second Rich sorry okay all right good evening and welcome to this regular planning board meeting on July 25th 2024 Madam Secretary can you please call the role Miss Parker Mr cats Mr here Mr Hinman here Mr here Mr deal here Mr O solivan here councilman Roman here mayor tamboro here Vice chair fresy here chairperson Pearson here Mr M here and I am serving as the board secretary this evening and the zoning officer we need both very much can everybody please stand for the United States stand [Music] naice um Adam secretary can I don't know what to call you tonight okay can you please read the statement the open public meeting act statement the notice requirements of the open public meetings act have been satisfied with respect to this meeting of the township of Verona planning board meeting which is being held in person in the ballroom of the Verona Community Center located at 880 Bloomfield Avenue Verona the time and date of this meeting were included in the annual meeting notice posted in the community center and sent to the offal newspapers of the township the Verona Cedar Grove times and the Star Ledger at least 48 Hours preceding the start time of this meeting the agenda and instructions on how to comment will be provided at the appropriate time all meetings are recorded those wishing to speak during any public comment period should only provide their name and municipality street addresses are not required please be advised that should a member of the public choose to State their street address it will not be redacted from the recording thank you um we move on to D the reorganization of the planning board um Mr masara our Council has already administered the oath of office to the five members listed and we now move on to number three the nomination and election of the chairperson uh can I get a nomination for a chairperson please to nominate Jessica pearon chair Mr Roman nominates Jessica Pearson I the mayor seconds are there any further nominations for somebody who cares to be chairperson hearing none um thank you both for entrusting me with this um can we please take a roll call there's no if there's no other nominations we don't have to do a roll call just voice vot is fine okay um okay uh all in favor anyone not in favor any extensions thank you I I appreciate that um moving right along nomination and election of the vice chairperson um I'm seeking nominations for the person to serve as Vice chair I I would nominate Dave fresy Mr David fresky I second that okay who seconded Mr Mr Lily are there any further nominations for somebody seeking to sit as Vice chairperson if not can we please have a roll call vote just oh I'm sorry correct all those I yeah I'm really slow tonight um I didn't say [Laughter] tonight um all those in favor I anyone not in favor and any extensions okay motion passes um we will now move on to number five appointment of the planning board secretary by resolution 20243 um this appoints Malik metwally as our uh planning board secretary would somebody like to move the uh resolution I move the resolution the mayor moves the resolution can I get a second second Vice sherff fresy seconds roll call vote please we don't okay every everyone who's a proponent of this I anyone and no extensions but we have two absent so um appointing our planning board attorney via resolution 20244 I'll make that motion I'll I'll move that can I get a second please second by do the old everybody in favor anybody not in favor any extensions thank you Sarah fav motion passes I'm here thank you very much I appreciate it very much okay appreciate your service um as for meeting dates the you'll notice that the resolution has a blank in October and that is because in October there will be a special election in this the night before they're going to need the room so I have reserved two e two alternative evenings can if you can pull your calendars up um and I'll cancel one as soon as we figure this out either Thursday October 17th or Tuesday October 22nd I thought I would pull the members to see which date worked best for the most amount of people might be way the later one the the Tuesday Thursday is better for me Thursday sorry what the Thursday October 17th or Tuesday the 22nd we have two people that prefer Thursday the 17th already Tuesday yeah I'm not here Thursday the Su 20 second maybe we won't a [Laughter] meeting shut up um I'm fine date I'm fine with either date as well all right um how many people prefer the 17th or cannot can make it definitively can make the 17th by show hands one two 3 four five how many people can definitively make it on the 22 second show up pants one two three four five I'm sorry but the the 22nd seems to work better that's F I have an alter okay all right um so why don't we Mark that in October 22nd will be the planning Tuesday October 22nd will be our October meeting date Greg that's good with you that is good thank you okay um and the rest of the dates everybody knows that it's generally the fourth Thursday of every month except for there's no meeting in November and December it's the first Thursday which is deck fifth can I get a motion to move this resolution please so moved uh councilman ran moves can I get a second second second by the mayor everybody in favor anybody not in favor any extensions the motion passes and um last but not least designation of the township newspaper by resolution 20246 can I get a motion to move that motion Vice chair fresky makes the motion can I get a second second second by Al de old all in favor I anyone not in favor any extensions motion passes um we will now move on to the reorganization of subcommittees you all should have do we have a list in this packet yes okay um I'm just going to pull it up okay if there are no changes to anybody currently here or if somebody would like to try a different committee or move off of one committee or another please please say your piece I was on the master planning Comm still are I'm not on the list uh Jason I'm sorry that's s I'm adding it right now perhaps M Parker wants to join a committee as well yes I'm going to I was going to ask that is there any changes to committees just just I had stepped down from the master plan committee know I'm not on another committee at this point and I don't know if there's any committee that needs membership um actually they could all use up to one more person uh there's the landscape and environmental committee I'll do that okay um can we please put Julie on the landscape and environment mental um there is the site plan and subdivision committee which is comprised of myself Mr Hindman and Mr Lily um and there's the Architectural Review Board which is comprised of councilman Roman Mr coody and myself um Architectural Review site plan and subdivision committee which meets so regularly it's impossible I mean I can't even Catch My Breath any doc do you want to join any of those I'm I'm I'm I know I I don't mind I'm just looking if any are you into architecture are you into the architecture sure okay let's put um Al on the Architectural Review okay any other changes all right so those are the only two changes um at this time I can open public participation but seeing no members of the public here I will immediately close that and then move on to G approval of meeting minutes from the regular meeting held on June 27 2024 has everybody received those meeting minutes and had a chance to review them motion to adopt the minutes as written I'm sorry I can't hear you motion to approve the minutes as presented I have a motion made by the mayor to approve the minutes as they second by Mr fresy roll call Vote or just okay everybody who votes to approve anybody two extensions Miss three extensions every everybody else was here present four extensions we have Mr Lily M Parker Mr Hinman and Mr O Sullivan all of stain and then we have two absents okay oh one absent I'm sorry um moving right along we will now move on to the consistency determination um of ordinance 202 2428 amending the standards of the C2 professional Zone uh by establishing assisted living facilities as a conditional use and co-working space as permitted use um these are amendments to the zoning code which is why we are reviewing for consistency with the master plan and we also were sent a memo um by our planner [Music] that's somewhere in your pocket yes um which carefully points out the portions of the master plan that we worked hard on um that provide consistency to the updates and changes first let me open it up to any outstanding questions that you might have about this these updates if anybody has any questions and if not let me um any comments or tweaks that you would recommend that the council take to can sort of edit this down if there are any I'm seeing none I just have a general comment sure unfortunately s's not here I just want to say so nice having a board planner to prepare this because it makes our job so much easier and doesn't it saves us time from having to go through and Hunt through a 300 page document for the provisions like I think this was addressed here and Y it's already there so s is not here but I just want to um Madam chair I was going to say this express the same gratitude um I do don't however want to add you don't have to agree yes with what Sans so this is her recommendation it is still up to the board to make the final determination um person I don't see anything in here not to agree with but it's the board's decision and not Sans as much as this is helpful and and uh um certainly um what we would like to like to expect in the future because it's great it is I I I agree I have some concerns on it you have a concern yeah um this reminds me of uh something came before the board a while ago to ask for I think it was zoning change for the Ridgefield Park being an assisted living place we had a no you mean the Ridgefield Caterers Caterers yeah Ridgefield cat sorry Ridgefield part uh the Bridgefield Embassy Plaza Pavilion whatever it is um where they wanted to convert that and you know we we we saw outside of the master plan we saw that as just not a good fit there uh because the the statements made by their uh developer and and their planner said oh it's be great for uh elderly or assisant folks to be able to cross and and walk around it's like a very busy area so this you know one what's the rationale behind this is this a is there another development or something that is prompting this most likely there is but I don't have any uh official understanding of where when but if you recall when we were discussing the master plan yeah we wanted to be extremely careful about not putting a use in specific places but we were all very much a proponent of allowing this use to occur somewhere somewhere appropriate in Verona not Bloomfield Avenue go ahead that's not that's not the determination this determination is whether the proposed ordinance is consistent with the master plan right it's not whether the planning or wants more um of this type of housing or wants the coworker space it's if you look at the master plan which s did and you look at this ordinance are they compatible are they consistent not oh I don't want you know 12 stories and so so that's the that's the role right now yeah that's the role now and you know it's rather I'm looking for the page rather I know it's on my computer it's prescripted it says here here here and here now yes you know are do we all agree those are the right spots for that well we we could recommend a different spot but I believe that the reasoning behind that was to provide for good circulation and proper setbacks enough space for their for outdoor enjoyment I mean the minimum lot size for this is 4 and a half acres so you know versus the one acre with 110 units that were proposed on Bloomfield Avenue this is a 4 and A2 acre lot that allows for 30 units per acre not 110 so that there's proper density I I I kind of think that it was very well thought out in that in that regard whether you want that type of housing or not again what what Greg said and um I also find it strange strange I don't like the fact that combines the coworking station modern vation along with this feels like but it's C2 Zone it's the change and update to one type of okay but it's one you know it's either this or not so have two resolutions but it was they're updating one particular Zone and that zone allows for those two uses because of the where they exist in town yeah I'd like to hear if everyone you know anyone have any you know concerns with these particular choices I mean the the the bulk standards and you know what is the minimum all stuff please I I can give a little bit of the legislative perspective if I can on this um this is done in consideration of the different intents of the different zones in the community um the field that they are expected to have the lot sizes that are available within the zones um the traffic within the zones the C2 zone is decidedly different than the TC Zone and the ETC Zone in character uh and again when you look at the minimum lot size that would be required to do an assisted living facility there are very you know a limited subset of properties that would qualify anywhere within the township and in the C2 Zone there are a few that do exist um and then one of the things is that there could potentially be an assemblage of land within C2 of currently developed land that might you know yield one more 4.5 acre plus lot although that I would consider to be unlikely to have happened but the C2 Zone itself is almost the only Zone where I could see these more these quieter you know this was one of the challenges we had when we talked about Assisted Living we said this is a use that requires space in buffers in order to make an appropriate residential facility for the users of this facility when you look at assisted living facilities in other communities like there are several in Cedar Grove for example they have large setbacks large lawn areas lots of landscaping good site circulation uh the ability to get uh emergency vehicles in and out of there the ability to get delivery trucks in and out of there for all the food and supplies that they need and we looked at this and that that's why this goes to the C2 Zone because it is a from our opinion it's a compatible use with the C2 Zone as stated by the master plan co-working space is another interesting one we we talked a lot about professional office as a land use um this is one that I personally honed in on a lot in terms of uh reviewing the master plan because I consider it to be one of the most likely changes in land use on an ongoing basis with the move to work for work from home for a lot of Professional Service businesses so we had to think about how we would keep the professional office Sector viable you don't want all of those buildings to go vacant or the rents to go down and them to become less productive so allowing co-working in the C2 zone is a very similar use to what's there now it's just it has one more essentially one more layer between the Lesser and the ultimate user or it's you know it's not really an intensification of the existing use at least in my opinion so we did look at these zones individually we are kind of doing this in terms of process we're asking the planner to look at certain segments rather than coming up with this one master Omnibus ordinance to update the entire zoning ordinance all at one time which I think if we try and actually get into discussion on that we'll get lost so this is the strategy that we asked about so that's the thought process from the council as to why this is here is because of the character of the C choose up maybe to take a little bit deeper and following up on Tim's earlier question is what's the sequence of events that results in sand reducing this so there's an opportunity some approaches Bo like how does it all line up this is if I may answer this is not targeted at we we do not spot zone for individual developments you know that's area in need of Redevelopment um obviously there has been interest in this community in in building assist living zones but the process that we've engaged in with San was we specifically asked her to look at a couple of tasks we asked her to look at for example the area in need of Rehabilitation for the Bloomfield Avenue Corridor we asked her to look at this use for the C2 Zone um we are we're we're basically tasking her with pieces of the master plan that we feel are higher priority updates that we would rather see in place sooner rather than later um you know particularly we we would want when there is development in this community we would like it to be something we want um and by setting up our zoning ordinance to prioritize these things uh it's more likely that those things will happen and less productive land will go to productive use but only in the manner that's envisioned so the council was sort of managing this process by tasking her with jobs one at a time based on the master plan and based on our our feelings as to where the zoning code needs to go is Town Center in town center as was mentioned in the last meeting is currently being the f is the focus of her attention now she's reviewing so Town Center is the next okay the what is in the Avenue C2 Zone looking at that small square I can again answer yes please The Grove Avenue C2 Zone consists of I think it's the cestone property which is the one that's currently under environmental remediation it's where Vanguard is in that entire property um I think 2125 Grove is C2 maybe or is it or is it TC I that's small part that's C2 right so that's oh my God yeah what a mess there um maybe that should be enveloped but right yeah um but also upper Bloomfield Avenue right a lot of the pumpin corridor is is when you think of professional office in this town you think of all those little Office Buildings the medical buildings and so on all up and down Pompton between what about the top Lake top of Bloomfield Avenue between forest and Fels I think that that's TC I don't think Etc you're right it's I'm talking about Forest up here the medical building of that's ET just just because it's a professional office does not necessarily it's not extended Town Center I think it's just right I mean we didn't you know the zones did not go to the existing land uses necessarily otherwise there would never you know be such a thing as a non-conforming use getting the map I'm getting the map no no yeah I'm looking at the map the C2 is sort of when where after uh let's see after Fair View you know I'm saying so there's C2 is up here where we are here right it's up here it's on Grove it's on Pompton it's not on Bloomfield Avenue except for this end of the Avenue where where we are now and I understand like that's great and I notic what's not here is that for assisted living in particular it says conditions are not in C2 at the end ofield all right you have to be uh on gr Avenue it says very clearly in Grove Avenue Commerce Court right right right this piece of land here is not it's not adequate right for the assist living coworking correct coworking is fine are there any other questions or concerns all right um does does anybody have anything in regards to a memo to be sent besides the fact that we applaud the memo that we got from Sam okay then I can I get a motion to find Town Council ordinance sorry I have to find my agenda again Town Council ordinance 202 24-28 amending the standards of the C2 Zone etc etc um and the amendments to chapter 150 Verona zoning code consistent with Verona's master plan or not inconsistent with Verona's master plan can I if it's okay I would like to incorporate uh the comments in Sans July 22nd 2024 memo into our resolution absolutely can I get a motion for that whole thing that I just said plus the memo so I moved uh the mayor moves the motion can I get a second I'll second it how's that um can we please take a roll call vote on this you have a resolution next month I'm not sure she's laughing Miss Parker Mr Lily yes Mr Heyman yes Mr [Music] coody yes Mr deal yes Mr O solivan yes councilman Roman yes mayor Tim Boro yes Vice chair fesi yes chairperson Pearson yes thank you the motion passes and then we just have two remaining resolutions that were sort of a little bit of house cleaning we dug up the first one from the Bloomfield Avenue Corridor hearing um qualifying the Bloomfield Avenue corridor as an area in need of Rehabilitation Mr masara drafted that resolution up it's resolution 20241 more than a month later little more than a month later that's why I said next month um so has everybody had a chance to review this um as well there was a recommendation Incorporated in this um from Mr Hindman which had recommended that the township also add uh hard records of information proving the age of the water infrastructure underneath the corridor so that we don't have any issues um can I get a motion to move this forward uh resolution 20241 anyone second uh Mr de moves mayor tamboro seconds can we get a roll call vote please um I believe councilman Roman was absent from this meeting you were um so Mr I I I guess you have to abstain from voting right no I think he was here for this one but not here 242 242 was last month yeah that was when Alex okay I'm sorry Alex was here for 24 okay you have a better memory than I do thank you it's a SE it's a SE not corre [Music] right Mr Lily yes Mr Heyman yes Mr kood yes mran yes councilman Roman yes mayor Tim Boro yes Vice chair fresy yes chair PE yes a motion passes ski me for whatever oh I did I apologize okay yes Mr deal now the motion passes okay and moving on to resolution 2024 2 finding blocks 704 Lots 18 and 20 um basically Bloomfield Avenue and Church Street an area in need of Redevelopment incorporated into this was also the recommendation that the planning board be charged with drafting the overlay Zone requirements um just just to let you know was anybody absent from this meeting Mr O Sullivan Mr Hinman and Mr Lily and yeah so and Mr Roman okay so the remaining people could be called on uh I was late but I was here Roman was here sorry was back here okay I don't know why okay I know I came in late for one of them but I I think that's the one I think you're right yeah I just recently watch I the discuss I remember the debate that we got into over this one okay um Okay can did anybody move this may I can I get somebody to move this that was here I'll make that motion motion made by Mr CUNY can I get a second second by Mr fresy can we get a roll call vote of those who were here Mr coody yes Mr deal yes councilman Roman yes mayor Timor yes Vice chair fresy yes chair Pearson yes the motion passes and may ask um our board secretary when you received the draft of this resolution was the DAT are you actually doing after in the morning I was not the board secretary the day after the last meeting [Music] said the day after right of course um so if um that is everything on the agenda if there's no new business I would entertain a motion to adjourn move mayor makes the motion second I'll second everybody's I I good night thank you nice