June 7, 2023 Regular Meeting Minutes

MINUTES TOWNSHIP OF WEST ORANGE PLANNING BOARD MEETING June 7, 2023 7:30 P.M. The Township of West Orange Planning Board held its regular meeting on June 7, 2023 at 7:30 P.M. via virtual ZOOM videoconference. Chairman Bagoff called the meeting to order at approximately 7:30 P.M. He announced that notification of the meeting was given to the Township Clerk, and posted on the Township Bulletin Board, sent to the West Orange Chronicle and the Star Ledger, and posted on the Township’s website calendar. This meeting has been properly noticed to the public in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act. No new matters will start after 10:30 P.M. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE * Chairman Bagoff requested all persons stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. ANNOUNCEMENTS ¢ The next Planning Board regular meeting will be held Wednesday July 5, 2023 at 7:30 P.M. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Dr. Robert Bagoff; Mr. Ken Alper; Mr. Jerry Guarino; Mr. Christopher Morgan, Sr.(7:35pm); Mayor Susan McCartney (7:33pm); Mr. Peter Smeraldo; Councilwoman Tammy Williams; Mr. Sal Jensen; Mr. Cardoza; ABSENT: Mr. Lee Klein; Mr. William Wilkes ALSO PRESENT: _ Diana P. McGovern, Esq., Planning Board Attorney; Paul Grygiel, Town Planner; Mr. John Hess, Board Engineer; Sarabraj Thapar, Esq., Public Advocate Jamilet Baquerizo Vite, Acting Planning Board Secretary

MINUTES & RESOLUTIONS (Adopted 6/5/2023) e 3-29-2023 WO PB Draft Minutes Motion: Mr. Guarino Second: Mr. Smeraldo Alper: Y Morgan: _— Bagoff: ¥y Smeraldo: A Cardoza (Alt.2): Y Wilkes: —_ Guarino: Y Williams: Y Jensen (Alt. 1): Y Klein: —_ Mayor Susan McCartney: ---- SWEARING IN ¢ The Township Professionals Mr. Paul Grygiel, Township Planner and Mr. Joh Hess were sworn in. APPLICATIONS ¢ PB-23-04 Redwood LLC 200 Pleasant Valley Way Block: 151 Lot: 33 Zone: IHO-2 Applicant proposes to construct a four (4) story/142-unit residential rental community with luxury amenities and on-site parking for 338 vehicles. PRESENTATION The applicant’s attorney, Mr. William Dimin, entered on the record and introduced Mr. Shaun Delaney in which he was sworn in and his credentials were accepted by the Board. Mr. Delaney began his testimony stating that the subject property is Lot: 33, Block: 151 and is located along Pleasant Valley Way approximately 1200 feet north of the intersection of Pleasant Valley Way and Woodland Ave. Mr. Delaney stated that, as shown on the plans, the property is tucked behind the existing Brighton Gardens Senior Living Facility. He stated that to the North and East of the subject property is the Montclair Country Club, and on the Souther side there's an existing wooded lot currently owned by the Township of West Orange; this lot was predominantly covered in wetlands. Rounding out the surrounding properties is the Pleasantdale Nursery, just to the southwest of the subject line. Mr. Delaney stated that as shown in the aerial image, the property is irregularly shaped and with the Peckman river essentially splitting it into two separate pieces. He stated that the western

portion of the lot is going to be the main entrance. The property contains 5.913 acres of the land the eastern portion of the lot provides access to Pleasant Valley way with 62.7 feet of total frontage and where the majority of the improvements will happen. Mr. Delaney stated that the site was the former JT Sports Complex which has been demolished as part of an environmental cleanup which has been completed. He said that currently this part of the property is mostly unimproved, consisting of rubble piles, gravel, asphalt and remains of portions of the prior buildings. Mr. Delaney stated that the Peckman River in this area is regulated by the New Jersey Department of Environmental protection DEP which means that it has both a flood hazard area and a riparian zone associated with it. Mr. Delaney stated that the applicant is requesting one design waiver; the mounting height for lighting fixtures to be twenty (20) feet where 18 feet is the maximum. Mr. Delaney stated that the applicant is also proposing to construct a 142-unit apartment building with four stories of apartments over one level parking. The property actually has a front yard setback of 692.4 feet from Pleasant Valley, the building is also set back from the sides of the property lines fairly substantially with a 66-foot setback from the northern property line and 68.3 feet from the rear property line both. He also stated that the building has a 92.1-foot setback from the southern property line which is owned by West Orange. Mr. Delaney stated that in order to service the new apartment building they are going to reconstruct the existing driveway which will be the main entrance to the apartment complex. The main entrance is going to follow roughly the same path as the existing one today, however as it gets near the sewer pump house, they will be pulling the driveway a little further to the South and the reason they’re doing this is to provide a little bit of a buffer between the drive aisle on the sewer pump house. Mr. Delaney stated that as you come down the main drive aisle, they are proposing a brand new pre manufactured bridge to replace the existing one. He said that as you come across that bridge and enter the main portion of the site, the drive aisle splits and wraps around the building to provide two-way circulation around the entire building itself. Mr. Delaney stated that, based on

bridge and enter the main portion of the site, the drive aisle splits and wraps around the building to provide two-way circulation around the entire building itself. Mr. Delaney stated that, based on the parking requirements of both RSS and West Orange, the applicant is required to provide two parking spaces for every dwelling unit in the apartment building. He said that, in this case, since there are 142 units, they were required to provide 284 parking spaces but they are proposing 168 parking spaces at grade around the perimeter of the building and an additional 170 parking spaces are proposed within the parking level below the building itself, which combined the total on-site parking provided will be 338 parking spaces. Mr. Delaney stated that this does not take into account any EV credits that can be counted in as well. Mr. Delaney stated that they are proposing six ADA compliant parking spaces in the front of the building. And to the left of the front entrance, they are proposing eleven (11) fifteen-minute parking spaces to provide parking for delivery drivers. Mr. Delaney stated that to the right or South of the ADA spaces in the front entrance they are providing eight (8) visitor parking spaces and these will be for any visitors not staying overnight or any perspective tenants for the building. He said that to the South seven (7) parking spaces are designated with sign #12; these spaces have been designated for no overnight parking. The reason that they are doing this is so that the management team can cone these spaces off and they can be reserved for parking for tenant loading as they move in and out of the building. Mr. Delaney stated that in the North East corner of the parking lot, they are proposing 16 EV charging stations combined with the 26 EV parking spaces inside the building itself. He said that in that parking level, they are proposing a total of 42 electric vehicle charging spaces. Combined, this meets the requirements and provides 15% of the required parking as electric vehicle charging. Mr. Delaney said that it should be noted that these electric vehicle spaces will not all 3

be installed at one time; 1/3 of the spaces will be installed prior to the building's certificate of occupancy being issued, then the next one third will be constructed within three years of that date and the final one third and will be constructed within six years of the certificate of occupancy being issued. Mr. Delaney stated that the state law allows up to 10% of the overall requirement, or in this case 28 parking spaces, to be counted as two for one so this would bring our overall parking or regulatory parking up to 366 parking spaces, still in excess of what the requirement is. Mr. Delaney stated that in addition to providing vehicular access into out of the site and around the building, we're also proposing pedestrian access in three distinct areas. The first area is pedestrian access via a sidewalk that loops around the building itself and provides pedestrian access in and out of the building, as well as to the parking lot and the parking level. He wanted to point out that the parking level to the building can be accessed on the northern and southern side of the building. The second area of pedestrian access that they're providing is what they call a nature walk and this starts near the northwest corner of the main lot and goes down near the river, along the river to the South wraps around the southern property line and ultimately ends at the southeast part of the building at a large outdoor patio. The third area that they're providing pedestrian connectivity to is Pleasant Valley Way itself and we're doing this by providing a brand-new sidewalk from the building across the bridge and up to Pleasant Valley Way. Mr. Delaney stated that another amenity that they're adding on site is bicycle storage/bicycle parking in front of the main entrance to the left. Mr. Delaney stated that in addition to all of these improvements they are proposing 2 two signs for the building; the first sign will be located near Pleasant Valley way right at the entrance and the second sign will be as you come across the bridge right in the center island where the driveway splits into two. These signs will act as way findings for anybody trying to find the site, since it is set back so far from the road. Mr. Delaney stated that the signs against Pleasant Valley Way will have a total area of 71.1 square feet and the one near the site will have an area 53.2 feet; again, both

back so far from the road. Mr. Delaney stated that the signs against Pleasant Valley Way will have a total area of 71.1 square feet and the one near the site will have an area 53.2 feet; again, both of these comply with the maximum signage allowed in the redevelopment ordinance. The sign at Pleasant Valley way is going to be a standard wood sign mounted on a masonry block wall with a stone veneer pilaster on either side. The interior sign is going to be the same construction but just slightly smaller in nature. Mr. Delaney stated that the proposed grading plan overall mimics the existing patterns that were on site but incorporates additional drainage and detention features. The proposed grading generally slopes toward the Peckman river but, in this instance, the driveway slopes from the West to the East and the main portion of the lot slopes from the East to the West. The grades of the parking lot and drive aisle undulate as you go around the building; this helps provide accurate access in the front and in the rear to the first level or the main level of the building and then it goes down to provide accurate access to the parking levels. The site drops off generally to the West and the South toward the Peckman River. He stated that there is a nature walk that traverses through this area and in order to create this flat nature walk we had to put in a short retaining wall along the front of the building. The retaining wall begins just across from the northern portion of the ADA spaces and extends to the South parallel to the Peckman River and terminates essentially caddy corner from the southwest corner of the building. Mr. Delaney stated that the retaining wall has a maximum height of three feet and a setback about 6 1/2 feet from the parking lot itself. Mr. Delaney stated that the second retaining wall that they are proposing is located just to the northeast of the bridge at the northern property line; this retaining wall will also have a maximum height of three feet.

Mr. Delaney stated that the applicant is proposing a brand-new storm sewer system that will capture all of the runoff from the driveway and it will discharge it directly into the Peckman River. He said that on the eastern portion of the lot, they are proposing a new storm sewer system which will collect runoff from the building, parking lots and walkways to the landscape areas; these will be channeled into one of two subsurface detention basins. He said that the first subsurface detention basin is located just to the north of the building and it's underneath the parking; consists of 550 linear feet of 36-inch HDP pipe and provides a total storage capacity of 4185 cubic feet. He said that the purpose of this is to collect runoff from the property and release slowly. Mr. Delaney stated that the second detention basin is shown in front of the building and is significantly larger than detention basin number one. This one consists of 680 linear feet of 48- inch HDP pipe, it provides a total of 9100 cubic feet of storage. He said that these detention basins will work to control the peak flow of storm water leaving the site and have been designed to reduce the peak flows during the two years, the 10 year and the 100-year storm events by 50 percent 25% and 20% respectively. Mr. Delaney stated that, finally, there is a fairly large off-site drainage area that drains through the subject property along the eastern portion that comes from the Montclair Country Club. In order to capture that water and ensure that it doesn't affect the proposed improvements he said that they are providing swale along the rear property line, which will collect that stormwater runoff and direct it via an outfall along the southern property line. One of the things that Mr. Delaney wanted to point out is that the grading and stormwater management designs have already received approvals from the DEP. Mr. Delaney detailed the utility plan and stated that they are proposing to construct all new utilities which will include new gas lines, new water lines, new sewer/sanitary lines and new electric lines. He said that gas and water will come directly from Pleasant Valley Way, will travel down the proposed main entrance drive underneath the Peckman River and will eventually terminate at the northeast corner of the building where it will connect to it. He said that the water line will be split

e proposed main entrance drive underneath the Peckman River and will eventually terminate at the northeast corner of the building where it will connect to it. He said that the water line will be split into two separate surfaces; one for domestic service to the building and one for fire service to the building itself. However, the fire service will continue to loop around the building and will service four proposed fire hydrants, one on each side of the building. Mr. Delaney stated that the electric service itself will be fed from an existing utility pole located near the northeast corner of the site and this will tie into their proposed generator and transformer located in the northeast corner of the site. Mr. Delaney stated that they are proposing to install a new sanitary sewer service as well that will connect to the building through its laterals and will take the flows to the existing sewer pump house on the other side of the Peckman river on the north side of the entrance drive. Mr. Delaney also explained the proposed lighting plan. The proposed lighting plan calls for all new LED fixtures throughout the driveways, parking lots and the pedestrian areas on site. He said that, starting at the front of the site in the main entrance, they are proposing a series of fixtures mounted at 20 feet which come all the way down the driveway. These fixtures continue down the new main entrance drive and then they actually wrap around the perimeter of the parking lot and shine into the site to provide lighting for the driveways parking areas and sidewalks. Mr. Delaney stated that along the front of the building there will be some smaller fixtures, and these are going to be our bollard fixtures that are against the new main entrance; he said that this will help accent the main entrance and provide additional lighting for the sidewalks. As Mr. Delaney mentioned previously, the applicant is requesting a waiver to allow a mounting height of 20 feet, where 18 feet is the maximum allowed. The reason they are requesting this waiver is to ensure that proper lighting can occur across the parking lot. Considering the surrounding uses, it is in Mr. Delaney opinion that the granting of this waiver will not cause any detriment to the 5

surrounding properties, especially considering that all the lights on site shine in toward the property and they all have house side shields which will help minimize any lighting throw onto the adjacent properties. It should also be noted that the residential uses in the area are well distant from the site and wouldn't be affected by this 2-foot increase in the mounting height of the lights. Mr. Delaney introduced the landscaping plan for the new property and the new redevelopment. However, to facilitate this landscaping plan, he said that we will have to remove some of the existing trees from the site. At first, they are going to be removing 23 trees along the main entrance drive; he said that the removal of these trees is necessary because it will widen the driveway to 24 feet to provide proper circulation and allow the driveway to curve away from the sewer pump house. Mr. Delaney stated that a good portion of the trees are being removed in order to accommodate the new sidewalk that goes to Pleasant Valley. Mr. Delaney stated that, in addition to these 23 trees being removed on the main entrance drive, they are proposing to remove 19 additional trees scattered throughout the main lot itself. He said that it should be noted, however, that we are not proposing to remove any trees along the stream corridor of the Peckman River. In total they are calling for 42 trees to be removed; 21 of the trees will require replacement with a minor tree and 21 of the trees will require replacement with a major tree; he said that the reason they know that is because the West Orange tree removal ordinance specifies that based on the diameter of the tree either a minor or major tree will need to be replanted, so for trees between four and six inches in diameter that are removed a minor tree will need to be planted in its place and any tree greater than 6 inches will require a major tree. Mr. Delaney stated that the proposed landscaping plan calls for the planting of a series of new trees along the new entrance drive; he said that this will include a row of Valley Forge Elms along the southern side of the driveway and run the western portion of it. Mr. Delaney said that near the pump house they are proposing a row of red Cedars to provide screening to that pump house and then opposite that we're proposing a route of Norway spruces. Mr. Delaney stated that the perimeter of

the pump house they are proposing a row of red Cedars to provide screening to that pump house and then opposite that we're proposing a route of Norway spruces. Mr. Delaney stated that the perimeter of the proposed parking lot will be lined with a variety of tree species. These will include red maples, pine oaks and dura heat river birch. These perimeter plantings will then be supplemented with additional plantings in between these and will consist of arrow woods along with green leaf American Hollies. He said that the applicant is proposing additional plantings along the front of the building that will include some of the Valley Forge Elms and Cherokee Princess dogwoods; they will be accented by other winter gem boxwoods and north wind switch grass. Mr. Delaney stated that they are also providing a couple of three main areas where we can provide for annual plantings. In total we're proposing 74 new trees throughout the property and this does not include some of the smaller supplemental plantings or even the Evergreen trees that we're proposing. He said that as mentioned previously, the requirement is to replace 21 minor trees and 21 major trees and we're proposing 74 major trees overall. Mr. Delaney stated that this new landscaping plan will enhance the proposed development and increase the number of trees and the variety of species on site. He said one of the things that he thinks is important to understand about the landscaping plan, as it pertains to DEP approvals, is that the plantings along the stream were specifically chosen and selected while working with the DEP and they were subsequently approved by the DEP along that stream corridor. Mr. Delaney stated that the final set of plans are the turning templates. The first turning template that Mr. Delaney referred to is for the fire truck access to the property; he said that the fire truck can enter the main drive aisle from Pleasant Valley Way, go down the drive across the bridge and then circulate around the entire building so it can tackle an emergency on any side and then exit the property. Mr. Delaney stated that the next template is for refuse/garbage trucks; it shows that the garbage truck can enter the site from Pleasant Valley Way, go down the main drive aisle and circulate