MINUTES
OF THE
TOWNSHIP
OF
MENDHAM
PLANNING BOARD
WORK SHOP MEETING HELD
DECEMBER 5, 2005
Chairman Giordano called the meeting to order at
7:32 p.m.
and asked for roll call. Upon roll
call:
ROLL CALL
PRESENT:
Mr. Tolley, Mayor Krieg, Mr. Pierson, Mrs. Link, Mr. Mountain, Chairman Giordano
ABSENT:
Mr. D’Emidio
Others present:
Tom Lemanowicz, P.E., John Aubin. Environmentalist, Ed Buzak, Esq.,
Duggan Kimball, P.P.
The
Chairman led the flag salute and announced that adequate notice of the meeting
had been given.
WAIVERS FOR COMPLETENESS ONLY
PB-05-03;
CANNAVO, Michael E./Simava, LLC; Minor Subdivision with Bulk Variance;
Block 130, Lot 6; 25 Cold Hill Road; Mr. Lemanowicz recommended that the
waivers be granted so the application could proceed.
Mr. Buzak said the property did not have access through its frontage and
said the applicant should seek a Planning Variance so the lot would abut the
street giving access and to allow issuance of a permit for emergency vehicle
access.
The
application was deemed complete and was scheduled to appear
December 21, 2005
.
APPLICATIONS
PB-05-04;
MILLWARD, Andrew and Melissa; Minor Subdivision; Block 124, Lots 6, 7, & 8; Application was carried to the next meeting without need for further
notice.
PB-05-01;
MARTIRANO, Michael and Vita/GREEN VIEW ESTATES; Preliminary Major Subdivision;
Block 123, Lot Nos. 24, 25, 33, 34, 36 Mendham Twp; Block 227, Lot No. 72
Randolph Twp; John Wyciskala, Esq. represented the applicant.
The application was deemed complete at the
October 25, 2005
, TRC
meeting. Mr. Wyciskala gave an
overview of the five-lot subdivision; one lot with an existing house plus four
new lots. The property was located
in two municipalities, Mendham and
Randolph
Townships
, and
had steep slopes. The small
Randolph
portion would be merged with one of the building lots in Mendham.
He said the application requested two design waivers.
The proposed stormwater management complied with the Township’s
Ordinances and RSIS Standards; the calculations would be revised and
resubmitted.
The
two witnesses and professionals were sworn.
Russ Roman,
Flanders
, Gregg Villa, Yannacone
Villa,
Chester
,
NJ
.
Chairman Giordano opened the meeting to the public to allow questions
regarding the professionals’ credentials, hearing none they were accepted as
experts in their fields.
Mr.
Villa submitted Exh. A-1 through A-28, Green View Estates, dated
September 14, 2005
,
exhibit numbers to correspond with the numbered sheets of the plan.
He then submitted Exh. A-29, Sheet 1 of 1, a color rendering of the
overall site dated
December 5, 2005
.
He said the existing lot would be reconfigured around the existing home
and 21 of the 25 acres were located in Mendham.
The property, R-3 Zone, consisted of moderate to steep slopes along the
municipal boundaries and contained good sandy loam soils.
He said category 1 streams were located on the adjacent property and
the 300-foot buffer did not extend into the site.
He said the cul-de-sac would be extended to give proper frontage to the
new lots.
Mr.
Lemanowicz reviewed his report dated
December 5, 2005
; which addressed the addition of a
stop sign, the shape of the extension of the right-of-way into
Tanager
Lane
, the 100 foot by 100 foot
triangular piece of property that was not connected to any lot.
The applicant was told that the Township did not want the property.
The applicant would continue to speak with an adjoining neighbor about
the property. Mr. Lemanowicz said
the right-of-way should be 50 foot, recommended adding a guardrail, said the
proposed stormwater management system would overload the existing
Tanager
Lane
system and discussed changes.
The State required a system check after each storm exceeding one inch.
Mr. Buzak discussed requirements for the Maintenance Agreements and
Performance Guarantee that the developer was responsible for.
Mr. Lemanowicz said the regulations were new and a special
assessment to cover the annual cost of maintenance of the system would be
needed.
Mr.
Wyciskala said they had submitted the necessary applications to various
agencies, had already received approval from the Board of Health and Morris
County Planning Board and were waiting for The Soil Conservation and the
NJDEP’s determination.
Mr.
Villa addressed drainage on Tanager and how the existing properties would be
affected. He said the runoff would
run into swales, and did not feel that any neighbors would be affected.
To
ascertain that there was not a conflict of interest, Chairman Giordano asked Mr. Villa
about being hired by an opponent to SAJ and his testimony in opposition in the
SAJ matter. Mr. Villa said he was
hired by an opponent because he did not know the appropriate design and access
through SAJ.
Mrs. Link referred to Sheet 6
and asked about the 41% disturbance increase in the 10-15% category and the 59%
increase in the 15-25% category. She
said granting these steep slope waivers were inconsistent with the Master Plan
and wanted the hardship justified if the steep slope waivers were to be granted.
Mr.
Villa said physical configuration of the site was a hardship and he could not
comply with the Ordinance. He felt
the site was improved by enhancing the drainage.
There
was concern about detention basin #2: it’s
size, safety, maintenance, access to and damage that could occur when accessing
during maintenance which was through one of the lot’s driveways.
Mr. Lemanowicz said the Maintenance Agreement would address the
upkeep and maintenance. Mr. Villa
said an open basin could be used instead. Mr.
Wyciskala said he would discuss this issue with the engineers.
Further
discussion continued over the dimensions of the house, size of lots, tax
obligations within two municipalities (the governing body of each district could
pass a resolution regarding the control of buildings and land), individual lot
disturbance allowed and the possibility of shifting the easement off the
boundary of Randolph.
Mr. Kimball reviewed his report,
which addressed Ordinance issues and the waiver request.
He said the Ordinance was unclear when counting land from another zoning
district or municipality, or when calculating floor area ratio.
He said if standards in either of the Townships were not met a hardship
would result. It would be the
Building Inspector’s determination if the request would need to go before the
Zoning Board.
Mr. Wyciskala said they would
agree to a reasonable restriction waiver and the restriction on the sizes of
homes. The Board was concerned that
excess disturbance not used on one lot could be added to another lot.
Mr. Aubin said the amount of disturbance for each lot would be locked in
at this point and suggested that the footprint shown on the plan should be the
maximum allowed.
Mr.
Kimball suggested a redesign of the road to reflect the Township’s character,
and pointed out the problem having the detention basin #2 access through the
driveway since the location of the driveway could change.
Mr. Villa and Mr. Kimball would discuss this further.
Mr.
Aubin reviewed his report. He said
to avoid underground detention basins, did not agree with the location of
detention basin #2 and discussed water discharge into Category 1 streams.
Mr. Wyciskala said the EIS dated September 13, 2005 would be revised and
resubmitted.
Motion was made to open the meeting
to the public; all agreed.
Steven Winters, 1 Tanager Lane,
said he read through the Master Plan and felt the design ignored it and did not
consider the preservation of steep slopes, conservation, and was concerned about
the requested waivers.
Adelio
Campos, Tanager Lane, was unhappy with SAJ and the runoff from their property.
He questioned the differences of the plans and how they would be better
and what would be best for the environment.
Motion
to close the meeting to the public by Mr. Pierson, seconded by Mr. Mountain, all
agreed.
Mr.
Tolley asked if there were some way to reconfigure the roads coming in.
Chairman
Giordano said the application would be placed on the January 18 agenda; deadline
extended to March 6, 2006.
DISCUSSION
The
Board discussed inspections of the SAJ property and other issues with the
property.
Motion
to adjourn the meeting at 11:12 p.m. made by Mr. Pierson, seconded by Mayor
Krieg; all agreed.
Respectfully submitted,
MaryAnne Gruszecki
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