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, April 25, 2023 Commencing at 6:06 p.m. 10 11 M E M B E R S P R E S E N T: 12 ALEJANDRO VELAZQUEZ, Chairperson YDALIA GENAO 13 ALICIA MOREJON FRANKLIN MEDINA 14 JOSE GUARENO, Alternate #1 HECTOR OSEGUERA, Alternate #2 15 M E M B E R S A B S E N T: 16 BRIAN T. STACK, Mayor 17 CELIN J. VALDIVIA, Commissioner CAROLINA FERNANDEZ 18 A L S O P R E S E N T: 19 BRIAN CHEWCASKIE, ESQ. 20 Board Counsel 21 CARLOS VALLEJO, Board Secretary 22 DAVID SPATZ, P.P. 23 24 SUSAN BISCHOFF, CCR, RPR 449 Columbia Blvd., Wood-Ridge, NJ 07075 25 201-933-8220 SBischoffccr@yahoo.com  2 1 A P P E A R A N C E S: 2 J. ALVARO ALONSO, ESQ. Attorney for Applicant, WEST 13, LLC 3 BIANCA PEREIRAS, ESQ. 4 Attorney for Applicant, SHAISTA, LLC 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  3 1 I N D E X 2 PAGE 3 CALL TO ORDER 5 4 SALUTE TO FLAG 5 5 ROLL CALL 6 6 ADOPTION OF MINUTES 7 7 HEARINGS 8/17 8 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS n/a 9 ADJOURNMENT 35 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  4 1 I N D E X 2 SHAISTA, LLC 522-534 31st Street 3 4 WITNESS PAGE 5 MANUEL PEREIRAS 18 6 7 8 E X H I B I T S 9 NO. DOCUMENT PAGE 10 11 NO EXHIBITS MARKED 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  5 1 MR. VALLEJO: May I have your attention 2 please? 3 Please take notice that on Tuesday, 4 April 25, 2023, at 6:00 p.m., a regular meeting is 5 scheduled for the City of Union City Planning 6 Board to be held in Union City High School, 7 located at 2500 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Union 8 City, New Jersey. 9 Adequate notice of this meeting has been 10 provided as follows: 11 Notice of this meeting setting forth the 12 time, date, location, to the agenda to the extent 13 known, was forwarded to The Jersey Journal, The 14 Record, and The Star Ledger, has been posted on 15 the bulletin board in City Hall, and has been made 16 available to the public in the Office of the 17 Municipal Clerk. 18 Before we do roll call for tonight's 19 meeting, can everybody kindly rise to salute the 20 flag, please? 21 22 (Whereupon the Pledge of Allegiance was 23 recited.) 24 25 MR. VALLEJO: Thank you.  6 1 ROLL CALL: 2 3 MR. VALLEJO: Roll call for tonight's 4 meeting. Mayor Stack is absent. 5 Mr. Velazquez. 6 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Here. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Commissioner Valdivia is 8 absent. Miss Genao. 9 MS. GENAO: Yes. 10 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 11 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 12 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Fernandez is absent. 13 Mr. Medina. 14 MR. MEDINA: Here. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 16 MR. GUARENO: Here. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 18 MR. OSEGUERA: Here. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Let the record indicate 20 there are six present. Those absent tonight are 21 Mayor Stack, Commissioner Celin Valdivia, Carolina 22 Fernandez. We have a full quorum for tonight's 23 meeting. 24 * * * * 25  7 1 ADOPTION OF MINUTES: 2 3 MR. VALLEJO: Adoption of minutes of the 4 meeting held on April 11, 2023. Can I have a 5 motion? 6 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Velazquez. 8 MR. GUARENO: Second. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Mr. Guareno. 10 Roll call on the motion. 11 Mr. Velazquez. 12 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 14 MS. GENAO: Yes. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 16 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 18 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 20 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 21 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 22 carries. We're going to have a five minute break 23 off the record, thank you. 24 25 (Whereupon a short recess was taken.)  8 1 HEARING: 2 WEST 13, LLC - 3 409 4TH STREET: 4 5 MR. VALLEJO: Back on the record. We 6 are going to the first hearing on tonight's 7 agenda, West 13th, LLC, 409 4th Street. Mr. 8 Alonso, please. 9 MR. ALONSO: Good evening, Mr. Chairman, 10 Members of the Board, for the record Alvaro Alonso 11 on behalf of the applicant. As the Board knows, 12 we were here on remand from the Superior Court on 13 a matter that was appealed. The Board started the 14 hearing at the last meeting and then requested 15 that the matter be carried so at the very least 16 the Chairman, if not any other Board Member, could 17 make a visit to the site. So we're here now. 18 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Thank you, Mr. Alonso. 19 Just -- and I know you and I had a brief 20 conversation, I believe, yesterday. With regard 21 to the inspection of the property, it's my 22 understanding that there's been no change to the 23 property as it exists today and what was before 24 the Board when the application was denied; is that 25 correct?  9 1 MR. ALONSO: That is my understanding, 2 yes. 3 MR. CHEWCASKIE: And as I also 4 indicated, I had the opportunity to discuss with 5 counsel and certainly reserve all your rights, but 6 counsel did not believe, who handled the 7 litigation, that there would be any reopening, 8 additional testimony, or the like. So what we're 9 here today is to just amplify the Board's 10 decisions regarding their actions that they took 11 with the past resolutions. That's my 12 understanding. 13 MR. ALONSO: That's correct. Subject to 14 the reservations of whatever rights I may have and 15 objections that were placed on the record at the 16 last hearing, we're ready to move forward. 17 MR. CHEWCASKIE: All right. Mr. 18 Chairman, I believe we heard Mr. Alonso's 19 presentation at the last meeting, we also reviewed 20 the Court's order of remand, and there was also a 21 decision where the Court required that there be 22 further determination regarding the denial. There 23 was a determination that there would be a front 24 yard setback and whether there's a variance even 25 required, and also the Board's decision to  10 1 support -- or the Board's determination to support 2 its decision regarding the character of the area. 3 I believe that summarizes the Court's decision 4 that was entered in February of this year and I 5 think that's where we're at. 6 It's really to the Board to deliberate 7 and decide based upon what we've heard and if 8 anyone visited the property. 9 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I know I did. 10 Did you visit the property? 11 MS. MOREJON: Yes, we visited. 12 MS. GENAO: Yeah, we did. 13 MR. OSEGUERA: Yeah, I visited the 14 property. You know, it's a small structure that 15 sits there and I think the standard that we 16 ultimately have to go with is whether it's going 17 have -- the new structure is going to have a 18 significant impact on -- 19 MR. ALONSO: Right. But just -- not to 20 cut you off, but I don't believe you were present 21 at the original -- 22 MR. OSEGUERA: No. 23 MR. ALONSO: -- application, so I don't 24 know -- 25 MR. CHEWCASKIE: He's allowed to  11 1 participate, Mr. Alonso, based upon his review of 2 the record. 3 MR. ALONSO: Okay. Is there a 4 certification signed? 5 MR. CHEWCASKIE: There's no 6 certification regarding the review of the record. 7 We've provided the Court's determination and the 8 like. Since the Board has changed members and the 9 like, in order to maintain a quorum, we've decided 10 that all members can participate. Certainly, you 11 can reserve your rights as to that. 12 MR. ALONSO: My understanding -- because 13 I did a little roll call myself. I believe you 14 have five members who were present during the 15 original presentation and the original vote. And 16 the Municipal Land Use Law requires a 17 certification that's signed -- 18 MR. CHEWCASKIE: That's fine. Mr. -- 19 MR. ALONSO: -- for purposes of voting. 20 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Mr. Oseguera can 21 certainly participate, we'll make a determination 22 whether he can vote. 23 MR. ALONSO: But it's based on the 24 record that was created, so there's no 25 certification --  12 1 MR. CHEWCASKIE: I understand. He can 2 participate and state his opinion, just as if a 3 member missed a meeting and didn't have -- and 4 participated in the next meeting. 5 MR. ALONSO: I understand that. But the 6 matter was remanded on a very narrow issue to make 7 findings to support the determination of the 8 Board. And if the member did not participate and 9 has not certified that they read the record -- 10 MR. CHEWCASKIE: I disagree. He can 11 certainly state his opinion. Whether he can vote 12 or not will be determined. 13 MR. ALONSO: Okay. 14 MR. OSEGUERA: Okay, thank you. 15 You know, having gone to the property, 16 the small structure that exists there, ultimately 17 the Board would be asked, if I'm not mistaken, for 18 a variance on the property, correct? 19 MR. ALONSO: No. Our position is there 20 are no variances requested. 21 MR. CHEWCASKIE: There were two issues. 22 The Board indicated that there was not sufficient 23 testimony that the front yard setback was 24 prevailing based upon Mr. Valella's testimony and 25 said that there may be a variance required. And  13 1 the Board also determined that the proposed 2 structure would be out of character of the area 3 and would have an impact. 4 MR. ALONSO: And as to the second issue, 5 just to refresh, my position is that the Court 6 made a finding that incongruence is not relevant 7 when the use is permitted and variances are not 8 required. 9 MR. CHEWCASKIE: I think that's where we 10 disagree on what the decision says. So I mean 11 that's where we're at. I mean I think the Board 12 can deliberate and make the determination. As I 13 said, Mr. Alonso, with respect to the 14 participation and the scope of the record and the 15 like, you certainly reserve all your rights. 16 MR. ALONSO: Thank you. 17 MR. OSEGUERA: Just closing, I think 18 that ultimately we come down on whether there's 19 going to be a significant impact on the 20 neighborhood. The structure that exists versus 21 what is proposed is what ultimately, from my 22 judgment, would make me uncomfortable granting 23 the -- and what would make me believe that 24 ultimately what is proposed would have a 25 significant impact on the neighborhood.  14 1 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Alicia. 2 MS. MOREJON: I don't see -- I agree 3 with Mr. Oseguera. It's going to be big impact in 4 that area. The neighborhood, you know, has been 5 like that for years. I want to agree. 6 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Anybody else? 7 Jose? Franklin? 8 MR. GUARENO: I agree it would be out of 9 line with everything else that is there. 10 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I guess how we 11 look at it, at the end of the day, I know we have 12 laws and sometimes our -- we have to respect the 13 laws, especially the master plan, which we helped 14 create over a number of years. But as of this 15 plan, I'd rather it go to the Court. I make a 16 motion to deny this application. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Motion on the table to 18 deny the application -- 19 MS. MOREJON: Second. 20 MR. VALLEJO: -- by Mr. Velazquez. 21 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Mr. Vallejo, once we 22 get a second, I'll -- 23 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Ms. Morejon. 24 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Just, in that instance, 25 based upon what we heard from Mr. Alonso and I'll  15 1 rely on your records, Mr. Vallejo, because I do 2 not have the transcript, I just want to see who 3 participated at the last hearing. Mr. Oseguera 4 was not a member of the Board then. So everyone 5 here is permitted to vote except for you, Mr. 6 Oseguera. So we'll only call the five members. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Thank you. 8 We have a motion on the table to deny by 9 Mr. Velazquez, seconded by Ms. Morejon. Roll call 10 on the motion. 11 Mr. Velazquez. 12 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 14 MS. GENAO: Yes. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 16 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Medina. 18 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 20 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 21 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 22 carries. 23 MR. ALONSO: Thank you very much. Have 24 a good evening. 25 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Mr. Alonso, I will be  16 1 preparing a resolution, you certainly can advise 2 the Court that it will be forthcoming. I will let 3 Mr. Kotchick know also. 4 MR. ALONSO: Thank you very much. Have 5 a good evening. 6 * * * * 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  17 1 HEARING: 2 SHAISTA, LLC - 3 522-524 31ST STREET: 4 5 MR. VALLEJO: We're moving to hearing 6 number two, Shaista, LLC, 522-524 31st Street. 7 Ms. Pereiras, please. 8 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Just for the record, I 9 did review the affidavit of service and 10 publication. It was submitted to me by Mr. 11 Vallejo, I believe, last week. I reviewed it, it 12 is in appropriate order and the Board has 13 jurisdiction to hear the application. 14 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you very much, 15 Counsel. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, Members of 16 the Board, may it please the Board, Bianca 17 Pereiras on behalf of the applicant, Shaista, LLC, 18 for property at 522-524 31st Street, also known as 19 Lots 41 and 42 in Block 170. This property is 20 located in the CN zone right on 31st Street. And 21 as the ordinance intends, we are looking to 22 construct two new buildings consisting of 23 commercial space on the ground floor with three 24 residential units above. We are looking to 25 subdivide the property so that we have two --  18 1 actually more than conforming lots, because we 2 have 2,750 square feet on each proposed lot. But 3 that is the gist of the presentation. We have one 4 expert to testify and that is our architect, Mr. 5 Manuel Pereiras. 6 7 M A N U E L P E R E I R A S , after having been 8 duly sworn or affirmed, did testify as follows: 9 10 MR. PEREIRAS: Manny Pereiras, 11 P-E-R-E-I-R-A-S, with Pereiras Architects 12 Ubiquitous, located at 1116 Summit Avenue, here in 13 Union City. 14 MS. PEREIRAS: And Mr. Pereiras has 15 testified before this Board in the past and I ask 16 that he be accepted as an expert in the field of 17 architecture. 18 MR. CHEWCASKIE: My recommendation to 19 the Board would be to accept him as he's been here 20 before. 21 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you, Counsel. 22 Mr. Pereiras, did you prepare the 23 drawings that are before the Board this evening? 24 MR. PEREIRAS: Yes. 25 MS. PEREIRAS: And would you kindly  19 1 describe the proposed project for the Board? 2 MR. PEREIRAS: I'd be very happy to. 3 I'd like to begin with talking about what's 4 existing there on the site. We are on the north 5 side of 31st Street. If you look at the 6 photograph, it's the Dominos Pizzeria right there 7 and next to it's a small house. We're looking to 8 demolish both those structures, they're in 9 disrepair and we're looking to demolish them. 10 And then what I'd like to explain is the 11 way the lots are formed right now, it's extremely 12 odd. The lot where the Dominos is is 27 -- a 13 little bit over 27 feet wide and then the house is 14 on 23 feet wide. And the Dominos makes an L-shape 15 like this. So what that causes is that we have an 16 undersized lot and then an oversized lot, which 17 doesn't makes sense. Our district recognizes lots 18 that are 25-by-100. So what we're doing is we're 19 wiping the slate clean and we're creating two lots 20 that are 25 feet each, so that now we have two 21 conforming lots. And you're going to see that the 22 way we're creating conformity is exactly what 23 we're doing throughout this project. We're 24 creating a project that's basically exactly what 25 the ordinance and what the master plan requests.  20 1 So now we have two lots that are 25-by-110 feet 2 deep and we're proposing a structure on each of 3 those two lots. 4 A little bit of logistics. The owner of 5 this property is a person who operates the Dominos 6 Pizzeria. He doesn't want to close down and go 7 out of business. So we're doing this in phases. 8 We're going tear down the small house, build the 9 structure on the right. Once it's built, we're 10 moving the Dominos Pizzeria into that new 11 structure. Then we're going to demolish where the 12 Dominos Pizza is and build that portion, okay. 13 I'd like to turn now to the next sheet, 14 which is Z-101 and that shows our proposed site 15 plan. The top of the backyard is cut off, we just 16 made it this size so it's easy to read. But we 17 have a full 20 foot rear yard, so we're conforming 18 in the rear yard. The ordinance allows zero foot 19 setbacks on both sides of both buildings. 20 However, we wanted to create an alleyway for 21 firemen and for safety and egress between the two 22 buildings, so we're setting our building back 23 three feet. So we have a slight technical 24 variance there because the ordinance says you only 25 need zero feet, but if you provide one, you need  21 1 to provide five feet. So we're providing three. 2 Keep in mind, we could provide zero if we wanted 3 to, but we're providing three, so technically 4 that's a variance that we're asking from this 5 Board. And it's the only variance that we're 6 asking from the Board is that technical aspect of 7 that. 8 The front yard is zero feet as we're 9 requesting as well. Going down the list, just to 10 be clear on the record. We have a minimum lot 11 size 2,500 square feet, we're larger, we're at 12 2,750. We have s minimum lot width of 25 feet, it 13 was nonconforming before, now it's conforming. 14 With the subdivision, we're going to be at 25 feet 15 for both lots. We have a minimum depth of 100 16 feet, we're more, we're at 110 feet for our lot. 17 Side yards, that technical variance I told you 18 because we have three feet instead of zero feet. 19 Rear yard, we're conforming, 20 feet is required, 20 20 feet is provided. 21 Stories -- and I'd like to clarify this 22 for the record because there's a typo in the 23 drawings that you have submitted. Four stories is 24 what we're proposing, that's permitted. We're 25 proposing a structure that's 45 feet high.  22 1 There's a couple of places on the drawings that 2 says 49, that's a complete typo. We want to be in 3 100 percent conformance with that at 45 feet. 4 We've already sent Mr. Spatz, your planner, the 5 updated drawings on this. And what we'll do is if 6 this Board were to deem this approved, we would 7 update the drawings in the City. So we're not 8 asking for any height variance whatsoever, we are 9 conforming at 45 feet in height. 10 Building coverage, we're under the 11 requirement, we're under the limit, so 80 percent 12 minimum. We're at 72, so we're good there as 13 well. Maximum building coverage, 100 is 14 permitted, we're at 85 because we're providing 15 landscaping in the rear yard. And then off-street 16 parking, of course, there is a parking variance 17 because there is no opportunity to provide parking 18 on the 25-by-100 lots and I think the zone 19 contemplates that. And that's the way we have the 20 design of the buildings because the plan is to 21 have commercial on the ground floor and 22 residential above. Obviously there's no space to 23 put parking. 24 Turning now to the plans, as you can see 25 there's two small basements in each of the  23 1 buildings to hold the utilities. The ground 2 floor, we have a build out of the Dominos Pizzeria 3 on one side and an empty shell on the other for a 4 future tenant. There is a main stairwell for the 5 residential and a secondary stairwell in the rear 6 for emergency escape from the residential. And if 7 you go to the floors above, it's a typical floor 8 plan, very simple. It's a three bedroom apartment 9 on each of the floors. You have a master bedroom 10 with a large bathroom and closet, two additional 11 bedrooms with shared bathroom. And then finally a 12 living room, dining room, kitchen space that's all 13 open, it's a beautiful, simple three bedroom 14 design. And it's the same design on both 15 structures and on the full four stories, so three 16 floors above. 17 So each structure is going to have one 18 commercial space and three apartments above. As 19 you can see as I turn the pages, it's the same 20 concept. The buildings note that are different 21 widths, one has the three foot setback, one has an 22 alleyway for windows. And then to talk about -- 23 and our roof. We have a roof that's accessible 24 for the owners of the apartments. And there's a 25 rooftop there with some grass, a green roof as  24 1 well along the front and the back. We made sure 2 that we did our rooftop, we set it back 3 significantly from the front yard and the rear 4 yard. In the rear yard, it's set back 25 feet. 5 In the front yard, it's set back 8 feet 10 inches, 6 so that you don't see people standing near the 7 edge of the buildings, it is all set back. 8 And now our elevations. We have a 9 beautiful simple elevation that fits into Union 10 City really well. It is an overwhelmingly brick 11 building, nice large windows for the apartments 12 above, a beautiful cornice. And of course the 13 commercial area on the bottom with appropriate 14 signage. It's very simple. It's basically 15 exactly what the ordinance asks for is what we're 16 producing here. 17 The sides of the building are with 18 siding and typical, nothing out of the ordinary 19 there. And I could probably keep on talking, but 20 that concludes my testimony for now. And I'm open 21 for your questions. 22 MR. CHEWCASKIE: So based upon your 23 testimony, Mr. Pereiras, the only variance that is 24 required a parking? 25 MR. PEREIRAS: That's correct and a  25 1 technical variance for that side yard. If we're 2 providing a side yard, we need five feet. 3 MR. CHEWCASKIE: And then I guess the 4 other question is the existing Dominos, because of 5 its configuration, has no parking for the present 6 business? 7 MR. PEREIRAS: Correct. And it' typical 8 of the CN zone, you see me present in the CN zone 9 all the time. I think the design and the 10 ordinance contemplated there would be no parking 11 in these types of structures. Because we want the 12 commercial below, there's nowhere to put the 13 parking in there. And then the residential above, 14 that is permitted in the zone. 15 Remind you, it's 31st Street, so it's 16 the most convenient access to public 17 transportation possible. You literally walk 18 outside, you have buses in every direction and 19 every way that you can imagine. And I don't have 20 to speak to this Board, you all know how simple it 21 is. 22 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: And most 23 congested. 24 MR. PEREIRAS: It is. But that's a good 25 thing. It's the heart of Union City, we want  26 1 congestion in the heart of the Union City. 2 Congestion means more people buying, more people 3 using our facilities. It is what we need in that 4 area. There's pockets of Union City that honestly 5 need a lot more congestion, this is one of them. 6 This is the core of Union City, it used to be 7 center city when we had the previous master plan. 8 I think it's critical, it's critical to 9 see mixed use like this where you have stores on 10 the ground floor that are active during the day. 11 And then at night, you have people living there, 12 walking in and out. It stops vagrancies, it stops 13 crime, just because it's active. And that's what 14 we need in this whole area. Our ordinance put it 15 in, designed it that way. Our master plan is 16 designed that way and it makes perfect sense. And 17 this applicant basically followed the rules. He 18 got the assignment, he built exactly -- he's 19 proposing exactly what the City wants. 20 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Above Dominos, 21 is that a unit there? 22 MR. PEREIRAS: That's a unit there. 23 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: And is that 24 occupied? 25 MR. PEREIRAS: I actually don't believe  27 1 it's been occupied for a while now. 2 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: And the house 3 next door? 4 MR. PEREIRAS: The house -- I believe 5 everyone is out at this point. 6 MS. PEREIRAS: Those were two, units, 7 but they're currently vacant. 8 MR. PEREIRAS: They're not in good 9 shape. 10 MR. OSEGUERA: So this is how well I 11 know that area, I actually bought from that 12 Dominos last night. So I know this area very well 13 and you know -- 14 MR. PEREIRAS: I buy there a little too 15 much. 16 MR. OSEGUERA: Looking at the plan, the 17 lack of parking really does concern me because 18 where -- I agree with the congestion and there are 19 places we want people to thrive. But, you know, 20 you're assuming that none of the people in those 21 apartments are going to have additional cars. And 22 parking is already incredibly tight in that area, 23 as somebody who tried to park in that area 24 literally last night. So that's something that 25 does concern me about this plan is you're bringing  28 1 a lot of people in without any assumption that any 2 single one of them is going to bring one vehicle 3 into that area, which is going to have, you know, 4 what I would call a negative impact in that part 5 of town. 6 MR. PEREIRAS: The alternative to that 7 is that we eliminate a commercial space and we 8 create parking, which is exactly what the master 9 plan says not to do. So it's a little bit of a 10 balance. And I totally understand because of 11 parking, but there's a new mentality to planning. 12 And I believe very strongly in that mentality, 13 Jersey City has adopted that mentality fully, it's 14 really working for them. And a lot of downtowns 15 are adopting that. That is if you create an 16 apartment, such as this, that has good public 17 transportation, people will not be inclined to 18 have cars, which is a reduction of traffic. When 19 you create a building that has one or two parking 20 spaces, then we'll people going to have cars 21 trying to find parking, creating worse situations. 22 So the actual -- the ability of not 23 having a parking space in many ways in modern 24 thinking is a reduction of traffic in the area. 25 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Because I had  29 1 over here and it's a little dark there and I had 2 some the grounds and all that, flood lights, and I 3 actually seen like the -- that's now, it's cars 4 parked all the way from Central all the way to 5 that house now. And then plus the Dominos, cars 6 in that parking lot, which I think belongs to the 7 medical doctor. 8 MS. MOREJON: To the medical. 9 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: The medical 10 facility. 11 MR. PEREIRAS: Which one? 12 MS. MOREJON: There's a lot of traffic. 13 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: On the 14 right-hand side. 15 MR. PEREIRAS: On the right-hand side, 16 it's a medical facility. 17 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: And on the left 18 over there to get into the medical -- 19 MR. PEREIRAS: On the left-hand side is 20 the access to the building that we got approved on 21 the opposite side, on 32nd Street. 22 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Because they 23 park there a lot, too. 24 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah. That's an active 25 parking lot being used a lot.  30 1 MR. GUARENO: What's behind -- 2 currently, what's behind the house? 3 MR. PEREIRAS: So it's very -- 4 MR. GUARENO: You said it's an irregular 5 lot. 6 MR. PEREIRAS: So to explain it a little 7 better, I think I can go to the site plan, to the 8 survey. Right now, the house is here. This 9 building wraps around the house. So that house 10 really has like a very tiny concrete rear yard of 11 basically nothing. It's this building that wraps 12 around it. And then there's a parking lot over 13 here with that building. 14 So we actually reached out to that 15 building, we asked them if we could have access of 16 that driveway so we can park in the rear of our 17 structure. And he was unwilling to provide that 18 access. So we did reach out and try to do that. 19 He was unwilling. 20 MR. GUARENO: What's behind it right now 21 just that empty -- 22 MR. PEREIRAS: It's just empty. 23 MR. GUARENO: There's no structure? 24 MR. PEREIRAS: No structure. 25 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: They're going to  31 1 be doing construction on the opposite side? 2 MR. PEREIRAS: No. So that's already 3 complete. And now we're -- we just started -- we 4 did footings and foundation. That's why my shoes 5 are dirty. That was on the dirt over here on 32nd 6 Street, where the liquor store used to be on the 7 lot, that's being constructed right here. 8 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: That's what I 9 meant, yeah. 10 MR. PEREIRAS: So that's not touching 11 this property, it's more like right here. 12 MS. GENAO: I wanted to confirm, it's 13 four units proposal? 14 MR. PEREIRAS: No. It's two buildings, 15 commercial and three, and commercial and three. 16 MS. GENAO: That would be three for rent 17 and one commercial? 18 MR. PEREIRAS: On each one, so six 19 total. 20 MS. MOREJON: Six. 21 MR. PEREIRAS: Which is exactly what the 22 ordinance permits. 23 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Still looks like 24 three over one to me, even with the commercial. 25 MR. PEREIRAS: It is. But our zone  32 1 hasn't changed in any way, that's what's permitted 2 and that's what we're proposing. 3 MR. OSEGUERA: It would be how -- 4 one-story taller than the building -- the house 5 that you see next to the Dominos? The ultimate 6 structure, what you're proposing right now? 7 MR. PEREIRAS: It's hard to say that 8 because the house next to it, I believe the ground 9 floor starts a few feet high, then it's three 10 story with an attic. It's not easy to the do the 11 comparison. We're going to be at 45 feet, which 12 is what's permitted in the zone and four stories. 13 So we're probably going to be a little bit taller 14 than the house on the left. We're going to be 15 shorter than the buildings behind it. 16 We're going to be -- yeah, so it's -- 17 and then you have a lot of tall structures in that 18 area. 19 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: This is like 20 another one that I'd like to say that everybody 21 should go and see first. When we get these 22 things, everybody should go and see what's going 23 on first, so then we could all have input on these 24 projects. It's very, very important because we 25 could go with pictures, that's nice, but we have  33 1 to know the area. We'll go accidentally because 2 we're going to go eat. 3 MR. OSEGUERA: I wasn't exactly 4 inspecting the property for -- 5 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I recommend that 6 we hold off on this application to the next 7 meeting. 8 MR. CHEWCASKIE: All right. So, Mr. 9 Chairman, you want to move to carry this to the 10 next meeting to allow for site inspection? You 11 want to make that motion. 12 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 13 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Is there a second on 14 the motion? 15 MR. OSEGUERA: Second. 16 MR. VALLEJO: Motion on the table to 17 adjourn this application for May 23rd by Mr. 18 Velazquez, seconded by Mr. Oseguera. Roll call on 19 the motion. 20 Mr. Velazquez. 21 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 22 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 23 MS. GENAO: Yes. 24 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 25 MS. MOREJON: Yes.  34 1 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Medina. 2 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 3 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 4 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 5 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 6 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Six in favor, motion 8 carries. 9 MS. PEREIRAS: Have a good night. See 10 you next month. 11 MR. PEREIRAS: Good night, everyone. 12 * * * * 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  35 1 ADJOURNMENT: 2 3 MR. VALLEJO: There being no other 4 applications on tonight's agenda, can I have a 5 motion to close tonight's meeting? 6 MR. GUARENO: Motion. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Guareno. 8 MS. MOREJON: Second. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Ms. Morejon. 10 All in favor? 11 (Whereupon, all Board Members indicate 12 in the affirmative.) 13 MR. VALLEJO: The ayes have it. Let the 14 record indicate that the meeting has ended. Thank 15 you and good night, everyone. 16 17 (Whereupon the meeting was adjourned at 18 6:37 p.m.) 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  36 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