Transcript 10 17 24 WO BOA ZB 24 06 PSEG Full size

Page 1 TOWNSHIP OF WEST ORANGE ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT CASE: ZB-24-06 : IN RE: : : PUBLIC SERVICE ELECTRIC : TRANSCRIPT OF REMOTE AND GAS COMPANY : PROCEEDINGS : 35 MOUNT PLEASANT AVENUE : : BLOCK: 155 : LOT: 26.01 : : Thursday, October 17, 2024 ZOOM REMOTE HEARING Commencing at 8:00 p.m. B E F O R E: PHILIP D. NEUER, CHAIRMAN WILLIAM MICHAEL BARBEE JEROME EBEN PETER RICCI BRENT SCOTT MICHAEL DANNEMILLER (Alt) MARK SUSSMAN DIANA CHANDLER, BOARD SECRETARY JOHN HESS, BOARD CONSULTING ENGINEER GEORGE WHEATLE WILLIAMS, TOWN PLANNER JOSEPH FAGAN, MEETING MODERATOR PRECISION REPORTING SERVICE 908.296.8166

Page 2 1 A P P E A R A N C E S: 2 3 SAVO, SCHALK, CORSINI, WARNER, GILLESPIE, O’GRODNICK & FISHER, P.A. 4 BY: MATTHEW R. FLYNN, ESQ. Attorney for the Board 5 6 CHIESA, SHAHINIAN & GIANTOMASI, PC BY:ERICA ANTONYA PARLAVECCHIO, ESQUIRE 7 And JENNIFER M. PORTER, ESQUIRE Attorneys for the Applicant 8 9 KEVIN MALANGA, ESQUIRE, Pro Se 10 11 A L S O P R E S E N T: 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Page 3 1 INDEX OF EXAMINATION 2 WITNESS PAGE 3 Michael Blake 11 4 John Futey 33 5 6 PUBLIC SPEAKER 7 Sally Malanga 29 Amy Whitmer 31 8 Andrew Macleod 50 9 INDEX OF EXHIBITS 10 NUMBER DESCRIPTION PAGE 11 12 NONE 13 14 15 16 17 REQUESTS FOR DOCUMENTS/INFORMATION 18 DESCRIPTION PAGE 19 NONE 20 DIRECTIONS NOT TO ANSWER 21 PAGE-LINE 22 None 23 24 25

Page 4 1 CHAIRMAN NEUER: With the power vested in 2 me as chairperson, I call this special meeting of the 3 West Orange Zoning Board of Adjustment to order. 4 Today is October 17, 2024, it is 8 p.m. This meeting 5 is being conducted by the Zoom platform. Notice of 6 this meeting was given to the township clerk, The 7 West Orange Chronicle, and the Star Ledger, posted on 8 the township bulletin board all in accordance with 9 the Senator Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act. 10 Kindly rise as we pledge allegiance to the flag. 11 12 (At which time, all stood for the Pledge 13 of Allegiance) 14 15 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Let's have Mr. Flynn 16 present the opening statement, please. 17 MR. FLYNN: Sure. Opening statement, 18 West Orange Zoning Board of Adjustment. Zoning board 19 of adjustment is a quasi-judicial body, it hears 20 evidence from sworn witnesses and makes decisions as 21 a court of law. The applicants are here because the 22 projects they propose do not meet the requirements of 23 the West Orange zoning code, or they have been denied 24 permits by the building inspector. We are their 25 first avenue of appeal.

Page 5 1 Board members have a twofold 2 responsibility, first to see that the applicant is 3 treated as fairly as possible since no zoning code 4 can foresee all possible inequities, and second, to 5 protect the welfare of the community as a whole, 6 which is the basic purpose of municipal zoning. 7 The procedures are simple. The applicant 8 presents it's case, objectors then present their 9 case. Citizens in the audience are then given an 10 opportunity to speak both for or against an 11 application. We expect the conduct of these 12 proceedings to be dignified and orderly so that all 13 parties may obtain a fair and impartial hearing. As 14 our proceeding is public, so is our decisionmaking 15 which usually takes place the same evening. 16 Because appeals from the decisions of the 17 board can be made to the courts and in some cases to 18 the township council, solely on the basis of the 19 record before this body and since the rules of 20 evidence and case law are technical, we would like to 21 advise all persons of their right to legal counsel on 22 these proceedings, and we believe the board will 23 consider an adjournment to anyone who wishes 24 additional time to obtain counsel. Thank you, Mr. 25 Chair.

Page 6 1 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Thank you Mr. Flynn. Ms. 2 Chandler, will you call the roll, please. 3 MS. CHANDLER: Of course. Mr. Barbee? 4 MR. BARBEE: Here. 5 MS. CHANDLER: Mr. Dannemiller? 6 MR. DANNEMILLER: Here. 7 MS. CHANDLER: Mr. Eben? 8 MR. EBEN: Present. 9 MS. CHANDLER: Mr. Ricci? 10 MR. RICCI: Here. 11 MS. CHANDLER: Mr. Sussman? 12 MR. SUSSMAN: Here. 13 MS. CHANDLER: Mr. Schwarzbaum? 14 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Excused absence. 15 MS. CHANDLER: Mr. Scott? 16 MR. SCOTT: Present. 17 MS. CHANDLER: Mrs. Weiss? 18 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Excused absence. 19 MS. CHANDLER: Chairperson Neuer? 20 CHAIRMAN NEUER: I am here as well. 21 During the warmup, without discussing anything of 22 substance, I was taking everybody's temperature on 23 the requests for special meetings. Mr. Malanga, 24 you're in the room now, how does December 5th look 25 for your group?

Page 7 1 MR. MALANGA: Not good, but Ms. Porter 2 and I have spoken and December 12 is available for 3 both of us and our experts. 4 CHAIRMAN NEUER: We have a potential issue 5 from the board's standpoint on the 12. This matter 6 is scheduled to be heard again at the regular meeting 7 of November 21, and although I would have liked to 8 have finalized arrangements for a special meeting 9 tonight, we will consider to work on generating all 10 of the necessary professionals, staff members, and 11 board members for the 12 or another night if 12 necessary. But, we can't confirm the 5th right this 13 minute so at the end of tonight's we will probably be 14 adjourning this application to the regular meeting of 15 November 21 at which time we will finalize the 16 arrangements for this special meeting. I thank both 17 Ms. Porter and Mr. Malanga for working cooperatively 18 with each other to try to put something together. 19 Mr. Williams, you had a question? 20 MR. WILLIAMS: No, Mr. Chairman. 21 MR. MALANGA: Mr. Chairman, are you 22 saying that testimony will be taken on November 21? 23 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Yes. 24 MR. MALANGA: My witnesses are not 25 available on that date.

Page 8 1 CHAIRMAN NEUER: We need to move this 2 matter along, Mr. Malanga, and as you know, we try to 3 grant adjournments whenever it's convenient for all 4 parties. You need to work a little harder on getting 5 some people here. 6 MR. MALANGA: Well, I thought that was 7 the purpose of the conversation that you, Ms. Porter, 8 and I had last Friday and the purpose of the 9 conversation that Ms. Porter and I had this week to 10 establish a date in December, and it seemed to be 11 agreeable to Ms. Porter. 12 CHAIRMAN NEUER: I understand what you and 13 Ms. Porter tried to do, I still chair this board and 14 I control the agenda. We'll jump off that bridge if 15 we have to on November 21, the meeting will be held 16 whether or not we have testimony as a matter for you 17 to be able to put together something or not and we'll 18 discuss it on the 21. 19 MR. MALANGA: All right, as I mentioned 20 I will not be in the country on November 21, so that 21 is the reason why I have requested an adjournment 22 from November 21, Mr. Chairman. 23 CHAIRMAN NEUER: I know, but you did 24 indicate you had someone to cover the meeting. 25 MR. MALANGA: No, that was for the

Page 9 1 other meeting, Wonder Foods. 2 CHAIRMAN NEUER: That was for Wonder 3 Foods. Let's see how much we get done tonight and 4 before we adjourn, we'll discuss meeting schedules. 5 MR. MALANGA: Okay, thank you, Mr. 6 Chairman. 7 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Okay, future meetings of 8 the board are scheduled for November 14, a special 9 meeting November 21, the regular meeting December 19, 10 a regular meeting. Mr. Flynn, would you be so kind 11 as to swear Mr. Hess and Mr. Williams, please. 12 13 GEORGE WHEATLE WILLIAMS, W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S, having 14 first been duly sworn, testified under his oath as 15 follows: 16 17 JOHN HESS, H-E-S-S, having first been duly sworn, 18 testified under his oath as follows: 19 20 CHAIRMAN NEUER: The only application on 21 the agenda this evening ZB-24-06, Public Service 22 Electric and Gas, 325 Mount Pleasant Avenue. 23 Counselor, your appearance for the record. 24 MS. PORTER: Yes, good evening Mr. 25 Chairman, Jennifer Porter on behalf of CSG Law for

Page 10 1 PSE&G, the applicant. 2 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Thank you. My notes 3 reflect that this matter has been heard on August 15, 4 September 12, and September 19. When we ended on 5 September 19, we had concluded your planner's 6 testimony, Ms. Merainer and that members of the 7 public as well as the board and professionals had 8 concluded their cross examination. Do you have 9 another witness to present this evening? 10 MS. PORTER: So, everything you said, Mr. 11 Chairman is correct, I do not have a new witness, 12 however I would like to recall two of our prior 13 witnesses based on additional information we would 14 like to supplement the record with because there have 15 been a series of meetings at the site, and so we 16 wanted to provide additional engineering and 17 additional landscape architecture, testimony with 18 regard to follow up we had at the last meeting as you 19 indicated on September 19. 20 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Ms. Porter, it's your 21 case, you're entitled to call your witnesses as you 22 see fit. Witnesses are sometimes allowed to have 23 repetitive testimony. Please call your first 24 witness. 25 MS. PORTER: Great, thank you. For my