1 1 HUDSON COUNTY PLANNING BOARD 2 IN RE: ) ) TRANSCRIPT OF 3 MONTHLY MEETING ) PROCEEDINGS ) 4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _) Administrative Annex 5 567 Pavonia Avenue Freeholders Chambers 6 Jersey City, New Jersey Wednesday, August 18, 2004 7 7:00 p.m. 8 B E F O R E: 9 RUSHABH METHA, CHAIRMAN 10 MARY E. AVAGLIANO, COMMISSIONER 11 RENEE BETTINGER, COMMISSIONER 12 BORIVOJ JASEK, COMMISSIONER 13 DANIEL CHOFFO, COMMISSIONER 14 15 A L S O P R E S E N T: 16 ARTHUR GLATMAN, ESQ., For the Board 17 STEPHEN MARKS, Secretary for the Board 18 Reported By: 19 MICHELLE GRUENDEL, C.S.R. 20 21 22 REPORTING SERVICES ARRANGED THROUGH VERITEXT/NEW JERSEY REPORTING COMPANY, L.L.C. 23 Kabot Battaglia & Hammer Suburban Shorthand Waga and Spinelli Arthur J. Frannicola CSR 24 25B Vreeland Road Florham Park, New Jersey 07932 25 Tel: 973-410-4040 Fax: 973-410-1313 2 1 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Everybody, please, 2 let's call the meeting to order, please. 3 Arthur, does this meeting comply with the 4 Open Public Meeting Act? 5 MR. GLATMAN: The Board Secretary has 6 placed proper ads and public notices and we are in 7 compliance with the Sunshine Law. 8 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. Steve, can you 9 please do the roll call? 10 MR. MARKS: Sure. 11 Commissioner Avagliano? 12 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Here. 13 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 14 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Here. 15 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Choffo? 16 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Here. 17 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Fitzgibbons? 18 Commissioner Holloway? 19 Commissioner Jasek? 20 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Here. 21 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Liggio? 22 Commissioner -- or Chairman Mehta? 23 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Here. 24 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, we have five 25 commissioners present. 3 MONTHLY MEETING 1 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Everybody, please 2 rise. 3 (Flag salute takes place.) 4 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: All the members, all 5 the commissioners review the last meeting's minutes? 6 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I'll make a 7 motion. 8 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I'll second it. 9 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Mr. Chairman, I 10 have some comments on the minutes. 11 On page 27, there is a word on line 21 which 12 is put dominoes. It should be bituminous, 13 B-I-T-U-M-I-N-O-U-S. On page 29, line 17, it says 14 don't show the street on your -- it should read, 15 don't show the trees. On page 50, line number one, 16 it says, Mr. Glatman, I made a motion. Mr. Glatman 17 didn't make a motion, I'm sure. 18 MR. GLATMAN: I didn't. 19 COMMISSIONER JASEK: And then 20 continuing, it says Commissioner Liggio, I will 21 second it, so, apparently, somebody else made a 22 motion. 23 MR. GLATMAN: We can check back on the 24 records and make it comply with what really happened. 25 COMMISSIONER JASEK: And finally, on 4 MONTHLY MEETING 1 page 61, line 21, it says, we will still be under 2 common property. Should read, will still be under 3 county property. 4 That's all I have, Mr. Chairman. 5 MR. MARKS: Okay. Adoption of the 6 minutes introduced by Commissioner Avagliano, 7 seconded by Commissioner Choffo. 8 Commissioner Bettinger? 9 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 10 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 11 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 12 MR. MARKS: And Chairman Mehta? 13 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I vote aye, with the 14 changes. 15 Thank you. 16 Any of the public who are present -- 17 MR. GLATMAN: If I might, there is 18 also a change on page 59, line 23, and it says, being 19 on county year old property, and I don't know where 20 the year old came out. It should be just county 21 property on page 59. 22 COMMISSIONER JASEK: All right. I 23 know that that's true, Mr. Chairman, I couldn't make 24 much sense out of that, so I don't know. 25 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Any more changes? 5 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. GLATMAN: No. 2 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. Any of the 3 people in the public have any comment on the current 4 Agenda, please sign the sheet and notify the 5 reporter. 6 Now let's go to the memorialization of 7 resolutions approved at the last meeting: 8 SP-38-04, SP-38 -- 39-04, SP-59-04. 9 Do I have a motion? 10 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I make a 11 motion. 12 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll second 13 that. 14 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: All in 15 favor? 16 MR. MARKS: Okay. A motion to 17 memorialize the resolutions at last meeting. 18 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Mr. Chairman, 19 before the roll call, on the memorialization, I have 20 an SP-38-04, I think it should be SD. 21 MR. GLATMAN: I'll double-check that 22 and make whatever correction is necessary. 23 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Because there was 24 that one house on the Paterson Plank Road for the 25 subdivision only. 6 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. GLATMAN: Right. 2 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: It is SD-38-04. 3 MR. GLATMAN: We'll make that 4 correction. 5 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Okay. 6 MR. MARKS: A motion was made to 7 memorialize the resolutions from July 21, introduced 8 by Commissioner Avagliano, seconded by Commissioner 9 Bettinger. 10 Commissioner Choffo? 11 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Aye. 12 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 13 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 14 MR. MARKS: Chairman Mehta? 15 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Aye. 16 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, motion 17 passed five to zero. 18 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: From the attorney's 19 request, we are moving to the item number D to 20 accommodate the attorney's request. 21 Item number D is approval of Regional 22 Contribution Agreement between Township of Wyckoff 23 and Township of Weehawken. 24 MR. BURKE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 25 I represent a non-for-profit group sponsored 7 MONTHLY MEETING 1 by the New York Housing Authority. This money will 2 be used to develop family affordable units on 3 Pleasant Avenue in Weehawken, so I would just ask the 4 Board to approve this. COAH, C-O-A-H, is in favor of 5 this project. That's an agency of the Stage of New 6 Jersey. 7 Do you have any questions, the Board? 8 MR. GLATMAN: Has the municipality 9 approved it? 10 MR. BURKE: The municipality has and 11 the RCA has been executed by both Wyckoff and 12 Weehawken, but it's subject to the approval of this 13 Board. 14 MR. GLATMAN: Okay. We've handled 15 these before, and usually it's more of a formality 16 for us to accept it, and it's required by the state 17 if we approve it. 18 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Mostly 19 formality. 20 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Any of the, of the 21 documents required to do so? 22 MR. GLATMAN: Well, the application 23 contained the documents that are necessary, so that's 24 not a problem. 25 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: And you have it all? 8 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. GLATMAN: We have it on file. 2 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. Any 3 commissioner have any question or comment? 4 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: No. 5 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I'll make a 6 motion to adopt it. 7 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I'll second 8 it. 9 MR. MARKS: Okay. Mr. Chairman, we 10 have a motion to adopt made by Commissioner Choffo, 11 seconded by Commissioner Avagliano. 12 Commissioner Bettinger? 13 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 14 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 15 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 16 MR. MARKS: And Chairman Mehta? 17 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Aye. 18 MR. BURKE: Thank you for your 19 courtesy and thank you for the approval. 20 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 21 passed. 22 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. For 23 applications declared to be exempt: 24 SD-66-04, SD-67-04, SP-68-04, SP-70-04, 25 SP-71-04, SP-72-04, SD-74-04 and SP-77-04. 9 MONTHLY MEETING 1 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Mr. Chairman, I 2 think that SP-68-04 should be moved from the, from 3 the hearing to the exempt -- 4 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Sorry. I spell -- 5 COMMISSIONER JASEK: -- because it is a 6 Sprint Spectrum on 500 Supor Boulevard in Harrison, 7 which is not county road, so it should be the 8 category, application, applications declared to be 9 exempt. 10 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, that 11 application was removed on a later public notice and 12 agenda to the site plans and subdivisions scheduled 13 for tonight's meeting. 14 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Is there any 15 problem to move it to the exempt category? 16 MR. GLATMAN: No. There shouldn't be. 17 MR. MARKS: Move it back. 18 MR. GLATMAN: I think that was just an 19 administrative error, because we did have the 20 subcommittee meeting, we discussed the matter and it 21 was moved accordingly, so it should not be a problem. 22 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay, so add one more 23 item to the exempt category, SP-68-04, Sprint 24 Spectrum, LP. 25 Do I have a motion? 10 MONTHLY MEETING 1 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I'll make a 2 motion to declare these applications exempt. 3 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll second 4 that. 5 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I have a 6 motion made by Commissioner Choffo and seconded by 7 Commissioner Bettinger. 8 Commissioner Avagliano? 9 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 10 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 11 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 12 MR. MARKS: And Chairman Mehta? 13 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Yes. 14 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I have five 15 votes in favor. 16 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Now, site plans and 17 subdivisions scheduled for hearing. 18 First case, SP-36-04, Casa Blanca 19 Development, 9252 Kennedy Boulevard, North Bergen, 20 New Jersey. 21 MR. GLATMAN: If I might, we received 22 a phone call on that, a couple phone calls. There 23 was supposed to be a subdivision application 24 submitted with the site plan. They failed to do so. 25 We received, I believe just the other day, which 11 MONTHLY MEETING 1 was -- would not have met publication requirements, 2 notification requirements. We spoke with the 3 attorneys, Elaine Berkenwall from Dennis Oury's 4 office, and at their request, after discussion, they 5 requested that Casa Blanca, both the site plan and 6 the subdivision, be carried until the next meeting. 7 I suggested to them that they contact Mr. Scevani, 8 Scevino, Ed Scevino, who was here last time and 9 voiced some concerns about the project. I also gave 10 him the name of the attorney who was with him at that 11 time and suggested they also contact the attorney to 12 inform him that this would not -- was not going to be 13 heard tonight at their request. 14 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. 15 MR. GLATMAN: Is there a motion? 16 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll make a 17 motion. 18 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: To postpone for the 19 next meeting. 20 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Right, to 21 postpone SP-36-04 for the next meeting. 22 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I'll second it. 23 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I have a 24 motion made by Commissioner Bettinger to postpone 25 hearing of the application and seconded by 12 MONTHLY MEETING 1 Commissioner Choffo. 2 Commissioner Avagliano? 3 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 4 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 5 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 6 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Chairman Mehta? 7 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Aye. 8 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, we have five 9 votes in the affirmative. 10 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Next case, SP-64-04, 11 RP Associates, LLC, 7108 Kennedy Boulevard, North 12 Bergen. 13 MR. ALAMPI: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 14 My name is Carmine Alampi. I'm an attorney 15 in Hackensack. I'm here for RP Associates. 16 This is a property on Kennedy Boulevard in 17 North Bergen. This property was part of a larger 18 subdivision that appeared before your Board and the 19 North Bergen Planning Board in 2002. The property 20 was separated where the residentially zoned property 21 was divided into 14 building lots, and that property 22 was also approved by the Planning Board for 23 subdivision, and the front aspect of the property, 24 which is the subject of tonight's hearing, is the 25 commercial property on Kennedy Boulevard. That 13 MONTHLY MEETING 1 property is about 18,000 square feet. It fronts 2 along Kennedy Boulevard. It's directly across from 3 the McGuire Chevrolet Showroom. This used to be part 4 of the McGuire Chevrolet family's property, and it is 5 presently a vacant lot. Tonight the application's 6 for the preliminary and final site plan approval. It 7 is a one-story building. It provides parking on 8 site, and we have presently filed an application with 9 the Planning Board in North Bergen for site plan 10 approval at the municipal level. Unfortunately, due 11 to the very heavy Agenda, they had adjourned us. We 12 were before the Board last week and we are carried 13 into the September meeting where we expect, of 14 course, to secure municipal site plan approval. 15 In conjunction with this application, we have 16 submitted, of course, to the Soil Conservation 17 District, Tri-County Soil Conservation, to the North 18 Bergen Municipal Utilities Authority and to the other 19 department headquarters, and in North Bergen, and 20 we've received the MUA, the Municipal Utility 21 Approval Authority and we have received the soil 22 conservation permit and we are now filing for the 23 County Planning Board review of the site plan. 24 I'm looking to see if my engineer is here, 25 and he is. 14 MONTHLY MEETING 1 You all have your site plan before you. We 2 are complying with the permitted use for a commercial 3 development. It's a one-story building and we comply 4 with the parking requirements that are required in 5 the municipality. 6 I don't know if the Board Members have any 7 specific questions about this. 8 We do not have a specific tenant. This is 9 just a retail building and, of course, we hope to 10 secure the proper tenants for the space. 11 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Do you have any 12 witness to testify right now with you? 13 MR. ALAMPI: I have Mr. Tuvel, our 14 site engineer, and I'm going to ask him a few brief 15 questions. 16 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Yeah, why don't you 17 call him and swear him in and do the brief testimony 18 to the commissioners so they can have a better idea 19 about, about the site. 20 MR. ALAMPI: Yes. This is Harry 21 Tuvel. 22 Mr. Tuvel, raise your right hand, please. 23 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Arthur? 24 HARRY N. TUVEL, P.E., P.P., having been first duly 25 sworn according to law, testified as follows: 15 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. ALAMPI: Mr. Tuvel, are you a 2 licensed engineer in the State of New Jersey? 3 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: For the benefit of 4 the Planning Board, will you please give his 5 credentials? 6 MR. ALAMPI: I'm just doing that. 7 Thank you. 8 Mr. Tuvel, are you a licensed engineer in the 9 State of New Jersey? 10 MR. TUVEL: Yes, I am. 11 MR. ALAMPI: Have you testified before 12 county planning boards, zoning boards and planning 13 boards in the municipalities in the State of New 14 Jersey? 15 MR. TUVEL: Yes, I have, and I've 16 testified previously before this board. 17 MR. ALAMPI: Have you been qualified 18 as an expert witness in the field of engineering and 19 design? 20 MR. TUVEL: Yes, I have. 21 MR. ALAMPI: Mr. Chairman, do you need 22 any further credentials before you accept Mr. Tuvel 23 as a professional and licensed engineer? 24 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Any commissioner have 25 any question? 16 MONTHLY MEETING 1 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: No. 2 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: We'll accept him. 3 MR. ALAMPI: Thank you. 4 Mr. Tuvel, could you briefly explain to the 5 Board the location of the subject property and the 6 development that's proposed on the site? 7 MR. TUVEL: Yes. 8 Before you -- we've prepared a colored 9 version of the site plan drawing which you have 10 before you. This has just been colored for the 11 presentation purposes. 12 The site, as was described, is an 18,675 13 square foot site located on the eastern side of 14 Kennedy Boulevard directly across from 72nd Street. 15 What's proposed is a one-story building, that's shown 16 here in the tan color, and associated parking, 17 one-story retail building. The zoning analysis shows 18 that we -- that the -- there are no variances 19 required for it. It is, of course, a permitted use 20 and there are no variances, no bulk variances 21 required in association with this application. 22 MR. ALAMPI: Harry, very briefly, the 23 minimum lot area permitted in the zone is only 2,500 24 square feet? 25 MR. TUVEL: That's correct. This is, 17 MONTHLY MEETING 1 this is the C-1A zone of the Township of North 2 Bergen. 3 MR. ALAMPI: And the property is much 4 larger, it's over 18,000 square feet, correct? 5 MR. TUVEL: That's correct. 6 MR. ALAMPI: You're permitted to build 7 a building of four stories or 45 feet in height, 8 correct? 9 MR. TUVEL: That's correct. 10 MR. ALAMPI: And this is only a 11 one-story building? 12 MR. TUVEL: One story, 24 feet in 13 height. 14 MR. ALAMPI: And lastly, with regard 15 to the requirements for the setback and the side 16 yards and such, are there any variances associated 17 with the site and the siding of the building itself? 18 MR. TUVEL: There are none. The plan 19 is a fully conformed site plan. 20 MR. ALAMPI: Lastly, Mr. Tuvel, with 21 regard to the parking, have you provided a full 22 amount of parking as required under the ordinance? 23 MR. TUVEL: Yes. We, we show a 24 parking requirement on the, on the zoning schedule. 25 20 spaces are required and we are providing 29 nine 18 MONTHLY MEETING 1 by 18 spaces. 2 MR. ALAMPI: Now, there is presently a 3 freestanding sign on the property, correct? 4 MR. TUVEL: Yes. 5 MR. ALAMPI: And the proposal here is 6 to relocate, subject to the municipal approval, that 7 freestanding sign on the property, correct? 8 MR. TUVEL: Yes. And that sign will 9 also be conforming in terms of its area. 10 MR. ALAMPI: Lastly, with regard to 11 the drainage and the grading of the site, have you or 12 your company dealt with the municipal engineers of 13 Boswell McClave? 14 MR. TUVEL: Yes. We have a review 15 letter from Boswell McClave Engineering regarding the 16 drainage. They have made some, some recommendations 17 for some alterations of the drainage sign design. We 18 have submitted a drainage report and we can fully 19 conform with the changes that they recommended in 20 their report. 21 MR. ALAMPI: And lastly, the drainage 22 from the building and the parking lot is to be 23 connected to the rear -- 24 MR. TUVEL: Yes. 25 MR. ALAMPI: -- where the 14 two-family 19 MONTHLY MEETING 1 house lots are being constructed presently, correct? 2 MR. TUVEL: Yes. That's correct. 3 On the other side of this board I have an 4 enlarged -- a larger scale drawing, 10 scale drawing 5 of the, of the site. We do -- we are showing a 6 detention area of underground, underground piping 7 detention area at the rear of the, of the building. 8 MR. ALAMPI: Mr. Chairman, I don't 9 have any further questions of the engineering 10 witness, unless the Board has any specific questions. 11 MR. GLATMAN: Counsel, could you just 12 mark the chart you used for the exhibit as A-1? 13 You'll retain possession of it. 14 Thank you. 15 MR. ALAMPI: Thank you, counsel. 16 I should note that the application itself 17 that was submitted consists more than just A-1. A-1 18 is the particular engineering site plan which was 19 colorized for illustration, but the actual engineer 20 site plan is, I believe six pages and it includes the 21 drainage planning, the landscaping plan. 22 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Just for the record 23 purposes, how many square feet will be the building? 24 MR. ALAMPI: Good question. 25 The building is approximately 8,000 square 20 MONTHLY MEETING 1 feet. 2 MR. TUVEL: 5,990. 3 MR. ALAMPI: I'm sorry. 5,990, just 4 under 6,000 square feet. 5 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. And you're 6 providing 20 or 29 parking space? 7 MR. TUVEL: 20 spaces. 20. 8 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: 20. 9 Out of that, you are providing any 10 handicapped parking? 11 MR. TUVEL: That includes one van 12 accessible handicapped space, which is located right 13 over here, on the site closest to the building of the 14 parking area. 15 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: And the building has 16 handicapped access? 17 MR. TUVEL: Yes, it does. 18 MR. ALAMPI: Yes. The building is on 19 grade. There are no steps into the building. Yes. 20 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Commissioner Jasek, 21 do you have any question or comment? 22 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Mr. Chairman, 23 yes, I do. 24 The applicant shows two driveways. The 25 southern one is the in and out. In Hudson County we 21 MONTHLY MEETING 1 don't do the return on the sidewalk. We do the 2 straight from the edge of the driveway, straight line 3 to the curb, and then the pressed curb by the 4 driveway should be 24 feet wide. 5 MR. TUVEL: Yes. 6 COMMISSIONER JASEK: You have 34 with 7 five and five on either side, so take those out. 8 MR. TUVEL: Okay. We can modify that. 9 COMMISSIONER JASEK: The northern 10 driveway is out only, and it's the same comment, it 11 should be 12 feet without those curb, curb returns. 12 Now, the southern and northern driveway, they should 13 have two signs, one correctly says, they're R1-1, 14 which is stop. We need additional signs which will 15 say no left turn on both driveways. The county does 16 not allow left turns from any driveway on the 17 Boulevard, and you have correctly the sign on the 18 northern driveway, do not enter, which is R5-1. 19 MR. TUVEL: Okay, so no left turn. No 20 left turn sign, okay, 24 feet, and the 24 foot 21 driveway on the southern, on the southern driveway. 22 COMMISSIONER JASEK: And on the 23 northern driveway. 24 MR. TUVEL: 12 feet on the northern. 25 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Now, on the plan 22 MONTHLY MEETING 1 you have a sidewalk which is not full -- all the way 2 to the property line. 3 I don't have any numbers. There is a 4 sidewalk which is eight foot wide. 5 MR. TUVEL: Yes. 6 COMMISSIONER JASEK: What happens with 7 those two feet up to the building? 8 MR. TUVEL: We're showing that to be a 9 grass strip. 10 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Well, we would 11 rather see, the county, all the way up, up to the 12 property line. 13 MR. TUVEL: Okay, and then the 14 landscaping behind that? 15 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Landscaping 16 behind that. 17 MR. TUVEL: Okay. 18 MR. ALAMPI: Mr. Jasek, the reason for 19 the two foot grass strip was to comply with the 20 municipal regulations for greenery and open space, 21 but if you feel strongly about it, because I think 22 it's a maintenance issue, just having a two foot 23 grass strip might be difficult. That might trigger a 24 waiver request at the municipal level. 25 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Well, it's a 23 MONTHLY MEETING 1 maintenance issue. There are two issues. One is the 2 maintenance issue, because it is within the county 3 right-of-way, so clearly, the county should maintain 4 it, and it becomes the issue, and second thing, where 5 you will see a piece of the greenery in the urban 6 surrounding, it's a dog walk, so we don't want it 7 either. 8 MR. ALAMPI: And I tend to agree with 9 you, so that will probably trigger a waiver at the 10 municipal planning board, but we'll seek such a 11 waiver. 12 COMMISSIONER JASEK: I'm sure that 13 they will have no problem with it. 14 MR. ALAMPI: I may have to enlist your 15 good offices for a letter commenting that that's your 16 recommendation -- 17 COMMISSIONER JASEK: No problem. 18 MR. ALAMPI: -- to the municipality. 19 COMMISSIONER JASEK: It will be in the 20 minutes. 21 MR. ALAMPI: Thank you. 22 COMMISSIONER JASEK: The last comment 23 is, the contractor should come for the road opening 24 permit to the County Engineer's Office, you have a 25 sanitary sewage connection in the street and for the 24 MONTHLY MEETING 1 construction of the curb. 2 That's all I have, Mr. Chairman. 3 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. Any other 4 commissioner have any question or comment? 5 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Commissioner 6 Jasek, do you have the same drawing that he's got in 7 his hand right now? 8 COMMISSIONER JASEK: I don't know what 9 he has in his hands. I have the one submitted with 10 the application. 11 MR. ALAMPI: This is the one submitted 12 with the application. 13 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: All right, so 14 he has that? 15 MR. ALAMPI: Oh, yes. 16 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Thank you. 17 MR. ALAMPI: It's dated July 8th, 18 2004. 19 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Yes. That's 20 correct. 21 MR. ALAMPI: Right. Yes. 22 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Thank you. 23 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Do you have any idea 24 that are you going to rent it out to one vendor or -- 25 MR. ALAMPI: No. We would prefer a 25 MONTHLY MEETING 1 single occupancy, what they call a single tenant 2 occupancy, but it may be two or three tenants. Our 3 preference would be a single tenant. It would be 4 easier to manage for the landlord. We've had some 5 interests with different national retail stores that 6 have been soliciting us. 7 I would also note that there are, on either 8 side of the property, residential properties, even 9 though this is a commercial zone, and we have built a 10 beautiful fencing and have committed to this young 11 lady who owns this home that we would build a vinyl 12 fence, and she was very happy that we would improve 13 it, and for this gentleman on the north of the 14 property, his property and his driveway is only five 15 feet wide. Legally, he straddles our property, and 16 we have provided to him when we came before the North 17 Bergen Planning Board two years ago with the 18 subdivision that we would give him a license of three 19 feet, so that at this area where we're showing some 20 shrubbery, his car actually goes on to our property, 21 but we're giving him a license agreement in writing, 22 so in the, in the future, should he sell his 23 property, he's actually been benefited by our 24 development, and, of course, those people were very 25 pleased that we're cleaning up that site. 26 MONTHLY MEETING 1 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. And are you 2 available that our approval or, you know, approval 3 will be subject to the local approval? 4 MR. ALAMPI: Oh, absolutely. 5 Normally, we have that local approval in hand by the 6 time we come here, but, as I said, we were pushed off 7 the meeting Agenda until next month. 8 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I have one 9 question. 10 In our application it says it's pending a 11 public hearing dated August 10th. 12 MR. ALAMPI: That was the hearing last 13 month -- last week at North Bergen Planning Board. 14 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: All right. 15 MR. ALAMPI: We were there, but they 16 weren't ready for us. 17 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. Looks to me 18 that this application's a good benefit and a plus 19 sign to the county as well as town. I will suggest 20 commissioners to give a motion to approve. 21 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll make a 22 motion to approve SP-64-04 with the recommendations 23 of Commissioner Jasek. 24 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I'll second it. 25 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 27 MONTHLY MEETING 1 of Commissioner Bettinger, seconded by Commissioner 2 Choffo, Commissioner Avagliano? 3 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I vote aye, 4 providing all the adjustments are made as per 5 Commissioner Jasek. 6 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 7 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 8 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Mehta? 9 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I vote aye. 10 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, there are 11 five votes in the affirmative. 12 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Next case, SP-65-04, 13 NJSCC, 2200-2212 Kennedy Boulevard, Union City, New 14 Jersey. 15 MR. BEESLEY: Good evening. My name 16 is David Beesley. I'm a Professional Engineer with 17 the firm of Macdel Engineering. We are the site 18 engineers that prepared the site plans for the 19 project we just referenced. We do not have anyone 20 else here from the project team. 21 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Arthur? 22 DAVID BEESLEY, P.E., having been first duly sworn 23 according to law, testified as follows: 24 MR. GLATMAN: You have testified 25 before this Board on prior occasions. 28 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. BEESLEY: And I have been accepted 2 as an expert. I have a current license. My license 3 is valid for this evening. 4 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: We will accept. 5 MR. BEESLEY: Thank you. 6 What we have here, it's on the corner of 22nd 7 Street and Kennedy Boulevard. It presently is a 8 brick building. It had previously been used as a 9 funeral parlor. It is next to the Cadillac dealer. 10 The proposal is to tear the building down and to 11 build an Early Childhood Center. Early Childhood 12 Center has a half basement and then has two stories 13 above and it would be used for, for school for young 14 children. 15 We prepared the site plan for this. You can 16 see that the building covers most of the property. 17 The property is approximately a half an acre. We 18 have proposed utility improvements. The utility 19 improvements, for the most part, are shown in Gold 20 Street. We have an underground detention facility. 21 It is comprised of a 36-inch diameter and plastic 22 pipe, high density polyethylene pipe. The total 23 length is approximately 300 feet. We have calculated 24 the storage capacity to include the property, Gold 25 Street and a potential future expansion to the east. 29 MONTHLY MEETING 1 That property is not part of this application. The 2 property has not been secured. The request from the 3 FCC was to design this to accommodate that. We have 4 done it. We have done that design. The design is in 5 compliance with the North Hudson Sewage Authority. 6 They have a very unique design criteria and we have 7 satisfied that criteria. Basically, it is to 8 accommodate a ten-year design storm event and to 9 discharge it at a predetermined controlled rate. We 10 have such a future to do that and we tie into the 11 municipality system, downstream it in 22nd Street 12 where Gold Street connects to it. There is no 13 parking. There is no land on this for the parking, 14 and that would be the future expansion, if that land 15 becomes available, but, again, it is not part of this 16 application. 17 Any other questions? 18 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Is this the 19 Schlem Funeral Home -- 20 MR. BEESLEY: I believe that's the 21 name of it. 22 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: -- on this 23 application? 24 MR. BEESLEY: You know what, I asked 25 my associate if he remembered the name. He could not 30 MONTHLY MEETING 1 remember it either. 2 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I'm trying to 3 figure out -- 4 MR. BEESLEY: It's right next to the 5 Cadillac dealer. 6 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Okay. 7 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: So you're planning to 8 build a school from pre K to which grade? 9 MR. BEESLEY: I think it's, I think it 10 might include kindergarten, but I am not the 11 architect on it. I'm simply the civil engineer. 12 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: For the record, how 13 much square foot will be the building? 14 MR. BEESLEY: It's approximately 15 20,000 square feet on the footprint. It is two 16 levels of principal building and then there is some 17 basement area, approximately eight to 10,000 square 18 feet of basement. Much of that basement area is 19 mechanical. There is a lunchroom that's part of the 20 basement area. 21 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Commissioner Jasek, 22 do you have any comment? 23 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Mr. Chairman, the 24 Plan Review Committee reviewed this plan last 25 Wednesday. There are a few items. 31 MONTHLY MEETING 1 The applicant correctly made a note that it 2 will be new concrete sidewalk around the building. 3 He will reconstruct handicapped ramps. He will close 4 the existing driveway at the northern end of the 5 building on Kennedy Boulevard. 6 There are a few things which puzzle me a 7 little bit. 8 One is the note on the corner of 22nd Street 9 and Kennedy Boulevard. It says existing sign to 10 remain, revise sign text to indicate no parking. 11 MR. BEESLEY: Which sheet are you on, 12 sir? 13 COMMISSIONER JASEK: On SW-1. 14 I don't know what's on the existing sign, but 15 usually the sign is replaced. It's hard to revise 16 the text on the sign. 17 MR. BEESLEY: We're going to remove 18 the placard and put a new one on. 19 COMMISSIONER JASEK: With the right -- 20 MR. BEESLEY: Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Now, you have, 22 right next to it, you have to relocate the junction 23 box which is on the sidewalk. 24 MR. BEESLEY: Yes. We are providing 25 for a bus, bus drop-off facility on 22nd Street, and 32 MONTHLY MEETING 1 where we have brought that into the present sidewalk 2 area, there is a junction box there. The junction 3 boxes are not, junction boxes are not designed for 4 highway loading, truck or bus loading, and so we need 5 to relocate that into the sidewalk area. 6 We did go through Mr. Jasek's office. We had 7 a meeting on how to relocate that and that's the 8 reason it's shown for relocation. 9 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Okay. I just 10 want you to be aware that it's not just a simple 11 thing, as it stands, to relocate a junction box, 12 because of the wiring and conduits. 13 MR. BEESLEY: Yeah. We just tried to 14 lower it, but that won't work. 15 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Okay. Very 16 good. That's all I have, Mr. Chairman. 17 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Any other 18 commissioner? 19 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: All children 20 will be left off on 22nd Street and also picked up on 21 22nd? Nothing on the Boulevard? 22 MR. BEESLEY: There is no drop-off on 23 the Boulevard. That's correct. 24 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Thank you. 25 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I'll make a 33 MONTHLY MEETING 1 motion to accept this, based on Mr. Jasek's 2 recommendation. 3 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll second 4 that. 5 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 6 by Commissioner Choffo and seconded by Commissioner 7 Bettinger, Commissioner Avagliano? 8 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 9 I believe we should have more of these 10 schools available for mothers that do have to go to 11 work and fathers that have to go to work and we know 12 they're safe when they're in a school like this. I 13 congratulate the group for this application. 14 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 15 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 16 MR. MARKS: And Chairman Mehta? 17 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I vote aye, subject 18 to Commissioner Jasek's recommendations and changes. 19 MR. BEESLEY: Thank you, very much. 20 Good night. 21 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, there are 22 five votes in the affirmative. 23 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Next case, SP-73-04, 24 Dong Xu Xun, 422 Paterson Plank Road, Union City, New 25 Jersey. 34 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MS. VEGA: We need somebody speak 2 Spanish, please. Do you speak -- 3 MR. GLATMAN: We don't have a 4 translator. 5 MS. VEGA: You don't have somebody? 6 MR. GLATMAN: No, and no one's 7 requested one. 8 MS. VEGA: He speak English little. 9 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Well, he 10 speaks English, doesn't he, the man at the -- 11 MR. GLATMAN: Who speaks English? 12 MR. XU XUN: Tiny. 13 MR. GLATMAN: Just identify yourself 14 and tell us who you are. Speak into the microphone 15 and you will translate. 16 BI ZHEN LIN, having been first duly sworn according 17 to law, testified as follows: 18 MR. GLATMAN: Tell us your name, 19 please. First I need the translator's name. 20 MR. XU XUN: D-O-N-G. 21 MR. GLATMAN: The first name I need is 22 the translator's name. 23 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Her name. 24 MS. ZHEN LI: My name is Bi Zhen Lin. 25 MR. GLATMAN: Your full name. 35 MONTHLY MEETING 1 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Can you walk 2 over and spell it for her, please? 3 MR. GLATMAN: Could you ask the 4 gentleman to give us his name? 5 MS. ZHEN LIN: Okay. The last name, 6 D-O-N-G, X-U, X-U-N. 7 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Okay. You 8 may proceed. 9 MR. GLATMAN: Tell us about your 10 application and what you want to do. 11 MS. ZHEN LIN: He required to, to have 12 permission for opening, opening road permission. 13 MR. GLATMAN: And would you tell us -- 14 okay. I'll try to do it this way. 15 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, if I may, 16 the applicant came into the courthouse, the newly 17 created office of planning. They have -- they 18 explained to me that they had gotten permits from the 19 City of Union City for construction, electrical and 20 plumbing, to create a Chinese restaurant on the first 21 floor of what was a residential building. I believe 22 they needed road opening permits from the Division of 23 Engineering. When they called the Division of 24 Engineering they were instructed that they needed 25 Planning Board approval because there was a change of 36 MONTHLY MEETING 1 use from residential to commercial, so the applicants 2 completed an application and are here today. 3 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Why they have to even 4 open the road? 5 MR. MARKS: I believe they need to 6 redo the gas and water. 7 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. 8 MR. GLATMAN: Sir, you heard the 9 planner summarize what the application is about? 10 Excuse me. 11 MS. ZHEN LIN: He said he need the gas 12 and the water to get into the restaurant. 13 MR. GLATMAN: Okay. The planner here, 14 the board secretary and planner explained what the 15 project was. Did you translate to the gentleman? 16 MS. ZHEN LIN: Yeah, I did. 17 MR. GLATMAN: Now, did you understand 18 what he said when he summarized that you are opening 19 a restaurant on the bottom floor of the building? 20 MS. ZHEN LIN: Umm-hum. 21 MR. GLATMAN: You have to answer. You 22 can't nod your head. The court reporter cannot -- 23 MS. ZHEN LIN: Oh, yes. 24 MR. GLATMAN: He understood that? 25 MS. ZHEN LIN: Yeah. He understood. 37 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. GLATMAN: Was it an accurate 2 summary of what the project is? 3 MS. ZHEN LIN: He said that the only 4 thing he wants is to get the permission to have the 5 gas and the water to, to be opened the restaurant. 6 MR. GLATMAN: Okay. So basically, you 7 need the permits to open, to cut into the street? 8 MS. ZHEN LIN: Yeah. 9 MR. GLATMAN: So you can get the water 10 permits? 11 MS. ZHEN LIN: The water and gas line. 12 MR. GLATMAN: You are going to be 13 renting this property? 14 MS. ZHEN LIN: He got to rent. 15 MR. GLATMAN: Rent it or own it? 16 MS. ZHEN LIN: He rent the store and 17 to open a restaurant. 18 MR. GLATMAN: And the lady standing 19 next to you -- 20 MS. ZHEN LIN: Is the owner of the 21 building. 22 MR. GLATMAN: Could you give us your 23 name, please? 24 MS. VEGA: Maria Vega. 25 MR. GLATMAN: Miss Vega, his 38 MONTHLY MEETING 1 represent -- the summary of what's going on, that 2 they're going to rent your building, use the bottom 3 floor for a Chinese restaurant, is that accurate? 4 MS. VEGA: Yes. 5 MR. GLATMAN: And you agree with the 6 application, you support the application? 7 MS. VEGA: Yes. 8 MR. GLATMAN: Okay. Are there any 9 questions? 10 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I have a 11 question. 12 Do you understand English? You don't 13 understand at all? 14 MR. GLATMAN: We have a problem, 15 because we don't have English being translated to 16 Spanish and I don't know if we have an adequate 17 translation -- 18 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I don't -- 19 MR. GLATMAN: -- to Chinese at this 20 stage, which runs us into a problem of due process 21 and their right to know what's going on. I don't 22 know if we can really hear it, properly hear it, 23 because if there is an objection, and the sad part 24 is, there's no, probably going to be no real 25 objection or no major conditions on this application, 39 MONTHLY MEETING 1 but we do not have translators sitting here, and 2 there was no translator requested, so we may have to 3 just postpone that. If they can bring a translator 4 or we can arrange to get a translator, we'll work it 5 that way. 6 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Do you own 7 the building? 8 MS. VEGA: Yes. 9 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: She owns the 10 building. 11 MS. VEGA: You know, we have water and 12 gas in the building. That's -- the problem is, we 13 don't, we don't have for the restaurant. We need 14 that. He need open the street for big pipe, you 15 know. 16 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Oh, all 17 right. A sewer? 18 MS. VEGA: Uh-huh. 19 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I understand 20 that. You speak very well. 21 MR. GLATMAN: For the record, the 22 owner does speak English and does understand 23 English. She's answered questions asked by board 24 members, so my comments before are no longer -- I 25 don't think they're relevant at this stage. I think 40 MONTHLY MEETING 1 she understands adequately. 2 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I will say this, 3 Arthur, will you swear her in? 4 MR. GLATMAN: Yes. Would you give us 5 your name? 6 MS. VEGA: Yes. Maria Vega. 7 MARIA VEGA, having been first duly sworn according to 8 law, testified as follows: 9 MR. GLATMAN: And the testimony you 10 gave us a few moments ago, was that true and accurate 11 testimony? 12 MS. VEGA: Yes. 13 MR. GLATMAN: Okay. I think we can 14 proceed. 15 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Commissioner Jasek, 16 what's your opinion about this application, that they 17 need road opening permit or they have any other 18 changes? 19 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Mr. Chairman, the 20 summary as presented by Stephen Marks was very 21 accurate. 22 Yes, the applicant came to my office. He had 23 with him somebody who could speak Spanish, and I have 24 my office people, who speak very good Spanish, so we 25 were able to communicate. 41 MONTHLY MEETING 1 They filled out the permit, not changing the 2 building, changing the bottom floor to a restaurant. 3 They need to run a water and gas pipe. They need a 4 road opening permit. We couldn't give it to them 5 without the approval of the planning board, so that's 6 why they're over here. I have no problem with this 7 project. 8 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. Any other 9 commissioner have any other question or comment? 10 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Where is your 11 building on Paterson Plank Road? What are the cross 12 streets? 13 MS. VEGA: What is the building what? 14 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Where are you 15 located? 16 MS. VEGA: It is 422 Paterson Plank 17 Road. 18 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: They're on 19 Paterson Plank Road. 20 MS. VEGA: Between Four and Five 21 Street. 22 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: That's what I 23 was wondering. All right. 24 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Question. 25 Maria, you just need the sewer, is that what you're 42 MONTHLY MEETING 1 saying to us? You need the sewer for the water to go 2 from the restaurant to the street, is that what 3 you're saying? 4 MS. VEGA: Yeah. 5 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: And I think 6 Commissioner Jasek mentioned they need a gas, also, 7 gas and water. 8 MR. GLATMAN: I think what the 9 application is for, for new connections to supply 10 additional gas, electric and water to the building 11 where the restaurant is and additional sewer lines 12 from the restaurant out, so it would be a whole 13 service for all utilities. 14 MS. VEGA: We have all permits 15 approved, you know. Union City only, he need, you 16 know. When we were in the, in the place, I don't 17 know, you know, he need, you know, more water and gas 18 for the business, you know. Now the city say he need 19 the, the more water, you know, for gas. 20 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Well, it's a 21 business. You need more gas, right? 22 I understand that. She speaks very good. 23 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Union City already 24 approved this project, right? 25 MS. VEGA: Yes. Yes. 43 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. XU XUN: Everything approved. 2 Everything approved. 3 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Arthur, that's 4 the only thing we're voting on? 5 MR. GLATMAN: It would be the street 6 cutting permits and it is on a county road, so we do 7 approve it that way. 8 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Arthur? 9 MR. GLATMAN: Okay. They have a form 10 dated in July, July 20, for plumbing approval, 11 electric approval from the City of Union City. July 12 29th. The building approval was July 23rd and signed 13 off. They have a construction permit notice and they 14 have the construction permit application from the 15 City of Union City. They were handed to us and a 16 cursory review looks like it's in order. They paid 17 their, they paid the fees that were necessary. 18 Does anyone on the Board want to look at it? 19 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Is this 20 restaurant for eat in or just take out? 21 MS. ZHEN LIN: Take out. 22 MS. VEGA: Take out. 23 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: You cannot 24 eat in the restaurant, take out? 25 MS. ZHEN LIN: No. Take out. 44 MONTHLY MEETING 1 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Pass this 2 down there. Just for gas and water. 3 Will the City of Union City inspect the sewer 4 and the gas when it's installed by the companies? 5 MS. VEGA: Union City inspect? 6 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Never mind. 7 It's okay, Maria. 8 MS. VEGA: They inspect everything. 9 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: When they 10 finish? 11 MS. VEGA: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Very good, 13 Maria. I like Chinese food. She's smiling. 14 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll make a 15 motion to accept the application SP-73-04. 16 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I'll second it. 17 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on SP-73-04, 18 I have a motion by Commissioner Bettinger and 19 seconded by Commissioner Choffo. 20 Commissioner Avagliano? 21 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I vote aye, 22 Maria, and I wish you lots of luck and I hope you get 23 the water and the gas just the way you want it. Good 24 luck to you and the whole family. 25 MS. VEGA: Thank you. Thank you. 45 MONTHLY MEETING 1 Thank you. 2 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 3 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 4 MR. MARKS: And Chairman Mehta? 5 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I vote aye. 6 Good luck. 7 MS. VEGA: Okay. Thanks. 8 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, there are 9 five votes in the affirmative. 10 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Thank you, 11 Mrs. Translator. 12 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Next case, SP-75-04, 13 Ravi Sharma, 3449 Kennedy Boulevard, Jersey City. 14 MR. SHARMA: Hi. My name is Ravi 15 Sharma. Good evening to all the Chairman and the 16 Commissioners. 17 Representing here a new, two-family house on 18 the location, 3449 Kennedy Boulevard, which happened 19 to be the county road and we need your approval here 20 from the County, the Planning Board in Hudson County 21 to get us a two-family, new two-family house. 22 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Are you the owner? 23 MR. SHARMA: I'm the builder there and 24 I'm the applicant for this application. 25 The owner is ready to go on the location 46 MONTHLY MEETING 1 tomorrow, so he was busy packing up his bags, and I 2 had requested my architect to be here, but he had a 3 doctor appointment at the last minute, so he's on the 4 way. He can make it or maybe he might not make it by 5 the time we done with the meeting, so this is where 6 it is at. 7 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Arthur, can you swear 8 him? 9 MR. GLATMAN: First, the architect 10 here is Jay Sanpaul (phonetic). For the record, I'm 11 working on a matter before the Jersey City Planning 12 Board involving Mr. Sanpaul. He's my client's 13 architect. I do not think it's a conflict of 14 interest in this case. I have no interest in this 15 project. I just want the record to reflect that. 16 RAVI SHARMA, having been first duly sworn according 17 to law, testified as follows: 18 MR. GLATMAN: Okay. Board members. 19 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Can you just 20 describe, briefly, about the project? 21 MR. SHARMA: Yes, sir. 22 It's going to be a new, two-family house on 23 the location at 3449 Kennedy Boulevard in Jersey 24 City, and we're basically presenting a two-family 25 house. It's a vacant land there as this morning. 47 MONTHLY MEETING 1 That's basically about it. Only reason we need 2 Hudson County Planning Board approval, because the 3 Kennedy Boulevard is the county road, so we went into 4 the Jersey City Building Department, but they need 5 your approval before we move any further with them. 6 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Do you have anything 7 to show or any -- 8 MR. SHARMA: Yes. 9 I gave three sets of plans to Mr. Stephen 10 Marks, and I have an extra set of drawings here. If 11 anybody would like to look at it, I can present that. 12 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Commissioner Jasek, 13 do you have any comment? 14 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Well, just minor 15 comment. It took us little while to figure out what 16 is the cross street on this, because it says Linden 17 and it's actually Lincoln. 18 MR. SHARMA: That was a writing 19 error. It's supposed to be -- actually, behind the 20 street on Kennedy Boulevard is the Columbia Avenue, 21 so the Linden -- instead of Linden, it's supposed to 22 be Columbia Avenue, but the plans we presented to Mr. 23 Stephen Marks, that has been crossed with the Linden 24 to the Columbia Avenue with Mr. Sanpaul's initials on 25 it. 48 MONTHLY MEETING 1 COMMISSIONER JASEK: But it's not a 2 cross street? 3 MR. SHARMA: The cross street is going 4 to be Bower. 5 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: B-O-W-E-R, 6 Bower Street? 7 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Bower? 8 MR. SHARMA: Yes. 9 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I know where 10 that is. 11 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Okay. It looks 12 like there is a two-car garage, right? 13 MR. SHARMA: Yes, sir. 14 COMMISSIONER JASEK: But you have a 15 ten foot driveway. You realize that? 16 MR. SHARMA: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. 17 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Which will serve 18 both stories and the garage and -- 19 MR. SHARMA: Correct. 20 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Is there a 21 driveway now? 22 MR. SHARMA: It's just a vacant land 23 right now. 24 COMMISSIONER JASEK: So you will need 25 to come to the County Engineer's Office for the 49 MONTHLY MEETING 1 permit for the cutting the curb. 2 MR. SHARMA: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Otherwise, Mr. 4 Chairman, I have no comment. 5 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: It's a 6 two-family house with two-car garage? 7 MR. SHARMA: Yes, ma'am. 8 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: There is two 9 cars going in this garage? 10 MR. SHARMA: Yes, ma'am. It's 14 feet 11 wide, so if you have -- 12 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: What will be 13 behind the garage? 14 MR. SHARMA: It's going to be the 15 recreation room. 16 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: He's smiling 17 at me. I don't know what you mean by recreation 18 room. 19 MR. SHARMA: Look, I really can't do 20 anything. That's what they want. The city wanted to 21 do houses. 22 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: The reason 23 I'm questioning it. I'm having the same probable on 24 my street right now. They're building two homes and 25 they say two-car garage, but it's not. 50 MONTHLY MEETING 1 This is a two-car garage? 2 MR. SHARMA: That's what this is. 3 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Commissioner Jasek, I 4 think standard parking space requirement is 5 eight-and-a-half feet away for one car; am I right? 6 COMMISSIONER JASEK: It is. What we 7 use on the county roads is eight feet for the car. 8 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Eight feet? 9 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Yes. 10 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: So, basically, you 11 need 16 feet for two car parking space. 12 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Well, not 13 necessary. You can fit two, two, two smaller cars, 14 compact cars into 14 feet. Yes. You have to open 15 only one door. I have that situation in my house. 16 I'm familiar with it. 17 MR. GLATMAN: Has this been approved 18 by Jersey City yet? 19 MR. SHARMA: I have shown, shown that, 20 the drawings to Mr. Tony Lambiozzi, the Director of 21 the Zoning Department in Jersey City, and he looked 22 at it. It's fine with him. Before you -- before we 23 go any further, he need the county approval before 24 his signatures. 25 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: You say you 51 MONTHLY MEETING 1 have a recreation room. You're also going to have a 2 bathtub and -- bathroom and bathtub in the recreation 3 room? 4 MR. SHARMA: Yes, ma'am. 5 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I think Jersey City 6 doesn't require, in the standard law, permission for 7 building one or two family houses, so I think they 8 require our permission. 9 MR. GLATMAN: Well, if the Zoning 10 Officer has approved it, the question normally would 11 be, if there are any variances, whether front yard, 12 side yard or parking, or any variances required, it 13 would go before one of the boards, depending upon 14 what the situation was, at which point, normally 15 speaking, Jersey City does not approve something with 16 a full bathroom on the garage floor. 17 Was there any variance or waiver required? 18 MR. SHARMA: No. No, Commissioner. 19 Actually, I mean, as we do the construction 20 in Jersey City for the new, two-family houses, this 21 is the general way to go, that we have the bathroom 22 in the recreation room, just in case, if you have 23 some people getting together in the family, they have 24 to use the bathroom, so they don't really have to go 25 on the first and second floor. 52 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. GLATMAN: Generally, with Jersey 2 City, the problem is having a shower or bath in the 3 recreation room bathroom. 4 MR. SHARMA: This is exactly how we do 5 it and they getting fine with that. 6 MR. GLATMAN: Usually they don't allow 7 it. 8 MR. SHARMA: I'm sorry. I mean, I'm 9 not going to say anything on that, but that's how 10 they approve it. 11 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Did you speak 12 with Mr. Lambiozzi on this? 13 MR. SHARMA: Yes, ma'am. I showed the 14 sketch to Mr. Lambiozzi and before he will sign 15 anything, I need to come to here, in front of the 16 Board. 17 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Steve, or 18 Commissioner Jasek, by any chance, do you know 19 approval permit requirement of the Jersey City local 20 law? 21 COMMISSIONER JASEK: No. I do not 22 know exactly what Jersey City requires, but if there 23 is a bathroom or not, it's really not in our 24 jurisdiction to discuss. 25 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: No. No. I 53 MONTHLY MEETING 1 understand. That's why I wanted to verify first, 2 because my understanding is, also, that the standard 3 required law, 2,500 or something like that, that they 4 don't need permit or that they don't ever go in front 5 of the Planning Board or the Board of Adjustments. 6 MR. GLATMAN: If there was a 7 determination that the application or the proposed 8 plans were allowed by right, then the city would not 9 go any further and they would not have to go before a 10 board for approval, and we do have limited 11 jurisdiction on this, so whether there's a bathroom 12 in the basement or where the bathrooms are, that's 13 not our general concern. 14 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I understand. That's 15 why my question was -- because with other 16 municipality, we know that they require the local 17 permit, so we know that it's already approved by the 18 local authority. In Jersey City we have a question 19 and that's why I just wanted to -- a little bit more 20 information, if it's possible. 21 MR. GLATMAN: Well, you can ask the 22 applicants who supplied us with a letter from the 23 Zoning Officer or from the Planning, Planning 24 Department saying these plans have been approved by 25 whichever authority has the obligation and the 54 MONTHLY MEETING 1 responsibility to, to, to review it and to approve 2 it. That's what he can do. 3 MR. SHARMA: I mean, if I knew a 4 little bit beforehand that this would have been the 5 question, I could have bring a couple of the approved 6 plans already, which we are doing the construction at 7 this moment and that they are exactly the same. 8 Like, we have the bathroom there, but as far as this 9 case is concerned, I can definitely bring you the 10 approved plans after everything is done with, Mr. 11 Tony Lambiozzi, the Zoning and the Building 12 Department as well. 13 MR. GLATMAN: And we have the right 14 to, if we want, we can approve it pending the 15 production of that type of approval from the city. 16 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I think, in the 17 normal case, we always do that, where any time all 18 the applications are subject to the local approval 19 and local permits, so in this case, we will, I think, 20 put a condition that they will produce that local 21 authority and it is okay with the local authority. 22 Commissioner Jasek, will you agree with me? 23 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Yes. I'm not 24 really an expert on anything of this kind. My 25 business is to, to review the drainage, the traffic 55 MONTHLY MEETING 1 and the road connections, so I really don't know. 2 MR. SHARMA: One thing more, I can do 3 it -- once we have the permits, I can make the copies 4 and give it to your file so you can keep that in 5 there. That's not a problem. 6 MR. GLATMAN: If they provide us with 7 the information that this was approved by Jersey 8 City, it's approved by Jersey City. 9 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I'll make a 11 motion to adopt this as SP-75-04, based on Chairman's 12 recommendations and also Commissioner Avagliano's 13 concerns. 14 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll second 15 that. 16 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I have a 17 motion made by Commissioner Choffo and seconded by 18 Commissioner Bettinger. 19 Commissioner Avagliano? 20 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I would like 21 to vote no on it for the one simple reason that you 22 do have toiletries in the back of the garage and I 23 have a problem with that. I have been fighting this 24 for the past two months where I live. If I could get 25 a letter from Mr. Lambiozzi saying that no one is 56 MONTHLY MEETING 1 going to live there, fine, but I think there is -- 2 I'd rather vote no, unless I get a different letter 3 on it. 4 MR. SHARMA: Definitely, we'll get the 5 permits and I'll get you the copies. That's no 6 problem. 7 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 8 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 9 MR. MARKS: Chairman Mehta? 10 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I vote aye, and 11 recommend that, please provide our attorney the 12 proper document showing the local authority does not 13 have any objection. 14 MR. SHARMA: Definitely. 15 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I have four 16 votes in the affirmative and one vote in the 17 negative. 18 MR. GLATMAN: It does pass. 19 MR. SHARMA: Thank you. 20 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Good luck. 21 Next case, SP-76-04, Jeffrey Laranjeiro, 3209 22 Kennedy Boulevard, Jersey City. 23 MR. HARRINGTON: Good evening. 24 Charles Harrington of Connell Foley on behalf of the 25 applicant, Jeffrey Laranjeiro. 57 MONTHLY MEETING 1 As the Agenda points out, this is for site 2 plan approval for property located on Kennedy 3 Boulevard in Jersey City. It is a two-family 4 detached home. We're here before the Planning Board 5 because it is, Kennedy Boulevard is a county road and 6 you have jurisdiction. 7 Right now it's used as a parking lot. We 8 want to take that parking lot and convert it to a 9 two-family home, so -- there is an existing curb-cut 10 there, but we're going to just have one curb-cut. 11 We're going to actually reduce it and have that for 12 the driveway. The lot is a little undersized for the 13 R-1 Jersey City zoning standards, but we are 14 permitted to build on it because it is an existing 15 vacant lot, and we're complying with all of the local 16 variance -- local setback requirements. 17 I have with me tonight Mr. Ronald Russell. 18 He's the architect on the project and I'd like him to 19 take you through the project, and if you have any 20 questions for Mr. Russell or myself, we'll address 21 them accordingly. 22 RONALD RUSSELL, having been first duly sworn 23 according to law, testified as follows: 24 MR. GLATMAN: Mr. Russell has 25 testified before the Board on several occasions. 58 MONTHLY MEETING 1 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Yeah. 2 MR. GLATMAN: He's an expert. 3 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: We'll accept him. 4 MR. RUSSELL: Hi. Thank you, very 5 much. 6 As Mr. Harrington indicated, it's an 7 undersized lot. It's 80 feet deep by 25 feet wide. 8 It's on the western side of Kennedy Boulevard. I 9 think it's like, two doors down from Riotto's Funeral 10 Home, which is on the corner here at Stag Street, so 11 that's the location of it. 12 The current lot has approximately seven or 13 eight parking spaces on there and about a 25 foot 14 wide curb-cut. The spaces that are there now are 15 really undersized and drive access aisles 16 undersized. They wouldn't be -- they wouldn't meet 17 current requirements by Jersey City standards, so 18 we're proposing to eliminate that parking lot, again, 19 which has seven or eight parking spaces, eliminate 20 the 20 foot wide curb-cut and create a smaller 21 curb-cut for a one-car garage, which will be located 22 on the ground floor of this three-story house, and 23 the house is a two-family house. 24 The ground floor, again, consists of a 25 driveway entrance. The stair will take you to the 59 MONTHLY MEETING 1 first floor. The first floor, it has two bedrooms, 2 living/dining area, and then you duplex down to a 3 third bedroom on the basement level, so although the 4 plan says bedroom number two, actually, the master 5 bedroom is -- there's three bedrooms for this one, 6 for the lower level of this two-family house. This 7 bedroom does have a full bathroom. Most houses on a 8 typical lot, typical lot in Jersey City is 25 by 100 9 and you could fit a 65-foot house on there and get 10 three bedrooms on one floor. This is a 50 foot wide 11 house. It's 15 feet shorter than your typical, what 12 we call Bayonne box, so this is 15 feet shorter, so, 13 actually, we need that, that third bedroom, and it's 14 going to be in the basement area behind the one-car 15 parking spot, and that does have a full bathroom. 16 That is the owner's unit, which is the first floor 17 and the ground floor. The rental unit will be above, 18 on the third floor, and that is also a two-bedroom 19 unit with a bath-and-a-half and the living/dining 20 area. Again, the footprint is much smaller than you 21 would find because the lot is smaller. It's 25 by 80 22 versus 25 by 100. 23 I'm not sure if you're interested in the 24 front of the building. It's a very -- again, it's 25 shorter in the length of it. The front has brick on 60 MONTHLY MEETING 1 the base. It has the garage for one car. It has a 2 front entry door, vinyl siding, and some, somewhat 3 proportional, historic proportional windows on the 4 front of the upper two stories. The front of the 5 house is located on the property line. There is no 6 stoop here. There is nothing that goes over the 7 property line. Again, so it aligns with the adjacent 8 houses in the neighborhood, and then it goes back 50 9 feet, so you have a 20-foot rear yard. 10 Any questions? 11 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: How deep is the lot? 12 MR. RUSSELL: The lot is 25 feet wide 13 by 80 feet wide. I'm sorry. 80 feet deep. It's 20 14 feet shorter than a typical Jersey City lot. 15 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: And how many bedroom 16 is on the second floor? 17 MR. RUSSELL: The rental second -- the 18 second apartment, there's two bedrooms in that, in 19 that unit, so the owner's apartment will have three 20 bedrooms and the rental unit will have two bedrooms, 21 and there will be one car parked on site and that -- 22 this building does meet all of Jersey City 23 requirements for lot coverage, building coverage, 24 setbacks, parking, height, use, everything. 25 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Did you apply for the 61 MONTHLY MEETING 1 local approval or what is the procedure? 2 MR. HARRINGTON: Well, on a case like 3 this, the local approval, you have to go to Mr. 4 Lambiozzi. There's no necessity to go to the 5 Planning Board. There's one, two family homes on 6 standard lots, you know, 25 by 100. This is the 7 pre-existing, nonconforming lot. If you are not 8 asking for any variances from the setback standards, 9 it's an over-the-counter permit, you go straight to 10 Mr. Lambiozzi in the Building Department. 11 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: That's what I was 12 worried about, and that's what the previous one -- 13 but this one is a little, a little shorter lot. 14 Instead of the standard lot, 25 by 100, this is 15 shorter, so does it require any, any permission from 16 local authority? 17 MR. HARRINGTON: No, it doesn't, and 18 the reason it doesn't is because it's a pre-existing 19 vacant lot. It's a vacant, nonconforming lot, so, so 20 long as we comply with all the setback requirements, 21 which is what we're doing here, we can build and get 22 a permit without going to the Planning Board or the 23 Zoning Board. 24 If, for example, this, this lot had an 25 existing house that was, you know, abandoned and we 62 MONTHLY MEETING 1 wanted to knock it down, then we would have to go to 2 the Planning Board and ask for permission to build on 3 the undersized lot, but the fact that it's vacant in 4 the first instance removes that requirement. 5 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Commissioner Jasek, 6 do you have any question or comment? 7 COMMISSIONER JASEK: What is the 8 condition of the sidewalk? 9 MR. RUSSELL: The sidewalk and the 10 curbing is in fairly good condition. I think it's 11 recently, the last 10 years, installed, so it's in 12 good condition. The curb-cut is approximately 20 13 feet wide. We don't need a 20 foot wide curb-cut, so 14 we would like to remove that curb part. 15 COMMISSIONER JASEK: You will reduce 16 it? 17 MR. RUSSELL: And anybody that does 18 the construction is most likely going to do some 19 damage to the sidewalk, so he wants to replace the 20 sidewalk, also. 21 COMMISSIONER JASEK: You will run new 22 utilities? 23 MR. RUSSELL: He'll have to apply for 24 a street opening permit and they'll have to follow 25 with the Traffic Division to get all the street 63 MONTHLY MEETING 1 opening permits, have the policemen when he does 2 that. He'll have to meet all requirements when he 3 does that. 4 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Seems to be the 5 applicant's architect is on top of it. 6 MR. RUSSELL: Thank you. 7 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Question. 8 Did you say three bedrooms on the first floor? 9 MR. RUSSELL: On the lower apartment, 10 the first floor, which is the floor above the garage, 11 there's two bedrooms there, then you take a staircase 12 down to the basement, or the ground floor, and 13 there's a third floor along with the garage, the 14 third bedroom behind that garage, so it's the ground 15 floor unit, which is a duplex unit, has three 16 bedrooms. 17 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: How many 18 baths? There's two baths, right? 19 MR. RUSSELL: It has one, 20 two-and-a-half, so that first floor, which has two 21 bedrooms, has a bath-and-a-half. They have a full 22 bath and half bath, which is really what you want 23 today. When you have people come over, they use the 24 half bath, so you have the bath-and-a-half, you go 25 down the stairs to the basement and that basement has 64 MONTHLY MEETING 1 a full bath. 2 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Basement bedroom has 3 access from the garage or just access from the -- 4 MR. RUSSELL: No. There's no direct 5 access from the garage to the bedroom, because by 6 code, you're not allowed to have access from a garage 7 into a bedroom, so you have to take -- from the 8 garage, you take the stairs and take it up to the 9 entry door to the apartment. Because of carbon 10 monoxide fumes, you cannot have a garage accessing a 11 bedroom, so there is a rear door that takes you to 12 the back door, though, from that bedroom. 13 MR. HARRINGTON: You have to go to Mr. 14 Lambiozzi. You don't have to go to the Planning 15 Board or Zoning Board. 16 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Entirely new 17 house, it's not renovated from an old house? 18 MR. HARRINGTON: New house. 19 MR. RUSSELL: Brand new. There's 20 nothing there but parking. 21 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Usually, when 22 it's an old house, they knock it down but start from 23 scratch. 24 MR. RUSSELL: It's unfortunate. I'm 25 on the Jersey City Historic Commission. I live in 65 MONTHLY MEETING 1 the Heights. 2 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: If you knock 3 it down, you need another permit to put a new one 4 up. 5 MR. RUSSELL: You need a permit for 6 demolition and then for construction. 7 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: You just mentioned 8 that currently it's used as a parking lot. 9 Who is using the parking lot? The owner is 10 renting out the parking space, or how it is 11 operating? 12 MR. HARRINGTON: I don't know the 13 specifics of that, you know. The owner really has 14 that information, whether or not they're -- you know, 15 how it's being used. I just know it's being used as 16 a commercial -- as a parking lot. I don't know if 17 it's being rented out or, you know, who's parking 18 there. 19 MR. LARANJEIRO: Parking lot is used 20 by the next door, who used to be the owner. There 21 was an attorney, law office next door to that, to the 22 lot, and they used to use -- 23 MR. GLATMAN: Sir, will you please -- 24 MR. HARRINGTON: This is Mario 25 Laranjeiro. He is the father of the applicant. The 66 MONTHLY MEETING 1 applicant is out of the country tonight, Jeff 2 Laranjeiro, so Mr. Laranjeiro has some information. 3 MARIO LARANJEIRO, having been first duly sworn 4 according to law, testified as follows. 5 MR. GLATMAN: Now, tell the court what 6 you tried to tell us before. 7 MR. LARANJEIRO: As far as I know, the 8 lot was owned by some attorney. They have the office 9 next door and they sold it to my son, who has vacant 10 lot. He's to build a house on the lot. 11 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: So the next door 12 attorney is still there. They have offices there, 13 right? 14 MR. LARANJEIRO: Yes. It was 15 attorney's office next door. I think he's going to 16 move. I don't know where he's going to move. What I 17 heard, he's going to move the office out of there, so 18 he sold the house, he sold the lot. 19 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I don't have any more 20 questions. 21 Any other commissioner have a question or 22 comment? 23 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll make a 24 motion to accept this application. 25 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I'll second it. 67 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 2 made by Commissioner Bettinger and seconded by 3 Commissioner Choffo, Commissioner Avagliano? 4 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 5 One more question. 6 Do you have a door in the back of the garage 7 that can't go to that room in the back; am I right? 8 MR. RUSSELL: No. Definitely not. 9 You're not permitted by code because it is a bedroom 10 and you cannot have a garage into a bedroom. There 11 is an exit from that bedroom. There is a door to the 12 rear yard. 13 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: That's what 14 I'm going to go see, that exit. 15 All right. I vote aye. I'm going to check 16 the exit. 17 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 18 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 19 MR. MARKS: And Chairman Mehta? 20 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I vote aye. 21 Good luck. 22 MR. RUSSELL: Thank you, very much. 23 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Next case, SP-78-04, 24 Frances Zanardelli, 6508 Kennedy Boulevard, West New 25 York, New Jersey. 68 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. IZQUIERDO: Good evening. Jose 2 Izquierdo, Esquire, appearing on behalf of the 3 applicant, Franco Zanardelli. 4 The application's for a change of use. My 5 client purchased this property, which was an existing 6 two-family house in the Town of West New York. It's 7 located at 6508 Kennedy Boulevard. There were three 8 drawings, three sets of drawings made in conjunction 9 with the application. If they have the drawings -- 10 or since I am also the architect for the project, I 11 am also going to be testifying on behalf of the 12 drawings. 13 MR. GLATMAN: Okay. And would you 14 spell your name for the court reporter? 15 MR. IZQUIERDO: Yes. It's I-Z, like 16 zebra, Q-U-I-E-R-D, like David, O. 17 JOSE A. IZQUIERDO, ESQ., A.I.A., A.S.L.A., P.P., 18 having been first duly sworn according to law, 19 testified as follows: 20 MR. GLATMAN: You're a licensed 21 architect? 22 MR. IZQUIERDO: Yes, I am. New Jersey 23 License 09143, a New Jersey Planner, 03385. 24 MR. GLATMAN: Have you testified 25 before the Board before? 69 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. IZQUIERDO: Yes, I have, on 2 numerous occasions. 3 MR. GLATMAN: You qualified as an 4 expert witness? 5 MR. IZQUIERDO: Yes. 6 MR. GLATMAN: Is the Board satisfied 7 with his -- 8 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Yes. 9 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Yes. 10 MR. GLATMAN: Go ahead, sir. 11 MR. IZQUIERDO: Essentially, this was 12 an existing building which is identical to the 13 building next door. Both buildings share a common 14 easement that leads, has access to the rear yard, and 15 there are garages in the back. 16 When Mr. Zanardelli purchased this property 17 about four years ago, it was an illegal two-family 18 house. It had two illegal apartments. 19 Mr. Zanardelli is the Construction Code 20 Official of the Town of West New York. He's also 21 Building Inspector for Guttenberg and Secaucus. 22 We have made an effort to legalize this 23 unit. The second floor of the existing building has 24 two apartments. The front apartment is being 25 occupied by Yolanda Zanardelli, Mr. Zanardelli's 70 MONTHLY MEETING 1 mother, who's a widow, and that's a one bedroom with 2 a one bathroom apartment. That apartment stays 3 exactly as it is. 4 The rear apartment of the second floor is a 5 one bedroom, one bathroom apartment that is presently 6 being rented. It's the only rental unit. What Mr. 7 Zanardelli has done is, he has taken the entire 8 ground floor and what used to be, previously, a three 9 bedroom unit, he has turned it into a one bedroom 10 unit, and he is going to occupy, also, the family 11 room. However, most of the applications to 12 reconstruct an apartment that existed, and it's in a 13 dilapidated condition, over the two-car garage in the 14 rear of the property. This Board gains jurisdiction 15 of the application because this is a change of use 16 for a property that is located on a county 17 right-of-way on Kennedy Boulevard, so that's 18 basically the application. It's for conversion from 19 a two-family to a four-family. 20 This matter was presented before the Zoning 21 Board of Adjustment of the Town of West New York and 22 was approved on February 25th and was memorialized on 23 March 24th of the year 2004. I have a copy of the 24 signed Resolution, if any of the members would like 25 to see it. 71 MONTHLY MEETING 1 There's no changes contemplated to the front 2 of the building. The existing curb-cut will remain 3 the same. The existing sidewalk will remain the 4 same. It is in good condition. There are not going 5 to be any changes to the curb, so, basically, the 6 application's to reconstruct the apartment in the 7 rear, which is on the second floor of the existing 8 two-car garage. The applicant has five parking 9 spaces for four one bedroom units. 10 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Commissioner Jasek, 11 do you have any comment? 12 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Mr. Chairman, I 13 don't have any comment on this. They are not 14 changing the front of the building. They are not 15 running any new utilities. The sidewalk and the curb 16 is in good shape. Their driveway is there already. 17 I don't have any comment. 18 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: So what modification 19 you are doing to the rear of the building? 20 MR. IZQUIERDO: Yeah, because it -- 21 the two-car garage in the back used to be one of 22 these old barn structures that was all made out of 23 frame, and that was a one bedroom with a one bathroom 24 apartment, so, essentially, I have the gas, I have 25 the sewer, I have everything in that unit, but what 72 MONTHLY MEETING 1 Mr. Zanardelli has asked me to do is to reconstruct 2 that in masonry because one of his sons is going to 3 be moving in with him when he finishes at Rutgers, 4 and the other things are just interior renovation of 5 the home, because we're -- Mr. Zanardelli's family 6 lives there, the mother, the son and himself. 7 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: So currently it is 8 illegally a two-family? 9 MR. IZQUIERDO: No. Right now it is a 10 legal four-family. It was approved by the Town of 11 West New York. 12 What happens is, one of the units is vacant 13 because we want to reconstruct it. 14 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: So apparently it is a 15 four-family. You are going to keep it as a 16 four-family? 17 MR. IZQUIERDO: Yes. Yes. 18 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: And you are just 19 extending in the rear and doing the interior 20 modification? 21 MR. IZQUIERDO: Yes. 22 Well, not extending in the rear. The garage 23 structure is completely disconnected from the main 24 building. It's a detached, two-car garage and it has 25 an independent entrance and everything, so we're -- 73 MONTHLY MEETING 1 basically, we're constructing the garage in the back, 2 in the rear. 3 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. So it will be 4 two different buildings on the same lot? 5 MR. IZQUIERDO: That's exactly what 6 exists right now. We're just going to reconstruct 7 that because it can't be repaired. 8 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Any other 9 commissioner have any question or comment? 10 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: This was 11 approved by the Union City Board? 12 MR. IZQUIERDO: No. West New York on 13 February 25th of the year 2004 and memorialized on 14 March 24th, 2004. 15 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll make a 16 motion to approve the application SP-78-04. 17 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I'll second it. 18 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 19 by Commissioner Bettinger, seconded by Commissioner 20 Choffo, Commissioner Avagliano? 21 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 22 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 23 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 24 MR. MARKS: And Chairman Mehta? 25 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I vote aye. 74 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, there are 2 five votes in the affirmative. 3 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: First one 4 here and the last one to leave. 5 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Arthur, any old 6 business? 7 MR. GLATMAN: I don't have any old 8 business. 9 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Commissioner Jasek, 10 do you have any old business? 11 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Nothing, Mr. 12 Chairman. 13 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Can I just 14 ask a question? 15 Is it permissible to ask questions, like if 16 there's a bathroom -- I'll tell you why I ask that 17 question. Where I live there were three homes built, 18 two-family homes with two-car garages. Little did I 19 know that living on this street -- I see different 20 people walking in and out. I happen to know one of 21 the tenants on the ground floor. She came to visit 22 me. I said, what do you mean, on a ground floor, she 23 said it's a three-family house. I said no, it's not, 24 it's two. No, it's not, come on, with me. She lives 25 behind the garage. No garage. The garage door is 75 MONTHLY MEETING 1 there, but there's no garage. She had a three 2 bedroom. Everybody knows her from here. I'm not 3 mentioning her name. She was paying $900, make your 4 own heat in the garage. 1,100 on the second floor, 5 1,400 on the third floor. I called the city. They 6 came and changed all the taxes on three houses, 7 changed the taxes. The owner sold the houses. He 8 was from Livingston. Now they are building two more 9 and I went to check and no permits. The garage room 10 is in the back. Same thing. So when I check it with 11 the city, they said, we will come in after 90 days 12 and check that out. If it's true, we'll close him 13 down. No such thing. They don't close him down. 14 Everybody wants to do that because taxes are 15 very high in Jersey City, but that's fine. I'd like 16 to do the same thing, but I wouldn't get away with 17 it. 18 I think we should all be treated the same 19 way. That's why I question that there should not be 20 any bathrooms or tubs or anything in the back of the 21 garage. 22 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Mary, I agree with 23 you, and in North Bergen and other municipalities 24 also having the same type of problem. They are 25 considering two-family with the illegal apartment. 76 MONTHLY MEETING 1 Most of the town's already vigilant about it and they 2 are trying to go and knock it down or take -- in 3 North Bergen I am aware that they are trying to, 4 instead of full bath, they are insisting on having 5 only half a bath and trying to make the -- instead of 6 seven-and-a-half feet, keep seven feet, so it's 7 inhabitant, it can't be livable space, but in Jersey 8 City, I can't say -- I am not aware about it, so I 9 can't make a comment on it. 10 I think I spoke to Steve, in the new business 11 it will come to my knowledge that lately there are so 12 many attorneys pressing for last minute item, to put 13 it on the Agenda, and I am working on the other board 14 and they have certain rule that if the application is 15 fully not provided before the certain date, the 16 certain days of the meeting, it cannot be heard on 17 the meeting. 18 MR. GLATMAN: We can do that. All it 19 needs is a modification of bylaws, and if the Board 20 wants, I can make proposed modifications of the 21 bylaws. We can set a week or 10 days prior to the 22 Board Meeting, the application must be in our 23 possession and completed. The only problem with that 24 is sometimes we have run into the problem, our 25 consultants and our own review, because that's where 77 MONTHLY MEETING 1 we try to be very accommodating to most applicants 2 and sometimes the reviews just cannot get done until 3 we're very close to the day of the Board Meeting. We 4 can, we can put down a bylaw whereby they must have 5 it before us at a certain date. Certainly it has to 6 be before any day of the publication. 7 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Absolutely. 8 Very good. 9 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Commissioner Jasek, 10 do you have any comment or idea on this? 11 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Well, the plan 12 review met last Wednesday, which is one week before 13 the meeting, so I would say at least 10 days before 14 the meeting we need to have the application, the 15 plans and everything so the secretary can put it 16 together and then we can discuss it at a Committee 17 Meeting. 18 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I think it will be 19 the best idea, that the current bylaws are -- if we 20 can, you can distribute to everybody, and in the -- 21 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I would like 22 to direct a question to our Board Secretary, that 23 maybe we can ask the Maintenance Department to 24 install new lights in this room and have an easel so 25 we can see the plans. I've got to look for all the 78 MONTHLY MEETING 1 bathtubs, so I need better light, so if that could be 2 done, Steve, I'd appreciate it, and not only that, if 3 we could move the table up and bring the speakers a 4 little closer to make it easier for our girl to take 5 the typing. Let's give her some consideration. 6 Let's give her -- she's doing a great, but she can't 7 hear as well, and I can't either, so I hate to vote 8 on something -- Steve, don't talk. If you could move 9 up the podium and the table, it's fine. 10 MR. MARKS: The table is fine. The 11 lights, we're -- Mr. Jasek? Commissioner Jasek? 12 COMMISSIONER JASEK: We can do nothing 13 about it, Mr. Chairman. The freeholders don't 14 complain and they sit over here much longer than we 15 do. 16 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: We can't add 17 new bulbs? 18 COMMISSIONER JASEK: I don't think 19 so. These are the fluorescent. There are four of 20 them on each light. There is nothing we can do. 21 We can enforce a little better the rule that 22 the applicant has to bring monitored plans and we get 23 an easel over here, we can put in front of you and he 24 can present it over here. 25 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I'd 79 MONTHLY MEETING 1 appreciate that, so I can see it right. 2 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I think everybody has 3 a copy of the bylaw, and a couple of commissioner who 4 are not present, will you please mail it to them, 5 Steve? 6 MR. MARKS: Sure. 7 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: And I am just 8 thinking, I just think that next Plan Review Meeting, 9 if we can meet and discuss about the bylaws, 10 suggestions or modifications, and Arthur can help us 11 in that way, so in the next meeting we can discuss 1