Planning

City of Millville Planning Board November 13, 2017 PUBLIC MEETING Members of the Millville Planning Board met on the above date for their regularly scheduled monthly meeting in the 4th Floor, City Hall in the Richard C. McCarthy Chamber. The Chairman called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM and announced that this meeting was being conducted in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act of 1975, was advertised, posted, and made available to the public as required by Statute. In attendance were Mr. Kasuba, Ms. Risdon, Mr. Oliver, Mr. Caregnato, Ms. Arrigo and Chairman Gallaher. Also present were Mr. Van Embden, Planning Board Solicitor and Ms. Birdsall, Planning Consultant, acting as Board Secretary. Mr. Malone was excused and Commissioner Davis was absent. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING Mr. Caregnato made a motion to approve the October 10, 2017 minutes, seconded by Ms. Risdon. All present voted yes. APPLICATIONS Andrew Thompson (Block 51, lot 6.05) Conditional Use Application Mr. Thompson was sworn in and explained to the Board that he would like to run a driving school based out of his home at 8001 Buckshutem Road. In reply to questions, he affirmed that he met all the conditional use standards for the Agricultural Conservation District. There will be one car for the driving school in addition to the two family vehicles. The driving school car will be housed in the his residence’s garage which will also have a file cabinet and desk for the school, utilizing less than 300 square feet. Driving school students will not come to the residence but will be picked up remotely. He will not sell any merchandise nor will there be any alterations to the residence to accommodate the school. The driving school is the only business to be conducted at the property. Mr. VanEmden told the Board that, as a conditional use, this was permitted in the District since it met the conditions of the Ordinance. Mr. Arrigo made a motion to approve the conditional use and Mr. Caregnato seconded it. Mr. Kasuba, Ms. Risdon, Mr. Oliver, Mr. Caregnato, Ms. Arrigo and Chairman Gallaher voted yes. Cape May Foods (Block580, Lot 4) Preliminary and Final Site Plan Application with parking variance Mr. Arnold Robinson of Robinson and Robinson presented the application for Cape May Foods, LLC. He stated that Cape May Foods (familiarly known as La Monica Foods) has been at the 49 Garton Road site for 20 years and employs approximately 180 people to shuck clams and process them for frozen foods. The company would like to add 19,942 square feet to its existing plant. Their expectation is that this will result in 30 additional employees. At this juncture, Mayor Santiago took his seat on the Planning Board and Mr. Robinson reiterated his opening statement for the new member. For his client, Mr Robinson requested waivers for traffic impact analysis, Environmental Impact Statement and landscaping. He noted, as well, that they were requesting a variance for number of parking spots. Planning Board Minutes of November 13, 2017 Page 2 Mr. Robinson spoke to concerns regarding stormwater and confirmed that the additions will be over existing paving and/or compacted crushed clamshell so that there will be no change in stormwater flow. Mr. Robinson introduced Steve Nardelli of Fralinger Engineering as the project engineer and Mr. Nardelli was accepted by the Board Chair as an expert witness. Mr. Nardelli affirmed that, in his opinion, the clamshells represented impervious cover. Mr. Nardelli confirmed also that the water and sewer usage for the plant is now well under its permit maximum and, with the addition, will remain so. He stated that landscaping was not considered because of the remoteness of the site and the impervious cover. Mr. Robinson then raised the issue of the parking variance. The Ordinance requires 1 parking space for every 500sf of Gross Floor Area. Mr. Robinson noted that that would require 231 spaces while they are asking to provide 100 spaces. Mr. Robinson introduced Mr. Daniel Lavecchia of Cape May, NJ who is a managing member of Cape May Foods, LLC to testify regarding the operation of the plant and the need for parking. Mr. LaVecchia said that the plant operates two shifts from Monday to Friday with occasional Saturday hours. The 5am to 2pm shift employs 140 people of which approximately 50-60 are transported to the plant under a Farm Workers busing program. The second shift runs from 4pm to midnight and includes a few additional sanitation employees who come in at 7pm. There are 45 people at the plant for the second shift. The new employees to be provided with the addition will all be on the second shift. Mr. LaVecchia testified that the parking lot is never full. In answer to a question on interior circulation, he demonstrated that the employee parking is separate from truck loading and unloading with a discreet employee entrance. He expected an increase in truck traffic due to the expansion, but not a substantial difference. Ms. Birdsall told the Board that, in her opinion, the parking variance requests meets the positive and negative criteria standard for a ‘c’ variance and is in keeping with the policy of the new Land Use Element to encourage the expansion of existing businesses in the industrial areas. Mr. VanEmden noted that the concept of shift work should be taken into account for industrial parking standards in the new Ordinance. Mr. Kasuba inquired why they were requesting preliminary and final at the same time. Mr. Robinson replied that they wanted to move forward and, since the plans, were essentially complete per the Engineering report, they felt it was justified. The meeting was opened to the public and, with no comment, closed. Mr. Van Embden summarized the application request for preliminary and final major site plan approval with a parking variance and waivers for Landscaping, EIS and a traffic impact analysis. Mayor Santiago made the motion to approve the application as stated and was seconded by Mr. Oliver. The application passed unanimously. OTHER BUSINESS Mr. Gallaher asked the Board to discuss the Residential Conversion Ordinance draft that was distributed last month. There were several questions and concerns raised then. Comments on the question of limiting the number of bedrooms, the square footage of apartments, and the problems of parking and trash were raised. The problem of too much density with the accompanying parking and trash issues was raised versus the problem of large residences deteriorating because they can not be sustained as one family homes. Planning Board Minutes of November 13, 2017 Page 3 It was agreed that the issues for the Business district upstairs residences are somewhat different from the issues in the residential areas. There was general agreement that the issue of residential conversions will require input from the Commissioners as well as stakeholders from the public. Mr. Gallaher introduced the idea of having a further discussion among all interested parties prior to further work on the Ordinance. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7.25. Respectfully submitted, Sarah E. Birdsall, Acting Planning Board Secretary.