ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OCTOBER 15, 2003
The Regular
Meeting of the Wall Township Board of Adjustment was called to order by Chairman
Clayton at 7:55 P.M. Members present
were Chairman Clayton, Vice Chairperson Mary DeSarno, James Gray, Anthony
Rembiszewski, Wilma Morrissey, Addonizio, first alternate Bob Kerr, Attorney Hirsch,
Planning Coordinator Roberta Lang, Recording Secretary Betty Schinestuhl,
Engineer Gerken, Planner Bergailo and Reporter Arnone.
SALUTE TO THE FLAG
Attorney Hirsch
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.
CASE #BA30-2003
– Date application
complete: August 12, 2003
APPLICANT: LOUIS GRELLA
PROPERTY: 2512 Ramshorn Drive, Block 893, Lot 29,
R-60 zone
RELIEF
REQUESTED: Bulk
Attorney Hirsch reviewed the file and stated the Board had jurisdiction
to proceed.
Sworn by Reporter Arnone: Louis
Grella
Mr. Grella said there is a mistake on the application the pillars are
going to be 6’ not 8½’.
Mr. Grella said this is a two-fold project. Cars go very fast on Ramshorn Drive. The gates will add beauty to the house. I designed a fence that would have two pillars and a gate. It will open by remote control. The gates will be less than 5’. The pillars will be 6’. There will be a 5’ fence between the
pillars. They will have a pole sphere. The gate will start at 5’ and go to 6’ in
the middle.
Chairman Clayton asked for the total height. Mr. Grella said the pillars will be below 8’. The will come to 8’ with the cap.
Attorney Hirsch asked for the length of the fence. Mr. Grella said the fence will be the whole length
of the front yard. Attorney Hirsch
asked, 132’. Mr. Grella said that is
correct.
Attorney Hirsch said, for the record, the property consists of 30,000
s.f. and is in the R-60 zone.
October 15, 2003 Page
2
Attorney Hirsch asked Mr. Grella what is to the right of his
property. Mr. Grella said a small
house. Attorney Hirsch asked how far is
that house set back from the road. Mr.
Grella said it is closer to the road than his.
It is about 70’ off the road.
Attorney Hirsch asked how far is that house from the common property
line. Mr. Grella said about 60’. Attorney Hirsch asked if there was any
buffering along the property line. Mr.
Grella said he has evergreens on his property.
They run all the way down the property line. He said he cannot see his neighbor’s house.
Attorney Hirsch asked what is to the left of your property. Mr. Grella said there is a house that is set
way back. There is going to be a
subdivision done there.
Mr. Gerken said there is a new road coming in on the north side of Mr.
Grella’s property. There will be four
new lots created.
Attorney Hirsch asked Mr. Grella what type of fence. Mr. Grella said an aluminum fence. It will be an open fence.
Mrs. Morrissey asked if the gate will open with a remote control. Mr. Grella said yes.
Mrs. Morrissey asked if when you come out of the driveway you will be
able to see. Mr. Grella said the fence
will be set back about 23’ from the start of the road. Mrs. Morrissey asked if it will be on the
ROW. Mr. Grella said no.
Mr. Gray asked if there was a fence along the property line to the
left. Mr. Grella said there is no fence
in the front of that property.
Attorney Hirsch asked how far is the fence from the property line. Mr. Grella said the fence is on the property
line. The gate will be 10’ off the
property line.
Mr. Rembiszewski said he visited the property. He asked Mr. Grella if there was a fence in the back and a
pool. Mr. Grella said yes. Mr. Rembiszewski said you don’t think that
fence is sufficient. Mr. Grella said
the children like to ride their bikes and he doesn’t want them to go into the
road.
Chairman Clayton said the fence will measure about 10’ from the
road. Mr. Grella said yes.
Chairman Clayton said being the gate uses a remote control what will
happen in an emergency. How will the
Police get in? Mr. Grella said you can
just push it open.
Mr. Gerken, regarding the gate, said the Township has the right to use
the ROW if they want to expand the road.
Mr. Grella should not use the town’s property.
Chairman Clayton asked if Mr. Grella would have a problem with moving the
gate back. Mr. Grella said yes, the
fence is already there. It would be a
problem to move it back.
Mr. Gerken asked for the distance from the front fence line to the line
of the gate. Mr. Grella said about
12’. Mr. Gerken said that is adequate
for the length of a car.
October 15, 2003 Page
3
Attorney Hirsch said the Board can approve this application with the
condition that if the town widens the road he needs to move the gate back.
The application was open and closed to the public.
Mr. Rembiszewski
moved to approve the application subject to the applicant moving the gate back
if the town decides to widen the road.
Mrs. Morrissey seconded the motion which was unanimously approved by a
roll call vote. (Mr. Rembiszewski, Mrs.
Morrissey, Messrs. Kerr, Gray, Addonizio, Mrs. DeSarno and Mr. Clayton voted
yes.)
CARRIED APPLICATION
Case #31-2003 – Date application complete: September 5,
2003. Carried from September 17, 2003
APPLICANT: SPEEDWAY PROPERTIES, LLC
PROPERTY: 1803 Route 34, Block 922, Lot 3, OR-10
zone
RELIEF REQUESTED: Use/Site
Attorney Mark
Aikins, Esq. appeared for the applicant.
Attorney Aikins
said at the last hearing Mr. Kerr and Mr. Addonizio were not in
attendance. Did they listen to the
tapes? Attorney Hirsch said they read
the transcript and signed the affidavits.
Entered into
evidence:
A-6 Preliminary & Final Site Plan last
revised October 3, 2003
A-7 Aerial photo showing adjoining properties
dated October 7, 2003
A-8 Drawings of proposed screen dated October
13, 2003
A-9 Panoramic view showing the screen
Sworn by
Reporter Arnone: Brook
Crossan
Mr. Crossan gave
his credentials as an engineer and environmentalist which were accepted by the
Board.
Mr. Crossan said
he was told there were noise quality issues.
He did a study during the day and went through the surrounding
neighborhood at night. He said there
was no noise impact.
Mr. Crossan,
using A-7, showed the Board the areas where he monitored the noise. He was at a house on Hurley Pond Road east
of Route 34 at the intersection of Martin Road and Azure Drive within the
ROW. He also monitored to the west of
the property. There are standards that
need to be met. When the Speedway is
operating it is exempt from those standards.
The drive-in would have to comply with New Jersey Noise Control. Between 7:00 A.M. – 10:00 P.M. 65 decibels
at the property line is allowed.
Between 10:00 P.M. – 7:00 A.M. 50 decibels is allowed.
October 15, 2003 Page
4
Backyard noise
is louder than the noise that will be heard from the drive-in. He said he did the studies in late
September. It was not on a
weekend. Traffic was more than in the
summer time. He said his results
included the Garden State Parkway, Route 195 and Route 34 background
noise. Levels were about 50 decibels. The source has to be higher than that to be
a violation.
Mr. Crossan
explained if you are 50’ away from an auto and if you were to meter noise and
then move 100’ away you would expect the noise to decrease by 6 decibels. Because of the trees there it decreased by
about 9 decibels. To the west of the
Speedway there is approximately 10’ berm buffer so that the noise would be
lower.
Mr. Gray said
what about 600 cars running with their radios blaring. Mr. Crossan said he doesn’t think they will
be allowed to blare their radios.
Mr. Addonizio
said, in regard to the cars exiting the site, what about that noise? Mr. Crossan said as far as cars idling they
are usually pretty quiet. The slower
the speed the quieter the source.
Moving at 3 – 5 MPH there should be no noise at all.
Mr. Addonizio
said you are going to have a lot of kids, 17 – 18 years old. How about when they start pealing out. What kind of sound then? Mr. Crossan said he has done noise studies
at movie theatres and there is not an excessive amount of noise. He said he does not have any numbers
monitoring that situation. Attorney
Aikins said it is very hard to ask an expert as to what might happen. I would say the applicant would agree as a
condition if this became a problem that would be something we would bring back
to the Board to address. The Police
Department would be involved. The
applicant would not condone that. That
would be addressed by the Police Department.
Attorney Hirsch
said noise is a difficult situation. It
is not an enforcement issue.
Attorney Aikins
said the noise has the capability of being measured. There can be a remedy.
Most of the films would be family in nature.
Mrs. DeSarno
said the level was around 90 decibels coming off the site. Mr. Crossan said that would be the worse
case.
Attorney Aikins
asked what is representative of 94 decibels.
Mr. Crossan said a gas lawnmower, chain saw, etc.
Mr. Addonizio
asked if Mr. Crossan took into account echoing. He asked how that affects the numbers. Mr. Crossan said the cars themselves will have some reflection of
noise. Noise would reflect off the
cars.
The Board
recessed at 9:00 P.M.
The meeting
resumed at 9:10 P.M.
October 15, 2003 Page
5
Attorney Aikins
asked Mr. Crossan what the decibel level might be at the property line if it
was 90 decibels in the center of the parking area. Mr. Crossan said at the closest house it would go down 70 – 72
decibels.
Attorney Aikins
asked Mr. Crossan about air quality. Mr.
Crossan said air quality meets all of the DEP standards. The air quality is good. There will be absolutely no impact at all as
a result of this project.
Mr. Kerr,
regarding air quality, said at the Speedway the cars were not idling. He said the drive-in would have 600 cars
idling. He asked if Mr. Crossan took
that into account. Mr. Crossan said
yes.
Mrs. DeSarno asked
what affect the idling cars would have on the people at the drive-in. Mr. Crossan said he did not do that
study. Attorney Aikins said cars will
not be allowed to idle.
Mrs. Morrissey
asked what if there are anti freeze leaks, etc. Mr. Crossan said it would go into the soil and stay there. Nothing would happen that would impact the
ground water. He said he doesn’t feel
it would be any problem at all.
Chairman Clayton
asked if he was standing at the Quail Ridge Golf Course would he hear the noise
across the street. Mr. Crossan said it
is possible at certain times. Hearing
the noise doesn’t mean it creates an impact.
The application
was open to the public.
Mr. Bongiovanni,
2008 Plymouth Court, asked when you measured the back levels you got 50
decibels. Mr. Crossan said between 50
& 53.
Mr. Bongiovanni
said there are different standards for different times of the day. Mr. Crossan said yes.
Mr. Bongiovanni
asked what the decibel level was after 10:00 P.M. Mr. Crossan said 50.
Mr. Bongiovanni
asked Mr. Crossan if he measured different times of the day. Mr. Crossan said between 10:00 & 11:00
P.M.
Mr. Bongiovanni
asked if the operation of the site would increase the noise at night time. Mr. Crossan said no.
Mr. Bongiovanni
asked if this will increase the noise level more than another permitted
use. Mr. Crossan said no.
Mr. Bongiovanni
asked if the air pollution will be above legal levels. Mr. Crossan said there will be no violation
of air standards.
October 15, 2003 Page
6
Mr. Bongiovanni
said Wall Township does not have any specific standards regarding noise
pollution or air quality. Mr. Crossan
said he is not aware of any. There may
be a nuisance ordinance.
Mr. Bongiovanni
asked Mr. Crossan if he ever testified in Howell Township. Attorney Aikins objected as to relevance.
James Mahedy,
1865 Carol Court, asked what else this site is zoned for. Attorney Hirsch said this part of the
meeting is for the public to asked questions of this witness. Mr. Mahedy said he had no questions for Mr.
Crossan.
Mrs. Cervates,
2009 Tally Ho, asked what 80 decibels sounds like. Mr. Crossan said it sounds like traffic in a downtown urban area,
vacuum cleaner, etc.
Mrs. Cervates
asked about 50 decibels. Mr. Crossan
said it would sound like the inside of a business office, normal speech, etc.
Mark Kataryniak
was sworn. Mr. Kataryniak gave his
credentials which were accepted by the Board.
Mr. Kataryniak
said he was asked to do a traffic study on site. He studied vehicles turning onto the site, safety issues on site,
etc.
Mr. Kataryniak,
using A-6 showed where the ingress and egress would be located. Cars would enter the site, travel around the
field and go to the ticket booth.
Traffic would enter only from Route 34.
Hurley Pond Road exit would be closed.
They would exit from both driveways.
There would be two lanes of traffic entering the site. Hours start at dusk and end at approximately
10:30 – 11:00 P.M. During the summer
months dusk is later. The movie might
not start until 8:00 P.M. In the fall
and spring it would be earlier. Traffic
will arrive at the tail end of peak hours or right after. Gates will open between 60 & 90 minutes
before show time. Most people arrive
between 15 & 45 minutes prior to an event.
80% of the traffic would arrive within 15 – 45 minutes prior to the
event. Mr. Kataryniak said there will
be two lanes with attendants taking money.
It will be like paying tolls on the Garden State Parkway. It will take 15 seconds.
Mrs. DeSarno
asked if they will be taking charge cards.
Attorney Aikins said no.
Mr. Gray asked
if the attendants will be on the drivers’ side. Mr. Kataryniak said yes.
Mr. Gray said
when you are on the Garden State Parkway you know how much they charge. In this case each time a car pulls up they
have to find out how adults and how many children to charge for. Will it still only take 15 seconds? Mr. Kataryniak said yes. People on the Garden State Parkway just
start looking for change when they get to the toll. People here know what the cost is going to be. It would also be comparable to the New
Jersey Turnpike tollbooths.
October 15, 2003 Page
7
Mr. Rembiszewski
asked are you going to have a sign stating prices. Attorney Aikins said that will be answered by operations. When someone comes on site they will be
given some sort of handbook stating rates and rules and regulations.
Mr. Addonizio
asked how you are going to handle cars that only have credit cards. Mr. Kataryniak said along the west entrance
roadway there will be a third attendant directing traffic. You can pull them off to the side.
Mr. Addonizio
asked how they are going to handle the 600 car limit. Mr. Kataryniak said entering the site will occur over a 60 – 90
minute period. Employees will react to
the situation. Attorney Aikins said
cones will be placed at the Route 35 entrance when capacity is reached.
Mr. Addonizio
asked if Hurley Pond Road will be able to handle the traffic. Mr. Kataryniak said Hurley Pond Road will be
utilized at the end of the show.
Traffic will be very low. That
roadway can handle more than 600 cars.
Mr. Addonizio
asked how long will it take for 600 cars to exit. Mr. Kataryniak said 20 – 25 minutes.
Mrs. DeSarno
asked Mr. Kataryniak to use the exhibits and show the Board how traffic will
exit. Mr. Kataryniak said the plans
have been revised. There will be
additional signage on site. There will
be advisory signs under the movie screen.
Chairman Clayton
said this application will be carried to December 17, 2003.
Attorney Aikins
said if the Board grants him a special meeting he will renotice.
RESOLUTIONS TO BE MEMORIALIZED:
MARY REMHOFF –
BA#29-2003
Block 333, Lot
18 Kerr/DeSarno
There being no
further business to come before the Board, a motion was made, seconded, and
unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at 10:40 P.M.
Respectfully
submitted,
Betty Schinestuhl
Recording
Secretary