in the area and and I thought this was telling because it it kind of sets the stage for what we're asking for this evening uh the two variances that require us to come before this board is uh the density and height variance often referred to as a D5 is the density variance and a D6 is the height variance and the densities and the height are a measure of intensity of use uh we all acknowledge that we are permitted use multif Family Apartments are permitted use within the NC Zone um and the balancing test here is whether or not this site can The Zone plan um what you have here is uh the usual problems that might be associated with uh a larger density or height is overcrowding on the site the loss of light light air and open space along the neighboring properties um and what we have to look at is how did the architect Mr Appel developed this building so it fits into the site and doesn't overwhelm it at the same time uh having the increased uh density um and I think what we have to look at which really important is the case for the property can support the increased density and height and the first thing we have to look at is that there's sufficient parking on site for all of the units being proposed not only for the number of units but for visitors as well uh appropriate accommodations have been made for deliveries for movement inside uh in and out of the site I should say um we're compliant with the total impervious lock coverage and when I talked to you earlier about uh citing the fact that we do need a c variance for the building coverage it was only to enclose the parking so in my mind that benefit substant substantially outweighs any negative impacts to the zoning plan uh for the increased coverage therefore in my mind that is clearly a C2 variance that could be granted without substantial detriment to the public good as a matter of fact the enclosing of that parking under the building uh keeps noise levels down keeps headlight levels uh hidden and keeps activity to a minimum and presents a beautiful facade to the adjoining properties as opposed to an open parking lot um the aesthetic upgrade to the street area in my mind is extremely important and as you can see from the exhibit I put up on the screen which has been marked as A8 right A8 the aerial image um you can see the other commercial uses in the area grant that this is in Milburn uh but these are Are all uh larger structures you have the Milburn Mall immediately across the street which um I believe what we're proposing complements that and helps support that uh in uh it continuing uh as a functioning uh retail Shopping Center um uh again back to Mr appel's testimony which I think is really important with regard to the wedding cake design uh of the building that sets back um not just the Upper Floor but the floor immediately above the parking deck is set back uh from uh the adjoining properties so providing adequate light air and open space uh given the fact that we do need a variance for uh setback we have a a a pinch point of four feet um and uh the normal requirement uh for this type of use without the the retail element is 35 ft however if we had a retail element it would be only 10 um but that pinch Point occurs at just that one corner of the building and that the majority of the upper floors do set back um a significant amount that do provide light air and open space and does not uh impact negatively on the joining Property Owners um I believe uh any other elements the setback variants for the sign for example that too is a C2 variant it provides for a safe location of the sign to help motorists and deliveries uh identify the location of the building easily so that they can pull in and service the building and visitors and tenants alike and identify the location of their driveway um the uh the uh waivers that we're requesting with regard to parking size and parking setback uh I believe are are di Minimus in nature and would not have any detriment on the public good that the overall design of the project with the again the parking being in the building um does not have a significant impact on adjoining property owners because they're hit hidden behind the facade of the building uh the introduction of the solid fencing around the perimeter also gives a a buffering uh to the project um as far as the uh some of the other positive elements positive criteria in my mind I believe that this goes to the general welfare by creating quality housing stock for the residents of Union um I improves Aesthetics it's certainly uh a beautiful building as you saw from the rendering it certainly uh eliminates the eyesore of the vacant uh contractor's yard um uh it promotes uh conservation of Natural Resources it applies smar growth principles by using the compact development design that is placing the parking completely under the building going vertical as opposed to a bigger footprint so in in my mind I believe that uh we have met the bir of proof with regard to the positive criteria as with regard to the negative criteria there's no substantial detriment in my mind to the public good as you heard from uh the traffic expert um The increased density only generates six more trips uh in the AM and and PM uh peak hours that we have adequate parking um The Proposal will certainly improve the streetscape uh with in my mind no negative impact on the adjoining residential property um there's no substantial impairment to uh the 2021 master plan of the township uh the plan States under Township Vision future growth and development in Union Township will come from the maintenance revitalization and Redevelopment of existing landscape providing safe accessible and attra attractive housing options for residents with convenient connection to Transit employment centers shop in Parks schools and other amenities here we have the introduction of apartments that will help support the shopping center across the street um you do have bus lines that are available for pickup right on Milburn Avenue so it's a short walk from the building uh to those uh pickup points um The Proposal affirms the Township's vision of the master plan um that that element of future growth and development will come from Redevelopment of existing landscape what they're talking about there is taking these these little infill opportunities and taking advantage of them and here you're by allowing the increase in density you're also uh getting back uh more uh affordable housing units um The Proposal allows for the Improvement of the neighborhood by eliminating the vacant parcel and advances the purpose of the Zone which again the purpose of this zone is to permit a mix of retail service and residential uses along neighborhood carers so in in my mind I believe we met the burden of proof with both the positive and negative criteria and that the project can move forward without a substantial detriment to the public good or the intent and purpose of your Zone plan again you've heard um telling testimony from the architect about how the design was developed and from the traffic consultant who uh basically feels that there's minimal impact resulting from this uh additional units uh and the height being proposed right thank you very much Mr lonza Pama uh no further questions at this time Mr chairman there any board members that would like to question Mr lon's testimony hearing none are there any members of the public that would like to come forward question Mr lonz of's testimony Mr Bross what would you uh according to you said it's minimal you know effect on the community it's not a substantial impact would you uh in terms of an increase to commute time what would you consider a considerable uh detriment I don't believe I can answer that question I'd have to kick that one over to Joe I don't know what the uh what the impact of I can't imagine that the impact of 14 additional cars remember the The increased density is what we're talking about the extra 16 units we're talking about according to Mr steiger's testimony results in six extra trips in the morning and six extra trips at night on a roadway of this size and that kind of volume in my mind doesn't seem to be a significant amount okay because according to census data in boxall the average commute time for a citizen is 31 minutes the average National is only 26 minutes which means we're already 177% above the national average for our standard commute already but to where how do you compare that what do you comp sensus data what what do you commute to where it depends on how you're commuting are you commuting by bus by the average work commute from for someone going from a 9 to job MH in the US according to US Census Data is 26 minutes nationally 31 minutes in Foxhall right that's already a 177% increase and we want to increase in P it additionally how is that I don't think the addition of six cars during the am peak hour along boxall Road wasn't it 14 well but what we're talking about is the increase density because we would be permitted by right to come in with an application for 20 apartments and as Mr stiger pointed out we' be before the planning board and it wouldn't be um you wouldn't have to go through the exercise of proving that the application is not going to have a negative impact on the community and in my mind adding six cars which is the differential didn't we say 14 14 was total right and have my number is correct 14 per hour during the am peak hour and the additional 16 Apartments results in six additional trips and so that's what you in my mind what you have to focus on is the six additional trips because the other eight trips are are basically Allowed by right by the town zoning and and their Master planning that's that's all I have was the that was the only question thank you are there any other members of the public that would like to come forward hearing none thank you are there any are there any members of the board that would like to comment on the application and again we have no further Witnesses but certainly any witnesses that have been uh testified this evening are here to answer any further questions or any any board members with comments on this application hearing none are there any members of the public that would like to come forward and comment on this application Miss Kim um hi I'm still Dr Kim and I am the business owner next door but I am also a resident of Union I live at 2663 Hawthorne Avenue as a parent and as a resident of Union um my comment about this project and the density is I'm really concerned Dr Kim could I just ask you to swear or affirm that any testimony you're can provide is the truth in the whole thing oh sorry my right hand yes absolutely um what I want to say is what I've been hearing in our Union Township recently is concern about our schools the cuts in our schools and the density issue in town overall our my neighbors are concerned about all the big developments that have come in with Milla and here downtown and this is on box Hall where lots of Union people don't hear a lot about a box Hall some of us don't even know the Vox Hall is part of Union um but our kids in Vox Hall will be going to Union Schools I haven't heard about any plans for new builds for schools all I've heard about is cuts um as of next school year I've already heard that a librarian and another teacher has been cut and that from 36 extracurricular classes per year it'll be cut in half to 18 we bring in an apartment building with 36 units and God knows how many children right we don't know single parents you said um two three bedroom apartments how full are our schools and classes going to be I honestly um have hesitation to send my child to Public School in Union and I think that's terrible because what it's going to bring me to is to move from Union but like I said I'm a business owner here I'm a homeowner here and I think that the density is an issue I think that it we are already at capacity at our schools and this is just another thing also the issue with these children going to school and the reason I kept asking about buses is because box hul kids get bused to all the schools in Union so this adds a whole traffic component I start my my practice hours at 9:00 a.m. when patients are coming in and now there's going to be a school bus stopped out in front or when I'm going in and there's going to be a school bus out in front and I'm going to be waiting but when I go to turn there's going to be all this traffic backed up and how am I going to get through I'm just going to be sitting there in the middle of oxol Road blocking the rest of traffic and again when I go home later in the day or to go pick up my own kids again 3 o00 I have to get out and now there's going to be school buses stop there in the road where am I going where's everyone else going how are we all getting there and it's just the volume is so high and I you know Jerry's a very nice man and we spoke about his project I told him my concerns and the concerns I had mentioned to him was um about people living with nothing to do especially with kids and causing trouble my building is empty in the evening there's nobody there I don't live there the lights are off and what are kids going to do but cause mischief and I said what is what is going to be on your property to engage people so that they are not causing this sort of Mischief um honestly I worried about about parkour um parkour is like a popular thing amongst teenagers to jump off of buildings and rails and fences to skateboard um with skateboards without just to jump and I have an open balcony on that side of my building and I'm worried about kids trying to throw things to get things up there for entertainment I'm worried about kids trying to jump up there because it's only on the Second Story um it's to me in my head it sounds ridiculous but this is like the world we live in and I worry about people throwing things out of Windows from the building onto my roof because there are two floors above me um so these are my concerns so I thank you for listening and I thank Jerry for reaching out thank you thank you Miss Kim uh Mr Patterson you had your hand up can I just ask you to swear or affirm that any testimony provides truth and hope thank you thank you uh am I allowed to ask the board questions or can I ask you questions is that something that you could ask general questions yeah if we can I'm the attorney for the board I'll help you if I can yes sure um they're asking for I think it's um seven variances is it that's is that what they're asking for you know well there's a number of variances there there's the density and the height issue and some bu they call them bulk variances how many and then waivers waivers are the parking size of space not not not waivers variances I know there's both both how many how many was it I think there's five I'm asking I guess my question is that if they were to reduce the amount of uh units they want to put there would they still need the same amount of variances and no the the project would change with adjustments but this is what the board is considering and it has to weigh the Ben benefits over the detriment that's as the planner just summarized as the expert witness that's the key that's what the board has to do okay so so it's the possibility of they reduce it to 30 30 units then change right that's not what's before them I'm just asking that that would change thing would change right it would change if they had 20 they wouldn't even be here okay thank they could do that that was the point that the traffic engineer and the planner were making then the number of trip units there be no discretion to tell them they could they can go to the building department and get permits to build that okay if they want so waivers and Vance are the same no no waivers are to the they're not in the uh zoning part of the code they're in the site design the size of the parking spaces the Landscaping Etc so they've replaced some of the things for example the waiver on 4ot Buffer with a solid fencing and some they try to do other amenities and that's what the board has to weigh they have to say does that satisfy the criteria legally under the state Municipal land use law to allow them to Grant the relief okay the um do the police department make a report to you guys did who they do and the fire department correct okay we have that it's all part of the record yep thank you police mire Mr bruss can I just ask you to swear or affirm that any testimony might provide is the truth and the hter I do thank you I just want to say before the board I I know I spoke last week this important uh this you know this is important enough to me to come out three you know three weeks three times I should say to make sure that my voice was heard um I don't think that the the variances benefit the community as a member who lives across the street who's going to be affected by the construction the the building who's going to have to walk and see it every day that's going to have to be affected every day on my commute I I have to drive two hours of commute every day to drop my daughter off at daycare and to pick her up I have to drive through one of the busiest roads where just getting onto Vox Hall Road to get to Valley Street can take me you know 10 15 minutes sometimes just waiting at one turn it's hard breaking I I worry that this is going to exacerbate traffic I worry that the density in the area cannot handle it and it's not an area that we can gamble and afford to take that risk I it's the main intersection for people getting access to 78 and 24 and I and 124 and I just I I worry that if it were to build it would be reason for me and my family to say we don't want to be a part of the community anymore it it's that detrimental that it's not something I personally would want in my neighborhood I I love the idea that they want to do you know uh affordable in housing but for a four-story luxury apartments I don't think that there's enough good coming out of this project to Warrant it that's all thank you are there any other public comments hearing none Mr ha would you like to make some closing remarks yes just briefly we appreciate the board uh hearing us uh and having us come back on numerous occasions and appreciate the the public coming out uh and again what I'd like to focus on we are permitted use yes we are seeking the density and height variance but I think that the uh concerns uh first uh with respect to traffic I think we've gone through that many times and uh well well it might benefit had the child care been there for perhaps your commute you could go right around the corner but you heard the trip generation associated with the child care is I think it was 100 over a 100 trips per hour as opposed to the 14 that multif family residential and if it was other permitted uses uh compared to again multifam a bar uh a restaurant a convenience store Car Wash uh all of those bringing truck traffic noise many hours of operation so I think that when you compare the quality uh multif family residential housing that's proposed there been clear justification for the relief that we're speaking that we're seeking and uh again respect Dr Kim's comments uh but with respect to the uh impact certainly quality multif family with parking underneath and uh beautifully designed building adequate site circulation comments addressing police well there were no negative comments from police comments addressing fire uh certainly having a quality uh multif family residential as opposed to again if you had a convenience store and other things where could possibly attract uh people having people come from out of the area as opposed to Residents in the area I think that uh and managing trash pickup having it inside and having the shoots as opposed to again a a commercial establishment a convenience store they might have surface parking in the back of the lot next to uh people's homes next to other businesses so I think that all in all uh the proofs have been established it will be a great asset to the voxhall community and certainly uh fits in much better than other uses that could go here so we appreciate the board we appreciate the public recognize their concerns and that's why we've worked long and hard with the town with the board the board professionals and having uh again the community outreach meeting so we would look forward to the board approving of this application and again appreciate your time I believe at this time we can conference this Mr benna would you like to begin absolutely thank you Mr chairman so at last week's meeting um myself and his board we had a chance to hear a lot of the concerns from the public uh some of those concerns were uh drainage fire issues overflow parking traffic pattern neighborhood parking that was some of the stuff that I wrote down uh I want to say tonight all the experts testimonies that were given were very accurate and Justified all these concerns I want to say the building is very eye-catching uh from my perspective I see this project bringing no negative impact to the area so I'll be voting yes for tonight Mr Johnson thank you Mr chairman I also agree um it is a permitted use there an attractive building there's no substantial detriment to the neighborhood substantial compared to what other permitted uses would have brought in I also appreciate the uh the effort to go to the fire department and work with them and work with our local officials and uh to make things right uh so I too will be voting yes Mr chairman Miss Martins thank you Mr chairman based on the testimony that was provided today and after listening to The public's comments and questions um I do think that the variances are well are well Justified this is not a negative impact to the site it is a very well-designed project uh well suited use compared to the other uses that are permitted on the site so I will be voting yes Mr Wy uh yes Mr chairman I feel that this is a uh good use for this location I mean there's a variety of uses there already uh I think the negatives outweigh I mean the positives outweigh the negative uh if you compare it to some of the things that could go there as uh my colleague had indicated you know could be bars car washes restaurants and I think that would generate a more negative aspect when it comes to traffic and noise uh I don't see any detriment to the public here and uh just looking at the rendering I I think aesthetically is will improve the area a lot and I'm going to vote Yes Miss Scott good evening everyone it's a lot that we took this back last ween all the comments the um I do think that the building itself is aesthetically pleasing but I don't think that we could minimize What the residents was saying in terms of to the traffic I think like looking at Redevelopment construction traffic um all of that is just a new normal for us and it is saturated it is a whole lot of building going on it's a lot of construction going on and I think we're all impacted on that like there's traffic everywhere so we're not getting away from that it's not like we could take the cars and put them in our house with us you know because there's just so many cars and what do we do with them but I did hear your concerns and um I appreciate you coming out both weeks to express your concerns um because it is something that is going to directly impact you guys more so than anyone else and so um you know the building I think you know the architect did an excellent job you know talking about what the building the amenities of the building you know and all the luxuries that go with the building even though we talk about affordable housing being a part of that how affordable will it be um so you know I hear the the comments of the residents but I also so heard the professionals and I think they did an excellent job describing the building and what the building will definitely bring to that particular community so I will also be voting yes Mr mcneel thank you Mr chairman first I would like to commend U the professionals on the manner in which they defended this application um I did hear um the pros and the cons um the pros from the profession professionals and the cons um from the community and there was something that was said that stuck with me from the beginning and that is best use uh of this property considering all the things that can go there I do agree that this is the best use particularly with the concept or the component of the affordable housing um and the potential to impact in a positive manner the economics of the area uh so uh Mr chairman I do plan to vote yes thank you as for myself uh based on the plans and testimony uh presented before the board this evening and the witnesses did a a great job uh building is is a beautiful building but I believe the applicant I know the applicant has proved and Justified both the negative and the positive criteria for the proposed use of this property therefore I will vote Yes for this application at this time I have a motion in a second Mr chairman I move that the board Grant the variance applicable to this application and that council is directed to prepare a resolution consistent with the board's decision second motion roll call Mr Wy yes M Martins yes Mr bent Vaga yes Miss Scott yes um Mr Johnson yes Mr mcneel yes and Mr Champion yes June 5th will be the resolution approv okay great thank you and thank you uh members of the board board professionals and the public for your time this evening can I have a motion to ajour and have a great holiday weekend second all in favor I opposed so moved