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, November 26, 2024 Commencing at 6:00 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 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 CAROLINA FERNANDEZ FRANKLIN MEDINA 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 CO. 201-390-0583 SBischoffccr@yahoo.com 25  2 1 A P P E A R A N C E S: 2 BIANCA PEREIRAS, ESQ. Attorney for Applicant, JBZ Enterprises, 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 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS 8/9/10 8 HEARINGS Silk Mill Complex 12 9 JBZ Enterprises, LLC 14 West 13, LLC 18 10 ADJOURNMENT 20 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  4 1 I N D E X 2 JBZ Enterprises, LLC 588-590 32nd Street 3 4 WITNESS PAGE 5 NO TESTIMONY 6 7 8 E X H I B I T S 9 NO. DOCUMENT PAGE 10 A-2 traffic report 15 11 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. Please take notice that on Tuesday, 3 November 26, 2024, at 6:00 PM, a regular meeting 4 is scheduled for the City of Union City Planning 5 Board to be held in the Union City High School 6 located at 2500 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Union 7 City, New Jersey. 8 Opening statement: This meeting is 9 called in compliance with chapter 231 public law 10 of 1975, Open Public Meeting Act. Adequate notice 11 of this meeting has been provided as follows: 12 Notice of this meeting setting forth the time, 13 date, location, and the agenda to the extent known 14 was forwarded to The Jersey Journal, The Star 15 Ledger, and The Record, has been posted on the 16 bulletin board in City Hall and has been made 17 available to the public in the office of the 18 municipal clerk, and also the website of the City 19 of Union City, ucnj.com. 20 Before we call roll for tonight's 21 meeting, can everybody kindly rise to salute the 22 flag? 23 24 (Whereupon, the Pledge of Allegiance is 25 recited.)  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: Mr. Valdivia is absent. 8 Ms. Genao. 9 MS. GENAO: Yes. 10 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 11 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 12 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Fernandez is absent. 13 Mr. Medina is absent. 14 Mr. Guareno. 15 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 16 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 17 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 18 MR. VALLEJO: Let the record indicate 19 there are five present, we have a quorum for 20 tonight's hearing. 21 22 23 24 25  7 1 ADOPTION OF MINUTES: 2 3 MR. VALLEJO: All right. We are going 4 to first adopt the minutes of October 22, 2024. 5 Can I have a motion? 6 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 7 MR. VALLEJO: I have a motion by Mr. 8 Velazquez. 9 MR. GUARENO: Second. 10 MR. VALLEJO: Second by Mr. Guareno. 11 Roll call on the motion. 12 Mr. Velazquez. 13 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 14 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 15 MS. GENAO: Yes. 16 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 17 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 18 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 19 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 20 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 21 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 22 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 23 carries. 24 25  8 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS: 2 1. Resolution to reappoint the planning board 3 secretary for the year 2025. 4 5 MR. VALLEJO: We are going to move to 6 resolutions. We have four resolutions on 7 tonight's agenda. Resolution number one is to 8 reappoint the board secretary to the planning 9 board for the year 2025. Can I have a motion? 10 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 11 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Velazquez. 12 MR. GUARENO: Second. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Second by Mr. Guareno. 14 Roll call on the motion to approve. 15 Mr. Velazquez. 16 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 18 MS. GENAO: Yes. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 20 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 21 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 22 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 23 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 24 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 25 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion carries.  9 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION: 2 2. Resolution to approve the planning board's 3 schedule for the year 2025. 4 5 MR. VALLEJO: Resolution number two is 6 to approve the planning board schedule for the 7 year 2025. Can I have a motion? 8 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Velazquez. 10 MR. GUARENO: Second. 11 MR. VALLEJO: Second 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. Oseguera. 18 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 20 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 21 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 22 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 23 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 24 carries. 25  10 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION: 2 3. H&A Developers, LLC - 2704-2710 Kennedy Blvd. 3 H& A Developer, LLC. Block: 156, Lots: 2, 4, 24, 4 25, 26, 27, 28 & 8 proposed a six (6) story 5 mixed-use building, consisting of 70 residential 6 units, 2 commercial spaces, and 137 parking 7 spaces. Lot: 8 two family dwelling. The approval 8 resolution was memorialized on November 22, 2022. 9 Requesting one year extension. Approved 10 11 MR. VALLEJO: Resolution number three, 12 all right. This is H&A Developers, LLC, 2704-2710 13 Kennedy Boulevard. This was approved at the 14 previous meeting. Can I have a motion to adopt 15 the resolution? 16 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Motion made Mr. Velazquez. 18 MR. GUARENO: Second. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Mr. Guareno. 20 Roll call on the motion. 21 Mr. Velazquez. 22 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 23 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 24 MS. GENAO: Yes. 25 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno.  11 1 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 2 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 3 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 4 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 5 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 6 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 7 carries. Okay. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  12 1 HEARINGS/APPLICATIONS: 2 1. Silk Mill Complex - 3 540 39th Street - 4 Area in need of redevelopment designation: 5 6 MR. VALLEJO: Now we're moving to 7 hearings and applications. Mr. Chewcaskie, 8 please. 9 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Number one is this 10 board adopted a resolution recommending that the 11 Silk Mill be designated as an area in need of 12 redevelopment, that's the property located at 540 13 39th Street. The commissioners accepted that 14 recommendation and prepared a redevelopment plan, 15 which was consistent with the designation and the 16 proposal received. The ordinance for that 17 redevelopment plan was introduced by the Board of 18 Commissioners and it is scheduled for adoption. 19 And therefore they are requesting that a motion be 20 made to recommend that the ordinance for the 21 redevelopment plan be adopted. I recommend that 22 it be adopted in its present form. So we need a 23 motion on that. 24 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 25 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Velazquez.  13 1 MR. GUARENO: Second. 2 MR. VALLEJO: Second by Mr. Guareno. 3 Roll call on the motion. 4 Mr. Velazquez. 5 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 6 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 7 MS. GENAO: Yes. 8 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 9 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 10 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 11 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 12 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 13 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 14 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 15 carries. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  14 1 HEARINGS/APPLICATIONS: 2 2. JBZ Enterprises, LLC - 3 588-590 32nd Street: 4 5 MR. VALLEJO: We're going to hearing 6 number two, JBZ Enterprise, LLC, 588-590 39th 7 Street. Ms. Pereiras, please. 8 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you, Mr. Vallejo. 9 Good evening, board members. Bianca Pereiras on 10 behalf of the applicant for property at 588 - 590 11 39th Street, also known as Lots 2 and 3 in Block 12 204. As the Board may recall, we were in front of 13 you last month on an application to renovate and 14 add residential units to the existing building and 15 site, which is currently a mixed-use building. As 16 per the testimony of our architect and our 17 planner, this provides a much needed facelift to 18 this project. 19 At the conclusion of our presentation, 20 the Board asked for a traffic report, which we 21 have provided, prepared by Dynamic Traffic. I 22 hope and I take it that the Board Members have 23 read that report. But in reading through it, it 24 seems very obvious that the parking count would 25 not be increased or the demand would not be  15 1 increased if the Board were to approve this 2 application. In fact, the current demand with the 3 existing building with the restaurant, plus the 4 residential, has a parking demand of 24 units. If 5 the Board were to approve this application, our 6 parking demand is actually less, for 23 units. 7 Remember that this restaurant is in existence and 8 it would continue to be in existence, much smaller 9 than it is now, but we believe that the parking is 10 not an issue and can be accommodated with the 11 proposal and the approval of this application. 12 And we're open to your questions. The planner is 13 not here, the traffic engineer isn't here, but the 14 architect is here in case the Board has any 15 questions of him. 16 MR. CHEWCASKIE: If I may, Mr. Chairman? 17 What we heard from Ms. Pereiras was accurate from 18 what occurred at the October 22nd meeting. There 19 was a traffic and parking study that was provided 20 and made part of the record. That was dated 21 November 15, 2024, for the purposes of the record 22 this evening, I would recommend that we mark the 23 exhibit as A-2. I'm sure everyone had the ability 24 to review the study. But as indicated by Ms. 25 Pereiras, the demand for the parking is not  16 1 changing, based upon what's being proposed because 2 of the reconfiguration of the restaurant. The 3 square footage is being somewhat reduced, even 4 though there are additional residential units. 5 So, hopefully, I characterized that correctly. 6 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I always say a 7 picture makes a million words, the difference. 8 That's really needed over there. I actually 9 passed by a couple times and I thought about how 10 that looked in black and white photos, horrible. 11 I want to make a motion to approve. 12 MR. VALLEJO: Motion on the table to 13 approve by Mr. Velazquez. 14 MR. GUARENO: Second. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Mr. Guareno. 16 Roll call on the motion to approve. 17 Mr. Velazquez. 18 MR. VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 20 MS. GENAO: Yes. 21 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 22 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 23 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 24 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 25 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera.  17 1 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 2 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 3 carries. 4 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you all very much. 5 MR. PEREIRAS: Thank you, everyone. 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  18 1 HEARINGS/APPLICATIONS/COURT ORDER: 2 West 13, LLC - 3 409 4th Street: 4 5 MR. CHEWCASKIE: The next one is the one 6 that was remanded to the Board. For the record, 7 this is West 13th, LLC, 409 4th Street. This was 8 remanded to the Board, I believe back in August, 9 it's been on our agenda September, October, and 10 November. I did communicate with Mr. Alonso last 11 week, they have not communicated with their 12 client. I would just recommend since it is a 13 court remand, we can't dismiss the case, but I 14 would recommend that it be removed from the agenda 15 until we hear from Mr. Alonso. If that is -- 16 that's my recommendation. I would like a motion 17 to communicate to Mr. Alonso, indicate that this 18 matter will be removed from the agenda unless we 19 hear from him. If we do not hear from him within 20 the next 90 days, we will contact the attorney 21 that handled this matter for the Board to advise 22 the court accordingly. 23 MR. VALLEJO: Can I have a motion to 24 dismiss? 25 MS. MOREJON: Motion.  19 1 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Ms. Morejon. 2 MR. GUARENO: Second. 3 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Mr. Guareno. 4 Roll call on the motion to dismiss. 5 Mr. Velazquez. 6 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 8 MS. GENAO: Yes. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 10 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 11 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 12 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 14 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 16 carries. This application will be dismissed with 17 no further action. 18 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Just so the record is 19 clear, the motion will be that the matter will be 20 removed from the agenda for a period of 90 days. 21 Then if there's no action, it will be 22 automatically dismissed without prejudice. 23 24 25  20 1 ADJOURNMENT: 2 3 MR. VALLEJO: That's it. There being no 4 other applications on tonight's agenda, can I have 5 a motion to close tonight's meeting? 6 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 7 MR. CHEWCASKIE: We need -- 8 (Discussion held off the record.) 9 MR. GUARENO: Second. 10 MR. VALLEJO: All in favor? 11 12 (All Board Members indicate in the 13 affirmative.) 14 15 (Whereupon the meeting was adjourned at 16 6:13 p.m.) 17 18 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