Zoning Board of Adjustment - Regular Meeting

All right. They claim I don't know. We get a reading of the I believe she notice. Thank you. Sure. In accordance with chapter 231 PL 1975 the open public meetings act. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required specifying the time and location. Such notice is being sent to the Asbury Park Press and the times of Trenton posted on the municipal public meeting bulletin board and file with the township clerk.

Thank you Steve. I'd like to ask everyone to join for a flag salute and at the end we'll stand for a moment of silence for those who serve and currently serve our country to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

Mhm. Okay. Roll call. Danielle chairman here. Mr. here. Mr. Baramus here. Mr. Cigan here. Mr. Barara here. Mr. Borghazi here. And Mr. Borgazi is our alternate. Mr. Lamros and Mr. are absent today. He will be seated from Mr. Lambos. You have a forum.

Thank you very much. Okay. Guess we'll open it up first for any public comment for matters that are not on the agenda for this evening. Anyone? Seeing no one, we'll move on. All right. Approval of our minutes. First one we have up is for July 23rd, 2025. Everyone is eligible. Everyone's good. We have any questions, comments, concerns? Everything good. I'll make a motion. Okay, I'll second that. Thank you. Chairman, yes. Mr. Pa, yes.

Mr. Baramus, yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Farah. Yes. Mr. Yes. Thank you everyone. Appreciate it. All right. Our second one is for from August 5th and we had a special meeting. Everybody but Mr. Martin is eligible on that one. Okay. Anybody questions, comments, concerns? No. Motion to approve. I'll make a motion to approve. Thank you. I'll second. Thank you. Mustin. Yes. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Ferrar. Yes.

Thank you. All right. Next up, we have our resolutions. We have a resolution of denial for outfront media. Mr. Chairman, that resolution came out by email. It's been reviewed by professionals. Some modifications have been made to it. Uh there's no comments or questions. We need a motion to second to approve the modified resolution. Okay. I did see the minor change on it. I read through it again and uh I was good with it. I didn't see anything. Good. Okay. Anybody want to make a motion to approve? I'll make a motion to approve. Thank you. The denial second. Who was the second? You made the motion.

I made the motion. Who made the second? I'll second it. I don't think anyone made you said second. Yeah, you said second. You said you said the second version. You said the second second version. Second version. Second. The modified version. The modified version. Yes. Mr. Yes. Yes. Thank you everyone. Appreciate it. All right. Mr. Bella, we are looking for the request to adjourn for the um farm.

Yes, Mr. Chairman. Uh I did speak to Mr. P. Uh we've discussed this matter and they requested uh what's kind of my suggestions not really therefore carry the H application to our meeting of November is Thursday. No. Oh, November 13th of October November 13, 2000 and uh 25 at 7:30 p.m. in these chambers. Uh this application has been going on for a while. There's a lot of public that was interested. Um I can't even tell you the last time it was heard. Probably January

January 25. So I I break a uh request that the application be carried and we'll advise the applicant has to renotice for the 13th meeting in November. Thank you. I would agree with that. It's a good recommendation since we had such a large public appearance. I think it's correct. So if everyone's okay with that, we're all good. We're all good. All right. So that application carried November 13th. We'll advise the uh attorney to renotice. Are you here for that application or this one?

Okay. New to say if you receive certified mail on the HA application, uh you will receive new notice. That application will be heard again here November 13, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. in these chambers. Greg, my apolog [Music] It's not the Got it.

Yep. All right. I was able to put it on our website on our website and I blasted it out to over 2,000 people. So, great. Thank you. Appreciate that. Okay. Do we need to make a motion or we just all good? Okay. All right. We're going to move right on to our solar application for what is it? Photo plankton. Is that correct? Final come on.

All right. For for the record, I reviewed those joint property owners and affidavit publication. Uh they are in order the board has jurisdiction to hear this matter. As the board does in its normal course where he premark certain exhibits which I'll read into the record as follows. A1 jurisdictional notice. A2 updated application. A3 correspondence and waiver requests. A4 conservation easement to the NJ file for 15 2019. A5 boundary and partial topo survey prepared by Maser Consulting dated 913 2016. A6 is the asbuilt survey consisting of one sheet prepared by uh Chandler and Associates dated November 18, 2019. A7 is a used far and minor site plan consisting of three sheets prepared uh May 12th, 2025 revised August 27, 20125 prepared by Kier's engineering design AA architectural plans set uh set for prepared by central jersey for central Jersey storage application prepared by Perez and redacity associates consisting of five sheets uh dated 51 2017. Bord has also marked their own exhibits which are the uh completeness determination dated July 7, 2025 as ZB1 and our engineer Leon Vakian's report dated 813, 2025 as ZB2. Council, of course, you could introduce any other evidence you deem necessary and appropriate for your application. Please enter your appearance and you may start your application, sir. Hey, Von Parton from Norris McGlaughlin. Um, on behalf of my client, Phytolankton Milstone Solar LLC, um, I would note that the board has already accepted jurisdiction on this matter. Um, the applicant here is seeking approval of rooftop solar arrays to be constructed on self storage facilities located at 550 Mama's Road. Um, here I would like to ask that the board wouldn't mind swearing in my witnesses that I have today.

We'll come with as they come up, we'll do that. And actually what we'll do is uh why don't you grab that standing mic and put it close to your mouth so we could all hear you and we'll have the next witness use that mic. Uh so we have both make sure everything's on tape. So whoever's your first w you can do an introduction or like just get going. We figured it out. No problem. August. You could sit down or stand up, whatever you prefer. Okay. All right. Fix the mic so you get talk into it. All right. Ma'am, please raise your right hand. Do you swear affirm the following testimony about to give is the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Please state your name for the record spelling last name. Ma'am,

August 1 hour. Last name S C H W A N A U E R and August as in the month. Correct. Um, by who by whom are you employed, Miss Roner? Uh, Plankton Energy, the solar developer for this project. Have you previously testified before municipal boards on the similar matters? I have. Yes. Are you familiar with the project site? I am. Yeah. Are you familiar with the development application for the board? I am. Yes. Please provide the board with the overview of the project.

This is a rooftop solar commercial uh system. It's intended to participate in the community solar program um organized by the New Jersey BPU. This project has been fully approved into the program and offers a 31% discount to all individuals who sign up to participate in the energy for the program. It's sized at 708 kW DC, 480 kW AC.

Let me interrupt. Apologize. It's not very We needed to start over. Do we need that again? Yeah, I think they're all of you. Yeah. So, please provide the project. Okay. Um, sorry about that. All good.

All right. Um, so this is a rooftop commercial solar system. Um, it's going to participate in the New Jersey Community Solar Program, which is organized by the New Jersey BPU. The project has received approvals for the program um and from utility uh to operate and um is size 708 kows DC 480 kows AC um it'll be on top of the roof um and it will offer 30% discount to all individuals who sign up for our program. Who would they be? Yeah,

they being they being um so the way the community solar program works is we work with a third party to sign up individuals for savings on their electricity bills. It's at no cost. Um and we are required to provide a 31% discount to those individuals who sign up. Are they just to make it clear public are they residents in Millstone or are they residents based on income or like who who gets the notice? Hey, you can get 31% off your electric bill.

Yeah. So, it's open to being signed up for Millstone residents, members of the electric utility. Um, and there is a priority for lowincome individuals. Um all outreach would be done through the town and through our third party who we work with uh to make sure individuals are aware that this is available to them as a resource. So you send a letter or something to everybody or how will somebody know it's there?

Any anywhere from uh we've partnered to engage with town halls, local community centers. Um there is a tailored plan to each project to this project specifically um that there will be through the program centers of Milstone specifically. But other towns could take advantage of this too, right? They could, but it would be our priority to have Milstone residents. I know first. And why Milstone? Why Milstone snow versus all the other towns? because this is where the project is.

It's based on so it's based on the solar array that's being installed on the self facility. The roof capacity there can handle this array correct at this location. So that's why this seems to be a very special place that so basically this is going to be the self storage will become a power generating unit. Yes. Correct. or the roof. The roof will be the roof of it, but at that location will be basically a a power production facility. Correct. For energy. Yep. Yes. Photo. Okay. I got it. Yep. And then you're going to sell it back through a third party to whoever participates in this program from that generation. Correct. And that will all be through JCPNL.

Sorry. How much height are we adding that you need a variance? Don't these things lie flat on the roof or they are going to be sticking up? So the panels themselves, it's a R cor R corugurated roof um corrugated corrugated um and it will sit about 6 in above the roof. The panels are at about a one degree tilt. So So shouldn't really be visible. Why is the variance? I mean because they're just use it's not a per pound. Not the height. No, it's not it's not the height. It's a secondary commercial. Well, it's a couple things. We don't permit solar solar commercial solar arrays in the zone.

Commercial solar array because that's that's essentially what this is. We only allow them as an accessory to any building for that building, right? So, if if this was a solar array for the building for that building, they wouldn't be here. But it's a commercial. This is an actual generation facility. That's the that it's the same solar. It's not the solar. It's a use, right? Exactly. So essentially it's back feeding the grid that public use

and the and the the benefit is that it provi it's a system that's that's pro provided through the board of public utilities to provide residents of Milstone including low-income residents Milstone a reduction off electricity because the electricity is being generated within our municipality at this particular site. So will Milstone residents now see a year from now lower electric rates only the ones that sign up to the program which we're just asking about exactly sign up they sorry I'm a little slow today it's 2 in the morning for me okay on Germany time

all right I understand thank you is the self storage facility different use or are they going to be using this for their electric um so in order for the configuration of the system um in order to participate in New Jersey Community Solar is front of the meter, meaning all of the electricity from the system is sold back to the grid. So, the facility doesn't use any of the electricity on site. All of the savings go out to Why would they do it? They get rent. What's ah they get some income. They get rent.

Can they apply for that 30% discount thing or is that just for res one person talk. Is that 30% just for residential or could it be commercial? So the 31% discount that we're required to provide for this project is required for all individuals commercial and residential for the facility could sign up for it too if they wanted to.

Through our third party we will sign up a commercial anchor. they are not the um the proportion of the project that can be signed up by a commercial anchor is limited to 49%. So the remaining 50% 51% of the project will be completely residential. Is this something different? Question different way to sell solar. Yeah. Yep. How if how many residents,

let's say they were all in Milstone or it doesn't really matter. How many residents would a program like this sign up for their 51% of the pie? Y is it five residents? Is it 50? Give the board some idea of how many residents of what do you need the threshold for you to meet your numbers then? Yeah. So our system generates enough to power 46 homes. So it would be 46 at the 51% or 46 at the 100 for that that is the amount of generation provided by the full system. Okay. Yes. Okay. So it would be 51% of your 46 homes. Correct.

Does this business I'm sorry to interrupt. You're saying it produces enough electricity for 46 homes. So you take half that that's 23 resident. So they're you're providing full electricity for an entire house or is that how it works?

So So the system as a whole on an annual basis produces just over 800,000 kilowatt hours. Um from the EPA comparison that comes to about the consumption of annual 46 homes. Um and from that proportion that goes to our solar essentially acts as an offset to individuals who sign up for the program's bill. So they just reduction consume a 30%. They get a 30% discount.

Now I know this has nothing to do with the application. Is it adjusted yeartoear or does it stay flat? It it is in junction with any electricity prices that raise. Okay. Have you done this in other towns or is this your first one, second one? We've we've done this in other towns. Yes. Yes. Anything around here? Um we have some in uh Mica Hill, Woodbury Heights. Um and then we have a number of behind the meter systems throughout the throughout New Jersey.

Does your business require daily visit from somebody, weekly visit? Nobody comes there? How does that business work? You're asking about the operation of the system. Um so we are vertically integrated. We develop, own and operate our projects. Um part of our operations is one to two annual preventative maintenance and during that we have 247 monitoring for these systems. Um, but those are part of our due diligence process to ensure they continue operating smoothly throughout their 25 year expected lifetime.

So, you have no offices in this place. You have more cars coming and going every day or anything? No. Nothing. No. For this system? Um I I was looking at your your your um plot plan here and um is there a section for like your inverters or your bank of your inverters or these micro inverters or how where is this all flowing to where's that bank? I think it's on the right and there right above Oh, here it is. I got it. in the system. He found imposed inheritance right here. Yeah,

I got it. Um I think that probably better for our engineer to answer that question. No. Yeah, I I found it. It's towards the front of the property, which is towards Route 537 Mammoth Road. Okay. Cuz they have fans that run cooling fans and things like that in those units. Oh, it's going to be better for our engineer to answer that question. Okay. Down there, back here. and they're humming all night. I have some questions about the polls of what you're proposing. Is that something you engineer or see that just on the road?

So, one other quick question on the uh for the availability for the homes or residences or even businesses that they have to now contract out with a specific company to get electric service. Is that correct? No, JCPNL. Still JCPNL. Yes, it will be through JCPNL. It's an additional service they can sign on to that's free of charge. Um there are several providers in the space um who coordinate for billing and uh customer management. Okay.

So, GCP now, how do you guys make any money? Well, we develop the project um and then we continue to operate it throughout its lifetime. So that's where our source of revenue comes. Remember they sell the electricity to JCPA, right? So that's where the revenue is. I was confused on one thing. How many homes will it benefit likely?

Like 23 homes get all their electricity or 72 homes get partial electricity or what? So it's the equivalent of 23 homes. Um what you will see for a single billing period is a 30% discount. So over the span of a year there will be 30% savings to the homeowner. Correct. Right. 30 31%. It it all it all depends. So it it all depends on how much kilowatts each home. But it's not 72 homes or 82.

No no. It it could it could be more if if if you have a a bunch of homes that are generating so much electricity burden, you'll get more homes. If you have a home that's illegally mining bitcoins, you're going to have less homes. You say it's only for one year. Uh that's annualized. No, it's annual changes. Yeah. Over the lifetime of the project, it'll generate over a million of savings for individuals who sign up. I got NPR. I got to renew it every 3 months.

One year is good. Do we have any more questions from the for our rep? I don't have any atone. Anybody else? It just I have a question. Is this sort of the typical build size that you guys this uh project or is it smaller larger? This is our niche. Um our our team focuses on built environment CNI. So we do mix of rooftops and carports mostly anywhere from 500 to a,000 kilowatts. It it's very common above self storage facilities. I know we did one in in Hazlet where I was the board attorney there because it's a lot of buildings, right? Flat roof. Flat roof, right?

And and and warehouse because there's a bunch of warehouses by me where I work that they put a bunch of solar panels on. So, I'm assuming it's something similar. Most likely we don't get any benefit leases. So, yeah. Well, th those could be self like an accessory to their use. I don't know. Yeah. Could be offsetting their meter. They have a single meter. Yeah. Yeah. Any other questions? Thank you.

No, all right. Sir, please raise your right hand. Do you swear affirm the following testimony about to give is the whole truth nothing but the truth? I do. Just state your name for the record spelling your last name, sir. Daniel Block. B L O C H I do have an exhibit to add on to your list if I can. Sure. And you have I have just a general question. Are you our engineer or PE or planner? Okay.

Well, how about we before we go to you, let's go. Do you have your engineer here? He said he's the planner. PP you don't have an engineer here. Okay. So you get All right. So testify. Well, I my my only point is I think our our engineer had some engineering questions. So I would like to get that out before the planner testifies. We'll see if he can answer. All right. We'll we'll see Mr. Blogs and see a complicated engine question. Okay. All right. We'll see. There it is. All right. We'll mark as A9 threepage

planners exhibit homes, right? Okay. Mr. Chairman, did we did we uh accept him as a professional planner? Well, uh do you want to just give you quick qualifications since we did licensed professional planner in the state of New Jersey, certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners. uh currently represent nine municipalities as your planner and testified in over 150 municipalities. First time in Noville. Thank you, Mr. Block. Are you familiar with the project site? Yes. Um are you familiar with the development application for the board and recent question? Yes.

Are you familiar with the T township's land use ordinance master plan as they pertain to the proposal on the property? Yes. Um based on your experience as a professional planner, your familiarity with the development application and and the provision of the township land use ordinance and mass plan. Have you formed an opinion on the merits of the relief request by applicant and so can you give your opinion? Yes. So I I will go through that. I think u the engineer did have a question. If you want me to answer that first about the polls um

you're proposing four polls. I don't know. There's no details for them. I'm not sure how high it is. What is it made of? Is it is it a wires on top? I I'm not what this four poles are required by JCPNL um to provide service to the facility and then once they hit that last pole, they go down to a uh transformer and it goes underground to the inverters inside the compound fence. So they're regular JCPNL polls. Yes. Four more next to the one that's there now. Yes. Wow. Interesting.

Why? Well, could you answer for why JCPNL requires four poles? And is it that the best loca is JCP requiring putting it right in the front of front of the property, not in the back or That's my understanding because that's where the power comes from. They can't go in the back here. There's a pole there already. I don't understand. Yeah, the main is probably right there. You tie right into it. Poles. I can't see it. At the bottom of it. I know. I And the poles are on your property. It's not on the public right away. Yes. So,

only the one pole is going to have the transformer adjacent to it. Is that Yes. Which goes back to the feeds of prop the property. They're yours to maintain. I'm not sure about who's maintaining. It's on your property. Yes. Yes. Yes. So you have four poles. You have uh transformer. You have inverters. All that stuff all in front yard of this property. Yes. Cuz that's where the power service comes from the front. So they have to be easiest to access. One of my comments, I don't know if it's engineering or planning that these are all accessory structures. It's accessory equipment.

Yeah. So um this is all front yard doesn't meet the setback requirements where they should be. Yep. I have I'll go through that. So this would be a variance. I I understand. Okay. Is there details for any of these anywhere? I didn't see any details. Yeah, there is detail on the plans. We can provide them. She can't talk. That's why I asked you to come testify first, but no one listens to the lawyer. I just don't know what they look like or this how high they are. I have no idea. I'm just a lot of you have a lot of stuff in the front yard. I said we bring that detail is on the electrical plants.

Do we have it? Yes, we do. We have electrical plugs not submitted as part of the application.

Amen restoration. It's the same thing. Yeah. Page two has Yeah. Two poles detail and then one transformer leading it backward. This is the fence right there. It's on It's on the proper I don't know if it's there a fence inverters. Looks like there's a fence. The inverters I don't think holes are on the front.

They were out before the county said you have to be six feet behind or something. Next thing you know they're on county had issues with it. It was I haven't part of the application. Yes. So, so the application got county approval on condition that the poles be not be on their property but on the applicant's property. So, they said it has to be 6 ft behind the curb and that's how they ended up on the property. So, I don't know how that works.

So, who made and they say JCPNL maintains this what's on these poles or you are

they do come. Yeah. Um, so the reason why there are four poles is because this is a front of the meter system. This is the standard configuration for front of the meter systems within all of JCPL's territory. So the four series of poles includes a disconnect switch um which leads into the transformer that will collect and feed electricity to and from the site. The purpose of this is so that the system can be isolated if necessary from its own service. So it doesn't affect any other service. It has its own route to and from the grid. So that's the purpose of the four poles. Um, Plankton Energy is going to be responsible for the ongoing operations and maintenance of the SEC of the medium voltage equipment leading up to JCPNL's ownership, which is the fourth poll.

JCPNL poll is a fifth one. You have four plus what's there. Correct. There's there's one poll that JCPNL will provide in addition to the one that's there and we'll provide an additional three. And where are they all going? Because there's already polls going straight across your property. So where are they all? Well, you can see on this map. Yeah, there's a pole. Uh yeah, I got a there should be there will be three four more right next to it. Few feet behind six. So the whole property there'll be six ps because there's two already there. Well, the two are separated. Yeah, I'm saying they're separate, but

I'm just looking at it as you're driving by. Four just left of one of them. The six one's by itself. It's just that one is going to be very crowded. It's going to be crowded. But yeah, I'm agreeing with you. There's going to be a lot going on right there. So I guess it's a normal for this kind of business. Is that what it is? This is what is it four because of how many watts we have here or is it just normal for no matter how much it's for the the separate disconnect. Correct. Which then shuts the the inverters down which shuts sing it singles out the unit itself. The array itself is shut down not affecting any outside.

It's a yes it's a safety mechanism from JCPNL for a front of the meter system. I'm not big on electric stuff, but it's definitely odd. So, we have four poles, just only one disconnect. So,

the full configuration of the system, it operates as a disconnect together, but there are different pieces of equipment on the various poles that lead into it. Um so there's a riser pole with um that will carry the service. There is a go up disconnect. There is a utility meter and then there's a point of interconnection.

So that's what's happening at each point and that is to JCPNL's electrical standard. their request. This design has been conditionally approved by their team and these polls were requested by their engineering department.

Did did your engineering department require the exact location? meaning is did they say they have to be physically here or could they be put farther back off the the road into your like I so the this preliminary location was approved but final location would be determined by site conditions um abiding by all the setback by the uh six feet six setback requirements Well, that that's not our requirement. 6 ft setback is from the curve for county. That's a county requirement. Yeah, it's not our requirement.

Yes. Our requirement is different. Our requirement is an accessory structure which is not permitted in front yard to begin with. So is your interpretation that a utility pole is an accessory structure your property? Yeah. Not on a county road that not on a public rideway on your property. It's not a utility pole. It's an accessory structure. This is not taking electricity into your site. Four poles. You have you have lots of stuff in the front yard. You know, you saw it, right? I know.

They're all accessory structures in the front yard. I don't think it's a major issue. I mean, but it's there. Maybe it's too much. I don't know. But it's a variance. It's on your property. It's not a It was a public rider, but you have a something different. Hey Greg, how without exact understanding of all the everything's being located, how are we supposed to vote on this? Well, voting without sight voting without a sight plan.

Well, I I you well the issue becomes is that you the the I I guess if your only real issue which which would make sense the youth variance is kind of you know, we already talked about, you know, there's no other variances on the site because they're really just installing everything on the roof, right? So, there's no height difference. So, the only issue is these accessory poles, if you want to call it that. Um, you know, we it could be a couple things. You could you could grant theoretically grant approval with a certain setback and see what JCPNL says. Okay, if they say it's got to be 10 ft back, just say just for argument sake 10 ft back and the proper line on JCPL says the farthest we can move it back is 8 ft. They'd have to come back to board for approval for this. Um you could grant did not ask for a bifurcated use variance. Okay, ask a question. What does JC P JCPNL require to um get final plans?

You say this is preliminary. So they do they then walk out to the site and then make a determination like where when is that process because you're telling me this is only preliminary and or was it preliminary that was submitted and they approved it. Maybe the engineer should testify like I suggested a while ago behind.

Yeah, it it's It was preliminarily approved and then there is a close out process once the system has been installed to account for whatever installation differences, site characteristics may result in placement changes etc. So that is the only reason there would be a shift from what is in the plans currently. There are ordinance for accessory equipment. It was really written for buildings, home use. Right. Right.

This is not for home use is actual business because we talk about maximum height of 10 ft. Yeah. And 10 ft from the h building within 10 ft. And none of what they're proposing none of them match what's in here. But again, this was written for Doesn't the utility have doesn't the utility have a an easement over the rightway? Not that I know. JCP know where is the reason public right away? I don't know how that works. Well, my point is that if it is in the public right away,

this is what they're propos I I I understand that. But if the easement, the existing easement is off their property line. If they had an ement, they don't have an ement. They have to have an easement. There's a there's three poles there now. It's on a public rideway. They don't need easement. They don't have easements in a public right away. They have an easement with with the county saying, "Hey, I can I can put my pole on your property." Language there, but it's not a written easement that I know of. So, but it's outside the rightway. A lot of times they get easements to put poles outside of a ride.

I guess the question becomes to the board is the board is concerned I assume with this aesthetic of you know you have how do you vote on something you can't see? You have four polls like right next to each other without a some type of where's it look? Where's it going to be set back? Is it just going to look like garbage when you're when you're driving by? And the, you know, listen, you have, you have telephone poles what, 40 yards away, you know, between each other. That's kind of standard. Seeing a cluster of them is takes your eyes off the road. You're like, what is all that stuff there for? What's that?

So, do we know what the height of the poles are, the diameter of poles? Do we have that? All of the specs are to JCPNL's blue book standards. Okay. Um, so 30 40 feet high for now to reach their usual poles. Electrical poles. I'm only asking because they're not quote JCPNL poles. So just want to make sure there was any difference in the diameter, you know.

No, there the one I dealt with very similar. They had power coming to the back of the building. So they put these they I think only put two polls behind it. Um but that that's the so real issue with the board.

Another piece for this. So in order to move the poles um the location of the transformer has to be in an area free of vegetation and in a flat surface area. So the location of where the line feeds to the transformer is important for safety purposes. Um, if we were to move the location of the poles, there would there is the uh forested area right to that left of the property to the and we would want to stay clear of that to avoid removing vegetation. So something to consider is where

if you look at the pictures on third page folder number six you just see where the pole is to the left of and those are the vegetation that she's talking about. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Our intent with our placement was to consider the factors that JCPNL had as well as the site conditions um and to ensure that the equipment is in a place where we can avoid trimming in the future etc. What about the conf the configuration instead of left to right

to up it to up and back so it doesn't look like it's all along the front edge but keep it cuz you're probably powering into this pole that's there. Instead of going left and right you go straight back on them with the four poles so they're not all on the frontage and the kind of block changes the view a little. It'll be four stacked, if you will. I mean, I don't I don't I'm not I'm not an electrical engineer, but from a visual from a visual perspective, maybe that's a a better look than seeing four across the board. Depends on the perspective. Driving towards the four row that way. So, I mean, what's which vantage point do you care about?

The people across the street or the people that are driving up 60 miles an hour. No one looking to ride. They're aiming for the adventure. looking for besides for keeping them uniform. What? Matt, what what do you recommend for the I mean there's no electrical engineers up here. Keep them uniform. If the use is something that's really has benefits that we're looking for, I don't think that's extra few poles. I mean, it's on a major highway. There's no homes. It's right next to Six Flags entry. So, we're not in a position to redesign the site tonight. So, we're proposing it as it is.

Right. And there also question is if he if what the final one will look like that you said this is preliminary. Yeah. Did this change by it? 23. Question is what would they change? Do we need to come back or not? Any any change that would happen during installation would not be No. I want to know what it is before you install it. All of the equipment as it is now will not change. So what we see on the plan is what you're proposing to install. Correct. Not all this height.

I don't know. That's Are they all the same height as the existing poles or are they going to be lower? Uh what's the separation distance from center line to center line or the poles? This is all in the electrical set. That's great. We have that. No, we don't have It seems to be 10 to 15. Seems to be 10 to 15 ft apart. Okay. That's not far. 10 to 15. [Music] Actually, if you're driving Yeah. If they're so close to each other, you almost going to see them. Parallel. It's about They're all parallel with the road. It's parallel to the road. So, it's going to be a blur, right?

Yeah. It's about 20 ft between each pole. Thank you. In in my opinion, I think parallel to the road is better than perpendicular to the road because I think if you're coming down the road, if they're all still in the line, whether you're going east or west, it's better than seeing them perpendicular to the road because then I'm going to see four poles going in towards the property. I think that so good in my opinion. So, okay. Um so those polls are not higher than JCPNL pole that's there now right want to make sure less than or equal to set a limit yeah or less yeah correct

and haha is the uh transformer well that's a transformer it's not just then you have uh bunch of disconnect inverters and all that in the fence area there correct and again these are all accessories structures in a front yard doesn't meet the height or setback requirement. So there'll be a variance for all these. So again, our ordinance was written for right. Well, single family home who put something on the roof and they put something next to their house. So totally different. Kind of goes hand in hand with your use,

right? Got it. educational public hearing here. That's true. And and all these variances are really subsumed by the use variance itself if the board grants the variant. So, would you like to hear the planning testimony?

I think we're up there. Yeah, I think we're good with beating the polls. Okay. So, properties in the HC1 zone. Um, the existing self-s storage facility was granted use variance. It's not a permitted use. Continues to not be a permitted use. We are proposing to install a commercial generating electrical facility on the roof of that those six buildings. also not a permitted principal use. It could could be a permitted accessory use if it were only powering that building which is not. So becoming a commercial enterprise, it's a second principal use on the property. We need a D1 use variance. And u we've also noticed for D2 for an expansion of the existing non-conforming or or the self storage. I don't think we're really expanding the self storage in any way. It's a second use being added to it. The self storage use remains exactly the same,

but the nonconformity of the property is being extended. So that's why you need to I I agree. But thank you.

D1 D2 same proofs. So we're going to go through D1 is the highest and and most difficult proof to to obtain and I will go through the positive negative criteria for that D1 variance including the accessory structures, accessory equipment, whatever you want to consider them in the front yard um as part of that and subsumed as part of that Dvariance. So for uh the positive criteria, we typically have to show that there's um a a particularly suitable uh the use is particularly suitable to the site. However, in this case, we have what is known as an inherently beneficial use. That kind of changes the game a little bit. So we normally have to go through positive and negative criteria. when you have an inherently beneficial use which is defined by the municipal land use law and I'll I'll read you the definition. Inherently beneficial use means a use which is universally considered of value to the community because it fundamentally serves the public good and promotes the general welfare. Such uses include but are not limited to a hospital, school, child care center, group home or a wind, solar or photovoltaic energy facility or structure. So right in that definition, our proposed use is an inherently beneficial use in that definition. There are other types of inherently beneficial uses which have been deemed by the courts to be inherently beneficial but not in the statute. So this is one of the few that are in the statute um as an inherently beneficial use. So what happens when you have an inherently beneficial use? The proofs change a little bit. So what we have to do and this is comes from a court case known as SECA SICA vall. um and that was from 1992 and we have to go through a four-part balancing test under that uh case law.

The first part of that is identifying the public interest at stake that is the solar generation facility. Um, it will provide clean renewable energy to the power grid, reduce the dependence on fossil fuels and their impacts on the environment, and it furthers the New Jersey Energy Master Plan goal of reaching 100% clean energy by 2050. I don't think we're anywhere near that yet, but every site that comes in with solar or wind is promoting that that uh that goal. The second part of that test is to look at whether there would be any substantial detriments to the public goods um from the granting of the variance. Uh we're looking at are there impacts to traffic? Are there impacts to to noise aesthetics? Um there's not going to be any additional traffic generated by this. As you heard, there's a couple times a year somebody comes in and maintains them. Everything else is done remotely. Uh noise is very minimal. Solar panels themselves make no noise. The inverters do have a a quiet uh almost like an air conditioning noise. Uh really not noticeable unless you're in the vicinity of it. um visual impacts and I can and I will refer to uh the photo exhibits because in on the first page you can see this aerial image that I pulled off of uh near map. This is dated um March 9th, 2025. So this is pretty recent. You can see in the vicinity our site is the one marked with the blue marker. Um there's our six buildings. Directly to the northeast is the Wawwa site and they have uh solar panels on their gas canopies. Across the street there are solar panels on the canopies in the rear parking lot. There's solar panels across the street

from that for the u the uh recreation facility and more even south of that. So in this area there's a lot of solar panels already existing in a similar fashion as what we're proposing. And if you look at the photos that I provided um on page one, these are all from the north side of the road where you can see we're close up to the buildings. You're you're hardly going to see solar panels on these roofs. Um even from the the rear of the Waw Wall parking lot, you might see it a little bit, but it's the back parking lot. Um and if you look at page two, I I went across the street. Um, I took all these photos today, by the way. So, again, from ground level, you won't really notice them. Uh, if I went up to the second story of the use across the street. So, the bottom photos are from the second floor. You can kind of see it. You can see the panels on top of the Waw Wa in the last photo. They're they're really have no aesthetic impact. Um, it just looks like a different color roof, and that's what we're going to see here. So there's no there there's no glare. They're not mirrors. There's they don't reflect light. They're designed specifically to um subsume the light and and collect it. So they're not there's no glare. Uh the the visual impacts from the four poles, I think the average person driving by the site wouldn't even notice, wouldn't bat an eye at a grouping of utility poles. People are so accustomed to seeing utility poles along the roadway, maybe they might look twice, but I I don't think there's any any substantial detriment to that. And those poles and the inverters and the transformer are absolutely critical components of this facility and therefore I believe they are subsumed into the benefits of this

the uh inherently beneficial use. in terms of negative impact, we have screened the inverters inside of the uh fence compound and um to the extent that we can put landscaping around the transformer, we will, but that's uh JCPNL safety requirements. So, I don't know if they'll let us put sometimes they let you do one side, one side need three sides, three feet,

three sides or it's really depends on what JCPNL will allow. But again, it's a small box in the front yard. People are used to seeing them. It's it's not going to stand out. Okay. Um so the third thing that we have to look at in this test is whether there's any reasonable conditions that the board could impose that would alleviate any of those substantial detriments identified in step two. U I don't believe that any of the detriments would be substantial. We will provide landscaping a as we can. Um that could be a condition. Um I don't think that we're in a position tonight to redesign or relocate poles that are already approved by JCPNL. So we we would like to leave the plan as it is. And then the final step is just a balancing of a weighing of the positive and negatives. What are the benefits versus the detriments? And in this case, in the SECA case, the court said the balancing shifts on an inherently beneficial use. The board has to come up with substantial reasons why those detriments exceed the benefits. So the the benefits are given the latitude. Um you you the the burden shifts then to the board to say this will be a substantial detriment and it overshadows the positives. Um, and I've looked at the town's zoning ordinance. I've looked at the master plan, and I believe there are plenty of uh goals and objectives and intents of the master plan, which uh this project will uh promote. In terms of the zoning ordinance, um, purpose A of the zoning ordinance is to

encourage municipal action to guide the appropriate use and de development of all lands in Mailstone Township in a manner which will promote public health, safety, general welfare and morals. Um, I believe the environmental impact and the benefit is a benefit to the public health. Um, purpose C is to provide adequate light, air, and open space. Um, I I don't believe we're impacting air and open space on this project. There are some poles that are pretty spaced out. Uh, other than that, the the arrays will not be um substantially visible. And then purpose N is to promote the utilization of renewable resources. again being a solar energy facility promotes that. Um, and there's other uh goals and objectives within the master plan that mention green energy um and and preserving the environ environment. So, we're proposing this on the roof of an existing development. We're not putting it on pristine farmland. We're not taking any trees down. Uh so there is a an added benefit to that uh reutilization of the you the existing roof. Uh we're not increasing impervious surfaces or anything like that. So in the end I I believe that even with the uh accessory structures in the front yard which cannot be moved according to JCPNL they have to be in the front yard. Um, I believe that the board can grant this D1 variance along with the subsumed bulk variances for the accessory structures. That's basically my testimony. If you want any more details, I can I'd be happy to give you more of those goals and objectives, but I don't want to bore you to death.

Thank you, Mr. Block. Appreciate that. Um, just a couple things to go over, uh, Matt, with your plan review comments. definitely inherently beneficial use. I don't know how we could argue that. So, and there's concur. If it was a residential subdivision right in front of this thing, we would have issues, but there's really nothing there. You have a county highway with cars speeding and making a lot of noise. That kind of they need county approval or anything? They have the county approval. They have it already. Yes. Okay. They've been to the county. The county just told them to push the polls back. That was it. So that was where our six feet came from. It was from the county

before there was same number of poles but it was like 2 feet off the curb. Well, when when we say the curb, okay, is that the property line? No curb. I know. I know that. But it it just happened. Is the curb also the property line is about looks like it's about I don't know. It says edge of pavement. Actually, there's no curb there. It's Well, that's my point. doesn't look like is about 3 4 feet behind right between mom and broke 55t away. So I'm just So is it set back the there's no curb. So you have edge of pavement edge of pavement. Yes. And the right edge of pavement pavement is one foot behind prior 3 ft

two three feet. You don't have a number here, but two 3 ft the the right way of 1 ft off of the edge of pavement and the poles will be 5 ft off of the property. Very close. 6 ft off edge of pavement. 6t. So it's going to be like two two feet behind the existing pole. It will be just behind the existing poles. Okay. So the board has an idea slightly offset. So technically if you're driving by the main pole may hide the other four poles behind it unless you're really under

how fast you're driving. Again, there's there's no traffic issues, no noise. Uh I don't see anything negative that in here. Okay. So, we need to just add any conditions of an app. We got to open it to the public first. Any other Anybody else have any other questions for our planner? No. No. Okay. Just added one more variance here. You look very right. You look different since having the baby. What can I tell you?

Thank you, Mr. Block. Appreciate it.

It is a All right. So, at 8:38, we'll open this portion of the meeting to the public. If anybody has any questions, comments, concern they want to ask, please feel free to come forward. Seeing nobody, we will close this portion to the public. Okay. Okay. Mr. Chairman, the only conditions I have um and the board deems the application favorable. Um that new JCP now polls no higher than the existing JCP polls. Um do you require the details of new polls on the plans? that

there should be a note on a plan saying this will be a similar to the existing pole that's there right same height well I put that condition but you need also mine has almost the same diameter whatever you can add that to the um and revis plans to confirm the um overall square footage of the solar panels be added to the plan they have that already you're good with that one plans have it yes okay then that's all I have Mr. Oh, I also have a they add landscaping around inverter if approved by JCPO. Again, this is a use variance and a minor site plan, right?

Couple of use variances. Okay. Sorry. Around the inverter. What's that? Around the fenced inverter. I thought that's what you I thought that's not the not the fence there. I said we talked about a transformer. Transformer. Okay. Thank you for the clarification. I don't think it's going to be possible anyway. That's right. But if permitted by these sounds like okay chair, it's up to you. Okay. I don't think we need any performance bond or any like they have with county planning board. They have any other board discussion want to go over? I'm good. I'm good. Good.

I'm good here. I think overall in general, I think we're I think almost all members on the board are pretty much favorable for solar installations. Um just my opinion, if you're coming back to the board for another project in the future, have some additional details available for people with various backgrounds maybe would like to see. No problem. You know, my my theory is you rather have it and not need it instead of need it and not having it, which is I think what we kind of out a little bit here. But um but that gives me something to pick up. Yeah, of course. But no problem.

But overall, I think um I think it's a pretty simple application. Anybody else want to add to that? Okay. So, if we're at that point based on the conditions that Greg Greg had uh laid out and anybody want to make a motion to approve then I motion to approve. Thank you. I'll second it. Thank you, Andrew. Appreciate that. Okay, Danielle, roll call. Chairman L. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Baramus. Yes. Mr. Katigan. Yes. Mr. Yes. And Mr. Yes. Okay. Do you have a card, council? Yes.

Give it to me so I can send you a copy of the resolution before approval so you can review it. Thanks, sir. No problem. Thank you all very much. Congrat. 31. 31. What if someone has solar? Can they still join on this program if they have solar on their roof? Yeah, that's a great question. Um, for most residential systems, I don't see why they couldn't do that as a tack on to their existence. Okay. Yeah. Thank you everyone. Appreciate it. Thank you.

We're all priorit. All right. Motion to adjurnn at 8:42. Do we have any? That's it. No other business. Motion to adjurnn. Wait a second. Danielle has something for us. No. Okay, we're good. Motion to Thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate you coming out. Motion to second. Okay. Second.