MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING
ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT OF THE BOROUGH OF MOUNTAIN LAKES
June 6, 2013
Chair Chris Richter 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 3, 2013. Said resolution was mailed to The Citizen and The Morris County Daily Record and by filing the same with the Borough Clerk on January 7, 2013 and was made available to all those requesting individual notice and paying the required fee.
Start: 7:32:40 PM
ROLL CALL:
Present: Abate, Richter, Albergo, Bolo (7:35 pm) Rusak, Dietz and Max
Absent: Mc Connell
Also Present: Attorney Michael Sullivan
REVIEW OF MINUTES: Pia Abate made a motion to approve the minutes from the May 2, 2013 meeting. Chris Richter provided the second; the minutes were approved by voice vote by all members.
MEMORIALIZING RESOLUTIONS: none
PUBLIC HEARINGS: All Applicants and professionals were sworn in by Chair Chris Richter.
Carried Application:
ERIC & TARA STRUASS 17 Crane Road
Blk. 100, Lot 76 Appl. # 13-626
Front, Rear R-A zone
Peter Bolo recused himself due to a business relationship with the applicant. Joan Nix, a licensed Architect in the state of NJ, and Eric & Tara Struass, of 17 Crane Road, would be presenting the application. They were requesting a waiver for topographic information on their site plan. Mary Dietz made a motion to allow the waiver and deemed the application complete. Arthur Max provided the second and all members of the Board voted in favor by voice vote.
Joan Nix presented Exhibit A-1 a photo board consisting of 6 photos, 2 historic and 4 current photos of the house. The Strauss family has lived here since 2006. The Belhall was built in 1919 and added on to in 1981. The Strauss’ had received a variance in 2006 to replace 2 decks with bluestone patios. The house on the outside appears to have two garage doors but you cannot park in either. They plan to change one bay into a secondary entry with a shed roof over a door and make the other bay accept a car. They plan to expand the house out the back to enlarge the kitchen and add a built-in grill to the patio.
A variance is requested for the front yard setback on Crane Road of 69.6 ft when 80.7 ft is required. Michael Sullivan confirmed a shed roof does not count when determining the setback. The front and back setback lines overlap creating a lack of building envelope. There are two stone patios behind the house. They will remove one and place it elsewhere. The current patio is 21 ft from the property line and the new setback requested is 17.91 ft to the proposed patio and grill where 25 ft is required. In addition they would like to expand the kitchen 4.8 ft x 20 ft 11.5 in. or 90 sq ft and reduce the garage 20 sq ft. area creating an increase of 70 sq ft of living space.
Chris Richter confirmed the applicant was using the new historic preservation ordinance and understood the requirement to keep the house as is. He asked what the Board approved in 2006. Exhibit A-2 was two sheets consisting of the site plan and area map from 2006. Joan Nix explained the applicant was now moving 5 ft closer to the rear setback. Mr. Richter confirmed with Mr. Sullivan barbeques must meet the 25 ft setback. Mary Dietz confirmed the new pantry is currently their eating area. She was not in favor of a grill structure being built in the setback. Arthur Max asked if the driveway would remain where it was and what it was made of. The driveway would remain where it was and stay asphalt.
The Chair asked if members of the public wished to speak, no one was present.
Arthur Max made a motion to approve the application as submitted and Pia Abate provided the second. The application was approved 6 – 0 with members Abate, Richter, Albergo, Rusak, Dietz and Max voting in favor.
New Applications:
DOUGLAS WALLER 351 Morris Avenue
Blk. 103, Lot 1 Appl. # 13-627
Front, FAR R-A zone
Douglas Waller and Jennifer Agnello, of 351 Morris Ave, would be presenting the application. They have adopted two children and now need more living space. In 2006 the Board granted a variance for front yard setback. At that time Mr. Waller had the house designed for a bachelor. Once he got married he realized the house would not work for a family so the renovation was not done. Mr. Waller continued we still have an average front setback issue. We currently have a front setback of 22.3 ft and plan to improve the setback to 24 ft where 70.2 ft is required. The correct FAR requested is 17.7% where 17% is allowed. The applicant stated they were trying to keep the character of the house and did not want to tear it down. After talking to the Zoning Board Administrator it was determined they could not use the historic preservation ordinance because they changed the front elevation of the house too much.
Peter Bolo confirmed the applicant had a Belhall home and they wanted to maintain the old home but modernize it. Chris Richter asked if they could have designed the house with a FAR of 17% thereby eliminating the need for the variance. Mary Dietz agreed stating the applicant could move the back wall of the addition in two feet. Doug Waller said they could not change the size of the room over the garage because that would affect the garage space. The bedroom room to the left is larger because it is the master. Mary Dietz was also concerned about the attic; she asked if it was livable space that should be counted in the FAR. Chris Richter asked the applicant if they were going to take down the house and reconstruct it. Doug Waller said the left side of the house would stay the same and the right side would get taken down. Pat Rusak noticed the front elevation had stone on the house and asked if the house had that now. Mr. Waller said they would add both stone and stucco currently the house stone is all stucco. Pia Abate asked if the garage addition was a standard 2 car garage, yes it was which explains the size of the bedroom above. Chris Richter asked the applicant to review the placement of the new driveway. Peter Bolo said the applicant could not testify the third floor was less than 40% of the second. If the attic was under 40% their FAR numbers stood but there is no notation for the third floor on the plans.
Chris Richter explained a FAR variance required 5 affirmative votes to pass. He suggested the applicants carry their application to clarify the FAR with their architect.
No one from the public was present to comment on the application.
Doug Waller asked if he could separate the two variances. Yes they could and vote on just the front yard setback. The Board did not see a problem with the front setback but did not vote. The Board asked the applicant to get clarification on three items, the driveway placement, FAR calculation and third floor attic as living space.
Peter Bolo made a motion to carry the application to the July 11th meeting and William Albergo provided the second. The carry was approved by voice vote by all members.
STEPHEN & KAREN CAROLONZA 49 Pollard Road
Blk. 104, Lot 59 Appl. #13-628
Side, ILC, FAR R-A zone
Seth Leeb, a licensed Architect in the state of NJ, and Stephen Carolonza, of 49 Pollard Road, would be presenting the application. They have requested a waiver for topographic information on their site plan. Peter Bolo made a motion to allow the waiver and deemed the application complete. William Albergo provided the second and all members of the Board voted in favor by voice vote.
Seth Leeb told the Board the house was a Hapgood and contributing dwelling therefore they would be applying for their variances under the historic preservation ordinance. The applicant was adding a 2 story addition to the rear of the house. The 1st floor addition will consist of an eating area, mud room and sitting area. The new addition would eliminate the deck. Four feet will be added to the second floor rear bedrooms and they will eliminate a Bilco door entrance. They were requesting side yard setback, FAR and ILC variances. The ILC will be reduced 33.4% to 32.9% but was still over the allowed 21%. Exhibit A-1 was a colorized version of sheet A-1, the site plan. Mary Dietz asked why the applicant needed the side variance. Mr Leeb explained they would be removing the existing bilco door and replacing it with a set of steps with a roof covered. Even though the basement access was being reworked the existing terrace was the closest point at 16.75 ft to the property line. Therefore the setback variance would be for 16.75 ft.
The house sits sideway on the property so the front door does not face the street. There currently is no coat closet so they have created a small mud room. The Carolonza’s will be adding a little basement space under the addition that will be finished for exercise equipment. Exhibit A-2 was sheet V-3 with a red line drawn to show the end of the existing house on the proposed right side elevation. Exhibit A-3 was sheet V-4 with a red line drawn to show the end of the existing house on the proposed left side elevation. Chris Richter asked why the basement exit was on that left side of the house and not the other, why not put the basement door in the new space. Seth Leeb told the Board they wanted to use the existing opening and walkway. Peter Bolo added the house looks so tight on the property. Owner Stephen Carolonza continued they would have to patch and fill the old stone basement wall. The bilco stairs were so steep they wanted to replace them plus new stairs will be parallel to the house rather than perpendicular. Exhibit A-4 was a photo board consisting of 12 photos showing the vegetation screening the view of the basement door accesses and views of the 4 sides of the house.
Seth Leeb explained the existing garage was a tight historic garage with attic space above. When calculating the FAR he had included the attic space because it was greater than 40%. They have also added the third floor space in the house for the same reason. They requested FAR is 23.9% where 21% is allowed. There is a parking space to the right of the garage. The proposed ILC is 32.9% which is a reduction because the applicant will be removing a 535 sq ft patio behind the shed. Pia Abate asked about the existing kitchen area. Seth Leeb explained currently the kitchen area was very small so they use dining room as their eating area. Pat Rusak confirmed the area was very tight so they were expanding the space when they renovated. Arthur Max asked if the applicant could reduce the pavement by the garage. Pat Rusak, who once owned the house, said you need the area to do a K turn to turn the car around and exit the driveway safely. Mary Dietz asked Mr. Leeb if they could have stayed within in the new FAR when they did the renovation. He said the existing FAR was already over. Chris Richter asked Mr. Leeb if he counted the shed into his FAR percentage. Seth Leeb said he combined shed area in the garage area calculation. The two do not exceed the 500 square ft allowed for garage space.
No one from the public wished to speak about the application.
Seth Leeb summarized the presentation. The applicants were adding an addition out the rear of the house that would not be visible from the street. Two of the variances are already existing non-conforming. Peter Bolo asked the Architect if he consider this property a hardship. Seth Leeb did not think so but Dr. Bolo thought it would be due to the driveway and the home being built sideways.
Mary Dietz made a motion to approve the application with a variance for a preexisting side setback of 16.75 ft and the FAR and ILC variances as presented, Pat Rusak provided the second. The application was approved 7 – 0 with members Abate, Richter, Bolo, Albergo, Rusak, Dietz and Max voting in favor.
Other Matters / Public Comment:
Seth Leeb suggested the Board consider the completeness of an application ahead of time. Chairmen Richter responded the only way to do so would be to hire a professional to review the application. If you hire a professional to do the reviewing the Borough would have to implement the collection of an escrow account for all our Zoning Board applications. He also asked if the Board would like a letter from a professional ahead of time explaining their request for the waiver on the check list. The Board determined that was not necessary.
We still need one new alternate.
Pia Abate made a motion to adjourn the meeting and William Albergo provided the second. The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Cynthia Shaw, Secretary