Zoning Board of Adjustment — May 7, 2026
The objectors presented their case against the 258,150 sq ft warehouse at 135 Davidson Avenue and the related church applications. Their planner, Peter Steck, testified that the use variance should be denied and raised notice issues; the applicant entered the Council's ordinance vacating Executive Drive, which removes the variances tied to that street. Carried to June 18.
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Meeting recording
Recording plays on the township archive
This meeting does not play on this page. The township's recording is complete and plays in full — the chapter links below will open it at the right moment.
Worth watching
Objectors' counsel raises notice questions, then the objectors' planner testifies against the warehouse use variance and the church applications. The video has no later index points.
Same moment on the township archive
What happened
What was decided
The draft minutes record the meeting at the Board of Education building, 2301 Route 27. Present: Cheryl Bethea, Richard Procanik, Alan Rich, Gary Rosenthal, Robert Shepherd, Michael Dougherty, Kunal Lakhia and Chairman Thomas. Absent: Vaseem Firdaus.
- Minutes of March 5, 2026 approved, 6-0 (Bethea, Procanik, Rich, Rosenthal, Dougherty and Chairman Thomas), and of April 2, 2026, 5-0 (Bethea, Procanik, Vice Chair Shepherd, Lakhia 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, B-I zone): carried to June 18, 2026, without further notice, at 475 DeMott Lane. The draft minutes say the Board and both attorneys “all agreed”; they record no roll call.
Adjourned 9:56 p.m.
See warehouses.
The hearing
No further member of the public came forward to question the applicant’s architect, traffic engineer and planner, and the public portion on their testimony closed.
Procedural objections. Peter MacArthur, Esq., for the objectors (Svitanak, NYC in these minutes), raised whether the 2026 annual meeting notice gave the right location; after receiving the 2025 and 2026 annual notices he said the Open Public Meetings Act issue “would seem to be resolved”, subject to his reviewing case law. He then raised notice under the Municipal Land Use Law, citing his planner’s report: that the cemetery on the site needs a use variance and was not in the public notice. Special Counsel Eric Bernstein said that was a legal question and should wait for the planner’s testimony. Mr. MacArthur also questioned whether the church’s documents on the sale followed its constitution.
The objectors’ planner. Peter Steck, PP, of Maplewood, presented his report “Planning Evaluation of Three (3) Applications”, dated April 24, 2026. The draft minutes record that he testified:
- the cemetery approval on the site had lapsed, so the notice should have included a use variance for it, and the adjoining church lot (Lot 2.01) should have been part of the application and the 200-ft notice list;
- the reexamination report is not the master plan, which as of that night still did not allow warehouses in B-I; on January 18, 2023 the Planning Board amended the master plan to prohibit future warehouses;
- homes abut the larger church property to the northwest, and church parking does not meet the rule that most place-of-worship parking be at the rear;
- the site is “particularly unsuitable”: loading and truck maneuvering would be in the front yard in public view with too little landscaping, church traffic would mix with trucks, and the driveway would operate at level of service E; impervious coverage would increase;
- under the Medici case an enhanced burden of proof applies, and in his opinion none of the three applications warrant approval.
Responses. Planning Director Mark Healey said the January 2026 document was adopted as a “Master Plan Re-examination and Update”, after a two-year process with community hearings, and that the Council had vacated Executive Drive. Peter U. Lanfrit, Esq., entered the vacation ordinance as Exhibit A1. The draft minutes print it as “Ordinance Number 451-26”, introduced March 24 and adopted April 14, 2026; the Council’s own minutes number the Executive Drive vacation Ord. 4501-26, introduced March 24 and adopted April 14, 2026. Mr. Steck agreed that with the street vacated the warehouse has no frontage on Executive Drive and the bulk variances tied to it fall away. Mr. Lanfrit said there is no current cemetery approval for the lot. Mr. Steck agreed the warehouse meets the zone’s impervious-coverage limit and that the Historic Commission had approved demolition of the cultural center.
Public questions. Valeria Varnichenko of Dunellen asked whether the Environmental Commission had approved the project (Mr. Healey: its report is advisory) and whether the warehouse could become a data center; Mr. Healey said those are different uses and a data center was not applied for. Vsevolod Myrnyi of Brooklyn asked the same; Mr. Steck said the property was too small for a data center. Bogdan Jasinski (first given as Jasininski) of Morganville described the cultural center’s activities, including classes, festivals and events, and showed photographs of the building.
Records
- Agenda · Draft minutes (attached to the July 16, 2026 agenda) · Packet
- Video on Granicus (2:56). Granicus publishes no captions; this page follows the Board’s draft minutes.