EAST AMWELL

ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT - MINUTES

Municipal Building - 7:30 PM

March 13, 2007

Call to order and statement of compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act

The regular meeting of the Board of Adjustment was called to order at 7:30 PM on March 13, 2007 in the Main Meeting Room of the Municipal Building, 1070 Route 202/31, Ringoes, NJ by Chairman, Pete Kneski.

In compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act, the Administrative Officer announced this was a regularly scheduled meeting pursuant to the Meeting Notice as published in the January 18, 2007 issue of the Hunterdon County Democrat, a copy of the agenda for this meeting was forwarded to the Hunterdon County Democrat, filed in the Township Clerk’s Office and posted on the Bulletin Board on March 7, 2007.

Roll Call and Agenda Review

Present: Nancy Cunningham

Gael Gardner

Paul Gavzy

Kathi Hoffman

Pete Kneski

Sue Posselt

Absent: Gloria Frederick

Freda Routh

Sherrie Binder

A motion by Nancy Cunningham, seconded by Paul Gavzy to approve the minutes from 2/13/07 was approved.

Chairman Kneski noted that the correspondence will be dealt with as it comes up over the course of the meeting.

Applications to be Deemed Complete or Incomplete

Guy Stabler - AJ-07-01 - Block 11 Lot 37.03 - 95 John Ringo Road, Ringoes

Present for this application was Guy Stabler. He came forward and explained that he is proposing to use the old Willow Creek Nursery, wood frame building on the property for a type of performing arts center to be used by local school aged children. He noted this was strictly an appeal of the Zoning Officer’s determination that this was not an allowed use in the Amwell Valley Zoning District, and stated he was not seeking a use variance at this time. Additionally, Mr. Stabler explained that he intended to lease this space for the proposed arts center, and stated that he was not making any renovations of any kind to any structure on the property. Mr. Stabler noted that he had submitted information regarding the status of the farmland preservation on the property, and filled in the zoning requirements section on the application, all of which was requested at last months completeness hearing. Ms. Hoffman raised a question about the impervious coverage calculation. The Board commented that due to the nature of the application, specifically being an appeal with no requested variances, the Board didn’t necessarily need some of the “technical” details requested on other applications.

A motion by Gael Gardner, seconded by Kathi Hoffman to deem the application complete was unanimously approved.

Bruce Cortelyou - AJ-07-02 - Block 38 Lot 28.01 - 178 Lindbergh Road, Hopewell

Present for this application was Bruce Cortelyou. He came forward and explained that he is proposing to replace the existing shed on the property with a barn-style two car garage. The proposal requires a right side yard setback and impervious coverage variance. It was noted that there are two existing sheds on the property and it is the shed located at the end of the driveway which is to be replaced by the proposed garage. Mr. Cortelyou stated that the impervious coverage will exceed the allowed amount by .5%. Mr. Cortelyou explained he had submitted all of the dimensions and distances requested at last month’s hearing along with drawings/plans for the proposed new garage.

A motion by Nancy Cunningham, seconded by Gael Gardner to deem the application complete was unanimously approved.

Richard E. Scott - AJ-07-03 - Block 38 Lot 27.02 - 160 Lindbergh Road, Hopewell

Present for this application was property owner Richard Scott and his Planner, Tamara Lee. Ms. Lee explained that Mr. Scott had a side loading garage which faced up the Mountain and he converted it several years ago into a sitting room/library and now he would like to have a garage. The proposed application will require two variances: One to allow the garage to be placed in the front yard and another to allow a short length of privacy fence to be installed.

A motion by Gael Gardner, seconded by Paul Gavzy to deem the application complete was unanimously approved.

Princeton Hydro, LLC - AJ-07-04 - Block 11 Lot 37.03 - 95 John Ringo Road, Ringoes

Present for this application was Princeton Hydro President, Stephen Souza and company Vice President, Mark Gallagher. Mr. Souza explained his business has been in the Township for about 5 years located on Old York Road, and they are looking to lease the property which is the subject of this application, to be used as their field operation space. He commented that they have boats and field equipment in storage and this would allow them to keep their office and equipment at the same site. It was determined that there would be about 2 - 4 employees from 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM Monday - Friday at the site. Mr. Souza said the location would serve primarily as storage and a centralized location for his workers to assemble their equipment and then leave to conduct their work.

Approximately 1/3 of the wood frame building on the property would be used for office space the remaining space would be used as an area to layout equipment. A portion of the pole barn on the property will be used for storage of boats and other large equipment.

A motion by Gael Gardner, seconded by Paul Gavzy to deem the application complete was unanimously approved.

There were no applications for public hearing.

Old Business

Regarding the job description for the Zoning Administrative Officer position, the Board discussed specific qualifications and determined that Ms. Andrews would type a draft job description based on the comments from the Board members and a new version will be distributed at next months meeting for review.

Open to the Public

A motion by Kathi Hoffman, seconded by Nancy Cunningham to open to the public was unanimously approved. No one came forward. A motion by Nancy Cunningham, seconded by Gael Gardner to close to the public was unanimously approved.

Comments of the Board Members

Sue Posselt commented that the tax maps still refer to Rosement Ringoes Road as Sergentsville Road. The Board suggested she speak to the Tax Assessor about the matter since she works with the Township Engineer regarding changes to the tax maps.

Ms. Andrews asked all Board members to please let her know if they wouldn’t be attending the scheduled meetings because too often members are simply not showing up and this could be a problem on evenings when use variances are scheduled to be heard.

A motion by Paul Gavzy, seconded by Sue Posselt to adjourn was unanimously approved.

The meeting adjourned at 8:35 PM.

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Maria Andrews, Administrative Officer