Board of Adjustment Public Meeting Minutes 11/24/2015

Opening:

The regular meeting of the Zoning Board of Adjustment of the Village of Ridgewood was called to order at 7:39 p.m.

Mr. Cascio administered the Oath of Office to Gregory Brown, Alternate 2 Board of Adjustment member.

Present:       Chairman Torielli, Diana Ruhl, Gary Negrycz, Jeffrey Voigt, Alyssa Matthews, Sergio Alegre, Ines Bunza and Greg Brown. Also present were Ben Cascio, Esq., substituting for Bruce Whitaker, Esq.; Board Attorney; Blais Brancheau, Village Planner and Jane Wondergem, Board Secretary.

Absent:         Hans-Jurgen Lehmann recused himself from the 210 S. Broad Street, LLC, hearing and did not attend this meeting. 

Non-agenda items:

            Board member comments: There were no comments at this time.

            Members of the public comments: There were no comments at this time.

Public hearings

Old Business:        

IVY REALTY SERVICES, LLC -   An application to permit construction of a new building for use as a bank which will include drive through lanes. Certain bulk variances with respect to conditional uses related to banks, and preliminary and final approval is also requested, at property known as 121 Franklin Avenue, Block 2010, Lot 16, in a B-2 Zone. (Cont. from August 11, 2015) Chairman Torielli announced that this matter will be carried to January 12, 2016 without further notice.

New Business:

210 S. BROAD STREET LLC - An application to permit development for a medical office building which will result in side yard setbacks varying between 0 feet and 12 feet, where 0 feet or 12 feet is required; a floor area ratio of 54%, where 45% is the maximum permitted; coverage by improvements of 94%, where 90% is the maximum permitted; maximum

illumination level at residential boundary of 0.5 to 1.0 foot-candle, where 0.1

foot-candle is allowed; 8 parking spaces proposed, where 30 parking spaces is minimum required; setback for parking area from side and rear lot lines varying from 0 feet to 4.5 feet, where 5 feet is the minimum required and setback for driveway from residential zone of 0 feet, where 10 feet is the minimum required at 210 South Broad Street, Block 3905, Lot 7, in a B-2 zone. Charles Collins, Esq., entered his appearance on behalf of the applicant, Dr. Anna Korkis, who is the sole member of 210 South Broad Street, LLC and 200 South Broad Street, LLC. Brian Shortino was sworn and presented his expert credentials as an engineer which were accepted by the Board. Mr. Shortino referred to a landscape rendering, dated November 24, 2015, prepared for presentation which was marked as Exhibit A-1. Mr. Shortino stated that Lot 6, 200 S. Broad St., was incorporated into the drawing. Mr. Shortino explained that what currently exists on the site is a one story building with an attached two-car garage. They propose to convert to a building for office use. They propose to eliminate the garage and do interior and exterior modification and upgrade the two floors for office use. Mr. Shortino described the existing site conditions and what is proposed in regards to parking, traffic flow and landscaping, stormwater drainage and lighting. Mr. Shortino itemized the variances the proposed development required as being the parking deficiency and the increase in floor area ratio. Mr. Shortino referred to the report from the Village Engineer and responded to the issues regarding traffic flow, parking, regulatory permits and reviews, stormwater management, lighting and landscaping. Mr. Collins clarified that in regards to stormwater management, the applicant will comply with whatever the Village Engineer or the Board requires. Mr. Shortino said that in regards to parking, there is no opportunity to put additional parking on the site.

Board members had concerns regarding the driveway access and the parking and the possibility of a parking easement. Mr. Brancheau, Village Planner, was sworn. Mr. Brancheau said that the Planning Board approved the site plan for Lot 6 and all of the parking for that lot is required in the code to meet the need for the building on Lot 6. Mr. Brancheau said that the access easement is only for Village emergency response personnel to get to the rear of the apartment building on Lot 8.01.

There was discussion regarding the need for a variance for coverage by improvements and Mr. Brancheau said that the proposed coverage complies.

The Board members had more questions regarding the number of rooms and offices and parking spaces needed. Mr. Collins said that issue would need to be addressed by the applicant’s planner.

Mr. Brancheau said that the issue of the floor area ratio (FAR) variance needed to be discussed because if there is no increase in FAR, as testified by Mr. Shortino, then this application would not need to be heard by this Board. Mr.

Brancheau explained what is and what is not included in FAR. There was discussion regarding how long the basement had been used for uses other than storage or mechanical space. Mr. Brancheau said that the burden is on the applicant to prove what the state of the basement was when the ordinance regarding FAR started. There was discussion regarding FAR, parking and whether or not what they are proposing is increasing FAR. After further discussion the hearing was carried to January 12, 2016 without further notice.

Resolution Memorialization:       The following resolutions were memorialized:      

-          657 Ridgewood LLC, 657 Franklin Tpk. (revised site plan)

-          Tselepis, 29 Pershing Avenue

-          Feder, 857 Morningside Road

-          Grube – Paredes, 231 Fairfield Avenue

Meeting was adjourned at 9:12 p.m.

Minutes submitted by: Jane Wondergem, Board Secretary

Date Approved: December 8, 2015