REGULAR MEETING
The 793rd Regular
Meeting of the Lebanon Township Planning Board was called to order at
Notice of this meeting was
provided for in the “Annual Meeting Notice Schedule” adopted by this board on
The Chairman will announce that the Planning Board
will meet in Executive Session and called for a motion.
Motion by Ms. Bleck and seconded by Mr. Spatz
to have the Planning Board meet in Executive Session at this time. Unanimously approved.
WHEREAS, Section 7(b) of
the Open Public Meetings Act L. 1975 C.231 NJSA 10:4-12(b)(8) permits the
exclusion of the public from Township Committee meetings where certain matters
are to be discussed; and
WHEREAS, the Lebanon Township Planning Board is
desirous to meet to discuss litigation issues;
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED,
by the Lebanon Township
Planning Board of the
The Chairman will ask for a motion to reconvene the
Regular Meeting of the Planning Board.
Motion by Mr. Piasecki and
seconded by Ms. Bleck to close the Executive Session and return to the Regular
Meeting. Unanimously
approved.
PRESENTATION OF MINUTES:
Mr. Rich said the minutes
looked good and made a motion to approve with a second by Mr. Spatz. Unanimously approved.
FYI: NJDEP Highlands Update
APPLICATION TO DEEM COMPLETE/REQUEST FOR WAIVERS SET
PUBLIC HEARING DATE:
a. Omnipoint Communications Block
#11
Conditional Use/Site Plan for
Mr. Jake Watkins, Zoning
Coordinator for Omnipoint Communications and Mr. Charles Whelan, Architect
where present to discuss completeness.
Engineer Risse reviewed for the board his report dated
Ms. Bleck asked for
clarification regarding Item 33 (contours).
Chairman MacQueen asked about the variances being requested. Engineer Risse stated that variances are
needed because the requirement of 1000’ from residential dwellings can not be met. Mr. Whelan stated that at the time they were
looking at houses that were within the 1000’ they did not include the dwelling
on the property which is within 240’ of the proposed cell tower. Engineer Risse noted that on a previous
application where residences were involved the applicant had to show on the
plan the footage of each house from the purposed
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that was less than 1000’.
Chairman MacQueen asked what the size of the property was. Mr. Whelan stated 6.84 acres. It was noted that the property was located in
the R3 zone. Attorney Gallina asked if
there was already a dwelling unit on the property. Mr. Whelan answered yes. Attorney Gallina stated that our ordinance
only allows for one principal structure on a property and referred to Section
18-3.4b5 which states: in the R3 zone
there shall not be more than one principal structure constructed on each
lot. At this point there was lengthy
discussion on which board the application would go before. In conclusion, the board decided to deem the
application complete and grant the following waivers: Checklist Items 18, 19,
33, 64, 65 & 71and subject to the review by Attorney Gallina as to which
board the application should appear with a motion by Mr. Piasecki and seconded
by Mr. Spatz. Unanimously
approved.
INFORMAL:
Michael & Caroline
Burchill Block
#19
Discuss creating a 1 acre
undersize lot in a R3 zone
Attorney Gallina informed the
board that in the event of a bulk variance application approval, the applicant
would appear before the Planning Board, if a D Variance was required then the
applicant would appear before the Board of Adjustment. Attorney Gallina stated that a D Variance was
not required with this application.
Mr. Burchill stated that his
neighbor across the road had approached him on acquiring a 1 acre parcel. Mr. Burchill informed the board that his lot
is 2.49 acres which is a non-conforming lot in the R3 zone. He would like to subdivide off a 1 acre
parcel which would make his lot more non-conforming. Basically all the lots down on
Chairman MacQueen asked about
the dirt road that runs through that portion of the property and wanted to know
if the ROW was being used. Mr. Burchill
stated that when he purchased the property in 1992 he was told that it was a
ROW for the Gas Company. Chairman
MacQueen made note of the shed that a small portion was on the neighbor’s
property per the survey. Mr. Burchill
stated that the shed is not on his property.
Chairman MacQueen also noted that part of a parking area of a neighbor
was also on the Burchill property. It was also noted that a new survey would have
to be done and these items would need to be addressed. Ms. Glashoff stated that the R3 zone requires
250’ of frontage which could present an additional variance for the applicant.
Chairman MacQueen informed
the applicant that nothing said this evening is binding because this is an
informal discussion but in the discussion the board seemed favorable to the
request. Mr. Burchill will come in and
see Ms. Glashoff to acquire all the forms (applications) that are needed to
proceed. Mr. Burchill thanked the board
for their input.
BOARD TERMS TO EXPIRE:
a. Joshua Rich 4 Year Term Class IV c. Art Gerlich 1 Year Term Class II
b. Richard Weiler, 1st
Alternate 2 Year Term Class IV d. Mayor 1 Year Term Class I
Chairman MacQueen asked Mr.
Rich, Mr. Weiler and Mr. Gerlich if they would like to be reappointed to the
board. All said yes. At this time, Chairman MacQueen asked Mr.
Spatz to make his announcement. Mr.
Spatz informed the board that he has enjoyed the many years on the board but
because of two
many conflicts and commitments he was resigning from the board effective
tonight. Ms. Glashoff noted that Mr.
Spatz has been a member for 12 years with his first appointment starting in
1994. Chairman MacQueen informed Mr.
Spatz that he will be missed. Ms.
Glashoff stated that she will be putting a memo together to the Township
Committee with the board’s recommendations for appointments for 2007 which will
include having Mr. Weiler move up to the unexpired term of Mr. Spatz. Mr. Spatz informed the board that in
attending other Planning Board meetings in other municipalities that we have an
excellent board to be proud of.
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ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION:
a. Decide on whether
to hold one meeting per month and whether to hold it on the 1st or 3rd
Tuesday.
The board decided to wait
until the reorganization meeting to decide on whether to hold one or two
meeting per month and if the decision was to have one meeting per month the
board would need input from Planner Bolan regarding his schedule. Mr. Weeks was also not present for the
discussion this evening.
b. Set Date for
Reorganization Meeting 2007 (
The board agreed with the
c. Budget 2007
The board reviewed the budget
that was prepared by Ms. Glashoff. Ms.
Glashoff informed the board that she had contacted each professional for their
input which appears on the purposed budget.
Chairman MacQueen asked about the litigation line item. The board decided the purposed budget looked
good. Motion by Mr. Rich and seconded by
Mr. Gerlich to approve the budget as purposed and to have it sent on to the
Township Committee for final approval. Unanimously approved.
d. Draft of Amended
Fee Schedule – Attorney Gallina
Attorney Gallina went over
the draft of the amended Fee Schedule with the board. The Escrow for Conditional Uses will be 200%
from being the same as the application fee and all Variances will go from 150%
to 200% of the application fee. At the
conclusion of the brief discussion, motion by Ms. Bleck and seconded by Mr.
Rich to approve the amended Fee Schedule and to send it to the Township
Committee for Introduction and Adoption.
Unanimously approved.
e.
Ms. Glashoff asked if the
board after reviewing this Assessment prepared by NJ Water Supply Authority
wanted to have Mr. Bob O’Neil come in to discuss the assessment. The board felt the assessment prepared by the
Water Supply Authority was well done decided it was not necessary to have Mr.
O’Neil come in to speak to the board and asked Ms. Glashoff to convey this to
Mr. O’Neil.
f.
Warren Newman, Chair of the Environmental Commission was present to discuss the
Diamond Property on
There are archived files from
1985 & 1989 consisting of about 2000 pages that the State got back to Mr.
Newman on. Mr. Newman stated that he
has not reviewed these files. He is also
waiting on a call back from the EPA. Mr.
Newman informed the board from the information he has this looks like a can of
worms with a certain level of investigation that has been done and determined
there is some identified hazardous material or hazardous waste which might not
have been cleaned up. Mr. Newman
suggested that it hasn’t cleaned up because there would have been something in
the records to indicate it. For the last
four years it has been
stagnated suggesting that nothing has been done at any major level.
Mr. Newman recommended to the
board that they tread very carefully on this type of property with giving the
history, and with the first level of investigation being been done which
suggests that there are some problems that have to be dealt with and the
responsible party has agreed to address them but hasn’t which means you have an
opened ended situation. We don’t know
if there is any groundwater impact. Mr.
Spatz stated that if this site is still a problem something should be
done. At this point, Chairman MacQueen
thanked Mr. Newman for taking the time to check into all this for the
board. Mr. Rich asked if the Township
Committee should be made aware of this, since this is all new information that
has been brought to our attention. Mr.
Newman read to the board the Administrative Order on Consent. It is very
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clear that from this consent order that site cleanup is
still needed. Attorney Gallina stated
that this is a legally binding document that is enforceable. Chairman MacQueen noted at this time we do
not know the
extent of all this.
But we do know that in 4 years there has been no closure per Mr.
Newman. Mr. Rich asked if we should
write a letter to NJDEP. Mr. Newman
suggested the EPA at the Federal level.
Mr. Newman stated that we don’t know what extent any cleanup would be,
it could possibly cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was noted that more assessment was needed
on this property. Attorney Gallina
informed the board that it isn’t up to the Planning Board to write a letter, it
should either come from the Township Committee or the Environmental Commission. Mr. Newman stated that he will either write a
letter or go in person to the Township Committee with this information
g. Fence/Monuments/Pillars
on Residential Properties – Planner
Bolan
Since Planner Bolan and Mr.
Weeks were not present it was decided to place this item on the January 16th
agenda for discussion.
PRESENTATION OF BILLS & REPORT:
a. John Gallina, Esq. $ 378.30
b. Banisch Associates $1,715.90
c. Bayer/Risse Engrs. $ 353.50
Total: $2,447.70
Motion by Mr. Spatz and
seconded by Ms. Bleck to approve the bills as presented. Unanimously approved.
Chairman MacQueen and the
board thanked Warren Newman again for all his work and effort regarding the
Diamond property.
Being no further business to
come before the board, nor comments from the public,
motion by Mr. Rich and seconded by Mr. Spatz to adjourn the meeting at
_______________________________________________
CHAIRMAN GARY MACQUEEN
_________________________________________________
GAIL W. GLASHOFF, PLANNING BOARD CLERK