MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING

 ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT OF THE BOROUGH OF MOUNTAIN LAKES

June 4, 2009

 

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 8, 2009.  Said resolution was mailed to The Citizen and The Daily Record, filed with the Borough Clerk and posted on the bulletin board in the Borough Hall on January 12, 2009 and made available to all those requesting individual notice and paying the required fee.

 

ROLL CALL:

Present:  Bolo, Cohen, Rusak, Dietz, Abate, Richter, Max                     Absent: Kelly, Sheasby

 

 Also Present:  Attorney Michael Sullivan

 

REVIEW OF MINUTES:  Mark Cohen made a motion to approve the minutes from the May 7th meeting with the corrections made by the board. Chris Richter provided the second.  The minutes were approved by voice vote.

 

MEMORIALIZING RESOLUTIONS:

            JENNIFER ZIEGLER                          Appl. #09-552

 

Chris Richter made a motion to adopt the resolution of approval; seconded by Arthur Max and approved by a 7 -0   roll call vote of eligible voters.

 

JEFF MASESSA                                 Appl. #09-553

Michael Sullivan made a correction to the submitted resolution. Arthur Max made a motion to adopt the resolution of approval with the correction; it was seconded by Mary Dietz and approved by a 6-0 roll call vote of eligible voters.

 

PATRICIA KACZK                            Appl. #09-555

Chris Richter made a motion to adopt the resolution of approval; it was seconded by Pia Abate    and approved by a roll call vote7 -0 of eligible voters.

 

PUBLIC HEARINGS:  All applicants and professionals were sworn in by Chair Bolo.

                       

Amending prior approval of the original resolution dated February 5, 2009

 

STUART & JUDITH KRISTIANSEN            84 Crane Road

Bl.6, Lot 6                                                        Appl. #08-547

Side Yard                                                         RA Zone

A presentation was made by Stuart Kristiansen of 84 Crane Road and Seth Leeb, a licensed Architect from SL Architect, in Morris Plains, NJ.  Stuart Kristiansen stated they were here to amend the original resolution.  A letter was sent May 21, 2009 to board secretary explaining the safety situation at 84 Crane.  Seth Leeb went out to the site and saw that the top of the cinder block foundation was disintegrating and crumbling, the two sill plates were not treated lumber and were rotting, in several areas the rim joist were rotted and some of the floor joists were rotted at the ends. All the problems mentioned needed to be corrected before they could safely add a second story.

 

The applicant was planning on raising the height of the walls on the first floor to 9 feet.  Seth Leeb said this could be done by different methods. The method chosen is usually determined during construction.  In the past he has gives a set of revised drawing and/or a sealed letter explaining his method of choice to the construction department about a week before the inspections. 

Mr. Lebb then showed a plot plan (A-1) done by Dykstra Walker Design Group, dated October 15, 2008 and revised December 10, 2008, as well as a photo board (A-2). Both were the same exhibits used in the original submission. A new exhibit was introduced (A-3) done by Seth Leeb and dated June 4, 2009 showing the additions and alterations to the house.  Mark Cohen asked, chronological how things were done at the site. Mr. Leeb did not remember the exact dates without looking at the calendar.  He did state that after the demolition was started he came out to review the site.  A footing inspection was done for the new footings, the block walls were built and another inspection was done right before the backfill of the new foundation. The construction department then came out an additional time and stopped all work at the site.

Seth Leeb explained his new exhibit (A-3).  The new exhibit showed the house before and after the work would be completed.  Mr. Leeb said at the first hearing he tried to describe the changes the house would go through with photographs. In the new drawings the sections highlighted in orange showed the remaining walls and the black areas show the new walls.  Mary Dietz thought the original presentation might have been clearer if they had included drawing of the elevations. Mr. Leeb agreed that in hid site he should have place the old and new floor plan drawings side by side so everyone would see the changes the house would eventually go through more clearly. 

Peter Bolo stated when a variance is granted it is because you are working with the structure you have but if you take everything down you are starting over from the ground up and may not need any variances. Chris Richter thought the applicant was adding a second floor on top of the first floor. In the original presentation it was not clear that the 1st floor height was increasing from 7’10” to 9’. Mary Dietz asked, once things like rotting sills are discovered what the procedure for correcting the situation is.  Mr. Leeb stated when a variance is not an issue the contractor repairs it as they have done.  But when a variance is concerned they should have called the construction department and asked them to review the conditions.  He also could have taken pictures and given them to the construction department to review. 

It was clarified that the original application was for a story variance not a height variance. Chris Richter asked weather there was a demo permit issued. It was not. Peter Bolo mentioned the town has had some history with people asking for variances and winding up do demolition.  Arthur Max questioned that applicant, “If we were starting from scratch, and you knew the conditions, would the application be any different?” Seth Leeb assured him the application would be no different because they would be using the original foundation. Chris Richter commented, if you are taking the house down why not build within the setbacks. 

Peter Bolo asked if there were any public comments and there were none.

Seth Leeb asked since this was an amendment to the original resolution could they proceed with the renovation.  Michael Sullivan said it is up to the building department to determine if they could proceed.

Pia Abate made a motion to accept the removal of three walls on the 1st floor, the removal of the first floor joists and sill plates plus the removal of the top course of masonry block as mentioned in the letter from the applicant. The motion was seconded by Pat Rusak. The vote was 7-0.

 

 

Carried to July 2, 2009:

 

                        ROBERT L. KLINGENBURG            123 Lake Drive

                        Bl.101, Lot 1                                        Appl. #09-549

                        Interpretation, Appeal                           RA zone

 

TOBIA AND LISA IPPOLITO           15 Crestview Road

Bl.45, Lot 1                                          Appl. #09-554

Front Yard                                           RA Zone

 

The applications were moved to the July meeting. A motion was made by Mark Cohen to carry the applications.  A second was made by Pia Abate and approved by a voice vote of the board.

 

 

Other Matters / Public Comment:

 

The board discussed The Joint Ordinance Committee Recommendations.  Chris Richter is on the review committee and was looking for comments on the proposed ordinances. Peter Bolo felt the ordinance pertaining to the front yard acceptation needed to be clarified. The committee also needs to look at situations that involve vacant land on both sides of a house. Borough property is considered vacant land. This situation needs to be looked at similar to the lakefront exception. Michael Sullivan told the board they should not use the term “Borough” land in the ordinance; it is better to use the term vacant land.

 

Mark Cohen made a motion to adjourn the meeting, a second was provided by Arthur Max.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30p.m.  

                                                                                                            Respectfully submitted,

           

           

             

                                                                                                Cynthia Shaw, Secretary