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, May 23, 2023 Commencing at 6:08 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 FRANKLIN MEDINA JOSE GUARENO, Alternate #1 14 HECTOR OSEGUERA, Alternate #2 15 M E M B E R S A B S E N T: 16 BRIAN T. STACK, Mayor CELIN J. VALDIVIA, Commissioner 17 ALICIA MOREJON 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 BIANCA PEREIRAS, ESQ. Attorney for Applicant, Shaista, LLC 3 4 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 8 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS 19 9 ADJOURNMENT 20 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 522-524 31st Street 3 4 WITNESS PAGE 5 MANUEL PEREIRAS 9 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, May 4 23, 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 This meeting is called in compliance 10 with Chapter 231, Public Law 1975, of the Open 11 Public Meetings Act. Adequate notice of this 12 meeting has been provided as follows: Notice of 13 this meeting setting forth the time, date, 14 location, and the agenda to the extent known, was 15 forwarded to The Jersey Journal, The Record, and 16 The Star Ledger, has been posted on the bulletin 17 board in City Hall, and has been made available to 18 the public in the Office of the Municipal Clerk. 19 Before we do roll call for tonight's 20 meeting, can everybody kindly rise to salute the 21 flag, please? 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 Brian Stack is absent. 5 Mr. Velazquez. 6 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Here. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Commissioner Valdivia is 8 absent. 9 Ms. Genao. 10 MS. GENAO: Yes. 11 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon is absent. 12 Ms. Fernandez is absent. 13 Mr. Medina. 14 MR. MEDINA: Here. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 16 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 18 MR. OSEGUERA: Here. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Let the record indicate 20 there are five present for tonight's meeting. 21 * * * * 22 23 24 25  7 1 ADOPTION OF MINUTES: 2 3 MR. VALLEJO: We are going to adoption 4 of minutes, regular meeting held on April 25, 5 2023. Can I have a motion? 6 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Velazquez. 8 MR. OSEGUERA: Second. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Mr. Oseguera. 10 Roll call on the motion. Mr. Velazquez. 11 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 12 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 13 MS. GENAO: Yes. 14 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 15 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 16 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Medina. 17 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 18 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 19 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 20 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 21 carries. 22 * * * * 23 24 25  8 1 HEARINGS/APPLICATIONS: 2 SHAISTA, LLC - 3 522-524 31st Street: 4 5 MR. VALLEJO: We're moving to now the 6 first item on tonight's agenda, Shaista, LLC, 7 522-524 31st Street. Ms. Pereiras, please. 8 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you. Good evening, 9 everyone. Bianca Pereiras on behalf of Shaista, 10 LLC. As this Board may recall, we were in front 11 of you last month on this application to subdivide 12 this lot and to constructed exactly what the 13 ordinance looks for, which is a mixed use 14 building, commercial on the ground floor with 15 three residential units above. 16 You heard from our one expert that 17 evening, which was our architect, Mr. Manuel 18 Pereiras. And at that time, the Board asked to 19 continue this matter so that some of the Board 20 Members could visit the site. I'm hoping the 21 Board Members had an opportunity to do so from the 22 last meeting. And we're here to answer or address 23 any concerns the Board may have. 24 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Anybody? 25 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Mr. Chairman, that was  9 1 my recollection. I think we heard all the 2 testimony. The matter was carried to this evening 3 for site inspections to investigate the property 4 and the surrounding neighborhood. 5 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I visited the 6 site. I had to go over there because we're doing 7 some upgrades to lighting where the bus shuttle 8 is. What I did notice was everything was double 9 parked, so no parking. I went around like three 10 times, I had to double park. 11 It's a great project, but without the 12 parking component -- and a lot of what's happening 13 is we're getting a lot of people that doesn't 14 understand, like, with the older buildings why is 15 there not parking. We understand it's a new 16 generation where you get the two cars, the 17 teenagers growing up and everything. But not 18 having parking on a property is going to be very 19 detrimental to this project. 20 21 M A N U E L P E R E I R A S, previously sworn 22 on this application: 23 24 MR. PEREIRAS: I'd like to address that, 25 if possible. We have in Union City in place a  10 1 master plan and the zoning ordinance. And both of 2 them very specifically outlined exactly this 3 project. So much to the fact that I'd like to say 4 that two months ago, we presented before the Union 5 City Board of Adjustment, which is your sister 6 board, which is supposed to be a much more 7 difficult approval to get. And they approved 8 exactly the same building on Summit Avenue, which 9 is even more densely populated and more difficult 10 to park. 11 So even Union City has accepted and 12 approved this project as of two months ago. And 13 there are very specific reasons why and why it 14 makes sense. We want this area to be populated, 15 both during the day and during the evening. So 16 during the day, during business hours, and during 17 the evening, when there's residential people 18 coming home. 19 In order to keep commercial properties 20 on the ground floor, we can't create a curb cut 21 and create parking on the ground floor. We don't 22 want that. As a City, we don't want to see that. 23 What we want is an activated ground floor with 24 commercial properties on both -- on the ground 25 floor. If I were to not provide that commercial  11 1 property on the ground floor, I wouldn't be coming 2 before this Board, I would be going before the 3 Zoning Board of Adjustment because I wasn't able 4 to provide retail or commercial on the ground 5 floor, which is more difficult, I'd be asking for 6 a use variance. So, in fact, by not granting a 7 parking variance, this Board is forcing me into a 8 use variance before the Zoning Board of 9 Adjustment. 10 The apartments that we're creating, it's 11 three apartments in each of these units. This is 12 exactly what the ordinance says. It actually 13 recommends three apartments above. And I want to 14 take this a little bit further. This is a project 15 where we have a site where there are two 16 nonconforming buildings, and that the original 17 site -- I know this is a little confusing, the one 18 site is like this. This is lot one and this is 19 lot two, and both of them are nonconforming 20 according to our ordinance. We're taking two 21 nonconforming lots, dividing it, splitting it down 22 the middle perfectly so that we have two 23 conforming 25-by-100 lots and creating a use 24 that's exactly what this ordinance says. 25 So, you know, I do a lot of work in  12 1 town. And this is as ideal of a project, this is 2 exactly what we want in Union City. I understand 3 parking is an issue, it's an issue everywhere. 4 This is a sensor hub of commercial -- of 5 transport. We have buses into New York, we have 6 buses towards the west on Route 3, we have 7 everything right across here. We have the light 8 rail that's not -- 16 blocks away. This is not 9 meant to be big multifamily buildings, there's no 10 elevator in this building. There's no huge amount 11 of apartments in this building. This is just what 12 the ordinance specifically says. Why? Because 13 it's modest apartments, you know, walk up, four 14 stories, okay, for Union City families that are 15 struggling, that need a place that need three 16 bedroom apartments that you can't get in any of 17 the big buildings around here because none of them 18 have a three bedroom apartment. This is providing 19 for that, it's providing, for Union City families, 20 hard working families that can't afford the luxury 21 of bigger buildings. This is what -- it's for 22 them, okay. 23 And if we turn down a building like 24 this, it's a problem for many reasons. Number 25 one, we're basically turning away those hard  13 1 working families, not giving them a place to stay, 2 that this provides desperately. And second, 3 you're forcing a use variance on this that's going 4 to go before the Zoning Board of Adjustment and we 5 already know they already approved exactly the 6 same thing with -- you know, the same building 7 without parking two months ago. 8 So I ask you -- and just to be a little 9 bit more of a devil's advocate here and explain a 10 little bit what's going on. This neighborhood, 11 since that last board meeting, I made it a point 12 to drive by the site every single day. Some days, 13 it was hard to find parking. It was -- there were 14 few spots. But almost every day -- and I'm 15 telling you over 90 percent of the days, there 16 were lots of empty parking spots. I actually 17 wound up taking pictures of a lot of the empty 18 parking slots. And this is like after 6:00, when 19 I'm heading home. Just form the car, all empty 20 parking spots along that 32nd Street, extra spaces 21 you have, open spots all over the place. 22 It's just, you know -- and it's not 23 every day. But there are, this is actually one of 24 those locations in Union City where parking is 25 available. And I think that it would -- it's the  14 1 right choice for the City to approve something 2 like this. And I hope this Board considers that. 3 And if there's -- if parking is really 4 an issue, if this is like a real concern of the 5 Board and this Board tells me, Manny, we want 6 stats, we want -- next month, come in with a 7 parking study that says you know how much parking 8 space is available there and we go every day and 9 we count the spaces. Give us the opportunity to 10 provide that because I really think it's -- I 11 think it would be a shame if the Board would turn 12 this down. Because what we would have is those 13 two existing buildings, that are nonconforming, 14 it's not right. And we're not providing the 15 housing stock that we need. 16 I don't know if you guys are in tune 17 with our market, but if you need a one bedroom 18 apartment, if you need a studio in Union City, if 19 you need a two bedroom even, you'll get it. If 20 you need a nice three bedroom apartment that 21 you're raising a family, you have two kids or 22 three kids, it's almost impossible to get. It's 23 very hard to get decent housing stock. 24 This is going to provide that. And 25 thank you for letting me talk.  15 1 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Maybe you want to hear 2 from David? 3 MR. SPATZ: Yeah, I think it's a little 4 bit of a contradiction in our ordinance in that it 5 requires commercial on the ground floor, but 6 doesn't -- and requires parking, but it doesn't 7 allow to you actually put the parking on the 8 ground floor. The only place that it would work 9 is if you had a corner lot and potentially you 10 could come in off of the side street and put a few 11 spaces in the back and have the stores a little 12 smaller. Otherwise, there's really -- the 13 ordinance doesn't even allow you to provide 14 parking on the site, but it requires parking. 15 Because it makes you have to put commercial 16 downstairs and Manny's right in that if you didn't 17 have the commercial on one of them and used it as 18 parking, he'd have to go to the other board for a 19 variance. So I think that it is sort of a 20 difficulty in the ordinance, which requires the 21 parking and requires commercial on the ground 22 floor. 23 So I think that, you know, the Board 24 needs to consider that, that it puts a burden on 25 the property owner that -- and the applicants that  16 1 can't really be solved. 2 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Can you get a 3 traffic study done? 4 MR. PEREIRAS: We'll be happy to get a 5 traffic study. We'll be here next month, we'll 6 give you the statistics so that you can see and 7 clearly understand and make a good judgment on it, 8 okay. Because this really is the right project 9 for this neighborhood. 10 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Manny, and I guess if 11 you're doing the study, you know, I'm looking at 12 it, you have an undefined commercial use and 13 Domino's, correct? 14 MR. PEREIRAS: Correct. 15 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Would the undefined be 16 retail? 17 MR. PEREIRAS: That's what we expect it 18 to be, but it's undefined. 19 MR. CHEWCASKIE: I mean, but if you're 20 doing the study, you're going to rely on ITE, the 21 trip generation and the like. I think Domino's, 22 you're going have the data that's there, whether 23 it's predominantly delivery, pickup or whatever. 24 So I think that's what the Board want to see and 25 perhaps just to get an idea of the peak times for  17 1 the facilities, what the parking demand -- what 2 the parking is really like in the area. 3 MS. PEREIRAS: We'll be happy to provide 4 that. 5 MR. CHEWCASKIE: I think that will 6 clarify because, you know, if I could go there and 7 spend five minutes and not find a parking space. 8 And then, you know, ten minutes later, it might be 9 opening up. We don't know. So I think that's 10 something the Board will want to see. 11 MS. PEREIRAS: I think that's a fair 12 request and we're happy to comply. 13 MR. CHEWCASKIE: So I think, Mr. 14 Chairman, it would be appropriate to have a motion 15 to carry this to the June 27th meeting. 16 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion 17 to adjourn. 18 MR. VALLEJO: Motion to adjourn to 19 June 27, 2023, by Mr. Velazquez. Any second on 20 the motion? 21 MS. GENAO: I second it. 22 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. Roll call on 23 the motion to adjourn this application. Mr. 24 Velazquez. 25 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes.  18 1 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 2 MS. GENAO: Yes. 3 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 4 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 5 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Medina. 6 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 8 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Before I -- there's time 10 limits for the application? 11 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Ms. Pereiras, you're 12 waiving the time limits to return? 13 MS. PEREIRAS: Of course, we are. 14 MR. CHEWCASKIE: I think it was deemed 15 complete in March so we're getting close. 16 MR. VALLEJO: Thank you. Five in favor, 17 motion carries. This application has been 18 adjourned. 19 MR. CHEWCASKIE: We'll see you in June. 20 MS. PEREIRAS: We'll be back. Thank 21 you, all. 22 MR. PEREIRAS: Thank you, everyone. 23 * * * * 24 25  19 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS: 2 1. West 13, LLC, 409 4th Street: 3 MR. VALLEJO: Moving to resolutions. 4 First resolution is West 13th, LLC, 409 4th 5 Street. This application was denied at the 6 previous meeting. Can I get a motion to 7 memorialize this resolution? 8 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Velazquez. 10 MR. GUARENO: Second. 11 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Mr. Guareno. 12 Roll call on the motion. 13 Mr. Velazquez. 14 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 16 MS. GENAO: Yes. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 18 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Medina. 20 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 21 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 22 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 23 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 24 carries. 25 * * * *  20 1 ADJOURNMENT: 2 3 MR. VALLEJO: There being no other 4 applications on tonight's agenda, can I have a 5 motion to adjourn the meeting. 6 MR. OSEGUERA: Motion. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Oseguera. 8 MR. MEDINA: Second. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Second by Mr. Medina. 10 Roll call on the motion. All in favor? 11 (All Board Members indicate in the 12 affirmative.) 13 MR. VALLEJO: The ayes have it, thank 14 you. Good night. Let the record indicate the 15 meeting has ended. 16 17 (Whereupon the meeting was adjourned at 18 6:23 p.m.) 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  21 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