1 1 HUDSON COUNTY PLANNING BOARD 2 IN RE: ) ) TRANSCRIPT OF 3 MONTHLY MEETING ) PROCEEDINGS: ) 4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _) Administration Annex 5 567 Pavonia Avenue Freeholders Chambers 6 Jersey City, New Jersey Wednesday, August 17, 2005 7 6:30 p.m. 8 B E F O R E: 9 MICHAEL HOLLOWAY, CHAIRMAN 10 JEFFREY DUBLIN, COMMISSIONER 11 MARY E. AVAGLIANO, COMMISSIONER 12 JUDE FITZGIBBONS, COMMISSIONER 13 THOMAS LIGGIO, COMMISSIONER 14 DEMETRIO ARENCIBIA, COMMISSIONER 15 A L S O P R E S E N T: 16 THOMAS CALVANICO, ESQ., Board Attorney 17 STEPHEN MARKS, Board Secretary 18 Reported By: 19 20 MICHELLE GRUENDEL, C.S.R. 21 REPORTING SERVICES ARRANGED THROUGH 22 VERITEXT/NEW JERSEY REPORTING COMPANY, L.L.C. Kabot Battaglia & Hammer Suburban Shorthand 23 Waga and Spinelli Arthur J. Frannicola CSR 25B Vreeland Road 24 Florham Park, New Jersey 07932 Tel: 973-410-4040 Fax: 973-410-1313 25 2 1 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Meeting to order. 2 Tom, has this meeting been properly 3 advertised? 4 MR. CALVANICO: Yes, Mr. Chairman. 5 Notice of this meeting was forwarded for publication 6 to the Jersey Journal, also forwarded to the Clerk of 7 the County, Clerk of the Board of Chosen Freeholders 8 for posting on the boards and the notices are in 9 compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act. 10 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Thank you. 11 Steve, can we have a roll call? 12 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Avagliano? 13 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Here. 14 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 15 Commissioner Choffo? 16 Commissioner Dublin? 17 Commissioner Fitzgibbons? 18 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Here. 19 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Arencibia? 20 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Here. 21 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Liggio? 22 COMMISSIONER LIGGIO: Here. 23 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Mehta? 24 Chairman Holloway? 25 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Here. 3 1 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, we have a 2 quorum. 3 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Salute to the 4 Flag. Please stand. 5 (Flag Salute takes place.) 6 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Review and 7 adoption of minutes from July 20, 2005. 8 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Motion to 9 accept. 10 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I second. 11 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 12 made by Commissioner Avagliano and seconded by 13 Commissioner Fitzgibbons: 14 Commissioner Arencibia? 15 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye. 16 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Liggio? 17 COMMISSIONER LIGGIO: Aye. 18 MR. MARKS: Chairman Holloway? 19 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Aye. 20 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 21 passes. 22 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Thank you. 23 Is there any people from the public that 24 would like to speak? 25 Okay. Status of applications, Steve. 4 1 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, Section 6A, 2 memorialization of resolutions approved at last 3 meeting: SP-17-05, 360-362 14th Street in Hoboken; 4 SP-26-05, Theresa Taglia, applicant, 1884 Kennedy 5 Boulevard, Jersey City; SP-45-05, Antonio Morsella 6 and Sabina Morsella, applicants, at 1006-1008 7 Paterson Plank Road, North Bergen; SD/SP-65-05, NZ 8 Funding, LLC, for 170-172 Grant Street, Jersey City; 9 SP-68-05, Waterford at Bayonne, LLC, Kennedy 10 Boulevard and West 2nd Street, Bayonne; SP-72-05, New 11 Cingular Wireless PCS, LLC, 894-896 Kennedy 12 Boulevard, Bayonne; and SP-74-05, Union City 13 Redevelopment Agency, Roosevelt Stadium Demonstration 14 Project, Union City, New Jersey. 15 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Thank you. 16 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Motion to 17 approve. 18 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I second. 19 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 20 made by Commissioner Avagliano and seconded by 21 Commissioner Fitzgibbons: 22 Commissioner Arencibia? 23 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye. 24 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Liggio? 25 COMMISSIONER LIGGIO: Aye. 5 1 MR. MARKS: Chairman Holloway? 2 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Aye. 3 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 4 passed. 5 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Thank you. 6 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, Section 6B, 7 applications declared to be exempt on the Agenda, we 8 have SP-75-05, Eastern Concrete Materials, Inc., 265 9 Broadway in Jersey City; SP/SD-76-05, Manuel Ruela, 10 at 317 Cross Street in Harrison; SD-77-05, Bright 11 Street Associates, LLC, at 114 Amity Street in Jersey 12 City; SP-78-05, at 59 Hook Creek Road -- I'm sorry, 13 59 Hook Creek Road Associates, for Lot 417, Block 1 14 in Bayonne; and SP-79-05, Aimee Pendell, at 10 15 Paterson Street in Jersey City. 16 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Thank you. 17 Can I have a motion? 18 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Motion to 19 accept. 20 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I second 21 it. 22 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 23 made by Commissioner Avagliano and seconded by 24 Commissioner Fitzgibbons: 25 Commissioner Arencibia? 6 1 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye. 2 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Liggio? 3 COMMISSIONER LIGGIO: Aye. 4 MR. MARKS: Chairman Holloway? 5 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Aye. 6 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 7 passed. 8 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Thank you. 9 MR. MARKS: Now, for Section 6C on 10 tonight's Agenda, site plans and subdivisions 11 scheduled for public hearing: SP-37-05, 1514-1516 12 Manhattan Avenue, Union City. 13 Mr. Chairman, may I turn your attention to 14 your packets this evening? The applicant's engineer 15 was on vacation, was not available. The applicant's 16 attorney sent us a letter, sent us a letter 17 requesting that the application be tabled or 18 adjourned until next month. 19 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Okay. 20 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Okay. Can I have 21 a motion? 22 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I'll make a 23 motion that we table SP-37-05, 1514-1516 Manhattan 24 Avenue. 25 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I second 7 1 it. 2 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 3 to table SP-37-05 made by Commissioner Avagliano and 4 seconded by Commissioner Fitzgibbons: 5 Commissioner Arencibia? 6 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye. 7 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Liggio? 8 COMMISSIONER LIGGIO: Aye. 9 MR. MARKS: Chairman Holloway? 10 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Aye. 11 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 12 passed. 13 Next, Mr. Chairman, application SP-40-05, 14 Coach House at 921 Kennedy Boulevard in North Bergen. 15 MR. ROMANO: Evening, Mr. Chairman, 16 Members of the Board. 17 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Good evening. 18 MR. ROMANO: Anthony Romano, II, 19 Connell, Foley, for the applicant, Clem's Inc., doing 20 business as the Coach House. 21 Mr. Chairman, it's been a few months since we 22 were here when the Board granted us an opportunity to 23 adjourn our hearing in order to conduct some further 24 discussions in review by the Board. There was 25 significant exchange of correspondence between the 8 1 applicant, the applicant's engineer and the Board 2 resulting in a meeting, workshop meeting on the 3 fourth which was attended by the applicant, the 4 applicant's engineer, counsel for the applicant and 5 Members of the Board, and at that meeting a number of 6 concerns and issues that the Board had were voiced, 7 and my understanding is that all of those issues were 8 acknowledged and remedies accepted and agreed to by 9 the applicant resulting in revision, again, of the 10 Site Plan which is the subject of this hearing. That 11 revised plan was submitted to the Board, I believe 12 Tuesday of last week, and my review of that revision 13 indicates that all of the approximately eight bullet 14 points that had been discussed are, in fact, included 15 on the revised plan. I can certainly go through 16 those, if the Board would like me to do that. 17 Alternatively, if the Board has had an opportunity to 18 review that plan and feels comfortable that we have 19 now, in fact, complied -- 20 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Demet, do you have 21 any concerns? 22 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Well, I've 23 looked at the plan, I received it on the 12th, and 24 the only concern I have is, really addresses 25 everything we talked about, but the drain pipes that 9 1 were installed going out to Paterson Plank Road 2 through the curb, that curb should be replaced. It 3 should be taken out, because that, those holes are 4 going to break up the curb. It's not really shown on 5 the plan, what to do with those pipes. It says 6 existing drain pipes to be removed, but you should 7 say what you're going to do, replace the curb and 8 sidewalk. 9 MR. PAMPAS: The answer there -- 10 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Excuse me. Excuse 11 me. 12 MR. PAMPAS: We're not just going to 13 patch the hole. 14 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Excuse me. Can 15 you address your name? 16 MR. PAMPAS: I'm sorry. My name is 17 John Pampas. 18 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Let him swear you 19 in. 20 MR. CALVANICO: State your name and 21 your address, for the record. 22 MR. PAMPAS: My name is John Pampas. 23 I'm the owner of the Coach House, 921 Kennedy 24 Boulevard, North Bergen, New Jersey. 25 JOHN PAMPAS, having been first duly sworn according 10 1 to law, testified as follows: 2 MR. CALVANICO: Thank you. 3 MR. ROMANO: Okay. Right now, John, 4 we're showing, as Mr. Arencibia pointed out, there 5 are three locations where there are PVC pipes to be 6 removed; is that correct? 7 MR. PAMPAS: Yes. 8 MR. ROMANO: And there is -- I see 9 here that there is a curb that is to be replaced; is 10 that right? 11 MR. PAMPAS: The curb had to be -- 12 it's not replaced. There is no curb there now. 13 MR. ROMANO: Okay. So you're going to 14 build a curb. 15 Is that a different curb, Mr. Arencibia, then 16 you're referring to? 17 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: The curb that 18 says to be replaced is the driveway that you're going 19 to replace with a full height curb? 20 MR. PAMPAS: Mr. Romano is pointing to 21 the inside curb, and in reality, the curb, inside 22 curb has to be constructed. 23 MR. ROMANO: For the parking lot? 24 MR. PAMPAS: Right. Right, and 25 depending on where the curb cuts, where the curbs are 11 1 and the pieces of curb -- we're going to replace the 2 pieces of curb as necessary. 3 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Right. 4 MR. PAMPAS: We're not just patching a 5 hole. We're actually replacing that section of the 6 curb that contains the hole. 7 MR. ROMANO: Okay. I don't think -- 8 that's certainly not a problem. Sure. If we need a 9 further note on the drawing, that, that not only will 10 the drains be removed, but the curb will be replaced. 11 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Right. There 12 has to be a portion of the curb that has to be 13 replaced. 14 MR. ROMANO: Okay. 15 MR. PAMPAS: That was our 16 understanding. The notation is not correct. 17 MR. ROMANO: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: It just 19 wasn't mentioned on the plan, so -- 20 MR. ROMANO: Okay. We could certainly 21 make that a condition of the Board's approval. I 22 mean, we'll get that done. 23 MR. CALVANICO: Mr. Romano, could you 24 just refer, give us a reference of what the drawing 25 is that you're looking at? 12 1 MR. ROMANO: Sure, Mr. Calvanico. 2 This is the Site Plan prepared by Robert J. Weisman, 3 PE and LS, originally dated June 20th, 2005, last 4 revised on August 5th, 2005. It's one sheet. 5 MR. CALVANICO: Thank you. 6 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Is there any more 7 concerns, Demetrio? 8 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Just make 9 sure you get the road opening permit before you start 10 on this work. That's, that's the only concern I got. 11 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Mar, do you have 12 any questions? 13 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: No. They 14 spoke about the questions. 15 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Motion to 16 approve? 17 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Mr. 18 Arencibia, you agree with the plans that were changed 19 as per our conditions? 20 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: It was -- 22 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: It's what we 23 had our meeting about and discussed all of the 24 comments, it addresses all of them. 25 MR. CALVANICO: Just so we're clear 13 1 and I can be clear for the resolution, what we're 2 making as a condition of the approval, replacement of 3 the curb in the area where the drain pipes are being 4 removed? 5 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Right. 6 MR. CALVANICO: Is that your 7 understanding? 8 MR. ROMANO: That's correct. Yes. 9 MR. CALVANICO: Okay. I just wanted 10 to make sure we were all on the same page. 11 MR. ROMANO: Yes. 12 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Motion to 13 approve? 14 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I'll make a 15 motion to approve, as long as you stay in touch with 16 the engineer. 17 MR. ROMANO: Yes. 18 COMMISSIONER LIGGIO: I'll second. 19 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Do we have a 20 full traffic report on it, also? Not yet? Did we 21 get a full traffic report on this? 22 MR. CALVANICO: I don't believe we 23 asked for one -- 24 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: It wasn't -- 25 MR. CALVANICO: -- since it's an 14 1 existing -- 2 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Okay. All 3 right. 4 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 5 made by Commissioner Fitzgibbons and seconded by 6 Commissioner Liggio: 7 Commissioner Arencibia? 8 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye. 9 MR. MARKS: Chairman Holloway? 10 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Aye. 11 MR. MARKS: And Commissioner 12 Avagliano? 13 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I vote aye, 14 as per all the conditions that we discussed at the 15 meeting this evening. I vote aye. 16 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 17 passes. 18 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Thank you. 19 MR. ROMANO: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 20 I just have one additional request, if it's 21 possible. I'm not entirely sure of the Board's 22 procedure, but my client has asked that we be able to 23 get that permit necessary to, to go into the road and 24 to continue the work, because of the fact that the 25 Board will remember that we actually have a 15 1 construction area into the sidewalk where the 2 handicapped ramp is that we would like to get 3 finished up and to, A, get rid of the hazard there, 4 as well as to provide handicapped access for our 5 patrons, so I'm wondering if, notwithstanding the 6 fact that the written resolution hadn't been issued, 7 if we could get the Board's approval to have the 8 permits issued to continue with the work. 9 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: You have the 10 approval now and just update the plan accordingly and 11 you can come into the Engineer's Office tomorrow, as 12 early as tomorrow -- 13 MR. ROMANO: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: -- and apply 15 for the permit. 16 MR. ROMANO: That's terrific. Okay. 17 Thank you, very much. 18 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Thank you. 19 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the next 20 matter scheduled for Public Hearing, application 21 SP-54-05, Carlo Zimatore, applicant, for 7716-7804 22 Kennedy Boulevard in North Bergen. 23 MR. RYGLICKI: Good evening, ladies 24 and gentlemen. Joseph J. Ryglicki appearing on 25 behalf of the applicant, Carlo Zimatore. 16 1 This project is a 24 unit condominium to be 2 erected on Kennedy Boulevard in North Bergen at the 3 intersection or near the intersection of 79th Street. 4 We had previously received a letter from Mr. 5 Marks in May to which -- and he subsequently, I 6 understand, had a discussion with our engineer, Mr. 7 Hipalitt (phonetic), and based on that, a letter was 8 written to him. Revised plans were supplied by Mr. 9 Valdino, our architect, and I believe that the only 10 real issue initially was the traffic, and we agreed 11 that traffic would be, not be crossing Kennedy 12 Boulevard. It will only be a right turn out of the 13 property. 14 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Demet, do you have 15 any concerns on that? 16 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Well, that 17 was the concern that we had, the left turns. I see 18 the plan was updated to provide no left turn from the 19 garage, so that would be mounted inside the garage 20 right before you leave the garage, right? 21 MR. RYGLICKI: Yes. 22 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: And then I 23 think on the plan it looks like there's another sign 24 right adjacent to the curb. 25 MR. RYGLICKI: There were two sides. 17 1 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: There were 2 two sides, okay. 3 Now, you're going to replace the entire curb 4 and sidewalk in front of the property? 5 MR. RYGLICKI: It's my understanding 6 that there's currently a curb-cut there. If we don't 7 use that curb-cut, we'll replace that curb and -- but 8 I think, I almost think we are using the same curb, 9 but I'm not -- if we disturb the curb, we'll replace 10 it, but it may not be necessary. 11 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: You have the 12 details for the curb and -- 13 MR. RYGLICKI: Well, then they had to 14 do it. 15 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: -- sidewalk? 16 MR. RYGLICKI: My client's celebrating 17 something or other. 18 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: It wasn't 19 that clear on the plan. 20 MR. RYGLICKI: Okay. Well, if it says 21 we're going to replace it, we'll replace it. 22 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Right. 23 Okay. It would make the whole job look nice and 24 complete. 25 MR. RYGLICKI: I agree. I agree. 18 1 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: And the trees 2 were being planted. These are new trees? These are 3 trees that -- 4 MR. RYGLICKI: There are no trees 5 there now, but we'll put trees in. 6 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: The owner 7 will have to maintain it. 8 MR. RYGLICKI: Yes. 9 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Okay. And 10 those are the only concerns I have. 11 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Any other 12 questions? 13 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: No. 14 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: How is this 15 sidewalk? 16 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Well, he's 17 proposing a concrete sidewalk, a concrete curb. The 18 curb detail should be a six inch face. You have it 19 on the plan as seven inches, eight inches. 20 MR. RYGLICKI: Okay. Six inches, 21 fine. 22 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Six inch 23 face. That's all I have. 24 COMMISSIONER LIGGIO: I'll make a 25 motion to pass. 19 1 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I second. 2 COMMISSIONER LIGGIO: To approve. 3 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 4 made by Commissioner Liggio and seconded by 5 Commissioner Fitzgibbons: 6 Commissioner Avagliano? 7 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: As per 8 Commissioner Demetrio's recommendations, I vote aye. 9 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Arencibia? 10 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye. 11 MR. MARKS: Chairman Holloway? 12 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Aye, with the 13 conditions. 14 MR. RYGLICKI: Thank you, very much. 15 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 16 passes. 17 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Thank you, Steve. 18 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the next 19 matter scheduled for Public Hearing is application 20 SD-80-05, Jersey City Housing Authority, applicant, 21 for Woodward and Johnston Avenues in Jersey City. 22 MR. TRAWINSKI: Good evening. Edward 23 H. Trawinski, Jr. of Pojanowski & Trawinski, Special 24 Counsel to the Jersey City Housing Authority. 25 Commissioners, with respect to this matter, 20 1 this is a major Subdivision application which has 2 already been -- actually, preliminary and final major 3 Subdivision application which was approved by the 4 Jersey City Planning Board at a hearing on July 26th 5 memorialized by resolution on August 9th. Have a 6 copy of the resolution, if you'd like it. 7 MR. CALVANICO: Sure. 8 MR. TRAWINSKI: It involves the 9 subdivision -- actually, approval was to create six 10 lots out of a -- on Block 2088.1, Lot 1.2, with the 11 six lots, and on the plans that you have, three of 12 the lots would be roads which, it's the applicant's 13 intention to dedicate those roads to the City of 14 Jersey City for ownership and ongoing maintenance. 15 This is part of the Woodward Terrace Project and 16 involves Lafayette Gardens. It's been an ongoing 17 project with the City of Jersey City Housing 18 Authority and the Planning Board and this is just 19 here for major subdivision. It does not abut a 20 county road, nor does it affect county drainage 21 facilities. 22 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Just for the 23 record, note that Commissioner Dublin is here. 24 Demetrio, do you have any questions or 25 comments? 21 1 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: No. It has 2 no -- very little impact on the county. It looks 3 like a very nice project, too, for the area, so -- 4 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Motion to 5 approve? 6 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 7 motion to approve. 8 COMMISSIONER LIGGIO: I'll second it. 9 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 10 to approve made by Commissioner Fitzgibbons and 11 seconded by Commissioner Liggio: 12 Commissioner Avagliano? 13 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 14 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Dublin? 15 COMMISSIONER DUBLIN: Aye. 16 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Arencibia? 17 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye. 18 MR. MARKS: Chairman Holloway? 19 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Aye. 20 MR. TRAWINSKI: And you'll be 21 preparing the resolution, correct? 22 MR. CALVANICO: Yes. 23 MR. TRAWINSKI: And the next meeting 24 is on September 21st, right, beyond that Agenda? 25 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Yes. 22 1 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Yes. 2 MR. TRAWINSKI: Okay. Thank you, very 3 much. 4 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Thank you. 5 MR. TRAWINSKI: Thank you. 6 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 7 passes. 8 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Thank you, Steve. 9 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the next 10 matter for Public Hearing is application SP/SD-81-05, 11 Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc., Harbor Boulevard, 12 Weehawken. 13 MR. MAGRINI: Good evening, Mr. 14 Chairman, Members of the Board. Allen Magrini, I'm 15 an attorney for Hartz Mountain Industries here 16 tonight. 17 The application that's before you is really 18 two. It's a Subdivision application and a Site Plan, 19 all involving the ongoing development of Lincoln 20 Harbor in Weehawken. This is an exciting project. 21 Maybe I could show you a few of the graphics to get 22 started, but the Subdivision application, Lincoln 23 Harbor is approximately a 49 acre development, and 24 it's partially, significantly built, all the public 25 roads and infrastructure have been put in place. You 23 1 have -- the waterfront walkway has been constructed, 2 the public parks are in place, and what we're here 3 today -- well, to date, there's approximately 1.5 4 million square feet of development that's been 5 constructed in Lincoln Harbor. There's the large 6 blue office buildings that are occupied by Paine 7 Weber, the main tenant, we have the Charthouse 8 Restaurant out on the pier, there's a 250 ship 9 marina, you have the Charthouse Restaurant, the 10 retail and residential as well as the Sheraton Suites 11 Hotel, which is a 349 room hotel, all there and 12 operating, and Lincoln Harbor is in an ongoing 13 development that was always projected to include a 14 total of about 3.1 million square feet of space, and 15 again, to date, about two million square feet or so 16 has been actually constructed and is in operation, 17 and if you've been there, I'm sure you have, it's a 18 very exciting development on the waterfront, 19 tremendous views, public amenities. 20 The piece we're here for tonight has been 21 reviewed by the Weehawken Planning Board and approved 22 at their July 7th board meeting and just memorialized 23 in a resolution last evening in front of the planning 24 board. The first part is a minor subdivision. 25 Again, the whole site's 49 acres. This creates two 24 1 new lots. One is a 6.3 acre lot, which you'll see 2 tonight, has about a 430, or 430 units, residential 3 development proposed. One lot is about a 1.2 acre 4 parcel that's being preserved for additional open 5 space for the residents of Weehawken and Hudson 6 County. That's a program that, the town is going to 7 work to develop a program for participants committed 8 to improve and to construct the recreation 9 improvements that the town has developed, so it's a 10 very exciting program. You'll see 40 residential 11 renderings and plans here. It's a very forward 12 thinking development with solar panels, roof top 13 landscaping, promenade recreation facilities built 14 within the residential development. Again, maybe 15 just quickly as an overview, this is a Master Plan 16 for all of Lincoln Harbor as approved by the 17 Weehawken Planning Board. Again, you have the Hudson 18 River to the bottom of the exhibit here, the marina, 19 Charthouse Restaurant out on the pier, and again, the 20 existing Paine Weber buildings, the Sheraton Suites 21 Hotel, the waterfront walkway that extends 22 approximately a mile-and-a-quarter along Lincoln 23 Harbor. It's a very nice area. What you have out 24 there today is, again, the development up to this 25 point from the south heading north -- my fault. The 25 1 easel here. Sorry about that -- again, are the 2 existing development. From this point in the 3 development north is currently a surface parking lot, 4 whereas about 90 percent of that lot is covered with 5 pavement and provides additional surface parking for 6 the office, recreation, tenants and the marina out in 7 that point. The Subdivision that's before you 8 creates a six acre parcel for this residential lot, 9 and, again, this is the one acre open space lot 10 that's dedicated to Weehawken. It's immediately 11 across Harbor Boulevard from the existing 12 one-and-a-half acre park that was built and 13 maintained and operated by Hartz, so the application 14 for the Subdivision, the second part, the Site Plan 15 application's for approval to construct these three 16 residential buildings. 17 Just to give you some idea of appearance, 18 it's a very slick appearance, seven stories tall. 19 Underneath and between the buildings is three levels 20 of structured parking, but what we did do is, so that 21 when you're on the promenade and on the walkway and 22 looking at the buildings here, the front area of the 23 parking deck is clad with residential units, so from 24 the whole walkway when you look at this, this is 25 residential, these are residential units, you never 26 1 see the parking garage, and you also don't see the -- 2 along the north and south elevations, only from the 3 rear when you're on Waterfront Terrace do you see any 4 portion, a little bit of the parking structure, but 5 particular care was taken there to make it an 6 extensive landscaped plan, as I'll show you in a 7 minute, but again, a very exciting, upbeat 8 development here. This is just to give you an idea, 9 a little more close-up of the plan, but you can start 10 to see this today, all surface parking lot out up 11 until this area here, that parking gets taken out and 12 within this development it becomes fully 13 self-contained. There's 430 residential units. 14 They'll be 43 low and moderate income units 15 constructed within this development, and the other, 16 the balance of the ones, additional 43 units we're 17 going to work with the town to do up within and 18 throughout Weehawken through a contribution. Again, 19 this is the one acre park, so you can start to see 20 the massing of the open space in Lincoln Harbor, and 21 then even the way these buildings start to set out, 22 they're significant setbacks, a nice circular 23 driveway in the front that provides, really, 24 concierge type service, where Fed Ex can come here if 25 people have deliveries, small deliveries, food, 27 1 cleaners. There will be a central concierge desk in 2 the center building, and then again, these are 3 interconnected with a series of elevators, so, again, 4 this is a very formal entrance. You have to come to 5 check in, only deliveries and drop-offs. With regard 6 to the parking access, it's up Riverview Terrace and 7 into the parking at this point, so you'd have, have 8 access in, you'd come into Riverview Terrace either 9 from Harbor Boulevard or from the rear road and enter 10 the parking structure. Once you're within there, you 11 have elevators to bring you up, really to the main 12 level, so that everybody still has to come back by 13 the front desk. That's where the mail room will be. 14 That's where you have Fed Ex packages. They'll be 15 controlled and handled for you. The concierge will 16 handle the clothing, you know, if you get a laundry 17 delivery, so everything will be functioning out of 18 this section here. 19 Three levels of parking in the middle. 20 Again, the front portion of the parking is 21 residential units. There's a roof over two-thirds of 22 the third level of parking, and that becomes a very 23 exciting recreation area. As with many of the modern 24 day residentials, within the building there is weight 25 training rooms, there's a workout room, exercise 28 1 rooms, there's game rooms, but this one we took the 2 opportunity to use the roof over the parking 3 structure for additional outdoor recreation space for 4 the residents, so there will be sitting areas, 5 potentially, we're not sure what the program is going 6 to be, we'll know as we get closer, but, you know, 7 concepts of bocci have come up, or a putting green, 8 those kind of quiet, but a little bit active 9 recreation facility there. Again, a very exciting 10 proposal. 11 When you look at the building -- we worked 12 with the Town of Weehawken, because there's people 13 who live up on the Boulevard and come down, the roofs 14 have all been treated. These buildings, as you can 15 see this square, checkered area, really, the back 16 two-thirds of the building are solar paneled, so 17 we're trying to introduce environmentally safe, 18 environmental upgraded enhancement to the project and 19 to bring solar in and we think we can generate enough 20 from these panels to really handle the lighting in 21 the common areas and in the parking structure. 22 What's interesting and kind of exciting today is 23 solar panels aren't necessarily those 45 degree 24 panels you've always seen on roofs. These sit flat 25 on the roof, so when you look at them, there's like a 29 1 little blue tint to them, so there's different 2 colors. The front third of each of the buildings is 3 landscaped. It's a sedum that's full season. This 4 is not meant to have people have access up here, but 5 enhance the views from up on the hill, creates a 6 very, you know, upscale project. When you do that 7 kind of planting on the roof, it helps you with water 8 quality, obviously it filters it, it retains some 9 water on there, it minimizes the amount of drainage 10 from the building roofs themselves. There is some 11 benefit in terms of insulation quality, having these 12 layers on the roof, and there's negatives, you got to 13 take care of it, but we worked with Weehawken and 14 we've developed what we think is a very exciting and 15 upgrade plan. What I talked to you about along 16 Waterfront Terrace, where you can see, really, just 17 small parts of the parking garage, again, a 18 landscaped plan down there, that's designed to both 19 have some low coverage and trees to break up that 20 rear facade. Again, the front, a very, very formal 21 landscaped plan. A lot of care has gone in -- for 22 example, these walkways that come up to the building 23 and along the side are meant to handle fire trucks, 24 so that's the emergency access, you know, you have it 25 along the roads on the side, bring you right down the 30 1 perimeter here, emergency access along those 2 pedestrian paths to the front of the buildings. 3 They're 13 foot wide pedestrian paths of walkways. 4 One other element is Riverview Terrace, which takes 5 you from the rear of the property to the waterfront, 6 it's being designed as a very significant promenade 7 with double rows of trees to create a canopy along 8 the walkway. That's the Site Plan. 9 A couple pieces here, very exciting, is 10 Lincoln Harbor throughout its development, we've 11 worked with New Jersey Transit, there's significant 12 bus service to this development. You have the 13 Lincoln Harbor ferry stop, so we enjoy ferry service 14 at this point, and now the New Jersey Light Rail. 15 The Lincoln Harbor Station is now opening, so it's a 16 very exciting development in terms of mass transit 17 opportunities. We've worked with these agencies as 18 part of the light rail, we've worked with Transit on 19 the location and we are in the process, and we just 20 received approval from the DEP -- DOT, I'm sorry, to 21 install a pedestrian crossing signal there, so now 22 the people, one, coming to Lincoln Harbor to recreate 23 can get off safely in there, residents and business 24 people, so we think that that's a tremendous asset to 25 help reduce traffic on the roads, all coming up into 31 1 Hudson County and into this site in development. 2 Another piece in here that is ongoing, I was 3 just at a meeting today with the Town of Weehawken, 4 one of the difficult areas down here, traffic-wise, 5 is Baldwin Avenue. If you come down off of Park 6 Avenue, Kennedy Boulevard up in there and you come 7 down Baldwin Avenue, you got that real big, snaky 8 turn before you hit the railroad tracks. When 9 Transit was building the light rail, Hartz met with 10 them. We had Weehawken with them, and you'll see 11 when you get there, the light rail is elevated, in 12 part, and that's so that a new constructed Baldwin 13 Avenue will now be widened, brought directly into 14 Lincoln Harbor, go underneath the light rail so you 15 no longer have any conflict with vehicles and the 16 rail system. We were at a meeting today in 17 Weehawken. Hartz is the owner of Lincoln Harbor. 18 Port Imperial Development people were involved 19 today. The town has retained Parsons Brinkerhauf, 20 the developer, to do a completely new Baldwin Avenue 21 design, and I'm sure the County's going to get 22 involved. Today, today was just the first meeting. 23 No work has been done, but to reconstruct Baldwin 24 Avenue from Boulevard East into Lincoln Harbor, 25 creating now, instead of that crazy little turn over 32 1 the tracks, a full, four-lane multi turn intersection 2 there, fully signalized. The initial ball park 3 estimates are about a $7.5 million project. There's, 4 from the Federal Safety Program and its current 5 appropriation, about $3.1 million that has been 6 committed, or $4.1 million of federal funding for 7 that. The Port Authority is interested in playing a 8 role because they have their air shafts to the Hol -- 9 Lincoln Tunnel down here. When you get up into Port 10 Imperial you have the intra-modal ferry stop with the 11 bus stop there, so Baldwin Avenue really starts to 12 open this up and create that -- and Hartz and 13 Roseland Properties, the developer up in there, we've 14 committed to fund any shortfall. In fact, we're 15 going to fund all the design work privately and then 16 any shortfall between the federal dollars and The 17 Port Authority dollars, we've committed to step up to 18 the plate, and they're finalizing developers' 19 agreements in Weehawken to make sure that critical 20 access point happens there. Again, the great part is 21 right now Baldwin Avenue is narrow, two lanes. This 22 will be four full lanes. We're going to obviously 23 work on the signalization up at that intersection. 24 Again, it's going to be Parsons Brinkerhauf doing 25 that. This whole intersection designed, where Port 33 1 Imperial Boulevard meets Harbor Boulevard, Waterfront 2 Terrace signalized, channelized through a series of 3 turning lanes, you know, make it a real modern 4 intersection. What that really does for us in 5 Lincoln Harbor, and I think for the county, is with 6 this intersection today being so difficult, I mean, 7 if you go out there, there's significant traffic 8 back-ups, it forces a lot of traffic out and up 19th 9 Street. With this opened up, it will now make this a 10 full functioning intersection, where people looking 11 to go to Route 3 West, it's just one of the 12 predominant evening trips. Rather than avoiding this 13 intersection and going out 19th Street, this will now 14 function and bring you right over there, much 15 cleaner, much better, will be a better way in, in the 16 morning, so it will really balance the traffic more. 17 Baldwin Avenue capacity will be significantly 18 increased. 19 That's some of the background and some of the 20 development of the project here. Maybe, I know you 21 did have some questions on traffic about the 22 development here, and I have the traffic engineer 23 here if there's any questions just about what this 24 will develop as compared to the -- there was about 25 584,000 square feet of office space previously 34 1 approved by Weehawken here, and the swap for 2 residential has significantly reduced traffic volumes 3 and, you know, from here and also reverses the 4 pattern of it. 5 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Excuse me, one 6 second. Tom, are we going to mark these as 7 evidence? 8 MR. CALVANICO: Do we have copies of 9 these? 10 MR. MAGRINI: These are all in the 11 Site Plan package. I don't think the color rendering 12 is. I can send you a copy of that. The other sheets 13 are all in the, both in either the Architectural 14 package or the Site Plan Engineering package. 15 MR. CALVANICO: Okay. If you could 16 just identify them for us by drawing number or -- 17 MR. MAGRINI: Sure, I could do that. 18 The one I discussed first, which is the 19 Lincoln Harbor Master Plan as approved by Weehawken, 20 is sheet one of 15, and it's entitled Master Plan. 21 The second item I did discuss here is a plan, it's 22 the landscaped plan. Actually, this one is a site 23 exhibit, because it's been colored, but it's the 24 landscaped plan from the sheet as prepared by Menlo 25 Engineering. 35 1 MR. CALVANICO: Does it have a date on 2 it? 3 MR. MAGRINI: It's dated May 23, 2005, 4 and again, we can forward it to you. This is a 5 rendering of the development that we presented here. 6 It's called Lincoln Harbor Residential. It's 7 prepared by SLCE Architects. 8 MR. CALVANICO: Saw that. 9 MR. MAGRINI: We can provide that 10 exhibit to you. The only thing I think I'd just like 11 to present, quickly, while we're here, and then if 12 you have questions -- this is called the Pedestrian 13 Circulation Plan. It's included in the Site Plan 14 package. It's prepared by Macdel Engineering and 15 it's last revised through June 7, 2005. It was 16 really just the plan, because there's so much going 17 on in Lincoln Harbor, we put together and put in the 18 package and that starts to show some of the other 19 public improvements. Again, you have the waterfront 20 walkway, very pedestrian oriented, you have the light 21 rail and the rail crossing, you know, you have the 22 existing plaza areas in front of Lincoln Harbor where 23 Houlihan's has its outdoor seating area, where the 24 town has some concerts and that, but some other 25 amenities that will actually be ready to construct 36 1 is, as part of the approvals, we worked with the town 2 to design a new bike way and walkway along the 3 westerly edge of the property here, which will have a 4 bifurcated pedestrian path, three feet of landscaping 5 and a separate bike path, so that coming down, again, 6 the new Baldwin Avenue, either by bike or walking, 7 you can take that walkway and connect to the walkway 8 where it connects to, really, the Hoboken border. 9 Walk the waterfront along the -- again, from the 10 light rail, significant walkways to bring people from 11 the rail station to the waterfront and right back 12 into the development. That kind of gives you a good 13 idea of the overall pedestrian circulation, some of 14 the things we're trying to do in there to make it 15 very friendly, so that the residents of the county in 16 Weehawken, one, can get there, two, are comfortable 17 there, and, three, can enjoy it. 18 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Demet, do you have 19 any concerns or questions? 20 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: I have some 21 questions, and maybe your engineer can come up later, 22 but you can answer some of them now. 23 What kind of residential units are these 24 going to be? Are they going to be, like, luxury 25 units or -- 37 1 MR. MAGRINI: Yes. There are 430 2 units. Again, 43 of them are going to be set aside 3 for low and moderate income families of, I guess 4 Weehawken and then Hudson County. The units are 5 designed to be luxury type units, nine foot ceilings, 6 upgraded finishes. You know, they talk about -- I 7 forget, I think it's five fixture toilets. I could 8 never understand, but it's a shower, toilet, two 9 sinks, and I forget what the fifth one is, but five 10 fixture facilities, but upgraded. They are designed 11 at this point where they'll be a very high-end rental 12 or a market, you know. I guess, really, a higher-end 13 condominium. We're not sure if they're going to be 14 rentals or for sale units at this point, all right, 15 but designed where they -- typically, a condominium 16 sale unit is at higher quality, so we're designing to 17 that quality, so if they become rentals, they'll be 18 very high-end rentals. 19 Just one other thing not related. What we 20 think is interesting when we looked at the 21 residential and its impact in terms of, again, it was 22 600,000 square feet of office that was going to be 23 built here that's now been given up. In terms of our 24 review with Weehawken, the traffic is significant in 25 that Weehawken, we've always used 25 percent mass 38 1 transit credit because of the amenities here, and 2 we've satisfied that. We've actually met it. With 3 the light rail station now opening, we think that's 4 even, you know, very easy to achieve and maintain 5 over a long period of time, but what's interesting 6 with the residential versus the office is, you know, 7 if my boss moves my company here, I'm going there 8 Monday morning, I don't have a choice, but if you're 9 a residential, you choose to be here and you choose 10 to be there for a couple of reasons. One, is the 11 mass transit, probably because you work on the other 12 side of the river or you work up and down the Hudson 13 River Waterfront, and so what it does, it's a lot 14 less traffic. We think the usage of the mass transit 15 goes significantly greater because you choose to be 16 here and you choose to live here and you want to live 17 here and then go to work in Western New Jersey. It 18 doesn't make any sense to do that. The other part 19 that's very exciting about this is, you know better 20 than I do in the morning all the traffic is heading 21 east. One, to the tunnel, to Lincoln Harbor and to 22 the waterfront, all up and down. The residents here, 23 any traffic that really is leaving here in the 24 morning is either heading north or south, but more 25 likely to the west. I mean, it's already at the 39 1 worst part, so we find it exciting for our 2 development because it -- some reverse traffic in the 3 morning, but at a significantly reduced rate, because 4 it's a residential project versus office. 5 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: I have a 6 question. 7 This site, this project would be built on an 8 existing parking lot; is that correct? 9 MR. MAGRINI: Yes. 10 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: And your 11 project is going to provide 584 parking spaces for 12 its residents only? 13 MR. MAGRINI: That's correct. This is 14 going to be a self-contained development on there. 15 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: There's going 16 to be a garage, a parking garage; is that it? 17 MR. MAGRINI: Yes. Let me just -- you 18 have the three residential towers. Again, seven 19 stories. Below them, going across here, is the 20 parking structure. You can kind of see it. Again, 21 I'm back to the landscaped exhibit prepared by Menlo 22 Engineering, but this is a three-story parking 23 structure that really runs under those buildings. 24 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: All right. 25 Now, how many parking spaces are being eliminated 40 1 from building this project, the existing spots? 2 MR. MAGRINI: That, I'd have to ask 3 Mr. -- five, 550, and that's where you see there's a 4 structure here where those will be placed into. 5 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Those 550 6 spaces is for the restaurant and for -- 7 MR. MAGRINI: Office tenants for 8 that -- 9 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Office 10 tenants. 11 MR. MAGRINI: For example, the 12 restaurant, you have Charthouse, you can see here 13 there's a large parking lot out on the pier. Pier D, 14 which is the office building, there's parking 15 underneath there. What happens is, and it's an 16 exciting concept of Lincoln Harbor, is to share 17 parking. You have the marina, 250 ships that use 18 this surface parking area. That's gonna' be here, 19 but the nice part is, the vast majority of those 20 ships are used at evening, people after work and on 21 weekends. I mean, the office tenants aren't here, 22 and I think it's about 1,200 parking spaces in the 23 existing structure are all available, which also 24 works out good with regard to, again, the weekends, 25 when the public is here enjoying the waterfront. 41 1 These lots are opened all to the public, as are the 2 existing parking structures, and that's worked out 3 good, but to ensure better than that, you know Mayor 4 Turner, the town has been very demanding on us, and 5 you'll see in this structure we're building, you can 6 just barely see in the corner a waiting area for 7 people that are going to the light rail, so there 8 closed in there, a number of these parking spaces on 9 the surface lot are dedicated to be opened to the 10 public for, you know, kiss and drop pick-ups from the 11 light rail, but also for, again, residents who want 12 to come here during the business day, walk the 13 walkway and do the shops in there, so there is public 14 parking over by the Sheraton Suites, there's a number 15 of spaces that are dedicated for public use over 16 there, so that there's some, you know, spread out 17 along the walkway. 18 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: But the 19 reduction of 550 spaces, is that going to be replaced 20 with -- 21 MR. MAGRINI: There's this parking 22 deck structure here now that's actually under 23 construction. If you went up there today, that has 24 564 spaces in it, so while this becomes a fully 25 self-contained, and just because the residential, 42 1 that type of project is for the residents only, 2 there's no public parking in there, other than 3 visitors, there's no office parking in there, but 4 what's lost here is being built here, so this will be 5 completed in an operation prior to the commencement 6 of this construction, so we always have a balance in 7 Lincoln Harbor, very important to us, and the town. 8 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: How many 9 units are in those? 10 MR. MAGRINI: 430. 11 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: How many 12 parking spots are provided? 13 MR. MAGRINI: 547. That includes 14 visitor parking, you know, unit parking for the 15 individual units, visitor parking within there, and 16 also, down on the bottom is the handicapped parking, 17 obviously that's required, and also some parking for 18 small service vehicles, you know, plumber, vans, 19 those type of vans in there. 20 The only thing I didn't mention is this 21 building enjoys within the building loading dock so 22 that a full tractor trailer, the large moving vans 23 can come pull in within a loading dock within the 24 building so there's no impact on any of the streets 25 or roadways. 43 1 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Okay. I got 2 some questions on traffic. 3 The county's interest is really on Boulevard 4 East, since it's a county owned roadway, and we have 5 traffic signals on Baldwin and Baldwin, as you 6 mentioned, is a very poor functioning roadway, and 7 then we have 19th Street and Park Avenue viaduct, so 8 I don't know, has there been a traffic report 9 prepared for this project? 10 MR. MAGRINI: Over time we've done 11 them for this particular residential. Weehawken 12 really just asked -- what we did is, they wanted to 13 look at what is the impact of the 584,000 square feet 14 of office that was going to be here, if we eliminate 15 that and replace it with the residential, okay, and 16 we can provide you with some numbers, but there's 17 like a 77 percent reduction in traffic from the 18 residential as compared to the office, so very 19 significant. 20 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: So you're 21 saying that the increase in residential traffic from 22 this project is offset by a decrease in office? 23 MR. MAGRINI: Oh, significant, because 24 we've given up 584,000 square feet of office that was 25 approved out here for development. 44 1 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: But that's 2 not existing office, that's proposed office. 3 MR. MAGRINI: That's right. 4 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Okay. 5 MR. MAGRINI: But when we did that, we 6 were -- you know, obviously we did the traffic 7 studies for that there. What it really did show, I 8 think in, and I have a traffic person here, was that 9 the critical link-up in this whole section is Baldwin 10 Avenue, and again, simply because it doesn't just 11 serve Lincoln Harbor, it serves Port Imperial, 12 everything to the north up to Pershing Avenue. You 13 know, this is the central critical connection. 14 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Right. 15 MR. MAGRINI: And again, with those 16 improvements happening in there, funding in place, 17 design ongoing, and again, we do have to get your 18 office right in the middle of it. 19 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: You mentioned 20 this traffic study was done when it was proposed as 21 office? 22 MR. MAGRINI: All office, yes. 23 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: That traffic 24 study was not updated to -- 25 MR. MAGRINI: All we did was what they 45 1 asked us to do, because they had that traffic study. 2 They wanted to know, if you take out the office space 3 you're giving up and you insert residential, what's 4 the impact, and they were comfortable with the 5 office, 584,000 square feet of office in here, giving 6 that up and putting 430 residential units. The 7 numbers -- I'm sorry. Just to give you some -- I 8 mean, this is the magnitude. Again, this had 584,000 9 square feet of office on this parcel here that's now 10 going to be open space, was a 135 room hotel, four 11 story hotel. 12 Just to give you some quick idea. In the 13 a.m. peak that generated 843 -- well, total of 981 14 trips, okay, in the a.m. 15 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Right. 16 MR. MAGRINI: And converting that to 17 residential, again, giving up the office and the 18 hotel, it generates 219 trips, which is a reduction 19 of 762 trips in the a.m. peak hour, which is 20 critical. It's like, about a 77 percent reduction, 21 and again, simply because it's residential generates 22 less, and the people that are here -- and again, 23 that's taking a 25 percent mass transit credit both 24 for the office and for this no increase, so it's just 25 apples to apples. Similar in the evening peaks, and 46 1 again, the other piece we think is very exciting is 2 any traffic that's leaving here is reverse of the 3 main traffic flow coming into Hudson County in this 4 area of the county, so it's reversed and it's taking 5 advantage of the lighter volumes on the opposite 6 direction, but in looking at that, and again, working 7 with the town and The Port Authority, Baldwin Avenue 8 being the mid point, again, between Park Avenue, 16th 9 Street, 19th Street and all the way up to Pershing 10 Avenue really becomes the critical interchange, 11 because when you come out here, you could see you're 12 already basically under the heelex, the entrance to 13 Route 3 West is not even a quarter of a mile, and 14 that's the key, it puts a lot more traffic in here 15 and on the shorter piece of Boulevard East. 16 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: What's the 17 timing of this project being built with the Baldwin 18 Avenue project? 19 MR. MAGRINI: Yeah. Right now we're 20 talking about being on a similar thing. Again, 21 Baldwin Avenue project is just starting design. They 22 expect to have a preliminary plan in, like, six 23 weeks. Federal funding is in place. Again, Hartz 24 and Roseland have committed to any shortfalls. We're 25 ready to go. We've committed to donate to the 47 1 project any land that's needed, and maybe you could 2 take a look. There's a rough outline of -- the 3 interchange has been dotted on here. Again, not 4 anywhere near finalized. We hope to start this 5 project in the Spring of 2006, you know. We have a 6 waterfront development permit application at DEP to 7 go through, which is being filed Friday. The Spring 8 of 2006. It's probably 20 months, 24 months to build 9 it. The push is to have Baldwin Avenue come on 10 roughly at the same time. We'd like to have all the 11 construction going on simultaneously. Roseland has 12 some projects coming on, you know, roughly the same 13 time. I mean, that's the goal. Will we hit that 14 exactly, I think the road could be done first, 15 because I tell you, once you get here, because 16 there's one piece of private property that has to be 17 acquired, all the other properties are either Hartz, 18 Roseland or public entities involved in the project, 19 you know. New Jersey Transit at the intersection of 20 Baldwin and Boulevard East, you have The Port 21 Authority, you have Hartz, Roseland and then there's 22 that little triangular building that sits underneath 23 the heelex that has to be acquired. 24 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: You say 25 that you have to have a piece of property be 48 1 acquired. You know, I don't want to say nothing, but 2 shouldn't, before you start all this, acquire it? 3 MR. MAGRINI: Well, there's 4 commitments from the government. Either The Port 5 Authority -- there's been attempts to purchase it 6 privately, and it's not been able to do it, but this 7 is a public roadway and this is going to be a 8 municipal project, so Weehawken can exercise its 9 imminent domain powers and fund it out of the federal 10 funding that's there for the project. It's a public 11 road, so that's -- it may be taken through imminent 12 domain. 13 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: That property 14 purchase is pertaining to the Baldwin Avenue project, 15 not to your -- 16 MR. MAGRINI: Just to Baldwin Avenue, 17 not our project at all, has nothing to do with. 18 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: That could 19 be held up in court for a long time. You got 20 waterfront property. You think this guy's going to 21 give it up under imminent domain? 22 MR. MAGRINI: It doesn't have a 23 choice. What could happen, you lose your property in 24 condemnation very quickly. You may fight for three 25 years. 49 1 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Is there a 2 movement towards that right now? 3 MR. MAGRINI: There's at least been 4 some discussion, yes. Umm-hum. 5 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: I understand you 6 don't have an updated traffic study. 7 COMMISSIONER DUBLIN: Right. 8 MR. MAGRINI: Again, we have a traffic 9 study from when we did the office development, which 10 was probably 18 months ago or less, and what we did 11 is we updated a portion of it to look at the 12 traffic. Again, we are very comfortable with the 13 whole build-out of 3.1 square feet, which 2.2 was 14 office. Now, that's significantly reduced to about 15 1.5, and that the residential generates much less 16 traffic than the office development, so very 17 comfortable that all the improvements that were done, 18 again, Baldwin Avenue being done, the internal road 19 systems, what had been, had been done years back on 20 16th and Park, that we brought the road out, very 21 comfortable that it would have handled a full 22 commercial development, much more easily handled an 23 increased residential component. Yes, with the new 24 mass transit, the light rail station there, we're 25 very comfortable. 50 1 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Well, was 2 that report submitted today, the traffic study? 3 MR. MAGRINI: No. 4 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: We need the 5 traffic study before we could get into that. We have 6 to look at that, right? 7 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: I would like 8 to. I think the Board should review the traffic 9 report. 10 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: It's very 11 important that the county know what kind of impact 12 this project's going to have on the county. 13 MR. MAGRINI: Sure. 14 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Not only 15 that, on the surrounding community. You abut -- 16 right over there is the City the Hoboken. What would 17 affect the traffic going over those bridges? 18 MR. MAGRINI: We think the 19 residential, very little. Maybe if you really just 20 think about what it is -- 21 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Did you 22 ever see -- 23 MR. MAGRINI: If you live here and 24 you're going to Hoboken to go to work, there's a 25 light rail station right here. I mean, that's the 51 1 nice point, how this all works terrifically, you know 2 what I'm saying, and it eliminates much of the 3 traffic coming into the waterfront area. 4 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: I can appreciate 5 what you're saying, but that's why we have an 6 engineer and that's the reason why we're looking for 7 studies, so we can make sure that it doesn't have a 8 serious impact on the community itself. 9 MR. MAGRINI: Sure. 10 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: So that's why we 11 have to have the traffic study and the engineer here 12 has to look at it. 13 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Yeah. I 14 think the applicant should submit a study. He said 15 it was prepared for Weehawken, right? It was 16 submitted to the Weehawken Planning Board? 17 MR. MAGRINI: Yes. 18 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Okay. So we 19 should have -- 20 MR. MAGRINI: It's really a comparison 21 of the prior traffic versus the residential component 22 being inserted in there. 23 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Well, I would 24 like to see that -- 25 MR. MAGRINI: Okay. 52 1 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: -- with the 2 prior reporting you had prepared. 3 You mentioned improvements to Baldwin 4 Avenue. Are there any other roadway traffic related 5 improvements being done? 6 MR. MAGRINI: Baldwin Avenue, we will 7 be -- Waterfront Terrace currently has a cheroot here 8 that will be brought out, again, brought to the 9 interchange to create the full lane interchange 10 creating an additional east/west roadway within 11 here. One will bring the traffic so the access into 12 this development isn't off the major north/south, but 13 off, really, a private service road. We're improving 14 by creating a pedestrian crossing signal at the light 15 rail, a much safer crossing area here, and other 16 public improvements in transportation is, again, the 17 walkway and the public bike way all along the 18 westerly side of Lincoln Harbor, and again, that's in 19 addition to everything that's built out there and 20 functions properly today. 21 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: But 22 improvements or impacts you're saying are not 23 significant on Boulevard East? 24 MR. MAGRINI: That's correct, and 25 again, we think what, what impacts there are, again, 53 1 in traffic today is very -- you know, on Boulevard 2 East, it is what it is. 3 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: It is bad, 4 right. 5 MR. MAGRINI: That's why we firmly 6 believe the real answer is Baldwin Avenue, because 7 now, again, what you have today is, you know, Lincoln 8 Harbor, but everything from Pershing Road that comes 9 north, that converge at this point at a very, very 10 substandard intersection and a very substandard 11 Baldwin Avenue. 12 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Does your 13 study include Baldwin Avenue -- 14 MR. MAGRINI: Yes. 15 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: -- in your 16 analysis? 17 MR. MAGRINI: Umm-hum. 18 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: It does. 19 And that analysis, did you -- would that 20 Baldwin Avenue, I don't know if it's really being 21 designed right now, this preliminary plan, so you 22 assumed a certain lane, number of lanes and 23 turning -- 24 MR. MAGRINI: Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: -- lanes? 54 1 MR. MAGRINI: Turning lanes, and 2 again, that will all be subject to a final design. 3 Again, Parsons Brinkerhauf was just brought on board, 4 but yes, we always, we always knew and had worked 5 with Weehawken over the years. There was a lot of 6 discussion about the number of lanes. Their 7 engineers, Wulver Smith Associates, but it never got 8 to the point of a design, but now we're going into 9 real design studies. 10 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Okay. 11 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Study say anything 12 about going south, toward Hoboken? What kind of 13 impact coming in, going into and out of Hoboken going 14 south? 15 MR. MAGRINI: It evaluates 16th Street 16 and 19th Street, yes. Again, we don't think there's 17 much impact going south, and you'll see it in the 18 study, simply because of most traffic coming to this, 19 because today it's primarily an office development, 20 is people coming from the west up to the waterfront. 21 I mean, there's some people from Hoboken, again, now 22 with the light rail, the north/south move from 23 Weehawken through Hoboken to Jersey City is much 24 different, much, much different because of the light 25 rail service. 55 1 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: The whole 2 thing is the traffic in the Lincoln Tunnel and then 3 the traffic in the Holland Tunnel and in the middle 4 of that is the City of Hoboken, so when the Holland 5 Tunnel is backed up, they're coming over through 6 Hoboken into Weehawken. 7 MR. MAGRINI: Well, we know, believe 8 me, we own the building there. We deal with it every 9 day. 10 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Try to get 11 out of there, out of Hoboken to go to Route 1 -- west 12 on Route 3, okay. Not only that, it affects Union 13 City, too. 14 MR. MAGRINI: This whole area. I 15 mean, listen, everything here affects everything. 16 There's a lot of development going on in Hoboken. 17 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: It's condensed and 18 that's the reason why a study is so important. 19 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I think we 20 need to see the study before -- you know, go over the 21 study before we approve this thing, because I don't 22 want the other towns surrounding it to get mad, that 23 created a problem for Hudson County. 24 MR. MAGRINI: Believe me, we're not 25 looking to create a problem. We live here. We own 56 1 more property in Hudson County than anybody else. 2 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Traffic in that 3 area is condensed. I mean, I can't even see how you 4 can get any more. 5 MR. MAGRINI: And again, that's part 6 of the reason, seriously, for the switch to 7 residential. It's just a different item that another 8 big office building in terms of traffic -- I mean, 9 people who choose to live here, and that's what 10 happens now, nobody's forced to live here, you choose 11 to live here and you choose to live here for a couple 12 of reasons, you work in the city, you work in 13 Hoboken, work in Jersey City and you have the mass 14 rail transit, so that's where the residential is 15 tremendous. I mean, we're very excited about doing 16 it because it's the right product, the right place 17 and all those public amenities and services just make 18 it work. 19 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Any concern? 20 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: I just, my 21 concern is really with the traffic report, seeing it, 22 seeing what's going to be involved. 23 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: This is for 24 an approval of the Subdivision here, too, right? 25 MR. MAGRINI: Yes. 57 1 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I think we 2 could -- could we approve the Subdivision? 3 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: No. 4 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: No? 5 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Why? 6 MR. MAGRINI: I would ask the Board, I 7 mean, maybe if they would act on this application 8 tonight, with the condition that we provide the 9 study, and we'll get it to you immediately. 10 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Well, I have a 11 little problem with that. It doesn't give the 12 engineer's office an opportunity to look at the 13 traffic study to really see if there's a serious 14 impact, because if it is, then we have to revamp this 15 and re-look at this. If we give you approval and he 16 has a problem with it, then you got to come back 17 again. 18 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: The 19 conditions should be something that you're going to 20 be agreeable to and you know about the conditions 21 once we set them, so at this time I don't know what 22 conditions we may set, and it's going to be based on 23 how -- the review of the traffic report, so we may 24 add, like you got to fix the timing of the signal, 25 whatever, I don't know what the conditions may be, 58 1 but I think we should review it first, and then -- 2 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: It's a major 3 project. I mean, I don't think one month is going to 4 hold -- you know, make a major problem, so we can do 5 this the right way. 6 Anyone with questions or concerns? 7 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Can we 8 vote -- excuse me. Can we vote on the Site Plan and 9 wait for the traffic report at the next meeting or 10 does that have any affect? 11 How long would a traffic report take? Say 12 two weeks? 13 MR. MAGRINI: No. We actually have it 14 done. I can have it here -- today's Wednesday. I 15 could probably have it Friday. I'll make sure I have 16 it. I'll Fed Ex it out, you know. 17 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: The sooner 18 the better, but I think we should vote on it for the 19 next meeting. 20 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Table it. 21 MR. CALVANICO: There's really no 22 reason to vote on part of it tonight, if we're going 23 to have to vote again next month. I don't think it 24 makes a difference. 25 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Yeah. I'd rather 59 1 do it -- 2 MR. CALVANICO: We have to come back, 3 we'll do it altogether. 4 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Go ahead. 5 COMMISSIONER DUBLIN: I have a 6 question on -- you said you had 400 something units? 7 MR. MAGRINI: 430. 8 COMMISSIONER DUBLIN: How many parking 9 spaces are going to be available? 10 MR. MAGRINI: 547. 11 COMMISSIONER DUBLIN: 547. 12 And these are how many units? Like, one 13 bedroom units? Two bedroom units? 14 MR. MAGRINI: It's, it's about -- I'm 15 just trying -- about eight percent one bedroom and 16 the balance are split almost equally between twos and 17 threes. 18 COMMISSIONER DUBLIN: If you have a 19 resident that moves in with more than one car, you're 20 equipped to handle that? 21 MR. MAGRINI: Right. There's about 22 1.25 spaces per, you know, per dwelling unit. That's 23 what that comes out to. 24 COMMISSIONER DUBLIN: Plus visiting 25 parking? 60 1 MR. MAGRINI: It has some dedicated 2 visitor parking and dedicated handicapped spots, yes. 3 COMMISSIONER DUBLIN: And you said 4 this is where they, you know, Lincoln Harbor, where 5 they built the new light rail? 6 MR. MAGRINI: Yes. 7 COMMISSIONER DUBLIN: And the traffic 8 will exit from that side? How would the traffic come 9 out from the back side? 10 MR. MAGRINI: I mean, on the light 11 rail, this is -- 12 COMMISSIONER DUBLIN: No. I'm 13 saying -- wait a minute. When the residents want to 14 go in and out the traffic, I mean, they're going to 15 come in, they're going to exit on the -- 16 MR. MAGRINI: You mean drivers? 17 COMMISSIONER DUBLIN: -- on the Lincoln 18 Park -- I mean Lincoln Tunnel side? 19 MR. MAGRINI: The parking garage 20 entrance is -- again, this is Baldwin Avenue. 21 COMMISSIONER DUBLIN: Right. 22 MR. MAGRINI: The Lincoln Tunnel, the 23 full parking garage enters and exits out of this road 24 here, so if they wanted to go south, they can go out 25 that way. They want to go, you know, north or east 61 1 on Route 3 this way or into the city or you could 2 come around this way, here. 3 COMMISSIONER DUBLIN: You know what, I 4 mean, I used to work for the Road Department and I 5 did a lot of work on that road here, and any type, I 6 mean, especially in the morning, it was just chaos, I 7 mean, and it's a lot of traffic, traffic coming from 8 the Lincoln Tunnel, traffic coming from Hoboken, and 9 I mean, the concern is, I mean, it's too much 10 traffic, I mean, it's too much traffic and, I mean, 11 for us to, you know, see your traffic study so we can 12 get a clear idea, you know, you know, how much 13 additional traffic to, you know, what the traffic is, 14 that can give us, you know, a better picture, a 15 clearer picture on, you know, seeing, you know, what 16 different routes that we can take to alleviate some 17 of that traffic. I mean, it's a lot of traffic. I 18 worked out that route for numerous years. 19 MR. MAGRINI: I can tell you, we've 20 committed, believe me, significant resources in terms 21 of lands donated, you know. Waterfront land is worth 22 a tremendous amount of money. We've committed to put 23 whatever lands we have to have into Baldwin Avenue 24 reconstruction to make it work, and we've committed 25 to fund, jointly, the design and to fund any 62 1 shortfalls. We understand that, believe me. That's 2 a very, very significant commitment to upgrading the 3 traffic issue up and down that whole area, very 4 significant, because what it really does, to be 5 honest, the other piece that happens here when you 6 come north on Port Imperial Boulevard to the 7 intra-modal where the buses now are going to be 8 coming, you have the parking decks, the buses coming 9 to the ferry, this makes it work, and that's why The 10 Port Authority is interested, that's why Baldwin 11 Avenue is critical, so, I mean, just think about it, 12 it does a whole bunch of stuff. As you start to move 13 people through here, and to that intra-modal on 14 buses, cars this way and cars to the north, simpler, 15 I mean, it just frees up capacity all up and down 16 Boulevard East. I mean, that's the key, and again, 17 that's why we've made a financial significant 18 commitment to do that. 19 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I think 20 we're going to have to table this until the next 21 meeting, because we want our engineer to take a look 22 at that traffic study and he has to think, and if 23 there are any recommendations, he has to make the 24 recommendations. It might be light, you know, light 25 recommendations where, with the signals, maybe a 63 1 light, an extra light. I don't know, I don't have 2 that expertise, but to play it safe, because it is an 3 important project and it affects the communities that 4 surround it, we have to, we have to wait until we get 5 the advice from our experts to go ahead with this. 6 That's the only thing. That's your offer, the 7 traffic study, so I'm going to recommend to table 8 this. 9 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: This is a huge 10 project. We just want to make sure we do due 11 diligence on this project, especially concerning the 12 traffic. 13 MR. MAGRINI: I understand, and again, 14 when I first filed this, I did request the waiver and 15 I do think this project isn't subject -- I think it's 16 a waiver because it's a six acre parcel. I'm not 17 arguing that. I came here tonight, no argument, this 18 project here does not front on any county road, it 19 doesn't affect any county drainage facility, and I'm 20 not looking to argue that point, but we came here 21 tonight, we thought it was the right thing to do, to 22 come talk to you, but I have to be careful of delays, 23 because it does have an impact here, but we'll work 24 with you on that. I'm not sure that there's, for 25 this six acre piece here, we front on municipal 64 1 roads, actually private roads. 2 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Yeah, but 3 you do. 4 MR. MAGRINI: Well, everything 5 eventually connects to a county road, no question 6 about it. Everything eventually connects to a county 7 road. 8 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: That 9 project is on county road. 10 MR. MAGRINI: Actually, not. 11 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: That's why 12 you're here. 13 MR. MAGRINI: Actually, not. County 14 road is up here. 15 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Demet, can you 16 confirm that? 17 MR. MAGRINI: You look at the -- 18 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Yeah, heelex 19 is just above that. 20 MR. MAGRINI: This is Lincoln Harbor. 21 This is Waterfront Terrace. Again, where we're 22 building the light rail, this is the site, this is 23 the county road, up here. Baldwin Avenue is a public 24 municipal road. Again, we're rebuilding. 19th 25 Street is a municipal road. I mean, we don't front 65 1 the county road. We have no curb-cuts on the county 2 road. In fact, I did file for an exemption request 3 because of that, but, and again, we're excited about 4 the project. We'd love to come -- I'll talk to you 5 about it all night. 6 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: I think it's an 7 excellent project, Mr. Magrini, beautiful, but if 8 it's going to impact county roads, first of all, or 9 Hudson County roads, I think that, you know, if we 10 have jurisdiction, then we need to table this thing 11 to the next time so we can see the traffic report. 12 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Eventually, 13 all the traffic is coming from the county road. 14 MR. MAGRINI: That's any development 15 on the waterfront, though. The next road after the 16 first road is either a county road or state road. I 17 don't have DOT issues and I'm near Route 3. 18 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: What about 19 other approvals? Have you gotten all the other 20 permits with, let's say storm water with DEP or -- 21 MR. MAGRINI: That's all in the 22 process. 23 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Still in the 24 process? 25 MR. MAGRINI: Yeah. We wanted to -- 66 1 first, again, we had some changes, roof top 2 landscaping, some exciting stuff, we wanted all that 3 in place. 4 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: You had all 5 the approvals? 6 MR. MAGRINI: Yeah. Last night was 7 the resolution memorializing both the Subdivision and 8 Site Plan. 9 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: We have a 10 copy of that? 11 MR. MAGRINI: I don't have a copy. It 12 was adopted last night. 13 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Did they give 14 you conditions? Did they approve it with 15 conditions? 16 MR. MAGRINI: We have conditions about 17 the timing, you have our construction of the walkway, 18 bike way, about the, you know, the traffic signal, 19 there's a piece, and again, I spoke to Mr. Marks 20 about, you know, we have to finish the last piece to 21 connect to the walkway over by Weehawken Cove over 22 there, so, you know, that has some timing 23 requirements on it for us. We're finalizing a design 24 for the town. There's a little piece that's here 25 that's missing, we have to finish that. 67 1 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: The piece 2 that you're saying is missing, you're talking about 3 the walkway piece? 4 MR. MAGRINI: That's right, our 5 walkway. 6 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: That ties 7 into the Weehawken Cove project, right? 8 MR. MAGRINI: That's right. 9 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Which is a 10 county project? 11 MR. MAGRINI: Right. Our walkway, 12 again, starts all the way at the northern piece, 13 comes all the way down, comes down to about this 14 point here. We have the final leg that would take 15 you to the county piece right over here, so, you 16 know, we're -- Weehawken wants that piece finished, 17 our piece, wants to coordinate our piece. I've 18 talked to Steve, Mr. Marks, that those two pieces 19 finish at the same time so there's not a 30-foot gap 20 so that the walkway hits, bang, it goes and we have a 21 condition again to fund a significant part of the 22 roadway improvements on Baldwin Avenue. 23 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: That walkway 24 does go within 250 feet of a county property. Would 25 they have to come in front of the Planning Board, to 68 1 approve for finishing that walkway? 2 MR. MARKS: I'm sorry. Could you 3 repeat the question? 4 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Would Hartz 5 need to come to the Planning Board to finish that 6 walkway? 7 MR. MARKS: For the, I think the 8 walkway, Hartz Mountain's walkway project is probably 9 tied in with another phase of their development. 10 MR. MAGRINI: It's really a separate 11 item there, but it's in our resolution. They want us 12 to move forward. We're doing that. We have a 13 special improvements district, is it, up by the town, 14 so there's a lot of stuff going on in place here, but 15 yes, we -- 16 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: I'm just 17 saying, tying it together with this project, they 18 want you to do that walkway? 19 MR. MAGRINI: Oh, definitely. We're 20 in the process of going back and forth with them on 21 design. 22 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Right. 23 MR. MAGRINI: But the walkway design 24 is very simply, simply because we have a mile of it 25 already, it's the same pavers, it's the same railing, 69 1 you know, it's the next 200 feet of the same -- you 2 know, the design is done and in place, so, you know, 3 we're working with them. We have -- we're gonna' do 4 another public park here, so we're working with the 5 town on just finalizing a design of some of the other 6 amenities that go in that park, so, you know, you'll 7 have parks on both ends of Lincoln Harbor. Those 8 kind of items we're finalizing. I'm trying to think 9 of some of our other conditions. Again, we have to 10 finalize the final design of the roof top landscaping 11 plan. We have to finalize as one of the conditions, 12 you know, the two recreation areas within the 13 development. We have to finalize and submit to them 14 plans of what we want to do before we actually build, 15 you know, the amenities. They wanted to see it and 16 understand it, but those are the kind of conditions, 17 you know. 18 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Okay. 19 MR. MAGRINI: Again, their big traffic 20 issue was to get, you know, the Baldwin Avenue 21 improvement. 22 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: That was the 23 only traffic condition that they added to the 24 approval? 25 MR. MAGRINI: Well, again, they 70 1 considered traffic to be the walkway, bike way, you 2 know, that kind of traffic, the pedestrian signal 3 crossing Baldwin Avenue, again, the east/west 4 roadway. I have too many exhibits. You know, 5 Riverview Terrace, you know. We had design questions 6 in there, you know. It's now a little bit wide on 7 this site here. There's going to be two rows of 8 trees, you know, but those are the type of conditions 9 that we have with Weehawken. Yes. Again, we have a 10 condition on this park here that we make that acre 11 available, so we did subdivide it separately, that's 12 one of the areas last night, and we've agreed to 13 construct the improvements that they design and think 14 reasonable for that piece there, so those are the 15 improvements, those are conditions. 16 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Demet, what is 17 your recommendation to the Board in this matter? 18 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: I recommend 19 that we table this for now and the report be 20 submitted and the approval from Weehawken for us to 21 review. 22 MR. MAGRINI: The only thing I would 23 ask you to consider would be, and again, I'm here, 24 we're not looking to avoid you, we're going to work 25 with you and be cooperative, but seriously, whether 71 1 there is or isn't jurisdiction at this point. Again, 2 just seeing where the county road system is, Park 3 Avenue, the overpass to Hoboken is here. Well, 4 really to here, this is all elevated. Kennedy 5 Boulevard, Boulevard East and our project is all 6 right here. 7 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Steve? 8 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, not to 9 belabor the point or argue with Mr. Magrini, the 10 Lincoln Harbor site does have the southern leg which 11 does abut Park Avenue which gives the county 12 jurisdiction. In addition, the County Planning Board 13 does have jurisdiction over subdivisions within the 14 county under 40:27-5.6, so it does, the Planning 15 Board does have jurisdiction of this matter. 16 MR. MAGRINI: Right. No, on a 17 Subdivision, no question about it. On the Site Plan, 18 the application, just to be clear, and again, I don't 19 want to debate this, and I don't mind working with 20 you, but I also don't -- I do have to get done. 21 We're here for Site Plan for a six acre parcel. 22 There are 40 acres between us and, and, and the next 23 town or the -- when you look at where this sits in 24 the site, this is the six acres that we're here for 25 Site Plan for, not the piece up here. Again, we're 72 1 showing you all over Lincoln Harbor because we want 2 you to see the whole development. There's a whole 3 lot of cool pieces here, but that's the Site Plan 4 application right there, and again, what the 5 Subdivision does -- 6 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: You said 7 that it abuts Park Avenue, which is a county road, 8 right? 9 MR. MARKS: Correct. 10 MR. MAGRINI: Well, not the subject of 11 this application. This application is right here, 12 Park Avenue is over here. We do not have any 13 application for these properties in front of this 14 Board. 15 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Okay. I recommend 16 to table this to the next meeting. If I can get a 17 motion. 18 COMMISSIONER DUBLIN: Motion. 19 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I second 20 it. 21 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Steve? 22 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 23 to table SP/SD-81-05 made by Commissioner Dublin, 24 seconded by Commissioner Fitzgibbons: 25 Commissioner Avagliano? 73 1 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I just have 2 one question before I vote on it. 3 Will this have any affect, waiting for the 4 Site Plan, by waiting another month for the traffic 5 report? Will this affect the plan whatsoever? 6 MR. MAGRINI: Again, no. To be frank, 7 we're in front of the DEP. We're still working with 8 them. Obviously, I'd just like -- again, I'm not 9 even convinced I have to be here, and I would almost 10 like the Board to vote on that. I don't believe 11 there's jurisdiction, and again, I'm not looking to 12 avoid you, because I wouldn't be here in the first 13 place, if I was looking to avoid you. 14 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: We understand. 15 MR. MAGRINI: But I don't like -- I'd 16 like to be done, to be done, but again, I don't 17 believe there's jurisdiction, and again, my 18 application was for a waiver, or determination of 19 non-jurisdiction, not even a waiver. 20 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: With all due 21 respect, the Board has the recommendation from the 22 engineer. 23 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: You've given 24 an excellent presentation. It's very interesting. 25 MR. MAGRINI: Thank you. 74 1 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: But if it has 2 no affect, we'll table it for next month and go 3 through, we'll work with the traffic report. It's an 4 excellent application. 5 MR. MAGRINI: Thank you. It is 6 exciting. It's going to be great. 7 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Very 8 exciting, it is. 9 I vote aye. It's very good. 10 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Arencibia? 11 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye, to table 12 it to the next meeting. 13 MR. MARKS: That's an aye? 14 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye, yes. 15 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Liggio? 16 COMMISSIONER LIGGIO: Aye. 17 MR. MARKS: Chairman Holloway? 18 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Aye. 19 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 20 passes. 21 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Thank you. Thank 22 you for coming. 23 MR. MAGRINI: September 21? 24 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Yes. Yes. 25 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Yes. 75 1 MR. MARKS: Yes. 2 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: We appreciate you 3 coming. 4 MR. MAGRINI: Thank you, very much. 5 Enjoy the balance of the summer. We'll see you next 6 month. 7 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, under Old 8 Business, we have the -- in your packets this evening 9 there are two resolutions for the recommendation. 10 It's actually slightly different than the Agenda. We 11 have the Professional Services Contract for 12 Engineering Services. 13 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: If I may, Special 14 Committee met and it was four applicants for the 15 engineering services. We did a, what would you want 16 to call that, a number system, where we evaluated 17 them, and I think Medina and T&M came on top, and my 18 recommendation, since they did come on top, 19 basically, even to maybe have the Board higher both 20 firms. 21 Steve, if you want to go into more detail 22 with that, I'd appreciate it. 23 MR. MARKS: Sure. 24 For the benefit of anybody who wasn't 25 directly familiar with the process here with the 76 1 applications, the Planning Board -- 2 MR. MAGRINI: Good night. Thank you. 3 MR. MARKS: -- the Planning Board back 4 in April approved an RFP request for proposals for 5 Professional Engineering services. The RFP was sent 6 to five firms, T&M, which had the previous contract, 7 and four other Professional Engineering firms. The 8 proposals were due back, I believe June 15th. 9 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Okay. 10 MR. MARKS: We received four proposals 11 back, one from KS Engineers, one from Medina 12 Consultants, one from ETC, and one from T&M 13 Associates. The proposals were distributed at the 14 July meeting, July or June, at which time, Mr. 15 Chairman, you had asked members of the Planning Board 16 who were interested to participate in a Review 17 Committee process. That Review Committee did meet 18 on, I believe August 4th -- 19 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Correct. 20 MR. MARKS: -- August 4th in the 21 Division of Housing and Community Development at the 22 Brennan Courthouse. There was a process which was 23 created and established that was put forth in the 24 request for proposals whereby firms would be 25 evaluated on four criteria; one, the first being 77 1 qualifications of the consulting firm, the second 2 being the caliber and qualifications of the team 3 personnel assigned to the project, the third being 4 the thoroughness and creativity of the work program 5 and responsiveness to the objectives, and the fourth 6 being experience with similar areas of study or 7 related projects. Through that evaluation process, 8 Medina Consultants and T&M, T&M and Associates were 9 scored and ranked the top two firms and was the, I 10 believe the recommendation of the Committee that 11 because of a work load and potential conflicts, that 12 two firms be selected to basically share the work 13 that's given to them through the, through the 14 Planning Board, and specifically, through the Site 15 Plan Committee. 16 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Is it true that we 17 don't have to go in front of the Freeholders? 18 MR. MARKS: I spoke with Kathy Grant 19 from the Hudson County Law Department several months 20 ago. She apprised me that because the consulting 21 engineers would work from, and be paid out of escrow 22 deposits paid for by developers and Planning Board 23 applicants, that it would not be subject to approval 24 by the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders. 25 The Board of Chosen Freeholders does have authority 78 1 over any tax monies which are incurred, but, like 2 municipalities, this Planning Board does have 3 authority to higher, to let contracts where the funds 4 are paid for from the escrow deposits. 5 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Thank you. 6 Any Commissioner have any questions? 7 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: No. 8 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Okay. I'll get a 9 motion to higher both firms. 10 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Does it 11 have to be separate? 12 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, in your 13 packets this evening there are two resolutions. 14 MR. CALVANICO: Two separate 15 resolutions in your package, one for each firm. 16 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: They both 17 have to be done separately? 18 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Yeah. 19 MR. CALVANICO: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: They do. Can 21 I vote on both together? 22 MR. CALVANICO: You can vote on both 23 together. They're separate resolutions. 24 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Steve, do it 25 separate, I'm going to recommend separate. 79 1 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: We do it 2 separate? 3 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Yes. 4 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Okay. 5 CHAIRMAN HOLLOWAY: Steve, you want to 6 do it? 7 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Oh, I'll vote 8 aye on the agreement with T&M Associates as Special 9 Consulting Engineers to Hudson County Planning Board. 10 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 11 made by Commissioner Avagliano to approve and higher 12 T&M Associates as Consulting Engineers to the County 13 Planning Board, do I have a second? 14 COMMISSIONER LIGGIO: I'll second. 15 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 16 made by Commissioner Avagliano and seconded by 17 Commissioner Liggio: 18 Commissioner Dublin? 19 COMMISSIONER DUBLIN: Aye. 20 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Fitzgibbons? 21