ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEET
SEPTEMBER 5, 2001
The Regular
Meeting of the Wall Township Board of Adjustment was called to order by
Chairman Noorigian at 7:30 P.M. Members
present were Chairman Noorigian, Mary DeSarno, Thomas Grasso, Ralph Addonizio,
Dominic Cinelli, Anthony Rembiszewski, first alternate Mark Brosnan, second
alternate Wilma Morrissey, Attorney LaMantia, Recording Secretary Betty
Schinestuhl, Planning Coordinator Pam D’Andrea, Engineer Glenn Gerken, John
Maczuga and Reporter Kane.
Attorney
LaMantia will fill in until Attorney Fox arrives who is filling in for Attorney
Hirsch this evening.
Attorney
LaMantia announced that all requirements under the Open Public Meetings Act had
been complied with for this meeting and read the purposes of the Board of
Adjustment.
Chairman
Noorigian stated there are four applications for this evening. Seely will be not be heard. Seely will be carried to October 17, 2001. Tower Lodge will be heard first.
CASE #BA8-2000 Date application complete February 7,
2000. Carried from May 17, 2000,
September 20, 2000, January 10, 2001, April 11, 2001 and June 20, 2001.
APPLICANT: TOWER LODGE
PROPERTY:
1506 Gully Road, Block 239, Lot 8, R-30 Zone
RELIEF REQUESTED: Site Plan. Use Variance
Thomas
Primavera, Esq. appeared for the applicant.
Attorney
Primavera stated he would recall Georgette Bieber. Ms. Bieber is still under oath.
Attorney Primavera said he asked Ms. Peck for a copy of a transcript of
the last meeting. He will supply it to
any Board members who need it. Mr.
Addonizio stated he was not at that meeting.
Attorney
Primavera asked Ms. Bieber if she did a study on how many calls were made to
Wall Township ambulances. Ms. Bieber
said she did. Ms. Bieber said there
were three calls made to 911 since January 1, 2001. January 8, March 18 and June 9.
Attorney
Primavera asked if Tower Lodge used a private service. Ms. Bieber said MONOC. They will provide EMT’s. She said they will use MONOC as their first
call for any emergencies. Attorney
Primavera asked if that could be made as a condition of the application. Ms. Bieber said yes.
Ms. Bieber gave
her study on scheduled visits to the doctors and hospitals.
September 5,
2001 Page
2
Entered into
evidence:
A-4 Study of truck traffic
Ms. Bieber
explained all the deliveries. Attorney
Primavera asked what type of trucks are used for those deliveries. Ms. Bieber said 24’ – 26’ trucks. There are no 18 wheelers.
Attorney
Primavera asked if deliveries would be made more frequently if this application
is approved. Ms. Bieber said no. Ms. Bieber said they would delivery more
goods.
Attorney
Primavera asked about additional personnel.
Ms. Bieber said they would have a total of 61 on premises at one
time.
Attorney
Primavera asked about deliveries to nursing, such as, take out orders. Ms. Bieber said maybe three times a week.
Attorney
Primavera asked about visitors to the facility. Ms. Bieber said she looked over the visitors log. There are 1.5 visitors per day. 2.25 on Saturday and 2.5 on Sundays. About 90% of the visitors sign in.
Attorney
Primavera asked about visitors on holidays.
Ms. Bieber said, according to the log, there were eight visitors on
Thanksgiving, Christmas and Christmas eve.
8:00 P.M. Mr.
Clayton joined the meeting.
Attorney
Primavera asked about the cars in the parking lot. Ms. Bieber said on August 20th at 3:05 P.M. there were
22 cars in the parking lot. On March 21st
at 2:15 P.M. there were 22 cars in the parking lot. The maximum number of cars in the lot on August 20 was 25. The lowest was 13. Ms. Bieber said some of the employees come to work in car
pools.
Attorney
Primavera asked if Tower Lodge turned anyone away in the last 30 days. Ms. Bieber said just today they had to turn
away the mother of a nurse at Jersey Shore.
Ms. Bieber said there was no bed available.
Attorney
Primavera asked Ms. Bieber if the approval of this application would benefit
the residents of Tower Lodge. Ms.
Bieber said absolutely. She said the
building needs these renovations. She
said if the building could be expanded the residents would be provided with a
better quality of life. She said the
dining room also serves as an activity room.
Mr. Grasso asked
if it would benefit the quality of life if Tower Lodge simply did not have as
many residents. Ms. Bieber said if we
decrease the amount of residents it certainly would not benefit Tower Lodge as
a new kitchen, laundry room, storage is still needed.
Attorney Gary
Fox joined the meeting. Attorney
LaMantia left.
Mr. Grasso said
in your own home you would not put 4 – 5 children in one bedroom. You don’t put as many individuals as you can
in these rooms. If you do you will be
limited in storage. Mr. Grasso
suggested having less people in the facility.
When you loose some residents you don’t
September 5,
2001 Page
4
have to take
anyone in. He stated if conditions are
so bad they could reduce the number of people and make the conditions
better. He said less residents would
make a better quality of life for the residents remaining. Ms. Bieber said they are still going to have
the same one day room. There is still
the same amount of storage space. There
is still only two small bathrooms.
Mr. Grasso asked
how large the individual rooms are. Ms.
Bieber said she did not know.
Mr. Addonizio
asked where MONOC was located. He asked
where the closest facility was. If
someone was having a heart attack where would MONOC come from. Ms. Bieber said her contact person said it
would take 6 – 10 minutes to get to Tower Lodge. Mr. Addonizio said there is a station in Brick and that would
take longer than 10 minutes.
Mr. Addonizio
asked about the bathrooms. Ms. Bieber
said there is one shower stall and one bathroom not in use. Mr. Addonizio asked about toilets. Ms. Bieber said there was one in every
room. Mr. Addonizio asked how many
rooms there were. Ms. Bieber said 26
rooms with two beds and two rooms with four beds.
Mr. Addonizio
asked what time garbage was picked up.
Ms. Bieber said between 7:30 A.M. and 8:00 A.M.
Mr. Addonizio
asked if Tower Lodge has received their Certificate of Need. Ms. Bieber said yes. Mr. Addonizio stated you have a CON that
states you need 60 additional beds. Ms.
Bieber said yes. Mr. Addonizio asked
for a copy.
Mr. Addonizio
asked about holiday parties. Ms. Bieber
said they have their parties a day or two before the holiday. Mr. Addonizio asked about the parking situation
on those days. Ms. Bieber said they
have not had any problems with parking.
Mr. Addonizio asked about last years Christmas party. Ms. Bieber said they had their party
Christmas Eve and they had eight visitors.
Mr. Addonizio asked how many people stay out of the facility on
holidays. Ms. Bieber said it is usually
on the eve of the holiday. There are
some that go out but it is getting less and less. Sometimes their needs are too great.
Mr. Addonizio
asked when Tower Lodge opened. Ms.
Bieber said it was licensed in 1960.
Attorney Primavera said A-1 is a resolution from the Planning Board
approving the site in 1964.
Mr. Addonizio
said there is overuse of the facility.
He suggested when someone leaves keep that room vacant. Ms. Bieber said that would not help. It would reduce the type of things we could
do and provide for the residents. She
said in some instances it would help and some it would not.
Mrs. Morrissey
said Tower Lodge has turned away residents.
She asked if there were more beds than patients. Ms. Bieber said Tower Lodge does not do
co-ed. Sometimes there are one or two
beds open. A man may come in but we may
only have a woman bed.
Mrs. Morrissey
asked if the staff parks where the visitors park. Ms. Bieber said visitors park in the front.
Mr. Grasso asked
if the rooms that hold four beds are larger.
Ms. Bieber said yes.
September 5,
2001 Page
4
Mr. Grasso said
there are 32 employees on site at any given time at present. You have 32 employees and only 37 parking
spaces. That leaves only 5 spaces
open. He asked how can they accommodate
visitors, etc. He asked if Ms. Bieber
thought 5 additional spaces were enough.
Ms. Bieber said some employees car pool and some are dropped off.
Attorney
Primavera asked the Board to stop by the facility. He stated they want to give the Board as much information as
possible.
Mr. Grasso asked
if they can guarantee that deliveries will be during certain hours. Ms. Bieber said she didn’t know. Mr. Grasso said his concern was A.M.
deliveries, weekends, holidays, etc.
Mr. Grasso said the size of the building is doubled, isn’t that going to
increase the size of the trucks. Ms.
Bieber said they will use the same trucks but deliver more items. She said they will have the space to store
them.
Mrs. DeSarno
asked how many of the residents have family in Wall Township. Ms. Bieber said she did not know. She would find out for the next meeting.
Mr. Addonizio
suggested they call about the garbage pick-up and make the pick-up later. That would be in Tower Lodge’s best
interest.
Attorney
Primavera said a letter was sent to all the neighbors to visit the facility and
asked for their input. Tower Lodge
wants to be a good neighbor. He stated
they want to work with the Board.
Mr. Addonizio
asked if any of the neighbors made any suggestions. Attorney Primavera said he would have to ask the owner. As far as I know they have not had any
negative feedback.
Mr. Maczuga
asked if the CON was site specific. Ms.
Bieber said it may be area specific.
She said her understanding it is county.
Mr. Maczuga
asked if there was a moratorium on CON’s.
Ms. Bieber said yes. Mr. Maczuga
said that he recently heard beds in nursing homes are going unused and
residents are going way down. Ms.
Bieber said Tower Lodge is full and we are turning people away. Tower Lodge gives good care.
Jim Stigliano,
Sharpe Road, asked how long the owner of Tower Lodge has owned it. Attorney
Primavera said since 1997. Mr.
Stigliano asked how many facilities does he have. Ms. Bieber said he has four others. Mr. Stigliano asked to have CON explained. Ms. Bieber said a CON is issued by New
Jersey for nursing home beds. The beds
at Tower Lodge were bought from another facility. Mr. Stigliano asked if Tower Lodge is turning people away why not
build a new facility. Ms. Bieber said
people come to Tower Lodge because it is local and because we have an excellent
reputation. Mr. Stigliano asked how
patients come to Tower Lodge. Ms.
Bieber said through hospital referrals, doctor referrals, etc. Mr. Stigliano asked how many patients are
wheelchair bound. Ms. Bieber said
around 40. Mr. Stigliano asked how many
are bedridden. Ms. Bieber said
two. Mr. Stigliano asked how many will
be returning home. Ms. Bieber said a
few.
Mr. Grasso said
the more residents the more state funding.
Mr. Grasso asked if there was a business analysis done. Ms. Bieber said not to her knowledge.
September 5,
2001 Page
5
Mr. Addonizio
asked how Tower Lodge came up with adding 60 beds. Ms. Bieber said she did not know.
Chairman
Noorigian said this application will be carried to October 3rd. Tower Lodge will have the full night. Chairman Noorigian asked for a waiver of
time. Attorney Primavera said yes.
The Board
recessed at 9:10 P.M.
The meeting
resumed at 9:30 P.M.
CASE BA#16-2001:
Date application complete: May
16, 2001. Carried from July 18, 2001
APPLICANT:
PLASTI-CLAD METAL PRODUCTS
RELIEF REQUESTED:
Site Plan, Use Variance, Bulk Variance
Attorney Fox
reviewed the file and stated that the Board had jurisdiction to proceed.
Mark Aikens,
Esq. appeared for the applicant.
Mr. Grasso said
the Board discussed this application in workshop. The Board decided that before they hear any testimony they would
reject the waiver for EIS due to the environmental concerns. He said the Board should be appraised of
what is happening on that property. He
asked the applicant to test all the wells within 1,000’.
Mr. Grasso made
a motion that the Board have all information regarding remediation on site, all
wells within 1,000’ radius be tested and the Board be appraised of all these
findings.
Mr. Gerken said
the Board should be brought up to date as to what the problems are on the site
and also the results of the studies that have already been done.
Mr. Grasso said
they would like to know if anyone’s well is affected. He said the Board would like this information before they hear
this application.
Attorney Fox
stated page three of Bay Pointe’s letter dated June 19, 2001 outlines the
waives requested. That should be
addressed by the applicant and the Board.
The Board is concerned abut the EIS.
Attorney Aikens
said the DEP has jurisdiction over this property.
Mr. Grasso said
the Board feels they need this information.
Attorney Aikens said the site is regulated by State law.
Attorney Fox
said the applicant has not submitted an EIS and the Board is requesting
one.
Mrs. DeSarno
seconded the motion denying the waiver of an EIS.
September 5,
2001 Page
6
Mr. Addonizio,
also with this motion, added the Board should get a letter from DEP giving this
application their blessing and what their findings are on this site.
Attorney Aikens
said the testing was regulated by DEP.
The information from that testing will be submitted. He said they will submit all the information
they have to the Board for their review.
The motion was
approved unanimously by a roll call vote.
(Messrs. Grasso, Addonizio, Cinelli, Rembiszewski, Clayton, Noorigian
and Mrs. DeSarno voted yes.) The waiver
for an EIS was denied.
Chairman
Noorigian said this application will be carried to October 17th.
Attorney Aikens
asked if he could submit the information two weeks before the meeting. Chairman Noorigian said that is fine. Attorney Aikens said if anything changes
they will get word to the Board.
Attorney Aikens
granted a waiver of time. Attorney Fox
stated there is no renoticing required.
CASE BA#15-2001:
Date application complete: May 15, 2000. Carried from Jul 18, 2001.
APPLICANT:
CHRISTOPHER MECCIA
PROPERTY:
1640 Martin Road, Block 943, Lot 16, R-60 Zone
RELIEF REQUESTED:
Bulk Variance
Attorney Fox
reviewed the file and stated that the Board had jurisdiction to proceed.
Timothy B.
Middleton, Esq. appeared for the applicant.
Attorney
Middleton stated the applicant would like to build a house on an undersized
lot. The property is zoned R-60. 60 s.f. is required, 30+ s.f. is provided. There is some wetlands associated with this
lot. LOI was done in August 2000. The home would be built toward the front of
the property. It will be a 2200 s.f.
house. The property is surrounded by
other homes. A grading plan will be
provided.
Christopher Meccia
was sworn.
Attorney
Middleton asked if Mr. Meccia owned the property. Mr. Meccia said yes.
Attorney
Middleton asked how long has he owned the property. Mr. Meccia said since 1986. Mr. Meccia said he now lives at 308
Ninth Avenue, Belmar. He intends to
live in the new home.
Entered into
evidence:
A-1 House plans (2 pages)
A-2 Survey dated July 30, 2000 prepared by
John Lawrence, P.E.
September 5,
2001 Page
7
Attorney
Middleton asked Mr. Meccia to explain A-1.
Mr. Meccia said Page 1 is a rendering showing the front and side of the
structure. Page 2 is the floor
plan. Mr. Meccia said this would be the
house he would build.
Attorney
Middleton asked if the house would have a basement. Mr. Meccia said no. Mr.
Meccia said the house would be 2200 s.f.
Mr. Meccia said the front would be 54’ including the garage. The depth would be 32’.
Attorney
Middleton asked if there were any constraints because of the wetlands. Mr. Meccia said yes. Attorney Middleton said the house was put at
this location because of the wetlands.
The wetlands are in the rear of the property. Mr. Meccia agreed.
Mrs. DeSarno
asked if the lot was now wooded. Mr.
Meccia said yes. Mrs. DeSarno asked Mr.
Meccia what his intentions were regarding the trees. Attorney Middleton said because of the wetlands that are located
on the property the tree removal would be limited to the front quarter of the
lot.
Robert Shimko,
1636 Martin Road, asked if Mr. Meccia planned on living in the house. Mr. Meccia said yes.
Mr. Shimko asked
why Mr. Meccia offered the property to the neighbors. Attorney Fox explained he has to do that to claim hardship.
Mr. Shimko asked
what the property was zoned in 1986.
Mr. Meccia said he did not know.
Mr. Shinko stated Mr. Meccia created the hardship.
Mr. Shimko asked
if the LOI needed to be sent to all the neighbors. Attorney Fox explained under DEP and Land Use Law all that has to
be sent to the neighbors is notice of this application.
Attorney
Middleton said the review letter from Glenn Gerken suggests an LOI be
provided.
Mr. Shimko asked
if there were wetlands. Attorney
Middleton said yes.
Mr. Shimko asked
if a side yard setback variance is being requested. Attorney Middleton said no the house is set on an angle so it meets
the setbacks.
Dave Sims, 1634
Martin Road, said he has lived at this address for 15 years. Mr. Simms stated Mr. Meccia asked to buy his
property. Mr. Simms asked if the house
on the other side was owned by Mr. Meccia’s sister. Mr. Meccia said no.
Mr. Sims asked
if Mr. Meccia knew the owners of Lot 25.
Mr. Meccia said no.
Mr. Simms said
he is concerned about the stream that runs through the property. Mr. Simms asked what the price of this
property was in 1986. Mr. Meccia said
he paid $30,000.
Richard Messler,
1523 Allenwood Road. Mr. Messler said
he is executor of the estate at 1651 Martin Road. Mr. Messler asked if Mr. Meccia was going to build on this lot
before. Mr. Meccia said he never got
this far because of the wetlands. Mr. Messler
said because of the
September 5,
2001 Page
8
wetlands a 50’
buffer has to be maintained.
Attorney Fox
asked if there has ever been an application made to this Board on this
property. Mr. Messler said yes. Attorney Fox said that decision is
irrelevant.
Entered into
evidence:
A-3 A letter dated August 20, 2000 to Mr.
& Mrs. Shinko
A-4 A letter dated August 20, 2000 to Mr.
& Mrs. Simms
A-5 A letter dated August 20, 2000 to Yennaris
Grady
A-6 A letter dated August 20, 2000 to Mr.
Napilitano
A-7 Mr. & Mrs. Simms letter
A-8 Resolution dated December 18, 1985
regarding the application of Manto
Attorney
Middleton read part of the resolution stating the application was dismissed.
Mr. Clayton
asked if that was the only time.
Attorney Middleton said that was the only resolution he could find.
Attorney Fox
said the application was never decided.
It was dismissed not on the merits of the application.
John Lawrence
was sworn. Mr. Lawrence gave his
credentials. He is a professional
engineer and a professional planner.
Mr. Addonizio said the Board accepts Mr. Lawrence as a qualified expert
in engineering.
Mr. Lawrence
said he was familiar with this piece of property.
Entered into
evidence:
A-9 DEP letter
Mr. Lawrence
worked with the DEP. He said DEP
visited the property. There needs to be a 50’ buffer. The proposed house sits within the 50’ buffer. Mr. Lawrence said the wetlands are
delineated in the rear area.
Attorney Fox
asked where the 50’ line between the proposed dwelling and the wetlands
was. Mr. Lawrence said it is parallel
to the rear of the house. Attorney Fox
asked how far the house would be from the buffer. Mr. Lawrence said 5’ – 6’.
Attorney Fox asked how much of the lot is unusable because of the
wetlands. Mr. Lawrence answered, a fair
amount of space.
Attorney
Middleton said the applicant is trying to limit the number of variances
required. He will maintain the 50’
setback on Martin Road.
Mr. Gerken said
the house is 6’ – 7’ off the buffer.
The DEP allows the buffer to go within 20’. He requested a buffering plan.
Attorney Fox
explained the buffering plan. The house
is within 6’ of the transition area. He
said it will be hard to build a house there.
September 5,
2001 Page
9
Mr. Grasso asked
if this setback is in keeping with the neighborhood.
Mr. Shimko said
in a letter he received in 1996 Mr. Lawrence states he did not think there was
any wetlands on this property. Mr.
Lawrence said at that time he inspected the lot and it had no wetlands. Mr. Gerken said this is where the DEP states
there is wetlands not Mr. Lawrence.
Mr. Shimko said
he stated there was no wetlands and he is relying on his testimony.
Mr. Shimko asked
what the elevation of the proposed house is.
Mr. Lawrence said they have not discussed that yet. He said they are just trying to get
approvals.
Mr. Shimko asked
if there is a grade change what effect would that have on his property. Attorney Middleton said a grading plan will
be reviewed by the Board Engineer. The
Board has requested a grading plan for their review.
Mr. Sims asked
where is the hardship. Mr. Meccia
offered the property for five times the price he paid for it. He asked how is that hardship. Attorney Middleton said law says he has to
offer it to the neighbors at fair market value as if the variance had been
granted.
Mr. Brosnan
asked if there is anything stopping the neighbors from purchasing this
property. Attorney Fox said no.
Mr. Clayton
asked Mr. Sims if he was serious about selling a portion of his property to Mr.
Meccia. Mr. Simms said it took him 10
years to fix his property after the last person built.
Rich Messler,
1523 Martin Road, said there is a pond to the east of the lot. That pond is 5’ – 10’ from his property
line. He asked if that pond was
considered wetlands. Mr. Lawrence said
no, that is drainage.
Attorney Fox
asked if the water restricts what the neighbors can do with their
property. Mr. Lawrence said no. He said the water goes down along the
property line. Attorney Fox asked if
the DEP was aware of the pond. Mr.
Lawrence said yes.
Mr. Messler
asked if the drainage goes under Martin Road.
Mr. Lawrence said no.
Mr. Sims asked
if the applicant was aware of a stream running from his property to the Meccia
property.
Mr. Addonizio
said he suggests this application be carried.
Mr. Gerken asked
the applicant to come back with a grading plan.
Mr. Addonizio
said there are many concerns with the neighbors. The Board is requesting a grading plan. He also stated Mr. Sims should let Attorney Middleton know if he
is truly interested in purchasing the property. Mr. Sims said he will sit down with Mr. Meccia but he did not
think they would come to an agreement.
Attorney Fox said the law is clear if you are prepared to sell your access acres for fair market value. You have to say you are prepared to sell
September 5,
2001 Page
10
it for what it
is worth. You have to say you are
willing to buy the property at fair market value. You have to say yes or no.
Chairman
Noorigian said the application will be carried to November 7, 2001. Attorney Middleton waived the time limits.
There being no
further business to come before the Board, a motion was made, seconded, and
unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at 11:25 P.M.
Respectfully
submitted,
Betty
Schinestuhl
Acting Recording Secretary