MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING

 ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT OF THE BOROUGH OF MOUNTAIN LAKES

January 5, 2012

 

Vice Chair Chris Richter 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 (7:40), Dietz, Max, Abate, Richter, Cohen and Gallo

Absent: Rusak

Also Present:  Attorney Michael Sullivan

 

REORGANIZATION:  

Election of Chair – Mary Dietz made a motion to appoint Peter Bolo Chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment and Mark Cohen provided the second. Peter Bolo nominated Chris Richter as Chair. After a short discussion Chris Gallo made a motion to elect Chris Richter the Chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment and Arthur Max provided the second. The motion electing Mr. Richter was approved by all members voting in favor 7 to 0.

 Election of Vice Chair– Mark Cohen made a motion to appoint Peter Bolo Vice Chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment and Chris Richter provided the second. The motion was approved by all members voting in favor 7 to 0.

Appointment of the Board Attorney, Michael Sullivan,

Appointment of Secretary, Cynthia Shaw,

Re-adoption of the By-Laws,

Designation of Official Newspapers, The Citizen and The Daily Record, and Determination of the regular Meeting Dates as follows:

February 2, 2012                                  August 2, 2012

            March 1, 2012                                     September6, 2012

            April 5, 2012                                       October 4, 2012

            May 3, 2012                                        November 1, 2012

            June 7, 2012                                        December 6, 2012

            July 12, 2012                                       January 3, 2013

Mark Cohen made a motion to adopt the resolution naming the Attorney, Board Secretary, By-Laws, newspaper designations and meeting dates for the Zoning Board of Adjustment for the 2012 calendar year.  A second was provided Arthur Max. The resolutions were approved by a voice vote of all members.

 

REVIEW OF MINUTES:  Mary Dietz made a motion to approve the minutes from the December 8th meeting.  Mark Cohen provided the second; the minutes were approved by voice vote by all members.

 

MEMORIALIZING RESOLUTIONS:  

Alphesh Amin & Kirtida Rana                           App. 11-604

Arthur Max made a motion to adopt the resolution of approval; Mary Dietz seconded the motion.  The resolution was passed by a vote of 5 to 0 with members Bolo, Cohen, Dietz Max and Abate voting in favor.

 

Randy Sue Bender                                                        App. 11-606

Peter Bolo made a motion to adopt the resolution of approval; March Cohen seconded the motion.  The resolution was passed by a vote of 5 to 0 with members Bolo, Richter, Cohen, Max and Abate voting in favor.

 

            Richard W. Nelson                                                       App. 11-603

Peter Bolo made a motion to adopt the resolution of approval; Abate seconded the motion.  The resolution was passed by a vote of 6 to 0 with members Bolo, Richter, Cohen, Dietz, Max and Abate voting in favor.

 

PUBLIC HEARINGS: All Applicants and professionals were sworn in by Chair Chris Richter.

 

Carried Application:

THOMAS IZAGUIRRE                                             81 Crane Road

Blk. 115, Lot 18                                                         Appl. #12-608

FAR, Side, & ILC                                                      R-A zone

 

The Board Secretary received a request to carry the Izaguirre application until February 2, 2012. Peter Bolo made a motion to carry the application and Chris Gallo provided the second.  The motion was carried by a voice vote of all members present.

 

Carried from December 8, 2011

LOREN ISENBURG & GARY PERLER                    1 Hillcrest Road

            Blk. 95, Lot 36                                                 Appl. #11-605

            Side                                                                             R-A zone

 

Loren Isenburg and her husband Gary Perler would be presenting their own application. Exhibit A-1, a survey of the property draw by Lakeland Surveying, dated 10/18/10 which had been submitted to the Building Department, was presented to show the location of their air conditioning units. Loren Isenburg explained they had purchased the house with the units in the location they are now. The builder, Ted Peters, had received a CO from the town Building Department for the house.  After the closing Mr. Peters told the homeowner the units were in the setback and needed to be moved. He had obtained a permit to move them within the setback.  Loren Isenburg explained, once they started discussing the new location for the units they realized it would be a hardship for them to move them to the rear of the house.  They have already planted 5 evergreens to visually buffer the units and they would be willing to add additional screening. They did not feel they should have to move the units since they were not placed there by themselves.

Chris Richter explained the onus would be on the homeowner to comply with the setback ordinance. He asked they could place the units by the gas line. Loren Isenburg said she was told the unit could not be placed by the by the gas line. Mary Dietz asked if they could be installed under the deck. Gary Peler explained that was the access to their garage. Chris Richter did not understand how this happened.  The secretary explained Exhibit A-1 had been submitted as an as-built as part of the CO process. The Building Department did not catch the units in the setback. Mary Dietz asked if the units could go under the front porch. Loren Isenburg said the porch was masonry.

Arthur Max confirmed with the Attorney the Board had to look at this like any other application and could not consider the problems created by Mr. Peters. Peter Bolo asked about locating the units under the rear windows. He added this was new construction and no variances should be granted. Mark Cohen asked the applicant if Mr. Peters was willing to move these units. Mrs. Isenburg said the builder was willing to move and pay for them.

Mr. Richter asked if there were any questions from the public. Martha Connell, of 40 Darmouth Road, said she would be concerned if the units were moved to the other side of the house. If they were they would be viewed by her from her backyard. Ms. Isenburg said if they did not get their variance they could move the units to the front of the house but it would not be what the neighborhood would like. Mary Dietz commented it had been done before. Jules Stanisci, of 4 Littlewood Court, said he was not a neighbor but would like to remind the Board that the applicant would be willing to hide the units behind the shrubs.

Comments from the Board were as follows. Chris Richter said he was on the fence for this one. Mary Dietz thought a variance was not warranted. Ted Peters needs to solve their problem. The Board tries real hard not to give side yard setback variances. Chris Richter said the units could be located by the patio or under the windows. Arthur Max asked what they would do for screening.  Loren Isenburg said there were 5 evergreens on the property line and they would be willing to add additional shrubs around the units. Peter Bolo said he thought the builder knew better, it was hard for him to approve this. Michael Sullivan said, we cannot take into account the builder, the Board has to look at this application like they were anyone else coming for a variance.

Mary Dietz made a motion to deny the request for a side yard variance and a second was provided by Peter Bolo.  The Board voted 5- 2 to deny the application.  Voting in favor of the denial were members Bolo, Richter, Cohen, Dietz and Abate. Max and Gallo voted against the denial.

 

New Applications:

JEFFERY SCHMITT                                                 12 Craven Road

Blk. 118, Lot 4.06                                                      Appl. #12-607

FAR, ILC, & Side                                                      R-AA zone

 

Jeffery Schmitt, of 12 Crane Rd, and Rey Seneres, a licensed Architect in the state of NJ, presented the application. They asked to make a correction to the application.  The side yard setback numbers should be reversed, the existing dimension is 35.9 ft and the closest point to the property line is 22.36 ft. Chris Richter asked the Architect if he had included the deck in the ILC. The ILC could be less because the Borough did not include decks in ILC calculations.

Mr. Schmitt explained they had one child and one on the way. They would like to change the floor plan to put the bedrooms closer together. They were looking for ILC, FAR and side yard setback variances. Mary Dietz said if they removed 450 sq ft for the deck and redid the ILC calculation it would be 23.92% and no variance would be required. Michael Sullivan requested the applicant submit a new ILC calculation.

Chris Richter asked when the house was built. Jeff Schmitt said the house was built in 1984. He went on to say they were moving the master bedroom upstairs and creating a play area downstairs.  Mr. Richter asked why they needed to go out the side of the house and not the back. Jeff Schmitt said the property line on that side of the house was 123 feet away from his neighbor. There is a wooded area between us. Rey Seneres said the applicant would loose the backyard because the yard slopes down. Mary Dietz commented the variance would make both side yards non-conforming. Jeff Schmitt repeated the property drops off in the back dramatically. Mary Dietz commented the new bedroom were quite large. Mr. Schmitt said the bedrooms were not very wide at 10 ft. The Architect added if you make the area narrower you would loose the Jack and Jill bath. Peter Bolo asked what the applicant’s hardship for the FAR increase was. Jeff Schmitt said it was hard to come up with the hardship. Mr. Bolo commented the FAR request was very large especially for a newer home. Mark Cohen said it was almost a 40% increase in FAR, it would become a very large house on a small lot.

Mr. Richter asked if there were any questions from the public. Jules Stanisci, of 4 Littlewood Court, said he had no problem with the application but did not understand where the side yard setback would be. Mr. Schmitt showed him the setback.

Arthur Max said the FAR was a large request. Michael Sullivan said the FAR variance was a D4 variance and required 5 votes to pass. Chris Richter suggested they remove the cathedral ceiling and side yard setback. He thought they should rework the application. Pia Abate suggested the applicant bring pictures of his home and the backyard drops off. The applicant requested his application be carried to the March 1st meeting. Peter Bolo made the motion to carry the application and Arthur max provided the second.  The motion was carried by a voice vote of all members present.

 

Other Matters / Public Comment:

Peter Bolo asked if there were any comments from the public. Jules Stanisci, of 4 Littlewood Court, wanted to thank the Board for its service.

 

Annual Report – A motion to accept the report as written was made by Mark Cohen and a second was provided by Chris Richter. The motion was carried by a voice vote of all members present.

 

Peter Bolo made a motion to adjourn the meeting and March Cohen provided the second. The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 pm. 

                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

                                                                                                            Cynthia Shaw, Secretary