Rent Leveling Board

1 1 CITY OF UNION CITY HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 2 RENT STABILIZATION BOARD 3 : REGULAR MEETING : TRANSCRIPT OF 4 : --------------------: PROCEEDINGS 5 Union City City Hall 6 2nd Floor Courtroom 3715 Palisade Avenue 7 Union City, New Jersey 8 Monday, February 5, 2024 Commencing at 6:57 p.m. 9 10 M E M B E R S P R E S E N T: 11 JUAN MILAN, CHAIRMAN SANDRA VASQUEZ, VICE CHAIRPERSON 12 ROSANA COLON, COMMISSIONER YAMIRUS HOLGUIN, COMMISSIONER 13 YDALY POZO, COMMISSIONER 14 M E M B E R S A B S E N T: 15 NORMA GUEVARA, COMMISSIONER 16 A L S O P R E S E N T: 17 NEIL D. MAROTTA, ESQ., Board Counsel 18 KENNEDY NG, Administrator 19 CHRISTINA M. RIVERA, ESQ., Tenant Advocate 20 FRANCOIS NUNEZ, Staff Member 21 KENNY CABALLERO, Staff Member 22 CASMILA SOLIS, Staff Member 23 JOSE GONZALEZ, Interpreter 24 SUSAN BISCHOFF CCR CO. 25 449 Columbia Blvd., Wood-Ridge, NJ 07075 201-390-0583 SBischoffccr@yahoo.com  2 1 I N D E X 2 PAGE 3 CALL TO ORDER 4 SALUTE TO FLAG 4 4 ROLL CALL 4 5 HEARINGS 6 711 10th Street, Apt 3L 6 7 317 29th Street, Apt. #8, #11, #12 9 8 RESOLUTIONS 18 9 OTHER BUSINESS 21 10 ADJOURNMENT 22 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  3 1 I N D E X 2 317 29th Street Apt. #8, #11, #12 3 4 WITNESS PAGE 5 DAVID BLACKBURN 10 6 7 8 E X H I B I T S 9 10 NO. DOCUMENT PAGE 11 NO EXHIBITS MARKED 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  4 1 MR. NG: Good evening. This is the 2 meeting of the Rent Leveling Board. Today's date 3 is February 5, 2024, the time is now 6:57 and we 4 are in the municipal court chambers, 3715 Palisade 5 Avenue, Union City, New Jersey. 6 Pursuant to the Open Public Meeting Act, 7 adequate notice of this meeting was provided to 8 The Bergen Record, The Jersey Journal, and The 9 North Hudson Reporter more than 72 hours in 10 advance of the meetings, and is posted at the 11 municipal office. The notice includes the date, 12 time, location, and to the extent known the agenda 13 of the meeting. 14 Please rise for the flag salute. 15 16 (Whereupon, the Pledge of Allegiance was 17 recited.) 18 19 ROLL CALL: 20 21 MR. NG: We will do the roll call. 22 Commissioner Norma Guevara, not present. 23 Commissioner Ydaly Pozo. 24 COMMISSIONER POZO: Present. 25 MR. NG: Commissioner Yamirus Holguin.  5 1 COMMISSIONER HOLGUIN: Present. 2 MR. NG: Commissioner and Vice Chairman 3 Sandra Vasquez. 4 VICE CHAIRPERSON VASQUEZ: Present. 5 MR. NG: Commissioner Rosana Colon. 6 COMMISSIONER COLON: Present. 7 MR. NG: Chairman Juan Milan. 8 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Present. 9 MR. NG: We have the interpreter. 10 MR. GONZALEZ: Jose Gonzalez, present. 11 MR. NG: We have a quorum. At this 12 time, I'm going to pass the meeting to our 13 counsel, Mr. Marotta. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  6 1 711 10TH STREET, APT. 3L - 2 HARDSHIP: 3 4 MR. MAROTTA: Thank you, everybody. 5 Good to see everybody tonight. I do not believe 6 that we will need Mr. Gonzalez's services, so... 7 MR. NG: If you want to stay, you can 8 stay. 9 MR. GONZALEZ: You're sure? 10 MR. MAROTTA: Sure. 11 MR. GONZALEZ: Okay. 12 MR. MAROTTA: So tonight, we had 13 actually four matters on. There was a hardship 14 711 10th Street, Apartment 3L. This matter had 15 been submitted some time ago, it was presented. 16 Our accountant had an opportunity to review it and 17 she had many questions. So she's going to get 18 together with the applicant to confirm -- get 19 answers to the questions she's had. So we 20 recommended that it be carried and we'll address 21 it at another meeting. It might be the next one, 22 but I believe the attorney might have a conflict, 23 so we'll be putting it on for potentially the 24 April meeting. 25 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Do we need a motion?  7 1 MR. MAROTTA: It is still on the agenda, 2 so yes, a motion to carry. 3 MR. NG: What is the address? 4 MR. MAROTTA: 711 10th Street. 5 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Okay. I make a motion 6 that we carry for a further meeting the matter of? 7 711 10th Street, Apartment 3L, hardship case, due 8 to the fact that our accountant is still in the 9 process of gathering the information required to 10 put together her report. 11 MR. MAROTTA: And then the other 12 matter -- oh, we've got to continue on the motion. 13 COMMISSIONER COLON: I second. 14 MR. NG: Commissioner Rosana Colon 15 seconded. Roll call. 16 Commissioner Ydaly Pozo. 17 COMMISSIONER POZO: Yes. 18 MR. NG: Commissioner Yamirus Holguin. 19 COMMISSIONER HOLGUIN: Yes. 20 MR. NG: Commissioner and Vice Chairman 21 Sandra Vasquez. 22 VICE CHAIRPERSON VASQUEZ: Yes. 23 MR. NG: Commissioner Rosana Colon. 24 COMMISSIONER COLON: Yes. 25 MR. NG: Chairman Juan Milan.  8 1 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Yes. 2 MR. NG: Motion has passed. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  9 1 317 29TH STREET, APT. #8, #11, #12 - 2 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT: 3 4 MR. MAROTTA: Okay. The other three 5 matters we have are capital improvement matters 6 concerning the same building with three different 7 apartments. And the property owner is here 8 tonight. I'd like to ask him to present himself 9 up at the table. 10 David, if you don't mind, state your 11 name for the record. 12 MR. BLACKBURN: David Blackburn. 13 MR. MAROTTA: Okay. And you're the 14 owner of 317 29th? 15 MR. BLACKBURN: 317 29th Street, yeah. 16 MR. MAROTTA: So the accountant has gone 17 back and forth a little bit with Mr. Blackburn and 18 she does have more questions and requires a little 19 bit more information and would like to meet with 20 him this week. 21 However, since the matters are on and 22 Mr. Blackburn is here, I'd like him to present. 23 So that after his presentation, advising of what 24 has been done to the properties, we can continue 25 the matter at the next hearing.  10 1 So, okay. Mr. Blackburn, please. 2 3 D A V I D B L A C K B U R N, after having been 4 duly sworn or affirmed, did testify as follows: 5 6 MR. BLACKBURN: I own the building and 7 it was renovated back in, I think, 2003 when I 8 bought it. I had bought it with another partner 9 initially. And so now we're coming up to a time 10 when a lot of the apartments are, you know, 11 certainly in need of major repairs. And so I mean 12 I have been updating the building as things come 13 along, like putting in new floors, et cetera, 14 updating bathrooms and kitchens to a certain 15 extent. But then three of the apartments came up, 16 which had had pretty much long-term tenants in 17 them. So I decide to basically gut renovate. 18 There's two on the fourth floor and one on the 19 third floor. The two on the fourth floor, they 20 have -- 21 MS. RIVERA: The two on the fourth floor 22 are designated as apartments? 23 MR. BLACKBURN: 11 and 12, sorry. Both 24 of them had somewhat sagging floors, so I had to 25 level the floors out in both of them. One was a  11 1 little bit of a longer job than the other, but I 2 basically leveled the floors out. So once the 3 floors were leveled, I put in engineered wood 4 flooring throughout the apartments. 5 I also opened up the apartments to make 6 them -- because they're small apartments, they had 7 doors in every room. So I opened them up to be 8 able to cool and heat them more efficiently. Then 9 I put in new kitchens, new appliances. And the 10 bathroom I took out the old tubs and put in new 11 showers, new flooring, new shower works. And I 12 put in new lighting as well, recessed lighting, 13 LED. 14 And the apartments look, I think -- you 15 haven't got the file here, have you? The 16 apartments look very good. I mean the files are 17 with the accountant now, but I took some pictures 18 so you would have at least a before and after. 19 CHAIRMAN MILAN: We do have some, I 20 don't know if those are the totality of what Mr. 21 Blackburn has produced, but I do -- 22 MR. BLACKBURN: I can tell you which are 23 the before and after -- I hope you could tell 24 yourself. Because if you can't, I haven't done a 25 good job. So that's basically what I've done.  12 1 I'm just trying to basically recoup the money I 2 spent. I spent roughly speaking 20,000 on each of 3 the -- on apartments 12 and 8. And I spent like 4 40,000 on apartment 11 because I put a HVAC system 5 in 11, a mini split system, as opposed to -- the 6 other two, I just put in a window air conditioner 7 and had it sealed up. They make saddle air 8 conditioners, so you only have 9 inches of open 9 window. So I sheet rocked and had them insulate 10 around where the windows were open. And that's 11 really basically it. 12 But I mean the apartments do look -- I 13 mean I think very nice, and I get a lot of 14 compliments for them. 15 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Okay. 16 MR. BLACKBURN: I mean the building is 17 well -- when the renovation was done, it was done 18 with a -- just so you get an idea of why I've done 19 this. For instance, as I said, they're relatively 20 small. So the living kitchen area is basically 21 one room. And they -- but they basically put 22 those nasty vinyl tiles in the bedroom and then 23 they put -- they put in the living area, they put 24 in cheap ceramic tiles. So it causes noise to 25 travel up and down, which was a problem. It just  13 1 caused for basically a lot of problems. And 2 obviously the kitchen cabinets weren't 3 particularly sound anymore, the bathrooms were 4 pretty nasty. 5 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Okay. 6 MR. BLACKBURN: So I mean they're all 7 looking very nice now, the updated showers and 8 everything. I put shower stalls in as opposed to 9 tubs and I only did that because -- not that I've 10 got anything against people with children, but 11 basically with the size of the apartments, they're 12 relatively small. So the people I tend to get are 13 single people as opposed to -- so that sort of 14 fitted in more with having a shower stall as 15 opposed to a tub. 16 MR. MAROTTA: Okay. Does the board have 17 any questions? 18 MR. BLACKBURN: You can see the 19 pictures. 20 MR. MAROTTA: I'm sure the questions 21 will come up more as the matter is presented in 22 full also, I guess. 23 MS. RIVERA: I mean I'll reserve. 24 MR. MAROTTA: Ms. Rivera will reserve on 25 comment until everything is before her.  14 1 MS. RIVERA: Until there's a meeting 2 with Susan, the accountant, and we can flesh out 3 some of the issues that are open. 4 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Okay. 5 MR. MAROTTA: Okay. 6 CHAIRMAN MILAN: How far do we think Ms. 7 Colditz is in terms of are we looking at next 8 month, are we looking at later? 9 MR. MAROTTA: We're looking at next 10 month. 11 CHAIRMAN MILAN: We're looking at -- 12 MR. MAROTTA: As long as it fits with 13 the calendar, but I think it will. And I know she 14 works rather quickly. 15 MR. BLACKBURN: Very quickly. 16 MR. MAROTTA: After her meeting with Mr. 17 Blackburn, she'll have it resolved within two 18 weeks. 19 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Okay. 20 MR. MAROTTA: And ready for the meeting. 21 MR. NG: What really was the -- I was 22 out a couple days in my office -- the issue that 23 Susan couldn't be here tonight. 24 MR. MAROTTA: Well, mainly because she 25 is actually in New Jersey and she's going to meet  15 1 in person with Mr. Blackburn. But the fact that 2 there was nothing she could present on yet, until 3 these questions are answered, okay. For example, 4 there are several different areas in the 5 presentation that -- or the application that was 6 submitted that talk about general work and that 7 needs to be specified. And she's going to ask 8 questions about that. And it wasn't 9 appropriate -- at least I agreed with her not to 10 have the board go through the minute detail of 11 questions concerning the work that -- it should be 12 presented fully in the application. And then you 13 would be able to review it and make your decision, 14 okay. 15 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Fair enough. 16 MR. MAROTTA: And there's a few other 17 items that I believe the applicant needs to come 18 forward with. 19 CHAIRMAN MILAN: She still wants 20 clarification? 21 MR. MAROTTA: Yeah. 22 CHAIRMAN MILAN: That's fine. 23 MR. NG: Thank you. 24 CHAIRMAN MILAN: So I guess we can make 25 a motion to carry this case until a further month,  16 1 most likely the next one, pending the final 2 meetings with Mr. Blackburn and our accountant, 3 and also having the tenant advocate review it. 4 MR. NG: Motion was made by our chairman 5 Mr. Milan. Second by? 6 COMMISSIONER POZO: Ydaly. 7 MR. NG: Ydaly Pozo. Roll call. 8 Commissioner Ydaly Pozo. 9 COMMISSIONER POZO: Yes. 10 MR. NG: Commissioner Yamirus Holguin. 11 COMMISSIONER HOLGUIN: Yes. 12 MR. NG: Commissioner and Vice Chairman 13 Sandra Vasquez. 14 VICE CHAIRPERSON VASQUEZ: Yes. 15 MR. NG: Commissioner Rosana Colon. 16 COMMISSIONER COLON: Yes. 17 MR. NG: Chairman Juan Milan. 18 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Yes. 19 MR. NG: Motion has passed. 20 MR. MAROTTA: Okay. 21 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Thank you, sir. 22 MR. MAROTTA: Thank you, Mr. Blackburn. 23 CHAIRMAN MILAN: My guess is we'll see 24 you -- 25 MR. BLACKBURN: Next month. We'll make  17 1 it a regular occurrence. 2 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Thank you very much. 3 MR. MAROTTA: Call Susan tomorrow, 4 David. 5 MR. BLACKBURN: I'll call as well and we 6 can get a date. Just give a time and date. 7 MR. MAROTTA: If I can't make it, just 8 go with her. 9 MR. BLACKBURN: Okay, fine. 10 MR. MAROTTA: All right. 11 MR. BLACKBURN: Thank you. 12 MR. MAROTTA: Okay. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  18 1 ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS: 2 3 CHAIRMAN MILAN: The resolution, I 4 guess. 5 MR. MAROTTA: We have a resolution. 6 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Anything that you want 7 to highlight on the resolution? I think we read 8 it already while we were waiting. But anything 9 you wanted to point out that we might want to have 10 in -- 11 MR. MAROTTA: I just want to confirm, 12 first of all, who was here that evening. I think 13 everybody might have been here that evening. 14 Norma is the only -- 15 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Norma was missing, but 16 she's also -- 17 MR. MAROTTA: Norma is missing tonight. 18 So everybody can vote on the resolution. 19 Again, the purpose of a memorialization 20 of the resolution, this is the official action of 21 the board. And after your review, if you see that 22 something is not accurate, because again I drafted 23 it -- so if you see something to your recollection 24 is not accurate, please point it out. If it is 25 accurate, we request that you memorialize it. And  19 1 it would be a vote to adopt the resolution. 2 So that being the case, if you recall 3 the matter, it was a matter that had continued 4 over a significant period of time because of a -- 5 there was a potential settlement in the case back 6 in 2021, so it dragged all the way to 2023. If 7 you recall that, but other than that, there were 8 issues of the vacancy decontrol and issues of the 9 ordinance that says the tenant pays the rent 10 during the pendency of the appeal. 11 So that being the case, if we could have 12 a -- any questions? Okay. There being none, if 13 we could have a motion? 14 CHAIRMAN MILAN: I make a motion that we 15 adopt the resolution for 1304 Palisade Avenue, 16 Apartment B1. 17 VICE CHAIRPERSON VASQUEZ: I'll second. 18 COMMISSIONER HOLGUIN: Second. 19 MR. NG: The motion was made by Chairman 20 Juan Milan and who seconded? 21 COMMISSIONER HOLGUIN: I second. 22 MR. NG: Who was it? 23 VICE CHAIRPERSON VASQUEZ: It doesn't 24 matter. 25 MR. NG: Commissioner Yamiris Holguin.  20 1 Roll call. 2 Commissioner Ydaly Pozo. 3 COMMISSIONER POZO: Yes. 4 MR. NG: Commissioner Yamirus Holguin. 5 COMMISSIONER HOLGUIN: Yes. 6 MR. NG: Commissioner and Vice Chairman 7 Sandra Vasquez. 8 VICE CHAIRPERSON VASQUEZ: Yes. 9 MR. NG: Commissioner Rosana Colon. 10 COMMISSIONER COLON: Yes. 11 MR. NG: Chairman Juan Milan. 12 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Yes. 13 MR. NG: Motion has passed. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  21 1 OTHER BUSINESS: 2 3 CHAIRMAN MILAN: Seeing no one in the 4 seating -- 5 MR. MAROTTA: Let the record reflect 6 there are no public present. 7 CHAIRMAN MILAN: -- there's no public 8 present. 9 MR. MAROTTA: So we don't have to open. 10 CHAIRMAN MILAN: We don't have to open 11 the meeting for comments from the public. 12 MR. MAROTTA: I do have a question for 13 everybody. It's not often that we have such a 14 early. So I want to -- if we could go off the 15 record? 16 17 (Discussion held off the record.) 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  22 1 ADJOURNMENT: 2 3 MR. MAROTTA: Motion to go into closed 4 session? 5 CHAIRMAN MILAN: I make a motion to go 6 into closed session. 7 VICE CHAIRPERSON VASQUEZ: Second. 8 MR. NG: Motion was made by our Chairman 9 Juan Milan and second by Sandra Vasquez. 10 MR. MAROTTA: All in favor? 11 MR. NG: All in favor? 12 13 (All Board Members indicate in the 14 affirmative.) 15 16 (Whereupon a closed session was held at 17 7:16 p.m. for the advice of counsel.) 18 19 (Whereupon the meeting was adjourned.) 20 21 22 23 24 25  23 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