Mahwah January 11, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 9 Planners confirm Flyte Tyme overnight parking by Frank J. McMahon Late last month, the Mahwah Planning Board confirmed the township zoning official’s determination that overnight parking of seven Flyte Tyme buses and vans on the Lukoil Service Station for inspection and service is a permitted use. The board also approved a tenant application for the operator of that service station, which is located at Stephens Lane and Franklin Turnpike. The approval, however, included the conditions that required Sam Ellahi, the current operator of the service station, to stripe the specific spaces where the Flyte Tyme vehicles will be parked, and to require that all turning movements of the Flyte Tyme vehicles be done on site and not on Stevens Lane or Franklin Turnpike. The approval also included the condition that Ellahi construct a fence behind his station to shield an adjacent neighbor and landscape that area with evergreen trees. The motion to approve the tenant application and confirm the Flyte Tyme parking arrangement was made by board member Jeremiah Crean, seconded by board member Peter Rudolph, and approved by a 6-2 vote of the board. Prior to the motion to approve, a motion to deny the application was made by board member Charles Jandris, who explained that there was a lack of proof that the vehicles are actually being serviced at the site. However, his motion was not supported by anyone else on the board. Jandris and board member Todd Scherer were the two board members who voted against the application. Board member Ward Donigian, who had previously voiced his objections to the parking of the Flyte Tyme vehicles on this site as a member of the public and a resident of Stevens Lane, had recused himself from hearing this application as a member of the planning board. Ellahi’s application was brought to the township’s board of adjustment after Gary Montroy, the township’s planning and zoning administrative officer, originally determined that parking the Flyte Tyme vehicles on the site was not a permitted use. But when Montroy learned during testimony at the board of adjustment hearing that the vehicles were being parked there for service each day, he changed his opinion and determined that the parking of those vehicles on the site was a permitted use. He sent the case to the planning board, however, for the tenant use approval because the township had no record of one ever being granted to the current operator of the service station. Ellahi’s attorney, Anthony Del Vecchio, argued at both the board of adjustment and planning board hearings that Flyte Tyme parks its vans and buses overnight on the site so they can be inspected and possibly serviced every morning before leaving for their daily runs for customers. Several members of the planning board, including Chairman John Brotherton, expressed concern during the hearing about how many vehicles could potentially be parked on the site waiting for service inasmuch as 11 parking spaces are permitted there, based on the number of employees and service bays, and seven of them would be used by the Flyte Tyme vehicles. Del Vecchio told the board his client had suggested during the zoning board of adjustment hearing that the seven spaces for the Flyte Tyme vehicles be striped so the vehicles would not be intrusive on the site and that striping plan was ultimately approved by the planning board. Three residents of Stevens Lane voiced objections to the parking of the Flyte Tyme vehicles on this site, claiming (continued on page 15)