Mahwah May 30, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 3 Board wants environmental study of parcel by Frank J. McMahon The Mahwah Zoning Board of Adjustment has denied a variance request made by the owner of a 3.39-acre landlocked property. The applicant sought relief from the zoning ordinance requirement for an environmental impact study of the property. The site is located in the southwestern portion of the township west of Ramapo Valley Road and is accessed from Midvale Mountain Road, a private road that is reached from Glen Gray Road. The zoning board voted unanimously to require Philip and Julia Filippone, the owners of the property, to have the environmental impact study prepared by an expert in time for the next public hearing of Filippone’s application on July 11. The Filippones are seeking the board’s determination as to whether their lot can be developed for a single-family house. Their adjacent neighbor, James Venusti, objects to the development of the property and has been embroiled in a legal battle with the Filippones for many years. Recently, another neighbor hired an attorney to oppose the development of the Filippone property. The subject property does not have any frontage on an improved street, but it could have a 12-foot wide driveway partially within a 25-foot wide access easement that would extend over the Venusti property to Midvale Mountain Road. Filippone won the right to that easement in Superior Court in 2007, when Judge Robert P. Contillo found the landowner was entitled to the easement across the Venusti property. However, that easement would expire in four years if all approvals necessary for the construction of the dwelling were not received within that time, or sooner if the application for the necessary approvals were denied. Contillo ordered that, once all the approvals were received and all appeals resolved, the easement would become permanent. The Filippone application originally came before the zoning board in 2009, when the applicants sought approval to construct a single-family dwelling on their property with a driveway that would extend across an easement over Venusti’s property to Midvale Mountain Road. After 11 months of testimony before the zoning board, Venusti’s attorney, Robert Zisgen, raised a question about the validity of the legal notice the Filippones sent to the surrounding neighbors, and the board decided it did not have the jurisdiction to continue hearing the application because a proper notice was not sent to all the nearby residents as required by state law, including those who live on Midvale Mountain Road. That decision was subsequently upheld by Superior Court Judge Joseph S. Conte, and the Filippones were ordered to send the appropriate notice to all the neighbors entitled to receive it and to re-file an application with the zoning board. The public hearing was to begin anew, with all the testimony and evidence concerning the application being re-presented to the board. Recently, Zisgen brought the matter back to Superior Court. Zisgen asked Judge Contillo to prevent the Filippones from proceeding any further with their application before the zoning board because they had violated the time limit for getting a development approval. Judge Contillo determined that the Filippones had made a diligent effort to get that approval and he denied Zisgen’s motion. The Filippones then filed an application, which is basically the same plan that was previously before the board, but with some amendments. Before the board began to hear testimony on that application, however, both Zisgen and Ira Weiner, an attorney representing a resident of Fox River Crossing, a private road accessed from Midvale Mountain Road, objected to proceeding with the application before the board determined if the Filippones should have to provide a written environmental impact study of the property. Matthew Fox, a professional civil engi- neer and land surveyor, who said he has prepared between 20 and 30 environmental impact studies, testified that he did not feel one is needed for this application because his clients are just seeking a ruling on whether their property could be developed by expanding an existing five-foot wide pedestrian path that leads to the Filippone property into a 25-foot wide easement that could include a 12-foot wide driveway. Under questioning by both Zisgen and Weiner, Fox described the soil and slopes on the property and the drainage system planned for the site. He advised that 127 trees of eight-inch diameter or more would be removed in order to widen the pedestrian path and, in accordance with the township’s ordinance, 32 trees would be planted to replace them. Michael Kelly, the township’s professional engineer, advised that an environmental impact study would not only provide (continued on page 18)