EAST AMWELL
ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
Municipal Building – 7:30 PM
October 9, 2007
Call to order and compliance with the Open Public
Meetings Act
The regular meeting of the
Board of Adjustment was called to order at 7:30 PM on October 9, 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, filed in the Township Clerk’s
Office, and posted on the Bulletin Board on October 2, 2007.
Roll Call and Agenda Review
Present: Nancy Cunningham
Gloria
Frederick
Gael
Gardner
Paul
Gavzy
Pete
Kneski
Freda
Routh
Sherrie
Binder (Alt. #1 – arrived at 7:35)
Absent: Sue Posselt
Nomination/Appointment of Board Vice Chair
A nomination was made by Gael
Gardner, seconded by Paul Gavzy to nominate Nancy Cunningham as Vice Chair.
A motion by Gloria Frederick,
seconded by Paul Gavzy to close the nominations was approved.
Roll Call Vote:
Gael Gardner: Yes, Paul Gavzy: Yes, Gloria Frederick: Yes, Pete Kneski: Yes,
Freda Routh: Yes, Sherrie Binder: Yes, Nancy Cunningham: Abstained
The Board congratulated Ms.
Cunningham on being nominated Vice Chair.
Presentation of Minutes
A motion by Nancy Cunningham,
seconded by Paul Gavzy to approve the minutes of August 14, 2007 with a minor
revision was approved with Gael Gardner abstaining.
Presentation of Bills for Payment
A motion by Gael Gardner,
seconded by Nancy Cunningham to approve the bills for payment, as listed on the
agenda, was unanimously approved.
Chairman Kneski noted that
the correspondence will be dealt with as it comes up over the course of the
meeting.
Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes – October 9, 2007
Applications to be Deemed Complete or Incomplete
Giulio Cifelli – Block 35.01 Lot 33.03 – 95 Lindbergh Road, Hopewell
Present for the application
was Giulio Cifelli. Mr. Cifelli came forward and explained to the Board that he
had constructed a 30” x 38” x 16” pole barn on his property without the
required permits. The barn is situated 581’ from the street line which is in
violation of the ordinance that limits clearing and development to the area
between 100’ and 500’ from the road right of way. It was determined that the
barn is currently being used for Mr. Cifelli’s personal vehicles and
landscaping equipment. The barn has a water spigot and motion sensor lights.
Ms. Cunningham requested clarification
on some information Mr. Cifelli put on his Zoning Permit Application. She
referred to paragraph/question number 3 reading, “Is all clearing and all
improvements and development including all structures currently existing on
this lot located within 500’ of the road right of way?” Ms. Cunningham said,
“Your answer to that question is ‘Yes,’ but I believe...” Mr. Cifelli
responded, “That should be ‘No,’ and if you look at the page before, I put that
the pole barn is 581’ (from the road).” Ms. Cunningham asked another question
regarding lighting. She read from a portion of Mr. Cifelli’s application, “Is
any proposed lighting not in compliance with the Township lighting
ordinance, and you say, ‘Yes.’” Ms. Cunningham asked if that was the correct
answer. Mr. Cifelli responded, “I think the reason I answered yes is just
because, obviously I have to go through the process of getting inspected. As
far as the lighting ordinance...I don’t think there was any problem with that,
it was just that I didn’t have the permits...”
Mr. Kneski asked for
clarification on weather or not Mr. Cifelli did in fact have County Health
approval as he indicated on the application paperwork. Mr. Cifelli said, “Yes.”
Mr. Kneski suggested a copy of the certification should be provided to the
Board to be attached to this application.
Mr. Kneski noted that through
Mr. Cifelli’s discussion with the Board this evening, there was some indication
that there have been permits issued for structures that may or may not have
been constructed yet, such as the pool. There was some discussion on the effect
these structures will have on the impervious coverage on the lot. Attorney
Waterbury informed Mr. Cifelli that everything on his property must be shown on
the plan. She explained, “For the Board to be able to consider your application
and have all of the information it needs, your plan basically has to be a
snapshot of your property as it exists today.”
Ms. Routh questioned if the
entire driveway area was calculated into the impervious coverage and the Board
suggested that Mr. Cifelli provide a breakdown of impervious coverage as it
relates to each structure on the property.
Mr. Kneski brought up the
memo done by Engineer O’Neal regarding his Stormwater Management review. Mr.
Kneski asked if Mr. Cifelli had contacted Engineer O’Neal regarding possible
mitigations or provisions to comply with the Stormwater Management program. Mr.
Cifelli indicated that he had received a copy of Engineer O’Neal’s memo and
stated, “I did discuss it with the Grybowski Group, which is the Engineering
firm that put the plans together and they will prepare whatever needs to be
prepared to fulfill the requirements.”
Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes – October 9, 2007
Ms. Routh indicated that a
variance may be needed for clearing. Attorney Waterbury stated, “That is the
other aspect that the Engineer raises in his memo, that it looks like the
amount of clearing on the site exceeds what is allowed under our ordinance and
he is basing this on his review of the 2002 DEP aerial maps which is what the
code calls for, so...you’re going to need to provide the Board with some fairly
specific information on exactly how much has been cleared from that site.”
Attorney Waterbury stressed this aspect of the application was an important “noticing”
detail that must not be resolved at the last minute. She stated, “Your notice
will have to include that you’re not only deviating from the provision that
says no clearing beyond the first 500’ but that you may also have a deviation
from the provision that limits the total amount of clearing that may take
place.”
A motion by Paul Gavzy,
seconded by Gael Gardner to deem the application incomplete was unanimously
approved. The decision was based on the fact that the Board needed a breakdown
of impervious coverage, a new site plan needed to be submitted showing
everything on the property as it exists today and information must be submitted
clearly demonstrating exactly how much clearing has taken place on the property.
With regard to the Stormwater Management review, the Board noted that this
issue would have to be addressed/complied with for the public hearing. Ms.
Routh suggested that Mr. Cifelli speak with the Zoning Officer prior to the
public hearing to confirm that the lighting on the property is in compliance
with the Township Ordinance.
Mr. Cifelli asked if he could
submit his “as built plan.” Attorney Waterbury stated, “I think that the Board
needs to know exactly when you began construction and pulled your first permit
because there is clearly an issue here as to how much has been cleared and when
and how it relates to the code.” Mr. Cifelli again asked if he could provide
his “as built plan” as it was submitted to the Township in October 2004 when he
applied for the C.O. He stated the plan shows exactly what was “built.”
Attorney Waterbury asked, “Was your site fully wooded when you purchased it—did
you have to do any clearing in order to build?” Mr. Cifelli responded, “To
build the house, yes.” Attorney Waterbury said, “OK, we need to know how much
clearing took place.”
There were no public hearings
listed on the agenda.
Old Business
The Board reviewed the
meeting procedures information sheet and made a few minor revisions. They
directed Ms. Andrews to go ahead with reformatting the sheet into a “brochure”
style layout.
New Business
A motion by Freda Routh,
seconded by Paul Gavzy to approve the Peyrek Resolution was approved.
Roll Call Vote:
Freda Routh: Yes, Paul Gavzy: Yes, Nancy Cunningham: Yes, Gloria Frederick:
Yes, Pete Kneski: Yes
Change of November 13, 2007 Meeting Date: There was some discussion on whether or not the Board
should reschedule their November 13th meeting due to the conflict
with the League of Municipalities Convention. The Board decided to go ahead
with the meeting as scheduled. Since several Board members, including the Chair
and Vice Chair will not be able to make next month’s meeting, the Board
unanimously agreed to temporarily appoint Freda Routh as the Chair for the November
13, 2007 meeting.
Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes – October 9, 2007
Discussion: VIP Article, re: Variance Requests: It was the consensus of the Board to include an
article in the next edition of the VIP Newsletter regarding helpful hints for
residents thinking about building or doing projects around their house and the
time it takes to apply for any necessary variances before the Board of
Adjustment.
Open to the Public
A motion by Nancy Cunningham,
seconded by Gael Gardner to open to the public was unanimously approved. No one
came forward. A motion by Freda Routh, seconded by Gael Gardner to close to the
public was unanimously approved.
A motion by Nancy Cunningham,
seconded by Gael Gardner to approve the Resolution to enter into closed session,
was unanimously approved.
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The Board went into closed session from 8:41 PM – 8:51
PM.
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A motion by Gael Gardner,
seconded by Gloria Frederick to return to Open Public Session was unanimously
approved.
Comments of the Board Members
Chairman Kneski requested
that the evaluation forms for Ms. Andrews evaluation be included in next months
packets so the Board members can review the information and get their comments
to him in a timely fashion.
Mr. Gavzy expressed concern that
the conditions of approval associated with the variances granted for the
Integrity Auto Body application may not be currently being honored. Chairman
Kneski requested Ms. Andrews bring this matter to the attention of the Zoning
Officer and ask him to advise the Board of the status.
A motion by Gloria Frederick,
seconded by Nancy Cunningham to adjourn was unanimously approved.
The meeting adjourned at 8:56
PM.
________________________________
Maria Andrews, Administrative
Officer