Page 12 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • November 2, 2011 Mahwah Zoning board concludes Flyte Tyme public hearing by Frank J. McMahon The chairman of the Mahwah Zoning Board of Adjustment abruptly ended the public hearing of a Flyte Tyme Worldwide Transportation’s application. The chairman claimed the zoning board no longer had jurisdiction to hear the application. The company was seeking the board’s interpretation of the township’s zoning code to determine if the transportation company could park seven buses and vans on the Lukoil service station property. The question arose following a denial by Gary Montroy, the township’s administrative officer for planning and zoning, who issued summonses to the service station’s operator for storing vehicles on the site and for not having an updated tenant application. The board spent several meetings hearing testimony from the Flyte Tyme owner, the operator of the service station, and planning and engineering experts about the legality and appropriateness of parking the Flyte Tyme vehicles on the site. Flyte Tyme is headquartered in Mahwah and provides transportation for companies that require on-demand car service for frequent trips. Its owner, Timothy Rose, claims he has an agreement with the tenant of the Lukoil at Franklin Turnpike and Stephens Lane to park the seven vehicles on the site each night and have them inspected and refueled every morning. Chairman Charles Rabolli announced the board’s decision to adjourn the public hearing when Montroy testified that he would have sent the matter to the planning board, and not the board of adjustment, had he known that the Flyte Tyme vehicles were Flood Relief Fund grows Reverend William P. Sheridan, pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, accepts a $1,000 donation from Boiling Springs Savings Bank’s Mahwah Branch Manager Patty Langdale. The bank’s check will aid the church’s Mahwah Families Flood Relief Fund, which was established to provide assistance to Mahwah families devastated by recent storms and subsequent flooding. being serviced and not just stored when he issued the summonses. Montroy claims that, at the time, he believed the vehicles were being stored on the site and made a determination that the company’s practice of parking its buses and vans on that property was in violation of the zoning ordinance. Montroy’s testimony was elicited by Antimo Del Vecchio, the attorney for Flyte Tyme. Although Montroy had issued several summonses to the operator of the service station, he acknowledged that the service station is a pre-existing, non-conforming use and explained that he originally determined that the parking of the vehicles constituted storage because it was a repetitive practice. He acknowledged, however, that the code does not define storage and he based his decision on his own experience. Del Vecchio then read a definition of storage from a book of development definitions, which described outdoor storage as keeping “vehicles in same place for more than 24 hours,” which is not the case with the Flyte Tyme vehicles because they are allegedly moved every day. Montroy agreed that negated his definition of storage. Del Vecchio then described several situations in which a vehicle might be parked at the site waiting for parts, and Montroy agreed that would not be considered storage, but would be the servicing of the vehicles. When Del Vecchio asked Montroy if he was aware that the Flyte Tyme vehicles are being serviced on a daily basis at the Lukoil site, based on inspections mandated by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, he said he was not aware of that (continued on page 18)