Mahwah August 31, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 3 Car service’s owner seeks relief from zoning board by Frank J. McMahon Flyte Tyme Worldwide Transportation has applied to the Mahwah Zoning Board of Adjustment for relief from the zoning officer’s determination that the company’s practice of parking buses and vans at a Lukoil station violates the local zoning ordinance. The service station is located at Stephens Lane and Franklin Turnpike. At the last meeting of the zoning board, Antimo Del Vecchio, the attorney for Flyte Tyme, explained that the zoning officer misunderstands Flyte Tyme’s use of the service station. The attorney said the site is not used for the storage of the buses and vans, which is prohibited by township ordinance, but for overnight parking of the vehicles while they are awaiting inspection, service, and refueling. Del Vecchio explained that the site has been used as a repair and fueling station since at least 1986, and that the current tenant occupant took a lease possession of the property in July 2010 in an agreement with Lukoil. He explained further that Flyte Tyme has an arrangement with the gas station to park five buses and two vans at the site overnight while they await inspection as required by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and refueling with diesel gasoline. He said the vehicles leave the site every day between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and return at about 7p.m. to 8 p.m. Timothy Rose, president of Flyte Tyme Worldwide Transportation, which is headquartered in Mahwah and provides transportation for companies that require ondemand car service for frequent trips, told the board the vehicles are used for shuttle transportation for corporate accounts. He explained that the NJDOT-required inspections are done by a mechanic at the service station because, when his firm was doing the inspections, they were not getting done in the proper timeframe. He said he found it was better for an outside service station, which also provides diesel gasoline for his vehicles, to perform the inspections. Ward Donigian, a resident of Stephens Lane, asked Samuel Elliahi, the current tenant of the service station, how the inspections are done on the larger vehicles. Elliahi said he has a mechanic on site between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day, and the inspections are done outside the two bays in the building on the site. If necessary, he said, part of those vehicles can be brought inside the garage. In response to Donigian’s question about the amount of traffic the vehicles generate at the site, Elliahi explained that only seven Flyte Tyme vehicles are at the site each day, about three to four vehicles are repaired there each day, and about 50 to 75 vehicles visit the site for gasoline. During the public hearing, board member George Cimis asked Del Vecchio if his client would be willing to provide a fence and a certain type of evergreen trees at his own expense to screen the vehicles from the view of the adjacent property owners. The attorney responded that it would not be a problem to do so. The public hearing was then adjourned to provide time for Elliahi to meet with his neighbors and the township engineer and to revise his site plan to reflect the fencing and the proposed shrubbery. The public hearing will continue at the zoning board’s public meeting on Sept. 21. Several local musicians will be offering free concerts under the pavilion at Field of Creams Café located at Continental Soldiers Park in Mahwah. The youth band, Endurance, will perform Christian and secular music on Thursday, Sept. 1 from 7 to 9 p.m. On Friday, Sept. 9 from 7 to 9 p.m., Spinner’s End will offer family-friendly music from writing partners Ali Andresini, singer/ukulele player and partner Ryan on keyboards. North will entertain on Friday, Sept. 16 with original Local musicians offer free concerts music, covering dirty blues to Johnny Cash country and New York jazz featuring Noah Jessup. This performance will be held from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. On Sunday, Sept. 18 from 5 to 6 p.m. soloist Christine DeLeon will perform a diverse program. This performer’s original pieces are reflective, story-telling, and, at times, humorous. Ryan Flannery will entertain on Friday, Sept. 20 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Flannery will offer classic and modern rock ranging from the late ‘60s to the present.