July 2, 2025 Planning Board Regular Meeting Minutes

serve a lot of the high school athletes, sports medicine wise. Ms. Persaud is hopeful this will get approved because they are committed to the West Orange community. In addition, Ms. Persaud believes an upgrade is needed. Sophie Lubin at 8 Edge Hill Court thinks it's great that they’re serving local athletes and people in need of medical services. However, Ms. Lubin thinks that can all be done from one story. Ms. Lubin has been a resident of West Orange for a little under three years and it's really disheartening to her to see the lack of regard for the local neighbors, such as not contacting them to take a look at their property that this proposition impacts. Ms. Lubin states that it's disheartening that Jonathan Barton’s property was not considered when looking at the building heights, that it was omitted. And it's disheartening that the shadow that this building is going to cast is not at all a consideration when during this last meeting, it was brought up wanting to see the impact of the shadow on the property by raising it another story. All of these things are now being minimized and it makes her question her investment in this town. It makes her sad to hear that their voices and financial investments are being minimized. APPLICANT’S RESPONSE TO PUBLIC COMMENT Mr. Cox said he hears all the residents and their concerns. He’s been in West Orange since he was 13 years old. He has made some investments in West Orange. One thing he notices about Main Street is that nothing has changed. Mr. Cox states he is coming here to help West Orange change Main Street. Unfortunately, Main Street at West Orange has had its fight against development. While every other community around it overdevelops and becomes very functional, Main Street has been stuck for quite some time. The only development that has been done was Edison Loft and that took over 10 years. And that building itself is immediately right in front of his building, much higher than his building and is a multifamily building. What he is looking for on Main Street is to buy everything that is available on Main Street and help Main Street change, have the ratables it needs, and have the housing it needs. If he could give them more affordable housing, that's what he is planning on doing. Unfortunately, this culture of stopping development in West Orange, he does not like it. They're coming here and fighting

could give them more affordable housing, that's what he is planning on doing. Unfortunately, this culture of stopping development in West Orange, he does not like it. They're coming here and fighting the good battle of making West Orange modern. They're not going to be happy with 1919 homes. They're historical and they serve a purpose, yes. But they're going to do everything they can to ensure that West Orange goes in the right direction that is comparable to other places that have local shops. Mr. Cox supports West Orange and moving forward with Main Street, moving forward with development and bringing Main Street to the modern era, which is 2025 and further. CLOSING STATEMENT Mr. Zeberl gave a closing statement stating they're here seeking flexible C variance relief for three different things. One, the rear yard setback where 30 feet is required, 6.8 feet is provided. That's an existing non-conformity. Two, block coverage where 75% is permitted and 87.2% is provided. That's another existing non-conformity. Three, number of stories that are permitted where two and a half are permitted and they're proposing three. It’s been heard from the representative of the property owner, Mr. Cox, their engineer, Donna Bullock, their architect, Jason Piest, their planner, John McDonough, and their traffic engineer, Patrick Downey. 14