MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING

 ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT OF THE BOROUGH OF MOUNTAIN LAKES

October 1, 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, Richter, Abate, Max, Sheasby, Dietz, Rusak                 Absent: none

Also Present:  Attorney Michael Sullivan

 

REVIEW OF MINUTES:     Bob Sheasby made a motion to approve the minutes from the September 3rd meeting.  Pat Rusak provided the second; the minutes were approved by all members by voice vote.

 

MEMORIALIZING RESOLUTIONS:

MICHAEL AND MICHELLE GLEASON                              Appl. #09-557

           

Mark Cohen made a motion to adopt the resolution of approval; Bob Sheasby seconded the motion. The resolution was passed by a vote of 6 to0 by members Bolo, Richter, Cohen, Max, Sheasby and Abate.

           

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

            MARK & LORRAINE LALIN                       117 Midvale Road

            Bl. 129.02, Lot 4                                              Appl. #09-558

            Front Yard                                                       RA Zone

 

Larry Korinda, a licensed Architect in the State of New Jersey, located at 550 W. Main Street, Boonton NJ presented the application. The applicant Mark Lalin, of 117 Midvale Road, Mountain Lakes, was sworn in as well. 

Larry Korinda made two corrections to the application.  The right side Yard Setback on Rogers Road is really a Front Yard Setback and should be on the application as Front Yard Setback.  The existing right setback is on the application as 20.5 feet and really should be 21.8 feet as shown on the site plan. The property has a previously approved application from June 1, 2006.  The applicant is seeking an approval for a scaled back version of the original application due to the current economy.

Exhibit A-1 was a copy of the site plan already submitted to the board.  The applicant was looking to building a 7 foot addition to the back of the house and widening the existing driveway at the basement level to accommodate two parked cars. They will be adding a new set of steps and deck to provide access to the upper level. The existing unfinished second floor will be finished to include dormers thus creating 3 bedrooms and a bath.

The circular driveway in front of house is quite dangerous. Rodgers Road is not heavily traveled so it makes sense to ask for the variance on that side of the house to expand the side driveway. Exhibit A-2 showed 4 exterior photos of the existing house. The new front elevation would retain the current ridge line and not raise the roof.  Exhibit A-3 showed the first floor plan of the house.  Exhibit A-4 showed the second floor plan of the house.  On the currently unfinished second floor they will be adding dormers to the front of the house for two bedrooms.  They would be adding a third bedroom over the new Family Room.  Exhibit A-5 showed the front and right side elevations. In this exhibit the photos of the exiting conditions were placed along side drawings of the new plans so the board could see the changes.

Peter Bolo asked if there were questions from board.

Pia Abate asked if they were keeping the circular driveway.  Larry Korinda said they would be because they were under the impervious coverage. Mary Dietz asked if they were removing the right wall of the house and replacing the wall in kind.  Mr. Korinda said they were taking it down. They would be keeping the front wall but would replace the windows. 

Peter Bolo asked about the retaining wall on Rogers Road.  Mr. Korinda stated they would be adding to the length of the retaining wall trying to stay as close to 3 feet in height as possible. Bob Sheasby asked if the height of the wall needed to be no higher than 3 feet due to our new wall ordinance. Since this is a retaining wall the three foot rule did not apply. The board determined the wall was in the right -of-way. Chris Richer asked it be moved out of the right-of-way. Michael Sullivan stated he would repeat condition 1, pertaining to the wall location, in the original resolution in the new one. 

Mark Cohen asked why the distance from the property line to the deck did not include the steps. The board asked the plans be redrawn to include the stairs in the calculations. Pat Rusak asked if they planned to take trees down.  Yes, the applicant was and had filled out an application. It was approved, and the trees will be taken down before the project begins. Chris Richter asked how far the eave over the deck stuck out.  Larry Korinda told the board the eave would stick out 2 feet 4 inches.

Dr. Bolo asked if there were and questions from the public. There were none.

Mary Dietz made a motion to approve the application with the following conditions.  The application must be resubmitted to include the correctly identified front yard setback and the correct impervious lot coverage calculation. The plans must to be revised to reflect the dimension of the stairs, identify the front yard setback on Rogers Road, and the extension of the retaining wall to the stairs in the front yard on Roger Road. Lastly the new retaining wall must be located behind the property line. A second was provided by Pat Rusak. The board vote to approve the application 7 to 0 with members Bolo, Richter, Cohen, Max, Sheasby, Rusak, and Dietz voting in favor.

 

Other Matters / Public Comment:

 

Peter Bolo informed the board that Mr. Kelly had moved out of town and had to resign.  The Council is looking for a new member.  Dr. Bolo read a resolution prepared for David Kane recognizing him for his years of service on the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Bob Sheasby made a motion to approve the resolution; Chris Richter seconded the motion.  The board approved the resolution by voice vote.

 

Mark Cohen made a motion to adjourn the meeting; a seconded was provided by Pat Rusak.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.  

                                                                                                           

                                                                                                            Respectfully submitted,

           

 

                                                                                                Cynthia Shaw, Secretary