MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING
ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT OF THE BOROUGH OF MOUNTAIN LAKES
October 6, 2011
Chair Peter Bolo called the meeting to order and announced: Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act by adoption of the annual notice on January 6, 2011. Said resolution was mailed to The Citizen and The Morris County Daily Record and by filing the same with the Borough Clerk on January 10, 2011 and was made available to all those requesting individual notice and paying the required fee.
ROLL CALL:
Present: Bolo, Max, Cohen, Abate, Dietz, Richter, and Rusak
Absent: Willke and Gallo
Also Present: Attorney Michael Sullivan
REVIEW OF MINUTES: Chris Richter made a motion to approve the minutes from the September 1st meeting. Pat Rusak provided the second; the minutes were approved by voice vote by all members.
MEMORIALIZING RESOLUTIONS:
STUART & JUDITH KRISTIANSEN Appl. # 11-599
Pat Rusak made a motion to adopt the resolution of denial; Arthur Max seconded the motion. The resolution was passed by a vote of to 7 to 0 with members voting in favor.
PUBLIC HEARINGS: All Applicants and professionals were sworn in by Chair Peter Bolo.
Carried from September 1, 2011
SAINT CATHERINES CHURCH 10 North Pocono Road Blk. 19, Lot 1 Appl. # 11-600
Front Yard, Sign R-A zone
Pia Abate and Peter Bolo recused themselves from hearing the application because they are member of St. Catherine’s. Vice Chair Chris Richter presided over the application. Robyn Valle and Robert Long Jr., Attorneys in the state of New Jersey, Brad O’Conner of Signs for Today in Rockway, NJ and Reverend Peter Filipkowski of St Catherine’s Church would be presenting the application.
Robyn Valle told the Board they were looking for one 2 sided sign on Boulevard 15 ft from the curb and one on North Pocono Rd also 15 ft from the curb to mark the entrance to the church parking lot. Father Peter said there are no signs identifying the church which makes it difficult for people outside the community to find them. There are three driveways that are not all visible coming down North Pocono due to old growth trees planted 25 ft from the curb. The applicant is looking for a sign to be placed at the middle driveway. Michael Sullivan clarified that both of the signs are two sided and the larger sign would be on the Boulevard and the smaller sign would be on North Pocono.
Mary Dietz asked why the signs were in the right-of-way. Chris Richter explained to the applicant that the Board did not have the right to approve a sign in the right of way. Mr. Sullivan explained the applicant had two choices, one to amend the application to move the signs back onto church property or carry the application and make changes to it. The applicant decided they would amend the application to make the setback 0 feet for both the signs. There were no public questions for Father Peter.
Brad O’Conner of Signs for Today told the Board he was in sign industry for 17 years and has been before the board before. The sign on the Boulevard would be located in front of a building that was over 100 ft. in length on a property that was tree covered. We are trying to provide signage without remove any trees. The church is in residential zone R-A where signs are not allowed. A 40 sq ft sign would be appropriate for the size of the building. Business Zones A & B allow a 30 sq ft and 40 sq ft. sign respectively. The signs would not obstruct the view of oncoming traffic. Exhibit A-1 was a computer generated view of the sign on the Boulevard heading toward Rt.46. Mary Dietz said the sign was approximately 8ft x 6ft which was too high and appears to be more like a billboard. Brad O’Conner said the sign was 5ft high and 3ft off the ground and would be surrounded by small bushes. Chris Richter stated the size of the letters on the sign should be based on the speed of the traffic. He asked Mr. O’Connor if he had consulted the chart to determine the size the letters should be for 35 mile per hour. Mr. O’Connor did not put much faith in the chart.
Exhibit A-2 was a sign approximately 30 sq ft created for St Francis located down the street. Robyn Valle asked Mr. O’Connor if the proposed sign could be reduced to 30 sq ft. He felt the sign would work at 30 sq ft. but a smaller sign would not work for those traveling on the Boulevard. Robert Long asked if the Church could amend their application to have the sign 30 sq ft. in the same shape they have depicted. The sign design would fit in a box 30 sq ft. The peak of the sign would be 4 ft. tall and post to post the sign would be 7.5 ft wide and a total height of 7.5 ft from the ground.
Chris Richter asked why the Church did not consider a corner sign. Brad O’Connor explained the ground was not stable at the corner. The applicant wished to light the sign from the ground. They wanted the light to wash the sign so it did not disturb the traffic. Chris Richter told the Board there was flush mounted ground lighting that would shielded the light from the drivers view. He suggested there be one light on each side of the Boulevard sign. Mark Cohen asked if the fire department would have issues with the location of the sign. The Board thought the Board could put in resolution a requirement that the sign would not interfere with the hydrant on the Boulevard.
Exhibit A-3 was a directional sign for the center entrance on North Pocono Rd. The sign would be 5 sq ft. and not lit. Robyn Valle said the sign would promote public safety. The Board had no questions about the smaller direction sign on N. Pocono.
The Vice Chair asked if there were any questions or comments from the public. George Jackson, of 131 Laurel Hill Road, supported the St. Catherine’s signs. He mentioned the Borough Hall and Police signs were not 30 sq ft. and people could see them. He would prefer something more subdued.
Chris Richter then asked if the Board had any comments for the applicant. Pat Rusak did not like the large size and color bright. Arthur Max was fine with the color. Chris Richter was fine with the N. Pocono sign but both signs needed to be set back 10 ft as required in the business zones A & B. He recommend limited pruning of the trees, the trees will eventually die but the sign will stay. He was concerned about the sign on the Boulevard, it’s too large. Robyn Ville was concerned the combination of a smaller sign and moving it back 10 ft will be detrimental. She thought the Church could do one or the other or possibly move the signs back 5 ft from the property line. Chris Richter reminded the applicant that signs were not allowed in this zone. He confirmed the Board was ok with the sign on Pocono Rd at a zero lot line and 5 ft square. Robert Long said the Church could change the color of the sign to match St. Francis’s. Mary Dietz said I think we need to think about the scale. Robert Long said the more we make the sign smaller the more we move it back the harder the sign would be to see. Brad O’Connor said he thought he could make sign 25 sq ft. not to exceed 7 ft in height.
Chris Richter requested that the applicant verify the property line since the site plan submitted was from 1985. Mary Deitz was concerned with approving a sign without the science to backup the Boards decision. We do not have the correct sight distance for the road speed. Mark Cohen felt there were a lot of open items such as the fire department, a survey, and sign size. He agreed that the application was incomplete. Brad O’Conner said the chart that is use to determine letter height is worthless because it does not take into account the letter style, color etc. Arthur Max, Chris Richter, and Pat Rusak were fine with the compromises the church had made. Mark Cohen and Mary Dietz were having trouble with the incomplete information in the application.
Robert Long amended the church application to change the color of the sign to the color of the St. Francis sign; the Boulevard sign would now be a total of 25 sq ft, 4 ft high x 6 ft. wide and 7 ft tall from the existing grade. The sign would be installed on the property line. The N. Pocono sign would be installed on the property line and 5 sq ft sign in size.
Michael Sullivan repeated the conditions of the resolution: zero set back for both signs, the N. Pocono sign would not exceed 5 sq. ft. the Boulevard sign would not exceed 25 sq ft, the applicant must provide proof of the right of way, the sign color will be changed to burgundy, the sign location in relation to the hydrant will be approved by the fire department and the sign on the Boulevard will be the only illuminated sign.
The vice chair asked if there were any additional comments from the public. George Jackson still thought the sign at 7ft tall sounded high.
Arthur Max made a motion to approve the application as amended, Pat Rusak provided the second. The application was approved by a vote of to 5 to 0 with members Chris Richter, Mark Cohen, Mary Dietz, Arthur Max and Pia Abate voting in favor
New Application:
MAHESH & DEEPTI HARPALE 18 Vale Road
BLK. 127.02, Lot 8 Appl. #11-601
Front Yard Setback, ILC R-2 zone
Richard Nelson a licensed Architect in the state of New Jersey presented the application. The Harpale’s will be moving into this house on the 15 of this month. They are looking to take the three bedrooms they have right now and reconfiguring the 1st and 2nd floor to wind up with 4 bedrooms. There will now be one bedroom on the 1st floor and 3 on the 2nd. They will be adding a few feet to the garage for storage and creating access to the house. Lastly they will be moving the front entrance and covering it.
Rick Nelson said the applicant was looking for 2 variances. One for an ILC of 28.25 % where 25% is allowed and an average front yard setback of 42.75 ft where 30 ft is required by ordinance. Exhibit A – 1 was a colorized version of the site plan already submitted. Exhibit A-2 was a colorized version of the proposed site plan enlarged. The front stairs are triggering the need for the front yard setback variance. Exhibit A-3 was the proposed 1st floor colorized. Exhibit A-4 was the proposed second floor colorized. Exhibit A-5 was the colorized front elevation. They have tried to make the house look like a story and a half in height but it would be 2 stories. They are changing the exterior to of the house to stucco and stone so it looks more like a Hapgood.
The Chair asked if there were any questions of comments from the Board. Mary Dietz confirmed the applicant was not increasing any of the non-conformances. Rick Nelson confirmed that was correct. Pia Abate confirmed the house was not getting wider, the steps were coming forward and they were widening the garage that was correct. Chris Richter confirmed the measurement from the property line was 27.9 ft to the front step.
There were no questions from the public.
Peter Bolo asked if there were any comments from the Board. Mark Cohen thought it was a great application. Pia Abate thought it was quite beautiful. Mary Dietz and Chris Richter thought it was a nice plan. Peter Bolo said it would be a nice improvement to the neighborhood.
Mary Dietz made a motion to approve the application as presented, Pia Abate provided the second. The application was approved by a vote of to 7 to 0 with members Peter Bolo, Pia Abate, Chris Richter, Mark Cohen, Mary Dietz, Arthur Max and Pia Abate voting in favor.
Other Matters / Public Comment:
The Board continued working on revising its application. They voted to approve the changes that were made. A motion was made by Mark Cohen and a second provided by Chris Richter to accept the changes. The revisions to the application were approved by voice vote by all members.
In other business Mr. Willke will be leaving the Board at the end of his term. Peter Bolo asked the members to think of people that would work well with the Board and email ideas to him.
Peter Bolo asked if there were any comments from the public, no one was present from the public.
Mark Cohen made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Arthur Max provided the second. The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Cynthia Shaw, Secretary