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, March 25 2025 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 (via phone) YDALIA GENAO 13 ALICIA MOREJON CAROLINA FERNANDEZ 14 FRANKLIN MEDINA 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 JOSE GUARENO, Alternate #1 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, 208 18th Street, 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 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS 8/10 8 HEARINGS 208 18th Street, LLC 12 9 Shaista, LLC 15 10 ADJOURNMENT 21 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 16 6 7 8 E X H I B I T S 9 10 NO. DOCUMENT PAGE 11 A-2 Revised rendering 17 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, March 3 25, 2025, at 6:00 PM, a regular meeting is 4 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 Record and The Star Ledger 15 has been posted on the bulletin board in City Hall 16 and has been made available to the public in the 17 office of the municipal clerk, also has been 18 posted on the website of the City of Union City, 19 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: Thank you. Mayor Stack is 4 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. 12 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Fernandez. 14 MS. FERNANDEZ: Yes. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Medina. 16 MR. MEDINA: Here. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno is absent. 18 Mr. Oseguera. 19 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 20 MR. VALLEJO: Let the record indicate we 21 have six present. 22 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Correct. 23 24 25  7 1 ADOPTION OF MINUTES: 2 3 MR. VALLEJO: All right. Now, we're 4 going to move to the adoption of minutes. Regular 5 meeting held on January 28, 2025, and February 11, 6 2025. Can I have a motion? 7 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 8 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Velazquez. 9 MS. MOREJON: Second. 10 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Ms. Morejon. 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: Ms. Fernandez. 17 MS. FERNANDEZ: Yes. 18 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Medina. 19 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 20 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 21 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 22 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 23 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 24 MR. VALLEJO: Six in favor, motion 25 carries.  8 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS: 2 1. Please take notice that on November 19, 2024, 3 the Board of Commissioners of the City of Union 4 City adopted a resolution authorizing the Union 5 City Planning Board to undertake a preliminary 6 investigation of property identified as fallow: 7 Block 276, Lot 1 - 4700 Bergenline Avenue. 8 Approved 9 10 MR. VALLEJO: All right. We're moving 11 on to -- 12 MR. CHEWCASKIE: I'll take it, Mr. 13 Vallejo, if I may? If there's anyone here for a 14 public hearing on Central Hotel, LLP, that meeting 15 will be adjourned to our April 22nd meeting. 16 There was an error with the notice, so that will 17 be carried to April 22nd. 18 We also have two resolutions to be 19 adopted. On January 28, 2025, there was a 20 recommendation regarding the redevelopment area 21 for 4700 Bergenline Avenue. That was approved. 22 We did a resolution memorializing that 23 determination. Those individuals who are eligible 24 to vote are Mr. Velazquez, Ms. Genao, Ms. Morejon, 25 Mr. Guareno, and Mr. Oseguera. So it would be  9 1 appropriate to have a motion on that. 2 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 3 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Velazquez. 4 MR. OSEGUERA: Second. 5 MR. CHEWCASKIE: That was Mr. Oseguera. 6 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Mr. Oseguera. 7 Roll call on the motion. 8 Mr. Velazquez. 9 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 10 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 11 MS. GENAO: Yes. 12 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Fernandez was present? 13 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Ms. Fernandez was not 14 on the January. So it would be Ms. Genao, Ms. 15 Morejon. 16 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 17 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 18 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Mr. Guareno. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno is not here. 20 Mr. Oseguera. 21 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 22 MR. VALLEJO: Four in favor, motion 23 pass. 24 25  10 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS: 2 2. Please take notice that on October 8, 2024, 3 the Board of Commissioners of the City of Union 4 City adopted a resolution authorizing the Union 5 City Planning Board to undertake a preliminary 6 investigation of property identified as fallow: 7 Block 17, Lot 1 - 507 West Street. Approved 8 9 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Okay. Next resolution 10 was also a recommendation regarding the 11 investigation for redevelopment area that was 507 12 West Street, Bruce Walters. That was approved by 13 the Board. The resolution memorializes that 14 determination. And again the four individuals who 15 just voted are eligible to vote on this 16 resolution. So it would be appropriate for a 17 motion. 18 MR. VALLEJO: Can I have a motion? 19 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 20 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Velazquez. 21 MS. MOREJON: Second. 22 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Ms. Morejon. 23 Roll call on the motion. 24 Mr. Velazquez. 25 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes.  11 1 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 2 MS. GENAO: Yes. 3 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Medina. 4 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 5 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Mr. Medina was 6 ineligible. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 8 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 10 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 11 MR. VALLEJO: Four in favor, motion 12 carries. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  12 1 208 18TH STREET, LLC - 2 206-208 18TH STREET: 3 4 MR. VALLEJO: Moving to the hearings. 5 MR. CHEWCASKIE: We have the first 6 hearing. First hearing is a request for 7 extension. It was 208 18th Street, LLC. This was 8 the one that was remanded to the Board. The Board 9 ultimately approved the two three-families. The 10 resolution was adopted on March 28, 2023. And the 11 applicant is requesting a one-year extension. 12 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you, Counsel. 13 Good evening, Members of the Board, may 14 it please the Board, Bianca Pereiras on behalf of 15 the applicant. As counsel mentioned, this 16 application was approved by this Board in March of 17 2023 to subdivide this property and construct a 18 new home. The applicant has submitted all his 19 permit requests to the City of Union City Building 20 Department. It took him a little long to get to 21 that point because he needed to get stormwater 22 approval. And that took longer than had been 23 anticipated. However, all applications are in. 24 However, since the approval expires this month, 25 we're looking just to protect that resolution and  13 1 make sure that this Board can grant a one-year 2 extension so that the Board -- or the building 3 department can review the permit request and 4 issue -- properly issue permits in this matter. 5 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Mr. Chairman, I did 6 have the opportunity to review the request. Since 7 this matter was the product of litigation and also 8 that the permit requests are in, I would recommend 9 that the Board view the extension favorably. 10 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I do. I make a 11 motion. 12 MR. VALLEJO: Motion to approve the 13 extension by Mr. Velazquez. 14 MS. GENAO: Second. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Ms. Genao. 16 Roll call on the motion. 17 Mr. Velazquez. 18 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 20 MS. GENAO: Yes. 21 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Fernandez. 22 MS. FERNANDEZ: Yes. 23 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Medina. 24 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 25 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon.  14 1 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 2 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 3 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 4 MR. VALLEJO: Six in favor, motion 5 carries. 6 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you all very much. 7 MR. CHEWCASKIE: The resolution with 8 respect to the extension will be subject to all 9 the prior conditions in the prior resolution. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  15 1 SHAISTA, LLC - 2 522-524 31st Street: 3 4 MR. CHEWCASKIE: The next matter is, 5 again Shaista, LLC, 522-524 31st Street. It's 6 Block 170, Lots 41 and 42. Demolish two 7 structures and then construct a new four-story 8 mixed use structure on each lot. 9 This matter was previously heard by the 10 Board and carried to the February meeting, but the 11 February meeting was cancelled. And I believe the 12 Board wanted to -- or certain Board Members wanted 13 to view the neighborhood in order to familiarize 14 themselves. On January 28th, Mr. Manny Pereiras 15 testified at that time and we marked various 16 exhibits. And, as I indicated, certain Board 17 Members wanted to do a site visit. It was 18 adjourned to February 25th, but the February 25th 19 meeting was cancelled. So counsel? 20 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you very much. 21 Bianca Pereiras on behalf of the applicant. As 22 counsel mentioned, we were back here in January, 23 at which time all of our testimony was presented. 24 I know it's been a little while, so if the Board 25 would bear with us, we'll give a small recap of  16 1 the project, just to make sure it's fresh in your 2 minds. Mr. Pereiras, please. 3 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Mr. Pereiras, you're 4 still under oath -- since it's a new day, let's 5 swear you in. 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 in Union 13 City. 14 MS. PEREIRAS: Mr. Pereiras, if you 15 would be so kind to just give us a brief recap of 16 what the project entails? 17 MR. PEREIRAS: I'd be very happy to. I 18 did do one change and that was on the advice of 19 Ms. Morejon, she suggested that the colors could 20 be modified on our building. So this rendering is 21 a different rendering, I could mark it as 22 exhibit -- 23 MR. CHEWCASKIE: I think it's -- just 24 bear with me a moment, let me pull my notes out. 25 I believe you are correct it is A-2. A-1 was the  17 1 original rendering of the project. I don't see 2 anything else marked, so this would be A-2. And 3 would we describe that as revised rendering, Mr. 4 Pereiras? 5 MR. PEREIRAS: It's a revised rendering 6 with a new color scheme. This color scheme was 7 specifically curated to match the landscape on 8 32nd Street. My office previously designed two 9 different mixed-use buildings along 32nd Street, 10 so we matched the same brick so that we have a 11 continuity of the neighborhood. 12 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Just briefly, Mr. 13 Pereiras, it was the brick -- the color of the 14 brick the only change or were there any others? 15 MR. PEREIRAS: That's the only change 16 that we had. We had red brick and now we changed 17 it to match the two color bricks of 32nd Street, 18 which is a gray and a taupe tone. And beyond 19 that, the documents that we have before you today 20 on this easel are the same documents that were 21 submitted to the Board, same documents I made a 22 presentation for. 23 To just recap, we have an existing 24 Dominos Pizza with a dilapidated building there. 25 We are demolishing what's there, we're going to do  18 1 this in stages so the Dominos Pizza stays in 2 operation. We're going to build one building. 3 This is the new -- first one we're going to build. 4 It will have a ground floor Dominos Pizzeria and 5 then three apartments above. They're three 6 bedroom apartments that are in desperate need in 7 the neighborhood right now, to get three bedroom 8 apartments in Union City. 9 And then once that's completed, Dominos 10 will shift from this building to the new space. 11 And we will construct this building, a future 12 tenant, there will be a commercial tenant on the 13 ground floor and three apartments above. We 14 originally contemplated this thing without 15 parking. We created a front yard setback so that 16 we have parking for cars along the front of the 17 building. So we're satisfying all the people 18 coming in and out of the Dominos Pizza and some 19 tenants. So that the tenants have spaces at 20 night. 21 And I could expand on that as needed, 22 but I know you guys have heard me speak on this a 23 lot. So I'll spare you unless you have questions. 24 MR. CHEWCASKIE: In the absence of the 25 Chairman, do any of the Board Members have any  19 1 questions for Mr. Pereiras? Mr. Velazquez, do you 2 have anymore questions? 3 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: No, no 4 questions. 5 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Okay. Is that your 6 case, Ms. Pereiras, I'll open to the public then? 7 MS. PEREIRAS: It is, yes. 8 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Okay. Any members of 9 the public wish to be heard on this application? 10 Seeing one that does not want to come up, we'll 11 just say there are no members of the public who 12 wish to be heard. 13 Board Members, you've heard the 14 testimony. There were -- the people eligible to 15 act on this application are Mr. Velazquez, Ms. 16 Genao, Ms. Morejon and Mr. Oseguera. If any one 17 of those individuals wish to make a motion on this 18 application? 19 MS. MOREJON: I make a motion. 20 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Ms. Morejon. 21 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 22 MR. CHEWCASKIE: We'll make you second, 23 Mr. Velazquez. And then we would need a roll call 24 on the motion, Mr. Vallejo. 25 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Velazquez.  20 1 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 2 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 3 MS. GENAO: Yes. 4 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 5 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 6 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera. 7 MR. OSEGUERA: Yes. 8 MR. VALLEJO: Four in favor, motion 9 carries. 10 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Motion carried. 11 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you all very much. 12 MR. PEREIRAS: Thank you, everyone. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  21 1 ADJOURNMENT: 2 3 MR. CHEWCASKIE: All right. There being 4 no other business this evening, i would recommend 5 someone make a motion to adjourn. 6 MS. MOREJON: Motion. 7 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 8 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Ms. Morejon, 9 second by Mr. Velazquez. All in favor? 10 11 (All Board Members indicate in the 12 affirmative.) 13 14 MR. VALLEJO: The ayes have it. Let the 15 record indicate that the motion passes, also the 16 meeting has ended. Thank you and good night, 17 everyone. 18 19 (Whereupon the meeting was adjourned at 20 6:15 p.m.) 21 22 23 24 25  22 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