January 9, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 7 Mahwah Public hearing on landlocked lot to continue by Frank J. McMahon This year, the Mahwah Zoning Board of Adjustment is expected to continue its public hearing on an application to determine whether a landlocked piece of property can be developed. The case, which has been pending since 2009, concerns Philip and Julia Filippone’s effort to gain permission to develop their 3.39-acre landlocked property. The parcel is located in a wooded area west of the Ramapo River and Ramapo Valley Road near the border of the Borough of Oakland. The property owners won the right to a 25-foot wide easement over the property of their neighbor, James Venusti, in Superior Court in 2007. They brought their application to the zoning board in 2009, and sought approval to construct a single family dwelling on their property with a 12-foot wide driveway that would extend across the easement over Venusti’s property to provide access 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. The board decided it did not have 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 upheld in Superior Court, and the Filippones were ordered to send the appropriate notice to all the neighbors entitled to receive it, and to refile the application to the zoning board with the public hearing starting over from the beginning. In January 2012, the board began the new public hearing of the application, which was basically the same as the previous one, but included some amendments. In May, the board asked the Filippones to have an expert prepare an environmental impact study of the proposed driveway. The EIS was submitted to the board in June. At a September board meeting, the Filippones learned that they must also obtain a determination from the Highlands Council if the only access to their property is exempt from the Highlands Act regulations. Dennis Cummins, the attorney for the Filippones, later advised the board that an application had been sent to the Highlands Council concerning the exemption from the Highlands Act regulations and he is awaiting a response. At a continuation of the public hearing on Oct. 3, Cummins recalled Filippone’s professional engineer, Matthew Fox, who gave an overview of the revisions that were made to the EIS between June and September. Zisgen questioned Fox extensively about the steep slopes in the easement area, and the soil removal required for the driveway, how dust would be controlled at the site, and the proposed method of storm water retention. Fox said the property has 20 to 25 percent steep slopes, and the soil removal could last between two and four months. He explained further that there would be 10 locations along the driveway for storm water retention and two areas of seepage pits associated with the residential construction. Zoning Board Chairman Charles Rabolli advised Cummins that, if the board were to approve the application, annual or bi-annual inspections of the water retention locations would be mandatory, and it would be the Filippones’ responsibility to clean the water retention locations on their property and the ones within the easement. (continued on page 15)