MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING

ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT OF THE BOROUGH OF MOUNTAIN LAKES

August 5 , 2010

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 7, 2010. 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 11, 2010 and made available to all those requesting individual notice and paying the required fee.

ROLL CALL:

Present: Bolo, Rusak, Dietz, Richter, Max and Cohen

Absent: Abate, Gallo, Willke

Also Absent: Attorney Michael Sullivan

REVIEW OF MINUTES: Mary Dietz made a motion to approve the minutes from the July 1^st meeting. Pat Rusak provided the second; the minutes were approved by voice vote by all members.

MEMORIALIZING RESOLUTIONS:

THE COMMUNITY CHURCH Appl. #10-572

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

SAMIR AND FOLGUNI SHAH Appl. #10-575

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

DEBORAH KESSLER Appl. #10-576

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

ANTONIO DIMARCO Appl. # 10-577

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

New Applications:

STEPHEN & MARLA RAVIN 21 Hillcrest Road

Bl. 95, Lot 45-47 Appl. #10-574

ILC R-A Zone

The Board Secretary received a request from the applicant to have their application carried to September 2, 2010. Arthur Max made a motion to carry the application and a second was provided by Pat Rusak. The motion was approved by voice vote of all members.

SINA ZAIM 77 Boulevard

Blk. 59 Lot 23 Appl. #10-578

FAR Zone R-A

The Board Secretary received a request from the applicant to have their application carried to September 2, 2010. Mark Cohen made a motion to carry the application and a second was provided by Chris Richter. The motion was approved by voice vote of all members.

BEVERLY & RICHARD VAN DUYNE 11 Wilcox Drive

Blk. 86 Lot 44 Appl. #10-579

Side Zone R-A

Richard and Beverly Van Duyne of 11 Wilcox Dr. were sworn in. They currently have a 17 yr old air conditioner that needs to be replaced. Their request for a permit was denied by the Zoning Officer because it is not permitted within the setback of 25 feet. The replacement unit will be installed where the current unit is at 19’ 10” from the property line. Both the house and unit are currently within the setback. The setback for this zone was changed in 1981 from 20 feet to 25 feet.

Arthur Max thought our previous Zoning Officer would have approved this replacement. The Board Secretary explored this with the Zoning Officer. The Zoning Officer told her since the applicant’s survey, done when they purchased the home, did not show the air conditioning pad/unit he could not consider it a replacement. Peter Bolo mentioned the Borough has had problems with units disturbing neighbors in the past. Chris Richter asked if the unit could be placed in a conforming location. Richard Van Duyne stated he did talk to the engineer about moving the unit but it cannot be relocated. Mark Cohen confirmed that the new unit was a replacement. Mr. Van Duyne said the new unit would be more energy efficient and possibly quieter. Mary Dietz said the size of the unit could change and asked if it was the same size; yes it was.

Dr. Bolo asked if there were any comments from the Board. He had looked at property and felt there was ample screening around the unit. There were no comments from the public.

Mark Cohen made a motion to approve the application for the side yard setback. A second was provided by Mary Dietz. The application was approved by a vote of 6 to 0 with Board members Bolo, Rusak, Dietz, Richter, Max and Cohen voting in favor.

The Board Secretary read a resolution prepared in advance by the Attorney Michael Sullivan. Chris Richter made a motion to approve the resolution read and Arthur Max provided the second. The resolution was passed by a vote 6 to 0 with members Bolo, Richter, Dietz, Max, Cohen and Rusak voting in favor.

DEBORAH KESSLER 28 Hillcrest Road

Bl. 96, Lot 11.02 Appl. #10-576

ILC R-A Zone

Deborah Kessler sent a letter to the Board asking that her variance request for ILC be withdrawn. Mary Dietz made a motion to accept that portion of the application be withdrawn without prejudice and Pat Rusak provided the second. The withdrawal was approved by a voice vote of all members.

Other Matters / Public Comment:

IPPOLITO 15 Crestview Road

Ellen Emr, Council member and the Board of Adjustment liaison informed the Board that the Council was considering an ordinance to vacate the paper road known as North Glen Road. This would only pertain the upper portion of the road that extends west from where it intersects with Crestview Road. The Board was familiar with the paper road as it was part of an application for a front yard setback variance for the Ippolito’s who own the property, 15 Crestview Road, along the paper road. Ellen Emr was considering asking the Planning Board to review all the paper roads in the Borough. She was concerned that if this ordinance was passed it would have a cascading effect and the Council would receive numerous requests to vacate other roads.

Chris Richter asked if the Borough was being compensated for the land and if the right away was being split with each property owner getting half. Ellen Emr said the Borough would keep the right of way but was vacating the paper road. Mary Dietz asked if the paper road was eliminated would you loose the front side yard setback requirement for the Ippolito application; yes you would. The Board discussed the difference between a right of way and a street. Mary Dietz asked that the Councils Land Use Attorney define the difference between a right a way and a paper road. She also asked if there was any benefit to the Borough de-mapping the street. Mark Cohen asked if the Council had read the minutes of the Board of Adjustment meeting to better understand the Ippolito’s application. Mrs. Emr said she had but could not speak for the other Council members. Peter Bolo asked if the Ippolito’s were looking to subdivide the property, yes they were considering it.

Chris Richter stated the Board needed to better understand the direction the Council is going on this. The Board Secretary will email whatever information she could provide them and will send them copies of the proposed ordinance.

AIR CONDITIONING REPLACEMENT

Ellen Emr asked about the air conditioning unit application the Board had just heard. Was it necessary for the Board to hear this type of application? Mark Cohen said he saw no benefit in the Board hearing this type of application not to mention the time and expense to the applicant. Mary Dietz mentioned that the new units are not always the same size and should be looked at. Arthur Max mentioned there could be a problem if the applicants unit was 5 ft from the property line. Peter Bolo said that not everyone member of the community gets a permit or a variance for things like this even though they should. Chris Richter said the Board needed to draw the line somewhere and they should not have to hear applications like this. He then mentioned that some towns have a site plan review committee for these types of applications. It was unclear if the applicant could have done an appeal. The Board Secretary would look into this.

Peter Bolo said this could be a slippery slope for the Construction Department. The Board Secretary explained that the Zoning Officer asked the applicant for the original survey of the property at the time the applicant purchased the home. Since the air conditioning unit was not located on the survey he could not grant the replacement of the unit because it was located within the set back. Chris Richter acknowledged that the Zoning Officer is legally correct in his decision. In the future the Board thought they could hear these types of applications without an ILC calculation being prepared since the space they took up on the property was negligible. This would also reduce the cost to the applicant.

APPLICATION

The Board Attorney, Michael Sullivan, was not present at the meeting. He did however want the Board to know that they could make any changes to the application they wanted to. However if they wanted to change the checklist requirements or the fees they would have to do so by ordinance.

Peter Bolo asked if there were any comments from the public, there were none.

Mark Cohen made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Chris Richter provided the second.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:40pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Cynthia Shaw, Secretary