Like many places in the Northeast, reminders of the American Revolution are ubiquitous in Wayne Township, New Jersey. In addition to being named after Anthony Wayne, a Revolutionary War general, the township is home to the Dey Mansion, which twice served as Gen. George Washington’s field headquarters in 1780 and remains a prominent tourist attraction.
Home to about 55,000 people, Wayne Township encompasses about 25 square miles, of which nearly 1.5 square miles are water. Its many lakes leave the township susceptible to flooding, particularly from the Passaic River.
Wayne Township is also less than 20 miles from Midtown Manhattan, making it a de facto suburb of New York City.
Construction Official Ronald Barbarulo oversees the team of subcode officials, inspectors and technical assistants who issue plumbing, building and electrical permits and help guide plans through the approval process. They are part of the Construction Code Division, which falls under the Department of Public Works.
Barbarulo was a plumbing inspector for Wayne from 2006 to 2021, when he was promoted to construction official. He also has owned a plumbing, heating and mechanical contracting company in nearby Fair Lawn, where he lives, since 1992.
He estimated he and his team handle 2,800 to 3,800 permit requests per year, which is actually down from almost 5,000 when he started 18 years ago.
“We’re a very, very busy town,” he said. “A lot of that’s with our small stuff like boilers and water heaters, but now we have a lot of big projects coming up. We just started Avalon Bay, a residential project that’s going to have 19 buildings and almost 500 units altogether. It’ll be some affordable housing and then there will be low-income housing. It’s going to be rentals, it’s not going to be sales.”
Barbarulo said projects they have on the horizon are expected to result in the construction of almost 4,000 apartments by the end of the decade.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a slowdown in the amount of office space being developed due to a change in workplace trends.
“Now we’re not seeing that as much; we’re actually seeing a lot of that office space being converted into something else; because a lot of people work from home now, they don’t need as much office space,” he said.
Middle: The inspection department waiting room is unusually empty.
Right: Technical Assistant Devon Von Lindern retrieves a document in the inspection office.
PHOTOS BY GEOFF BILAU
Barbarulo acknowledged his department will most likely need to hire additional inspectors, particularly in light of a law enacted in 2023 that allows developers to contract with private agencies if the inspection cannot be conducted within three days of the requested date.
“The thing is, we don’t get any money; we’re out of it,” he said. “And I don’t want to lose that because there’s a lot of money there with permit fees.”
The department has three building inspectors, two plumbing inspectors, and three electrical inspectors, one of whom is part time. This includes a subcode official for each area, who primarily is responsible for plan review and conducts inspections when necessary.
Two of the department’s three secretaries are technical assistants, and they play a major role in the permitting process because they are the first person to see the requests, whether in person or via mail or email. If, for example, the request does not include three copies of the plans or is missing required permits or information, the application goes into what they call the “sin bin” and the applicant is contacted.
Technical assistants are certified under the state’s Uniform Construction Code program after they complete a 50-hour course. Barbarulo said there are plans for the department’s third secretary to become a technical assistant as well.
“They are the first line of defense when we take in permits,” he said. “They make sure the plans are proper, they’re all sealed and tamped properly, and they’re also responsible for invoicing. They can even issue permits when we give them permission.”
The process is largely paper as of now, but that is due to change in 2025 when the state migrates to electronic plan submittal and review using a program called Tyler EnerGov.
While acknowledging there will be a learning curve for some of the older inspectors in the department, he said ultimately it should make their jobs easier.
“I don’t really mind that because some of these plans are huge,” he said. “AvalonBay has a set of plans that’s 1,200 pages. You’d need a crane to carry it around and open it up.”
PHOTOS BY GEOFF BILAU
‘CONTROLLED CHAOS’
Plumbing Subcode Official Tony Dascoli and Office Manager/Technical Assistant Christine Smolt both use the same term to describe the department’s atmosphere.
“I’m a 24-year veteran in this industry; 39 years of plumbing, 24 years of plumbing codes in multiple towns,” Dascoli said. “This town’s pace is incredible; it’s controlled chaos here.”
“There’s no other way to put it but controlled chaos,” Smolt agreed.
When Dascoli joined the department in May 2021, the department was in a period of transition. Barbarulo was three months into his construction official tenure, and despite being hired as an inspector, Dascoli soon was promoted to subcode official due to an unexpected departure.
He said his biggest issue was getting up to speed on how things operated, because there wasn’t much time to learn.
“Your feet were to the fire Day One; they gave me my desk, they gave me a computer,” he said. “There was no training; I had to squeeze the training in as my days were unfolding. I got an hour downstairs with IT. They gave me a crash course on this, a crash course on that, and I had to make my mistakes along the way.”
Dascoli said once Barbarulo eased up on the reins and was not as hands-on in terms of overseeing departments, they began to hit their stride.
“Once that happened, we all gelled,” he said. “And it didn’t happen overnight. It took a year and a half or so before we started getting into the groove and getting going with the new personalities in the place.”
Smolt started with the county part time in the tax office in 2017, and transferred to the building department two years later. She said she liked the volume of work and how busy things were, and when she was hired as a secretary it was in her contract that she would acquire a technical assistant license within a year.
She oversees the two other secretaries and makes sure the inspectors have everything they need to do their jobs, that they complete and file their paperwork properly and issue the correct stickers.
Dascoli stressed the importance of having good technical assistants.
“The technical assistant is the main gear in any building department’s engine,” he said. “I’ve seen over my 24 years that if you have someone who doesn’t know what she’s doing, you’ve got one screwed-up department.”
Due to the volume of applications the department processes, there is a great emphasis on making notes to make sure hey keep track of where they are in the process as well as in the office.
“Any time that somebody touches a file, you have to put a note in that system,” Smolt said. “I don’t care if you took it out of the file cabinet and you just put it in on Tony’s desk. You need to go back into the system and you need to put a note in there saying ‘file removed and put on Tony’s desk.’”
IAPMO CONNECTION
Along with the entire state of New Jersey, Wayne Township utilizes the National Standard Plumbing Code (NSPC), which IAPMO acquired from the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors—National Association (PHCC) in 2017. Like its Uniform Codes, IAPMO updates the NSPC every three years, and provides all code support services to jurisdictions that utilize it. Barbarulo serves on the NSPC Technical Committee and the Water Efficiency and Sanitation Standard (WE•Stand) Technical Committee.
“IAPMO has done a great job of working with the PHCC and they’ve been really supportive of our thoughts and processes of what we want to do,” he said.
Barbarulo is a member of IAPMO’s New Jersey Plumbing Inspectors Association (NJPIA) Chapter and the State League of Master Plumbers, and concurrently served
as president of both organizations for six months. He also chairs education committees for both organizations, a role he has performed for the State League of Master Plumbers for more than 25 years.
In addition to serving as an IAPMO instructor for inspectors seeking to renew their license with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA), Barbarulo teaches apprentices at Passaic County Technical School who are working toward earning their journeyman status and master plumber licenses and licensed plumbers who are continuing education to renew their licenses.
“Education is very crucial to all plumbers, mechanical technicians and inspectors, as things change very rapidly in this industry,” he said. “I believe it is very important to try and all work together to maintain safety of the public.”
Education is not only a major part of his work life — he is a former longtime member of the Fair Lawn Board of Education, including multiple terms as president.
THE TOUR
Louis March III, director of Asset Management for March Associates Construction, which oversaw construction of The Yard. Right: The interior of District Taco, one of the tenants of The Yard shopping center.
The Yard
Barbarulo led Official on a tour of two project sites in Wayne Township: a brand-new
shopping center and one of the nation’s largest Mazda dealerships.
The tour started out a little more than three miles north of the Building Department office, at a brand-new 10,500-square-foot shopping center called The Yard that had been the site of Moore’s Home for Funerals for more than 60 years.
“Robert Moore was looking to retire, so he actually reached out to us because he knew we had done the Trader Joe’s shopping center down the street,” said Louis March III, director of Asset Management for March Associates Construction. “He knows we build nice, quality projects; he didn’t want to just turn it over to anyone.”
Moore said five of the spots were leased out before construction even began, and everything was built in about six months.
Tenants will include Crumbl Cookies, European Wax Centre, GNC Live Well, OHM Fitness, Nekter Juice Bar, District Taco, and Mathnasium.
Barbarulo said his uncle was close friends with March’s grandfather, who started March Associates in 1986.
“We’ve just traditionally been a builder and construction manager for other developers,” he said. “I came on in 2019 and we started doing some of our own self-developments.
March said the biggest problem they encountered was a two-month delay in getting their transformer due to supply chain issues, but other than that it was smooth sailing.
March and his father grew up in Wayne, where their headquarters are located, and have worked on multiple projects including the aforementioned Trader Joe’s and an AutoZone, as well as their office. They also just broke ground on their warehouse.
“We love working in Wayne,” he said. “We try and do as much as we can in our hometown; we have a great working relationship with them.”
Wayne Mazda
Right: The dealership has 28 service bays behind the showroom.
PHOTOS BY GEOFF BILAU
The tour then headed about four miles south to the future site of Wayne Mazda, which will replace a smaller nearby Mazda dealership that will become a Hyundai dealership.
Genesis will then move into the spot vacated by Hyundai.
Erik Bendixen, senior project superintendent for the general contractor, Natoli Construction, said the new dealership consists of about 47,000 square feet of ground coverage, and has a second story that will primarily be used for storage.
The dealership is being built on a flood plain due to nearby Packanack Lake and has a 2-foot drainage system underneath the entirety of the site per Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) requirements. Nearly 1,000 piles have been driven deep in the ground and serve as footings. The driveway and parking lot are made of pavers so that water will seep into the retention basin.
“We’re right above the water table with everything we do, so there’s always a consideration — mud out onto the site and all the rest of it, out onto the highway,” he said.
Bendixen started on site in December 2022 and construction began the following month; it was due to be completed in summer 2024.
PHOTOS BY GEOFF BILAU
“He’s one of the best project managers I’ve ever dealt with,” Barbarulo said of Bendixen. “He stayed on top of everything from day one; we’ve built a great relationship. We never missed an inspection that he asked for. And if he wasn’t ready, he’d call us.”
“Yeah, it’s been very easy,” Bendixen said.
In the showroom, Bendixen pointed to a three-story lift that will allow cars displayed in so-called jewel boxes to be visible from the highway.
Behind the showroom are 28 service bays, a wheel alignment bay and a full commercial car wash. The exhaust system was overhead.
“They’ll have coils that will hang down to the car exhaust,” Bendixen said. “Goes to the central exhaust fan, pulls everything out.”
The rear of the dealership provides a better look at how high the building is off the ground, which is mandatory so that water can flow under the building if Packanack Lake and the nearby wetlands overflow. He estimated the finished floor is about five feet offgrade.
The four detail bays have fiberglass panels that will lock in front of the doors in case of flooding. Bendixen said while they are not 100% waterproof, the hope is that whatever gets in can be vacuumed up. That is provided, he pointed out, that someone is there to put in the panels.
“When it does flood here, and it hasn’t since construction started — knock on wood — it comes through like a river,” he said. “It doesn’t come up, creep up and stay up. There’s a lake through the woods up that way. The dam has broken and overflowed.”
The final stop was at a large water storage tank that holds the water that is recycled from the car wash. An underground storage tank with baffles in it will separate the oil, water and sand.
HUMAN TOUCH
Barbarulo takes great pride in being visible in the community and keeping the lines of communication open to anticipate and address any potential issues.
“I’m a little different as a construction official; I try to stay on top of all my jobs,” he said. “When we built CarMax two years ago, the project manager there said, ‘I’ve done six of these and I’ve never seen a construction person on a job as much as you.’ I would stop by once a week.”
PHOTO BY GEOFF BILAU
He extends the personal touch and common courtesy to people in danger of receiving a notice of violation, which he said are used to achieve compliance. As such, he will frequently call a project manager before issuing one to see if the matter can be easily resolved.
“Sometimes you call somebody and they’re like, ‘Oh, Ron, I didn’t realize that; I’m sorry, I’ll take care of it right away,’” Barbarulo said. “If I get ignored or stuff like that, then I will send a notice of violation.”
During the lengthy interview in his office, Barbarulo recalled numerous interactions with the town’s colorful characters in which he helped defuse potentially ugly situations or stepped in to help move projects along.
“This is stuff I deal with on a regular basis,” he says with a chuckle. “And that’s why guys in other towns say to me, ‘We don’t deal with any of that stuff.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, well, welcome to my world. As we call it here, Wayne’s World.’”
Mike Flenniken is a staff writer, Marketing and Communications, for IAPMO. Prior to joining IAPMO in 2010, Flenniken worked in public relations for a group of Southern California hospitals and as a journalist in writing and editing capacities for various Southern California daily newspapers.
Last modified: September 3, 2024