Planning Board - Regular Meeting

To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. In accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, it is hereby announced and shall be entered into the minutes of this meeting that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the following. Posted on the bulletin board of the office of the township clerk, posted on the bulletin boards within the municipal complex. Printed in the Home News Tribune and Cranberry Press on December 27, 2024, posted on the Monroe te township website, and sent to those individuals who requested personal notice. Laura, please call the role. Mr. Rothman here, Missky here, Mr. Manesh Patel here, Miss Damiani here. Mr. Slavichek here. Mr. Weiner, yes. Here, Dr. Kenzie, Councilwoman Cohen present. Mayor's Representative Mr. Patel here. Chairman Gaffrey here. Okay. Laura circulated the minutes earlier in the week and I believe also uh over a week ago. Um is there any uh is there a motion to accept the minutes? I have a direction first person second. In the uh minutes it indicates that I was present at the meeting and I was not there. So, um, if we can just get that, uh, I would I would move Well, I can't move, but I would ask that any motion be as amended. Okay. Is is there a motion to accept the minutes? Move. Second. Second. Is there any discussion? All in favor? I opposed. Abstain. Winner. Abstain. Minutes are accepted. Okay. Hey, the the first item

on the agenda tonight is the uh memorialization. It's PB1264-24 Menllo Route 33 Associates uh I I LLC. Is there any discussion on memorialization? Hearing none. Is there a motion to to accept? Make a motion to approve. Second. Second. All in favor? Opposed? A roll call. We'll do a roll call. Mr. Rothman? Yes. Miss Barrosky? Yes. Nash Patel? Yes. Mr. Damiani? Yes. Mr. Slavichek? Yes. Councilwoman Cohen? Yes. Mayor's representative, Mr. Patel? Yes. Chairman Gaffrey? Yes. Okay. Uh, I understand that there is an applicant who requests an extension or approval of Forever Iron Doors, Inc. tonight. PB1261-23. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, nice to see everyone. Walter Toto, on behalf of the applicant, Forever Iron Doors Incorporated. Yes, Mr. Chairman, we're asking for uh a one-year extension. Uh I think the only uh outstanding item with regard to resolution compliance is uh having to navigate with the uh utility department with regard to a waterline extension. Uh that's sort of in obeyance. We're dealing with uh the utility department and our engineers and uh that's where we are essentially. That's it. Is there any uh discussion to be had? All in favor of the is is it a vote voice vote or It'll be a motion in a second. Okay. Mo mo motion to accept the adjournment request. Uh extension request. Extension request. Opposed. Second. That's all right. Um any discussion? I have nothing further. Pretty garden variety extension request. Okay. All in favor? Yes. I yes abstain.

Great. Thank you. Oh, Mr. Chairman, for the record, uh, as as Mr. Toto did indicate, this is pretty pro-form. I did prepare a resolution memorializing the board's action in anticipation of the extension. I would ask if the board could move that resolution at this time. I appreciate that, Peter. Thank you. So moved. So move. Second. Yes. Mr. Rothman. Yes. Yes. Mrosky. Yes. Mr. Manesh Patel. Yes. Mr. Damiani. Yes. Mr. Slavichek. Yes. Mr. Weiner. Yes. Councilman Cohen. Yes. Mayor's Representative. Yes. Chairman Gaffrey. Yes. Terrific. Thank you, Mr. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Take care. Nice seeing everyone. Okay. The next item tonight is a proposed um to the public generally. Want to do that? you up to you how you want to do it, but we got to do both. So, okay. Other than the uh um the recommendation for an amendment to the uh um actually amendment to the ordinance, is there anybody from the public that wishes to be heard tonight? Yes. And is this this with with respect to the amendment or something totally different? This with respect to the ordinance. Okay. We we haven't gotten there yet. We're not there yet. We're not there yet. So, essentially, there's a general public comment section and then there's a comment section on the board's consideration of the ordinance. This is just a general public comment section. So, you This is just general if you have something other than the ordinance. Oh, I'm sorry. No, that's okay. And and we'll get to you first in just a moment. Anybody else wish to be heard on general public? Okay. Um just before we begin on the uh um appro proposed amendment just understand this is a very uh narrow

issue tonight and that is whether the proposed amendment to the ordinance and it's 108-6.2.3 PRC-2 whether it conforms with the master plan. We're not here tonight to discuss the merits of the uh of the amendment. Just does it conform with the master plan. and the merits will be decided by the um township council and it's going to be held on I understand May 7th 2025. So here we're just does it conform with the master plan but I am going to open it up in a moment to the public to be heard. Um but I just want everyone to understand it's a very narrow issue that we are here to decide tonight. So I'm going to turn over Mr. McGowan first to introduce uh the amendment. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Um, so just to provide a brief summary for the benefit of the board members, you each have a full copy of the ordinance for discussion tonight. So on April 7th, uh, 2025, the Monroe Township Council introduced an ordinance 04-2025-10 to amend chapter 108 of the township code section 6.23 specifically regarding the medical facility provision of that ordinance. This ordinance amendment would remove the language from the PRC2 zone that mandates the staffing of a registered nurse 24 hours a day for any retirement community consisting of 600 or more residents, 600 or more residential units in that zone. The amendment replaces that language with the same medical facility regulation from the PRC1 district and the PRC3 district which requires only that a building space be provided within the retirement community um for medical uses. The Stonebridge Homeowners Association requested that the council amend this ordinance as they are the only retirement community in the township that's required to provide a

247 registered nurse under the current PRC2 regulation. As a land use matter, the amended ordinance, if adopted, would not prohibit the staffing of a nurse or other medical provider as the community sees fit, just as most other retirement communities in Monroe do. It's the planning board's role to review the proposed amendment for consistency with the Monroe Township master plan. Our planner, Miss Apti, uh could not be here this evening, but she engaged in a thorough review of the township's current master plan and provided a memorandum to all board members, which you have containing her analysis. The planner's conclusion is that the proposed amendment to this ordinance is consistent with the master plan and does not create any inconsistencies with the goals, objectives, or recommendations of the master plan. As as you said, Mr. Chairman, the council will take up this matter again at its May 7th, 2025 meeting for second reading and public hearing. Thanks very much. Thank you, Mr. McGowan. Mr. Foot, is there anything you want to add? Yes. So the only the only things that I would add are the specific elements the specific uh portions of the master plan that uh we identified that I should say my colleague uh Miss Apt uh identified uh specifically um uh specifically she identified develop and implement policies that comprehensively address the needs of an aging population uh as being uh one of the uh the goals that were uh sorry the goal that was most relevant uh to the uh uh to this particular ordinance amendment uh and specifically maintaining affordability for senior residents on a fixed income and ensuring all residents and particularly seniors have access to quality medical facilities, recreational facilities and commercial opportunities. Um those uh um

we the uh the proposed amendment is consistent with those uh with those goals. Thank you. Anybody from the board wish to be heard? Go ahead. You go ahead, Mr. Chairman. For the record, Jay Weiner. Um, I just wanted to add, you know, that um, I just wanted to add that, um, you know, in reviewing this, I personally, as a member of the board, uh, really found this change to be quite consistent with the master plan. Um, the, uh, I think it's laid out very well in our planners report. Um, and I would just state that I think in our community, one of the main things that's always a consistent element of the master plan is keeping affordability for senior residents on fixed income and understanding a requirement which as an aside only affects one community in this zone. um becomes a financial burden on members of the public who are in our community who may be living in that area in that development where they're placed with a different burden than other members of the community in the same zone including myself who lives in another community in that zone that's not burdened with that. And I think it's not only is this change consistent, but I think it's very equitable, uh, where we're not having a situation where we're treating anyone or any one community and the members of that particular community different than any of the other adult communities in the town and in that

zone. So, I think it really makes sense. Um and I think it's quite consistent with the master plan and I I I am totally uh would support such a uh this resol this new uh ordinance should it be considered and adopted. So in in summary, you find it consistent with the master plan? Absolutely. Okay. Anybody else wish to be heard? So and mic's not on. I'm sorry. Is it on? No. Push the button. Okay. There it is. Okay. I'm not clear on it that so their uh home association will not add the cost the cost for a nurse 24/7 and we have to provide a building for that nurse. Is that what I'm understanding? And I don't really understand uh the change that is being requested. Um so sorry Mr. chairman. Sorry. So, so essentially the the medical space is there. Um, it's an existing medical space. So, really the change eliminates the the uh the township code requirement uh for a 247 registered nurse 365 days a year. um that that's essentially what's being changed to be consistent with the other PRC zones that also required a medical space, but it's not a township code requirement for a registered nurse. Um this is the only community and the only zone that makes reference to the the registered nurse being there 247. Now,

the community itself um by by the township not uh by the township amending this ordinance, it doesn't change what's existing out there. Um the HOA would still have to go through a process if they chose to uh look to eliminate the registered nurse. They would have to go through I believe it's a two-thirds vote process through their community. So that so there's still a process. They just can't eliminate it on their own. So, so it's really just the requirement of the nurse that's being uh lifted here. So, it's not going to the cost is not going to be uh brought Sorry, the cost is not going to be um forwarded on to the township in any way. No, it's just there's no cost is forwarded on to the township. Our EMS services is at that community as it does the the entire township. There's an EMS facility uh diagonally across the street on on the corner of Applegarth and uh and um Hollyy Reed. Um so no, there's no cost forwarded on to the township. Thank you for clarif ordinance if the ordinance is amended doesn't prohibit any HOA from putting in whatever services they desire to put in. That that's that's correct. They they have it 24/7 now. if they look to amend that in any way, even if they wanted to cut it back to a half a day or or 16-hour days, they still have to go the HOA would still have to go through um the process of amending their their HOA documents within their community and there there's a voting process that they have. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yeah. Um before we have any kind of David L can't hear you. before we have any kind of vote or discussion, I would love to hear from their representatives uh to share with us what they are thinking as to why this has come to us. Sure. And I'm going to get to that. I'm just going to give

the members of the board the opportunity to be heard. Mr. Chairman, if if I may just uh make one additional comment as I was saying earlier that the reason I found this wholly consistent with the master plan and maintaining affordability for our senior residents um one step further by removing this as a mandate. It's allowing discretion and judgment for the senior residents who may be on fixed incomes within that community to basically self-decide for their community how to expend the money in their own budget on how to keep things affordable for themselves while choosing to live in that community as opposed to a mandate which only could potentially increase uh cost levels and make it more burdensome. So I think the current ex uh way it is now has the potential of actually being detrimental to the uh master plan whereas this amendment would be uh furthering the uh goals of the master plan. Thank you. Anybody chairman? I I would just add that, you know, so the board is aware, the other communities, this would this would now be consistent with the language in the ordinance for the other communities, but some of the other communities do have nursing. They do have nursing staff there for portions of the day and and they they all have a little different variation of it, but they do still some of them still have nurses. Thank you. Anybody else on the board? Okay, we're going to open it up to the public. Thank you. My name is Alan Stalber. I live at Fort Cobblestone Boulevard in Stonebridge. Uh I'm a member of the board of directors of the HOA there.

Um I leave the decision to the planning board here of whether this is consistent with the master plan. That would obviously be your decision, not mine to push or to make a recommendation about. But I did want to speak to and I had a question. There were some residents in Stonebridge that had requested alternative language to the proposed ordinance that you're considering right now. And I guess the question is have has that some is that being is that under consideration at this time by the planning board? Mr. Chairman, it is not. The ordinance under consideration for the planning board is the ordinance that was introduced on April 7th. Um but certainly it goes back to the council on May 7th for um a second reading and and another public hearing on the ordinance. I was I was just here really to speak in opposition to the suggested alternative language from this other group and I you know I I my remarks are really designed for that. So I I won't uh bother you with those remarks at this point since it's not within your purview. Thank you. But I thank you and it would be a good thing to for the Stonebridge residents if you recommended this ordinance. Thank you. Just make sure the mic is on. Jerry Jerry Morelli um 15 uh um Lion Hart Road uh in Stonebridge. I'm the vice president of the board there as well. So, I'd like to read um to the um planning board an email that I sent recently on this matter. After multiple meetings between the mayor, various township officials,

and members of the Stonebridge Board, in addition to multiple township council meetings on this matter, the council referred this ordinance to the town planning board tonight. By now, we should all be familiar with the reason for requesting this consideration, namely that Stonebridge is the only Monroe HOA required to provide RN nursing services on a 24 by7 basis on site. The Stonebridge Board has uh has uh provided the township with good fate assurances in the form of a resolution referenced in the township ordinance that our nursing services will not be changed in any way unless a twoth3 unless twothirds of the entire community wish to make such change. Please understand that we the board have no intentions of changing our nursing services. However, we also do not want to force an unchangeable nursing service on all current and future members should they express a desire for such a change via a twothirds vote. Surely the township would not seek to deny twothirds of the membership, be it current or future, from managing their own affairs in the future, just as all other HOAs now manage their nursing services. I well, and then I go on to talk about please consider passing, but I understand now and I didn't before that that's not the purpose of this meeting. Thank you for your time. Thank you. If if I may ask, sir, if I may, [Music] um, being on the planning board, we're hearing about it almost secondhand. Yeah. About it. Um, has there been a

vote or even a tentative vote on this matter at all? Yeah, actually there was. We had a vote of the entire community and you could appreciate the fact that this could be um a a confusing matter uh for the uh community. Um, but we we and and people uh uh don't always keep uh in touch with everything that goes on. You know, you send out emails, they don't read them. They read the emails, they don't understand them, and so forth and so on. Uh but we did send out a vote on this and 53% of the respondents a agreed they would like this ordinance passed and they would like us to be treated uh the same as all the HOAs. So and and for us that was a a good a good majority. Yes. Thank you. hearing that uh that there needs to be a twothirds vote. Is that something planned for the future? Yeah. No, it's it's twothirds of the entire community, by the way, not twothirds of those voted. And that's a big lift. Gotcha. Right. So, and and it and that twothirds means that it's not the board who will be arbitrarily making these decisions for the community. It will be the residents themselves who will say in the future, you know, that that we want to control our destiny. Who knows what the price of nursing services will be 10 years from now. And they may say, well, maybe we don't need an RN. Maybe we could have some lesser level of of nurse. Um maybe we have hardly any activity overnight and maybe we don't need a nurse overnight. But the but regardless of what the question may come up in the future, it'll be up to them to make these choices, right? And and not

and not having the town mandate these choices on them. Agreed. And if there's ever an emergency, 2:00 a.m. in the morning, 4:00 a.m. in the morning, you call 911. They Well, that's a good point. Thank you. They call 911 regardless of the time of day. The nurse really doesn't help. If there's a serious emergency, 911 is always called and 9 and and and the nurse helps when 91 the ambulance arrives. They just are are there for support and and and so forth. So, you know, they they really provide um first aid services is what they do and which is very helpful. I use the nurse myself all the time, by the way. I I have my blood pressure checked. I may have a a glucose check taken. It's very convenient and and I wouldn't I wouldn't want the nurse services taken away. The question is not what I want. The question is what the majority of the residents want. Agreed. Agreed. Thank you. Thank you very much. My name is Paul Al Schuler. I live at 168 Diamond Spring Drive in Stonebridge. Uh, I just want to I never commend anybody unless they're really on my side or I agree with it. And everything I've heard here tonight I totally agree with. Uh, the only thing and I thank you all because I think we're all on target together with this. It's a good decision. The only thing I regret and it's not you guys fault. Uh, we should have done this eight or 10 years ago. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anybody else wish to be heard? Hearing none. Is there a motion to close the public portion of this? So moved. Second. Okay.

Okay. Um I think the motion here, if I understand it correctly, and Mr. forg correct me if I'm wrong would be whether this amendment to the ordinance conforms with the master plan and can be presented uh to the township council. That's my understanding. I'm going to defer to Peter for the Sure. And that that is what the board's action tonight will be recommending that or or advising the council that this uh ordinance is consistent with the master plan and recommending its adoption by the council. Okay. Is there a motion in that regard? I would so move that the uh matter be uh adopted by this board for the purposes of endorsing that the proposed ordinance furthers the master plan and it should be returned to the council with the board's recommendation and endorsement as such. Thank you. Is there a second? I'll second. Okay. Is there any discussion hearing? None. Or will you put it the vote? Mr. Rothman? Yes. Miss Brosky? Yes. Mr. Mr. Manesh Patel. Yes. Miss Damiani. Yes. Mr. Slavichek. Yes. Mr. Weiner. Yes. Councilwoman Cohen. Yes. Mayor's Representative Mr. Patel. Yes. Chairman Gaffrey. Yes. And Mr. Chairman, um the municipal land use law provides your board with 35 days from recommendation to report back to the council. uh to the extent that the council is going to be acting on this or at least considering it. Um before your next meeting, I prepared a resolution memorializing your decision today so the board uh can advise the council of its action. I would ask that the board consider that resolution for adoption. Okay. Is there a motion to do so? Make a motion to second. Second. Any any discussion? Is that a voice or a roll call, please? Roll call. Mr. Rothman? Yes. Miss Bratzky? Yes. Yes. Mr. Manesh Patel. Yes. Miss Damiani. Yes. Mr. Slavichek. Yes. Mr. Weiner. Yes. Councilwoman

Cohen. Yes. Mayor's Representative Mr. Patel. Yes. Chairman Gaffrey. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Uh next item is any correspondence hearing? None. We'll move. Is there move to adjurnn? Is there a second? Second. All in favor? I I post. If we do this, it'll be the first time I've sat in a meeting that ended before 7:00. This could be a special moment. It's my 46th year. 46 years. Wow. All right.