MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLANNING BOARD

OF THE BOROUGH OF MOUNTAIN LAKES

January 26, 2012

 

Vice Chair Jim Bailey read the Open Public Meeting Advertisement Notice adopted at the annual meeting on January 27, 2011:  Adequate notice of this meeting was given to the Citizen and the Daily Record, posted with the Borough Clerk and on the Bulletin Board and made available to all those requesting individual notice and paying the required fee.

 

ROLL CALL:

Members Present: Kane, Gormally, Tovo, Horan, Zamierowski, Bailey, DeVenezia, Happer (7:40) and Dagger

Also Present: Attorney Peter Henry, Engineer Bill Ryden

 

REORGANIZATION:  

Election of Chair – Martin Kane made a motion to nominate Jim Bailey Chair of the Planning Board; John Zamierowski provided the second. Mr. Bailey was elected by voice vote of all eligible voters.
Election of Vice Chair – Charles Gormally made a motion to nominate Martin Kane Vice Chair of the Planning Board; Tom Dagger provided the second. Mr. Kane was elected by voice vote of all eligible voters.

Appointment of the Board Attorney – Martin Kane made a motion to appoint Peter Henry of Dillon, Bitar, and Luther the Planning Board Attorney and John Zamierowski provided the second.  The motion was approved by an 8 to 0 roll call vote.

Appointment of Secretary – Charles Gormally made a motion to appoint Cynthia Shaw the Planning Board Secretary and Robert Tovo provided the second.  The motion was approved by an 8 to 0 roll call vote.

Appointment of Board Engineer – Tom Dagger made a motion to appoint Bill Ryden of Anderson and Denzler Assoc., Inc. the Planning Board Engineer and Martin Kane provided the second.  The motion was approved by an 8 to 0 roll call vote.

Designation of Official Newspapers – Charles Gormally made a motion to designate The Citizen and The Daily Record the official newspapers for the Board, John Horan provided the second.  The motion was approved by an 8 to 0 roll call vote.

Determination of Meeting Dates – Charles Gormally made a motion to accept the proposed meeting dates for the Planning Board, Robert Tovo provided the second. A voice vote of all eligible members approved the following dates.

                        February 23, 2012                              August 23, 2012

                        March 22, 2012                                   September 27, 2012

                        April 26, 2012                                     October 25, 2012

                        May 24, 2012                                      November 15, 2012

                        June 28, 2012                                      December 20, 2012

                        July 26, 2012                                       January 24, 2013

Re-adoption of By-Laws –Martin Kane made a motion to readopt the By-Laws of the Planning Board and John Zamierowski provided the second. A voice vote approved the adoption of the by-laws.

 

REVIEW OF MINUTES: Martin Kane made a motion to adopt the minutes of the December 15th meeting with a correction. Robert Tovo provided the second; the minutes were approved by voice vote of all eligible voters.

 

RESOLUTIONS: none

 

PUBLIC HEARING:  none

 

INFORMAL REVIEW:

Jim Bailey commented the Board had not had an informal review in a while and asked the Attorney to explain the informal review process.

Peter Henry explained the Board could freely discuss the site plan made available by the applicant but they should not discuss anything that would require variance relief. This could be a problem in the future if the Board was asked to vote on that variance. He also reminded everyone the discussion was not binding to the Board or to the applicant.

 

The Villa           90 Route 46     Block 4, Lot 20

 

Gerald Frungillo, 319 Woodland Road, Madison NJ, was here to present the informal review. Recently he had been brain storming ways to increase business at his Mountain Lakes facility. The family has two other catering businesses with rooms available for overnight guests. Those establishments are doing much better than their other facilities. He would like to add a second floor for guest rooms and convert existing banquet space into a restaurant at The Villa. They were looking to have more upscale guest rooms than the other three hotels in the area.

Martin Kane asked if Mr. Frungillo saw this as a full service hotel with banquet facilities. He said yes, they were also looking to attract corporate business during the week. They really did not want to have an 80 seat restaurant but thought they would need to have one. Mr. Kane then asked if the restaurant would be open to the public when you were having a wedding, yes it would.  To implement this plan they would be giving up some of their banquet rooms.  Charlie Gormally asked how the changes would affect parking. Gerry Frungillo explained they had trouble with cars spilling onto the highway when they first opened but they went to valet parking to solve the problem.  Jim Bailey mentioned The Villa had a lease to use the parking lot next door.  The Villa did not resign that lease; they now park their employee’s cars at the lumber yard.  Nick DeVenezia asked if their current business was still viable without the changes they were proposing. Mr. Frungillo said the existing business was fine but they would be chugging along until the economy approved.

Peter Henry asked for a clarification, did The Villa do only one wedding per day or one at a time. The Villa did two per day, one at a time with 2 hours in between each event. John Zamierowski asked, after the renovation, would you still require valet parking for a wedding, yes they would. Charles Gormally asked if the two stories covered the entire building. Mr. Frungillo said the second story would only be on the lumber yard side. Mr. Gormally asked why they were not considering adding a second story over the whole building. They did not want to add a second story over the kitchens. Tom Dagger asked if Mr. Frungillo was aware of any variance. He was not.  Bill Ryden thought they may need a side yard variance on the lumber yard side.

Martin Kane asked the Attorney, can we restrict The Villa to only valet parking. Peter Henry said the Board could make that a condition. Robert Tovo thought the Board could make the restriction based on the number of guests attending an event. Mr. Gormally asked if the renovation would change the occupancy rating of the building. Peter Henry said that would change with the final submitted plan. Robert Tovo said The Villa had a gravel area that they park on, could that be paved.  Gerry Frungillo said they could not pave the gravel area because it belongs to the railroads. Charlie Gormally asked when they would be doing this project. Mr. Frungillo had no idea.

Mr. Gormally thought the concept was fantastic. Nick DeVenezia was comfortable with their plans based on the experience they had in their other places. Robert Tovo said a hotel has been discussed several times over the years.  It is better to have people in the building all the time and this is a great way to handle DWI issues. Nick DeVenezia asked if there would be additional staff. There would be but just for the cleaning of the rooms.

In closing Gerry Frungillo added The Villa would like to add outdoor space. They wanted to relocate the driveway exiting the property to expand the green space and increase their ability for outdoor use.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Master Plan

Jim Bailey said the Master plan was on hold until we find an official Planner.

 

Planner

John Zamierowski updated the Board; the committee was looking at 6 potential Planners. They have interviewed 3 candidates already and would be doing the rest next week. When they narrowed down the list did the Board want to hear from the candidates? Charlie Gormally said if the committee had someone they liked that would be fine. If they had more than that we could have the prospective candidates come to the meeting and make a presentation. John Zamierowski said after they finish the interviews they would ask for references.

 

Other Business

The Board secretary mentioned the need to realign the sub committees. She will send the current list to Jim Bailey to review.  The Board is still in need of one more alternate.

 

Charlie Gormally made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The Board adjourned at 8:30 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

                                                                                    Cynthia Shaw, Secretary