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, July 25, 2023 Commencing at 6:04 p.m. 10 11 M E M B E R S P R E S E N T: 12 ALEJANDRO VELAZQUEZ, Chairperson CELIN J. VALDIVIA, Commissioner 13 YDALIA GENAO FRANKLIN MEDINA 14 HECTOR OSEGUERA, Alternate #2 15 M E M B E R S A B S E N T: 16 BRIAN T. STACK, Mayor ALICIA MOREJON 17 CAROLINA FERNANDEZ JOSE GUARENO 18 19 A L S O P R E S E N T: 20 BRIAN CHEWCASKIE, ESQ. Board Counsel 21 CARLOS VALLEJO, Board Secretary 22 DAVID SPATZ, P.P. 23 24 SUSAN BISCHOFF, CCR, RPR 25 449 Columbia Blvd., Wood-Ridge, NJ 07075 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 BIANCA PEREIRAS, ESQ. 4 Attorney for Applicant, Jersey Property Holdings, LLP 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 4 4 SALUTE TO FLAG 4 5 ROLL CALL 5 6 ADOPTION OF MINUTES 6 7 HEARINGS 7/9 8 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS n/a 9 ADJOURNMENT 12 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  4 1 MR. VALLEJO: May I have your attention 2 please? 3 Please take notice that on Tuesday, July 4 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.  5 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 Celin 8 Valdivia. 9 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Here. 10 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 11 MS. GENAO: Yes. 12 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon is absent. 13 Ms. Fernandez is absent. 14 Mr. Medina. 15 MR. MEDINA: Here. 16 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno is absent. 17 Mr. Oseguera. 18 MR. OSEGUERA: Here. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Let the record indicate we 20 have five present for tonight's meeting. 21 * * * * 22 23 24 25  6 1 ADOPTION OF MINUTES: 2 3 MR. VALLEJO: We're going to adoption of 4 the minutes. Regular meeting held on June 27, 5 2023. Can I have a motion? 6 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Velazquez. 8 MS. GENAO: I'll second. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Ms. Genao. 10 Roll call on the motion. Mr. Velazquez. 11 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 12 MR. VALLEJO: Commissioner Valdivia. 13 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: I abstain. 14 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 15 MS. GENAO: Yes. 16 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Medina. 17 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 18 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 19 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 20 MR. VALLEJO: Four in favor, one 21 abstained, motion carries. 22 We are going to be off the record for 23 five minutes. 24 25 (Whereupon a short recess was taken.)  7 1 SHAISTA, LLC - 2 522-524 31ST STREET: 3 4 MR. VALLEJO: Back on the record. First 5 application on tonight's agenda is Shaista, LLC, 6 522-524 31st Street. Ms. Pereiras, please. 7 MS. PEREIRAS: Good evening, counsel, 8 board members, Bianca Pereiras on behalf of 9 applicant. 10 As you know this is, I believe, our 11 fourth appearance on this application. When we 12 were here last, not only did you hear from our 13 architect, but you also heard from our traffic 14 engineer because the board had raised a concern 15 about parking and traffic in the neighborhood. At 16 that time, this board asked for an adjournment for 17 purposes of the board members going out to the 18 property and taking a look at the neighborhood and 19 community. I hope that the board members have 20 done that at this point and we are here in case 21 there are any questions or other concerns. But I 22 believe the floor is the board's now. 23 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I think at the 24 end of the day, it still comes down to the whole 25 parking component. We go to meetings, and we're  8 1 averaging now like eight police community 2 meetings. And the major thing is, parking that's 3 the major, major thing on it. I guess we got to 4 get a foothold to allow the parking situation and 5 everything. As of this point, I move to deny this 6 application. 7 MR. VALLEJO: We have a motion on the 8 table to deny this applications by Mr. Velazquez. 9 MR. OSEGUERA: Second. 10 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Mr. Oseguera. 11 Roll call on the motion to deny this application. 12 Mr. Velazquez. 13 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 14 MR. VALLEJO: Commissioner Valdivia. 15 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 16 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 17 MS. GENAO: Yes. 18 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Medina. 19 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 20 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 21 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 22 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 23 carries. The application has been denied. 24 * * * * 25  9 1 JERSEY PROPERTY HOLDINGS, LLP - 2 1113 BERGENLINE AVENUE: 3 4 MR. VALLEJO: We're moving to 5 application number two, Jersey Property Holdings, 6 LLC, 1113 Bergenline Avenue. Ms. Pereiras, 7 please. 8 MS. PEREIRAS: Bianca Pereiras on behalf 9 of the applicant for property at 1113 Bergenline 10 Avenue. As the board may recall, we presented 11 testimony at the last meeting to construct two 12 mixed use buildings with parking on-site. 13 At the last meeting, the board asked for 14 a continuation so that you could also visit the 15 property and understand the neighborhood a little 16 better. So we're here in case the board has any 17 questions concerning this proposal. 18 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: This was one of 19 the police community meetings that we actually had 20 on that block. And I know lot of the residents 21 are talking about development there. But as for 22 parking, it took forever to find parking. We got 23 to control -- get a foothold on this parking 24 situation. So for this application, I will vote 25 to deny.  10 1 MS. PEREIRAS: We're actually providing 2 parking on-site. 3 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: For one. The 4 other one is the commercial. 5 MS. PEREIRAS: We're providing five 6 parking spots, which is unheard of in an 7 application in Union City, especially of this 8 size. And again we're proposing exactly what the 9 master plan and ordinance in the City request, 10 which is a mixed use building in this area. This 11 is Bergenline Avenue. 12 As we mentioned at the last meeting, we 13 grew up on that street so we know this area 14 extremely well. We drive by it every day to visit 15 our grandmother and to go to our office. This 16 property in particular has remained vacant for too 17 long. I believe this burnt down when I was a 18 little girl. And it's been just wasted, wasted 19 land, especially on Bergenline Avenue, which is 20 one of our most important thoroughfares. 21 So hearing your comments, we made sure 22 that on this property, because we had a corner 23 lot, we could not only address the master plan and 24 provide the housing that Union City requires, the 25 commercial units that Union City requires, but we  11 1 were also able to provide parking. I don't see a 2 better application ever coming forward on this 3 lot. 4 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Thank you. I 5 still vote to deny the application. 6 MR. VALLEJO: Motion on the table to 7 deny the application by Mr. Velazquez. 8 MS. GENAO: I second it. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Ms. Genao. 10 Roll call on the motion to deny this application. 11 Mr. Velazquez. 12 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Commission Valdivia. 14 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 16 MS. GENAO: Yes. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Medina. 18 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 20 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 21 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 22 carries. Let the record reflect that the 23 application has been denied. 24 * * * * 25  12 1 ADJOURNMENT: 2 3 MR. VALLEJO: We're moving now -- there 4 being no other application on tonight's agenda, 5 can I have a motion to close tonight's meeting? 6 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Make a motion. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Velazquez. 8 Seconded by? 9 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Second. 10 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Commissioner 11 Valdivia. All in favor? 12 (All Board Members indicate in the 13 affirmative.) 14 MR. VALLEJO: The ayes have it. 15 16 (Whereupon the meeting was adjourned at 17 6:20 p.m.) 18 19 20 21 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