May 7, 2025, Planning Board Regular Meeting Minutes

The ordinance requires one space for every three seats, so if it’s multiplied by three, we'd have an increase of 111 for a total of 1,515 should the board grant that. I think it's a reasonable request given what they're doing and where they're going with the parking increase. The Pedestrian Safety Advisory Board asked them to look at implementing a sidewalk along Prospect Avenue. Historically, that has been tricky at the fountain, and it's been tricky at the employee parking lot. The Advisory Board raised a good point, and that is that they have a reservation that perhaps they can incorporate the sidewalk within the employee parking lot on the tree side of that lot. Mr. Petry looked at it and he thinks they can do that because they have a fairly wide drive aisle. They do get to a pinch point in front of the fountains because those fountains are up to the property line. The walls actually go over a bit, and there are evergreens there. The applicant would have to do something relatively creative at this location in order to accommodate that. Mr. Petry’s concern is what happens in front of the fountains because they do have drop- off and they have evergreens. If they eliminate the evergreens, they can work something out to replace them and try to work with the committee to get that sidewalk in. Part of the idea is to make more connectivity. To the north, there are no sidewalks along the frontage, and to the north of that is the Montclair Golf Club, and there are no sidewalks along that frontage. There are sidewalks on Woodland Avenue, and there are sidewalks in front of the residential development there up to a point. Their project at West Orange Plaza, the hopefully soon-to-be target shopping center, has sidewalks incorporated there that come down and connect to those residential sidewalks. If they were to be able to get it along the frontage of this property, you could walk from the hotel to the shopping center if one were staying there long term. Mr. Petry thinks some of the improvements that have been made recently on Prospect Avenue might help us do that. There have been comments about the parking, access to the building from the parking lots, and whether it's better to have self-parking or to have a valet. This property has always had a self-parking sign just before you get to this driveway, and it says self-parking to the right, valet parking

hether it's better to have self-parking or to have a valet. This property has always had a self-parking sign just before you get to this driveway, and it says self-parking to the right, valet parking straight. The majority of people who want a facility like this are going to use the valet. However, they're seeing more and more and more people using Uber and Lyft, so Mr. Petry thinks you're going to see a lot more drop-off. While Mr. Petry appreciates the comments about self-parking being better closer to the door and easier for people if it's in lot C, it's never been that way at this facility. But for the day-to-day operations, Monday to Friday, this is going to be the only parking lot used other than the employee parking lot. When you're dealing with valet at a facility like this at the end of the night, people want their car quickly and the quickest way is for the valet is to have the shortest run. The longer the run, the longer it's going to take to get your car. However, they'll probably also have bigger staff at those parties. BOARD QUESTIONS Councilwoman Scarpa asked Mr. Petry what the various drainage improvements in the parking lot are. Mr. Petry said historically, the drainage for this parking lot has run into the area immediately outside the door, as it ponds at the door, it risks going into the 21