1 COUNTY OF HUDSON PLANNING BOARD 2 _________________________ 3 : TRANSCRIPT MEETING OF THE COUNTY OF : OF 4 HUDSON PLANNING BOARD : PROCEEDINGS _________________________ 5 6 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 19, 2009 7 567 Pavonia Avenue Jersey City, New Jersey 8 9 B E F O R E: 10 MARY E. AVAGLIANO, CHAIRWOMAN DANIEL CHOFFO, COMMISSIONER 11 JUDE FITZGIBBONS, COMMISSIONER BOB JASEK, COMMISSIONER 12 KENNEDY NG, COMMISSIONER 13 14 A L S O P R E S E N T: 15 THOMAS P. CALVANICO, ESQ. Board Attorney 16 STEPHEN MARKS, PP, AICP 17 Planning Director 18 MARIO TRIDENTE, Development and Zoning 19 Compliance Official 20 21 MINUTES TRANSCRIBED FROM AUDIO RECORDER 22 23 24 25 Job No.: 215085 2 1 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Good evening, 2 everyone. I would like to call the Hudson County 3 Planning Board meeting to order. 4 It is August the 19th. I welcome 5 everyone. 6 Counsellor, has this meeting been 7 properly advertised? 8 MR. CALVANICO: Yes, Madam Chairlady, 9 this meeting has been properly advertised in 10 accordance with the New Jersey Open Public Meetings 11 Act, and posted on both the bulletin boards of the 12 Hudson County Freeholders and the office of the 13 county clerk. 14 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Okay, thank you. 15 Director, may I have the roll call, 16 please. 17 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 18 Bettinger? 19 Absent. 20 Commissioner Choffo? 21 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Here. 22 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner Dublin? 23 Absent. 24 Commissioner Fitzgibbons? 25 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Here. 3 1 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner Holloway? 2 Absent. 3 Commissioner Jasek? 4 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Present. 5 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner Mehta? 6 Absent. 7 Commissioner Munoz? 8 Absent. 9 Commissioner Ng? 10 COMMISSIONER NG: Here. 11 DIRECTOR MARKS: And Chairwoman 12 Avagliano. 13 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Here. 14 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, we have a 15 quorum. 16 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Would you all 17 please stand to salute the Flag, please. 18 (All rise to salute the Flag.) 19 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Commissioners, I 20 won't ask for a vote on the minutes since we received 21 them this evening. We will vote on them at the next 22 meeting. Okay? It will give you a chance to read 23 them this month. 24 Anyone in the public wish to speak on 25 anything on the agenda, ask a question, you may come 4 1 up now. Thank you. 2 Director. 3 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, Section 4 5-A on the agenda is a resolution recommending the 5 River Road Circulation Study. It should read, A 6 resolution to draft a circulation study. 7 Madam Chair, we received a grant two 8 years ago to perform a transit study to draft a 9 transportation study for the River Road Corridor, 10 North Hudson, roughly from the City of Hoboken, the 11 proximity of the Lincoln Tunnel area all the way 12 north to the George Washington Bridge. 13 So there was a joint Hudson and Bergen 14 County funding by the NJTPA, the New Jersey 15 Transportation Planning Authority. 16 We hired the firm of Parsons Brinkerhof 17 which is a nationally recognized planning and 18 engineering firm. They looked at the traffic impact 19 studies that this Board approved by way of 20 development along River Road, which is a county road. 21 We also looked at the Bergen County 22 portion and they came up with a set of 23 recommendations, most of them are low cost, no cost 24 kind of recommendations that will improve 25 circulation, access, mobility, pedestrian safety, 5 1 bicycle safety, so on and so forth. 2 We worked pretty much with most of the 3 towns in the area, and I think it would be 4 appropriate to introduce the draft study. We will 5 send it out by certified mail to all the 6 municipalities for public comment, we will post it on 7 our internet website and to establish a 90-day public 8 comment period and we can have a public hearing on 9 the public draft study at the end of the 90 days, and 10 pending the comments that we receive back, we can 11 make revisions and recommend it to the Board of 12 Chosen Freeholders for their consideration. 13 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Do you want to 14 take a vote on this to accept it? 15 DIRECTOR MARKS: I think it would be 16 appropriate to have -- 17 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 18 motion to introduce it, the study. 19 COMMISSIONER NG: I second it. 20 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, on a 21 motion to introduce the Draft River Road Circulation 22 study, made by Commissioner Fitzgibbons, seconded by 23 Commissioner Ng, Commission Choffo? 24 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Aye. 25 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 6 1 Fitzgibbons? 2 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 3 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 4 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 5 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner Ng? 6 COMMISSIONER NG: Aye. 7 DIRECTOR MARKS: Chairwoman Avagliano? 8 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 9 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, the 10 motion passed. 11 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Thank you. 12 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, the next 13 item on the agenda is 5-B, a memorialization of 14 resolutions approved at the last meeting. 15 Beginning with application 2009-014-SP, 16 applicant Peter Altbuch, applicant, located at 3628 17 JFK Boulevard, which is Block 889, Lot 10C, in the 18 City of Jersey City. 19 Next is application 2009-020-SP, 20 applicant is Lorenzo Real Estate, LLC, located at 21 5905 JFK Boulevard which is Block 198, Lots 451 22 through 453 and 493 through 496 in the Township of 23 North Bergen. 24 Next is application 2009-023-SP, 25 Digital Realty Trust located at 300 Boulevard East 7 1 which is Block 34.03, Lots 10 and 11.01 in the 2 Township of Weehawken. 3 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: We need a 4 motion. 5 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I will make a 6 motion to -- 7 DIRECTOR MARKS: Wait, we lost our 8 quorum. 9 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Wait just a 10 minute. 11 (Pause.) 12 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I make a motion 13 to adopt the aforementioned applications, 14 resolutions. 15 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I second. 16 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, on a 17 motion made by Commissioner Choffo and seconded by 18 Commissioner Fitzgibbons, Commissioner Choffo? 19 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Aye. 20 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 21 Fitzgibbons? 22 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 23 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 24 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 25 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner Ng? 8 1 COMMISSIONER NG: Aye. 2 DIRECTOR MARKS: Chairwoman Avagliano? 3 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 4 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, the 5 motion passed. 6 Madam Chair, the next item on the 7 agenda is 5-C, site plans, subdivisions and other 8 matters scheduled for public hearing. 9 If we could do just a little switch 10 just to get this out of the way, if we could consider 11 application 2009-032-SD/SP which is 146-148 32nd 12 Street, which is Block 197, Lots 5 and 6 in the City 13 of Union City. 14 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: All right. 15 MR. RUSSOTTI: Good evening. 16 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Good evening. 17 MR. RUSSOTTI: I am standing in for Al 18 Alonzo who is on vacation. My name is Robert 19 Russotti. 20 This application is one where-- 21 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Excuse me. 22 Are you an attorney? 23 MR. RUSSOTTI: I am an attorney, yes. 24 MR. CALVANICO: Would you just spell 25 your name for the record. 9 1 MR. RUSSOTTI: Russotti, 2 R-U-S-S-O-T-T-I. 3 It is my understanding there was a 4 misunderstanding here in that Mr. Alonzo and his 5 client thought this property was Union City property 6 and not county property. They got the necessary 7 approvals from Union City and went ahead with the 8 work. 9 These people have appeared before you 10 many times and never had problem with Hudson County 11 and never had a problem getting approvals. 12 This time there was an oversight 13 apparently when we thought the street was controlled 14 and owned by Hudson County. So we went ahead with 15 the work after receiving the approvals from Union 16 City. 17 As soon as we received notice of 18 violation from Hudson County, within twenty-four 19 hours they submitted the correct paperwork to this 20 Board. 21 We did ultimately receive a letter from 22 the Board dated August 13th of 2009 some revisions 23 that had to be made to the plans to provide you with 24 further information here today. 25 We do have that and we will submit 10 1 those revisions to you, including the request for 2 trees. They were already requested by Union City, 3 and taking into consideration the initial plans. 4 One thing they were looking for in 5 addition to the approval from the county was to get 6 the fines waived since there wasn't any attempt by 7 the people involved in this to subvert the intentions 8 of this Board, it was done unintentionally. 9 Mr. Arencibia, I believe, has appeared 10 before you on many occasions before and he is a 11 licensed New Jersey architect and we believe he is 12 qualified to speak before the Board. 13 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Excuse me, 14 counselor, do you want to swear him in? 15 (Albert Arencibia, was duly sworn.) 16 MR. CALVANICO: State your name and 17 spell it for the record. 18 MR. ARENCIBIA: Albert Arencibia, 19 A-R-E-N-C-I-B-I-A. 20 DIRECTOR MARKS: Just to get this out 21 of the way, Mr. Arencibia, you are not related to the 22 assistant planning engineer? 23 MR. ARENCIBIA: No, I am not. 24 Good evening. As the attorney was 25 explaining, I have actually worked with the 11 1 developer, done a number of numerous projects 2 throughout Hudson County, including North Bergen, and 3 many other areas. 4 We have always gotten all the county 5 approvals and everything, but there was some sort of 6 oversight on the application and we were able to 7 actually get a certificate from Union City and we 8 actually started construction. 9 Well, first I'd like to apologize for 10 that mistake and we are trying to correct it as quick 11 as possible. 12 We received all of the comments from 13 the Hudson County Planning Board and we have made 14 some changes to the drawings in order to comply with 15 the comments and some of the issues that were raised 16 on the letter. The letter was dated August 13th. 17 The first few items are basically 18 fact-finding information, so basically existing 19 information. There were some additional things done 20 to some of the drawings to address some of the issues 21 that were brought up. 22 One, being, there was an issue with 23 respect to the impervious coverage percentage on the 24 drawings where our percentage was a little bit lower 25 than what was actually there. We have actually made 12 1 that correction. So we have revised the impervious 2 coverage went from 56 to 81 percent was what was 3 actually on the site itself. 4 There is not an issue as far FEMA does 5 not need a bus lane whatsoever. Parking will not 6 encroach into the county right-of-way. We have 18 7 foot setbacks. We have a four-car enclosed garage so 8 there will be no cars even on the street apron side. 9 We did add shade trees along the 10 sidewalk in front of each one of the homes. What it 11 is basically 50 by 100 lot and we subdivided. We had 12 one house on each one, and they have a common party 13 wall. So we have one shade tree for each one of the 14 homes. So in essence it is two homes, two 15 three-family homes on each separate lots, that's 16 basically what the application is for. 17 There was also, as far as 18 infrastructure and nonstructural techniques, we added 19 permeable pavers for the driveway, and also some rain 20 barrels to hold some or collect some of the rainwater 21 from the leaders. Those are two additional items 22 that were added and requested by the county Planning 23 Board. 24 We added again the signature blocks 25 on the drawings and all of the other items that are 13 1 things that will subsequently happen, which is 2 getting the county road opening permits from the 3 county, making sure we get the permits from the local 4 county board detailing as far as curb cuts, so on and 5 so forth, the heights of the curbs, and that is 6 pretty much it. It is pretty straightforward. 7 Again, we would like to apologize for 8 the mistake that we made in the process. 9 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Commissioner 10 Jasek, have you reviewed the plans? 11 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Madam Chairman, we 12 have reviewed the plans with the Planning Committee 13 on the 5th of this month and I find them acceptable. 14 I don't have any further comment. 15 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Director? 16 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, the plans 17 were also examined by our principal planner Megan 18 Massey, who has a report. 19 MS. MASSEY: Megan Massey. 20 Mr. Arencibia complied with all of the 21 conditions of my letter. I just want to make it a 22 condition of approval that the cars are not within 23 the county right-of-way just to make sure, because 24 they do have the two -- four-car garages you have? 25 MR. ARENCIBIA: Four-car. A total of 14 1 eighteen feet. 2 MS. MASSEY: And the 18 feet, okay. 3 Just as a condition of approval so the cars aren't 4 in the right of way. 5 MR. ARENCIBIA: I don't see a problem 6 with that. 7 MS. MASSEY: Okay. And then can you 8 also, Madam Chair, can the applicant also describe 9 the landscaping? Is there a grass area behind the 10 house? 11 MR. ARENCIBIA: There is going to be 12 grass area behind the house. 13 MS. MASSEY: Okay. 14 MR. ARENCIBIA: We have access to the 15 sides of the structure on both sides. The sidewalk 16 comes to a certain point on each side and there is 17 grass areas in the back of the yard, and with the 18 exception of an area where we have a condensing we 19 will have a little path there, but we are going to 20 have two shade trees in front of each one of the 21 structures as well, too. 22 MS. MASSEY: Okay. 23 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Any other 24 comments? 25 Director. 15 1 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, Mr. 2 Tridente also has a report, it is from by Mr. 3 Russotti. It is his understanding -- (inaudible). 4 MR. TRIDENTE: Yes, Madam Chair, I 5 notified the construction official of Union City, Mr. 6 Mark Petty, and due to the recent code change we were 7 not able to receive the original building permits 8 where the fines would revert back to the date that 9 date it was issued, but in light of the applicant's 10 quick response and the due diligence and good faith, 11 withing 24 hours of being notified, they came before 12 the Board, submitted the site plans for review, and I 13 would recommend waving those fines being they acted 14 in good faith. 15 I would make that recommendation. 16 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Thank you. 17 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Do we make 18 one motion, to waive the fines and accept the 19 application? 20 MR. CALVANICO: Yes. 21 MR. RUSSOTTI: With the one condition, 22 right? With the one condition? 23 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: With the one 24 condition. 25 I make a motion to accept the 16 1 application and to waive the fines, and to make it on 2 the one condition. They will not park on the county 3 right of way, and if they do, the sheriff's office 4 has the right to tow their cars. 5 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I will second it. 6 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, on a 7 motion made by Commissioner Fitzgibbons and seconded 8 by Commissioner Choffo to conditionally approve 9 application 2009-032-SD/SP, Commissioner Choffo? 10 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Aye. 11 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 12 Fitzgibbons? 13 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 14 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 15 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 16 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner Ng? 17 COMMISSIONER NG: Abstain. 18 DIRECTOR MARKS: And Chairwoman 19 Avagliano? 20 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 21 SPEAKER: Thank you very much. 22 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Thank you. 23 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, the next 24 application is the Hudson County Community College, 25 new campus at JFK Boulevard and 48th Street in the 17 1 City of Union City. 2 MR. CURLEY: Good evening. My name is 3 John J. Curley, C-U-R-L-E-Y. I represent the Hudson 4 County Community College on this application. 5 I have brough Ken Mihalik to present 6 the site plan with respect to the proposed campus. I 7 would like to call him at this time. 8 I would like to point out to the Board 9 that the presentation we are about to give is similar 10 to what is known as a Section 31 presentation under 11 the Municipal Land Use Law, and this presentation was 12 also given to the Union City Planning Board. 13 MR. CALVANICO: State and spell your 14 name for the record. 15 MR. MIHALIK: Kenneth J. Mihalik, 16 M-I-H-A-L-I-K. 17 (Kenneth Mihalik, was duly sworn.) 18 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Excuse me. 19 Before we start, would you like to mark your graphs, 20 please, so that we will know how to identify them. 21 MR. MIHALIK: Certainly. 22 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Thank you. 23 DIRECTOR MARKS: Have these been 24 submitted to the Board previous? 25 MR. MIHALIK: No, they have not. 18 1 Five boards, and they contain floor 2 plans and site plans. The sixth board is a rendering 3 of the project. 4 MR. CURLEY: Can you review with the 5 Board your qualifications. 6 MR. MIHALIK: I am a registered 7 architect in the State of New Jersey. I have been 8 practicing for over 20 years. I have appeared before 9 several planning boards within Bergen County, Hudson 10 County, and many times throughout the municipalities. 11 What I will do, is, I will briefly walk 12 you through the project. I will start off presenting 13 the site plan. I believe the engineering drawings 14 have been submitted for review. 15 The plans I am about to show you are 16 just conceptual drawings just to show you an overview 17 of the project. I don't know if any comments have 18 been received back yet, but do believe that formal 19 drawings were submitted. 20 I will briefly -- this is Kennedy 21 Boulevard here, 48th Street and 49th Street. 22 (Inaudible.) It is roughly close to a half acre site. 23 We are proposing a seven-story building, with half a 24 story on the Kennedy Boulevard side, and the second 25 story will be a full story going up to the 7th floor. 19 1 There is a one-floor difference on Kennedy Boulevard 2 to the back end of our site. (Inaudible). 3 So basically it is a 2000 square foot 4 building. 5 (Inaudible). 6 MR. CALVANICO: Excuse me. Would you 7 mind speaking into the microphone? I don't think 8 your voice is going to pick up. 9 MR. MIHALIK: Sure. 10 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: I can't hear. 11 We are having trouble. 12 DIRECTOR MARKS: Try to speak right 13 into that microphone. 14 MR. MIHALIK: We are proposing a new 15 front entrance on Kennedy Boulevard in this area 16 here, and there will also be a secondary entrance -- 17 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: You have to 18 speak louder because the machine is picking it up. 19 Mario, how about that microphone here? 20 DIRECTOR MARKS: Maybe that will work. 21 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Just be quiet so 22 we can pick it up on the machine. 23 MR. MIHALIK: As I was saying, this is 24 going to be the main entrance here into the lobby. 25 There is going to be a second means of entrance to 20 1 the building on 48th Street -- is it working better? 2 -- for the career development center on the fifth 3 floor. 4 This will be the main entrance to the 5 building. This will be used for the clients coming 6 to the CDC. There will also be another entrance on 7 the third floor for the bridge. 8 We are proposing a planter landscaping 9 along the front of the building. We are also 10 proposing a new sidewalk, and also proposing new 11 street trees which I belive is depicted on the 12 drawings that we submitted to the county. 13 I will quickly run you through the 14 floor plan. On the first ground level of the 15 building this is Kennedy Boulevard down here. This 16 will be the new main entrance lobby entrance here. 17 This is going to be a glass atrium, 18 three stories, and I will show you the rendering as 19 we get through the floor plan here. 20 This will be the main entrance and this 21 is the glass of the three-story lobby, and these will 22 be the classroom levels, and the administrative at 23 the top floor. 24 This is the connecting bridge to the 25 new elevator and stair tower at the Light Rail 21 1 station. We are proposing a clocktower tower, with 2 level on the side of the building. 3 Basically this is masonry construction 4 and metal panel. The grey is the metal panel. The 5 pinkish and the red will be the masonry. This is a 6 curtain wall construction. 7 There will be student store at this 8 level here, the ground level. This will be office 9 area for the college. 10 At the second level we are proposing 11 the student commissary here in the blue. This will 12 be all mechanical and building support. 13 The green is actually an outdoor area 14 that we have actually incorporated into the space in 15 the building. It will be a paver in a courtyard area 16 with trees, a place where the students can go out and 17 have an outdoor space. 18 Second and third floor, the blue 19 represents the media center of the college. These 20 are all the various support spaces for the media 21 center. These are construction areas in gold. 22 Fourth floor, these are all classrooms. 23 There is that connecting bridge areas here over the 24 bus lanes. The blue area is a fitness center. 25 On the fifth and sixth floor, the fifth 22 1 floor is again classrooms for the college. The sixth 2 floor, this brownish color represents the county 3 agency that will be renting our space. They will be 4 accessing through the elevator on the east property 5 side of the building. 6 Seventh floor are the administrative 7 offices for the college and for the county agency 8 offices. This is an outdoor patio space for -- the 9 rooftop patio area for faculty. 10 On the roof we are proposing solar 11 panels, and this building I should mention is going 12 to be a LEED certified building. We have 13 incorporated many sustainable and green elements into 14 the design so we can meet the 26 credits needed for 15 LEED certification. 16 Again, this is the rendering of our 17 building. Pretty much all the designs of the 18 building will be similar to what you see here. 19 That is really it unless there are any 20 questions. 21 MR. CURLEY: Just for a point of 22 clarification, the county will not be leasing space 23 in the building. The building will be a condominium, 24 and that county space will be a separate condominium 25 unit, and the county will be the owner of that unit. 23 1 The county is jointly funding the 2 construction with Chapter 13 funds from the State of 3 New Jersey, and at the present time we are undergoing 4 rock excavation and site preparation prior to 5 actually starting construction. 6 Questions? 7 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Commissioner 8 Jasek. 9 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Could you tell us 10 what was the bid for this project? Do you know the 11 price? 12 MR. MIHALIK: Yes. There were 13 essentially three contracts. There was a site 14 demolition contract, a steel contract, and there was 15 a general construction contract. They all added up 16 to 23 million. 17 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Thank you . 18 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, Megan 19 Massey is our Principal Planner. The plans were 20 reviewed by the Site Plan Committee and Megan Massey 21 has a report. 22 MS. MASSEY: Madam Chair, I just have a 23 question. 24 Are you proposing a bike rack on site? 25 MR. MIHALIK: No, there is nothing in 24 1 proposed in terms of that. 2 MS. MASSEY: Would you consider one, 3 considering you are connecting project to alternative 4 modes of transportation to begin with. 5 MR. MIHALIK: We could consider that. 6 MS. MASSEY: Okay. I think that would 7 be a great idea considering it is a college campus, a 8 lot of people would use a bike to get there. The 9 parking is limited. 10 (Side 2 of tape.) 11 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, there are 12 two applications to be declared exempt, one is 13 Lafreida Meats and Omnipoint Communications in North 14 Bergen and Union City respectively. 15 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I will make a 16 motion to declare these applications exempt. 17 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Second. 18 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, on a 19 motion made by Commissioner Choffo, seconded by 20 Commissioner Fitzgibbons, Commissioner Choffo? 21 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Aye. 22 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 23 Fitzgibbons? 24 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 25 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 25 1 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 2 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner Ng? 3 COMMISSIONER NG: Aye. 4 DIRECTOR MARKS: And Chairwoman 5 Avagliano? 6 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 7 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, the 8 motion passed. 9 Madam Chair, the next application is -- 10 next the application on the agenda, is the 11 applications to be administratively approved. 12 We will begin with the Application 13 2009-029-SP, Bayonne NY 5004, located at 1225 JFK 14 Boulevard in the City of Bayonne. 15 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: That's it. 16 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 17 motion to approve. 18 COMMISSIONER NG: Second. 19 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, on a 20 motion made by Commissioner Fitzgibbons and seconded 21 by Commissioner Ng, Commissioner Choffo? 22 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Aye. 23 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 24 Fitzgibbons? 25 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 26 1 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 2 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 3 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner Ng? 4 COMMISSIONER NG: Aye. 5 DIRECTOR MARKS: Chairwoman Avagliano? 6 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 7 DIRECTOR MARKS: Madam Chair, I will be 8 quick on this. At the last meeting the Board had 9 introduced a set of draft bylaws with the 10 recommendation that we put some parameters on the 11 public comments and the public's right to 12 cross-examine experts. 13 And per the Board's request I contacted 14 the NJ County Planners Association, all 21 county 15 planners, as well as the municipal planners in both 16 Bayonne and Jersey City. 17 I found out that basically almost 18 entirely across the board private citizens are 19 entitled, from all the other planning boards that 20 responded, that the private citizens are allowed to 21 cross-examine expert witnesses and pose questions to 22 both the applicants and their witnesses, with the 23 exception of Hunterdon County which has a five-minute 24 time limit, there are largely no restrictions or time 25 limits on the public either way to cross-examine or 27 1 their ability to make public comments. 2 And then the third item was swearing 3 in. And no one, unless a person from the audience, a 4 member of the public, unless they are making a 5 factual statement, they are not required as a whole 6 to be sworn in. 7 That is something I think that the 8 Township of North Bergen does, and maybe some other 9 counties, but none of the people who responded to my 10 inquiry said that their planning boards required 11 people to be sworn in. 12 I proposed a memo on the subject, and I 13 went back -- per the Board's request, I went back and 14 inquired. 15 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Should we vote 16 on this tonight or should we wait for the rest of the 17 Board members next month? Because there are four 18 more members. They might have objections. 19 We vote on the bylaws next month so we 20 have an opportunity to -- 21 DIRECTOR MARKS: There were concerns 22 raised whether to make it five minutes instead of 23 fifteen. 24 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: We are not 28 1 going to review this right now. 2 DIRECTOR MARKS: No, look it over and 3 be prepared to vote next month. 4 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Now, do we need 5 the Commissioners for the rest of the -- (Inaudible). 6 What do we have left? 7 DIRECTOR MARKS: The committee for 8 (inaudible). 9 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Then we will 10 close the meeting. 11 I make a motion to close. 12 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Second. 13 CHAIRWOMAN AVAGLIANO: Meeting closed. 14 Thank you, Commissioners, for showing up this 15 evening. 16 Thank you everyone for coming. 17 (Whereupon, the meeting was adjourned.) 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 off 29 1 2 3 4 5 C E R T I F I C A T I O N 6 I certify this to be a true and accurate 7 transcript typed from an audio recorder, 8 and translated to the best of my ability. 9 10 11 12 _______________________ __________________ 13 Transcriber September 2, 2009 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25