Zoning Board of Adjustment — March 5, 2026

What was decided

The draft minutes record the meeting at the Board of Education campus, 2301 Route 27. They list Cheryl Bethea, Richard Procanik, Vaseem Firdaus, Alan Rich, Gary Rosenthal, Michael Dougherty, Kunal Lakhia and Chairman Thomas as present, and Robert Shepherd and Kunal Lakhia as absent; Mr. Lakhia appears in neither vote below. Ms. Woodbury confirmed that every member present had attended both earlier hearings or watched their video.

• Minutes of January 8, 2026 approved, 5-0 (Procanik, Firdaus, Rosenthal, Dougherty and Chairman Thomas).
• Ukrainian Orthodox Church of U.S.A., ZBA-25-00008 and ZBA-25-00007, and Syracuse 1950 Easton Avenue Owner LLC, ZBA-25-00009 (135 Davidson Avenue; Block 469, Lot 1.06; B-I zone), heard together and carried to May 7, 2026, without further notice, on Mr. Rosenthal’s motion and Ms. Bethea’s second. 7-0: Bethea, Procanik, Firdaus, Rich, Rosenthal, Dougherty and Chairman Thomas.

The agenda lists the applications as carried from January 22, 2026. Peter U. Lanfrit, Esq., for the applicants, said the earlier hearings were September 18 and November 6, 2025.

See warehouses and master plan reexamination.

The hearing

Status updates. Mr. Lanfrit said the applicants now sought final as well as preliminary site plan approval, after completing the topography and soil testing the Township Engineer asked for; that they had submitted documents on the church’s authority to sell; and that they had reached an access-easement agreement with IDI, so that Executive Drive would be vacated and the two variances tied to it would fall away.

Architecture. Wayne Scott Winger of Nelson Architecture Interiors described the building, with screening of the truck bays and rooftop equipment placed centrally; he said visible units would be shielded for sight and noise. The draft minutes record him describing the site plan exhibit as 228,000 sq ft, 790.5 ft long and about 330 ft 8 in deep, with 158 car spaces, 15 trailer positions and 34 exterior docks; the engineer’s November 6, 2025 testimony and the application give 258,150 sq ft, 151 car spaces, 35 docks and 19 trailer spaces.

Traffic and parking. Alan Lothian of Langan Engineering testified that:

• the church’s building would have 82 spaces; he expected about 25 in use on a typical day, 30 to 50 at special events;
• cars would use one unsignalized Davidson Avenue driveway, moved farther from Easton Avenue; the Easton Avenue access would close except for emergencies; trucks would enter from Executive Drive at the signal, which would be upgraded with pedestrian crossings;
• the warehouse would have 151 spaces where 150 are required;
• counts were taken in October 2025, with a week of tube counts on Davidson Avenue; the warehouse would generate 57 morning and 59 evening peak-hour trips under the ITE manual, below the 100-trip threshold NJDOT treats as significant. Easton/Davidson would operate at level of service C and Davidson/Executive at B, unchanged from the no-build case; the car driveway would be at E in the morning and F in the evening, which he described as a queue of about two exiting vehicles;
• on a conservative estimate, 5 trucks would enter and 11 leave in the morning peak hour; he said those numbers typically occur mid-day and that peak-hour truck trips would be more like four in and four out; about 55 trucks would come and go in a day, mostly off-peak.

Planning. Sean Moronski of Langan testified that the site is particularly suited to the D(1) use because of its access to I-287 without residential streets, that the smaller church lot would not intensify the use and its core functions would remain, and that the C variances (front yard, 66-ft driveway, 130-ft loading depth) could be granted under the C(2) balancing test.

The B-I reexamination. Planning Director Mark Healey corrected the record: the adopted B-I master plan reexamination’s draft ordinance lets medium-intensity uses locate within one road mile of I-287 but says they “shall not abut a residential zone”, and this warehouse does abut one. Mr. Moronski said the rear of the property is over 800 ft from any home and that no traffic would use residential streets; Mr. Lanfrit said the nearest residential-zone property is a cemetery. Mr. Healey said the draft ordinance had been sent to the Council, which had not yet acted.

Objectors’ counsel. Peter McArthur, Esq. (spelled MacArthur in other minutes), for Svitanok NYC, Inc., questioned the trip counts, the truck turns at the county-controlled Easton/Davidson intersection and queuing at the driveway. He said the application was completed after Ordinance #4391-22, which made warehouses no longer a conditional use in B-I, so that the D(1) variance requires an enhanced quality of proof; and that the reexamination does not amend the master plan. Mr. Healey said the 2023 ordinance remains in force and that the Planning Board had adopted the reexamination about a month earlier. Mr. McArthur also cited the Kaufman case on bulk variances; Mr. Moronski said the 66-ft driveway is needed for safe truck turns. Mr. McArthur said he would call a planner and a witness on the cultural center; Special Counsel Eric Bernstein said any planner must file a report at least 10 days before the next hearing.

Public questions (from 10 p.m. the Board stopped new testimony). Igor Khreptyk of Freehold asked whether the traffic study counted the IDI warehouse; Mr. Lothian said it did. Mark Anthony Datz of North Caldwell said a yearly cemetery gathering brings close to 1,000 people and uses the cultural-center lot; Mr. Lothian said it was not in the study and that the church would arrange outside parking and shuttles, as now. Olana Sharvan of Edison asked how the parking and truck figures were derived; Mr. Lothian said from the church’s stated operations and the ITE manual.

Adjourned 10:00 p.m.

Records

• Agenda · Draft minutes (approved May 7, 2026) · Packet
• Video on Granicus (2:43). Granicus publishes no captions; this page follows the Board’s draft minutes.