Planning Board — May 5, 2026

Present

Chairman Vescio, Bruce Bongiorno, James Magura, Henry Wang, Inderpreet Banga and Niren Choudhury. Mayor Moench, Michael Pappas, Vice Chair Sikora, Councilwoman Isla, Sonja Chartowich and William Atkins were absent. Also present: Board Attorney Mark Peck, Board Planner Katherine Sarmad and Board Engineer William Burr. There was no public at the opening public portion. No minutes were approved and no resolutions adopted.

Mark Muller (26-006-PB), 2114 Primrose Lane and 1001 Vosseller Ave., lot line adjustment: carried to July 7, 2026, pending proper notice.

Courtesy review: Pilot Fiber (26-011-PB)

Fred Brody, a governmental affairs consultant for Pilot Fiber, and Ed Fasone, its president, said the company is building a fiber network from New York to Pennsylvania and seeks a right-of-way agreement for conduits, using existing poles and existing communication companies such as Verizon. Mr. Fasone said they have county approval but need each municipality’s, and have “6 counties authorities and 13 municipalities,” including Somerville Borough. Members asked about traffic, the number of fibers, roads affected and upgrades; Engineer Burr asked about road opening permits, which Mr. Fasone said are rarely needed but would be obtained where the municipality requires them.

PSE&G (25-025-PB): approved

Block 347, Lot 1.01, 5 Polhemus Lane: major site plan with bulk variances. The minutes refer to the attached transcript. Glenn C. Kienz of the Weiner Law Group represented PSE&G.

• The project: a rebuild of the existing substation to protect it from flooding. Mr. Kienz said it does not expand the use. Noreen Merainer, PSE&G’s licensing and project manager, a professional engineer and planner, said about two feet of water stood on Polhemus Lane during Ida and a transformer failed; that a troubleshooters’ building sits in the Cuckels Brook floodway; and that NJDEP’s 2023 rules put almost the entire station in a floodplain. The plan replaces the control houses with one new control building, moves the troubleshooters’ building out of the floodway, raises switchgear and transformers (four now and four after, with new isolation walls), and replaces the fiberglass fence with an 8-foot anti-climb fence, except along the brook. Seventeen Leyland cypresses would be removed, with new plantings in front and payment to the tree fund for any shortfall. Lighting is unchanged. Construction would take two to three years.
• Variances: front-yard setbacks on East Main Street and Polhemus Lane, where 150 feet is required (the new fence is 2.6 feet from the Polhemus Lane line); and improved lot coverage of 75.5 percent where 60 percent is allowed and the site is at 74 percent under past approvals, most of it crushed stone.
• Bryce Hansen, a structural engineer with Black & Veatch, testified that site grade is about 45 to 46 feet, NJDEP’s climate-adjusted flood elevation 46.2 to 48 feet and Ida’s high water about 47.7 feet, and that critical components would be raised to 49 feet; that a net-fill calculation shows no water pushed onto neighbors; and that the stormwater effect is neutral overall.
• Board and professionals: members asked about fire suppression, cyber security, redundancy, electromagnetic fields, tree counts, taxes (PSE&G said it is not tax-exempt), spills and future flood levels. Planner Sarmad cited the Master Plan’s climate change hazard vulnerability assessment. Engineer Burr asked PSE&G to keep coverage at 74 percent and for a stormwater operation and maintenance manual.

No member of the public spoke, though the Chairman opened the floor four times.

On a motion by Mr. Banga, seconded by Mr. Choudhury, the Board approved the major site plan and the three bulk variances, 6-0 (Bongiorno, Magura, Wang, Banga, Choudhury and Chairman Vescio yes). Conditions, as Mr. Peck recited them: work with the Board professionals on landscaping; work with the Board engineer to reduce lot coverage; an EMF report to the Board engineer; Mr. Peck said there were no issues with any of the review reports “except for the Knox-Box”; documentation on hazardous materials; and the standard conditions on taxes and escrow. The memorializing resolution was adopted June 16. See flooding and stormwater.

The meeting adjourned at 9:46 p.m. The minutes were adopted October 6, 2026.

Records

• Minutes with hearing transcript (township document page)
• Agenda (township document page)
• Video on the township’s YouTube channel (2:46:21). This page follows the Board’s minutes and the attached transcript.