Plannng Board

City of Trenton Planning Board Conference and Public Hearing Thursday, April 14, 2022 Via Microsoft Teams or phone: 609-436-9298 The Conference ID is 412 046 968# Members in Attendance: Dan Fatton, Chair John McBride, Vice Chair Randy Baum Jamie Carpenter Markus Green Patricia Ni’ma-Mohammed Charles Romanow Anthony Santora Members Not in Attendance: Jeff Halpern Joe Harrison Wanda Swiggett Staff in Attendance: Stephani Register, Principal Planner Tom Hall, (Substitute) Planning Board Attorney Cherry Oakley, Planning Board Secretary PUBLIC HEARING Current Planning Board Membership (as of 4/14/22) Class Term Ending Date Board Member I (Mayor’s Representative) Mayor’s Term Markus Green II (City Employee) 12/31/22 Anthony Santora III (City Council 12/31/22 Joe Harrison Representative) IV (City Resident) 12/31/22 Patricia Ni’ma- Mohammed IV (City Resident) 12/31/23 Randy Baum IV (City Resident) 12/31/25 Jeff Halpern IV (City Resident) 12/31/23 Dan Fatton IV (City Resident) 12/31/25 Jamie Carpenter IV (City Resident) 12/31/22 John McBride ALTERNATES IV (City Resident) 12/31/23 Wanda Swiggett IV (City Resident) 12/31/22 Charles Romanow 1 A quorum was verified and the meeting was called to order at 6:08pm by Mr. McBride. Approval of the minutes from the 3/24/22 Public Hearing. Member Aye Nay Ab-stain Motioned Seconded Dan Fatton, Chair X X John McBride, Vice Chair X Randy Baum X Jamie Carpenter X Markus Green X X Patricia Ni’ma-Mohammed X Charles Romanow X Anthony Santora X Item #1 21-P-1002H: 1002 Hamilton Avenue – TRENTON NJ The Applicant seeks preliminary and final site plan and bulk variance approvals in connection with the comer property having frontage on Hamilton Avenue, Ardmore Avenue, and Cunningham Alley, commonly known as 1002 Hamilton Avenue. The Applicant is proposing to build a two-story mixed-use building consisting of two open space commercial units on the ground floor with three apartments on the second floor, as well as associated improvements including parking (5 spaces), landscaping, etc. The two commercial units will consist of one 1,478 SF unit and one 1,325 SF unit. The three residential units will consist of a one-bedroom 745 SF unit, a two-bedroom 780 SF unit, and a two-bedroom 850 SQ unit. The site is located in a Business B zoning district, Location is 1002 Hamilton Avenue; City Tax Map: Block(s) 29410, Lot(s) 7; Applicant: A & X Creative Solutions, LLC Carry this matter to the Thursday, May 26, 2022 at 6pm on this platform Member Aye Nay Ab-stain Motioned Seconded Dan Fatton, Chair X X John McBride, Vice Chair X X Randy Baum X Jamie Carpenter X Markus Green X Patricia Ni’ma-Mohammed X Charles Romanow X Anthony Santora X Mr. Kolber announced that yesterday was the kick-off for the City’s Resiliency Plan, for which the City will receive technical assistance from the consultants BRS, WRT, Regional Planning Association, Rutgers Cooperative Alliance, Princeton Hydrogrow, and NJ 2 Futures. As funds will not be flowing through the City this does not have to go through City Council. There is a community engagement phase required as part of this process. There will be a formal Resiliency Plan drafted by the aforementioned consultants once the process is completed. Specific to the creation of the Board’s Capital Improvement Plan for the City there was an RFP released in January that was re-released in February because there were no responses to the original release. For the February release there was one respondent. There was a sub-committee created under the Planning Board to review the proposal(s) for the City’s Capital Improvement Plan. As there are no other proposals to compare the score against the subcommittee members spoke to the confidence score of the firm that did apply and the proposal they submitted. Those subcommittee members indicated that the respondent did not present any evidence that they have experience creating a Capital Improvement Plan but they do have extensive planning experience and redevelopment experience. Move forward with the sole respondent Member Aye Nay Ab-stain Motioned Seconded Dan Fatton, Chair X John McBride, Vice Chair X Randy Baum X Jamie Carpenter X Markus Green X X Patricia Ni’ma-Mohammed X X Charles Romanow X Anthony Santora X The RFP will be released again as a result of the vote. Item #1 21-P-418HU: 418 Hudson Street- TRENTON NJ The Applicant seeks to repurpose to bring the property to full compliance with the Zone Plan. The proposal is to develop a mix-use project inclusive to a dine-in restaurant on the first floor with twenty-four (24) seats and 2 two-bedroom apartments on each of the 2nd and 3rd floors. And the applicant is seeking the same bulk variances for pre-existing conditions as were granted to the former owners, which was to propose to renovate the existing building for commercial, a play area for children on the first floor and a single residential unit on each of the second and third floors. This use was approved by the Zoning Board Adjustments dated November 16, 2016. The current Applicant is seeking a bulk/ parking variance and waiver of site plan. The Site is in the Business B Zoning District; Location 418 Hudson Street; City Tax Map: Block(s) 15501, Lot(s) 23; Applicant: 418 Hudson St., LLC contact person) Rober Rubiano, PO Box 495 Englishtown, NJ 07726 represented by Jeffrey Hall Esq./Szaferman, & Lakind law Offices, 101 Grovers Mill Road, suite 200, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648. 3 Mr. Hall introduced the project. Mr. Robert Rubiano (owner) and Mr. Todd Geter, from Todd Geter Architect, were sworn in. Frontage, Rear Yard, Minimum lot size, and maximum lot coverage are all pre-existing conditions but do not meet the ordinances so the Applicant is seeking variances for those conditions. The Survey dated 3/21/21 was marked as Exhibit A-1. There is 1.5 parking spaces required for this application and there are 6 total provided where 8 spaces are required. Mr. Geter and Mr. Rubiano provided the history of the property and the reasoning for the change of use to the permitted use. Exhibit A-2 Site Plan dated 10/11/2021 highlighted the Alterations and Change of Use for this project. This exhibit also had photographs of the building and Mr. Geter noted that there will be no changes to the exterior of the building. Exhibit A-3 Site Plan that shows the floor plans for each level, which included the restaurant and the 2-bedroom apartments. There will be 1 tree on the Mott St. side and there is an opportunity to plant 2 more. There is not really enough room to plant a tree on the Hudson St. side. There is basement access on the Mott St. side and that might be a place to store bicycles, however the basement is intended to be available to the restaurant. There is also a place on the loading dock to store bikes on the exterior and the Applicant will work with the Planning Staff to find a suitable location to comply with the comment in the memo. The restaurant hours are planned for approximately 7am – 9pm or 10pm. There is a restaurant across the street that is open for 6am – 5pm, which leaves the dinner customers unserved, which is the reason for the later hours. The Board asked for a 3rd tree to be added to the Hudson St. frontage and the Applicant agreed to provide an additional tree. Ms. Register, Principal Planner, was sworn in to confirm that there would be a hood for the restaurant’s kitchen. She also confirmed that a minimum apartment size, as per the ordinance, is 500 sf. Mr. McBride asked if there was anyone from the Public who wanted to speak for or against this project. With no answer from the gallery the following vote was set forth: Approve application with variances/waivers sought inclusive of all conditions for 21-P- 418HU: 418 Hudson Street- TRENTON NJ Member Aye Nay Ab-stain Motioned Seconded Dan Fatton, Chair X John McBride, Vice Chair X Randy Baum X Jamie Carpenter X Markus Green X X Patricia Ni’ma-Mohammed X X Charles Romanow X Anthony Santora X 4 Item #3 Presentation: Perry Street Future The Perry Street Future planning effort defines strategic steps forward that identify jurisdictional control and project development actions to support the Capital Project Delivery process for both the City of Trenton and NJDOT to support advancement of preliminary concepts to engineering and design phases. Michael Baker International will present the final design to the Planning Board. Mr. Wilkerson indicated that the Perry Street Future project was completed 6-months prior to tonight presentation and was part of technical assistance provided by NJDOT to look at making pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements along the Perry Street corridor. The study started in 2019 right before the pandemic. Mr. Peter Kremer presented a summary briefing of the study. He noted that they were able to attend multiple outdoor events to present the information that was studied and gather information on the needs of the residents. The study sought to improve the safety and access of the Perry Street corridor and what was found was that it was hard to communicate to residents of Trenton how a road project can improve their quality of life because the last experience the community had with a road project did not result in a positive impact. Reportedly the community was looking for a roadway that would allow access to safe, active, and healthy lifestyles; support the viability of development; and provide safe access to parks, schools, and other community assets. Mr. Kremer noted that because this area has so much traffic funneling off of the highway, the street is negatively impacted. Reportedly the way the roadway was designed encourages aggressive and destructive behavior. The ramp dumps traffic right into the neighborhood. He noted people have to cross a highway interchange daily in order to get into school, which is rare in other communities. They have data that the interchange has multiple car crashes, 1 fatality, a high traffic volume unusual for neighborhood streets, and traffic frequently moving faster than 30 mph. Mr. Kremer indicated that the crash data was collected pre-COVID, thus it is good for ‘normal use’ planning purposes. Mr. Kremer noted that the students going to the 9th Grade Academy have to cross a major roadway while people are exiting the highway. Referencing a map with the corridor highlighted Mr. Kremer described what would be planned for that area to increase safety and insert bike lanes. Referencing a corridor map he showed where a bike lane could be inserted. The unused rail line could be converted to a bike path that would help students get to school without having to cross a highway. Perry Street currently is too narrow to put in more than shared bike lanes. On the eastern side of the corridor there could be additional shared lanes inserted to create safe passage for both pedestrians and cyclists. He showed a rendering of how it could be a destination and not just a pathway that could enhance the area. 5 He described the redesign options, such as widening out the islands, reconfiguring them, and increasing traffic regulation by putting down lines that are not currently there. For the exit ramp, this could slow traffic, reduce the speed of cars and trucks exiting off of the ramp, and increase safety in the area by reconfiguring the school access and traffic circulation. He noted that a lot of the improvements are low cost and can be done through partnership with multiple organizations that specialize in the recommendations made. Mr. Kremer indicated that it was built in the 1950s and likely met all the conditions at that time. That is why there is a ramp off of a ramp that exists there currently. The Board inquired as to who created the intersection and it was noted that it was believed NJDOT built this interchange. The Board confirmed that anything that gets designed to update that area will need to be approved by NJDOT. IT was also confirmed that NJDOT already approved what exists currently as this is still their right of way up to Perry Street. Mr. Kremer indicated that he did not believe that anyone went out of their way to “…do the worst things possible”, as the nature of the area was different and the traffic volumes were different 70 years ago. Mr. Wilkerson indicated that this area used to be highly industrial and likely the engineers were thinking about how to accommodate high truck volume. Mr. Kremer indicated that things that were present in the area 70 years ago are no longer there. Mr. Kolber noted that the school was only added in recent years and not an optimal choice for location. The homes that are west of Stockton Street pre-date the 1950s. The intersection directly across from the firehouse would not be able to function as a standard T-intersection because of the truck traffic. It would not allow an adequate turning radius for trucks. Additionally traffic would be backed up onto the freeway if it was turned into the standard T-intersection. For the Rail with Trail portion the amenities mentioned in the report would be either an amphitheater or a pocket park, which was envisioned after a presentation by Rutgers researchers. Mr. Wilkerson indicated that this report is meant to inform and provide guidance for the first phase of development for that area but it does not usurp the DOT development process that must be followed in order to create change to the current interchange. Mr. Kremer confirmed that if the City doesn’t have ownership or have the money further movement on this area is stymied which is why he suggests that the School District, who is responsible for the school related improvements, be the place that changes to the area begin. The Board confirmed that this report does not allow the City to proceed with fixing the intersection. The Board noted frustration with continuing to draft plans, and engage community members in processes that will not be able to be implemented without additional planning. The Board urged the Staff to focus on plans and processes that can 6 lead to implementation and tangible improvements for the residents we are asking to engage in these processes. Mr. Kremer indicated that the City could improve the parts of the street that they own when they begin a street paving project. Additionally, Mr. Kremer believed the City could present this report for the funding process for DOT’s Local Aid as it would probably “…play well” in the DOT’s local aid application process. Mr. Wilkerson noted that what this report does do is have DOT at the table talking about the future of this area, which will enable the City to move to the phase that does get to construction documents. Meeting Adjourned at 8:04pm Cherry Oakley, Planning Board Secretary 7