Township Committee - Regular Meeting

Yes. In accordance with Chapter 231 BL 1975, the Open Public Meeting Act, adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required, specified in the time and location, with such notice as being sent to the Asbury Park Press, Times of Trenton, posted on the Municipal Public Notice Meeting Board, and filed with the Township Clerk. Thank you. I'd like to invite everybody to join for a flag salute.

Thank you everyone.

Chairman Mostyn?

Here.

Mr. Cadigan?

Here.

Mr. Farrar? Here. Mr. Lambros?

Here.

Mr. Chairman, Ms. Arpaia, Mr. Bartimus, Mr. Sinha, Mr. Kosher absent, Mr. Barghese may still join us. We do have four, so we do have a quorum, and we can continue should the board be ready to do so.

Thank you very much. Okay. I'M JUST GOING TO OPEN THIS UP REAL QUICK FOR PUBLIC COMMENT FOR ANY MATTER THAT'S NOT ON THE AGENDA. IF THERE'S ANYBODY HERE FOR SOMETHING OTHER THAN WHAT'S ON THE AGENDA FOR THIS EVENING, THEN YOU CAN KIND OF COME FORWARD. OKAY, I SEE NO ONE. WE'LL MOVE ON TO OUR APPROVAL OF OUR MINUTES.

MR. CHAIRMAN, THERE WAS ONE ON THE On the June 24th and July 22nd, I changed on the copies on your dais. There was a misnotation of the chairman versus vice chairman who was seated. So I did correct them on this and I corrected on the original. So if you do adopt it, it would be with that correction.

Okay. So we'll begin with the June 24th meeting. Does anybody need any more time? Any questions, comments, concerns? Motion to approve.

Motion to approve.

Thank you, sir. That's you, Mr. Lambros. You can second. I'll second.

And that would be Mr. Cadigan?

Yes.

And Mr. Lambros?

Yes.

Okay. Thank you very much. Our next one up is from July 22nd. Same. Before anybody have any questions, comments, concerns? Good. I'll make a motion to approve. I'll second. Thank you.

Chairman Monston?

Yes.

Mr. Kagan? Yes. Mr. Lambros? Yes. Mr. Farrar?

Yes. Thank you, everyone. Appreciate it. So we have our one resolution.

Yes, we need you to motion and second those approved last meeting. Ms. Rattel is on the agenda right after we get through this.

So we listened to this last meeting. I'll make a motion for the resolution.

Thank you.

I'll second it. Thanks, Andy.

Chairman Mostyn?

Yes.

Mr. Cadigan? Yes. Mr. Ferraro? Yes. Mr. Lambros?

Yes.

Yeah, the resolution 352, Mometro, that will be carried for next month.

Okay. Our first applicant for this evening is Mr. Patel. Come on down.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, I review the notice of the joint appropriators and affidavit of publication. They are in order, and the board has jurisdiction to hear this matter. As the board does in its normal course, we've pre-marked certain exhibits, which I will read into the record as follows. A1, Jurisdictional Notice. A2, Application Checklist, Administration Forms. A3, Structured Detail Spec Sheet. A4 is Copy of Final As-Built Survey, prepared by Pallava Survey and Design, dated 6-30-23. A5, Variance Plan, one sheet prepared by applicant, dated July 2026. A6, Copy of File Subdivision, PLAT, filed 9-26-06. A7, Aerial Image of the Site. A8, photos of proposed accessory structure, locations, four pages. A9, supplemental screening, additional trees, six pages, including series of photos, site, with additional plantings prepared by applicant. 810, setback comparison display, consisting of one sheet prepared by the applicant. And we've also marked our own exhibit, our engineer's report, dated August 18th as ZB1. And our planner's report dated 8-6, dated ZB2. Of course, you could introduce any other evidence you deem necessary or appropriate for your application. Sir, please raise your right hand. You swear from the following testimony about to give the whole truth, nothing but the truth. I didn't. Please state your name for the record and spell out your last name, sir.

Okay, Mr. Chairman. Okay, last meeting, I know we had asked you to supply some additional information, some additional photos as to the exact location of where the shed was going, because the original plan looked like it was kind of being put in where the trees were, and they were taking trees out, and This is what you marked out and resubmitted, correct? Correct.

That's a lot clearer than the last time. With aerial view, yeah, you couldn't see within the trees itself. So there's no trees that will be removed per shed pavers or for the pavers for the greenhouse that will be placed within there. I've marked out the areas here roughly of where it would go. It's going to be pressed upon. There's still a buffer zone. This is actually bigger than what will actually lay out on the paper itself.

Is this the greenhouse or the shed?

This first one will be the greenhouse. Sorry, excuse me. The first picture is where the greenhouse will go, and the second one is where the shed will go. So you're giving two elevations on the shed? Yeah. Okay. Just trying to give you a view of how it's going to be this way.

The two of the shed do look like it's pushed kind of close to that one tree at the edge there, but you're confident you won't need to remove trees?

No, the doors will be on the sides, but again, it's because you can't see the depth completely, but we still have one. I've made it bigger than it actually is. We have enough space to open the doors if we need to access it.

Okay.

If I recall, I think that was our biggest concern was getting a clearer picture as to what you wanted to do overall and where on the site it was going. Maybe we can ask McKinley. Yeah, I'm just going to go to McKinley first.

Because it's a weird site where it looks like it's a corner lot, but it's not really a corner lot. Correct. Maybe McKinley could shed some light on the property and what is the actual variance that's before the board.

Sure, and Mr. Patel, correct me if I misspeak here, but the Parker Court roadway that we see in the aerial is actually a private drive, and when this property and the properties behind were subdivided, that roadway is actually within your property, correct sir? Correct. Yes, so it's a private driveway, it's not technically a public right-of-way, so because it's fully within his lot, he's not technically a corner property. He's, for you friends, Sorry, Millstone Road. I was blanking for a second. While the address is Parker Court, that's where his driveway comes off of, he doesn't have any access to Millstone Road, but for the purposes of bulk standards and evaluating the deficiencies, we measure the frontage from Millstone Road, and then he does have the standard two side yards and a rear. I actually missed that on the first go-around because our GIS data does not match the aerial, so it looks to me that it was a corner property. So the variance that we're reviewing tonight is the shed in the greenhouse, while they are in his functional side yard because his house faces the private Parker Court Drive, but it is in the technical front yard because it is closer to Millstone Road than his house is.

so millstone does not permit accessory structures in the front yard and so that is we have two of them here so that is that is the variance that you're reviewing tonight okay so for the aerial their front his front yard runs from millstone road to the front of the actually the side of his house technically yes right and that's probably i don't know it's very far at least 300 plus feet because the frontage is 500 right so it's got to be the so your front yard setback is roughly 300 feet uh and he's proposing and how and each shed is going to be 30 feet from the front yard is that correct no 30 feet from the side yard

It's the greenhouse, I'm sorry, the shed is 130 feet from the Millstone Road right of way, and the greenhouse is 175 feet from the Millstone right of way. They are each proposed to be 30 feet, correct, sir, from the side.

From this, what would be considered this?

The effective side yard, but his practical rear yard.

Which is technically my backyard.

Yeah.

But that's not the variance.

But that's not a variance, yeah. So his variance, very simply, is for putting accessories in the front yard, He's proposing for a shed 130 feet from Millstone Road, right, when it probably has to be over 300. And screen house is going to be 175 feet from Millstone Road when it has to be over 300.

Accessory structures don't have front yard setback requirements because they're not permitted to be in the front yard period. So we're not looking at the feet here. We're looking at the location on the lot.

Mr. Chairman, the applicant did submit late today the two additional exhibits. They were marked exhibit A9 and A10, and none of the board probably got a chance or the professionals had a chance to review them. Would the applicant like to introduce and discuss them?

Yeah. Maybe let's put A9 on the board and he can explain that, what he's doing there.

So this is for additional trees planted. Could I go to the other? Okay, this is A9. So this was just additional trees that are being planted or have been already planted for additional screening. We have sufficient screening, which I presented those pictures from Millstone Road and from Parker Road, where it basically shields any visibility of the shed or the greenhouse from the main road. But we have it. planted additional trees. This is the inside view of Parker from the exact where the shed and greenhouse area would be. Parker Road, which is considered our front yard road, private road, so there's no visibility from that side. And then from this side would be Millstone Road on the other side of these trees. And there's nothing that you can see, visibility from that side. You can also see there's cages there. We've planted additional trees over there to provide additional privacy for any gaps and fallen trees or the storms. And this is on our effective side yard, which is our backyard. On this fence, we've planted additional set of trees all the way down that will be privacy trees as well.

And that's the, that fence is along the shared property line with your neighbor?

Yep, cars, tavern halls, I think, or tavels. I actually don't even know who it is, but yeah. So this was just, I wanted to show the additional trees, and then there's another exhibit here that kind of points out the main layout. So our house is, yep, no rice.

I do have a hard copy if you want to pass it around.

Sure. Yep.

Mr. Chairman, you have one in your packet, but I have another one. With the sheet A-10? Yeah, this isn't really big.

Just as it is from this A-10. Do you want to announce it in the morning?

So it's just showing a basic diagram there of if our house was built on the 50 feet setback where it would be established where we could have our house, effectively these two structures would be considered in our backyard because they would be behind there and they would be well within the backyard. But because our house is set so far back from there, it's effectively considered a front yard. So, and even then, we're putting it well within over 150 feet, both structures in there. So, yeah, there you go. So, I mean, it's just super simple. I'm just trying to point out the fact that if it was pushed to the effective line and the builder did have built it on that line, we would have this well within our rear yard. So, we feel it is in a good location away from public view and also the fact that, you know, we wanted to make use of that area. Because due to the orientation of a house we have this hardship Anything else we need to go over McKinley

That's it from the technical planning standpoint. I had a couple follow-up questions, if you don't mind, Mr. Chairman. No, absolutely. Just any lighting proposed for either of the buildings? No. And no plumbing fixtures are going to be within those? They're literally just a greenhouse for plants and a shed for storage? Correct, no. And you're not putting additional fencing? There is that one, but there's nothing more being put up?

No.

Those are my follow-ups. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

So for your irrigation, were you going to run like a garden hose out there? For the greenhouse? Yeah, just a regular hose, yeah. It's a small one, so we don't have to add too many plants in there.

GO TO OUR ENGINEER. JEB, ANY COMMENTS? I JUST HAD, GENERALLY BASED ON HIS TESTIMONY, JUST SOME CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL SHOULD THE BOARD DECIDE TO APPROVE IT. JUST, YOU KNOW, THE SIDING ROOF MATERIALS ARE GOING TO MATCH THE PRINCIPAL STRUCTURE. THERE WILL BE NO TREE REMOVAL, WHICH HE'S TESTIFIED TO. AND AS McKINLEY JUST ASKED, THERE WILL BE NO UTILITIES TO STRUCTURE EXTERIOR LIGHTS ON THE BUILDING. THERE WILL BE NO FINISHED ACCESSORY SPACE INSIDE OF THE BUILDING. NO PORTION WILL BE FINISHED ON THE INSIDE CORRECTION. No, just the way that it comes. Just the way it comes, right. And there'll be no bathroom facilities in that shed? No. And my only recommendation is just to make a deed restriction because we've been having some problems with sheds that there will be no residential. This cannot be used for residential space any time in the future, even though it's fairly small. It's just we've been having some fun with some sheds lately. Interesting. In Millstone? Mm-hmm. A couple of zoning offers to deal with.

Oh, okay.

No, no one's going to live in it.

Hope not. At least not to your knowledge, right? Yeah. It won't be about them.

Those are my comments. Okay. What's that? So would the applicant agree to that condition? To de-restrict? The condition that our engineer just read into the record. DEED RESTRICTION. DEED RESTRICTION, AND IT WON'T BE USED AS A SECOND DWELLING?

YES.

OKAY. IS THAT A CONDITION THAT YOU'LL AGREE TO?

YES.

YEAH.

OKAY.

YEAH, I THINK YOU'RE FINE. YEAH, I'LL MAKE IT PRIOR TO CO. YOU NEVER KNOW, THOUGH.

OKAY.

WE'VE GOT PHOTOGRAPHS, CONDITIONS. I think we pretty much covered everything.

Just confirm, is the shade going to match the house siding? Yes, it is. Yeah, that's what Greg had just proposed. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure that he was well aware of what he was going to do.

Okay. Is the house brick fronted? Does the house have a brick front?

The stucco in the front, and then the gray, it has gray siding on the sides and all through the back, and then some of the front. It's going to be matching the gray siding that we have.

So would that require a stucco on the front of the shed?

That would be up to you. I mean, I would say if you matched the closest wall to the shed would be really what you're looking for, which would be an iron side, which would be a side. Okay, siding. Yeah. Okay.

I think I'm good with the final siding.

Yeah. Okay.

All right, anybody else have any other questions? No. Is there anybody from the public? And we'll open it up to the public at 7.53 for this applicant. Seeing none. The little one was going to testify. What's that? The little one was going to testify. Yeah, he's going to come up to the news playhouse. He thinks we're going to get him today. Any other questions? I think we're good. I think we covered everything for the most part. Yeah, Greg.

Mr. Chairman, the board team's application for approval of the conditions I have for my notes that there'll be no trees removed for the installation of the greenhouse and shed. We're granting variances for front yard setback for both deed restriction that won't be used for second dwelling and that the siding that the shed will confirm with the siding and the roof materials match the house. And that's what I have.

Okay.

All right, thanks for providing the additional information we needed. Anybody want to make a motion to approve or deny?

I'd make a motion with the conditions outlined by the professionals and the board, a motion to approve. Thank you. Anybody want to second? I'll second that. Thank you, Andy. Appreciate it.

Chairman Moffitt?

Yes.

Mr. Cunningham? Yes. Mr. Farrar? Yes. Mr. Lambros? Yes. Motion approved for nothing.

SO THE NEXT MEETING, WE'LL HAVE A RESOLUTION ON OUR AGENDA. WE'LL GET IT ADOPTED, AND THEN YOU COULD APPLY FOR ALL YOUR BUILDING PERMITS. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. APPRECIATE IT. GOOD LUCK WITH IT. ALL RIGHT.

THANKS. ALL RIGHT. MR. PAFE, ARE YOU READY? ANGELA, ARE YOU READY? ALL RIGHT. COME ON DOWN. FEEL LIKE MONKEY HALL.

that's for the 352 mama throws though the bridge the bridge one is there anyone here for the bridge asset management application all right seeing none that application we carried to the September 23rd meeting

at 7.30 p.m. without further notice. If you received certified mail before, you will not receive it again. This is your notice, so if you're here for that, September 23rd, 2026, in these chambers at 7.30 p.m.

Thank you. Mr. Chairman, before we begin, I have a question of jurisdiction for your attorney. I have I am concerned that you're convening at the court a four on an application that requires five. I don't think that you have a quorum for this application.

Mr. Pape, it is your application, okay? So if you believe that we do not have a quorum, and you want to carry it to the next meeting, that is your call. It is my opinion that this zoning board on a use variance or a height variance or an FAR variance, we're a seven-member board where your approval requires five affirmative votes. The statute does not indicate that you need five members to hear the case. You just need five affirmative votes. Saying that, I'm not going to fight you and force you to proceed because it's your application because if you do get an approval and someone challenges it, you're going to have to come back and do it again. It's your application. If you feel that we only have four board members here tonight and you feel uncomfortable proceeding with four based on your perception that we don't have the legal authority to conduct a use variance, devariance, FAR variance or hype variance, okay? I will leave that up to you. It is my opinion that it's not a violation of municipal land use law. The reality is if you ask us for a vote and you go 4-0, you would lose. But this is your application. I'm not going to fight you on that because at the end of the day, if I'm wrong and you're right and someone challenges it, does that affect us? You have to come back here and start your application over. Board understand all that? Yes. I've got a question. Sure.

So... Again, it's your decision, but if we proceeded with one of the witnesses, would that help? He doesn't do so long, because I spent three hours watching the last video.

I want to begin by saying I can't thank the four of you enough for being here on a late August Wednesday. I can't thank you enough. You know, I appeared in front of you, and I had nothing but respect for the commitment that you had to the town. And I don't wish to cause any inconvenience. Your attorney framed my concern. This is the type of application that has considerable concern both by the board and the public. And it would not be a foreign idea for someone to bring a challenge. And I am very concerned that proceeding before a board of four is something that would be procedurally defective. If I could, Mr. Chair and If we could just take five minutes so I can explain to the clients the issues that I have. I know that you expected and we had expected that we would have a five-member board, and that was the information shared during the day. We always appreciate Danielle giving us that information. And with a five-member board, that issue isn't present, but with a four-member board, I have it. May I have time to speak to the question?

And from our support, he was advised that we thought we'd have five and possibly six. So if we had four, we told him four, he may not even be here today. We had a late cancellation. Yeah, it happens.

It happens. Again, I thank you for being here.

May I take that break? Yes, take a quick break. .

. . .

Thank you.

That's what we're talking about.

I'll tell you everything about it

So I sent them to an overnight gymnastics camp. The first time she's gone away. She had sleepovers. She's nine. Go ahead.

Yeah. What?

We'll be right back.

We'll see you next time.

How do we do this? We only have four people here, so I can't give you a special date.

Let's carry with us... And then we'll hold a board for a special meeting. And if we're able to do a special meeting... Okay, because... We need more people today. But we'll see if we can do a special meeting so this doesn't happen again.

And I did all my homework. Thank you, Mr. Payne.

Well, let me just set us off for that September 20th.

Mr. Lambros, you're not going to be here again, are you? yeah yeah watch the video

Yeah, that's what I got here. These are these properties here.

I don't know It happens in the summer. More in the summer than in the summer. Yeah, but I won't be here in September. It's okay though.

Get as many as you can. Get as many members as you can. But I won't be here in September.

Okay, important business.

All right, Mr. Chair, Mr. Pape spent a couple minutes with his client, and he is hesitant to proceed with four, which is okay. We do apologize because we had two other people who were supposed to be here tonight, but things happen. So we're going to carry this matter to the September 23rd meeting. But before I put it to appropriate notice, you had something to say, Mr. Faber?

I just wanted to say that I respect Mr. Bella's counsel to the board, that the board has jurisdiction. I fear that a Superior Court judge may have a different opinion especially in light of the history of this application, and to make certain that the integrity of the hearings remains intact for all involved, I am reluctant to move forward this evening. For that purpose, I'm asking that you carry to the next available meeting, if you could speak to that, Counsel.

Yeah, so we're going to carry this to the September 23rd meeting at 7.30 p.m. in these chambers. The applicant did indicate he'd potentially request a special meeting. We're going to carry it for that meeting. We only have four board members here. Is there anyone who knows they're not going to be at the September 23rd meeting? Mr. Lamb is not going to be there. He was here today. So we'll send an email to the board about whether a special meeting can be done. No guarantees because obviously we're having problems getting a full quorum. So members of the public, we're carrying this September 23rd without further notice at 7.30 p.m. You heard me indicate about a potential special meeting. in the event there's a special meeting and you previously received certified mail notice, you'll receive it again if there's a special meeting. I'm not saying there's going to be a special meeting, but if there is going to be one, you'll get a certified mail notice like you did with the original application. But for purposes of today, we're carrying this without further notice, so you're not getting another certified mail for the September 23rd meeting at 7.30 p.m. This is your notice. So be back here September 23rd at 7.30 p.m. for this application. If we're able to get a special meeting, you'll get notice. Okay, so we're not just going to have a meeting without full notice going out, without you being aware of it. So I don't know if it's possible, but I just want to tell everyone, if you hear, whoa, special meeting, you're not going to tell us. That's how we tell you. We're going to require the applicant to send the full notice out that they originally did with the original application so everyone's aware of it. Okay?

And the web page and the newspaper publication. The whole thing.

The whole thing. But don't even know if we're doing that. I just want to be aware that if it turns to that, that would be the procedure.

My last question of the board is do we take the first position on the agenda?

As of right now, we have a residential. We have bridge asset management. That just got carried because they thought you would be here, but that's also a used variance, so that's a whole other issue. The chairman will have to review the agenda. I can't make any guarantees, but he'll review the agenda when it comes out with the board secretary. Okay?

Thank you. Thanks for being here.

Thank you, Mr. Pape. Thank you to the public for coming out. Appreciate it. Now, would it be October or September? We've got to think about that.

It's going to be October. Okay. So if we have the backup of September 23rd, and if it's a special meeting, no, it's October.

Right. Yeah. If we do a special meeting, we're going to require, we'll carry it, but then we'll require it. It just, it just makes it. Okay. Yeah. Motion to adjourn. All right.

Anything else? Anything else? All right. 8-10.

And we'll make a meeting to adjourn.