9 12 24 West Orange BOA ZB 24 06 PSEG Full size Transcript

Page 121 1 MS. PORTER: Of course. 2 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Given that this 3 is a very important topic in this entire project, 4 would you like to proceed for the next 20 minutes 5 and then have questions or would you prefer to carry 6 it to the next meeting? For continuity. That's 7 what I'm asking. I'm giving you the option. 8 MS. PORTER: I mean, I appreciate that, 9 Mr. Vice-Chairman. You know, I think part of us, 10 you know, would like to preserve his testimony 11 wholly. However, I believe that there have been so 12 many comments regarding trees in connection with 13 this application that have come up consistently 14 throughout every piece of testimony to date that I 15 think it's important we get some evidence into the 16 record this evening just to begin the conversation. 17 And we are okay with continuing that dialogue at the 18 next meeting. 19 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Proceed. 20 MS. PORTER: Great. Thank you. 21 Mr. Futey, could you please state your 22 name and business -- 23 MR. FISHER: Hold on. 24 MS. PORTER: I apologize, Mr. Fisher. 25 J O H N F U T E Y, II, having been duly

Page 122 1 sworn, was examined and testified as follows: 2 MR. FISHER: You are sworn. 3 DIRECT-EXAMINATION 4 BY MS. PORTER: 5 Q. Great. Mr. Futey, could you please state 6 your name and business address for the record? 7 A. Yes. It's John Futey II, F-U-T-E-Y. 8 Business address is 3 Mountainview Road in Warren, 9 New Jersey 07059. 10 Q. And by whom are you employed and for how 11 long have you been so employed? 12 A. I'm employed by PS&S Architects and 13 Engineers for five years in addition to 15 years of 14 prior practical experience. 15 Q. And could you briefly describe your 16 educational background? 17 A. Yes. I have my bachelor of science degree 18 in landscape architecture from Rutger's University 19 and my master's of architecture degree from the 20 Boston Architectural College. 21 Q. Great. Thank you. 22 And could you please describe your 23 professional background? 24 A. Yes. I hold my license as a landscape 25 architect in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Both

Page 123 1 licenses are in good standing. I have 20 years of 2 professional experience in multidiscipline design, 3 which includes landscape design, master planning, 4 architectural design, and construction 5 administration. 6 Project types have included commercial 7 properties and educational, municipal, and 8 industrial facilities. Responsibilities on those 9 projects include all aspects of design process 10 including programming, technical design, 11 construction documentation, and construction 12 administration. 13 Q. Have you previously testified before 14 municipal boards? 15 A. I have. Most recently including 16 municipalities of Teaneck, Bayonne, Cherry Hill, and 17 Delran. 18 Q. And have you prepared or supervised the 19 preparation specifically of the landscape plans in 20 connection with this application including the tree 21 removal plan and details? 22 A. I have supervised the landscape plans and 23 the details and am responsible for it. 24 Q. Great. Thank you. 25 MS. PORTER: And with that, I would like

Page 124 1 to request that the Board recognize Mr. Futey as an 2 expert in the field of landscape architecture. 3 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Any members of 4 the Board have questions in regard to Mr. Futey's 5 qualifications? 6 Mr. Futey, you're admitted as a landscape 7 architect expert. Proceed. 8 MS. PORTER: Great. 9 BY MS. PORTER: 10 Q. Mr. Futey, will you please begin by 11 describing the proposed landscape plan? 12 A. Yes. Before I get to sharing the exhibit, 13 I'd like just to go over briefly the overall 14 landscape approach. When planting near a facility 15 such as this, the planting design and the chosen 16 plant material must be compliant with PSE&G 17 vegetation management clearance and security 18 mandates. Those are based on federal and state 19 utility regulations. 20 Generally, these limit the mature 21 height and placement of plant material to eliminate 22 any safety, security, or reliability hazards to 23 adjacent equipment or overhead and underground 24 utilities. 25 Accordingly, our team works closely with

Page 125 1 PSE&G's internal vegetation management team for 2 their approval of plant placement and species 3 selection. 4 We also strive to be compliant with city 5 ordinances to the greatest degree possible given 6 site constraints, including existing overhead street 7 wires and underground municipal utilities, in 8 conjunction with the safety and security setbacks 9 mandated by those federal and state regulations. 10 With regard to the plantings themselves, 11 we choose commercially available plant material. We 12 prioritize low-maintenance native plants that do not 13 require intensive care over time. They are also 14 selected to create visional seasonal interest in the 15 form of spring flowers or summer flowers, fall 16 foliage and winter texture while also providing 17 screening to the equipment beyond to the greatest 18 degree possible. 19 With regard to the landscape plan, I'm 20 going to share my screen. You should see a 21 rendering of the plan right now. 22 So the landscape package that was 23 submitted for the application includes the tree 24 removal and the proposed landscape design that was 25 developed by PS&S. It was dated 12/22/2022. That

Page 126 1 plan has been updated for the submission tonight 2 with a revised date of 8/11/2024. 3 This graphic is a rendering of the 4 proposed landscape plan which is a new submission 5 tonight. This is Sheet L-01R. It's titled 6 "Landscape Rendering" and has a revised date of 7 8/14/2024. 8 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: This will be 9 A-7. 10 (Whereupon, exhibit is presented and 11 marked Exhibit A-7 into evidence.) 12 A. So this rendering shows an aerial view of 13 the site, including the existing and the proposed 14 station equipment, which we have seen with the 15 previous testimony, and it shows the existing 16 mature vegetation on the southwest side of the site 17 as well as depicted on the aerial and the canopy 18 there. 19 The proposed plant material is placed 20 along two adjacent streets of the station where work 21 is taking place: Prospect Avenue, as we see on the 22 plan east side, and Mount Pleasant Avenue on the 23 plan south side. This rendering also includes 24 updates to the plantings design based on the CME 25 review letter which was provided to the project team

Page 127 1 in July of 2024. 2 One of the CME comments noted that a new 3 ordinance had been adopted as of June 10th, 2024, 4 which occurred after the original site plan 5 application had been submitted. The original 6 submitted plan was in conformance with the 7 previous ordinance with 170 replacement trees 8 proposed, exceeding the 167 trees required to be 9 replaced. 10 The new ordinance requires a total of 351 11 trees to be planted. This rendered plan shows an 12 increased total number of replacement trees at 317. 13 It is short of the 351 by 34 trees. The project 14 team proposes working with the town forester for 15 additional considerations as a condition of 16 approval. 17 I would like to note that to get to the 18 317 trees, we have maximized the number of trees we 19 believe will fit on the site given the amount of 20 space available. That includes the underground 21 utilities and also preserving existing vegetation. 22 We have also increased the size of the majority of 23 the proposed trees to 4-inch caliber to be in 24 conformance with the new tree ordinance. 25 This was brought up as a comment from the

Page 128 1 second CME review letter that was received in 2 September, a week ago, with a concern about their 3 establishment due to the size. We do not believe 4 this is a concern, but we are willing to work with 5 the town engineers and town forester for the correct 6 mix of sizes. 7 With regard to the tree planting or the 8 tree placement and constraints, the area along 9 Prospect Avenue on the rendering shows the 10 underground constraints in the work area. The area 11 designated in yellow is an existing gas line. The 12 areas designated in red are new underground utility 13 runs. We are maintaining a 20-foot no planting area 14 for new plants along those utility runs. 15 The new plantings overall supplement a 16 predominantly mature deciduous existing landscape, 17 as you're familiar with, with existing trees only 18 selectively removed to accommodate the new station 19 utility runs and fence or to clear trees in poor 20 health and considered a safety concern. 21 The proposed plants include a variety of 22 plant material, including new evergreen trees to 23 provide year-round screening and texture, a number 24 of deciduous tree species to supplement the existing 25 deciduous tree cover, including ornamental trees to

Page 129 1 fill out the understory. 2 It is important to note that there's a 3 significant grade change of approximately 18 to 20 4 feet along the Prospect Avenue side of the site from 5 street level down to the station floor which 6 includes the bioretentions at the foot of the hill. 7 These basins had been proposed to be 8 vegetated with a low maintenance retention basin 9 seed mix originally. Based on engineering comments 10 received from CME, this mix has been amended to 11 include more pollinator-friendly species as well as 12 some shrub species to provide structure for the 13 basins. 14 It is also important to note that many of 15 the evergreen species are to be planted at the 16 middle to upper part of the slope to maximize the 17 screening effect along Prospect Avenue. 18 Additionally, in response to the original CME review 19 letter, we have amended the trees along the Prospect 20 Avenue side to be native street tree species with 21 full canopies since there are no conflicts with 22 overhead wires. 23 We have also reexamined the area along the 24 new fence line and identified a number of existing 25 trees that had been noted to be removed originally

Page 130 1 that may now be preserved that gives our team a 2 better understanding of the construction logistics 3 of the project. 4 Moving down to the corner of the plan, we 5 have continued to amend the plan to include 6 additional plant species to screen the station from 7 the corner and have infilled the planting along 8 Mount Pleasant Avenue with additional evergreen 9 trees in front of the bioretention basins. And 10 that also was in response to comments from the site 11 plan review technical meeting which was held in 12 July. 13 Other items updated on the plan from the 14 CME review include the requirement for a tree 15 removal permit prior to disturbance; a requirement 16 for tree protection fencing to be installed prior to 17 disturbance through the duration of construction. 18 And we have amended several of the proposed species 19 based on the review concerns. 20 We have also received and reviewed two 21 letters from the town forester, Walt Kipp. They 22 were dated 7/26/2024 and 9/6/2024. 23 The updated plans submitted for tonight's 24 hearing includes revisions per the 7/16 comments and 25 those were subsequently confirmed to be in