MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLANNING BOARD

OF THE BOROUGH OF MOUNTAIN LAKES

January 24, 2013

 

Vice Chair Jim Bailey read the Open Public Meeting Advertisement Notice adopted at the annual meeting on January 27, 2011:  Adequate notice of this meeting was given to the Citizen and the Daily Record, posted with the Borough Clerk and on the Bulletin Board and made available to all those requesting individual notice and paying the required fee.

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:40 pm.

ROLL CALL:

Members Present: Tovo, Horan (7:45 pm), Bailey, Nachshen, Bravo, and Dagger

Absent: Happer, Kane, DeVenezia, and Zamierowski

Also Present: Attorney Peter Henry, Engineer Bill Ryden

 

REORGANIZATION:  

Election of Chair –Blair Bravo nominated Jim Bailey Chair of the Planning Board; Robert Tovo provided the second. Mr. Bailey was elected by voice vote of all eligible voters.
Election of Vice Chair –Jim Bailey nominated Martin Kane Vice Chair of the Planning Board; Tom Dagger provided the second. Mr. Kane was elected by voice vote of all eligible voters.

Appointment of the Planner – Blair Bravo made a motion to appoint Paul Phillips of Phillips, Preiss, Grygiel, LLC, the Planning Board Planner and Corey Nachshen provided the second.  The motion was approved by a 6 to 0 roll call vote.

Appointment of Board Engineer – Blair Bravo made a motion to appoint Bill Ryden of Anderson and Denzler Assoc., Inc. the Planning Board Engineer and Corey Nachshen provided the second.  The motion was approved by a 6 to 0 roll call vote.

Appointment of Secretary – Robert Tovo made a motion to appoint Cynthia Shaw the Planning Board Secretary and Blair Bravo provided the second.  The motion was approved by a 6 to 0 roll call vote.

Designation of Official Newspapers – Blair Bravo made a motion to designate The Citizen and The Daily Record the official newspapers for the Board, Robert Tovo provided the second.  The motion was approved by a 6 to 0 roll call vote.

Determination of Meeting Dates – Corey Nachshen made a motion to accept the proposed meeting dates for the Planning Board, Robert Tovo provided the second. A voice vote of all eligible members approved the following dates.

                        February 28, 2013                              August 22, 2013

                        March 28, 2013                                   September 26, 2013

                        April 25, 2013                                     October 24, 2013

                        May 23, 2013                                      November 21, 2013

                        June 27, 2013                                      December19, 2013

                        July 25, 2013                                       January 23, 2014

Re-adoption of By-Laws – Tom Dagger made a motion to readopt the By-Laws of the Planning Board and John Horan provided the second. A voice vote approved the adoption of the by-laws.

 

REVIEW OF MINUTES: Robert Tovo made a motion to adopt the minutes of the December 15th meeting.  Blair Bravo provided the second; the minutes were approved by voice vote of all eligible voters.

 

RESOLUTIONS: none

 

PUBLIC HEARING: 

Hornrock Properties, LLC                     Morris & Fanny Road

            Block 88, Lots 18.01-18.44                     Appl. 12-251

            Amended Site Plan, ILC                        R-AH Zone

 

The December 20th public hearing for application 12-251, Hornrock Properties, LLC, was reopened.

Peter Wolfson, Attorney for the applicant, explained this would be a continuation of the previous hearing. At the December meeting the Chair Jim Bailey noticed a discrepancy in the lot coverage calculations. Marc Walker, the applicant’s Engineer, confirmed there was a discrepancy and would be explaining what happened to the Board.

Mr. Walker presented exhibit A-7, a map dated 1/24/13, titled the Right-of –Way Dedication. The map depicted the corner of Fanny Road and Morris Avenue.  The original owner agreed to dedicate a strip of land from the property to each town because the parcel originally ran into Morris Ave.and Fanny Rd. This dedication resulted in a reduction in lot size from 377,491 sq ft to 364,887 sq ft. The reduced lot size was never picked up on the plans. This was an oversight in 2006 and unfortunately it was never carried through to all the sets of plans going back to the beginning. The old plans showed the ILC at 33.3% rather than the correct ILC of 35.2% which was more than the allowed 34% in the R-AH zone. The plans presented on December 20th listed the ILC at 33.9%. Since the applicant added air conditioning units and mailboxes the new ILC should have been 35.3%.

Peter Wolfson asked Mr. Walker if he had checked all the bulk requirements; yes he did.  Mr. Wolfson then asked how this affected the drainage coverage. The drainage calculations did not change as a result of finding this error. Mr. Woflson reminded the Board the original design concept was based on 34% ILC and was agreed upon by the Board and Council before formal site plans were even drawn. Corey Nachshen confirmed if the error was caught in 2006 the ILC would have been at 35.2% and at the last meeting they should have requested a variance for ILC at 35.3% after adding ac units and mailboxes. Jim Bailey asked what else had changed on the plans. Marc Walker stated they made changes to the plans requested in Bill Ryden’s letter. Mr. Bailey asked if there were any other questions from the Board; there were none.

The Chair asked if there were any questions from the public; again there were none.

Jim Bailey asked Peter Henry if the Board was making a motion for only the ILC variance. Peter Henry explained a draft resolution was prepared covering the variance request from both meetings. If the Board wished they could review the resolution tonight and vote on it. The only change to the draft would be the removal of the expected testimony from Peter Steck since he was not present. Marc Walker provided the testimony he would have given. The Board read the resolution and had no comments or changes.

Tom Dagger made a motion to accept the prepared resolution with the modifications pointed out by Peter Henry. Robert Tovo provided the second. The Board voted 5 – 0 to approve the resolution including the request for the ILC variance in addition to the variance for front setback from the last meeting. Board members Tovo, Bailey, Nachshen, Bravo, and Dagger voted in favor.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Master Plan

Chapter 11 – Relationships to other Plans

The chapter 11 revisions were prepared by the Planner, Paul Philips.  The Board made minor edits to the chapter.

Chapter 12 – Summary of Major Findings and Recommendations

The 12th element was also updated by the Planner, Paul Philips. Once again the Board made minor edits to the element.

 

Jim Bailey gave the Board an update on the Master Plan. This review finished all the elements except for the housing element. Mr. Bailey was looking for direction from Council on this chapter.  Blair Bravo stated the Council wanted to leave the chapter as it was due to the COAH situation. The Borough does not have the land or the money to proceed with affordable housing projects. Other towns are working to put to work their property and fund to provide affordable housing. Chairmen Bailey also wanted to get input from Paul Phillips on the chapter.

The goal of the Board is to adopt the whole Master Plan at one time.

 

Other Business

Blair Bravo asked Bill Ryden about the proposed Parsippany project. Bob Tovo said he had Bill Ryden and Paul Phillips making a presentation at the next closed session of the Council meeting. Peter Henry reminded the Planning Board they had no roll in the application before the Parsippany Planning Board.

 

Robert Tovo made a motion to adjourn the meeting Corey Nachshen provided the second. The Board adjourned at 8:55 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

                                                                                    Cynthia Shaw, Secretary