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 22, 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 YDALIA GENAO 13 ALICIA MOREJON FRANKLIN MEDINA 14 JOSE GUARENO, Alternate #1 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 HECTOR OSEGUERA 18 19 A L S O P R E S E N T: 20 BRIAN CHEWCASKIE, ESQ. Board Counsel (via telephone) 21 22 CARLOS VALLEJO, Board Secretary 23 24 SUSAN BISCHOFF CCR CO. 25 201-390-0583 SBischoffccr@yahoo.com  2 1 I N D E X 2 PAGE 3 CALL TO ORDER 3 4 SALUTE TO FLAG 3 5 ROLL CALL 4 6 ADOPTION OF MINUTES 5 7 HEARINGS n/a 8 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS 6/8/11 9 ADJOURNMENT 13 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  3 1 MR. VALLEJO: May I have your attention, 2 please. 3 Please take notice that on Tuesday, July 4 22, 2025, at 6:00 PM, a regular meeting is 5 scheduled for the City of Union City Planning 6 Board to be held in the Union City High School 7 located at 2500 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Union 8 City, New Jersey. 9 Opening statement: This meeting is 10 called in compliance with Chapter 231 Public Law 11 of 1975, Open Public Meeting Act. Adequate notice 12 of this meeting has been provided as follows: 13 Notice of this meeting setting forth the time, 14 date, location, and the agenda to the extent known 15 was forwarded to The Record, and The Star Ledger, 16 has been posted on the bulletin board in City Hall 17 and has been made available to the public in the 18 office of the municipal clerk, and also has been 19 posted on the website of the City of Union City. 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.)  4 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. 9 Ms. Genao. 10 MS. GENAO: Yes. 11 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 12 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Fernandez is absent. 14 Mr. Medina. 15 MR. MEDINA: Here. 16 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 17 MR. GUARENO: Here. 18 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Oseguera is absent. 19 We have a quorum, we have five present. 20 * * * * 21 22 23 24 25  5 1 ADOPTION OF MINUTES: 2 3 MR. VALLEJO: All right. We're moving 4 to minutes held on June 24, 2025. 5 Can I have a motion? 6 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 7 MS. MOREJON: Second. 8 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Velazquez, 9 seconded by Ms. Morejon. Roll call on the motion. 10 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: Ms. Morejon. 17 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 18 MR. VALLEJO: Four in favor, motion 19 carries. 20 * * * * 21 22 23 24 25  6 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS: 2 1. 707 Urban Renewal, LLC. 707 Summit Avenue 3 Block: 32.01 Lots: 9 & 4 and 810-812 Kennedy Blvd. 4 Block: 43 Lots: 6 & 7. Development of 25 5 affordable residential units pursuant to 6 Redevelopment Plan. Approved. 7 8 MR. VALLEJO: All right. We don't have 9 any applications on tonight's agenda. We have 10 three resolutions. 11 Resolution number one, 707 Urban 12 Renewal, LLC, 707 Urban Renewal, LLC, 707 Summit 13 Avenue. Can I have a motion? 14 MS. MOREJON: Motion. 15 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Motion. 16 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Velazquez. 17 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: It's not just 18 707, there's -- 19 MR. VALLEJO: So 707 Urban Renewal, LLC, 20 707 Summit Avenue and 810-812 Kennedy Boulevard. 21 Can I have a motion to adopt the 22 resolution? 23 MS. MOREJON: Motion. 24 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Ms. Morejon. 25 MR. GUARENO: Second.  7 1 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Mr. Guareno. 2 Roll call on the motion. 3 Mr. Velazquez. 4 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 5 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 6 MS. GENAO: Yes. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 8 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 10 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 11 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Mr. Oseguera was 12 present on the 24th, I don't know if he's present 13 today, it will be five members. 14 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: He's not here. 15 MR. CHEWCASKIE: It passes by the four 16 votes. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 18 MS. GENAO: Yes. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Four in favor, motion 20 carries. 21 * * * * 22 23 24 25  8 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION: 2 2. West 13, LLC. 409 4th Street. Block 12 Lot 9. 3 Client proposes to construct a new three family 4 house in the R-Zone. Applicant will require 5 Preliminary and Final site plans approval as well 6 as any other variances required by the board. The 7 application was Denied on March 23, 2021 and the 8 Resolution was memorialized on April 27, 2021. 9 West 13, LLC 409 4th Street. Block: 12 10 Lot: 9. 11 COURT ORDER: SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW 12 JERSEY: Docket No. HUD-L-2291-21. This matter is 13 remanded for the City of Union City Planning Board 14 to make factual findings and conclusions to 15 explain, with specificity, its April 27, 2021 16 decision to deny plaintiff's application for the 17 construction of a three-family dwelling. Denied 18 on April 25, 2023 and the Resolution was 19 memorialized on May 23, 2023. 20 West 13, LLC 409 4th Street. Block: 12 21 Lot: 9. 22 SECOND COURT ORDER: SUPERIOR COURT OF 23 NEW JERSEY: Docket No. HUD-L-1963-23. That this 24 matter is remanded for the City of Union City 25 Planning Board to reopen the record on the issue  9 1 of the prevailing setback and whether a variance 2 is required. Dismissed 3 4 MR. VALLEJO: Moving to resolution 5 number two. 6 MR. CHEWCASKIE: If I may, Carlos? This 7 resolution, it was supposed to come back to the 8 Board based upon a court order. They failed to 9 appear several times. In February, a resolution 10 was adopted that said, look, if you don't come 11 back, we're going to dismiss the case without 12 prejudice. This resolution dismisses the case 13 without prejudice, it just finalizes the matter 14 and the matter is closed. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Thank you. Can I have a 16 motion to adopt? 17 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: I make a motion. 18 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Velazquez. 19 MR. GUARENO: Second. 20 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Mr. Guareno. 21 Roll call on the motion. 22 Mr. Guareno. 23 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Yes. 24 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Genao. 25 MS. GENAO: Yes.  10 1 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 2 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 3 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Medina. 4 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 5 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 6 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 8 carries. 9 * * * * 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  11 1 ADOPTION OF AMENDED RESOLUTION: 2 3. Vista, LLC. 2113-2115 Palisade Avenue. Block 3 112 Lots 15 and 16. The applicant proposes 4 subdivision and (2) new three family houses. The 5 Denial resolution was adopted on 09-08-2021. 6 Settlement and Tolling agreement. (A) renovate the 7 existing dwelling located at 2113 Palisades Avenue 8 to a three-family dwelling which shall not contain 9 a basement unit and shall maintain the current 10 on-site two (2) parking spaces; (b) build a 11 two-family dwelling with four (4) on-site parking 12 spaces; and (c) subdivide the property. Approved. 13 The resolution for Settlement and Tolling 14 Agreement was memorialized on March 26, 2024. 15 16 MR. VALLEJO: Moving to resolution 17 number three. Brian, you want to add anything for 18 that? 19 MR. CHEWCASKIE: Yeah. What I did -- 20 and, Alex, I misspoke before -- the building 21 department -- 22 This was the case that was settled. The 23 existing house would remain as a three-family, 24 they would build a two-family. This resolution 25 provides that the existing house will remain as a  12 1 three-family. The building department wanted a 2 specific resolution from the Board. That's what 3 this resolution does. 4 CHAIRPERSON VELAZQUEZ: Okay. 5 MR. VALLEJO: Can I have a 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: Mr. Guareno. 16 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Medina. 18 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Morejon. 20 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 21 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 22 carries. 23 24 25  13 1 ADJOURNMENT: 2 3 MR. VALLEJO: Are there any comments 4 from the public? Nobody, all right. 5 There being no other applications on 6 tonight's agenda, can I have a motion to close 7 tonight's meeting? 8 MS. MOREJON: Motion. 9 MR. GUARENO: Second. 10 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Ms. Morejon, 11 seconded by Mr. Guareno. 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. Morejon. 17 MS. MOREJON: Yes. 18 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Medina. 19 MR. MEDINA: Yes. 20 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Guareno. 21 MR. GUARENO: Yes. 22 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 23 carries. Let the record show that the meeting has 24 ended. Thank you, good night, everybody. 25 (Whereupon the meeting was adjourned at 6:06 p.m.)  14 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