MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLANNING BOARD

OF THE BOROUGH OF MOUNTAIN LAKES

January 30, 2014

 

Chair Jim Bailey read the Open Public Meeting Advertisement Notice adopted at the annual meeting on January 24, 2013:  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.

 

Start: 7:33 PM

 

ROLL CALL:

Members Present: Tovo, Bailey, Nachshen, Lester, Happer, Russo and DeVenezia

Absent: Kane, Horan and Dagger

Also Present: Attorney Peter Henry, Engineer Bill Ryden

 

REORGANIZATION:  

Election of Chair – Robert Tovo nominated Jim Bailey Chair of the Planning Board; Nick DeVenezia provided the second. Jim Bailey was elected by voice vote of all eligible voters.
Election of Vice Chair – Jim Bailey nominated Martin Kane Vice-Chair of the Planning Board; Robert Tovo provided the second. Martin Kane was elected by voice vote of all eligible voters.

Appointment of the Attorney - Dan Happer made a motion to appoint Peter Henry of Dillon, Bitar & Luther the Planning Board Attorney; Robert Tovo provided the second.  The motion was approved by a 7 to 0 roll call vote.

Appointment of the Planner – Dan Happer made a motion to appoint Paul Phillips of Phillips, Preiss, Grygiel, LLC, the Planning Board Planner and Bethany Russo provided the second.  The motion was approved by a 7 to 0 roll call vote.

Appointment of Board Engineer –Robert Tovo made a motion to appoint Bill Ryden of Anderson and Denzler Assoc., Inc. the Planning Board Engineer and Dan Happer provided the second.  The motion was approved by a 7 to 0 roll call vote.

Appointment of Secretary – Bethany Russo made a motion to appoint Cynthia Shaw the Planning Board Secretary and Dan Happer provided the second.  The motion was approved by a 7 to 0 roll call vote.

Designation of Official Newspapers –Dan Happer made a motion to designate The Citizen and The Daily Record the official newspapers for the Board, Corey Nachshen provided the second.  The motion was approved by a 7 to 0 roll call vote.

Determination of Meeting Dates – John Lester made a motion to accept the proposed meeting dates for the Planning Board, Bethany Russo provided the second. A voice vote of all eligible members approved the following dates.

                        February 27, 2014                              August 28, 2014

                        March 27, 2014                                   September 25, 2014

                        April 24, 2014                                     October 23, 2014

                        May 22, 2014                                      November 20, 2014

                        June 26, 2014                                      December18, 2014

                        July 24, 2014                                       January 22, 2015

Re-adoption of By-Laws –Peter Henry reviewed our current by-laws and recommended several minor corrections and updates for the Boards consideration. Dan Happer made a motion to adopt the By-Laws of the Planning Board with the suggested changes presented by the Board Attorney and Corey Nachshen provided the second. A voice vote approved the adoption of the by-laws.

 

REVIEW OF MINUTES: Corey Nachshen made a motion to adopt the minutes of the December 19th meeting. Robert Tovo provided the second; the minutes were approved by voice vote of all eligible voters.

 

RESOLUTIONS: none

 

PUBLIC HEARING:  none

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

 

Soil Moving Ordinance

Jim Bailey asked the Borough Engineer, Bill Ryden, to present the suggested changes to our Soil Moving Ordinance.

Mr. Ryden explained, over the last few years we have had several major soil moving applications resulting from the construction of a new home.  Currently the Planning Board hears major soil moving applications, over 200 CY of material, and bases their approval of said application on the recommendations of the Borough Engineer. Mr. Ryden continued, we are proposing changing the soil moving threshold from 200 CY to 1000 CY and any new construction become an exemption from the permit process. We are also suggesting we clean up all the other small exemptions that are less than 50 cubic yards and make them one exemption under the ordinance. In addition we would like to remove the obligation of the construction official to produce a written report informing the Planning Board of any approved minor soil moving permits since this is not being done.

Jim Bailey asked Mr. Ryden how he arrived at the new threshold of 1000 CY and how many trucks would that represent. He answered; the amount was arbitrary and represented 20 to 30 truck loads of dirt. The change in the exemption would eliminate requiring the homeowner to incur the additional expense of coming to the Board. The exemption does not remove the actual requirement since the request for a building permit would trigger a review by the Construction Department and the Borough Engineer. Peter Henry added soil moving is really an engineering issue. The question is does the Board want to see these types of applications.  Dan Happer asked how we make sure the soil moving component of a permit is not missed. Bill Ryden explained as part of the normal permit process this would still be reviewed by him.

John Lester asked how the removal of this requirement would affect the fees. Bethany Russo said she would like to see this type of application; it is always a good idea to have another layer of review. As an applicant it always carries more weight when you know your application is subject to a Board review rather than a staff review.  Dan Happer asked how our policies compare to other towns. Bill Ryden said it was hard to compare since we do not have a lot of large development in the Borough. Bethany Russo asked how often the Board rejected a review Mr. Ryden had done, never. Nick DeVenezia commented a soil moving permit was in between planning and construction. It s an execution process not a planning process. He could go either way when it came to a review of the permit by the Board.

Bill Ryden pointed out he had added a new statement in the ordinance to help limit the creeping of soil movement. Dan Happer asked how we police the periodic movement of small amounts of soil. Bill Ryden answered we have to rely on the neighbors. Mayor Happer added the statement is in place as a deterrent. Corey Nachshen said the only application we had this year had to do with the creation of the lawn area on a new home Nick DeVenezia asked Mr. Ryden if he would still write a report. Bill Ryden said he writes a letter with instructions for the applicant. Jim Bailey said he was in the middle on the issue. Could the Board get copies of your review letters to monitor the activity? Bill Ryden explained they would be seeing things after the fact. Corey Nachshen commented the way the town handles permits now the Board has never made the decision we have always relied on Bill’s direction to determine the approval. This is really an engineering issue and thought the Engineer should just handle it since it was not a planning issue. Making this change would allow the homeowner to start their project sooner. Jim Bailey said, I don’t think we are holding them up since many times the applicant has not selected their contractor when applying. Robert Tovo questioned what the Board was adding to this process, what were they bringing to the table, all he saw the Board doing was rubber stamping the Engineer’s approval. Peter Henry added even with the recommended changes there was still Borough oversight of the project. Dan Happer liked the Planning Board being a second set of eyes for the project.

In the end the Board agreed to increase the definitions of minor and major soil moving permits from a threshold of 200 CY to 1000 CY as suggested. Under section 102-11, exemptions, they liked the idea of combining all the small exemptions into one and placing a time limit for frequency of this type of soil movement.  They did not agree with the idea of exempting new home construction, additions and alterations. Peter Henry suggested other small clerical changes for the ordinance. Peter Henry said the changes would now be sent to Council for their review and approval. Once the changes were approved by them the Board will see it again to determine if this is consistent with the Master Plan.

 

Other Business

No one from the public was present.

 

Jim Bailey made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:03 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

                                                                                    Cynthia Shaw, Secretary