Planning Board

1 CITY OF UNION CITY HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY PLANNING BOARD : TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDED REGULAR MEETING : _________________: PROCEEDINGS Union City High School Gymnasium 2500 Kennedy Boulevard Union City, New Jersey Tuesday, June 15, 2021 Commencing at 6:10 p.m. M E M B E R S P R E S E N T: BRIAN P. STACK, Mayor CELIN VALDIVIA, Commissioner YDALIA GENAO, Mayor’s Designee ALICIA MOREJON FRANKLIN MEDINA JOSE GUARENO, Alternate No. 1 ALEJANDRO VELAZQUEZ, Vice Chairperson DIANE CAPIZZI, Chairperson M E M B E R S A B S E N T: CAROLINA FERNANDEZ JEANNE KOEHLER HECTOR OSEGUERA, JR., Alternate No. 2 A L S O P R E S E N T: CARLOS VALLEJO, Secretary to the Board BRIAN M. CHEWCASKIE, ESQ., Attorney for the Board DAVID SPATZ, Consultant, Community Housing & Planning Associates, Inc.  2 A P P E A R A N C E S: BIANCA P. PEREIRAS, ESQ., Attorney for Applicant, 616 16th Street, LLC BIANCA P. PEREIRAS, ESQ., Attorney for Applicant, 519 15th Street, LLC BIANCA P. PEREIRAS, ESQ., Attorney for Applicant, 309 10th Street, LLC BIANCA P. PEREIRAS, ESQ., Attorney for Applicant, 208 18th Street, LLC BIANCA P. PEREIRAS, ESQ., Attorney for Applicant, 1224 Central Ave Investments, LLC  3 I N D E X PAGE CALL TO ORDER 8 SALUTE TO FLAG 9 ROLL CALL 9 ADOPTION OF MINUTES 11/28 HEARINGS/APPLICATION 616 16th Street, LLC 13/17 519 15th Street, LLC 13/31 309 10th Street, LLC 13/41 208 18th Street, LLC 13/58 1224 Central Ave Investments, LLC 63 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS 79/81 ADJOURNMENT 83  4 I N D E X 616 16TH Street, LLC 616 16th Street WITNESS PAGE Manuel Pereiras 17 E X H I B I T S NO. DOCUMENT PAGE A-1 Revised Drawing, Dated 5/27/21 18  5 I N D E X 519 15th Street, LLC 519 15th Street WITNESS PAGE Manuel Pereiras 31 E X H I B I T S NO. DOCUMENT PAGE A-1 Revised Drawing, Dated 5/27/21 37  6 I N D E X 309 10th Street, LLC 309 10th Street PAGE MOTION TO RECONSIDER 42 WITNESS Manuel Pereiras 44 E X H I B I T S No. PAGE A-1 Revised Drawing, Dated 5-27-21 (Pre-marked) 43  7 I N D E X 1224 Central Ave Investments, LLC 1224 Central Avenue WITNESS PAGE Manuel Pereiras 64 E X H I B I T S NO. DOCUMENT PAGE A-1 Plans, Dated 2/21/21 (2 sheets) 71  8 1 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 2 We could being. 3 THE SECRETARY: You ready? 4 MAYOR STACK: I’m ready. 5 THE SECRETARY: May I have your attention? 6 Please take notice that on Tuesday, June 7 15, 2021, at six p.m., a Regular Meeting is 8 scheduled for the City of Union City Planning 9 Board to be held in the Union City High School, 10 located at 2500 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Union 11 City, New Jersey. 12 This meeting is called in compliance with 13 the Chapter 231, Public Law 1975 of the Open 14 Public Meeting Act. 15 Adequate notice of this meeting has been 16 provided as follow: 17 Notice of this meeting, setting forth the 18 time, the date, location, to the agenda, to the 19 extent known, was forwarded to The Jersey 20 Journal, The Record, and The Hudson Reporter, has 21 been posted on the bulletin board in City Hall, 22 and has been made available to the public in the 23 Office of the Municipal Clerk. 24 Before we call roll for tonight’s meeting, 25 can everybody kindly rise to salute the flag.  9 1 2 (Whereupon, the Pledge of Allegiance was 3 said by all.) 4 5 THE SECRETARY: Thank you. 6 7 ROLL CALL: 8 9 THE SECRETARY: Roll call for tonight’s 10 meeting. 11 Mayor Brian P. Stack? 12 MAYOR STACK: Here. 13 THE SECRETARY: Miss Capizzi? 14 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Here. 15 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 16 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Here. 17 THE SECRETARY: Commissioner Valdivia? 18 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Here. 19 THE SECRETARY: Miss Genao? 20 MS. GENAO: Yes. 21 THE SECRETARY: Miss Koehler is absent. 22 Miss Morejon? 23 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 24 THE SECRETARY: Miss Fernandez is absent. 25 Mr. Medina?  10 1 MR. MEDINA: Here. 2 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Guareno? 3 MR. GUARENO: Here. 4 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Oseguera is absent. 5 Four, five, six, seven -- 6 Let the record indicate that eight present. 7 We have a full quorum for tonight’s 8 meeting. 9 * * * 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  11 1 ADOPTION OF MINUTES: 2 3 ( 1) Special and Regular Regular Meeting held on 4 May 17 and May 25, 2021 5 6 THE SECRETARY: Adoption of Minutes. 7 Special and Regular Meeting held on May 17 8 and May 25th, 20-- 9 Can I have -- 10 -- 21. 11 Can I have a motion? 12 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a 13 motion. 14 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Make a -- 15 THE SECRETARY: Motion -- 16 MS. MOREJON: Second. 17 THE SECRETARY: -- by Mr. Velazquez. 18 MS. MOREJON: Second. 19 MAYOR STACK: Second. 20 MS. MOREJON: Second the Mayor. 21 THE SECRETARY: Seconded by Miss Genao. 22 No. 23 By Miss Capizzi. 24 I’m sorry. 25 Roll call on the motion.  12 1 Miss Capizzi? 2 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 3 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 4 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 5 THE SECRETARY: Commissioner Valdivia? 6 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 7 THE SECRETARY: Miss Genao? 8 MS. GENAO: Yes. 9 THE SECRETARY: Miss Morejon? 10 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 11 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Guareno? 12 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 13 THE SECRETARY: Six in favor. 14 Motion carries. 15 * * * 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  13 1 616 16th Street, LLC - 616 16th Street; 2 519 15th Street, LLC - 519 15th Street; 3 309 10th Street, LLC - 309 10th Street; and 4 208 18th Street, LLC. - 208 18th Street: 5 6 THE SECRETARY: Hearings and applications. 7 616 16th Street. 8 Miss Pereiras, please? 9 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you, Mr. Vallejo. 10 MR. CHEWCASKIE: I think, Miss Pereiras, 11 before you -- you begin, maybe that Mr. Spatz and 12 I could outline what -- what has occurred. 13 The three (sic) matters that are listed 14 tonight, basically, have been before the Board; 15 they’ve been carried. It was recommended that 16 there be some changes to the drawings; that they 17 -- that these applications undergo a technical 18 review. 19 That technical review meeting was conducted 20 by Zoom, by Mr. Spatz, myself, Miss Pereiras, and 21 Mr. Pereiras, the architect. 22 As a result of those meetings there is, 23 what I would call, aesthetic changes to these 24 applications, which are more in line, which what 25 Mr. Spatz and I perceive the Board was looking  14 1 for with regard to the application. 2 So we’ve already heard testimony on all 3 three of them; the third one on 10 th Street, we’ll 4 have to do something a little different. 5 But, you know, for the Board members’ 6 edification, the location, the footprint, and the 7 like of these structures hasn’t changed. But 8 there were some physical changes and aesthetic 9 changes that I believe we will be discussing this 10 evening. 11 This -- these were carried from the last 12 meeting, so we’re certainly ready to proceed. I 13 just wanted to let the Board know what occurred. 14 I believe it was the last week of May, 15 Dave, that we conducted that technical review. 16 Revised renderings were provided with the plan 17 set, so that the Board gets a -- a flavor what is 18 occurring. 19 So, you know, what I’d like to do is I -- I 20 don’t really want to start new hearings but I 21 will probably mark the drawings as -- as A-1 at 22 this hearing, the complete set for each set, so 23 we know what we’re referring to when we have a 24 resolution, since it’s gone through several 25 iterations.  15 1 So, -- 2 MR. SPATZ: Right. 3 If I could just add -- 4 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- with your permission -- 5 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Okay. 6 MR. SPATZ: -- one more thing to that? 7 Yes, we did have the meeting. 8 You’ll see that the renderings have been 9 modified to sort of better fit in with the 10 neighborhood as was the Board’s concern. 11 In addition, the rear yards were increased 12 in the three projects to create a -- a bigger 13 backyard. 14 The front yards, in -- in certain cases 15 were adjusted to sort of fit in better with the 16 streetscape in the area. 17 This -- this caused the loss of one parking space 18 within the garage because the building itself 19 became smaller. 20 However, I think the tradeoff in terms of 21 greater open space in the rear yard, front yards 22 that match it better. 23 I think that is a tradeoff that, you know, 24 I think the Board should consider. 25 We did do new reviews for those three  16 1 projects and I know Carlos is -- will pass those 2 out with each of the cases. 3 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you, counsel. 4 Thank you, Mr. Spatz. 5 * * * 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  17 1 616 16th Street, LLC – 2 616 16th Street: 3 4 MS. PEREIRAS: Good evening Mayor, Madam 5 Chair, members of the Board. 6 May it please the Board, Bianca Pereiras, 7 on behalf of the applicants. 8 That was summed up beautifully. This 9 application has gone through several 10 modifications. We originally came in with a 11 variance-free application to construct a three 12 family. 13 We’re very thankful to this Board for the 14 dialogue that we’ve had, for the suggestions, for 15 the thoroughness of Mr. Chewcaskie and Mr. Spatz, 16 in their recommendations. 17 And, as mentioned, we believe that the 18 sacrifice of losing that one spot allows us to 19 really beautify this building so that it is more 20 reflective of this beautiful community. 21 Without further ado, let’s call up our 22 architect, Mr. Manuel Pereiras. 23 MS. DILLON: Please raise your right hand. 24 Do you affirm the testimony you’re about to 25 give this Board is the whole truth?  18 1 MR. PEREIRAS: I do. 2 MS. DILLON: Please state your name for the 3 record. 4 MR. PEREIRAS: Manny Pereiras, P-E-R-E-I-R- 5 A-S, with Pereiras Architects Ubiquitous, 1116 6 Summit Avenue, Union City. 7 MS. DILLON: Thank you. 8 MS. PEREIRAS: Mr. Pereiras, if you could 9 kindly mark this drawing as A-1. 10 MR. PEREIRAS: I’d be happy to. 11 For purposes of the record, I am marking 12 the top right hand corner as A-1 with today’s 13 date. 14 MS. DILLON: And what is the last revision 15 date? 16 MR. PEREIRAS: The latest revision date is 17 5/27/21. 18 MS. DILLON: Thank you. 19 20 (Whereupon, Revised Drawing, Dated 5/27/21, 21 were received and marked as Exhibit A-1.) 22 23 MS. PEREIRAS: And Mr. Pereiras, would you 24 kindly describe the modifications for the Board? 25 MR. PEREIRAS: I’d be very happy to.  19 1 In essence, what we did was really make 2 this building fit the neighborhood well. 3 We -- we had the liberties to do that and I 4 appreciate that from the Board. 5 We -- in this particular situation, we 6 pushed the building back greater than the ten 7 foot front yard setback, to about 14 feet. 8 And let me just turn to the site plan. I 9 think it’s easier to describe on the site -- 10 MAYOR STACK: Manny, just a quick question. 11 MR. PEREIRAS: Sure. 12 MAYOR STACK: Does the building now line up 13 with the other ones? 14 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah, so -- 15 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 16 MR. PEREIRAS: -- the -- the front of our 17 bay lines up with the front bay of the other 18 buildings. So all that lines up. 19 And then when you step back, our building’s 20 just about a foot over. They’re not the same, 21 the two houses. So I couldn’t line them up with 22 both of them. But what I did is line up the 23 front bay of both houses. 24 And the front of the porch, this porch, 25 lines up with the adjacent house perfectly as  20 1 well. 2 So, in essence, that’s what we did. But in 3 so doing and setting the building back, the 4 stairwell had to move back; therefore, I lost 5 that parking space. So we’re only having five 6 parking spaces in this building. 7 And, as Mr. Spatz pointed out, we were able 8 to increase the -- the rear yard. There’s a 9 sacrifice in plan. The third bedroom became a 10 lot smaller but we were able to provide that rear 11 yard, which I think is very important, and create 12 a grass area in that portion. 13 Can you hear me? 14 MS. DILLON: I can but can you angle it my 15 way? 16 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah. 17 MAYOR STACK: How -- how large is the rear 18 yard? 19 MR. PEREIRAS: What was that? 20 MAYOR STACK: How large is the rear yard? 21 MR. PEREIRAS: It’s -- in this one it is 22 ten feet. 23 MAYOR STACK: Good. 24 MR. PEREIRAS: Yes, ten feet. 25 MAYOR STACK: Good.  21 1 MR. PEREIRAS: Technical difficulties here. 2 It’s a ten foot rear yard. 3 And the sacrifice that we have in the 4 floorplan, I mean everything becomes smaller, 5 significantly smaller. But we made one bedroom a 6 lot smaller, which is ten foot, 11 -- 11 foot 7 eight by ten feet. 8 And then the living room space also became 9 smaller, yet it’s very -- it’s still a good size 10 living room, good size bedroom. 11 And as you could see in the parking layout, 12 we have room for five cars; the fifth car being a 13 compact car. But it works. 14 MAYOR STACK: At -- at least though the 15 master bedroom is big. You know, if the other 16 bedroom is 16 by -- what is it, 16-nine by 11 is 17 not bad. 18 Just one smaller bedroom. 19 MR. PEREIRAS: It’s a beautiful apartment. 20 MAYOR STACK: Yeah, it is. 21 MR. PEREIRAS: It’s going to be very nice. 22 MAYOR STACK: What’s the square footage of 23 that one unit? 24 MR. PEREIRAS: Normally, -- 25 Huh, I don’t have it on the plan.  22 1 MAYOR STACK: And -- and each unit has two 2 stair -- access to two staircases? 3 MR. PEREIRAS: That’s correct. 4 MAYOR STACK: That’s good. 5 MR. PEREIRAS: Each unit has access to 6 stairwells, -- 7 MAYOR STACK: Very good. 8 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yup. 9 MR. PEREIRAS: -- front and back. 10 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Very nice. 11 MAYOR STACK: Very good. 12 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Very nice. 13 MR. CHEWCASKIE: So what we’ll do, Miss 14 Pereiras is, as I indicated, the plan set, which 15 was revised through May 27th, consisting of the 16 five sheets, will be marked as A-1. 17 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Um-hum. 18 MR. CHEWCASKIE: And just one question, 19 while I guess I’m still talking. 20 The rear yard is landscaped. 21 Right, Mr. Pereiras? 22 MR. PEREIRAS: So, the majority of it is 23 landscaped. And I’ll explain why. 24 This rear staircase leads out to the rear 25 yard and that has to be by Code a hard pavement.  23 1 So the first three feet of that rear yard is a 2 sidewalk and curb and then the rest of it is 3 grass. 4 MAYOR STACK: And you’ll do planting back 5 there? 6 Whether it be like a smaller tree or 7 something like that? 8 MR. PEREIRAS: It -- we could do that. 9 Yes. 10 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 11 Very good. 12 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Beautiful. It is, 13 it’s beautiful. 14 MAYOR STACK: Where -- where is the -- 15 where is the area, Manny, in the building where 16 the people will actually keep the garbage? 17 Where is that? 18 Because that’s -- that’s become an issue 19 over time. Not only with newer homes but older 20 homes in the City. 21 We’re trying to get them -- and, actually, 22 I was speaking to a longtime resident the other 23 day, trying to get people to get it out of their 24 front yard -- 25 MR. PEREIRAS: Yup.  24 1 MAYOR STACK: -- and move it. Whether it 2 be inside or whether it be in the rear of the 3 house or whatever. 4 MR. PEREIRAS: We always take that into 5 consideration. 6 We’re taking advantage of the space 7 underneath that rear stairwell -- 8 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Um-hum. 9 MAYOR STACK: Okay, good. 10 MR. PEREIRAS: -- and we’re creating a room 11 there. So we provided double doors -- 12 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Mmm. 13 MR. PEREIRAS: -- and area for garbage 14 there, -- 15 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Mmm. 16 MAYOR STACK: That’s a good -- 17 MR. PEREIRAS: -- which should suffice. 18 MAYOR STACK: -- that’s a good place for 19 it. 20 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Um-hum. 21 MAYOR STACK: I -- I just want to thank you 22 for -- 23 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yup. 24 MAYOR STACK: -- taking the Board’s 25 recommendations --  25 1 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 2 MAYOR STACK: -- and -- and modifying this. 3 It actually looks a lot better, too. 4 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 5 MR. PEREIRAS: I hope so. 6 MAYOR STACK: Yeah. 7 No, it does. It definitely does. Looks a 8 lot better. 9 MR. PEREIRAS: Thank you. 10 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 11 I like the detail. And I -- 12 MAYOR STACK: Yeah, I agree. 13 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: -- thank you as well. 14 Because I know that -- 15 MAYOR STACK: And it blends nice with -- 16 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: -- it was a lot of 17 work -- 18 MAYOR STACK: -- the block -- 19 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: It does. 20 MAYOR STACK: -- what’s on the block. 21 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: It’s beautiful. 22 MR. PEREIRAS: Thank you. 23 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: It’s beautiful. 24 MR. PEREIRAS: I -- I really love the 25 opportunity to be able to do this and I think  26 1 this dialogue has been -- 2 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yup. 3 MR. PEREIRAS: -- fantastic. I hope every 4 project could be like this. 5 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I like the 3D 6 imaging on those plans now. They pop up. 7 MAYOR STACK: If approved, this will be one 8 of the last three families approved in the City. 9 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Hmm. 10 MAYOR STACK: Any -- any Board member have 11 any questions at this time? 12 Any member of the public have any questions 13 at this time on 616 16th Street? 14 They take a motion at this time? 15 MR. CHEWCASKIE: It would be appropriate, 16 Mayor. 17 MAYOR STACK: I’ll make a motion to 18 approve. 19 Again, I appreciate listening to the Board, 20 Manny, and coming back with a -- a much better 21 project. 22 We appreciate it on both of your parts. 23 Thank you very much. 24 I’ll make a motion. 25 THE SECRETARY: Motion on the table to  27 1 approve the application by Mayor Stack. 2 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Second. 3 THE SECRETARY: Seconded by Miss Capizzi. 4 Roll call on the motion to approve this 5 application. 6 Mayor Stack? 7 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 8 THE SECRETARY: Miss Capizzi? 9 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 10 THE SECRETARY: Commissioner Valdivia? 11 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 12 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 13 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 14 THE SECRETARY: Miss Genao? 15 No, I’m sorry. 16 Miss Morejon? 17 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 18 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Medina? 19 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 20 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Guareno? 21 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 22 THE SECRETARY: Seven in favor. 23 Motion carries. 24 Thank you. 25 * * *  28 1 ADOPTION OF MINUTES: 2 3 ( 1) Special and Regular Meeting Held on May 17 4 and May 25, 2021 5 6 MAYOR STACK: Also, Mr. Vallejo. 7 I -- I think I may have made a mistake 8 before. 9 On the -- on the minutes, one of those 10 meetings I wasn’t present. 11 So I could note vote. 12 I need to abstain on the minutes of the 13 meetings. 14 THE SECRETARY: You want to recall? 15 MR. CHEWCASKIE: I don’t believe you were 16 here on May 25th. 17 MAYOR STACK: No. 18 MR. CHEWCASKIE: I wasn’t here. I think 19 both of us were not -- 20 MAYOR STACK: Right. The 25th I -- 21 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Yeah. 22 MAYOR STACK: -- wasn’t here. 23 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: The Special Meeting? 24 MAYOR STACK: The 17th I was, I believe. 25 MR. CHEWCASKIE: No, the --  29 1 MAYOR STACK: Right? 2 THE SECRETARY: On the -- 3 MAYOR STACK: On the 17th I was. 4 MR. CHEWCASKIE: The -- 5 THE SECRETARY: Okay, you -- you was -- 6 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- you were here the 7 17th, -- 8 THE SECRETARY: -- was absent -- 9 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 10 THE SECRETARY: -- on the 17th. 11 MAYOR STACK: Right. 12 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- which was the Special 13 Meeting. 14 THE SECRETARY: That’s also -- 15 MR. CHEWCASKIE: But my notes -- 16 THE SECRETARY: Miss Morejon was absent. 17 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- reflect you were not 18 here -- 19 MAYOR STACK: Right. 20 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- on the 25th. 21 THE SECRETARY: That’s mean -- 22 MAYOR STACK: I’ll abstain. 23 THE SECRETARY: Also, Miss Morejon abstain 24 on the 17th. 25 That will be four in favor on the 17th.  30 1 And six in favor on the 25th. 2 MAYOR STACK: Thank you. 3 THE SECRETARY: Thank you, Mayor. 4 * * * 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  31 1 519 15th Street, LLC – 2 519 15th Street: 3 4 THE SECRETARY: Next application on 5 tonight’s agenda 519 15th Street. 6 Miss Pereiras, please? 7 MS. PEREIRAS: Again, Bianca Pereiras, on 8 behalf of the applicants. 9 This is similar to the last application 10 where we’ve gone through several revisions. 11 And, again, thanks to the contributions of 12 this Board, we believe that the most recent 13 modification is the most and best reflective of 14 this beautiful street, which is 15 th Street. 15 I’d like to have our architect present the 16 modifications. 17 Mr. Pereiras? 18 MR. PEREIRAS: I recognize I am still under 19 oath. 20 Still Manny Pereiras. 21 MS. PEREIRAS: Mr. Pereiras, if you could 22 please describe the changes to the Board? 23 MR. PEREIRAS: I’d be very happy to. 24 Again, and I’ve said this so many times 25 before, Union City is so diverse; every street is  32 1 very different in many ways. And this street we 2 were able to work with it as well and make the 3 building fit into the street. 4 We didn’t think that a front yard setback 5 was appropriate in this. We wanted to keep the 6 -- the prevailing setback. And so what we did is 7 we pushed the building forward to align with the 8 other buildings along the front yard. 9 And what we did is we kept kind of the -- 10 the height of the building of the adjacent 11 structures, creating the front of the building 12 two stories and then stepping back on the third 13 and fourth story. 14 This -- aesthetically very pleasing but 15 then again it creates the same problem where our 16 stairwell had to go further back, which we lose a 17 parking space here as well. 18 But a lot of benefits to that. 19 The aesthetics of the building and fitting 20 in with the streetscape and we’re increasing the 21 rear yard by bringing the building forward. 22 So in this particular place we thought it 23 was appropriate to create a 15 foot rear yard. 24 It works. It matches the side yards of the 25 neighbors, roughly. And being able to bring the  33 1 building forward, it gives us that opportunity. 2 So we have a 15 foot rear yard. And as you 3 could see the concrete that we do have for that 4 emergency stair, a lot smaller, so that we have a 5 lot more grass area in the back. We could 6 definitely put a tree there as well. 7 And our parking -- it sacrificed, with only 8 those five parking spaces. And, of course, the 9 apartment becomes a little bit smaller, yet it’s 10 still extremely functional. 11 The bedrooms, the smallest bedroom is 11 by 12 12 7. So it’s still a good size bedroom, a 13 perfect size bedroom for a family for a small -- 14 for a child. 15 That concludes my presentation. 16 I could go into a lot more detail but I 17 think the Board’s exhausted by that. 18 MAYOR STACK: Obviously, it will be brick 19 on the front and everything. 20 Right? 21 MR. PEREIRAS: Yes. 22 Absolutely. 23 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 24 I see that right in the picture. 25 MR. PEREIRAS: We specify that and the  34 1 Building Department’s very good at picking that 2 up and -- 3 MAYOR STACK: What -- what’s the height of 4 the building, Manny? 5 MR. PEREIRAS: It’s 45 feet. 6 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Mr. Pereiras, I understand 7 that since this building was pushed forward, we 8 have a larger rear yard. 9 Correct? 10 MR. PEREIRAS: Correct. We have a -- 11 MAYOR STACK: Yeah. 12 MR. PEREIRAS: -- 15 foot rear yard. So 13 it’s a nice rear yard. 14 MR. CHEWCASKIE: And the same question, 15 that’s going to be landscaped with some 16 plantings? 17 MR. PEREIRAS: Yup. 18 MR. CHEWCASKIE: And it’s also my 19 understanding that the step back is to take into 20 account, since I don’t have -- I’m not looking at 21 the drawings now, would -- between north, south, 22 east and west to the buildings on the right and 23 the left, where it pushes it back it’s consistent 24 -- 25 MR. PEREIRAS: That is correct.  35 1 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- with where the -- those 2 buildings are? 3 MR. PEREIRAS: That is correct. 4 MR. CHEWCASKIE: And, in fact, the building 5 to the right, as I’m looking at it, which would 6 be the one with the light pole in front, that is 7 actually forward of the step back that you’ve 8 proposed? 9 MR. PEREIRAS: That is correct. 10 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Okay. 11 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: They would 12 need to get in contact with PSE&G in regard to 13 that -- that pole in the front there, the light. 14 MR. PEREIRAS: We would. We’re -- we’re 15 going to have to shift it over about three feet. 16 MAYOR STACK: So this pretty much, Manny, 17 matches what the rest of the block is? 18 MR. PEREIRAS: It’s -- yes. 19 MAYOR STACK: Perfect. 20 MR. PEREIRAS: It works very well with the 21 block. 22 MAYOR STACK: Yeah. 23 MR. PEREIRAS: I think it matches it, not 24 just in the bulk dimensions, but also in 25 character.  36 1 MAYOR STACK: Right. 2 MR. PEREIRAS: Having the brick. The 3 detailing we use. The way we’re work-- making it 4 work. 5 The scale is right and the detailing is 6 right. It really works well with the 7 neighborhood. 8 MAYOR STACK: I agree. 9 MR. PEREIRAS: It’s going to be a beautiful 10 addition. 11 MAYOR STACK: And the worst thing is to 12 have everything else on the block and then one is 13 set back or one is forward and the rest is set 14 back. So this -- 15 MR. PEREIRAS: I agree -- 16 MAYOR STACK: -- matches. 17 MR. PEREIRAS: -- a hundred percent. 18 MAYOR STACK: Yeah. Yeah. 19 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah. When it’s set back it 20 looks like a missing tooth. 21 MAYOR STACK: I agree. 22 MR. PEREIRAS: When it’s set forward, it 23 pops out like a sore thumb. It’s -- it’s -- 24 MAYOR STACK: Agree. 25 MR. PEREIRAS: -- it’s great to be  37 1 consistent. 2 MAYOR STACK: Again, I know from the first 3 meeting back on the 17th, you’ve done a lot of 4 work on this and it’s definitely improved. 5 MR. CHEWCASKIE: And, just for the record, 6 these drawings will also be marked as A-1. 7 They’re October 20, revised through May 27 th, plan 8 set is five sheets. 9 10 (Whereupon, Revised Drawing, Dated 5/27/21, 11 were received and marked as Exhibit A-1.) 12 13 MAYOR STACK: Manny, when you look at -- 14 when you look at this property and you compare it 15 to the school that’s on the corner, is it about 16 the same height as the school? 17 MR. PEREIRAS: It’s -- I’d say the -- the 18 school would be right above that -- 19 MAYOR STACK: I see. 20 MR. PEREIRAS: -- the header -- 21 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 22 MR. PEREIRAS: -- of the window, -- 23 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 24 MR. PEREIRAS: -- that would be roughly the 25 same.  38 1 MAYOR STACK: Okay, I got it. 2 MR. PEREIRAS: And -- and the school -- I 3 mean the school feels like a lot taller. Because 4 when you’re going down Bergenline Avenue, -- 5 MAYOR STACK: Right. 6 MR. PEREIRAS: -- Bergenline’s dropping. 7 MAYOR STACK: Right. Right. 8 It slopes. 9 MR. PEREIRAS: So if you’re looking at the 10 back, it looks a lot taller. But if you compare 11 it on 15th Street, it’s going to be roughly around 12 like -- 13 MAYOR STACK: About the same. 14 MR. PEREIRAS: -- the top of the header. 15 Yeah. 16 MAYOR STACK: Any Board member have any 17 questions at this time? 18 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: No. 19 MAYOR STACK: Again, this is a big 20 improvement. And -- 21 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Very nice. 22 MAYOR STACK: -- thank you for working with 23 the Board on this. 24 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. Very nice. 25 MR. PEREIRAS: My pleasure.  39 1 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Very nice. 2 MAYOR STACK: Any members of the public 3 have any questions on this project at this time 4 at 519 15 Street? 5 I’ll make a motion to approve. 6 THE SECRETARY: Motion on the table to 7 approve the application by Mayor Stack. 8 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I’ll second. 9 THE SECRETARY: Seconded by Mr. Velazquez. 10 Roll call on the motion to approve this 11 application. 12 Mayor Stack? 13 MR. CHEWCASKIE: I don’t believe he heard 14 you. 15 Mayor, it’s the -- 16 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 17 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- roll call. 18 MAYOR STACK: I’m sorry. 19 THE SECRETARY: Thank you, Mayor. 20 Miss Capizzi? 21 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 22 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 23 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 24 THE SECRETARY: Commissioner Valdivia? 25 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes.  40 1 THE SECRETARY: Miss Morejon? 2 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 3 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Medina? 4 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 5 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Guareno? 6 MR. MEDINA: Guareno? 7 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 8 THE SECRETARY: Seven in favor. 9 Motion carries. 10 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you very much. 11 MAYOR STACK: Thank you very much. 12 * * * 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  41 1 309 10th Street, LLC – 2 309 10th Street: 3 4 MR. CHEWCASKIE: All right. 5 So, if you call the next case, I’ll -- I’ll 6 tee it up, Carlos. 7 MR. SPATZ: Call -- call the next one. 8 THE SECRETARY: Yeah. 9 MR. SPATZ: And he -- he’ll -- 10 THE SECRETARY: Next application on 11 tonight’s agenda, 309 10th Street. 12 MR. SPATZ: Okay. 13 He’ll -- because it’s a little different 14 process because -- 15 MR. CHEWCASKIE: All right. 16 MR. SPATZ: -- they have to -- 17 MR. CHEWCASKIE: So, this -- this was a 18 case where the Board took an action to deny the 19 application. 20 Prior to the Resolution being adopted, 21 there was a request for reconsideration. 22 As part of the technical review meeting, we 23 agreed to review the proposed drawing. So 24 there’s a two-step process here. 25 The first step is, is the Board willing to  42 1 reconsider its prior decision to review the 2 current drawing. 3 So, prior to any testimony on this, we 4 received a letter from Miss Pereiras outlining 5 the reasons behind it, that there really wasn’t 6 an opportunity to work with the Board based upon 7 the action that was taken. 8 I recommend that the Board can certainly 9 reconsider the application under the 10 circumstances. But before we get there, we would 11 need a motion to reconsider the application, 12 since there was an action by the Board but not 13 formally memorialized. 14 So, I don’t know how the Board feels but 15 certainly a motion would be appropriate and then 16 we can consider the application if that’s the 17 Board’s desire. 18 Thank you. 19 MAYOR STACK: Want a motion to reconsider? 20 MR. CHEWCASKIE: That is correct. 21 MAYOR STACK: Motion. 22 THE SECRETARY: Motion to reconsider the 23 application by Mayor Stack. 24 MS. MOREJON: Second. 25 Second.  43 1 THE SECRETARY: Second by Miss Morejon. 2 Roll call on the motion. 3 Mayor Stack? 4 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 5 THE SECRETARY: Miss Capizzi? 6 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 7 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 8 VICE CHAIRMAN VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 9 THE SECRETARY: Commissioner Valdivia? 10 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 11 THE SECRETARY: Miss Morejon? 12 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 13 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Medina? 14 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 15 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Guareno? 16 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 17 THE SECRETARY: Seven in favor. 18 Motion carries. 19 20 (Whereupon, Revised Drawing, Dated 5/27/21 21 were Pre-marked as Exhibit A-1.) 22 23 MR. CHEWCASKIE: All right. 24 So, now that the Board has indicated that 25 it would reconsider, we do have a new plan and  44 1 certainly, Miss Pereiras, you can proceed. 2 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you very much. 3 Thank you for the opportunity to present 4 this application again. 5 Also, thank you to -- for the suggestions 6 from this Board. 7 We think that the project that is before 8 you this evening is truly much more reflective of 9 the neighborhood and it’s a better design. 10 Again, we have a three family before the 11 Board. 12 And I’d like to provide the testimony of 13 our architect, Mr. Manuel Pereiras. 14 MR. PEREIRAS: Many Pereiras and I 15 recognize that I am still under oath. 16 MS. PEREIRAS: Mr. Pereiras, are you 17 familiar with the property at 309 10 th Street? 18 MR. PEREIRAS: I am. 19 MS. PEREIRAS: And did you prepare the 20 drawings that are before this evening? 21 MR. PEREIRAS: I have. 22 MS. PEREIRAS: And would you kindly walk us 23 through the application. 24 MR. PEREIRAS: I’d be very happy to. 25 Since this is a reconsideration, I’m going  45 1 to try to give a very brief overview testimony of 2 everything. 3 This is an interesting block; 10 th Street. 4 And -- and it’s particularly interesting because 5 we have a lot of new construction there and 6 there’s buildings of different scales. 7 So you have some extremely tall buildings 8 that are taller than our 45 feet proposal that we 9 have. You have buildings that have a lot of 10 decoration on them. There’s buildings -- it’s a 11 very strange block but it’s a very beautiful 12 block and it’s characterized -- I think one of 13 the prominent things are the three new three 14 families that we did across the street from it. 15 So, in our design we wanted to do something 16 that fits into the block well and matches it as 17 closely as we can to the bulk dimensions. 18 So, we kept a three story frontage and what 19 we did is we aligned the building with the rest 20 of the houses at seven feet. They’re all set 21 back at seven feet. And we created a front part 22 at three stories and then recessed the back part. 23 This does something that kind of reflects 24 what’s happening right across the street so that 25 there’s a direct relationship in scale. When  46 1 you’re coming down the street, they’re going to 2 feel very similar, as far as scale, and -- and -- 3 and it works well. 4 MAYOR STACK: I -- I was going to ask that. 5 Not to interrupt you. 6 That’s pretty much the same. 7 Right? 8 The same size right there. 9 Right? 10 If you looked at -- 11 MR. PEREIRAS: Pretty close to it. 12 MAYOR STACK: -- 308 -- 308 10th Street, -- 13 MR. PEREIRAS: It -- 14 MAYOR STACK: -- and then you looked at the 15 building that faces Palisade Avenue, 1001, -- 16 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah. 17 MAYOR STACK: -- it’s pretty much the same 18 height. 19 Right? 20 MR. PEREIRAS: Pretty much the same height. 21 MAYOR STACK: Yeah, I thought so. 22 MR. PEREIRAS: It’s very close. 23 And so by bringing the building forward a 24 couple feet, we also sacrificed and made the 25 building smaller so that we create a rear yard.  47 1 And what I did is a little bit interesting, 2 we made that first story an eight foot rear yard 3 setback. And then as you go up higher, it 4 becomes a ten foot setback. 5 Why? 6 I really wanted to give this Board a ten 7 foot setback but if we lost those two feet, we 8 lost another car. So I didn’t think it was worth 9 losing another car for those two feet. 10 So we have five cars in this design. And 11 it’s eight feet at the base. The majority of it, 12 more than 50 percent, being grass in the 13 backyard. 14 And then as you go up, it setbacks more so 15 you have a full ten feet of rear yard in -- in 16 this location. 17 MAYOR STACK: Manny, on this house -- on 18 this house, the -- this is 309 10th -- 10th 19 Street. The house next door would be 311. You 20 matched their -- their home or you match where 21 their front porch is where the building is. 22 MR. PEREIRAS: We match the front porch. 23 MAYOR STACK: The front porch. 24 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah. 25 MAYOR STACK: Because there’s like a small  48 1 front porch area, that when you come up that 2 house. 3 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah. We match that. 4 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 5 MR. PEREIRAS: That’s at seven feet. 6 The house to the -- to the -- 7 You said 310? 8 No, 3 -- 312? 9 MAYOR STACK: It would be 311. 10 MR. PEREIRAS: 311. 11 MAYOR STACK: So they have a small -- 12 When you walk up, they have a small front 13 steps that you walk up and then there’s a small 14 -- for lack of a better term, looked like a front 15 porch at one time. I don’t think it was ever 16 used as such. 17 MR. PEREIRAS: No. 18 But it’s enclosed. 19 Right? 20 MAYOR STACK: It’s -- yeah. 21 MR. PEREIRAS: I’m trying to think of it 22 right now. 23 MAYOR STACK: It -- no, it’s open. It’s 24 open. 25 MR. PEREIRAS: It’s open.  49 1 MAYOR STACK: It’s an open area. 2 That’s -- I was just wondering about that. 3 MR. PEREIRAS: I’m not a hundred percent 4 sure. 5 MAYOR STACK: And then the newer homes that 6 are built on the other side of the street, this 7 matches their height. 8 Right? 9 MR. PEREIRAS: Yes. 10 MAYOR STACK: Right. 11 The only concern that I have is this -- 12 this design is -- and I -- I like -- it’s much 13 improvement again from our first meeting that we 14 had. 15 But when you look at the house next door 16 I’m just concerned, does it match up with their 17 home or does it come past their home and match 18 the porch? 19 I’m just concerned about the front porch 20 being blocked. That they don’t walk out of their 21 house and see the side of this structure. 22 You’re only talking a couple feet if we had 23 to bring it back a little bit. 24 How big is the rear yard now you said? 25 MR. PEREIRAS: It’s eight feet at the base  50 1 and ten feet at the top. 2 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 3 MR. PEREIRAS: So, it’s hard to tell from 4 the photograph. It’s -- it looks like a really 5 small front -- 6 MAYOR STACK: It is. 7 MR. PEREIRAS: -- porch. 8 It’s kind of -- it’s only a foot off the 9 ground. 10 MAYOR STACK: Right. 11 MR. PEREIRAS: I actually didn’t even 12 notice it -- 13 MAYOR STACK: Right. 14 MR. PEREIRAS: -- until I’m looking at 15 this. 16 It’s hard to judge whether -- it looks like 17 I aligned it with the actual building itself and 18 not the front porch. Because that front porch 19 is -- 20 MAYOR STACK: That’s -- 21 MR. PEREIRAS: -- only about -- 22 MAYOR STACK: -- that’s the only thing I 23 would ask. And I think the Board members would 24 most likely agree. 25 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah.  51 1 MAYOR STACK: As long as the -- as long as 2 it’s matched up, -- 3 You might be talking about a foot or two. 4 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah. 5 MAYOR STACK: As long as it’s matched up 6 with the structure and not the front little porch 7 area. For lack of a better term. It’s not even 8 really a front porch. 9 MR. PEREIRAS: I feel 99 percent confident 10 that we’re -- 11 MAYOR STACK: Good. 12 MR. PEREIRAS: -- lining it up with the 13 building itself. 14 MAYOR STACK: Right. 15 MR. PEREIRAS: If I could approach you, -- 16 MAYOR STACK: Just line it up with the 17 building. 18 MR. PEREIRAS: -- I could -- I could 19 show -- 20 MAYOR STACK: Sure. 21 MR. PEREIRAS: -- what it looks like. 22 It looks like the front is -- that’s only 23 like two or three feet right there in the front 24 and then the porch starts. 25 And my setback is seven feet. So it looks  52 1 like I’m like lining it up with -- 2 MAYOR STACK: You see it right there? 3 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah. That’s the other 4 one further. 5 MAYOR STACK: Yeah. 6 MR. PEREIRAS: This is the neighbor. This 7 is the one we’re -- 8 MAYOR STACK: Yeah. Well this is Palisade 9 Avenue. 10 MR. PEREIRAS: Yup. 11 MAYOR STACK: This is the house that you’re 12 doing. 13 MR. PEREIRAS: Yup. Yup. 14 MAYOR STACK: Gongora’s (phonetic) old 15 house. 16 And this one right here -- 17 MR. PEREIRAS: Yup. 18 MAYOR STACK: Just as long as we’re 19 matching it to -- to this -- 20 MR. PEREIRAS: Yup. 21 MAYOR STACK: -- and not to the front 22 porch. 23 MR. PEREIRAS: I’m -- 24 MAYOR STACK: All right? 25 MR. PEREIRAS: -- pretty sure we are.  53 1 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 2 MR. PEREIRAS: And we could make that just 3 verified. 4 MAYOR STACK: Yeah. 5 There’s a small front porch area, Brian, in 6 the picture -- in the picture that Manny had just 7 showed me on his cell phone. 8 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Um-hum. 9 MAYOR STACK: As long as it’s to the 10 structure and it doesn’t come out to the porch 11 though. Because then you get that blocking feel 12 again. When you come out of the house, your 13 block -- the view of Palisade Avenue would be 14 blocked -- 15 MR. CHEWCASKIE: So the front. 16 MAYOR STACK: -- and you feel closed in. 17 MR. CHEWCASKIE: So the -- so just so I’m 18 saying it right, Mr. Pereiras, based upon what I 19 heard from the Mayor, the building will be set 20 back to match the existing building on the 21 easterly -- 22 MAYOR STACK: 311. 23 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- side. 24 MAYOR STACK: Because 3 -- 25 MR. CHEWCASKIE: 311.  54 1 MAYOR STACK: -- 915 Palisade is being 2 knocked down. They have an application in to 3 knock the structure down. Because they’re 4 building -- they’re building new houses on that 5 property. 6 MR. PEREIRAS: Um-hum. 7 MS. PEREIRAS: Okay. 8 MAYOR STACK: That’s what I’ve heard. 9 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah. I saw some activity 10 there this morning. 11 MAYOR STACK: Right. Right. 12 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Right. 13 So, that’s it. 14 That’s the easterly side. We’re going to 15 match the existing building and not the porch. 16 Got it. 17 MR. PEREIRAS: Okay. 18 MS. PEREIRAS: That’s fine. 19 MR. PEREIRAS: Okay. 20 MAYOR STACK: On the west side of the 21 structure. 22 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Correct. 23 MAYOR STACK: On the west side. Right. 24 Yeah, that was my only concern. Otherwise 25 it’s a major improvement.  55 1 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 2 MAYOR STACK: Any member of the Board have 3 any questions at this time? 4 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: No. 5 MAYOR STACK: Any member of the public have 6 any questions at 309 -- 7 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: No. 8 MAYOR STACK: -- 10th Street? 9 I knew the family that lived there for 10 many, many years. Gongora was their last name. 11 Many, many years. He used to volunteer in my 12 office. 13 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Hmm. 14 MAYOR STACK: Many, many years ago. 15 I’ll make a motion to approve. 16 THE SECRETARY: Motion to approve the 17 application by Mayor Stack. 18 MS. MOREJON: Second. 19 THE SECRETARY: Seconded by Miss Morejon. 20 Roll call on the motion to approve this 21 application. 22 Mayor Stack? 23 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 24 THE SECRETARY: Miss Capizzi? 25 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes.  56 1 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 2 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 3 THE SECRETARY: Commissioner Valdivia? 4 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 5 THE SECRETARY: Miss Morejon? 6 MS. MOREJON: Yes. Yes. 7 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Medina? 8 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 9 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Guareno? 10 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 11 THE SECRETARY: Seven in favor. 12 Motion carries. 13 MAYOR STACK: Let me tell you, the setback 14 on the top is really nice, -- 15 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Um-hum. 16 MAYOR STACK: -- with that little -- that 17 little area. And the window, if that’s carried 18 out and that window is put in with the second and 19 the third floor, that really -- 20 MR. PEREIRAS: Um-hum. 21 MAYOR STACK: -- looks nice. 22 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Beautiful. 23 MAYOR STACK: That will have a nice effect. 24 And that’s a nice block. A really -- 25 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Um-hum.  57 1 MAYOR STACK: -- nice block. 2 MR. PEREIRAS: Think so. 3 * * * 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  58 1 208 18th Street, LLC – 2 208 18th Street: 3 4 THE SECRETARY: Next application on 5 tonight’s agenda 208 18th Street. 6 Miss Pereiras, please? 7 MS. PEREIRAS: Bianca Pereiras, on behalf 8 of the applicants. 9 In regards to this application, a neighbor 10 reached out to us through his counsel and wanted 11 some additional time to review the drawings. 12 We have no objection, obviously. It’s 13 always been our position to work with our 14 neighbors. 15 So I have discussed with his attorney. 16 We’re going to set up a meeting prior to having a 17 formal meeting in front of this Board, so we can 18 discuss the application with them in an informal 19 setting. 20 So I’m respectfully requesting that this 21 matter be carried to the July meeting. 22 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Um-hum. 23 MR. CHEWCASKIE: It’s my -- 24 MAYOR STACK: And I -- 25 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- under--  59 1 MAYOR STACK: -- I think that’s a good -- 2 I’m sorry, Brian. 3 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Mmm. 4 MAYOR STACK: I think that’s a good idea. 5 I received a lot of calls in opposition to 6 this -- 7 MS. PEREIRAS: Okay. 8 MAYOR STACK: -- this project. 9 And I think if you work with the 10 neighbors, -- 11 You have people that have lived there for a 12 very long period of time. People who truly care 13 about the neighborhood, like most of Union City 14 do. 15 But if you could meet with them informally 16 and go over this project, it would be very 17 helpful to the Board. 18 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Right. 19 MS. PEREIRAS: We’re happy to do so. 20 MR. CHEWCASKIE: And my understanding, -- 21 MAYOR STACK: Absolutely. 22 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- you’re going to 23 re-notice, -- 24 MS. PEREIRAS: I will -- 25 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- Miss Pereiras?  60 1 MS. PEREIRAS: -- re-notice. 2 MR. CHEWCASKIE: And -- and who is the 3 attorney who’s representing the objector? 4 Do -- 5 MS. PEREIRAS: I don’t recall the name but 6 I’ll ask the neighbor who’s here. 7 A CITIZEN: His name is Jaime Placek. 8 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Okay. 9 A CITIZEN: P-L-A-C-E-K. 10 MR. CHEWCASKIE: I -- I know Jaime. 11 Thank you. 12 All right, so it would be appropriate for a 13 motion to carry this to the July meeting. 14 MAYOR STACK: Absolutely. 15 THE SECRETARY: July 27? 16 MR. SPATZ: Yes. 17 MAYOR STACK: What’s the date of that 18 meeting, Carlos? 19 THE SECRETARY: July 27. 20 MAYOR STACK: Okay, great. 21 And notice will be sent out again to the 22 area. 23 MS. PEREIRAS: I will re-notice. 24 MAYOR STACK: Great. 25 MS. PEREIRAS: Yes.  61 1 THE SECRETARY: Can I have a motion to -- 2 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: I’ll make a motion. 3 MAYOR STACK: Motion. 4 THE SECRETARY: Motion by Mayor Stack. 5 Seconded by Miss Capizzi. 6 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Um-hum. 7 THE SECRETARY: Roll call on the motion to 8 adjourn this application for July 27. 9 Mayor Stack? 10 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 11 THE SECRETARY: Miss Capizzi? 12 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 13 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 14 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 15 THE SECRETARY: Commissioner Valdivia? 16 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 17 THE SECRETARY: Miss Morejon? 18 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 19 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Medina? 20 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 21 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Guareno? 22 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 23 THE SECRETARY: Seven in favor. 24 Motion carries. 25 It require new notice.  62 1 Right? 2 MS. PEREIRAS: Yes. 3 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Um-hum. 4 * * * 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  63 1 1224 Central Ave Investments, LLC - 2 1224 Central Avenue: 3 4 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Thank you. 5 THE SECRETARY: Next application on 6 tonight’s agenda, 1224 Central Avenue. 7 Miss Pereiras please? 8 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you, Mr. Vallejo. 9 Bianca Pereiras, on behalf of the applicant 10 for 1224 Central Avenue, also known as Block 59, 11 Lot 13. 12 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Miss Pereiras did provide 13 me with her affidavit of service. I had the 14 opportunity to review the notice and the 15 publication; same is appropriate. 16 The Board has jurisdiction to hear this 17 case. 18 This is not part of the other trilogy. 19 This is a new case. 20 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Thank you. 21 MS. PEREIRAS: The application before the 22 Board this evening is to legalize a third floor 23 apartment in an existing building. 24 We have one expert to testify before the 25 Board and that is our architect, Mr. Manuel  64 1 Pereiras. 2 Mr. Pereiras, are you familiar with the 3 property -- 4 MR. PEREIRAS: Oh. Manny Pereiras. 5 I recognize I am still under oath. 6 MS. PEREIRAS: Are you familiar with the 7 property at 1224 Central Avenue? 8 MR. PEREIRAS: I am. 9 MS. PEREIRAS: And did you prepare the 10 drawings that are before the Board this evening? 11 MR. PEREIRAS: I have. 12 MS. PEREIRAS: And would you kindly 13 describe the proposal for the Board? 14 MR. PEREIRAS: I’d be very happy to. 15 This -- there’s a little bit of history to 16 this project. 17 I was retained by the applicant to prepare 18 construction documents for a renovation of the 19 first and second floor. 20 When we submitted for permits, he then 21 discovered that the -- there was an illegal 22 apartment on the third floor. This was like a 23 preexisting apartment. It looks like in the same 24 condition as the rest of the house. The house 25 itself was in really horrible condition. There  65 1 was a fire there. 2 And -- and we’re here before this Board 3 just to make sure everything’s clear and that 4 we’re legalizing that third unit in this house. 5 It’s -- like I said before, this is a 6 preexisting structure. The three apartments are 7 there. We’re not looking to make any 8 modifications to the exterior of the building. 9 And I’m just going to walk you through the 10 apartment so that you know what’s there. 11 First and foremost, there are three parking 12 spaces that are preexisting on the site. That’s 13 going to remain as well. 14 We have a series of existing 15 nonconformities, including side yard, front yard, 16 rear yard. 17 We have, of course, a parking variance that 18 we’re expanding because this new unit will not 19 have additional parking spaces. 20 And, let’s see, there’s nothing for 21 impervious. 22 And there is a preexisting nonconformance 23 for lot depth as well. So we need a variance for 24 lot depth, which is 70.47 feet; as opposed to the 25 100 feet that’s required.  66 1 The third floor apartment that you see here 2 to my -- on the righthand side of the drawing is 3 the same as the apartment below it. 4 You come up the stairs. It’s a large, open 5 kitchen/dining room space. And there are three 6 bedrooms located as such, with two bathrooms 7 within it. 8 One of the great positive criteria of 9 approving this project is that it’s going to meet 10 all Building Code standards. It is considered a 11 new apartment; therefore, it’s going to be 12 brought up to all Code standards. 13 This building is going to have to be 14 sprinklered. That does mean a new fire line that 15 they’re going to have to bring into -- into here. 16 And they’ll apply through all the process that 17 Union City has, a long process in order to get 18 that fire line and where they’re going to have to 19 repave the sidewalk and the -- the street 20 accordingly. 21 And they have to go through all the proper 22 conditions of Building Code, including fire-rated 23 separations between apartments, alarm systems, 24 and everything else that goes along with that. 25 MAYOR STACK: The one -- the one thing that  67 1 bothers me a lot about this -- about this 2 project, I have to tell you, is that he’s left 3 this property vacant, unattended when it snowed. 4 And this is not your problem or Bianca’s 5 problem. 6 But when it snowed, Alex can tell you, we 7 had to send people over there many times to 8 shovel the property. 9 MR. PEREIRAS: Hmm. 10 MAYOR STACK: And then, to top it all off, 11 he’s not even here tonight. 12 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah. 13 MAYOR STACK: He needs to come. He needs 14 to come before the Board. 15 MR. PEREIRAS: Okay. 16 MAYOR STACK: And he also needs to show us 17 what improvements he’s going to do on the 18 exterior of the building. 19 MR. PEREIRAS: Okay. 20 MAYOR STACK: Because that little balcony 21 at the top, that looks terrible. The -- the 22 vinyl siding on this building looks terrible. 23 The windows look terrible. The entrance, the way 24 it is, looks terrible. 25 And obviously the impression he’s given us,  68 1 is that he hasn’t cared about the property. 2 I was at the fire. It had to be ten years 3 ago. 4 MR. PEREIRAS: I think it’s a new owner. 5 This is a -- 6 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 7 I -- 8 MR. PEREIRAS: -- new applica-- 9 I’m not sure if the problems that you have 10 are -- are within the last few months but he 11 purchased this property -- 12 Bianca could tell you exactly when. 13 MS. PEREIRAS: My client purchased on July 14 9th, 2020. 15 MAYOR STACK: Oh. Okay. 16 MR. PEREIRAS: So, -- and -- and 17 immediately -- 18 MAYOR STACK: It was the previous -- 19 MR. PEREIRAS: -- when he purchased, -- 20 MAYOR STACK: -- owner then. 21 Yeah, I mean we’ve even reached out, I 22 guess it was the previous person, saying look, 23 what are you planning to do with this? Because 24 it’s a great location; why isn’t the building 25 being occupied?  69 1 MR. PEREIRAS: I believe it’s the previous 2 person. 3 The -- the applicant, right before closing, 4 he hired me. We prepared drawings very quickly. 5 He submitted to the Building Department. It took 6 a long time to figure out that we -- this unit 7 was illegal. 8 It’s very strange -- the records in the 9 Building Department were strange. Because there 10 was already the beginning of a sprinkler system 11 in this building, -- 12 MAYOR STACK: Wow. 13 MR. PEREIRAS: -- which was very odd. And 14 it was built in a strange way. 15 So we had to go through and try to find the 16 documents for that. 17 So, he -- he has been very diligent with 18 the Building Department. And as soon as they 19 made that realization that it wasn’t a legal 20 unit, we immediately submitted for approval, 21 which takes a -- a few months also. 22 So, he has been on top of it. I don’t know 23 how well it’s been kept during snow and other 24 aspects. 25 MAYOR STACK: No, he -- so he’s a newer  70 1 owner? 2 MR. PEREIRAS: He is a new owner. 3 MS. PEREIRAS: Yes. 4 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah. 5 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 6 Yeah, no, my comments were about the 7 previous owner. 8 MR. PEREIRAS: And I think what we could 9 do, subject to approval, is fix up this façade a 10 little bit, too. 11 I think it’s -- 12 MAYOR STACK: Yeah. 13 MR. PEREIRAS: -- it’s -- it will benefit 14 the owner if we could say that there’s some new 15 siding that’s going to go up and -- and an 16 aesthetic improvement. 17 And I could prepare an elevation for that 18 and -- and share it with our planner, David Spatz 19 and -- and -- for his review and subject to 20 approval and we’d be happy to do that. 21 MAYOR STACK: Thank you, Alex. 22 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Just for the record, we 23 have a plan set dated A-1 -- 24 I’m sorry. 25 -- marked A-1, dated February 21,  71 1 consisting of two sheets. 2 MR. PEREIRAS: Um-hum. 3 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Correct, Mr. Pereiras? 4 MS. PEREIRAS: Yes. 5 MR. PEREIRAS: That’s correct. 6 7 (Whereupon, Plans, Dated 2/21/21, were 8 received and marked as Exhibit A-1.) 9 10 MAYOR STACK: What -- what type of 11 improvements is he doing to the units? 12 What is he doing? 13 MR. PEREIRAS: He’s, basically, correcting 14 everything and bringing it up to Code. 15 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 16 MR. PEREIRAS: So everything that was 17 damaged for the fire, -- 18 And, unfortunately, he thought this was 19 going to be a lot easier than it really is. 20 When I walked through the space, the 21 previous owner did a lot of kind of atrocities 22 there. 23 MAYOR STACK: Yeah. 24 MR. PEREIRAS: He did a lot of things that 25 were structurally unsound that I directed him he  72 1 has to rip out and replace. 2 So there’s a lot of construction that he 3 has to do just to bring it up to Code standards. 4 MAYOR STACK: I got it. 5 MR. PEREIRAS: So it’s going to be a 6 significant improvement in this building. 7 The previous owner definitely was a -- did 8 things not correctly. 9 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 10 And you’ll do work to the outside of the 11 building to fix it up? 12 MR. PEREIRAS: We’ll be happy to do that, 13 yes. 14 MAYOR STACK: All right. 15 And change the front door. Maybe put some 16 type of a nice front door on the building. 17 MR. PEREIRAS: We -- we have -- that’s in 18 our plans already. We will -- 19 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 20 MR. PEREIRAS: -- be replacing the front 21 door. 22 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 23 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Can we just 24 make sure, please during the summer, -- 25 Because I know a poor soul once that had to  73 1 clean the back of that yard once when the weeds 2 were overgrowing -- 3 MR. PEREIRAS: Okay. 4 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: -- on the side 5 and everything. 6 MAYOR STACK: Maintain it, yeah. 7 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: We have to 8 have that maintained. 9 MAYOR STACK: Maintain it. 10 MS. PEREIRAS: I will let him know. 11 MAYOR STACK: And just -- Manny, also if we 12 could get this in the resolution, lighting in the 13 rear, lighting on the side, lighting in the 14 front, change the front door, do improvements to 15 the -- the -- the outside exterior of the 16 structure. 17 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Um-hum. 18 MR. PEREIRAS: We concede to that. I think 19 these are all things that he probably would have 20 done already and -- 21 MAYOR STACK: Good. 22 MR. PEREIRAS: -- with this construction. 23 MAYOR STACK: Good. 24 Otherwise, I’d just like to see it occupied 25 and people living there.  74 1 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Um-hum. 2 MS. PEREIRAS: Absolutely. 3 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah. 4 MAYOR STACK: It’s been a long time. 5 MR. PEREIRAS: It’s been a very long time. 6 MAYOR STACK: The fire may have been ten 7 years ago. Maybe a little longer. 8 MR. PEREIRAS: And that affects the entire 9 block. You know, -- 10 MAYOR STACK: It does. 11 MR. PEREIRAS: -- broken windows. 12 MAYOR STACK: It does. It’s an eyesore 13 right now. 14 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah. 15 MS. PEREIRAS: Um-hum. 16 MAYOR STACK: It’s a nice neighborhood. 17 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Um-hum. 18 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 19 Just with the items that I mentioned, 20 Brian, all right? 21 MR. CHEWCASKIE: I -- I have them and I’ll 22 restate them, Mayor. 23 MAYOR STACK: You want to make a motion, 24 you’ll restate them? 25 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Yeah. Yeah.  75 1 MAYOR STACK: Okay. 2 I’ll make a motion to approve. 3 THE SECRETARY: Can you open to the public 4 first, Mayor? 5 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Second. 6 THE SECRETARY: You open to the public 7 first, right? 8 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Oh. 9 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Oh, yeah. We need the -- 10 MAYOR STACK: Oh, I’m sorry. 11 Any member of the -- 12 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- we need the Board and 13 the public. 14 MAYOR STACK: -- public at this time -- 15 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yeah. 16 MAYOR STACK: -- that would like to comment 17 on this application, please step forward. 18 This would be at 1224 Central Avenue. And 19 this would be legalization of a third floor 20 apartment. 21 Any member of the Board that would like to 22 make comments at this time? 23 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: No. 24 MAYOR STACK: Again, any member of the 25 public that would like to make any comments?  76 1 Seeing none. 2 I’ll make a motion. 3 THE SECRETARY: Motion to approve the 4 application with the -- 5 MAYOR STACK: Thank you, Carlos. 6 THE SECRETARY: -- conditions by Mayor 7 Stack. 8 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Second. 9 THE SECRETARY: Seconded by Mr. Velazquez. 10 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Right. 11 Before the roll call, my understanding is 12 is that the application will be approved as 13 presented, subject to the conditions that there 14 will be exterior improvements to the façade, 15 including the siding and the balcony. 16 The front door will be replaced. 17 And there will be lighting provided on the 18 side and the front of the building. 19 Is that appropriate, Mayor? 20 MAYOR STACK: Yes, it is. 21 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Okay. 22 And -- all right, based upon that, -- 23 THE SECRETARY: Motion on -- 24 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- the roll call. 25 THE SECRETARY: -- the table to approve  77 1 this application by Mayor Stack. 2 Seconded by Mr. Velazquez. 3 Roll call on the motion. 4 Mayor Stack? 5 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 6 THE SECRETARY: Miss Capizzi? 7 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 8 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 9 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 10 THE SECRETARY: Commissioner Valdivia? 11 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 12 THE SECRETARY: Miss Morejon? 13 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 14 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Medina? 15 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 16 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Guareno? 17 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 18 THE SECRETARY: Seven in favor. 19 Motion carries. 20 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you all very much. 21 MAYOR STACK: Thank you very much. 22 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Goodnight all. 23 MS. PEREIRAS: Have a good night. 24 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Thank you. 25 MAYOR STACK: Thank you.  78 1 Have a good evening. 2 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you. 3 MAYOR STACK: Thank you. 4 * * * 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  79 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS: 2 3 ( 1) Cesar Cespedes. 316 6th Street Block: 26 4 Lot: 25. Conversion from two family to three 5 family by legalizing the existing basement unit. 6 Approved 7 8 THE SECRETARY: Adoption of Resolutions. 9 Cedar Cespedes, 316 6th Street. 10 Can I have a motion? 11 Motion by Miss Capizzi. 12 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Second. 13 THE SECRETARY: Seconded by Mr. Velazquez. 14 Roll call on the motion to adopt this 15 Resolution. 16 Miss Capizzi? 17 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 18 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 19 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 20 THE SECRETARY: Commissioner Valdivia? 21 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 22 THE SECRETARY: Miss Genao? 23 MS. GENAO: Yes. 24 THE SECRETARY: Miss Morejon? 25 MS. MOREJON: Yes.  80 1 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Guareno? 2 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 3 THE SECRETARY: Six in favor. 4 Motion carries. 5 * * * 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  81 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS: 2 3 ( 2) Purnima & Rasesh Chauhan. 208-210 35th 4 Street. Block 211. Lot 6, 7. Applicant 5 proposes the legalization of a basement 6 apartment. The applicant also proposes changing 7 the existing slope roof to a flat roof. Approved 8 9 THE SECRETARY: Resolution number 2. 10 Purnima and Rasesh Chauhan, 208-210 35th 11 Street. 12 Can I have a motion? 13 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: I’ll move it. 14 THE SECRETARY: Motion by Miss Capizzi. 15 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Second. 16 THE SECRETARY: Seconded by Miss Genao. 17 Roll call on the motion to adopt this -- 18 the Resolution. 19 Miss Capizzi? 20 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 21 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 22 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 23 THE SECRETARY: Commissioner Valdivia? 24 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 25 THE SECRETARY: Miss Genao?  82 1 MS. GENAO: Yes. 2 THE SECRETARY: Miss Morejon? 3 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 4 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Guareno? 5 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 6 THE SECRETARY: Six in favor. 7 Motion carries. 8 * * * 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  83 1 ADJOURNMENT: 2 3 THE SECRETARY: There being no other 4 application on tonight’s agenda, can I have a 5 motion to close tonight’s meeting? 6 MS. MOREJON: Motion. 7 THE SECRETARY: Motion by Miss Capizzi. 8 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Second. 9 THE SECRETARY: Seconded by Mr. Velazquez. 10 Roll call on the motion. 11 All in favor? 12 13 (Whereupon, there was a chorus of ayes.) 14 15 THE SECRETARY: The ayes have it. 16 Motion carries. 17 Thank you and goodnight, everyone. 18 Let the record show that the meeting has 19 ended. 20 21 (Whereupon, the proceedings were concluded 22 at 6:57 p.m.) 23 24 25  84 1 STATE OF NEW JERSEY : 2 : 3 COUNTY OF ESSEX : 4 5 I, KAREN A. MARINO, assigned transcriber, 6 do hereby affirm that the foregoing is a true and 7 accurate transcript in the matter of the REGULAR 8 MEETING of the UNION CITY PLANNING BOARD heard on 9 Tuesday, June 15, 2021 and digitally recorded. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Monitored by and proofread by: Deborah Dillon