Zoning Board of Adjustment - Zoning Board of Adjustment Meeting

1 CITY OF UNION CITY HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT : TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDED REGULAR MEETING : : PROCEEDINGS ____________________________: City Hall 3715 Palisade Avenue Union City, New Jersey Thursday, February 11, 2016 Commencing at 6:18 p.m. M E M B E R S P R E S E N T: KHALED DARDIR MIGUEL ORTIZ DAVID W. PRESSEY JOSEPH D. BONACCI, Alternate No. 2 PETER C. DOUMAS, Alternate No. 4 VICTOR M. GRULLON, Vice Chairman M E M B E R S A B S E N T: MARGARITA GUTIERREZ HARLENNY E. JAVIER JOHN MEDINA, Alternate No. 1 ELISA FLORES, Alternate No. 3 ANDRES GARCIA, Chairman A L S O P R E S E N T: CARLOS VALLEJO, Secretary to the Board TOMAS R. PANEQUE, ESQ., Board Attorney DAVID SPATZ, Consultant Community Housing and Planning Associates  2 A P P E A R A N C E S: J. ALVARO ALONSO, ESQ., Attorney for Applicant, Gloria Restrepo  3 I N D E X PAGE CALL TO ORDER 5 SALUTE TO FLAG 5 ROLL CALL 6 RESOLUTIONS 8/11 HEARINGS Gloria Restrepo 14 ADJOURNMENT 53  4 I N D E X Gloria Restrepo - 4115 Palisade Avenue WITNESS PAGE Albert Arencibia 21 Gloria Restrepo 46 SWORN PUBLIC Larry Price 49 E X H I B I T S NO. DOCUMENT PAGE A-1 Settlement Agreement dated 10/29/15 20 A-2 DCA Card dated 2001 20 A-3 DCA Card dated 2006 20 A-4 DCA Card dated 2011 21 A-5 NIJ Appraisal Network Report dated 10/5/09 21 A-6 Tax Bill 21 A-7 Photograph Package (13) Photographs 21 A-8 Lease between Landlord, Louis O. Restrepo And Tenants, Oscar A. Sanchez and Leydin M. Molina 48 A-9 Lease between Landlord, Joseph Labib and Tenant, Gilberto Guerra 48  5 1 MS. DILLON: Okay, Carlos, whenever you’re 2 ready. 3 THE SECRETARY: Okay. May I have your 4 attention, please? 5 Please take notice that on Thursday, 6 February 11, 2016, at six p.m., a regular meeting 7 is scheduled for the Union City Zoning Board of 8 Adjustment to be held in the Municipal Chamber, 9 located on the second floor, 3715 Palisade 10 Avenue, Union City, New Jersey. 11 Can everybody kindly rise to salute the 12 flag, please? 13 14 (Whereupon, the Pledge of Allegiance was 15 said by all.) 16 17 THE SECRETARY: Thank you. 18 Notice of this meeting has been provided, 19 as follows: 20 Notice of this meeting setting forth the 21 time, date, location, and the agenda to the 22 extent known, was sent to The Jersey Journal, The 23 Record, and The Hudson Reporter, has been posted 24 on the bulletin board in the City Hall, and has 25 been made available to the public in the Office  6 1 of the Municipal Clerk. 2 3 ROLL CALL: 4 5 THE SECRETARY: Roll call for tonight’s 6 meeting. 7 Andres Garcia? Absent. 8 Victor Grullon? 9 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Here. 10 THE SECRETARY: Margarita Gutierrez? 11 Absent. 12 Miguel Ortiz? 13 MR. ORTIZ: Present. 14 THE SECRETARY: David Pressey? 15 MR. PRESSEY: Here. 16 THE SECRETARY: Harlenny Javier? Absent. 17 Khaled Dardir? 18 MR. DARDIR: Here. 19 THE SECRETARY: John Medina? Absent. 20 Joseph Bonacci? 21 MR. BONACCI: Here. 22 THE SECRETARY: Elisa Flores? Absent. 23 Peter Doumas? 24 MR. DOUMAS: Here. 25 THE SECRETARY: Let the record indicate  7 1 that six Board members present. So, we have a 2 Board made up of six members to get this as a 3 full quorum to establish any decisions. 4 * * * 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  8 1 RESOLUTION: 2 3 ( 1) 2415-2417 Central Avenue, Block 135, Lots 4 19 & 20. Proposed poultry and fish market at 5 existing building. Application was denied on 6 12/10/2015. 7 8 THE SECRETARY: On tonight’s agenda, we are 9 going to the first Resolution, and Mr. Paneque, I 10 think you have to -- 11 MR. PANEQUE: Yes. 12 THE SECRETARY: -- recuse. 13 MR. PANEQUE: For the record, Tomas R. 14 Paneque, Attorney for the Board. 15 Mr. Vallejo, I’m going to be recusing 16 myself on this Resolution because of the conflict 17 of interest that was previously stated on the 18 record when this hearing took place. 19 So, I will recuse myself from -- 20 THE SECRETARY: Very good, Mr. Paneque. 21 You -- 22 MR. PANEQUE: -- participation in this 23 matter. 24 THE SECRETARY: -- are recused. 25 First Resolution, 2415-2417 Central Avenue,  9 1 Block 135, Lots 19 and 20. Proposed poultry and 2 fish market in existing building. 3 This application was denied on December 10, 4 2015 meeting. 5 Can I have a motion to approve -- 6 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: To adopt. 7 THE SECRETARY: -- the Resolution? 8 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Motion to adopt the 9 Resolution. 10 THE SECRETARY: Motion to adopt the 11 Resolution by Vice Chairman Victor Grullon. 12 Second? 13 Miguel Ortiz. 14 Roll call on the motion to adopt the 15 Resolution. 16 Vice Chairman Victor Grullon? 17 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Yes. 18 THE SECRETARY: Miguel Ortiz? 19 MR. ORTIZ: Yes. 20 THE SECRETARY: Khaled Dardir? 21 MR. DARDIR: Yes. 22 THE SECRETARY: Joseph Bonacci? 23 MR. BONACCI: Yes. 24 THE SECRETARY: That’s it. 25 MS. DILLON: That’s it.  10 1 THE SECRETARY: Motion carries. Four in 2 favor. 3 Mr. Paneque, you -- you can come back -- 4 you know, return to the session. 5 MR. PANEQUE: Thank you, Mr. Vallejo. 6 * * * 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  11 1 RESOLUTIONS: 2 3 ( 2) Constantine & Marlene Hinova, 131 48th 4 Street, Block 278, Lot 30. Legalization of an 5 existing apartment. To go from a two-family to a 6 three-family. Application was approved on 7 1/14/2016. 8 ( 3) International Management, LLC, 4606 Hudson 9 Avenue, Block 273, Lot 24. Legalization of 10 existing multi-family three units to four units 11 and minor building extension. Application was 12 approved on 1/14/2016. 13 ( 4) 4310 Hudson Avenue, LLC - 4310-16 Hudson 14 Avenue, Block 253, Lot 21. Convert commercial 15 space into a residential unit with its own 16 driveway and curb cut. Application was approved 17 on 1/14/2016. 18 ( 5) Lauren Sosa, 1002 Central Avenue, Block 46, 19 Lot 2. Proposed carport and legalization of 20 ground floor apartment for a total of four units. 21 Application was approved on 1/14/2016. 22 23 THE SECRETARY: We have four Resolutions in 24 the next session. 25 Constantine and Marlene Hinova, 131 48 th  12 1 Street. This application was approved on January 2 14, 2016 meeting. 3 Second Resolution, International 4 Management, LLC, 4606 Hudson Avenue. This 5 application was approved on the January 14, 2016 6 meeting. 7 4310 Hudson Avenue, LLC, 4310-16 Hudson 8 Avenue. This application was approved on the 9 January 14, 2016 meeting. 10 Lauren Sosa, 1002 Central Avenue, Block 46, 11 Lot 2. This application was approved on January 12 14, 2016. 13 Can I have a motion to adopt these 14 Resolutions? 15 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Make a motion to 16 adopt the Resolutions. 17 THE SECRETARY: Motion to adopt these 18 Resolution by Vice Chairman Victor Grullon. 19 Any second? 20 Second by Miguel Ortiz. 21 Roll call on the motion to adopt these 22 Resolutions. 23 Vice Chairman Victor Grullon? 24 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Yes. 25 THE SECRETARY: Miguel Ortiz?  13 1 MR. ORTIZ: Yes. 2 THE SECRETARY: Khaled Dardir? 3 MR. DARDIR: Yes. 4 THE SECRETARY: Joseph Bonacci? 5 MR. BONACCI: Abstain. 6 THE SECRETARY: Abstain. 7 Peter Doumas? 8 MR. DOUMAS: Yes. 9 THE SECRETARY: David Pressey? 10 MR. PRESSEY: Yes. 11 THE SECRETARY: Motion carries. Five in 12 favor, and one -- one abstention. 13 * * * 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  14 1 Gloria Restrepo, 4115 Palisade Avenue: 2 3 THE SECRETARY: All right. We follow the 4 agenda. We have only one application on 5 tonight’s meeting. 6 Gloria Restrepo, 4115 Palisade Avenue. 7 Mr. Alonso, please? 8 MR. ALONSO: Good evening, Mr. Chairman, 9 members of the Board. 10 For the record, Alvaro Alonso, Alonso 11 Navarette, on behalf of the applicant. 12 Providing counsel with proof of publication 13 and notices for jurisdiction purposes, which he’s 14 reviewing at this time. 15 (Whereupon, there was a pause in the 16 proceedings.) 17 MR. PANEQUE: Let the record reflect that 18 I’ve been provided by Mr. Alonso with the 19 following items: 20 The certified mail receipts dated January 21 29th, 2015, a set of return receipts to match 22 those certified mail receipts; a list of all 23 owners within the 200 foot radius for the 24 property located at 4115 Palisade Avenue done by 25 the Union City Tax Assessor which is dated  15 1 January 20th, 2016; a copy of the notice that went 2 out to all owners within the 200 foot radius; an 3 affidavit that notices went out pursuant to 4 statute, signed by Mr. Alonso; and a copy of the 5 Affidavit of Publication which has a copy in it 6 of the notice that was published in The Jersey 7 Journal. 8 Said notice was published on January 30 th, 9 giving notice of tonight’s meeting, February 11, 10 2016 for the property owned by Gloria Restrepo, 11 4115 Palisade Avenue. 12 It appears that all the notices are 13 adequate, and therefore, this Board has 14 jurisdiction to hear this matter. 15 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: You may proceed, 16 Mr. Alonso. 17 MR. ALONSO: Thank you very much. 18 Members of the Board, what we have here is 19 an application, initially, for an appeal, not a 20 variance but an appeal under Subsection 70A of 21 the statute. 22 What happens is, my client purchased the 23 property in 2000, and has always had six units 24 and a commercial space. 25 Last year, the Building Department issued  16 1 my client a violation for having two illegal 2 units. We believe that those units were legal. 3 We went to Municipal Court on those 4 violations. 5 I also filed an appeal with the Hudson 6 County Construction Board of Appeals. 7 As a result, the City, through their 8 attorneys and I, we discussed it, we reviewed the 9 proofs that we had, and we entered into a 10 Settlement Agreement. 11 The Settlement Agreement, basically, says 12 that they’re willing to accept those apartments, 13 however we need to come to this Board. 14 The Building Department does not have the 15 legal authority to just change the property card 16 and -- and grant two units, if they think that 17 they were illegal. 18 So, we’re here is -- we’re appealing their 19 determination that those apartments were illegal. 20 So, I have some documents, preliminarily, 21 that I’m going to provide to you, and enter into 22 -- into evidence. 23 I’m going to ask the Board to first 24 consider the appeal. In the event that the 25 appeal is not successful, then we could consider  17 1 whether or not the variances should be granted to 2 legalize those units. 3 So, the -- and I’ve marked them, just for 4 -- for ease this evening, marked Exhibit 1 is the 5 Settlement Agreement that was entered into 6 between my client and the City of Union City. 7 Again, indicating that we have the -- the right 8 to come before the Board to get a determination 9 with respect to the legality of the units. 10 I also have here marked some additional 11 documents. 12 Now, I represented my client back in 2000, 13 when the -- when they first purchased the 14 property. And we did our due diligence. And 15 based on our due diligence inquiry, it was 16 determined that there were six legal units. 17 Unfortunately, for that type of building, 18 they do not issue a Certificate of Occupancy on 19 the transfer of title. 20 So, we did our due diligence. It was 21 determined there were six units and a commercial. 22 We purchased the property. We never had a 23 violation until last year. 24 In 2001, after my client registered the 25 building with the Department of Community  18 1 Affairs, we received our Certificate of 2 Inspection indicating that the City -- that the 3 State went, they did their inspection and 4 everything passed. 5 So, I have marked as Exhibits 2, 3, and 4, 6 the -- what’s called the green card, or the 7 Certificate of Inspection. 8 Exhibit 2, which is dated from 2001. 9 Five years later, is Exhibit 3, which is 10 2006. 11 Five years later, 2011, which is Exhibit 4, 12 again, all indicating six residential units. 13 In 2009, my client went and did a refinance 14 of the property. Again, they went, they obtained 15 an appraisal. The appraisal report looked at all 16 -- all the documents that they could look at. 17 They determined and provided to the bank an 18 appraisal report, again indicating six apartments 19 and one commercial unit. 20 The last document, which I marked as 21 Exhibit 6, is a copy of the -- the tax bill. And 22 my client is being taxed by the City as six 23 units, plus -- plus the commercial. 24 That’s just the documentation that I have 25 to basically support the position.  19 1 I also provided Mr. Vallejo with a series 2 of photographs, which you’re free to look at. 3 And you could see, and Mr. Arencibia is going to 4 be testifying with respect to the unit, at this 5 time. 6 You can see that it’s a -- it’s a brick 7 building, and the whole lower level is a 8 commercial store in the front, facing Palisade 9 Avenue, and then the two lower units appear to 10 have been there for quite some time. 11 And Mr. Arencibia will provide some 12 forensic architectural testimony with respect to 13 the -- the types of material and the age of the 14 units. 15 So, with that said, I’m going to have Mr. 16 Arencibia come up, get sworn in. 17 MR. PANEQUE: Mr. Alonso, before we 18 proceed, are you asking that the photographs be 19 marked as one packet? 20 MR. ALONSO: Yes. 21 MR. PANEQUE: Okay. 22 We’ll have those -- and just so that the 23 record is clear, each of your exhibits are being 24 marked A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4, A-5, A-6. And now, 25 this would be as a packet of photographs, A-7.  20 1 MS. DILLON: Yes. 2 Carlos, do you have a paper clip? 3 MR. PANEQUE: Just give us one second while 4 they get marked. 5 MR. ALONSO: Sure. 6 MS. DILLON: Mr. Alonso, do you know how 7 many photographs are here? 8 If not, I’ll count them. 9 MR. ALONSO: I can count them. 10 (Whereupon, there was a pause in the 11 proceedings.) 12 MR. ALONSO: Twelve photographs. 13 MS. DILLON: Okay. 14 MR. ALONSO: Thirteen. I’m sorry. 15 And those are 13 photographs of existing 16 building and the surrounding area. 17 18 (Whereupon, Settlement Agreement, Dated 19 10/29/15, was received and marked as Exhibit 20 A-1.) 21 22 (Whereupon, DCA Card, Dated 2001, was 23 received and marked as Exhibit A-2.) 24 25 (Whereupon, DCA Card, Dated 2006, was  21 1 received and marked as Exhibit A-3.) 2 3 (Whereupon, DCA Card, Dated 2011, was 4 received and marked as Exhibit A-4.) 5 6 (Whereupon, NIJ Appraisal Network Report, 7 Dated 10/5/09, was received and marked as Exhibit 8 A-5.) 9 10 (Whereupon, Tax Bill was received and 11 marked as Exhibit A-6.) 12 13 (Whereupon, Photograph Package, 13 14 Photographs, was received and marked as Exhibit 15 A-7.) 16 17 MS. DILLON: Mr. Arencibia, please raise 18 your right hand. 19 Do you affirm the testimony you’re about to 20 give this Board is the whole truth? 21 MR. ARENCIBIA: I do. 22 MS. DILLON: Please just state your name 23 and spell it for the record. 24 MR. ARENCIBIA: Albert Arencibia, 25 A-R-E-N-C-I-B-I-A.  22 1 MS. DILLON: Thank you. 2 MR. ALONSO: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Arencibia’s 3 qualifications have been -- 4 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Yes. 5 MR. ALONSO: -- accepted in the past. 6 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: We accept -- 7 MR. ALONSO: Thank you very much. 8 MR. ARENCIBIA: Thank you. 9 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: -- his 10 qualifications. 11 MR. ALONSO: Mr. Arencibia, initially, we 12 are presenting this as an appeal. So, I’m going 13 to ask you to provide some forensic architectural 14 testimony with respect to the lower units that 15 are behind the commercial space. 16 And those units -- because this is a corner 17 property, those residential units actually front 18 on 42nd Street. It’s not like you have to go down 19 an alleyway and get to the back. 20 Is that correct? 21 MR. ARENCIBIA: That's correct. 22 MR. ALONSO: Okay. So, I’m going to ask 23 you to please provide, based on your knowledge of 24 visiting the site, what those units are, how many 25 bedrooms, whether or not they appear to have been  23 1 in existence for quite some time. Based on the 2 testimony that they’ve been there for at least 20 3 years, if not more, if you could tell us, in 4 terms of the age of the materials and the type of 5 architecture, if you can make some kind of 6 determination with respect to their age. 7 MR. ARENCIBIA: Sure. 8 Yes. I basically went out to the site, and 9 took a look at the -- the existing units. I 10 mean, it was clear that these units have been 11 there for quite some time. 12 What I’ve done on my drawings that I 13 prepared before the Board, I actually labeled the 14 areas as the way they’re being utilized, because 15 the configuration of the units are a little bit 16 awkward. Like I said, at the time, things were 17 done quite differently than they are now. 18 For instance, the unit at the rear of the 19 property itself, you go into a living room, and 20 then access off of a dining area right behind 21 there, and it has a small little access to a 22 small little kitchen. 23 And then, there’s a bathroom is through the 24 kitchen itself, and both of the bedrooms actually 25 will have to -- one bedroom actually goes through  24 1 another bedroom to go into the bathroom. 2 So, the -- the way the layout here is a 3 little awkward, but presently, that unit in the 4 rear is configured as a two bedroom unit. The 5 kitchen is a very small little kitchen. It 6 basically has a small little sink, with a little 7 stove, and a little like work area. 8 Again, there’s a little exhaust fan and a 9 small window in the rear. 10 All of the window trims, all of the 11 molding, all of the doors, the ceiling, the 12 floor, you could tell it’s over 30 years old. 13 So, it’s been there for quite some time. 14 And the configuration of the other unit, 15 too, which is between the business and the -- the 16 last unit I was just speaking about, it’s also a 17 little strange. 18 You -- you walk in, you have a little 19 entrance foyer. And then, you have a bedroom 20 right off of the entrance foyer, and then, you 21 walk into a living room space, which has a small 22 little counter, a refrigerator against the 23 counter, and again, the sink and the stove and a 24 small little work area. 25 Again, all of these fixtures have been  25 1 there for quite some time. All the doors are all 2 the -- the knobs on the doors have been there for 3 quite some time. 4 So, there’s nothing -- these units 5 definitely have not been recently built -- you 6 know, by a long shot. 7 MR. ALONSO: Now, Mr. Arencibia, even 8 though the -- the building’s address is 4115 9 Palisade Avenue, do those apartments have their 10 own addresses? 11 MR. ARENCIBIA: Yes, they do. 12 MR. ALONSO: And 301 and 307 42nd Street? 13 MR. ARENCIBIA: That is correct. Yes. 14 MR. ALONSO: And they have their own 15 entrance doors. 16 MR. ARENCIBIA: They have their own 17 entrance off the side, and they also have a 18 little step at the front. So, basically these 19 units have been elevated and have been there for 20 quite a bit. 21 MR. ALONSO: Okay. 22 And based on the testimony, or 23 conversations you had with the client, it appears 24 that based on what tenants have said, that those 25 have been rented for at least 20 years before my  26 1 client purchased the property. 2 Correct? 3 MR. ARENCIBIA: Yes. That's correct. 4 MR. ALONSO: Mr. Chairman, with respect to 5 the appeal portion of this application, I have no 6 further questions, in terms of the existence of 7 those units for 30, 40 years. 8 If the Board has any questions, we can 9 entertain those at that -- at this time. 10 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Do we have to -- 11 MR. PANEQUE: The procedure which Mr. 12 Alonso is asking for is one where this Board can 13 make a determination on whether these apartments 14 are legal, based on the testimony that’s been 15 presented. 16 And -- and that would be the basis of his 17 appeal. 18 If this Board, based on the information 19 that has been presented, comes to a conclusion 20 that those apartments have been in existence, and 21 were, in fact, legal from the time that they were 22 established or made, then that would end the 23 session, and he would not have to go forward and 24 present his case for a request for a use 25 variance.  27 1 MR. ALONSO: And I also -- I also do want 2 to make this representation that, as a result of 3 the Municipal Court case that we had, and the 4 Construction Board of Appeals case that we had, I 5 requested certain discovery. And the discovery 6 included a copy of the file and all the records 7 with respect to this building. 8 You can tell by this -- by the photographs 9 that this is a very old building, and there 10 should be a file. 11 There is no file. So, basically, the 12 Building Department, because there is a lack of a 13 file, is indicating that they’re illegal, where 14 if anything, they could say the entire building 15 is legal. 16 So, there is no -- there is nothing really 17 that they can indicate, other than the 1973 -- 18 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Yes. 19 MR. ALONSO: -- tax records that says -- you 20 know, it is -- it is what it is. But that’s a 21 tax record, that’s not a Building Department 22 record. 23 So, it’s the Building Department records 24 which would -- which would control. 25 MR. PANEQUE: Now Mr. Alonso, in my review  28 1 of the tax records, from the 1973 assessment, it 2 indicates that they only found four units. 3 MR. ALONSO: That's correct. 4 MR. PANEQUE: Okay. 5 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: According to the 6 tax record, it was -- the information that we 7 have in front of us here from the Building 8 Department, from the Tax Assessor Department, it 9 shows there were four legal units and one -- one 10 commercial. 11 MR. ALONSO: Right. 12 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Four residential 13 and one commercial. 14 MR. ALONSO: Right. That’s -- right. And 15 therein lies the problem, because the Building 16 Department is not relying on Building Department 17 records. 18 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Right. 19 MR. ALONSO: They relied on Tax Assessor 20 records. 21 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Yes. 22 MR. ALONSO: And one of the documents that 23 I provided you, A-6, is a tax bill which says 24 that they’re being charged for six units. 25 So, at some point, okay, these six units  29 1 were legal units, and they were acknowledged by 2 the -- you know, like the conversation I always 3 have with the Building Department, you can’t 4 accept the tax records from one year, and not tax 5 records from the other year. 6 If you’re going to accept the tax records, 7 you have to accept them all. 8 So, at some point, it was -- it went from a 9 four unit, in the tax records, to a six unit in 10 the tax record. 11 And the way it normally works is if we 12 apply for permits to -- to construct an 13 apartment, and the permits are issued, with or 14 without zoning approvals, depending on whether or 15 not they’re needed, the -- a copy of that CO 16 would then go to the Tax Assessor’s Office. The 17 Tax Assessor then updates the records. 18 The Tax Assessor’s records were clearly 19 updated, because we’re being charged for the six 20 units. 21 The question is, since the Building 22 Department has no records, we don’t know what 23 happened and when it happened, but it happened. 24 And -- and by looking at this building, it’s an 25 old building. It’s been in existence for a very  30 1 long time. 2 So, and that’s why we entered into the 3 Settlement Agreement with the City, so that we 4 could just come here and say, look, everything’s 5 in existence. The Building Department can’t just 6 now create a record retroactive, and say, okay, 7 we’ll accept that they existed. We need you to 8 adopt a Resolution to tell them that they can do 9 that. 10 So that’s why we’re here. 11 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Yes. Since -- I 12 mean, you present enough evidence, but we still 13 have concern because we see another document here 14 that shows four units. 15 And the Board, I think, we would like to 16 hear the -- to proceed with the case, and hear 17 the opinion of the architect and especially for 18 -- 19 MR. PANEQUE: Well, Vice Chairman Grullon, 20 I believe this Board has to take a vote with 21 respect to Mr. Alonso’s request for the appeal 22 determination. 23 And the Board can then vote whether the 24 appeal is denied or granted. 25 If the Board denies his appeal to legalize  31 1 these units, in a vote, then the second stage 2 would be to proceed on his application for a use 3 variance, and present his case in chief. 4 Okay. Now, Mr. Alonso -- 5 MR. ALONSO: That's correct. 6 MR. PANEQUE: Okay. Do you have anything 7 else to present -- 8 MR. ALONSO: In terms of -- 9 MR. PANEQUE: -- on the vote of the appeal? 10 MR. ALONSO: No. No. My client is here. 11 Basically, she would indicate the same thing as I 12 said, which they’ve owned the property since 13 2000, and -- and it’s always been rented. 14 But other than that, I have nothing further 15 in terms of the appeal. 16 MR. ORTIZ: Mr. Alonso, so your client been 17 paying taxes for six units since 2000? 18 MR. ALONSO: Since 2000, yes. 19 MR. DOUMAS: That was the same question I 20 have. 21 MR. ALONSO: Right. 22 MR. BONACCI: Yeah. My question was it was 23 never four and then six adjusted during the 24 period where she owned the property. 25 Right?  32 1 MR. ALONSO: Never. There’s never -- and 2 again, that goes back to the due diligent inquiry 3 that -- that we did when we purchased the 4 property. And every indication was that it was 5 six units. And we’ve never had any issue with 6 the Building Department, with a tenant, or 7 anybody, in terms of the legality of the units, 8 until -- 9 MR. BONACCI: Last year. 10 MR. ALONSO: -- this past year, when they 11 went ahead and just issued the violation 12 indicating that they’re illegal. 13 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: When did they 14 purchase the unit? The building? 15 MR. ALONSO: 2000. 16 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: 2000. They been 17 paying for six units since then? 18 MR. ALONSO: Yes. 19 MR. BONACCI: So, that’s 16 years, no 20 violations. And then, like on year 15, 21 violation. 22 MR. ALONSO: Right. 23 MR. DOUMAS: And paying taxes -- 24 MR. BONACCI: And you were paying taxes -- 25 MR. DOUMAS: -- on six units.  33 1 MR. BONACCI: -- on six units the whole 2 time. 3 MR. ARENCIBIA: Right. 4 MR. BONACCI: Okay. 5 So, the building -- it seems as though the 6 Building Records Department -- 7 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Yeah. 8 MR. BONACCI: -- kind of dropped the ball 9 on this. 10 MR. ARENCIBIA: Well, they have -- 11 MR. BONACCI: That’s my opinion. 12 MR. ARENCIBIA: They have no records. 13 MR. BONACCI: Yeah. 14 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: And why did they 15 issue the violation? What did they find -- what 16 -- what kind of document support do you have to 17 state that -- 18 MR. ALONSO: Nothing. They just -- they 19 just issued -- 20 Basically, what happens is, periodically, 21 they do inspections, and then they look at their 22 records. 23 So, they went to their records and says, 24 oh, we notice that we don’t have a copy of CO for 25 these apartments, so we’re going to issue you the  34 1 -- what they call UCC violations. 2 And those are the violations that were 3 appealed onto the Construction Board of Appeals, 4 which resulted in the Settlement Agreement. 5 And again, it’s because they don’t have 6 records for the building at all, that they say, 7 well -- you know, those units, as far as we’re 8 concerned, based on a 1973 tax assessment, those 9 units don’t exist. 10 But they ignored the more current tax 11 records, at least to 2000 which showed six units 12 did exist. 13 MR. PANEQUE: I have a question for the 14 architect, with the Board’s permission. 15 Mr. Arencibia, based on your inspection of 16 the premises, both the two units that are in 17 question here tonight, did you also inspect the 18 rest of the building? 19 MR. ARENCIBIA: I did not. 20 MR. PANEQUE: You did not. Okay. 21 Therefore, you cannot answer my question, 22 which would have been if the construction in 23 these two units is different from the 24 construction in the rest of the building. 25 MR. ARENCIBIA: No, I can’t.  35 1 MR. PANEQUE: Okay. And I’m talking about 2 such things as window frames, doorframes and 3 stuff like that. 4 MR. ARENCIBIA: That is correct. These -- 5 but these -- but you can actually clearly see 6 from the pictures, these window frames have been 7 there for many, many years. I mean, they’re -- 8 MR. PANEQUE: Well -- 9 MR. ARENCIBIA: Yes. 10 MR. PANEQUE: We know that they’re not 11 there in 1973. That much is a given because of 12 the tax assessment record that says that in 1973, 13 there’s only four units. 14 So, some time between 1973 and, let’s say, 15 two thousand and -- 1999, -- 16 MR. ARENCIBIA: Right. 17 MR. PANEQUE: -- right before your clients 18 purchased, these units came into existence. 19 MR. ARENCIBIA: Yeah. 20 MR. PANEQUE: Okay. 21 MR. ARENCIBIA: I wouldn’t say 1999, 22 because they’re too -- 23 MR. PANEQUE: Too old. 24 MR. ARENCIBIA: Too old to -- 25 MR. PANEQUE: But it was be --  36 1 MR. ARENCIBIA: -- be 1999. 2 MR. PANEQUE: That’s the time span that 3 we’re looking at. 4 MR. ARENCIBIA: Yes. 5 MR. PANEQUE: ’74 -- 6 MR. ARENCIBIA: Correct. 7 MR. PANEQUE: -- to the ‘90s. 8 MR. ARENCIBIA: Um hum. 9 MR. PANEQUE: Okay. 10 MR. ARENCIBIA: Yeah. 11 MR. PANEQUE: And -- and from what we can 12 gather, the construction official’s office has no 13 records of them ever coming in to apply for 14 permits to build these units. Or those records 15 do not exist, or cannot be found. 16 MR. ALONSO: They don’t have any records. 17 MR. PANEQUE: They don’t have any records. 18 Okay. 19 So, the question for this Board really is, 20 does this Board want to accept those units as 21 legal units under the facts that have been 22 presented, or does this Board want to go to the 23 next step and have the use variance application 24 presented, so that they can make a determination 25 on it?  37 1 MR. ALONSO: And -- and I just want to add 2 that, legally, it’s a very significant decision 3 that you need to make. 4 And because, again, we are -- we’ve entered 5 into a Settlement Agreement with the City. We -- 6 I believe that they’re waive -- I don't recall, 7 but I believe that they’re waiving the penalties 8 and the fines. 9 But it makes a determination as to whether 10 or not those tenants that have always been there 11 have been residing legally or illegally, which 12 then -- 13 (Whereupon, there was an interruption in 14 the recording and the proceedings were paused.) 15 MS. DILLON: Okay. I apologize. 16 MR. ALONSO: That’s okay. 17 MS. DILLON: You can continue. 18 MR. ALONSO: Thank you. 19 So, some -- the legal significance with 20 this vote is, first and foremost, with the 21 landlord/tenancy issues that I’m indicating. 22 If the application for the appeal is 23 denied, and ultimately, even the variance 24 application is denied, then we would have two 25 illegal apartments.  38 1 We would have to vacate those apartments, 2 we’d have to do something with -- with the space 3 anyway. We’d have to come back and do something 4 with it. You can’t just leave it empty. 5 But those tenants then have rights, under 6 the -- the landlord/tenancy rules, we would have 7 to reimburse them six months rent, each 8 apartment, plus the cost of relocation. 9 So, it’s very expensive to the client in 10 the event that the appeal is denied. 11 In addition, if we were to go for the 12 variance application, then we are losing a right 13 that we believe that we have. And now, we have 14 to try to justify it to get an approval. 15 The problem with that is then, we would 16 have to justify certain things, like a density 17 variance, so where your new Ordinance creates 18 minimum sizes of apartments, these units don’t -- 19 don’t comply with that. 20 So, I requested a -- a density variance, in 21 the event that we have to go that route. We have 22 to now to meet the current standards for an 23 apartment that’s already in existence. 24 So, we’re not asking to create these 25 apartments, we’re just asking you to acknowledge  39 1 that they’ve existed and they’re legal. 2 So, there’s a lot of legal significance in 3 saying, you know what, let’s forget about this 4 appeal, let’s just go right to the variance. 5 So, I’m asking that based -- 6 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Yes. Yes. 7 MR. ALONSO: -- on some of the records -- 8 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: There was a -- 9 maybe where I was go -- where I was going, but by 10 the evidence that you provide and the testimony 11 that you just said, you answered most of the 12 questions that I have. And I also asked the 13 question, if it’s okay for us to still ask 14 questions of the -- to your architect. 15 MR. ALONSO: Absolutely. 16 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: And I would just 17 decide what you just answered for me, are the two 18 -- the two apartments are rented. And I have one 19 more question. 20 The square footage for that area there, do 21 you know, more or less? 22 MR. ARENCIBIA: Of which one? 23 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Of the -- the two 24 illegal units there. 25 MR. ARENCIBIA: It’s about -- the one in  40 1 the rear is probably about 700 square feet. 2 And the one in the front is probably about 3 seven and a quarter, something to that. 4 And they’re basically two bedrooms 5 apartments, but their configuration, like I said, 6 are very, very strange. 7 Like for instance, the one apartment -- 8 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Like if you -- if 9 you didn’t have those units there, it would be 10 like -- I mean, illegal lot. I mean, the 11 dimension of the lot would be illegal -- 12 MR. ALONSO: Well, it would be about 1400 13 square feet for the two apartments. 14 MR. ARENCIBIA: The two apartments. Yes. 15 Um hum. 16 MR. ALONSO: Of empty space that we would 17 have. 18 ACTING CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Yeah. 19 MR. PANEQUE: Just as a point of 20 clarification, Mr. Arencibia, the apartment which 21 you’ve marked as apartment 2, that apartment is 22 on the ground floor of the existing -- 23 MR. ARENCIBIA: One story. 24 MR. PANEQUE: -- three story building. 25 MR. ARENCIBIA: No. One -- one story.  41 1 MR. PANEQUE: One story? 2 MR. ARENCIBIA: Correct. 3 MR. PANEQUE: Okay. So, both -- both of 4 these apartments -- 5 MR. ARENCIBIA: Well -- 6 MR. PANEQUE: -- are in the rear extension? 7 MR. ARENCIBIA: No. One of the -- one of 8 -- part of the one apartment is in the actual 9 three story building. The other one -- most of 10 the two apartments are -- 11 There’s a bedroom, and the entrance foyer 12 is actually, for the first apartment, behind the 13 commercial space is in the three story building. 14 But, from thereon, if you look at the plan 15 -- 16 MR. PANEQUE: Okay. 17 MR. ARENCIBIA: -- that actually -- that 18 little section where it kind of gets a little 19 narrower, that’s the back of the front building. 20 And then, from there on, it gets wider. That’s 21 the back of the -- you know. 22 MR. PANEQUE: Okay. 23 Because according to what you have here on 24 these plans, apartment 2 is 801.74 square feet. 25 MR. ARENCIBIA: Correct.  42 1 MR. PANEQUE: And apartment 1 is 812.70 2 square feet. 3 MR. ARENCIBIA: Okay. Okay. Yes. 4 And to answer your question, yeah. The 5 apartment -- the apartment immediately behind is 6 actually in the three story building. Yes. 7 It is behind -- it would be like behind the 8 commercial space on the existing building. 9 MR. PANEQUE: Okay. So there -- 10 MR. ARENCIBIA: And then the other -- the 11 other apartment, the rear apartment is basically 12 in the one story -- one story space. 13 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: And the -- 14 MR. PANEQUE: Okay. 15 ACTING CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: The entrance 16 for both apartment, is that 307? 17 MR. ALONSO: 301 and -- 18 MR. ARENCIBIA: 301 and -- 19 MR. ALONSO: -- 307. 20 MR. ARENCIBIA: -- 307. Yes. 21 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: They have -- 22 MR. ALONSO: Each apartment has its own 23 address. 24 MR. PANEQUE: Look at another photograph 25 there, that has the main building.  43 1 MR. ARENCIBIA: If you look at the fixtures 2 (sic), you can see basically, the last unit, 3 basically, has two large picture windows and a 4 door in between. That’s basically the one story 5 building, and that’s the one apartment. 6 MR. PANEQUE: That’s the one apartment 7 that’s 812 square feet. 8 MR. ARENCIBIA: Correct. 9 MR. PANEQUE: The other apartment, which is 10 on the ground floor of the three story building, 11 that’s 801.74 square feet. And that was probably 12 what was a part of the commercial space. 13 MR. ARENCIBIA: I would think so. Yes. 14 MR. PANEQUE: Okay. 15 MR. ARENCIBIA: Makes sense. 16 MR. PANEQUE: So, at one point, when the 17 Tax Assessor assessed this in 1973, the entire 18 ground floor must have been a commercial space, 19 and that rear addition, either didn’t exist or 20 was some type of -- 21 MR. ARENCIBIA: Converted -- 22 MR. PANEQUE: -- garage. 23 MR. ARENCIBIA: -- or something like that. 24 Right. 25 Because like I -- I thought it was a  44 1 garage, too, but there’s actually an elevation 2 there. If you look at the pictures, it actually 3 steps up. 4 MR. PANEQUE: Okay. 5 MR. ARENCIBIA: So, that’s why I would say 6 it wasn’t a garage. 7 It was probably an extension to the 8 commercial space, or the business space, whatever 9 was on the ground floor before. 10 MR. ALONSO: And while I accept the 11 representations that the -- what was contained in 12 the ’73 assessment is what it is, my experience, 13 and I’ve been doing this for many years, in 14 different towns in North Hudson, what happens a 15 lot of time, they just carry over the information 16 from before, the prior tax assessment. 17 Sometimes, they -- they would hire high 18 school students, whatever, just to go around and 19 just count mailboxes, or whatever. 20 And we’ve been able to determine, in a lot 21 of cases, that the information that was contained 22 in that tax assessment wasn’t actually correct. 23 So, but for purposes of this hearing, I 24 will accept it, with that little caution. 25 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Mr. Arencibia, my  45 1 last question is, if I’m looking at the building, 2 I notice that that portion of the apartments, 3 those two apartments is at least 20 years old, 4 your opinion, you said, would you support that? 5 MR. ARENCIBIA: Absolutely. 6 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Is -- 7 MR. ARENCIBIA: More than 20 years old. 8 Yes. 9 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: And when your -- 10 when your client purchased that property, that 11 was existing. 12 MR. ALONSO: That was already there. 13 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: I don't have any 14 more questions. 15 Do you have any questions? 16 MR. PRESSEY: When you say how -- about how 17 old would you say the building is? 18 MR. ARENCIBIA: The building or the units? 19 The units are prob -- I would say that 20 probably the units were built sometime back in 21 the late ‘70s, I would think -- you know, early 22 ‘80s. 23 MR. BONACCI: And the whole -- the whole 24 construction? 25 MR. ALONSO: The building?  46 1 MR. BONACCI: Yeah. 2 MR. ARENCIBIA: The building itself? Is 3 probably a hundred years old, something like 4 that, I would think. 5 MR. BONACCI: Okay. 6 MR. ARENCIBIA: We’re getting old. 7 MR. PRESSEY: How long -- how long have the 8 people who, in those two existing units, how long 9 have they been living there? 10 MR. ARENCIBIA: I -- 11 MR. ALONSO: I could ask my client. 12 You can just -- you can just stand right 13 there. 14 Just stand right in front of the 15 microphone. 16 MS. DILLON: Right in front of the -- 17 MS. RESTREPO: Okay. 18 MS. DILLON: -- microphone. 19 Please raise your right hand. 20 Do you affirm the testimony you’re about to 21 give this Board is the whole truth? 22 MS. RESTREPO: Yes. 23 MS. DILLON: Please state your name and 24 spell it for the record. 25 MS. RESTREPO: Gloria Restrepo,  47 1 R-E-S-T-R-E-P-O. 2 MS. DILLON: Thank you. 3 MS. RESTREPO: Okay. Basically, my husband 4 bought the unit ten years ago. He passed away a 5 couple of years ago, so we took over. 6 According to -- and I think you had a copy 7 of one of the leases from a tenant being there 8 for 20 years, one of our tenants. 9 He has said that before they move in, there 10 was somebody else living there. 11 And the other tenant been there for about 12 ten years. And I guess my husband rented to him 13 and -- but he been there for a long time. 14 MR. ALONSO: I have copies of the leases 15 and we can -- I didn’t include it, but I could 16 show you, and we could provide it to the Board. 17 You have provided me with these two leases. 18 One, the landlord at the time was Joseph Labib, 19 which was not your husband, and the tenant was 20 Gilberto Guerra, from 1992. 21 MS. RESTREPO: Yeah. He’s there. He’s 22 still there. 23 MR. ALONSO: He’s still there. This is 24 from 1992, before you purchased the property. 25 And which apartment is this?  48 1 MS. RESTREPO: The 307. 2 MR. ALONSO: So, the -- this one story. 3 MS. RESTREPO: It is. Yes. 4 MR. ARENCIBIA: Right 5 MS. RESTREPO: Um hum. 6 MR. ALONSO: And then, there’s -- 7 MS. RESTREPO: Oscar Sanchez. 8 MR. ALONSO: Oscar Sanchez. This is from 9 2011. 10 MS. RESTREPO: Okay. 11 MR. ALONSO: Okay. And -- 12 MS. RESTREPO: That was after my husband 13 bought it. 14 MR. ALONSO: Right. So, I’m just going to 15 provide these to -- to the Board for the record. 16 You can mark them as A-8 and A-9. 17 18 (Whereupon, Lease Between Landlord, Louis 19 O. Restrepo, and Tenants, Oscar A. Sanchez and 20 Leydin M. Molina was received and marked as 21 Exhibit A-8.) 22 23 (Whereupon, Lease Between Landlord, Joseph 24 Labib, and Tenant, Gilberto Guerra was received 25 and marked as Exhibit A-9.  49 1 2 (Whereupon, there was a pause in the 3 proceedings.) 4 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Thank you, Ms. 5 Restrepo. 6 MS. RESTREPO: Thank you. 7 MR. ALONSO: Thank you. 8 ACTING CHAIRPERSON GRULLON: Any -- any 9 other questions? 10 At this time, I’m just going to open it to 11 the public. Open to the public. 12 Mr. Price? 13 MS. DILLON: Mr. Price, please raise your 14 right hand. 15 Do you affirm the testimony you’re about to 16 give this Board is the whole truth? 17 MR. PRICE: I do. 18 MS. DILLON: Please state your name and 19 address for the record. 20 MR. PRICE: Larry Price, 1006 Palisade. 21 Mr. Arencibia? 22 MR. ARENCIBIA: Yes. 23 MR. PRICE: You inspected the two 24 apartments. 25 Did you inspect the commercial space in the  50 1 front of the building? 2 MR. ARENCIBIA: No, I did not. 3 MR. PRICE: You did not. 4 Okay. 5 Thank you. 6 MR. ALONSO: You don’t dispute that it’s a 7 commercial space, though. 8 MR. ARENCIBIA: Right. Yes. 9 Well, it’s a hair salon. 10 MR. PRICE: It’s -- 11 MR. ARENCIBIA: It’s a -- 12 MR. PRICE: But you didn’t -- you didn’t 13 look at the hair salon to -- 14 I mean, this -- the building’s a hundred 15 years old. 16 MR. ARENCIBIA: Right. 17 MR. PRICE: At least a hundred years old. 18 MR. ARENCIBIA: Right. 19 MR. PRICE: It was probably a bar when it 20 started out, and it went all the way through. 21 Okay. 22 And the question -- then, we put a couple 23 apartments in. And probably at the same time, we 24 put a commercial space in the front of the 25 building, which is now a hair salon.  51 1 My question is, but you can’t answer it, is 2 how old is the hair salon look, or that 3 commercial space? 4 You don’t know. 5 MR. ARENCIBIA: No, I don't. 6 MR. PRICE: No. 7 Okay. 8 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Any other member of 9 the public? 10 Closed to the public. 11 Considering all the evidence and -- and the 12 testimony from -- from the architect, and -- and 13 the photos that shows that the building is 14 existing for at least 25, 30 years, I make a 15 motion to grant the appeal. 16 THE SECRETARY: Motion to grant the appeal 17 by Acting Chair -- by Vice Chairman Victor 18 Grullon. 19 MR. BONACCI: Second. 20 THE SECRETARY: Second by Mr. Bonacci. 21 Roll call to grant this appeal. 22 Victor Grullon? 23 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Yes. 24 THE SECRETARY: Miguel Ortiz? 25 MR. ORTIZ: Yes.  52 1 THE SECRETARY: David Pressey? 2 MR. PRESSEY: Yes. 3 THE SECRETARY: Khaled Dardir? 4 MR. DARDIR: Yes. 5 THE SECRETARY: Joseph Bonacci? 6 MR. BONACCI: Yes. 7 THE SECRETARY: Peter Doumas? 8 MR. DOUMAS: Yes. 9 THE SECRETARY: Motion carries. 10 MR. ALONSO: Thank you very much. 11 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Thank you. 12 MR. ARENCIBIA: Thank you very much. 13 Appreciate it. 14 VICE CHAIRMAN GRULLON: Mr. Arencibia -- 15 MR. ALONSO: Have a good evening. Stay 16 warm. 17 MR. ARENCIBIA: Thank you. 18 Have a nice President’s week, everybody, or 19 President’s Day. 20 MR. PANEQUE: I thought you were going to 21 wish me a Valentine’s. 22 * * * 23 24 25  53 1 ADJOURNMENT: 2 3 THE SECRETARY: There being no other 4 application on tonight’s agenda, can I have a 5 motion to close tonight’s meeting? 6 Motion by Mr. Pressey. 7 Second by? 8 Mr. Miguel Ortiz. 9 MS. RESTREPO: Thank you very much. 10 Good night. 11 THE SECRETARY: All in favor? 12 13 (Whereupon, there was a chorus of ayes.) 14 15 THE SECRETARY: The ayes have it. 16 Thank you, gentlemen. Have a good night. 17 18 (Whereupon, the proceedings were concluded 19 at 7:00 p.m.) 20 21 22 23 24 25  54 1 STATE OF NEW JERSEY : 2 : 3 COUNTY OF ESSEX : 4 5 6 I, DEBRA A. KASZNIAK, assigned transcriber, 7 do hereby affirm that the foregoing is a true and 8 accurate transcript in the matter of the REGULAR 9 MEETING of the UNION CITY ZONING BOARD OF 10 ADJUSTMENT heard on Thursday, February 11, 2016 11 and digitally recorded. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Monitored and proofread by: Deborah Dillon