Planning Board

1 CITY OF UNION CITY HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY PLANNING BOARD : TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDED REGULAR MEETING : _________________: PROCEEDINGS Union City High School Media Center 2500 Kennedy Boulevard Union City, New Jersey Tuesday, October 26, 2021 Commencing at 6:02 p.m. M E M B E R S P R E S E N T: YDALIA GENAO, Mayor’s Designee ALICIA MOREJON JOSE GUARENO, Alternate No. 1 HECTOR OSEGUERA, Alternate No. 2 ALEJANDRO VELAZQUEZ, Vice Chairperson DIANE CAPIZZI, Chairperson M E M B E R S A B S E N T: CELIN VALDIVIA, Commissioner CAROLINA FERNANDEZ FRANKLIN MEDINA BRIAN P. STACK, Mayor 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 I N D E X PAGE CALL TO ORDER 3 SALUTE TO FLAG 4 ROLL CALL 4 ADOPTION OF MINUTES 6 HEARINGS 814 15th Street UC, LLC 8 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS 13/16/19/21/23 ADJOURNMENT 25  3 1 THE SECRETARY: May I have your attention 2 please? 3 MS. DILLON: Yes. 4 On the record. 5 THE SECRETARY: Please take notice that on 6 Tuesday, October 26th, 2021, at six p.m., Regular 7 Meeting is scheduled for the City of Union City 8 Planning Board to be held in the Union City High 9 School located at 2500 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, 10 Union City, New Jersey. 11 This is a meeting called in compliance with 12 Chapter 231, Public Law 1975 of the Open Public 13 Meeting Act. 14 Adequate notice of this meeting has been 15 provided as follows: 16 Notice of this meeting, setting forth the 17 time, date, location, to the agenda, to the 18 extent known, was forwarded to The Jersey 19 Journal, The Record, and The Hudson Reporter; 20 also has been emailed to the newspapers; has been 21 posted on the bulletin board in City Hall; and 22 has been made available to the public in the 23 Office of the Municipal Clerk. 24 Before we call roll for this evening, will 25 everybody kindly rise to salute --  4 1 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 2 THE SECRETARY: the flag, please? 3 4 (Whereupon, the Pledge of Allegiance was 5 said by all.) 6 7 THE SECRETARY: Thank you. 8 9 ROLL CALL: 10 11 THE SECRETARY: Roll call for tonight’s 12 meeting. 13 Mayor Brian P. Stack? 14 Absent. 15 Miss Capizzi? 16 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Here. 17 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 18 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Here. 19 THE SECRETARY: Commissioner Valdivia is 20 absent. 21 Miss Genao? 22 MS. GENAO: Yes. 23 THE SECRETARY: Miss Morejon? 24 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 25 THE SECRETARY: Miss Fernandez is absent.  5 1 Mr. Medina is absent. 2 Mr. Guareno? 3 MR. GUARENO: Present. 4 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Oseguera? 5 MR. OSEGUERA: Here. 6 THE SECRETARY: Let the record indicate 7 there are six present. 8 9 * * * 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  6 1 ADOPTION OF MINUTES: 2 3 Regular Meeting Held on September 28, 2021 4 5 THE SECRETARY: All right. 6 Adoption of Regular Meeting held on 7 September 28th, 2021. 8 Can I have a motion? 9 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: I’ll make a motion. 10 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I’ll make a 11 motion. 12 THE SECRETARY: Motion by Miss Capizzi. 13 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Second. 14 THE SECRETARY: Seconded by Mr. Velazquez. 15 Roll call on the motion. 16 Miss Capizzi? 17 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 18 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 19 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 20 THE SECRETARY: Miss Genao? 21 MS. GENAO: Yes. 22 THE SECRETARY: Miss Morejon? 23 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 24 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Guareno? 25 MR. GUARENO: Yes.  7 1 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Oseguera? 2 MR. OSEGUERA: 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  8 1 SUPERIOR COURT ORDER FOR RECONSIDERATION: 2 814 15th Street UC, LLC - 3 814 15th Street: 4 5 THE SECRETARY: All right, we have the 6 first hearing. 7 We have a Superior Court Order for -- for 8 Reconsideration of 814 15th Street. 9 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Okay, if -- if I may, Ms. 10 Capizzi? 11 We learned shortly before the September 12 meeting that there was a decision in the case 13 regarding 814 15th Street UC, LLC. Property has 14 the same address. There was a proposed 15 construction of a three-family house. 16 The application was denied on July 28 th, 17 2020. 18 Resolution was memorialized September 22 nd, 19 2020. 20 The attorney for the applicant submitted a 21 letter to Mr. Vallejo; however, we were totally 22 unaware that this case was decided. So, what 23 occurred, is Judge Turula entered an order for 24 remand for the Board to reconsider its 25 determination of July 28th, 2020.  9 1 What the Court did is that the Court 2 ordered to make specific factual findings, 3 conclusion of law in support of its decision to 4 be memorialized in a supplemental Resolution. 5 The Court also ordered that there would be 6 no further testimony, no additional 7 documentation, et cetera. 8 And same was supposed to be concluded 9 within 60 days of the date of the order. 10 We are a little behind that date, but I did 11 speak with the attorney for the applicant and 12 indicated to him that this is what was going to 13 happen. We would consider this at the October 14 meeting; prior to doing that, please provide me a 15 transcript of the Judge’s decision so that I 16 could make a determination as to what the 17 reasoning was. 18 In accordance with my discussions with the 19 Board Chairwoman, I prepared a Resolution 20 confirming the denial, and I also set forth the 21 reasons as indicated in the transcript and based 22 upon the decision that was made back in July of 23 2020. 24 So, there will be a Resolution which will 25 be Resolution Number 5 on adoptions tonight, but  10 1 I wanted to review that. 2 The attorney for the applicant was Adolfo 3 Lopez. I spoke to Mr. Lopez earlier today. Mr. 4 Lopez had a personal matter to attend to and he 5 could not be here. But I indicated there would 6 not be any argument of Counsel. There would be 7 no further testimony or evidence. It would only 8 be consideration of the Resolution. 9 So, we’re going to act on it as Number 5. I 10 don’t know if anyone has any questions of me at 11 this time. But I would suggest that we just act 12 on the Resolution as presented. That Resolution 13 was finalized yesterday. I asked Mr. Spatz to 14 review it. He did review it and agreed that it 15 was consistent -- 16 MR. SPATZ: Right. 17 Right. 18 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- with the Board’s 19 determination at that point in time. 20 And I asked Carlos to circulate it to all 21 the Board members so that had it prior to 22 tonight’s meeting. 23 So, I don’t know if anybody has any 24 questions of me, but certainly we can deal with 25 that Resolution as Number 5.  11 1 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Questions? 2 MR. OSEGUERA: I would probably just ask 3 for a like a summary of the reasoning just to -- 4 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Sure. 5 MR. OSEGUERA: -- because it was remanded 6 to us. 7 So, I guess there was something that they 8 wanted to fight us on and the Judge ruled on, so 9 I wanted to make sure that with this Resolution 10 it’s not going to go back to another judge who 11 would remand it back -- 12 MR. CHEWCASKIE: It -- 13 MR. OSEGUERA: -- or have -- 14 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- it -- 15 MR. OSEGUERA: -- some sort of adverse 16 decision. 17 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Right now, the Judge 18 wanted further findings, so clarification of the 19 Board’s Resolution. So what we provided is that 20 the Board determined that what was going to be 21 replaced was an existing two-family home with a 22 three-family home, mid-block, on 15th Street, 23 where east and west and across the street from 24 the property were all two-family, two-story 25 homes. And that since variance relief was  12 1 required, that it would be inappropriate to grant 2 those variances. 3 The Board also determined that the property 4 could be put to another zone use because in that 5 zone, one, two, and three-families were 6 permitted. So that’s pretty much the summary of 7 -- of what occurred. 8 So what this Resolution did based upon the 9 instructions that I received, was to confirm that 10 decision and clarify the reasoning that the Board 11 had. 12 MR. OSEGUERA: Cool. 13 Thank you. 14 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Do we have to open it 15 up to any discussion? 16 MR. CHEWCASKIE: No, not at -- 17 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: No. 18 MR. CHEWCASKIE: -- this time. 19 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Okay. 20 MR. CHEWCASKIE: We can go right into the 21 Resolutions. 22 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Okay. 23 24 * * * 25  13 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS: 2 3 (1.) 208 18th Street, LLC. 208 18th Street. 4 Block 176. Lots 10, 11. Applicant proposes (2) 5 new three-family houses. 6 Denied 7 8 THE SECRETARY: We’re going to move to the 9 Resolutions? 10 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Yes. 11 THE SECRETARY: All right. 12 Resolution number 1. 13 208 18th Street, LLC. 14 MR. CHEWCASKIE: This Resolution was a 15 denial of the subdivision and site plan for the 16 properties located on 18th Street. 17 That Resolution has been submitted, and 18 it’s consistent with the Board’s determination. 19 THE SECRETARY: Can I have a motion to -- 20 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: I’ll make a motion. 21 THE SECRETARY: -- adopt the Resolution? 22 Motion by Miss Capizzi. 23 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Um-hum. 24 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Second. 25 THE SECRETARY: Seconded by Mr. Velazquez.  14 1 Roll call on the motion. 2 Miss Capizzi? 3 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 4 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 5 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 6 THE SECRETARY: Miss Genao? 7 MS. GENAO: Yes. 8 THE SECRETARY: Miss Morejon? 9 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 10 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Guareno? 11 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 12 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Oseguera? 13 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 14 THE SECRETARY: Seven (sic) in favor. 15 Motion carries. 16 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Was it six or seven? 17 Did I miscount? 18 I thought it was six. 19 MR. SPATZ: Six. 20 THE SECRETARY: Oh, I’m sorry. 21 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Six. 22 THE SECRETARY: Six in favor. 23 Motion carries. 24 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Um-hum. 25 I thought it was.  15 1 THE SECRETARY: For clarification of the 2 records. 3 4 * * * 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  16 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS: 2 3 (2.) Way to Win. 1215 Morris Street. Block 59. 4 Lot 3. Applicant proposes to construct a new 5 three-family dwelling. 6 Approved 7 8 THE SECRETARY: We’re moving to Resolution 9 number 2. 10 Way to Win, 1215 Morris Street. 11 MR. CHEWCASKIE: This was an application 12 for the construction of a new three-family 13 dwelling at 1215 Morris Street. 14 It was approved by the Board subject to the 15 conditions set forth in the Resolution, and that 16 the property be maintained during the period of 17 time of the approval and construction. 18 THE SECRETARY: Can I have a motion -- 19 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: I make a motion. 20 THE SECRETARY: -- to memorialize this 21 Resolution? 22 Motion made by Miss Capizzi. 23 MR. OSEGUERA: Second. 24 THE SECRETARY: Seconded by Mr. Velazquez 25 (sic).  17 1 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Mr. Oseguera. 2 THE SECRETARY: Roll call on the motion. 3 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: That was Mr. -- 4 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Yeah, Hector. 5 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: -- that was Hector. 6 THE SECRETARY: Oh, Mr. Oseguera? 7 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 8 THE SECRETARY: You see, that’s what 9 happened, I get used to. 10 Motion by Miss Capizzi. 11 Seconded by Mr. Oseguera. 12 Roll call on the motion. 13 Miss Capizzi? 14 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 15 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 16 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 17 THE SECRETARY: Miss Genao? 18 MS. GENAO: Yes. 19 THE SECRETARY: Miss Morejon? 20 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 21 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Guareno? 22 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 23 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Oseguera? 24 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 25 THE SECRETARY: Six in favor.  18 1 Motion carries. 2 * * * 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  19 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS: 2 3 (3.) 655 39th Street, LLC. 655 39th Street. 4 Block 261. Lot 26. Applicant proposes to 5 construct a new three-family dwelling. 6 Approved 7 8 THE SECRETARY: Resolution number 3. 9 655 39th Street, LLC. 10 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: I make a motion. 11 THE SECRETARY: Motion on the table to 12 memorialize the Resolution by Miss Capizzi. 13 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Second. 14 THE SECRETARY: Seconded by Mr. Velazquez. 15 Roll call on the motion. 16 Miss Capizzi? 17 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 18 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 19 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 20 THE SECRETARY: Miss Genao? 21 MS. GENAO: Yes. 22 THE SECRETARY: Miss Morejon? 23 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 24 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Guareno? 25 MR. GUARENO: Yes.  20 1 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Oseguera? 2 MR. OSEGUERA: 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  21 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS: 2 3 (4.) Juana De La Cruz. 542 43rd Street. Block 4 249. Lot 5.02. Legalization of an existing 5 apartment to go from a two family to a three 6 family home. 7 Approved 8 (Revised plans received on 10-15-21) 9 10 THE SECRETARY: We are going to Resolution 11 number 4. 12 Juana De La Cruz, 542 43rd Street. 13 MR. CHEWCASKIE: This was the legalization. 14 It was approved by the Board. 15 There were certain conditions. 16 There were revised plans received. Mr. 17 Spatz confirmed that those revised plans were 18 consistent with the Board’s determination. 19 MR. SPATZ: Correct. 20 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: I make a motion. 21 THE SECRETARY: Motion by Miss Capizzi. 22 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Um-hum. 23 MR. OSEGUERA: Second. 24 THE SECRETARY: Seconded by Mr. Oseguera. 25 Roll call on the motion.  22 1 Miss Capizzi? 2 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 3 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 4 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 5 THE SECRETARY: Miss Genao? 6 MS. GENAO: Yes. 7 THE SECRETARY: Miss Morejon? 8 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 9 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Guareno? 10 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 11 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Oseguera? 12 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 13 THE SECRETARY: Six in favor. 14 Motion carries. 15 16 * * * 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  23 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS: 2 3 (5.) The Planning Board of the City of Union City 4 Reaffirms the denial of the application for site 5 plans (sic) approval relating to the application 6 of 814 15th Street UC, LLC. 814 15th Street. 7 Block 80. Lot 10, for the reasons set forth 8 herein and the prior Resolution adopted September 9 22, 2020. 10 11 THE SECRETARY: We’re going adoption of 12 Resolution Number 5. 13 Court Ordered for Reconsideration of 814 14 15th Street. 15 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: I’ll make a motion. 16 Oh, I’m sorry. 17 Do you -- 18 MR. CHEWCASKIE: No, basically, unless 19 there are any other questions, we have the draft 20 of the Resolution which we believe is consistent 21 with the Board’s determination which expands and 22 clarifies the reasons. 23 THE SECRETARY: Motion on the table by Miss 24 Capizzi. 25 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Second.  24 1 THE SECRETARY: Seconded by Mr. Velazquez. 2 Roll call on the motion. 3 Miss Capizzi? 4 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 5 THE SECRETARY: Mr. Velazquez? 6 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: 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: Mr. Oseguera? 14 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 15 THE SECRETARY: Six in favor. 16 Motion carries. 17 18 * * * 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  25 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 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Motion. 7 THE SECRETARY: Motion by Miss Capizzi. 8 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Second. 9 THE SECRETARY: Seconded by Mr. Oseguera. 10 All in favor? 11 12 (Whereupon, there was a chorus of ayes.) 13 14 THE SECRETARY: The ayes have it. 15 Thank you. 16 Have a good night, everyone. 17 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Thank you. 18 You too. 19 MR. OSEGUERA: Good night. 20 21 (Whereupon, the proceedings were concluded 22 at 6:13 p.m.) 23 24 25  26 1 STATE OF NEW JERSEY : 2 : 3 COUNTY OF ESSEX : 4 5 I, DOREEN A. BOLOGNINI, assigned 6 transcriber, do hereby affirm that the foregoing 7 is a true and accurate transcript in the matter 8 of the REGULAR MEETING of the UNION CITY PLANNING 9 BOARD heard on Tuesday, October 26, 2021 and 10 digitally recorded. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Monitored by and proofread by: Deborah Dillon