MINUTES OF THE
TOWNSHIP
OF
MENDHAM
PLANNING BOARD
REGULAR MEETING HELD MAY 17, 2006
Chairman Giordano called the meeting to order at 7:44
p.m. and asked for roll call. Upon
roll call:
PRESENT:
Mr. Tolley, Mayor Krieg, Mr. Pierson, Mrs. Link, Mr. Mountain, Mr. D’Emidio,
Mr. Johnson, Chairman Giordano
ABSENT:
None
Others present:
John Aubin, Environmentalist, Edward J. Buzak, Esq., Duggan Kimball,
P.P., Tom Lemanowicz, P.E.
The
Chairman led the flag salute and announced that adequate notice of the meeting
had been given.
MINUTES
Motion
to approve the Minutes of April 3, 2006, Work Shop meeting made by Mrs. Link,
seconded by Mr. Mountain; all eligible to vote agreed.
ORDINANCES
The
Board found that Ordinance 17-2006 was not inconsistent with the Master Plan and
recommended to support its adoption. Motion
made by Mr. Tolley, seconded by Mrs. Link to forward the Board’s
recommendation to the Township Committee. Upon
roll call vote:
AYES:
Mr. Tolley, Mayor Krieg, Mr. Pierson, Mrs. Link, Mr. Mountain, Mr.
D’Emidio,
Chairman
Giordano
NAYS:
None
ABSENT:
None
ABSTENTIONS: None.
Motion carried.
The
Board found that Ordinance 14-2006 was not inconsistent with the Master Plan and
recommended to support its adoption. Motion
made by Mrs. Link, seconded by Mr. D’Emidio to forward the Board’s
recommendation to the Township Committee. Upon
roll call vote:
AYES:
Mr. Tolley, Mayor Krieg, Mr. Pierson, Mrs. Link, Mr. Mountain, Mr.
D’Emidio,
Chairman
Giordano
NAYS:
None
ABSENT:
None
ABSTENTIONS: None.
Motion carried.
RESOLUTION
PB-05-04; Millward, Andrew and Melissa; Minor
Subdivision; Block 124, Lots 6, 7, & 8;
Mr. Buzak reviewed the resolution and made changes as directed by the
Board. The applicant’s attorney
submitted additional changes in a letter dated May 17, 2006, which were reviewed
and were incorporated into the resolution. Mr.
Lemanowicz said the applicant felt that the stormwater management regulations
did not apply but would adhere to them.
Motion to approve the resolution made by Mr. Tolley, seconded
by Mr. Pierson. Upon roll call vote:
AYES:
Mr. Tolley, Mayor Krieg, Mr. Pierson, Mr. Mountain
NAYS:
Mrs. Link, Mr. D’Emidio, Chairman Giordano
ABSENT:
None
ABSTENTIONS: None.
Motion carried.
APPLICATION
PB-05-03; Cannavo,
Michael E./Simava, LLC; Minor Subdivision with Bulk Variance; Block 130,
Lot 6; 25 Cold Hill Road; Mr.
Tolley recused himself from the application.
Vincent J. Bisogno, attorney for the applicant, summarized the
application. The applicant received
the LOI, the Averaging Plan and General Permit #6 on May 10, 2006, which the
Board and professional had not seen. Mr.
Aubin said his report dated April 13, 2006 addressed the encroachment into
the 25-foot conservation easement during the construction phase.
Sheet 4 of 10 showed the limit of disturbance on the conservation
easement; the snow-fencing needs to be placed at the conservation easement line.
Mr. Villa said he was subject to a Lot Development Plan and felt he could
shift everything away from the easement. Mr.
Lemanowicz said the property would be inspected during construction to make sure
the fence was not crossed. Mr.
Kimball reviewed his report, dated April 14, 2006, which referenced the
requested C variances for net building envelop (“NBE”), minimum contiguous
net building envelope area (MCNBEA”) and minimum building envelope circle (“MBEC”)
and required adequate access to the lot. He
said the application showed that the positive planning benefits outweighed the
detriments, which were associated with the new driveway configuration and the
negative criteria would present no substantial detriment.
Mr. Buzak determined that the plan violated the statute because it was a
newly created lot that did not have frontage on the street to give access to the
lot and used the common driveway. The
Board would have to determine that the access was safe.
The
actual number of required variances could not be determined and ranged from
three to six. Mr. Lemonowicz said it
depended on the NBE determination and what was and was not excluded (lot
geometry circle (“LGC”) depending on required transition area, issues with
NBEA, MCNBEA and MBEC). Mr. Buzak
said it would rely on how the lot was developed.
Mrs. Link was concerned with the negative criteria since the property
bordered the Cold Hill Reserve and the headwaters of the Whippany River.
Stormwater management would protect the wetlands on the hill below but
there was concern during the construction phase and removal of 100 hundred
trees, which created a negative impact on the Township’s open space.
Mr.
Bisogno said the application proposed what had already existed two houses and
one driveway. He said he wanted the
give the applicant the opportunity to build a new home, the Township Engineer
would oversee the construction process and his neighbors were not present to
oppose the application. Mr. Pierson
said a lot of trees would be removed and one of the existing houses would be
replaced with a mega mansion.
Motion
to open to the meeting to the public made by Mr. Pierson, seconded by Mayor
Krieg. There being no comment,
motion to close the meeting to the public made by Mr. Pierson, seconded by Mayor
Krieg.
Chairman
Giordano restated the proposed application; Mr. Buzak said there were either
four or seven variances. Mr. Bisogno
said two preexisting conditions, one variance for lot not having direct access,
the proposal complied with the NBE unless CBA was taken out (which had been
credited by the DEP), the front lot, the NBEAC and the CBA, equaled five
variances, but Mr. Kimball had calculated four variances.
Mr. Bisogno said the new lot should have appropriate geometrics and Lot 6
was already developed. Mr. Kimball
disagreed because it was not the same lot as it was before and any lot that
remained after a subdivision required enough suitable land for both the new and
the remaining lands. Mr. D’Emidio
said the latest plans would need to be revised to show the averaging plan as
approved by the DEP.
Mr.
D’Emidio made a motion to authorize Mr. Buzak to draft a resolution to approve
the application and to authorize the four variances required (at least one
planning variance and three on the envelopes), seconded by Mr. Mountain.
Upon roll call vote:
AYES:
Mr. Mountain, Mr. D’Emidio, Chairman Giordano
NAYS:
Mayor Krieg, Mr. Pierson, Mrs. Link
ABSENT:
None
ABSTENTIONS: None.
The motion resulted in a tie.
Mr. Johnson was directed to listen to the tapes of the testimonies held
on December 21, 2006, March 15, 2006 and April 16, 2006.
The application was carried to the July 5, 2006, Work Shop meeting where
a second vote would be taken to break the tie.
The deadline was respectfully extended to July 30, 2006.
Mr. Tolley rejoined the Board.
Mr. Mountain recused himself from the following discussion.
SCHIFF HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION ISSUES
Schiff appeared before the Board to receive
approval for a material amendment to the Open Space Management Plan.
The matter was referred from the Township Committee to the Planning Board
to determine how the amendment would impact Brookrace Drive, a previously
private road, paving the road and creating an alternate egress making the drive
one-way. The changes had already
occurred on the property and members of the Brookrace Homeowners Associstion
were concerned about its impact. Michael
Catania, President of Schiff, Tanya Bisignano and Jon Wagar, both
Steward for Schiff and resided on the property were sworn.
Jim Julian, Brookrace Homeowners Association, and their attorney, Nancy Gage,
were present.
Mr. Catania presented Ex. A-1, the events held
at Schiff and Ex A-2, a map of the Schiff National Trust property.
He said there were numerous complaints from Mendham residents and users
of Schiff about the narrowness and safety of the road.
He had contacted Steve Mountain and received a verbal opinion from Roger
Clapp, Township Attorney, regarding repaving sections of the road, and then
proceeded to change the access to the property by creating a one way from Mt.
Pleasant with an egress onto Brookrace Drive, which was now a public street.
Ms. Bisignano gave a presentation of the Schiff Organization and
their programs, meetings, and usage of the property.
The majority of the programs are held during the day while some programs
were held in the evening, other groups also had evening meetings.
She said there were a variety of species on the premises and controlled
burnings were performed to contain fire hazards.
Mr. Catania said the two stone pillars at
the entrance were less than 16 foot apart. He
had approached Brookrace Homeowner’s Assocation (“BHA”) about creating a
vegetative buffer strip along the driveway for screening and advised them that
they would participate financially, but had not received a response to the
offer. The BHA had contacted Mr.
Mountain about their concerns and Mr. Catania decided to appear before the
Planning Board for formal approval. He
requested that the phrase “from time to time Schiff has public meetings at
night” be documented. Mr. Wagar
had used GIS to estimate footage, sight distance and the estimation of trips for
staff and visitors to show a driveway usage breakout.
Mr. Catania said the one-way driveway had been in effect since July 2005.
Mr. D’Emidio said he had chaired the application and said there was a
ten-foot strip around the whole development that could not be crossed by either
owner. Mr. Tolley asked how the
driveway was determined to be unsafe, how approval was received, asked if a
limited access was converted into a main access on the Schiff property and
wanted to know if alternatives were considered.
Mr. Catania said he and Ralph Rhodes, Schiff Board member, looked at the
possibility of two-way traffic and said drastic cut and fill would be required
in some areas and there was poor sight distance out to Roxiticus Road.
The Conservation Easement stated you cannot build new roads but must
maintain and use the existing roads, changes to the document could only be made
by the Commission of Environmental Protection.
He said
the school bus stopped outside Chamberlain Road, the fire trucks accessed the
property through the access road during controlled burnings and through North
Gate Drive, was not sure of accuracy when calculating actual trips of usage, and
said a small parking area was planned for the base of the driveway.
Mr. Lemanowicz said the RSIS Standards stated 10.1 trips per day per
residential which was substantially higher than the testimony given.
The meeting
was opened to the public
Eric Stiles,
51 Hardscrabble Road, questioned the equipment and program used for GIS.
Terrill
Doyle, 10 Crossway, questioned the RSIS trips per day and said it would be half
because it was only one way.
Chairman
Giordano asked if the design of the driveway impacted the road and questioned
the difference in number of trips per day from four to ten.
Ms. Gage
questioned the list of activities, number of people attending, said evening
activities were not listed, asked if there were any accidents, how the stop sign
was policed, questioned how many car trips during the summer programs, asked if
an engineer was consulted, if drainage was considered and if paving encroached
on the “no fly zone” buffer. She
was told there were approximately 30 participants for each activity and
carpooling was used, the stop sign was merely an advisory.
During some of the programs parents would drop off the children and then
return for pick up. She was told
that Ralph Roades was an engineer, had input from Dave Reid, Township DPW and
used a survey. She asked how many
times Mr. Catania met with the neighbor, he said they met on the neighbor’s
property.
Mr. Buzak
asked if the paving was wider than the original roadway.
Mr. Catania said the roadway was wider than the paving, and the only
exception was the road coming out of the back parking lot where the contractor
had widened the pavement.
Chairman
Giordano questioned the deletion of the wording “this will also be the main
access to the two steward cottages.”
Chris
Pechmann, 12 Brookrace Drive, asked about overflow from the parking lot, if cars
parked on the easement, who mowed the trail, when was the chain by the gate put
in and who used the road.
Michael
Marais, 10 Brookrace, said the membership manual stated that it was supposed to
be closed dusk until dawn, asked if Schiff complied, questioned the gate being
open, and if stewards were always on premises.
He was told there were occasional meetings at night and if the stewards
were going to be off the premises coverage arrangements were made.
Chris
Spathakis, 6 Brookrace Drive, asked if the statement ”this is our land and we
can do what we want with it” was made to any of the residents.
The Board
took a break at 10:33 p.m. The
meeting started again at 10:43 p.m.
Mr. Tolley
was concerned and wanted to discuss the evening usage issue further.
Jim Julian,
president BHA, and Mr. Spathakis, vice president and affected homeowner were
sworn. Mr. Julian said Schiff was a
park in a residential zone and the originally approved traffic patterns had
changed and felt a traffic expert should be consulted for its safety.
He said the Management Plan could be amended if it was not in conflict
with the Conservation Easement and if the bikeway was existing, it was not on
the plan prior to approval. He said
Schiff owned to the gate, the Township controlled from the gate to the curb
line, and the right-of-way involved changing the road.
He said it was a new use on what used to be a Boy Scout camp.
He felt these changes needed to be submitted through the Board through an
actual application. Some homeowners
concerns were: the drainage which
now flowed across the driveway since the paving, safety and the nuisance that
had been created.
Mrs. Gage
said Mr. Morator, Mr. Gumbrick, Mr. Peckman, Michael Morray, were homeowners
adjacent to the property who would testify about the impact on their property,
each were sworn.
Robert
Murator, 2 Brookrace Drive, said his property was affected and was concerned
about the public access which had been a maintenance access, about the
additional impervious surface, was concerned for the safety of his family and
felt that permission was asked after the job was done.
He said homeowners were not notified that the road would be paved, was
concerned about the value of his property, expansion of current programs, which
would create more traffic. He felt
it could not be taken care of by only adding dirt and screening, felt the
property should be locked at night and available only during the summer.
Mr. Julian
said there was communication with Schiff prior to the documents surfacing and
then they stopped talking and he was advised to let someone else to communicate
with Mr. Catania. He said he did not
know that the easement could not be crossed, he said they would cooperate and
wanted to pursue a solution.
Mayor Krieg
asked if Schiff could satisfy the concerns with landscaping and speed bumps.
Mr.
Spathakis said the road should not be open until an approval was reached.
Ms. Gage said there were other problems with the road that impacted
adjoining property owners that would not be rectified by creating a buffer.
Mr. Buzak asked if there was any area on property that could block the
view of roadway.
Mr. Julian
said the BHA had sent a letter to the Township but had not taken a vote.
Mr. Catania said the person who is a Board Member for both the BHA and
Schiff had not been notified of the meeting held early January.
Mr. Julian said to the best of his knowledge the member was notified.
Mr. Morais,
10 Brookrace Drive, was concerned about headlights shining directly into his
home and those of Chamberlain Village. He
said there were approximately 50 cars a day and 20 cars within an hour.
He had found beer cans, said it was nuisance and felt there was never an
issue when it was a trail. He had
water in his basement, was concerned because the changes were made without
coming to the township, felt his property value would go down, and was concerned
because he was not notified about controlled burnings.
Mr. Tolley
said he would like to see the plans. Mr.
Juilian said the map he had from town hall showed a biking and bridle trail.
Mr. Buzak
aksed if landacaping from resident’s backyard to the buffer area would
mitigate the impact of the road. Mr.
Morais said landscaping would be a bandaid.
The
discussion was carried to the July 5, 2006 meeting.
Ms. Gage requested that the road be closed and gated during the waiting
of the decision. Mr. Spathakis
requested that a civil engineer testify before the Board about the road.
Mr. Pierson
asked that council review the Conservation Easement.
Mr. Cantania
said that Schiff had contacted the Township and its attorney and they were
voluntarily before the Board now because the neighbors were concerned and felt
he was working within the documents that had been created.
He said they would abide by the Board’s decision.
He said Brookrace was now a public road and the Township was responsible
for its paving. Ms. Gage said
that the road was not approved in the Open Space Plan.
Mr. Catania said access was prohibited when Brookrace was a private road,
but now it was public. Mr. Buzak
said the Planning Board did not have jurisdiction to close a road, and the
matter would have to be go back before the Township Committee.
The meeting
was opened to the public. There
being no comment, the meeting was respectfully closed to the public.
Motion to
adjourn the meeting at 12:14 a.m. was made by Mayor Krieg, and seconded, all
agreed.
Respectfully submitted,
MaryAnne Gruszecki
Planning Board Secretary
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