REGULAR MEETING
Municipal Bldg 530 West Hill Road Glen Gardner, N.J. 08826
The 825th Regular
Meeting of the Lebanon Township Planning Board was called to order at 7:02 p.m.
by Chairman Gary MacQueen. Present
were: Mr. Schmidt, Mr. Gerlich, Mr.
Piasecki, Ms. Bleck, Mr. Piazza, Mr. Weiler, Attorney Gallina, Planner Bolan
and Engineer Risse. Excused: Mr. Rich & Mr. Weeks.
This meeting was noticed in
the “Annual Meeting Notice Schedule” adopted by this board on January 12, 2010,
mailed to the Hunterdon Review, Hunterdon County Democrat, Courier News,
Express Times, Star Ledger and posted on the bulletin
board in the
PRESENTATION OF MINUTES: January
12, 2010 Reorganization/Regular
Meeting
Motion by Mr. Piasecki and
seconded by Ms. Bleck to approve the minutes as presented. Unanimously approved.
ADOPT PROFESSIONAL CONTRACTS:
a. Jim Kyle, PP,
(Alternate/Contract)
b. Jess Symonds, Engrs (Alternate/Letter
of Intent)
Ms. Glashoff reviewed for the
board the two contracts from Planner Kyle and Engr. Symonds and informed the
board that the hourly rate for the Planner is in line with Planner Bolan’s rate
and Engr. Symonds hourly rate is the same as last year. Motion by Ms. Bleck and seconded by Mr.
Piasecki to adopt both professional contracts as presented. Unanimously approved.
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION:
a. Alternative Energy
Ordinance – Planner Bolan (Final Draft)
Planner Bolan said there
weren’t many changes and he went through the changes that were made at the January meeting. At the conclusion of the board’s discussion,
motion by Mr. Gerlich and seconded by Mr. Piasecki to approve the changes and
to forward the ordinance on to the Township Committee. Unanimously approved. Ms. Glashoff said that it will be on the
Township Committee’s agenda for Introduction on February 17th with a
Public Hearing on March 17th.
b. Fire Protection
Ordinance Procedures – Warren
Gabriel (Chief, Fire Dept.)
c. Amend Checklist
to include copy Site Plan for Fire Dept.
– Warren Gabriel (Chief, Fire Dept.)
Mr. Gabriel said that the
only issue they are running into now is getting the tanks into the ground. The ordinance states that no building permits
are to be issued until the tank(s) are in the ground. There are buildings up now that are ready to
be occupied and the tank is not in the ground.
Mr. Gabriel said that we had an issue when an applicant came back with a
hardship and asked to downsize the tank which was okay because it was designed for the
building but he had agreed to put in one size and now can’t afford it and is
now going to cut back on the fire protection tank. The Crossroads Camp is supposed to put in a
30 thousand gallon tank and found out that they already have a building built
and he was contacted to find out where to put the tank. Mr. Gabriel stated he met with the Project
Manager of the camp two years ago for the placement of the tank and they were
going to get started but nothing happened.
Mr. Gabriel said these tanks
have to get in prior to any building permits being issued. Ms. Glashoff asked about Mohawk Oil. Mr. Gabriel said with Mohawk it was agreed to
wait until everything was done, but now they have a problem because where the tank
was to be placed is where the water main runs which is where they wanted to put
the tank in. Chairman MacQueen asked
for input from Engineer Risse. Engineer
Risse informed the board he contacted Tewksbury Township Construction Dept. to
get a copy of their procedures before they issue a building permit which is a
checklist. Mr. Gabriel noted that Ms.
Glashoff sent them a letter along with the ordinance two years ago and it is
still not being followed. Mr. Gerlich
asked if it was the responsibility of the Zoning Officer to make sure all the
conditions are met. Engineer Risse said
no. The board continued to discuss this
issue at length. Engineer Risse said
there is a step between when the Site Plan is approved and before they order
the tank we get cut sheets and whoever is going to put the tank in the ground
gets the cut sheets from the manufacturer and then should turn them in to Mr.
Gabriel and himself for them to look at.
This should have been done before permits were issued. The board agreed and said it would prove that
everything is in motion. There should
be a purchase order or cancelled check. In
conclusion, Engineer Risse will contact Tewksbury Construction and ask to have
this on their checklist. Mr. Gabriel
suggested having the final set of plans (as-built) to show that the tank has
been put in the ground.
d. COAH Obligation
Units – Planner Bolan
e. Housing Plan Draft
Highlands – Planner Bolan
Planner Bolan referred to the
memo stating that he summarized about 10-12 different sections which are within
the two programs that he has discussed with the board, the Residential Care
Facility and Accessory Apartments. What
is in this memo is the basis of what will be submitted to the
February 2, 2010
Page 2
the background information about demographics and housing
units etc. This has all been
completed. This was done twice and
nothing was changed. We submitted when
we did the 3rd Round and then that changed with the court diecision
and he did it again in 2008. Planner
Bolan said he spoke to COAH about the Residential Care Facility. Right now the
Planner Bolan stated with our
affordable obligation of 12 units, the rental obligation is 3 units. Once we satisfy that obligation that’s when
you get extra credits. It is different
from how it was in the past rules.
Referring to the Accessory Apartments, at least 50% of the units within
the municipality have to be family housing units and the Residential Health
Care Facility would not count. At least
50% of the rental obligation has to be family housing which would mean of the 3
rentals 1.5 have to be family and 1.5 have to be non-family. COAH will round the 1.5 off to 2 units. Six bedrooms of a Residential Health Care
Facility can count as units. This sets
the total perimeters that we have to meet.
Planner Bolan said he is submitting a memo to COAH to confirm his
interpretation of how these different regulations operate. When talking to our Planner at COAH she
suggested looking at 5:97-6.10 for special needs housing and also need to look
at the municipally sponsored and the market to affordable. The most difficult standard to address is
5:97-6.10 which indicates that all bedrooms shall be affordable to low-income
households. Depending on how the
occupancy standard is interpreted, the household is either $771.00 per month or
$826 per month. Depending how the occupancy standard is interpreted. Planner
Bolan stated that he asked COAH how do you calculate
the maximum rent. Is it on the bases of
a 1.5 person household or a 1 person household.
The other important provision
is 5:97-6.9(b)3 that indicates the municipality shall
provide a minimum of $30,000.00 per unit to subsidize each low-income unit
which would be a bedroom. The maximum
cost to the Township for 6 units is $180,000.00. With
the accessory apartment ordinance, the existing ordinance has not be rescinded but is no longer applicable. Since the township was unable to fulfill
there obligation, COAH ordered the Township to replace the apartment program
with something else. The Township did an
RCA with Lambertville. If we do 6 units
of residential care facility and 6 units of accessory apartments, the
apartments have to be family units because the standard says 50% of the units
have to be family units. The other area
covered was how the lot areas came about.
There was no RC zone at the time the ordinance was enacted in 1999. In the B2 zone it was based on the approval
of a septic system since the lots were under 1.5
acres. Mr. Piazza said that he thought
all these accessory apartments should be based on septic systems not lot
size. If you can’t get
Planner Bolan asked Engineer
Risse if someone is adding a dwelling unit what has to be done regarding the
septic system. Mr. Piazza said his argument has been, the 5
acres and the real concern is whether or not a septic system can be installed
or expanded and work. Engineer Risse
said you would only need approval from the County not the DEP unless the system
was 2000 gallons or greater. Both
Planner Bolan and Engineer Risse agreed that
At the conclusion of the
board’s discussion, Ms. Glashoff asked what the wanted on the March 2nd
agenda. Ms. Glashoff stated that the
Zoning Officer would like to come before the board to discuss the Home
Occupation Ordinance, Fees and some other items. The board decided to cancel the March 2nd
meeting and the next meeting will be on April 6th. Ms. Glashoff will inform the Zoning Officer
and she will have him put together a memo will his concerns and recommendations
for the April 6th meeting.
The board briefly
re-discussed the fire tanks and private road issue. Ms. Bleck asked if Engineer Risse was going
to have something on the Construction Dept Checklist regarding private
roads. Engineer Risse said yes.
February 2, 2010
Page 3
PRESENTATION OF BILLS & REPORT:
a. John
Gallina, Esq. $420.00
b. Michael Bolan, PP $984.20
Total: $1,404.20
Ms. Glashoff said she had one
additional bill. The bill is from Engr.
Risse in the amount of $298.75. This brings the grand total to $1,702.95. Motion by Mr. Gerlich and seconded by Mr.
Piasecki to approve the bills as amended.
Unanimously approved.
CORRESPONDENCE:
a.
b. Protecting Our Streams – Handed out at meeting
c. HC
News 1/25/10 COAH
d. Article - Wind Power Grows 39% for 2009
Being no further business to
come before the board, nor comments from the public,
motion by Ms. Bleck and seconded by Mr. Weiler to adjourn the meeting at 8:10
p.m. Unanimously
approved.
___________________________________________
CHAIRMAN GARY MACQUEEN
_______________________________________________
GAIL W. GLASHOFF, PLANNING BOARD CLERK