Planning Board

1 1 CITY OF UNION CITY HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 2 PLANNING BOARD 3 : REGULAR MEETING : TRANSCRIPT OF 4 : --------------------: PROCEEDINGS 5 6 Union City High School Media Center 7 2500 Kennedy Boulevard Union City, New Jersey 8 9 Tuesday, February 22, 2022 Commencing at 6:06 p.m. 10 11 M E M B E R S P R E S E N T: 12 13 DIANE CAPIZZI, Chairperson ALEJANDRO VELAZQUEZ, Vice Chairperson 14 BRIAN T. STACK, Mayor CELIN J. VALDIVIA, Commissioner 15 YDALIA GENAO, Mayor's Designee ALICIA MOREJON 16 HECTOR OSEGUERA, Alternate #2 17 M E M B E R S A B S E N T: 18 CAROLINA FERNANDEZ FRANKLIN MEDINA 19 JOSE GUARENO, Alternate #1 20 A L S O P R E S E N T: 21 BRIAN CHEWCASKIE, ESQ. Board Counsel 22 CARLOS VALLEJO, Board Secretary 23 24 SUSAN BISCHOFF, CCR, RPR 25 449 Columbia Blvd., Wood-Ridge, NJ 07075 201-933-8220 SBischoffccr@yahoo.com  2 1 I N D E X 2 PAGE 3 CALL TO ORDER 3 4 SALUTE TO FLAG 3 5 ROLL CALL 3 6 ADOPTION OF MINUTES 5 7 HEARINGS/APPLICATIONS/EXTENSION 6/9 8 ADJOURNMENT 12 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  3 1 MR. VALLEJO: May I have your attention 2 please, take notice on that February 22, 2022, the 3 regular meeting scheduled for the City of Union 4 City Planning Board to be held in the Union City 5 High School, 2500 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Union 6 City, New Jersey. 7 This meeting is called in compliance 8 with the Chapter 231, Public Law 1975 of the Open 9 Public Meeting Act. Adequate notice of this 10 meeting has been provided as follows: Notice of 11 this meeting setting forth the time, date, 12 location, the agenda to the extent known, was 13 forwarded to The Jersey Journal, The Record, and 14 The Hudson Reporter, has been posted on the 15 bulletin in City Hall and has been available to 16 the public in the Office of the Municipal Clerk. 17 Before we call roll for this evening's 18 meeting, can everybody kindly rise and salute the 19 flag, please. 20 21 (The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.) 22 23 ROLL CALL: 24 25 MR. VALLEJO: Roll call for tonight's  4 1 meeting. Mayor Brian Stack. 2 MAYOR STACK: Here. 3 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Capizzi. 4 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Here. 5 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Velazquez. 6 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Here. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Commissioner Valdivia. 8 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Here. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 10 MS. GENAO: Yes. 11 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 12 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Fernandez is absent. 14 Mr. Medina is absent. Mr. Guareno is absent. 15 Mr. Oseguera. 16 MR. OSEGUERA: Here. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Let the record indicate 18 there are seven present. We have a full quorum 19 for tonight's meeting. 20 MAYOR STACK: The members that are 21 absent had prior family engagements. Mr. Medina 22 is on vacation in Colombia, he'll be back, I 23 believe, the end of the month. 24 MR. VALLEJO: Thank you, Mayor. 25  5 1 ADOPTION OF MINUTES: 2 3 MR. VALLEJO: Adoption of minutes, held 4 on January 25, 2022. Can I have a motion to adopt 5 the minutes? 6 MR. VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 7 MAYOR STACK: Second. 8 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Velazquez, 9 second by Mayor Stack. 10 Roll call on the motion. Mayor Brian 11 Stack. 12 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Capizzi. 14 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Velazquez. 16 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Commissioner Valdivia. 18 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 20 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 21 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 22 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 23 MR. VALLEJO: Six in favor, motion 24 carries. 25  6 1 HEARINGS: 2 613 39th Street, LLC 3 613 39th Street: 4 5 MR. VALLEJO: We're going to the first 6 extension on tonight's agenda, Liberty Park at 7 Union City, LLC, 649-651 38th Street. 8 MAYOR STACK: Which is the one that 9 requested an adjournment earlier, 613 39th Street? 10 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Yes, that was earlier. 11 MAYOR STACK: They requested earlier 12 today, that was the second adjournment, right? So 13 let them know that for the next meeting, that will 14 be the last time. If they're not here for the 15 next meeting, we're going to proceed without them. 16 MR. VALLEJO: All right. We are going 17 then with 613 39th Street, on an application 18 for -- requesting to be heard on March 22nd. 19 Can I have a motion to adjourn this to 20 March 22nd? 21 MAYOR STACK: That's 613 39th Street, 22 correct? 23 MR. VALLEJO: Correct, Mayor. 24 MAYOR STACK: Motion. 25 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mayor Stack.  7 1 MS. MOREJON: Second. 2 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Ms. Morejon. 3 Roll call on the motion. Mayor Stack. 4 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 5 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Capizzi. 6 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Velazquez. 8 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Commissioner Valdivia. 10 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 11 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 12 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 14 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Six in favor, motion 16 carries. 17 MAYOR STACK: Let the record reflect 18 it's 6:09 p.m. This is the second time that this 19 is applicant has not shown up. We'll give it 20 until 6:15 to see if the applicant shows up. 21 Maybe Mr. Chewcaskie can reach out to the 22 applicant or to the attorney? 23 MR. CHEWCASKIE: I'll do so, I made the 24 notes to let her know. 25 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Mayor, I'm sorry,  8 1 we're talking about Liberty Park at Union City, LLC? 2 MR. CHEWCASKIE: No, we're talking about 3 the 39th Street, 613 39th Street that was on the 4 request for adjournment, it was requested. If 5 there's no appearance on March 22nd, it will be 6 dismissed. 7 MAYOR STACK: Right. 8 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Carlos, you indicated 9 six in favor, there are seven members present. 10 MR. VALLEJO: Yes, seven members 11 present, but only can vote six. 12 MR. CHEWCASKIE: No, seven can vote. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Ydalia is the 14 mayor designee. 15 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Oh, Ydalia is the 16 mayor's representative, you're right. It's six, I 17 apologize. 18 MAYOR STACK: When we get the 19 opportunity to make Ydalia a full-fledged member, 20 we'll make her a full-fledged member. 21 MR. VALLEJO: You have one space. 22 MAYOR STACK: So for the next commission 23 meeting, let's put it on the agenda to make Ydalia 24 a full-fledged member. And then we'll leave the 25 mayor's designee open for someone else.  9 1 HEARINGS: 2 Liberty Park at Union City, LLC 3 649-651 38th Street: 4 5 MAYOR STACK: On the next applicant, 6 that would be 649-651 38th Street, Lot 30-60, 7 parking at basement and ground floor, 48 dwelling 8 units at four floors above. The applicant seeks a 9 one year extension. Where is the applicant? 10 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Mayor, I spoke with Mr. 11 Vallejo earlier today. He did reach out to Mr. 12 Lopez and I believe Mr. Lopez indicated there may 13 have been some building permit issued for this? 14 MR. VALLEJO: For footings. 15 MR. CHEWCASKIE: For footings. I am 16 unaware of that, but based upon the fact that Mr. 17 Vallejo reached out for Mr. Lopez, did not have a 18 response, we advised Mr. Lopez that this matter 19 would be scheduled this evening. If there's no 20 appearance, I would recommend that the request for 21 extension be dismissed. 22 MAYOR STACK: I agree. I'll make a 23 motion to deny this application. 24 MR. CHEWCASKIE: So to dismiss it for 25 lack of prosecution.  10 1 MAYOR STACK: You got it. Thank you, 2 Mr. Chewcaskie. 3 MR. VALLEJO: Motion on the table by 4 Mayor Stack to dismiss the extension of 649-651 5 38th Street. May I have a second. 6 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Second. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Mr. Velazquez. 8 Roll call on the motion to dismiss this 9 application extension. 10 Mayor Brian Stack. 11 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 12 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Capizzi. 13 CHAIRPERSON CAPIZZI: Yes. 14 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Velazquez. 15 VICE CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 16 MR. VALLEJO: Commissioner Valdivia. 17 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 18 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 19 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 20 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 21 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 22 MR. VALLEJO: Six in favor, motion 23 carries. 24 MAYOR STACK: Let me just say something 25 for the record, if I may. Mr. Lopez does this  11 1 commonly, whether it be before the Board of 2 Commissioners or the Planning Board, I can't speak 3 for the other boards because I'm not on them. But 4 he routinely does not show up for meetings, even 5 after he's called. It's a total lack of respect 6 that he has for this board and I just want the 7 record to reflect that. He does it commonly 8 before the Board of Commissioners on liquor 9 hearings, he does it before this board. I wonder 10 if treats the Superior Court the same as he does 11 this board. 12 The members of this board are all 13 volunteer members of the board, they come here on 14 their own time, they volunteer to serve on the 15 municipal board and it's very unfair to treat them 16 that way. Just let the record reflect that. 17 MR. VALLEJO: We don't have any 18 resolutions on tonight's agenda. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  12 1 ADJOURNMENT: 2 3 MR. VALLEJO: There being no other 4 application on tonight's agenda, can I have a 5 motion to close tonight's meeting. 6 MAYOR STACK: Motion. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mayor Stack. 8 Any second? 9 MR. OSEGUERA: Second. 10 MR. VALLEJO: Second by Mr. Oseguera. 11 All in favor? 12 13 (All Board Members indicate in the 14 affirmative.) 15 16 MR. VALLEJO: The ayes have it. Thank 17 you, have a good night. Let the record indicate 18 that the meeting has ended. 19 20 (Whereupon the meeting was adjourned at 21 6:14 p.m.) 22 23 24 25  13 1 C E R T I F I C A T E 2 3 4 5 6 I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing is a 7 true and accurate transcript of the testimony and 8 proceedings as taken stenographically by me at the 9 time, place, and on the date hereinbefore set 10 forth. 11 12 13 14 SUSAN BISCHOFF, CCR, RPR LICENSE NO. 30XI00233700 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25