GREENWICH TOWNSHIP PLANNING BOARD PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES FEBRUARY 13, 2012

Transcription

1 Greenwich Township Planning Board 1 GREENWICH TOWNSHIP PLANNING BOARD PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES FEBRUARY 13, 2012 CALL TO ORDER and PUBLIC NOTICE Ms. Jacukowicz called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm and announced this is a public meeting of the Planning Board of the Township of Greenwich. Adequate notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act in that a Notice was published in the Express Times and the Star Ledger, and the notice of and agenda for this meeting was posted on the bulletin board in the Township Administration Building, and notice was filed with the Township Clerk. In addition Mr. Bolger reminded the board to contact the board secretary if they are unable to attend the meeting. He would appreciate a notification via at least 24 hours prior to the meeting. If that cannot be accomplished, then a phone call must be placed to alert the secretary or Chairman that they are unable to attend the meeting. If the members fail to provide notice of their absence, it will be deemed an unexcused absence. FLAG SALUTE Present: Mike Black, Joe Tauriello, Cathie Cullen, Frank Marchetta, Charlie Stillman, Doris Rayna, Tim Gale, Tom Bolger Absent: Debbie Pasquarelli (excused), Elaine Emiliani (excused) Professionals in attendance: Jonathan Drill, Esq., Michael Finelli, P.E., Lisa Specca, P.P 1. APPOINTMENT OF BOARD SECRETARY: Doris Rayna made a motion to appoint Linda Jacukowicz as Acting Planning Board Secretary. Tim Gale seconded the motion. Roll Call:

2 Greenwich Township Planning Board 2 Mike Black Joe Tauriello Cathie Cullen Frank Marchetta Charlie Stillman Doris Rayna Tim Gale Tom Bolger 2. OTHER BUSINESS: (A) Tom Bolger made the announcement that there are vacancies on the Planning Board. If there are potential candidates that the Planning Board members can recommend, please let the chairman know. (B) The Highlands Task Force: Mr. Bolger requested that the Mayor notify the governing body that this subcommittee should be revived because he Highlands Council has reviewed the Township s Petition to Conform submission and returned it with comments. The Highlands Council has allocated $7,500 for the next phase of work. Any additional monies disbursed would be the responsibility of the municipality. The subcommittee will include Steve Balzano. Ms. Specca will set up a share point file so that this information can be easily downloaded. (C )RULES: - protocol. Tom Bolger cautioned the board to follow the proper protocol when they communicate with others via . He recommended that the board NEVER reply via Reply to All. This careless routine could be a violation of the Open Public Meeting s Act. When in doubt about whether or not the subject matter is sensitive, place a phone call to the other person. The only person who can communicate substantive information with all Board members via is the Board attorney as that sort of would be considered attorney-client privileged communication. Again, however, any reply to the attorney should be not be Reply to All. (D) Meeting date change. The meeting dates have to be changed to the second Wednesday of the month. Charles Stillman made a motion to amend the rules to have the Planning Board meeting changed to the second Wednesday of the month and send out a public notice indicating the new meeting schedule. Tim Gale seconded the motion. Roll Call:

3 Greenwich Township Planning Board 3 Mike Black Joe Tauriello Cathie Cullen Frank Marchetta Charlie Stillman Doris Rayna Tim Gale Tom Bolger 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes from January 9, 2012 carried to March 14, COMMUNICATIONS None 5 RESOLUTIONS None. 6 NEW BUSINESS: 1. Periodic Re-Examination Report including: Energy Ordinance; Farmland Preservation Plan; Historic Hamlet Zones Ordinance Clarifications and omissions in the RCD Zone Lisa Specca informed the board that she distributed via a draft copy of the proposed 2012 Re-Examination Report. This evening Ms. Specca will show a power point presentation. She explained that the Municipal Land Use Law was changed to require a re-examination of the master plan and development regulations at least every 10 years, instead of at least every 6 years. The last re-examination report was adopted in While the Board does not have to perform a re-examination until 2016, the Board had indicated, and the Board s planning experts recommend, that the reexamination that was started last year, prior to the law changing, be completed due to various changes in laws and circumstances impacting the Township. Mr. Bolger announced on the record that there are no audience members present. Mr. Drill stated that this is an informal discussion and the formal proposal will be presented for Board review and approval at the Board s March 14, 2012 meeting. Mr. Drill recommended that the meeting be noticed similar to an amendment to the Master Plan. It will give the public an opportunity to make comments regarding the re-examination Report.

4 Greenwich Township Planning Board 4 Since Mike Black is a member of the Board of Adjustment, and there is a solar application pending, by advice of counsel he has recused himself from participating in this review since there are recommendations regarding a solar energy ordinance. Ms. Specca outlined for the board why the State requires boards to produce a Reexamination Report of their Master Plans. A Reexamination Report is a review of the previously adopted master plans and amendments and local development regulations to determine whether the ideas and policy guidelines set forth therein are still applicable. This review will determine whether the ideas and policy guidelines are still applicable. As a way of background, Ms. Specca outlined the prior planning efforts since The Reexamination Report is a list of recommendations and it forms the basis for master plan amendments. If it is extensive enough it could be a master plan amendment. Also, if specific zoning ordinance amendments are recommended, super notice of any such changes that would otherwise be required are not required. Ms. Specca stated that currently the following planning activities are on-going. First, the Township is continuing the Highland Conformance Planning process. Second, a Historic Hamlet Zone Plan and Ordinance to correctly reflect the existing historic hamlet which is incorrectly zoned Research Office Manufacturing Zone in the southeastern section of the municipality is being created. Third, the State Historic Preservation Office is considering a nomination of the Stewartsville Historic District to the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The Greenwich Township Historic Commission should be actively engaged in reviewing the revised zoning and the Stewartsville Historic District. As funding becomes available, historic design guidelines for the Hamlet and the Historic District should be created. Fourth, they are currently working a renewable energy ordinance for solar and wind ordinance, due to a response to new legislation. Attorney Drill stated that the renewable energy ordinance will be in a sufficient format so as to be attached to the re-examination report, and will eliminate the need to provide super notice which is an expensive undertaking for the township. Last part of the planning work which is currently underway is the Wastewater Management Plan. This information will be added to the draft. The Board confirmed that the conditional use regulations for institutional uses, houses worship and government offices are fine as is and that the recommendation contained in the last re-examination report regarding amending the regulations is rejected and no such amendment will be recommended. Other developments are as follows: Farmland preservation funding has been on hold. But back in October, the Governor found the funding.

5 Greenwich Township Planning Board 5 The Permit Extension Act and Time of Application Law have changed the circumstances surrounding applications for development. In the Highlands Region, however, the Permit Extension Act does not apply. The Time of Application Law is a big change. The rules prior to the law were whatever the law was at time the board made the decision, applied. Previously, the laws could be changed in the middle of an application. The New Jersey Legislation changed it to the time the application is submitted. As a result, the ordinance defining what is required to be approved with an application for development should be amended. The whole agency of COAH has been abolished and moved to the Office of Community Affairs. The responsibility to provide affordable housing has not been abolished. The rules on how we get there are in flux. The NJDEP & Highlands are cooperating to come up with a Waste Water Management Plan. The Legislative adopted a Energy Master Plan. Our State Plan as changed completely. It has also changed houses. It is now in the Lieutenant Governor s office. The public hearings have started regarding the State Strategic Plan. Today the new replacement to the state plan maps was released. Highlands s conformance is one of the big pieces that the township has to work on. The next step is the municipal response period. Over the past years, specifically 2008, 2009 and part of 2010, the municipality worked hard making comments to the Highlands s Draft Ordinances. These have to be reviewed again. Additionally, they have submitted a budget for the next step. The renewable energy ordinance that is pending focuses on solar, since there are not too many places where big wind is profitable in Greenwich. In the ROM Zone the New Jersey State Statute permits solar and wind uses in all zones that have industrial uses, provided they are owned by one person or one entity and contain 20 or more acres of contiguous lands. The subcommittee for the solar ordinance created standards which are as follows: they shall not be mounted to a roof that face the public street; wooded sites cannot be clear cut; if there is a necessity for a new sub-station it needs to be shown; they need to know the remaining available capacity of existing infrastructure, and a (removal plan) decommission plan must be created. Ms. Specca informed the board when the Farmland Preservation Plan that was adopted by the Planning Board contained three guidance policies for the Board of Adjustment to consider for applications relating to grid scale solar facilities, which are defined as large principal use generating over 2 megawatts of electricity and is over 10 acres devoted to solar. The three policies are: (1) The facility should not be located adjacent to preserved farmland, the facility should not be located on lands containing 75% or more prime agricultural soils, and the facility must be seen from the view and allow the view of the scenic vistas.

6 Greenwich Township Planning Board 6 Mr. Drill opined that the policy guidance provided in the FPP was appropriate in light of Cox and Koenig, where they state that it is essential that planners and planning boards be far more specific than they used to be in setting forth the kinds of uses which they deem compatible in a particular zone. It is very helpful, for the master plan to list every use which might be considered compatible. The municipality need not include every such use in the zoning ordinance, but when considering a use variance application it will have clear guidance as to whether the proposed use is consistent with the master plan. Ms. Specca stated that 78% of the soils in the township are considered prime for agriculture. A threshold has to be established if they want to protect this resource in the Agricultural Zone. That threshold should also be fair. So what was a reasonable level? The committee working on the FPP had discussions that the prime soil threshold should be set close to the average of 78%. 75% was decided upon. She created a map which she showed the Board and it turns out that if you have 75% prime soils as your threshold then the map shows that 24% of the RCD is not disqualified by this threshold. And, acres remain available for grid scale solar. The FPP gives guidance to the Board of Adjustment as to where the solar applications should be built. By law, the Board has to act reasonably when determining the threshold. Ms. Specca referred to the map indicating the areas where grid scale solar development could take place. Even if an application by a farmer to construct a grid scale solar facility would not be permitted by the FPP guidance, an application by a farmer to construct a farm scale solar facility on their property would be permitted and such an application does not require Planning Board or Board of Adjustment approval. They would just have to get a permit from the CADB. Farm scale solar facilities falls under the Right to Farm law. Under regulations promulgated by the SADC, a commercial farm can have up to 2 megawatts of solar power, which equates to approximately 2 acres of solar panels. In addition, there is another threshold for farm scale. It is 10 acres of gross acreage and one acre of solar for every 5 acres of agriculture. Wind turbine facilities can be a principal use in the ROM zone. These applications have to follow the same requirement for the 20 contiguous acres. Small wind turbines are allowed on a 10 acre site and they would have to have 500 feet in width, and would be allowed one monopole per site. Attorney Drill suggested that the power point presentation be given at the public hearing and that the presentation be revised to incorporate the modifications from this evening s discussion. This is just a work session. Ms. Specca concluded her presentation. Mike Black returned to the meeting.

7 Greenwich Township Planning Board 7 7. MISCELLANEOUS: (A) Medical Marijuana / Right to Farm: Attorney Drill stated that he had been asked a question by a Board member of what would happen if a farmer wanted to grow medical marijuana - would this be allowed under the Right to Farm Act? Lisa Specca answered that the SADC discussed this topic at their December meeting. They took up the issue of medical marijuana and whether it was agricultural practice in the state of New Jersey which would afford protection under the Right to Farm Act and therefore municipal preemption. The official position of the SADC was that yes it is a crop, but it cannot be protected under the Right to Farm Act because technically it is in violation of Federal Law. In order to have protection under the Right to Farm Act, you must adhere to all laws. There is no need for the municipality to adopt an ordinance that growing marijuana anywhere in the municipality is prohibited because it is against Federal Law. The board took a 15 minute break. (B) Lopatcong Asphalt Plant Mr. Bolger stated that there have been questions about this facility. Mike Finelli stated that he has to recuse himself since this is a client of his. Mr. Bolger asked the board what they can do to protect the township. One mechanism would be to impose a weight limit on their roads. The truck traffic will probably travel Route 22, to Route 519 and then turn unto Stryker Road. He suggested that someone recommend to the governing body to place an ordinance in effect to weight restriction on Dumont Road from Rt. 519 to Route 22. This could be a short cut for the asphalt trucks. The weight restriction should be commensurate with the weight requirements that are currently placed on the other roads. There is one other item that the board could do to protect their township. He recommended that someone request that the governing body send a representative from Greenwich to the Lopatcong Township land use meeting. Mr. Drill stated that this will be the first hearing of an amended application in Lopatcong. He did not feel that members of the Greenwich Planning Board should attend their meeting opposing the plant. Mr. Drill recommended that the governing body send a representative to oppose their application. Mr. Drill requested any suggestions from the board that they please send to him and only him in an so that he can incorporate these items into his letter. Mike Black made a motion to recommend to the governing body to adopt an ordinance to impose a weight restriction the on entire Dumont Road, starting with Route 22 New Brunswick Avenue Extension all the way through Greenwich Street ending at 519 which would be similar Route 173, Route 638 and 637

8 Greenwich Township Planning Board 8 existing weight restrictions. In addition to the motion Mr. Black recommended that the township committee send a representative to oppose the application. The motion was seconded by Charlie Stillman. Roll call: Joe Tauriello Mike Black Cathie Cullen Frank Marchetta Charlie Stillman Doris Rayna Tim Gale Tom Bolger Highlands Task Force. Mike Black made a motion to recommend to the governing body to reconvene the Highlands Task Force. Charlie Stillman seconded the motion. Roll call: Joe Tauriello Mike Black Cathie Cullen Frank Marchetta Charlie Stillman Doris Rayna Tim Gale Tom Bolger 8. ADJOURNMENT Motion to close the public hearing was made by Frank Marchetta and seconded by Mike Black. All in favor, no Nays recorded. Meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Linda Jacukowicz Acting Secretary to the Board