MANCHESTER – Residents got a mini-lesson on Zoning Board scheduling while also expressing their frustration over an ongoing situation within their 55+ communities in Whiting during a recent Township Council meeting.
Resident Linda Chapman asked why a Zoning Board meeting involving an application about a building “that was to be commercial was postponed to September 25 but is now this Wednesday night, the same date as National Night Out? How did it get changed?”
Business Administrator Carl Block explained that Mayor Joseph Hankins who was unable to be at the council meeting that night, had received complaints about that as well “so I took the opportunity to call the Board attorney. At the July meeting they had enough members to have a meeting but as it was a use variance they were looking for five or more people who could vote on the application and someone was disqualified because they hadn’t been there for the first meeting which was in May or June.”
“They officially put it off until September pending polling of other board members who could make it. After that meeting the secretary found that they were able to find enough board members who could make it and under the land use law an applicant can ask for a special meeting and notice has to be supplied and they pay for the meeting,” Block said.
Block added that letters of notice went out as all requirements were met but that the change of date was not updated on the township website which still had the September date. On the legal side, the notices covered it but she should have changed the website before she left for vacation. We didn’t do our best to get the website updated quick enough. It should have been done sooner.”
Chapman then asked if there would be a decision made at that Zoning Board meeting. Block confirmed the meeting had been scheduled and testimony would be held at that meeting and provisions were made to hold another special meeting if necessary if they didn’t get all the testimony in. “I think they are ways off of that happening.”
“I just think it was lousy timing,” Chapman responded.
The mayor filled an opening on that board that was noted during the Council meeting but that new member would not be in a position to vote on the application in question.
Zoning Board member Gail Apgar added, “there will definitely not be a vote. There will be many meetings because this will be an ongoing process.”
The application, Case #24-48 concerns Congregation Mikvah of PLP at 1209 9th Avenue that requires minor site plan approval through use variance relief to permit a mikvah in the R10 zone where commercial uses are not permitted; bulk variance relief from minimum principal building rear yard setback; minimum principal building side yard setback, maximum lot coverage, minimum parking space setback from street right-of-way line; minimum parking space side yard setback; minimum parking space size; bulk variance relief from minimum improvable lot area, minimum accessory structure rear yard setback; minimum accessory structure side yard setback which are pre-existing deviations to remain; bulk variance relief of the minimum landscaping buffer for a commercial property abutting residential development.
“There were two people who weren’t present for the Board to make a proper quorum. Those people have to go over all the information and have that documented that they did do all the listening as it was four and a half hours long. These people have to take a great deal of time to look over everything,” Apgar added.
Block noted during the Council meeting that anyone doing work on their house in a structural manner such as floor work, ceilings, rafters and the outside such as roofs or foundations “anything of that nature requires a permit.”
He was responding to a resident’s question about cases where those contracted to do that work had not applied to the township for the permit and said firms were now getting second and third chances to do new work and to file a permit.
The problem originated back in 2019 and the resident asked, “when do we actually get something done?”
Staiger said the cases were being looked at.
Resident Laura Messalene of Quaker Lane in Whiting spoke about basement work that had to be done. She turned away a company at her door when she asked for “the permit and an engineer’s report if this was okay to be done and it’s not there. They said they had an engineer and I don’t buy it. They did work at 7D Quaker Lane, that same company doing work at that crawl space but did they get a permit to do that work?”
“That is not the only place they did work,” she added.
