MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING

OF THE PLANNING BOARD OF THE BOROUGH OF MOUNTAIN LAKES

May 10, 2007

 

Chairman Mike Lightner read the Open Public Meeting Advertisement Notice:  Adequate notice of this meeting was given to the Citizen and the Daily Record, was posted with the Borough Clerk and the Bulletin Board, and made available to all those requesting individual notice and paying the required fee.  Members beginning new terms signed the Oath of Office. 

 

ROLL CALL:

Board Members Present:  Nix, Pitcher, Melikian, Dunn, Batty, Webb, Shaw, Davis, Lightner                Absent:  Palmer (arr. 8:45), Selver            

Also Present:  Attorney Peter Henry, Engineer William Ryden

 

REVIEW OF MINUTES:  The modified April 26 minutes were approved by voice vote

 

PUBLIC HEARINGS:

      Carried from April 26:

WEBER HOMES                                Fanny Road & Morris Ave.

      Bl. 101, Lot 48                        

      Amendment to Resolution                     R-AH zone

 

Attorney Roy Kurnos, representing Weber Homes said, “In light of the comments from the last meeting, I wrote to Chief Tovo and he responded.  He said that, when he did the initial analysis of the project, he did not consider the age restriction and he did not see any problem whether there were children in the project or not.”

Project engineer Marc Walker was sworn in.  Walker referred to Exhibit A1 dated 1-21-2006.  The purpose of having the exhibit this evening is to show the Board that there is no area for a playground:  there are wetlands in the rear and a buffer between the projects and Fanny road.  There is no available space on the property for a playground area.

Regarding the discussion about school age children, there is a new study generated by Rutgers looking at children in housing projects. 

Walker distributed the “Projections of School Age Children”, Exhibit A1, dated 5/10/07. .  The projection referenced the Rutgers study, “Residential Demographic Multipliers.

Looking at single family attached units in Spruce Edge, the 3 bedroom units, selling for more than $351,000, have produced .22 school age children (grades K-12) per unit.  That is consistent with the Borough’s study.

The study indicates that the affordable housing will yield a total of 8.26 children for the entire project.  On the units that are not affordable housing, the price will be more than the average home in the Borough so it is not likely that families will purchase these units if they have school age children because they have the option to purchase a single family house.

 

Mike Lightner referred to Barbara Palmer’s memo that analyzed COAH’s requirements.  She said that COAH would assign families at one child per bedroom.

Lightner asked Walker if he agreed that Palmer’s analysis was correct.  Walker thought that 9 children was the maximum potential for those units.

Nix asked who else could be qualified for these units; could it be a multi-generational family?  Kurnos said it is based on income; the history in NJ does not support that; the statistics do not support that many school age children are generated in the COAH units.

Kurnos said, assuming the worst, why is the number of children relevant?  Lightner – because we are changing everything.  Kurnos said that we are responding to COAH, we are bound by COAH rules.  Lightner – now that we do not have age restricted units, there could be more children in the project.  Armen Melikian asked if it is reasonable that there could be an extra eight children in the project?  Walker – yes, if we took the worst case scenario, there could be more children but it is not likely.  Walker – I believe that the Board could realistically consider 6 to 9 children in the COAH units.  If the families in the market units consider a play area to be important, they would look for a single family home with a yard.

Sandy Batty pointed out that Mountain Lakes has a reputation for its school system so we might not be able to rely on statewide statistics.  Batty said that Pine Edge has 11 children in 44 units; these are not affordable units.  She questioned why the Pine Edge ratio of children is higher than Spruce Edge.  Walker said he thought that families who could afford more expensive housing would opt for a single family home.  Walker thought that the town home association would limit the activity and noise in that area.

 

Walker presented Exhibit A2, an aerial photograph prepared by the County, with the site superimposed in yellow to show the proposed path to the YMCA, the wood chip path to the ball fields and the path systems leading to the high school with paths that lead to Wildwood and Briarcliff Schools.  He pointed out that children would have to cross only one road to get to any of the three schools.  They would not cross any road to access the fields or the YMCA.

Lightner asked if the natural trails were suitable for children when the weather was not ideal.  Walker said that, in bad weather, the children would get a ride to school.  Board members pointed out that the children now walk through all kinds of paths that are not paved or cleared.  This is planned to be a wood-chip path; the trails committee would be responsible for maintenance.  Sandy Batty asked if it would be a problem to create a path if the area is considered wetlands; Walker said that is rarely a problem.  Webb pointed out that there is a bridge in the area, that is the likely path that would be chosen.

Kurnos said they have no further witnesses.

 

Steve Shaw said he does not want to repeat his previous comments.  Getting this sight cleaned up is our primary priority.  The discussion about the number of children is a mute point because he understands that the school system may be looking for more students.  If the issue of children is safety, we have a statement from the Chief saying that it is safe.  Since the street will have the lowest speed limit in town, that is a significant factor.  The units will be self-selecting.  I don’t think we want to encourage a play area in any specific site.  We have many recreation areas throughout the town. 

Batty – I think it is important that we bring up the issue of children; I live in Pine Edge and I am happy to see children in the area.  The children play in the driveways or the street.  She referred to Tovo’s report, about deterrents.  I believe there will be children in this project.  I think it would be criminal to have a condo rule that children could not play in the street and I am concerned about their safety.  We could at least install speed bumps if there is no area for play space.  Lightner asked who was going to enforce the speed limit.  Kurnos – the Chief indicated that he would issue tickets if drivers used this as a cut-through; cutting through a private road is a Title 39 violation.  Rob Pitcher stated that the children cut through the field behind Briarcliff no matter what the weather conditions may be.  When there is a snowstorm, the sidewalks are not cleared but the children will make a path and get to school.  Lightner said it is human nature that people will cut through this road when traffic is backed up so he advocated speed bumps.  Walker & Kurnos said they do not want speed bumps.  Louise Davis said she is comfortable with the 15 mph limit; that is practically crawling.  If the residents see violators they will be vigilant and report the violations.

Louise Davis pointed out that the other roads in town have a 25 mph speed limit.  Lightner said we approved this project with the age restriction; now they are asking us to lift that restriction and we don’t know how many children will be playing in the street.

Rob Pitcher – in this town, the children are involved in so many programs that they are not playing in the street; they don’t have that much free time.  Joan Nix said she thinks the children would be more likely to play in the parking lots.  Sandy Batty said that parents of younger children are not going to send them into the playing fields or the woods.

Sandy Batty expressed disappointment that the applicant is asking for a change in the contract but is not offering any changes in the plan.  Kurnos said they would be willing to put money into escrow to create speed bumps if they were considered necessary after the development of the project.  Kurnos said that speed bumps frequently create a hazard and can cause more accidents.

RE:  parking, Walker said they have provided 17 spaces in the affordable units where only 16 are required.  Frank Dunn suggested that we ask the Chief of Police what we could do to prevent cut-throughs.  Excerpts were read from the Chief’s letter.

Joan Nix asked about the size of the COAH units; Walker said the footprint and FAR would not change.  The 7300 square feet would support the same number of units as originally proposed.  Kurnos said that they testified that the COAH building would not be distinguishable from the others.

Bill Ryden testified that he never reviewed this plan considering an age restriction; age restriction was not a factor then and he does not think it is a factor now.

Peter Henry – the project, in the most part, will be identical to the original plan. 

There was no public comment.

Board discussion:  Joan Nix asked if we were going to see the change in the affordable site plan; for example, would the entrances change?  Henry - this is not an application to alter the site plan; it is an application to change the conditions of approval.  Given the change requested, are there things that ought to be different in the site plan?  Unless your approval of the site plan turned on floor plans for individual units, a change in the condition is not relevant.  Walker – we are restricted in the height, FAR and impervious coverage.  The access to the dumpster will not change.  The walkway around the building will not change. 

 

Rob Pitcher moved to approve removal of the age restriction.  Steve Shaw added that we should change the COAH bedroom distribution; issuance of CO’s will be based on COAH approval.  Mike Lightner wanted to define the issue of signage; he prefers that the speed limit be enforced rather than adding another sign of “No through traffic.”  He encouraged that the association should monitor the speed.  Kurnos offered a cash bond for a speed bump if needed.  The motion for approval was seconded by Steve Shaw and carried by 8-0 roll call vote

 

DANIEL FERRANTE             Bl. 99, Lots 1 & 6

2 Esplanade, 248 Morris                      Appl. #07-231

Major subdivision                                 RA zone

Attorney Kurnos signed the form to carry the Ferrante application to June 28 without further notice.

 

OTHER BUSINESS: 

It was agreed that the regularly scheduled meeting on May 24 would be held to memorialize resolutions and to hear the Board of Education soil removal permit for the turf field.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

 

                                                                                    Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

 

                                                                                    Marge Jackson, Secretary