Zoning Board of Adjustment

1 1 CITY OF UNION CITY HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 2 ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT 3 : REGULAR MEETING : TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDED 4 : --------------------: PROCEEDINGS 5 6 Union City High School Media Center 7 2500 Kennedy Boulevard Union City, New Jersey 8 9 THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 2022 Commencing at 6:00 p.m. 10 11 M E M B E R S P R E S E N T: 12 13 VICTOR M. GRULLON, Chairperson MARGARITA GUTIERREZ, Vice Chairperson 14 MIGUEL ORTIZ (Arrived at 6:31 p.m.) GEORGE GARCIA 15 JOHN MEDINA ROSIO PENA, Alternate #1 16 MINDRY WATLEY, Alternate #4 17 M E M B E R S A B S E N T: LIBERO MAROTTA 18 GERALDINE PEREZ RAYMOND CETINICH 19 A L S O P R E S E N T: 20 TOMAS PANEQUE, ESQ. 21 Board Counsel 22 CARLOS VALLEJO, Board Secretary 23 DAVID SPATZ, PP, Consulting City Planner 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 P. PEREIRAS, ESQ. Attorney for Applicant, 3 BB 6th Holdings, LLC 4 BIANCA P. PEREIRAS, ESQ. Attorney for Applicant, 5 9799 Ventures I, LLC 6 BIANCA P. PEREIRAS, ESQ. Attorney for Applicant, 7 613 39th Street, LLC 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 5 6 REORGANIZATION 7 7 ADOPTION OF MINUTES 10 8 HEARINGS 9 SSA Development II, LLC 11 BB 6th Holdings, LLC 13 10 1210 Bergenline Avenue, LLC 17 9799 Ventures I, LLC 20 11 613 39th Street, LLC 35 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  4 1 I N D E X 2 9799 Ventures I, LLC 1219 Bergenline Avenue 3 4 WITNESS PAGE 5 Manny Pereiras 21 6 Michael Kauker 26 7 8 9 10 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 January 13, 3 2022, at 6:00 p.m. a regular meeting is scheduled 4 for the Union City Zoning Board of Adjustment, to 5 be held in the Union City High School, located at 6 2500 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Union City, New 7 Jersey. 8 Will everybody kindly rise to salute the 9 flag, please. 10 11 (The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.) 12 13 MR. VALLEJO: Adequate notice of this 14 meeting has been provided as follows: 15 Notice of this meeting setting forth the 16 time, date, location, and the agenda, to the 17 extent known, was forwarded to The Jersey Journal, 18 The Record, and The Hudson Reporter, has been 19 posted on the bulletin board in City Hall, has 20 been made available to the public in the Office of 21 Municipal Clerk. 22 23 ROLL CALL: 24 MR. VALLEJO: Roll call for tonight's 25 meeting. Mr. Grullon.  6 1 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Here. 2 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Marotta is absent. 3 Ms. Gutierrez. 4 MS. GUTIERREZ: Here. 5 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Ortiz is absent. 6 Mr. Medina. 7 MR. MEDINA: Here. 8 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Pena. 9 MS. PENA: Here. 10 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Perez is absent. Mr. 11 Cetinich is absent. Ms. Watley. 12 MS. WATLEY: Here. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Let the record indicate 14 there are five present. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  7 1 REORGANIZATION MEETING: 2 MR. VALLEJO: We are going to the 3 reorganization meeting held every January. May I 4 have a motion to elect a chairperson. 5 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: I make a 6 motion for Mr. Grullon. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Motion for Mr. Grullon to 8 be the chairperson, motion by Commissioner 9 Gutierrez. Any second to the motion? 10 MS. WATLEY: Second. 11 MR. VALLEJO: Second by Ms. Watley. 12 MR. GARCIA: There you go, she beat me 13 to it. 14 MR. VALLEJO: Roll call on the motion. 15 Mr. Grullon. 16 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Yes, I accept. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Gutierrez. 18 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: Yes. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Garcia. 20 MR. GARCIA: Yes. 21 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Pena. 22 MS. PENA: Yes. 23 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Watley. 24 MS. WATLEY: Yes. 25 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion  8 1 carries. Congratulations, Mr. Grullon. 2 Is there any other nomination? There's 3 no other nomination. 4 MR. PANEQUE: There were no other 5 nominations. 6 MR. VALLEJO: Thank you, Mr. Paneque. 7 Do we have a motion to nominate a vice 8 chairperson? 9 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Motion to nominate 10 Margarita Gutierrez. 11 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Grullon to 12 nominate Ms. Gutierrez. Can I have a second? 13 MS. WATLEY: Second. 14 MR. VALLEJO: Second by Ms. Watley. 15 Any other nomination? I see none. 16 We have a motion by Mr. Grullon to 17 nominate Ms. Gutierrez as vice chairperson, 18 seconded by Ms. Watley. 19 Roll call on the motion. Mr. Grullon. 20 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Yes. 21 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Gutierrez. 22 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: Yes, I 23 accept the nomination. 24 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Garcia. 25 MR. GARCIA: Yes.  9 1 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Pena. 2 MS. PENA: Yes. 3 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Watley. 4 MS. WATLEY: Yes. 5 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 6 carries. Congratulations, Ms. Gutierrez, as the 7 vice chairperson. 8 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: Thank you. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  10 1 ADOPTION OF MINUTES: 2 MR. VALLEJO: Moving to the agenda now. 3 Approval of previous meeting minutes of 4 December 9, 2021. Can I have a motion? 5 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Motion. 6 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Grullon. 7 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: Second. 8 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Ms. Gutierrez. 9 Roll call on the motion. Mr. Grullon. 10 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Yes. 11 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Gutierrez. 12 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: Yes. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Pena. 14 MS. PENA: Yes. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Watley. 16 MS. WATLEY: Yes. 17 MR. VALLEJO: All in favor, motion 18 carries. You were absent, Mr. Garcia, for the 19 meeting, right? 20 MR. GARCIA: Yes, I was absent. 21 22 23 24 25  11 1 SSA Development II, LLC - 2 202 Bergenline Avenue: 3 4 MR. VALLEJO: First application for 5 tonight's hearing, SSA Development II, LLC, 202 6 Bergenline Avenue. Mr. Paneque, please. 7 MR. PANEQUE: Mr. Vallejo, members of 8 the board, yesterday, January 12th, I received a 9 letter from the office of Alvaro Alonso requesting 10 that this matter be carried to the next meeting. 11 The statutory time periods were waived in the 12 letter on behalf of the applicant and he is 13 requesting that the matter be carried without a 14 need to re-notice. 15 The reason for the request for the 16 adjournment was that they needed to submit revised 17 plans prior to ten days from tonight's hearing and 18 those plans were submitted, but not -- did not 19 meet the required ten day period. 20 MR. VALLEJO: Thank you, Mr. Paneque. 21 MR. PANEQUE: So the request is to 22 adjourn to February 10th with no notice 23 requirement. 24 MR. VALLEJO: Thank you. May I have a 25 motion to carry this application?  12 1 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Motion. 2 MR. VALLEJO: Motion by Mr. Grullon. 3 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: Second. 4 MR. VALLEJO: Second by Ms. Gutierrez. 5 Roll call on the motion. Mr. Grullon. 6 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Yes. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Gutierrez. 8 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: Yes. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Garcia. 10 MR. GARCIA: Yes. 11 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Pena. 12 MS. PENA: Yes. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Watley. 14 MS. WATLEY: Yes. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 16 carries. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  13 1 BB 6th Holdings, LLC - 2 733-35 6th Street: 3 4 MR. VALLEJO: Move to number two, BB 6th 5 Holdings, LLC, 733-35 6th Street. Ms. Pereiras, 6 please. 7 MS. PEREIRAS: Good evening, counsel, 8 members of the board. May it please the board, 9 Bianca Pereiras on behalf of BB 6th Holdings, LLC. 10 I'd like to bring to the board's attention that 11 this matter is currently under litigation between 12 counsel for the city and the applicant through his 13 attorney. As such, I think it's best if we 14 adjourn this matter until that matter is resolved 15 in court and we have an okay to proceed at that 16 point. 17 MR. PANEQUE: Based on the fact, Ms. 18 Pereiras, that the matter is under litigation and 19 we do not have a time frame as to when that 20 litigation will be concluded, I'm going to suggest 21 that this board accept the request for adjournment 22 with the condition that if you decide to bring 23 this matter back, that notices be given to all 24 property owners within the 200-foot radius and the 25 notice be published in the paper as required by  14 1 statute. A new list from the tax assessor's 2 office will be required also. 3 MS. PEREIRAS: Absolutely. 4 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Are you asking for 5 a specific date to carry? 6 MS. PEREIRAS: I'm not. I do not have a 7 date at this moment. I don't know how long it 8 will take the matter to be resolved in court. 9 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: So can we carry 10 the matter without a date? 11 MR. PANEQUE: We can carry it for a 12 couple of cycles. So the board can put a time 13 frame on this and then if the time period expires, 14 then we can have the matter administratively 15 dismissed, a new application would have to be 16 submitted, that's one choice. The other choice is 17 for you to just withdraw your application at this 18 point, but it's your call. 19 MS. PEREIRAS: I'd rather carry it for 20 the time being, maybe something can be resolved to 21 prior to then. And that would allow me to 22 proceed. I'd rather do that than withdraw. 23 MR. PANEQUE: Then it would be up to the 24 chairperson to set a time limit, how many cycles 25 you would want to have the applicant remain the  15 1 application. 2 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Normally, what we 3 do when we carry an application, we have a date. 4 We normally carry it to the next board meeting. 5 But for this particular case, it's in litigation 6 for a long time now. I would say that our board 7 will be okay carrying this for three cycle. If at 8 the three cycles, it's not resolved, then it would 9 be dismissed. 10 MR. PANEQUE: So that would be the April 11 meeting, okay. So we have the date, that would be 12 April 14th. If this matter is going to be heard 13 on April 14th, Ms. Pereiras, you're going to have 14 to send out new notices. If on April 14th, you're 15 not ready to proceed, the matter will be 16 dismissed. 17 MS. PEREIRAS: Understood, counsel. 18 MR. PANEQUE: Okay. 19 MR. VALLEJO: May I have a motion? 20 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Motion to carry 21 this matter to April 14th. 22 MR. VALLEJO: Motion to carry the matter 23 to April 14th by Mr. Grullon. 24 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: Second. 25 MR. VALLEJO: Second by Ms. Gutierrez.  16 1 MR. PANEQUE: Ms. Pereiras, are you 2 waiving on behalf of your applicant, the statutory 3 time limits in which this board can hear this 4 application? 5 MS. PEREIRAS: Yes, counsel. 6 MR. PANEQUE: Thank you. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Thank you, Mr. Paneque. 8 Motion to adjourn this application until 9 April 14, 2022, by Mr. Grullon, seconded by Ms. 10 Gutierrez. Roll call on the motion. Mr. Grullon. 11 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Yes. 12 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Gutierrez. 13 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: Yes. 14 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Garcia. 15 MR. GARCIA: Yes. 16 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Pena. 17 MS. PENA: Yes. 18 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Watley. 19 MS. WATLEY: Yes. 20 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 21 carries. New notice required. 22 23 24 25  17 1 1210 Bergenline Avenue, LLC - 2 1210 Bergenline Avenue 3 4 MR. VALLEJO: Move now to number three, 5 1210 Bergenline Avenue, LLC, 1210 Bergenline 6 Avenue. Ms. Pereiras, please. 7 MS. PEREIRAS: Bianca Pereiras, on 8 behalf of the 1210 Bergenline Avenue, LLC. As the 9 board may recall, at the last meeting, we received 10 notice from the building department that 11 recognized this building as six units rather than 12 seven, which is what we understood. 13 After extensive due diligence and going 14 back and forth with the building department, we 15 have not found any evidence at the building 16 department level that it was seven units. As 17 such, we are revising our drawings and revising 18 our application to legalize two units. 19 As such, I would respectfully request 20 that this matter carried until the next board 21 meeting, at which time we will provide a new 22 notice and publication. 23 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: You request that 24 we carry this to the February meeting? 25 MS. PEREIRAS: That's correct.  18 1 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Are these revised 2 plans? 3 MS. PEREIRAS: They are not revised, 4 they're in the process of revising them. 5 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Make a motion to 6 adjourn this to the next board meeting, 7 February 10th. 8 MR. VALLEJO: Motion to adjourn to next 9 meeting by Mr. Grullon. 10 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: Second. 11 MR. VALLEJO: To February 10, seconded 12 by Ms. Gutierrez. 13 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: One more thing, 14 Carlos. You will have to re-notice for this. 15 MS. PEREIRAS: We will. We understand, 16 yes. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Motion on the table to 18 adjourn this application to February 10, 2022, by 19 Mr. Grullon, with a new notice required, seconded 20 by Ms. Gutierrez. 21 Roll call on the motion. Mr. Grullon. 22 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Yes. 23 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Gutierrez. 24 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: Yes. 25 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Garcia.  19 1 MR. GARCIA: Yes. 2 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Pena. 3 MS. PENA: Yes. 4 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Watley. 5 MS. WATLEY: Yes. 6 MR. VALLEJO: Five in favor, motion 7 carries. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  20 1 9799 Ventures I, LLC - 2 1219 Bergenline Avenue: 3 4 MR. VALLEJO: We are moving to number 5 four. 9799 Ventures I, LLC, 1219 Bergenline 6 Avenue. Ms. Pereiras, please. 7 MS. PEREIRAS: Bianca Pereiras on behalf 8 of the 9799 Ventures, LLC, for the property 9 located at 1219 Bergenline Avenue. The 10 application is a continuation. We had previously 11 presented at the last meeting with the testimony 12 of our architect, but our understanding that there 13 are members here that were not present at the last 14 meeting, we'd like to present from the beginning. 15 For the board's information, the 16 application is to construction a new building 17 consisting of four residential units and 18 commercial. We previously had gone before the 19 board for approvals to construct three floors of 20 residential over one floor of commercial. 21 However, in getting to the point where 22 we would be ready to submit the construction 23 documents, the applicant realized that having a 24 commercial space on the ground floor of this size 25 didn't really fit into the neighborhood. So the  21 1 revised application is to construct a small 2 commercial space on the ground floor in the front 3 and a residential unit in the back. 4 MR. VALLEJO: Allow me one second, 5 please. 6 Let the record indicate that Mr. Ortiz 7 joined the meeting at 6:31 p.m. Thank you, Ms. 8 Pereiras. 9 MS. PEREIRAS: I'd like to begin the 10 presentation with our architect, Mr. Manny 11 Pereiras. 12 MR. PEREIRAS: Counsel. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Let the record indicate 14 that six members -- 15 MR. PANEQUE: Ms. Pereiras, you 16 understand that you do not have the full board 17 here tonight, there's only now six members with 18 Mr. Ortiz joining us and you do require a use 19 variance for this, so you need super majority 20 vote. So you're still willing to proceed? 21 MS. PEREIRAS: We are. 22 MR. PANEQUE: Thank you. 23 Mr. Pereiras, please raise your right 24 hand. Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing 25 more than the truth with respect to the testimony  22 1 you're giving this board this evening? 2 MR. PEREIRAS: I do. 3 MR. PANEQUE: Thank you. State your 4 name for the record. 5 MR. PEREIRAS: Yes, Counsel. Manny 6 Pereiras, P-E-R-E-I-R-A-S, with Pereiras 7 Architects Ubiquitous, 1116 Summit Avenue, Union 8 City. 9 MR. PANEQUE: Thank you. 10 MS. PEREIRAS: Mr. Pereiras, did you 11 prepare the drawings for 1219 Bergenline Avenue? 12 MR. PEREIRAS: Yes. 13 MS. PEREIRAS: Would you please describe 14 the property for the board? 15 Mr. Pereiras has testified before this 16 board in the past, and I ask that he be accepted 17 as an expert in the field of architecture? 18 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: We accept. 19 MR. PEREIRAS: Thank you. Happy new 20 year, everyone, glad to see you all. 21 I'm going to recap from the beginning, 22 since not all of us were present there. Carlos, I 23 think this is loud enough, I hope. 24 MR. VALLEJO: Yes. 25 MR. PEREIRAS: Thank you, excellent. We  23 1 have a typical 25-by-100 lot. What's there right 2 now is a dilapidated residential building that has 3 been in that condition for quite some time. As 4 counsel stated, we already got approvals here for 5 ground floor commercial and three apartments 6 above, which is exactly what's permitted in the 7 zone. 8 However, when this new ownership 9 purchased it, they wanted to make the building 10 even better and there were several things that 11 they were concerned with. Number one, the 12 neighbors to the south had a window right about 13 here that we did not want to cover, even though it 14 was within our rights to cover. So we redesigned 15 our entire building in order to push the building 16 back so that that window is still open. So we did 17 our residential entrance through the side on an 18 open staircase that you can rise up. And so our 19 entire building has an L shape so that we're not 20 covering the neighbor's window. 21 In addition to that, we wanted to create 22 this building significantly more safe or a safer 23 building. And one of the ways we're doing that 24 and creating it better in the neighborhood is 25 creating a side yard setback on the north of three  24 1 foot one. That creates several things. Number 2 one, now we have a clear path of egress. So if 3 someone were to escape from this building, they 4 could get out to the property line on the front. 5 Since on Bergenline Avenue, the buildings are 6 touching each other and that wouldn't have been 7 possible otherwise. And the other thing that that 8 does is it opens up so that we can create windows 9 along the side of the building so that we can have 10 more light within the building. 11 The reason we're before you and not 12 before the planning board is because of the ground 13 floor. And this was actually something that I 14 suggested to the applicant and I think it makes 15 for a better planning argument here before this 16 board, is that this neighborhood really doesn't 17 support large commercial. This is my 18 neighborhood, I literally grew up on this block, 19 around the corner from it. And there so many 20 vacancies on downtown Bergenline Avenue. And 21 that's simply because people can't afford to rent 22 this large space and there's no real businesses to 23 have. 24 So what we propose to do is to breakdown 25 that ground floor basically in half. And what we  25 1 do is we create a 685-square foot commercial 2 space, so that is definitely a mom-and-pop could 3 go in there and we could -- that could be rented. 4 It makes a lot of sense in the space to rent a 5 small commercial space like that. And then we 6 created a unit in the back that's residential, 7 that's a two-bedroom unit that's accessed on the 8 ground floor. That's extremely important, too, 9 because as this board knows -- if you notice 10 what's happening in the planning board, all the 11 structures that we have have parking below or 12 commercial. So there are no apartments in -- new 13 apartments in Union City for somebody in a 14 wheelchair, someone that has crutches, someone 15 that has any type of an -- elderly -- that can't 16 go upstairs. 17 So it is extremely critical that we 18 start creating the housing stock that provides for 19 these people in our community. And this apartment 20 is able to do that. So instead of making the 21 whole thing commercial, we're simply putting a 22 residential unit back there, a modest small 23 residential unit in order to really meet the needs 24 of the community, which I think it would meet the 25 needs a lot better as residential than a larger  26 1 commercial space on that ground floor. That's why 2 we're here before you and we have a planner to 3 testify on that D variance there. 4 The rest of the building is pretty 5 typical. We have three-bedroom apartments above, 6 we have two stairs, one in the front, one in the 7 rear, so it's an extremely safe building. We have 8 living room, dining room, kitchen area in the 9 front of the building. And then we have the three 10 bedrooms further back in the privacy part of the 11 apartment. It's the same layout, three times. 12 And then you see our roof there at the end. 13 Our facade is a very simple brick facade 14 with accents of metal siding in the portion that's 15 setback, nice large windows, metal coping along 16 the top. It's a simple elegant building. And I 17 think that concludes my testimony. 18 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Thank you, Mr. 19 Pereiras. Ms. Pereiras, do you want to bring your 20 next witness. Do you have another witness? 21 MS. PEREIRAS: We do, we have a planner 22 to testify. Mr. Kauker. 23 MR. KAUKER: Good evening. 24 MR. PANEQUE: Mr. Kauker, please raise 25 your right hand. Do you solemnly swear to tell  27 1 the truth and nothing but the truth, so help you 2 God, with respect to this application? 3 MR. KAUKER: I do. 4 MR. PANEQUE: Thank you. 5 MS. PEREIRAS: Mr. Kauker has also 6 testified before this board on numerous occasions 7 and I ask that he be accepted as an expert in the 8 field of planning. 9 CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Yes, we accept his 10 qualifications. 11 MR. KAUKER: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 12 Happy new year, good to see you all again. Time 13 flies. 14 MS. PEREIRAS: Mr. Kauker, are you 15 familiar with the property at 1219 Bergenline 16 Avenue? 17 MR. KAUKER: Yes, I am. 18 MS. PEREIRAS: And have you had an 19 opportunity to review the drawings prepared by 20 Pereiras Architects? 21 MR. KAUKER: I have. 22 MS. PEREIRAS: Can you please describe 23 the project from a planning perspective? 24 MR. KAUKER: From a planning 25 perspective, the principal reason we're here is  28 1 for a use variance for only a small portion of the 2 site, as it's proposed. And that small portion 3 consists of a two-bedroom, 685-square foot 4 apartment unit located on the first floor. And as 5 Mr. Pereiras appropriately testified, this kind of 6 a housing unit would be ideal for access for 7 people with limited abilities. 8 Essentially, out of the total square 9 footage of building proposed on the site, which 10 approximates 6,052 square feet, only 10 percent, 11 10.3 percent of that total building area 12 necessitates the D1 use variance because the 13 residence is not permitted on the first floor. 14 So, effectively, this application is 15 substantially compliant with the purpose and 16 intent of the zone plan, and more particularly the 17 most recent master plan -- land use plan update, 18 which is dated April 22, 2021. 19 The application still maintains a 20 proposal for a commercial frontage on this 21 roadway, which is an integral part of the zone -- 22 purpose and intent of the zone regulations. For 23 an example, the land-use mix between 12th and 11th 24 Street is effectively -- consists of 16 separate 25 lots. Of those lots, they're all developed by the  29 1 way, six are commercial in nature. In accordance 2 with the updated land use map contained within the 3 most recent master plan and ten of the lots are 4 utilized solely for residential purpose. So it's 5 a self-contained small neighborhood with the six 6 commercial properties occupied by small scale 7 commercial activities. This proposed 685-square 8 foot commercial space would effectively be 9 consistent with that pattern. 10 All of these facts, I think, culminate 11 and adhere together to create a situation whereby 12 I think we can responsibly observe that the 13 proposed residential unit on the first floor is 14 particularly suited to accommodate -- be 15 accommodated on the site because it effectively 16 fits like a glove within the framework of the uses 17 proposed on the site, while still maintaining a 18 substantial, 90 percent, consistency with the 19 purpose and intent of the current master plan. 20 The redevelopment of this site 21 essentially would remove a two-story somewhat 22 antiquated structure, residential structure on the 23 site and bring it into context with the 24 three-story character of the buildings immediately 25 to the right and left of the subject site as well  30 1 the surrounding neighborhood. 2 I believe that this minor use variance 3 could be granted -- can certainly be granted by 4 the board because it serves the general welfare. 5 And it is certainly not going to impede the 6 purpose and intent of your zone plan. That 7 concludes my comments. I have a new year's 8 resolution to try to be brief in my testimony. 9 Thank you. 10 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Could you 11 elaborate more on the parking requirement? 12 MR. KAUKER: There are two other 13 variances that are requested for your 14 consideration, the one is a rear yard deviation of 15 five feet, 20 feet is required and 15 feet are 16 proposed. I would view that as somewhat de 17 minimus. And I think that in an urban context, 18 that the 15 feet is sufficient to accommodate the 19 spacing and create a useable rear yard. 20 The other particular aspect of the 21 variances, out of the three total that are 22 proposed is the fact that there's no parking on 23 the site. And I'd observe that that's kind of 24 consistent with the situation that prevails on 25 virtually all the other surrounding properties on  31 1 this block. Mainly, because the foundation of 2 this onus is a 2,500-square foot lot with a 25 3 foot frontage. And it is extremely difficult to 4 accommodate a reasonably scaled development while 5 at the same time providing parking, unless you go 6 up. Then we might be confronted with a height 7 variance. And I believe that that height -- 8 lesser height, as proposed with the parking 9 variance, is certainly more appropriate for this 10 neighborhood. 11 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Mr. Spatz, for 12 parking guidance on the commercial zone, do we 13 consider that as a requirement or that's something 14 that -- 15 MR. SPATZ: The commercial doesn't 16 require any parking at all in two different ways. 17 Non-residential that front on either Summit or 18 Bergenline doesn't require parking, plus lots that 19 are 25-foot wide or less don't require parking. 20 The residential would require parking, 21 based on the Residential Site Improvement 22 Standards, you know, but I would say that the 23 intent of the zoning ordinance is not to require 24 parking on Bergenline Avenue for any of the uses 25 because they don't want curb cuts that would  32 1 interrupt. You know, if you had a larger building 2 that's purely residential, they might require 3 parking. But a mixed use like this, I think 4 wouldn't require parking. So you would need to 5 grant a de minimus exception of the Residential 6 Site Improvement Standards for the residential 7 uses. 8 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Thank you, Mr. 9 Spatz. Thank you. 10 MR. KAUKER: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 11 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Mr. Pereiras, can 12 you elaborate a little bit more about the rear 13 yard, what's behind the building, is that another 14 structure there? 15 MR. PEREIRAS: Yeah. There's more 16 residential houses on the back, we're providing a 17 15-foot rear yard there. So we're tearing down 18 everything that we had in the rear yard and we're 19 providing a 15-foot rear yard. And what's facing 20 the other side are residential properties that 21 have a rear yard as well. So it fits in very well 22 with the neighborhood. 23 And I just want to make a couple 24 corrections. The apartment that we have in the 25 rear, it's 828 square feet, so it's an 828-square  33 1 foot two-bedroom, so it complies with all the 2 density requirements of the board, too. And 3 technically, we have a variance for side yard 4 because the way the ordinance is written, you're 5 only a required to have zero-foot required side 6 yard setback. But if you provide one, it's 7 supposed to be five feet, we're providing three 8 foot, one. So technically we have a variance 9 there, too. 10 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Okay. I don't 11 have any other. Any member of the board has any 12 questions? 13 MS. WATLEY: I have a question. There's 14 going to be four apartments in the building? 15 MR. PEREIRAS: Yes. 16 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Anyone else? 17 Thank you, Mr. Pereiras. I'm going to open to the 18 public, any member of the public want to step 19 forward on this application? 20 Seeing none for the public. 21 In consideration, this application is 22 going to bring an opportunity to provide housing 23 and is going to be something that is conforming 24 with the area. I make a motion to approve. 25 MR. VALLEJO: Motion on the table to  34 1 grant this application by Mr. Grullon. 2 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: I'll second 3 it. 4 MR. VALLEJO: Second by Ms. Gutierrez. 5 Roll call on the motion. Mr. Grullon. 6 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Yes. 7 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Gutierrez. 8 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: Yes. 9 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Garcia. 10 MR. GARCIA: Yes. 11 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Ortiz. 12 MR. ORTIZ: Yes. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Pena. 14 MS. PENA: Yes. 15 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Watley. 16 MS. WATLEY: Yes. 17 MR. VALLEJO: Six in favor, motion 18 carries. 19 MS. PEREIRAS: Thank you very much. 20 MR. PEREIRAS: Thank you, everyone. 21 22 23 24 25  35 1 613 39th Street, LLC - 2 611 39th Street: 3 4 MR. VALLEJO: Next application on 5 tonight's agenda, 613 39th Street, LLC, 611 39th 6 Street. Ms. Pereiras, please. 7 MS. PEREIRAS: Bianca Pereiras, on 8 behalf of 613 39th Street, LLC. This is a request 9 for an extension. This board heard this matter a 10 few months before this COVID-19 outbreak. At that 11 time, we were able to get an approval for a 12 three-family. And while typically a three-family 13 was permitted, we were in front of this board 14 because our lots actually fell in two different 15 lots, the RN zone and the commercial zone, and 16 therefore this board had jurisdiction of that 17 matter. This is not your typical lot, this is not 18 a 25-by-100 square feet lot. We have 19 approximately 3,100 square feet. And the board at 20 that time agreed to approve this application. 21 Besides the issue that we all know, that 22 COVID has delayed everything, the topography on 23 this site is very complicated. And there was a 24 lot of involvement with engineers and architects 25 to complete the construction documents in order to  36 1 be able to submit for a permit. The client is 2 just finalizing those drawings now and expects to 3 submit within the next few months. However, we 4 come in front of this board respectfully 5 requesting an extension so that he has sufficient 6 time to submit those drawings and request a permit 7 for the use that he will comply with. 8 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Ms. Pereiras, this 9 application was approved two years ago. Now that 10 we have an ordinance, we at the board, we have an 11 obligation now not to extend any application that 12 is not conforming to the existing zoning 13 ordinance. 14 MS. PEREIRAS: I think this area in 15 particular, and the fact that we were in between 16 two zones and the topography of the site, 17 considering this is 39th Street, which really 18 needs to be revitalized, and the fact that we 19 don't have your typical 25-by-100 lot, we have -- 20 and I'll defer to our architect as far as the 21 exact dimensions, but this is larger than the 22 typical Union City lot. 23 Mr. Pereiras, would you clarify the 24 dimensions. 25 MR. PEREIRAS: I'd be very happy to. I  37 1 understand the board's position, but this is not a 2 typical three-family that Union City no longer 3 wants. First and foremost, the most important 4 aspect of this is that we have a frontage of 5 50 feet, whereas normal lots are 25 feet wide, 6 this is 50 feet wide. What that creates for us is 7 the opportunity to have an excellent form of 8 parking. Each of the apartments has head-on 9 parking, one apartment, two apartment, third 10 apartment. So there is sufficient -- more than 11 sufficient parking to support this site as opposed 12 to a typical three-family house that we normally 13 know. 14 In addition, the location of this is a 15 very -- kind of difficult location. And it's 16 adjacent to a very at all retaining wall. If you 17 go down 39th Street, this is right before the big 18 concrete retaining wall on the left. These houses 19 are right next to that. So it doesn't fit out of 20 scale at all. It actually is small within the 21 scale of the retaining wall next to you and the 22 apartment building next to that on the west side. 23 So it's -- from a scale standpoint, it's a very 24 small project. And from a parking standpoint, it 25 works very well. It's not a typical three-family  38 1 house. 2 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: I'm sure you will 3 agree that it would also be a great opportunity if 4 your client didn't complete the construction, to 5 come back with a two-family to that area and give 6 the -- you know, bring the application to be 7 conforming to the existing zoning ordinance. 8 I mean with that -- anybody on the board 9 has any questions for this? Hearing none, my 10 decision is to deny the extension. We're not 11 extending any application that's not going to be 12 conforming with the new zoning ordinance. 13 MR. VALLEJO: Motion on the table to 14 deny this the extension by Mr. Grullon. 15 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: Second. 16 MR. VALLEJO: Seconded by Ms. Gutierrez. 17 Roll call on the motion. Mr. Grullon. 18 CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Yes to deny. 19 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Gutierrez. 20 VICE CHAIRPERSON GUTIERREZ: Yes to 21 deny. 22 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Garcia. 23 MR. GARCIA: Yes to deny. 24 MR. VALLEJO: Mr. Ortiz. 25 MR. ORTIZ: Yes to deny.  39 1 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Pena. 2 MS. PENA: Yes. 3 MR. VALLEJO: Ms. Watley. 4 MS. WATLEY: Yes to deny. 5 MR. VALLEJO: Six in favor, motion 6 carried. The extension has been denied. 7 MS. PEREIRAS: Have a good night, 8 everybody, see you next month. 9 10 (End of recording.) 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  40 1 C E R T I F I C A T E 2 3 4 5 6 I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing 7 transcript of the AUDIO RECORDED proceedings in 8 their entirety, as taken stenographically by me, 9 is a true and accurate transcript of the 10 proceedings as recorded, and to the best of my 11 ability. 12 13 14 ____________________________ 15 SUSAN BISCHOFF, CCR, RPR LICENSE NO. 30XI00233700 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25