July 5, 2023 Regular Meeting Minutes

Jensen (Alt. 1): _- Klein: Y Mayor Susan McCartney: Y SWEARING IN ¢ The Township Professionals Ms. Liz Leheny, Township Planner and Mr. Joh Hess were sworn in. APPLICATIONS e PB-23-05/County of Essex/Turtle Back Zoo/Animal Wellness Center 560 Northfield Avenue Block: 163; Lot: 1; Zone: R-1 The applicant is proposing to replace the existing Wolf Exhibit at the Turtle back Zoo with a new Animal Wellness Center. PRESENTATION © The attorney Mr. Mark L Fleder entered on the record. He is on behalf of the Essex County and with respect to facilities at the Turtleback Zoo as courtesy review application. ¢ The concept of the project is to replace the old wolf exhibit with a new facility, which will be called Animal Wellness Center. e Mr. Fleder introduced Mr. Michael Piga a licensed landscaping architect, he entered on the record, he was sworn under oath and his credentials were accepted by the board. e Mr. Piga started his testimony by showing aerial pictures. The first one showed turtleback zoo along Northfield Ave. Northfield Avenue is located on the left side as you enter, then it goes to the zoo main entrance and then going to the north there the exhibits and at the top next to the black bear exhibit there is the existing wolf exhibit which is being renovated into the Wellness Center. e The conceptual site plan which Mr. Piga worked on shows the exterior of the Animal Wellness building. The corridor on the South side or the bottom of the plan is the existing walkway. It has three entryways, one is a gentle slope or ramp coming in on the left side, there is a staircase in the center and then we have an existing ramp system from where the pony trail is in which allows people to come from the pony trail or they can go back up into the Animal Wellness area. © The idea of this current project is to go for a wilderness feel. They are looking to use like stamp concrete as a basis of their design. They want to make it look very earthy with fractured earth forms. There are some boardwalk stamps that are going into that area in which have this heart in the center that that's made of a rubberized surface that allows the kids to come through and give a feel of like a heart beating. e They have some other seating areas throughout. There is a bank system and then underneath a major canopy with bleacher system this would be like a small outdoor classroom, so the

e a heart beating. e They have some other seating areas throughout. There is a bank system and then underneath a major canopy with bleacher system this would be like a small outdoor classroom, so the staff can go and teach kids about different things that happen in the in the animal Wellness Center.