07-13-2021 Planning Board Meeting - Auditorium

City of Cape May Planning Board Meeting Minutes Tuesday, July 13, 2021 Opening: The in-person meeting of the City of Cape May Planning Board was called to order by Chairperson Bill Bezaire at 6:33 PM. In compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act, adequate notice was provided. Roll Call: Mr. Bezaire, Chairperson Present Mr. Jones, Vice Chairperson Present Mr. Belasco Present Mr. Elwell Present Mayor Mullock Present Deputy Mayor Sheehan Present Mr. Shuler Present Dr. Wolf Present Mrs. Reed Present Mr. Gorgone Alt # 1 Present Mr. Yeager Alt # 2 Present Also Present: Richard King, Esquire, Board Solicitor Craig Hurless, Board Engineer and Planner Karen Keenan, Board Secretary Announcement: Harley Shuler shared with the Board that he will be moving out of the City in August and resigned from the Board. The Board thanked him for his service, and he departed the meeting immediately after his announcement. Oath of Office: New member Michael Yeager took the Oath of Office as read by Board Solicitor King and will serve as Alternate # 2. Mrs. Reed will serve as a regular member. Mr. Yeager was welcomed to the Planning Board by Chairperson Bezaire and the members. Minutes: Motion made by Dr. Wolf to approve the meeting minutes of May 25, 2021, seconded by Deputy Mayor Sheehan and carried 7-0. Those in favor: Mr. Belasco, Mayor Mullock, Deputy Mayor Sheehan, Dr. Wolf, Mrs. Reed, Mr. Gorgone, Mr. Bezaire. Those opposing: None. Those abstaining: Mr. Elwell, Mr. Jones. Motion made by Mr. Jones to approve the meeting minutes of June 22, 2021, seconded by Deputy Mayor Sheehan and carried 8-0. Those in favor: Mr. Belasco, Mr. Elwell, Mayor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ City of Cape May Planning Board Minutes, July 13, 2021 1 Mullock, Deputy Mayor Sheehan, Dr. Wolf, Mr. Gorgone, Mr. Jones, Mr. Bezaire. Those opposing: None. Those abstaining: Mrs. Reed. Resolution(s): Motion made by Deputy Mayor Sheehan to adopt Resolution number 07-13-2021: 1, Hobrow Inc., 301 South Beach Avenue, seconded by Mike Jones and carried 4-0. Those in favor: Mr. Elwell, Deputy Mayor Sheehan, Mrs. Reed, Mr. Jones. Those opposing: None. Those abstaining: Mr. Belasco, Mayor Mullock, Dr. Wolf, Mr. Gorgone. Application(s): PM Cape May LLC 722 Beach Avenue Block 1000 Lot(s) 36 & 36.01 Mr. Belasco recused himself from this application. Anthony Monzo, Esq. introduced the application with owners Bill Massaro and Mike Penza and Engineer John Halbruner present. William Massaro, Mike Penza, John Halbruner and Board Engineer Craig Hurless were sworn in by Board Solicitor Richard King for the record. Engineer Halbruner was accepted as an expert by the Board. Attorney Monzo outlined the application that was tabled at the May 11, 2021 meeting. He described the property as a six-unit condominium with the applicants owning five of the six units and the other unit owned by Mickey McGlade. Attorney Monzo said the property is in need of improvements with costs that will easily exceed the 50% fair market value of the building property value at $525,000 not including the land. Attorney Monzo said the property value was based on an appraisal by John McCann. The applicants are seeking relief of the requirement to bring the property into compliance with the flood code requirements as triggered when the costs of improvements exceed the 50% of property value threshold to leave an amount for tenant buildout costs. Numerator is the cost of the improvements and the denominator is the property value = $262,500. Any cost over this number would require compliance with the flood code requirements. He added that Mickey McGlade has no opposition to the project, and Attorney Monzo provided an affidavit from Roseanne McGlade, as Exhibit A-11, to Solicitor King. Attorney Monzo referred to the other Exhibits A-1 to A-10, which are photos of existing conditions including A-5 which is Mermaids and A-6 and A-7 which are City offices. Engineer Halbruner described the building that is in the V zone with a base flood elevation of 10’. He listed the conditions for variances in the V zone in 15.2 of the Flood Damage Code in Chapter 258 specifically that variances shall be issued for good and sufficient cause, exceptional hardship and that the granting of the variance will not result in increased flood heights, additional threats to public safety, extra public expense, nuisances, fraud or victimization of the public or conflict with existing ordinances. Engineer Halbruner said the implications of elevating will be a smaller building footprint due to ramps and stairs, McGlade’s will be affected and there could be possible harm to dune structures. He said the causes for variance relief under good and sufficient cause and the exceptional hardship to the applicants apply in this case. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ City of Cape May Planning Board Minutes, July 13, 2021 2 Engineer Halbruner shared that the Community Rating System (CRS) is to encourage municipalities to address flooding with more points equating to more discount for the community as a whole. Attorney Monzo asked if relief is granted, would the discount be put in jeopardy, and Engineer Halbruner replied no. He said the model ordinance from FEMA includes a mechanism to grant a variance where only municipalities who grant excessive variances or disregard the ordinance can negatively affect their CRS rating, but there are many other unrelated factors that impact the CRS rating. Board members were allotted time for questions. Member Reed shared concern about Mrs. McGlade’s property. Board Engineer Hurless said he does not have building plans of the improvements, which is a concern. He asked if the applicant can put on the record what they are proposing to do including exterior maintenance. Owner Massaro said the goal is to keep the building as it is including replacing siding, adding a door, which was there previously in the middle of the front, wood windows, and a new roof. Solicitor King asked what they are seeking for the record and the process. Owner Massaro replied exterior renovations and inside renovations including divide 50’ wide interior into three 16’ storefronts in the front, one entrance door on the side and one entrance door on the back with inside vanilla boxes including partition walls, air conditioning, mechanicals, and electric work. Attorney Monzo said the applicants are seeking three years to complete the project. Member Jones asked if Solicitor King is satisfied with Roseanne McGlade’s affidavit, and Solicitor King said yes. Board Engineer Hurless said he did not prepare a new memorandum and that Engineer Halbruner’s report, which was distributed to the Board, was in response to his April 27, 2021 memorandum. He said there were no checklist items and a lack of plans, so he struggled with his review and asked for the scope to get testimony on the record and limits to what the applicants can do if approved. Engineer Hurless said a variance can be granted based on the testimony of Engineer Halbruner and that the resolution should notice to the applicants and future property owners of the increased flood insurance cost. Board members were allotted time for questions of Engineer Hurless. Discussion was opened to the public at 7:55 PM. Peter Tiburzio, 1249 Cape May Avenue, was sworn in by Solicitor King. He spoke in support of the project and said district buildings need help, as they were built in the 1960s. Lou Belasco, Floodplain Manager, City of Cape May, gave clarification on the request for the variance. He said the requirement is for mechanicals to be two feet above base flood elevation. Owner Massaro said that electric and all mechanicals, except water and sewer lines, will be elevated above base flood minimum requirement. Engineer Halbruner said water and sewer lines already exist below base flood elevation and HVAC and electric will be two feet above base flood ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ City of Cape May Planning Board Minutes, July 13, 2021 3 elevation, except elements of Unit 6, McGlade’s. Attorney Monzo said this will be acceptable as a condition. Discussion was closed to the public at 8:00 PM. Attorney Monzo said in his closing statement that the intent is to keep the quaint boardwalk the same. Solicitor King said Engineer Halbruner’s presentation is consistent with the Board’s obligation to only grant these variances in rare instances. He added that Engineer Hurless said the testimony is sufficient to grant a variance, but the Board has to decide. Motion made by Mr. Elwell to grant the variance pursuant to Chapters 258-15.1 & 258-15.2 subject to scope of work discussed and incorporated by reference and conditions outlined including mechanicals, as discussed, exterior to appear as shown in Exhibits A-8, A-9 and A- 10 subject to Board Engineer review and approval, seconded by Mr. Jones and carried 9-0. Those in favor: Mr. Elwell, Mayor Mullock, Deputy Mayor Sheehan, Dr. Wolf, Mrs. Reed, Mr. Gorgone, Mr. Yeager, Mr. Jones, Mr. Bezaire. Those opposing: None. Those abstaining: None. Board members gave reasons for their votes. Member Wolf said she voted yes but has concerns about climate change, specifically that 100-storms, in some places, have become 10-year storms. Member Reed agreed with Member Wolf. Member Jones said he is concerned with McGlade’s and the possibility of issues arising. Wild Rose Manor LLC 1033 Michigan Avenue Block 1110, Lot(s) 110, 111, 112, 113 & 114 Mr. Belasco returned to the meeting. Mr. Yeager recused himself and departed the meeting. Attorney Jeffrey Barnes explained the application seeking a minor subdivision into two lots and Engineer Halbruner, who did the survey for the applicants, remained as an expert under oath. Attorney Barnes explained that a structure on the property will be moved but remain on the proposed lot 112.01 with the other lot to be vacant. He added that the subdivided lots will conform to all bulk and area requirements. Engineer Halbruner said he is the design engineer for the project, and he prepared the subdivision plans. Engineer Halbruner said that the Board Engineer had one item that could not be addressed: the grading on the lot where the house is to be relocated. He said the condition would be remedied upon revision of the plan. Attorney Barnes said that the house straddles the lot lines and 190 days may not be enough time to relocate the house. Solicitor King replied that a bond for the relocation of the house could be a condition of approval. Engineer Hurless suggested that the applicant submit an estimate from a house relocator and then bond for that amount. Once the bond is posted, the City would allow the filing of plan. Engineer Hurless said the house has to be moved or the bond has to be posted prior ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ City of Cape May Planning Board Minutes, July 13, 2021 4 to the filing of the plan. It was determined that the amount of the bond is to be at 120% of the cost estimate to relocate the house, if a bond is necessary. Board members were allotted time for questions. Board Engineer Hurless then summarized his report dated June 15, 2021. He described the subdivision as a by right subdivision and commented that there no plans were submitted for the proposed dwelling. He outlined his completeness review and general review comments 1-16 in detail, and the conditions of approval including that the design for the new lot requires his review prior to the issuance of building permits. He shared that the Fire Department, Police Department, and Shade Tree Commission approved the application with no conditions. There was a discussion on the lot numbers with the determination that the new lot numbers are to be confirmed with the Tax Assessor. Board members were allotted time for questions of Engineer Hurless. Discussion was opened to the public at 8:31 PM and closed at 8:32 PM with no public coming forward to comment. Motion made by Mr. Belasco to approve the subdivision subject to the conditions outlined by the Board Engineer and a condition that, if the applicants file a subdivision before they move the house, that submission of a bond in the amount of 120% of the cost to move the house and to the satisfaction of the Board Engineer and that both subdivided lots be graded to the satisfaction of the Board Engineer, seconded by Mr. Elwell and carried 9-0. Those in favor: Mr. Belasco, Mr. Elwell, Mayor Mullock, Deputy Mayor Sheehan, Dr. Wolf, Mr. Gorgone, Mrs. Reed, Mr. Jones, Mr. Bezaire. Those opposing: None. Those abstaining: None. Discussion: Member Gorgone shared that he had applied to be a Class IV member of the Planning Board, sees that there is currently another vacancy on the Board. He wanted to publicly show his interest and know how the members are selected. Chairperson Bezaire said that City Council selects the members and sometimes they request input from the Chairperson and other times they do not ask for input. Solicitor King said the issue is probably best for consideration at a City Council meeting. Motion made to adjourn by Mr. Elwell at 8:39 PM with all in favor. Respectfully submitted: Karen Keenan, Board Secretary ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ City of Cape May Planning Board Minutes, July 13, 2021 5