1 1 HUDSON COUNTY PLANNING BOARD 2 RE: ) 3 MONTHLY MEETING ) TRANSCRIPT OF ) PROCEEDINGS: 4 - - - - - - - - - - - - - ) 5 County Annex Building 567 Pavonia Avenue 6 Third Floor Freeholders Chambers Jersey City, New Jersey 07306 7 Monday, November 19, 2007 6:30 p.m. 8 BEFORE: 9 DANIEL CHOFFO, Chairman 10 JUDE FITZGIBBONS, Vice-Chair 11 MARY E. AVAGLIANO, Secretary 12 HON. DOREEN DiDOMENICO, Freeholder 13 BORIVOJ JASEK, PE, PP, Commissioner 14 15 ALSO PRESENT: 16 THOMAS P. CALVANICO, ESQ., Board Attorney 17 MARIO TRIDENTE, Board Inspector 18 STEPHEN MARKS, PP, AICP, Planning Director 19 20 Reported by: 21 Mark Weinberg 22 23 24 25 2 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Good evening, 3 everyone. I'd like to call to order the 4 meeting of the Hudson County Planning Board 5 for this evening, Monday, November 19th. 6 Could we -- has this meeting been properly 7 advertised? 8 MR. CALVANICO: Yes. Mr. Chairman, 9 the meeting has been properly advertised in 10 accordance with the requirements of the New 11 Jersey Open Public Meetings Act. 12 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Can we do a roll 13 call, please? 14 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Avagliano? 15 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Here. 16 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 17 Is not present. Commissioner DiDomenico? 18 COMMISSIONER DIDOMENICO: Here. 19 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Dublin? Is 20 not present. Commissioner Fitzgibbons? 21 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Here. 22 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 23 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Here. 24 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Holloway? 25 Is not present. Commissioner Mehta? Is not 3 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 present. Commissioner NG? Is not present. 3 And Chairman Choffo? 4 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Here. 5 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, we have a 6 quorum. 7 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Could we please 8 rise to salute the flag? 9 (Pledge of Allegiance) 10 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Do any 11 commissioners have any questions about the 12 minutes from the October 17th meeting? Could 13 I have a motion? 14 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Motion to 15 accept. 16 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I second. 17 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a 18 motion to accept the minutes of October 17th, 19 2007 made by Commissioner Avagliano and 20 seconded by Commissioner Fitzgibbons, 21 Commissioner Avagliano? 22 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 23 MR. MARKS: Commissioner DiDomenico? 24 COMMISSIONER DIDOMENICO: Aye. 25 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 4 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 Fitzgibbons? 3 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 4 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 5 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 6 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 7 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: I vote aye. 8 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 9 passed. 10 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Would you like to 11 go over the matters scheduled for public 12 hearing? 13 MR. MARKS: Sure. Mr. Chairman, in 14 your packages this evening was the public 15 notice and a copy of the draft Hudson County 16 Open Space Recreation and Historic 17 Preservation map. It was published in the 18 Jersey Journal for the three Mondays preceding 19 this meeting. If there are any members of the 20 public who'd like to comment on the map, I'd 21 recommend that the board open it up for public 22 hearing. Mr. Chairman, having seen -- having 23 seen nobody here -- having nobody here to 24 speak on it, I would just like to let you know 25 and the board know that the copy of the draft 5 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 map was sent out to each mayor and copied to 3 each municipal clerk and each municipal 4 planning board secretary. We have gotten 5 written comments back. The public comment 6 period is through December 31st so there's 7 still about five or six weeks left for anybody 8 to comment in writing. And at the end of the 9 public comment period, I will furnish all the 10 comments to the board for its consideration. 11 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: All right. Thank 12 you, Steve. 13 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the next 14 matter scheduled for public hearing -- or the 15 next matter scheduled is memorialization of 16 resolutions approved, conditionally approved 17 or denied at last meeting beginning with the 18 Municipal Stormwater Management Plan, MSMP-06, 19 for the City of Hoboken; site plan application 20 number 43-07, Avalon-Alfran North Bergen, LLC, 21 5601-5607 Kennedy Boulevard. Mr. Chairman, at 22 this point, the applicant for SP-43-07, Mr. 23 Frank Huddle (ph.) had -- I had talked with 24 him earlier this afternoon. They still 25 have -- or the applicant alleges that the 6 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 township has a problem with the ingress and 3 the egress for the particular site and he sent 4 a letter and requested that the matter be 5 adjourned -- taken off the list of resolutions 6 to be memorialized. He'd like to, I guess, 7 open back up the record on the -- at the next 8 meeting or between now and the next meeting to 9 have a frank discussion with the township 10 engineer, township officials as well as the 11 county engineer and the consulting engineers 12 to have something that's -- have a site plan 13 that's mutually agreeable to all the parties 14 concerned. I have a copy of the letter which 15 I'll give out to the commissioners now. 16 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Thanks, Steve. 17 MR. MARKS: So, Mr. Chairman, I 18 would request or I would recommend that the 19 resolution for 43-07 be removed from the list 20 of applications to be memorialized. 21 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: So would we make a 22 motion on that to remove it -- to table it at 23 this point? 24 MR. CALVANICO: Yeah. Procedurally, 25 I think we should handle it by a resolution to 7 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 table -- 3 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: All right. 4 MR. CALVANICO: -- the matter. And 5 we could -- 6 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 7 motion to table. 8 COMMISSIONER DIDOMENICO: Second. 9 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a 10 motion to table the resolution for SP-43-07 11 made by Commissioner Fitzgibbons, seconded by 12 Commissioner DiDomenico, Commissioner 13 Avagliano? 14 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 15 MR. MARKS: Commissioner DiDomenico? 16 COMMISSIONER DIDOMENICO: Aye. 17 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 18 Fitzgibbons? 19 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 20 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 21 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 22 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 23 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: I vote aye. 24 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 25 passed. So, Mr. Chairman, to resume the 8 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 resolutions to be memorialized this evening 3 include MSMP-06, the Municipal Stormwater 4 Management Plan for the City of Hoboken; 5 SP-37-07 -- no, I'm sorry, that's not on. 6 SD/SP-52-07, Advance at Harrison, LLC, which 7 is Frank E. Rodgers Boulevard, Blocks 138, 8 143, 150 and 174, in the town of Harrison; and 9 Application SP-68-07, New Mr. Rice Kitchen, 10 located at 3501 Kennedy Boulevard which is 11 Block 919, Lot 16.99 in Jersey City. 12 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Do I have a 13 motion? 14 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Make a 15 motion. 16 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Second. 17 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a 18 motion made by Commissioner Fitzgibbons, 19 seconded by Commissioner Avagliano, 20 Commissioner Avagliano? 21 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 22 MR. MARKS: Commissioner DiDomenico? 23 COMMISSIONER DIDOMENICO: Aye. 24 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 25 Fitzgibbons? 9 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 3 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 4 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 5 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 6 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Aye. 7 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 8 passed. Mr. Chairman, the next matter 9 scheduled is applications to be declared 10 exempt beginning with SD/SP-71-07, Dwight 11 Gateway, LLC, located at 83-85 Dwight Street, 12 which is Block 1332, Lot 16 and 17 in Jersey 13 City; and SD-75-07, Jersey City Housing 14 Authority, located at Barbara Place and 15 Pacific Avenue, which is Block 2088.1, Lot 4 16 in the city of Jersey City. 17 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Do I have a 18 motion? 19 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Motion to 20 exempt. 21 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I second. 22 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a 23 motion made by Commissioner Avagliano, 24 seconded by Commissioner Fitzgibbons, 25 Commissioner Avagliano? 10 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 3 MR. MARKS: Commissioner DiDomenico? 4 COMMISSIONER DIDOMENICO: Aye. 5 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 6 Fitzgibbons? 7 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 8 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 9 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 10 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 11 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Aye. 12 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 13 passed. Mr. Chairman, the next matter is 5D 14 on your agenda, site plans and subdivisions 15 schedule for hearing. It's SD-70-07, which is 16 the Block 114 Development, LLC, located at 17 1316-`330 Grand Street, 1325 Adams Street, 18 409-415 14th Street and 1321-1323 Adams 19 Street, which is all Block 114, Lots 11 20 through 25 in the city of Hoboken. 21 MR. CURLEY: Good evening. John J. 22 Curley, C-U-R-L-E-Y, for the applicant on this 23 subdivision application. This application 24 involves Block 114 in Hoboken and it is a 25 major subdivision application resubdividing 11 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 existing lots 11 to 25 into three parcels of 3 land. I have with me Andy Missey of Lapatka 4 Engineering who will testify as to the 5 proposed subdivision. 6 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Could we just 7 swear him in? 8 MR. CALVANICO: Yes. Please state 9 your name for the record and spell your last 10 name. 11 MR. MISSEY: Andrew -- Andrew H. 12 Missey, M-I-S-S-E-Y. 13 A N D R E W H . M I S S E Y, having been 14 first duly sworn according to law, testified 15 as follows: 16 MR. CURLEY: Mr. Missey, can you 17 please review your qualifications as a civil 18 engineer? 19 MR. MISSEY: Yes. I'm a licensed 20 professional engineer in the state of New 21 Jersey. I have twenty some odd years of 22 experience in the field of engineering. I've 23 appeared previously before this board on 24 behalf of the P.C. Richards store on Kennedy 25 Boulevard in West New York in North Bergen. I 12 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 was before this board for the fire station, 3 the Jersey City Fire Station on Summit Avenue 4 when that was constructed. Most recently, I 5 was before you for another subdivision in 6 Hoboken, also on Block 114, when the Upper 7 Grand development first was initiated. 8 MR. CURLEY: I would offer Mr. 9 Missey as an expert in civil engineering. 10 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: I think we will 11 accept that. Would you mind doing me one 12 favor. Can you pull that site plan up a 13 little bit so the board can see it? And can 14 we mark it as an exhibit? 15 MR. CURLEY: Is that better? 16 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Thank you, yes. 17 MR. CURLEY: Mr. Missey, why don't 18 you just go forward and explain the project? 19 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Could you mark it, 20 though, as an exhibit? 21 MR. MISSEY: I'll call it A-1? 22 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Perfect. 23 (Applicant SD-70-07's Exhibit A-1, subdivision 24 plan, was hereby marked for identification, as 25 of this date.) 13 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 MR. CALVANICO: Mr. Missey, when you 3 refer to the documents, please identify them 4 by the document number. These are plans that 5 you submitted to the board, right? 6 MR. MISSEY: Yes, yes. In fact, 7 this is the subdivision plan that was 8 submitted, a single sheet. I've marked it A-1 9 with this evening's date and it's entitled 10 "Preliminary and Final Major Subdivision Plot, 11 Block 114 Development, LLC". It was prepared 12 by -- under my supervision, at Lapatka. It 13 has an initial issue date of October 31st of 14 last year with the most revision date of March 15 6th of '07. 16 What we are proposing to do here is 17 at the northerly end of Block 114 in Hoboken 18 which is bounded on the westerly side by Adams 19 side, on the southerly -- or, excuse me, the 20 easterly side by Grand Street and on the 21 northerly side by 14th Street or the viaduct 22 up to Union City in Jersey City Heights. 23 There is right now 35,000 square feet of 24 vacant land. All structures have been 25 removed. To the south of this subdivision 14 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 site is one single multi-family building. 3 That's a mid-rise building which was 4 constructed and completed in about late 2005, 5 occupied in early 2006. These 35,000 square 6 feet of vacant property right now consists of 7 four tax parcels, four separate tax parcels in 8 Hoboken. This is located in Hoboken's 9 northwest redevelopment district and one of 10 the requirements of that redevelopment zoning 11 is that the minimum lot size is 10,000 square 12 feet. In the present configuration, three of 13 the lots do not comply with that or three of 14 the tax parcels do not comply with that 15 requirement. Also, Hoboken has refined its 16 redevelopment zoning so as to in some 17 instances permit more residential development 18 than what they had originally anticipated in 19 other cases to better define the limits or the 20 zone lines between where non-residential 21 zoning is permitted and where residential 22 zoning will be permitted. And on this 23 particular 35,000 square foot overall parcel, 24 the line splits where the tax parcels are 25 located. So that's cumbersome also. 15 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 What we want to do is to reconfigure 3 these tax parcels to make three parcels. 4 Right now it's four, three of which are 5 nonconforming. We want to make three parcels, 6 all of which will meet the 10,000 square foot 7 minimum tax parcel size and also to honor the 8 zone line. 9 I'm now going to point to Exhibit A- 10 1 to where that zone line is. I'm pointing 11 right now to 14 Street and the zone line 12 separating where non-residential development 13 and residential development is allowed is 14 located fifty feet to the south of the 14th 15 Street right-of-way line or right here. That 16 is where we are proposing to create one tax 17 parcel. The most northerly 10,000 square feet 18 of that block we are proposing to create a lot 19 of 10,000 square feet for non-residential use. 20 It's proposed to be a cinema or a movie 21 theater site. 22 Along the mid-block line, which runs 23 north and south and splits -- there's 100 feet 24 of depth to the east, 100 feet of depth to the 25 west. We're proposing a second parcel 16 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 division line to create along Grand Street, a 3 15,000 square foot parcel for residential 4 development and along Adams Street, a 10,000 5 square foot parcel also for residential 6 development. 7 All of the lots will conform to 8 Hoboken's both zoning requirements if this 9 subdivision is approved. We will file this 10 subdivision plot with the county clerk's 11 office as is required and we will file with 12 this board the site plan for the movie theater 13 site as is required. So we will meet all the 14 conditions contained in the letter that we 15 received reviewing this application. 16 I'd be happy to answer any questions 17 you might have about this subdivision but that 18 is basically all that we are asking and that 19 we need -- 20 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: I'm sure the board 21 is going to have some questions. I just have 22 a few. Is the current applicant also the 23 owner of all three parcels? 24 MR. MISSEY: Yes. The applicant is 25 Block 114 Development, LLC and Block 114 17 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 Development, LLC and one of its affiliated 3 companies, Mercer Development, have ownership. 4 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: All right. My 5 other question was on such a large subdivision 6 of this size, usually a site plan accompanies 7 the subdivision. 8 MR. MISSEY: Yes. 9 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: So is there any 10 reason they didn't want to submit the site 11 plan? 12 MR. MISSEY: The site plan for the 13 northerly 10,000 square feet, the movie 14 theater site, has been submitted to Hudson 15 County, but at this time we -- I think the 16 subdivision was submitted first. And the site 17 plan is -- I'll probably be back before you if 18 not in December, January with that movie 19 theater site. 20 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Was this 21 approved by the city of Hoboken? 22 MR. MISSEY: Yes, it was. 23 MR. CURLEY: Yes, it was. 24 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Commissioner 25 Jasek? 18 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Excuse me, I 3 missed one thing. What's -- will be on the 4 lot, fifty feet by two hundred feet of 5 frontage? 6 MR. MISSEY: Yes? 7 COMMISSIONER JASEK: What will be on 8 this lot? 9 MR. MISSEY: That will be a movie 10 theater site. 11 COMMISSIONER JASEK: You said that's 12 10,000 square feet. 13 MR. MISSEY: Yes, 10,000 square 14 feet. 15 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Hundred by a 16 hundred will be the movie theater, no? 17 MR. MISSEY: No, sir. This fifty 18 feet by two hundred-foot plot at the most 19 northerly end -- 20 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Yes. 21 MR. MISSEY: That will be the movie 22 theater site. 23 COMMISSIONER JASEK: I see. And 24 what will be on that hundred by hundred? 25 MR. MISSEY: On this 100 by 100 19 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 lot -- 3 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Yes. 4 MR. MISSEY: -- with frontage on 5 Adams Street will be a residential building. 6 COMMISSIONER JASEK: I see. And 7 that hundred fifty by hundred? 8 MR. MISSEY: That will also be a 9 residential building. 10 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Residential, I 11 see. 12 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Do you know how 13 many units will be going into the residential? 14 MR. MISSEY: The Adams Street, the 15 smaller of the two -- 16 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Total actually. 17 MR. MISSEY: Well, total, it's 18 sixty-nine units. Forty-four on Grand Street 19 and twenty-five on Adams Street. 20 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Will 21 there be off-site parking for the theater? 22 MR. MISSEY: There will be -- 23 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I mean 24 on-site parking? 25 MR. MISSEY: There will be no on- 20 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 site parking for this theater. It's -- if 3 you're familiar with the former theater in 4 Hoboken, that has public parking in close 5 proximity. This one also has a public parking 6 gara -- well, there's a public parking garage 7 located to the south on Grand. It's about 8 three blocks away. 9 MR. CURLEY: Commissioner, the city 10 council in Hoboken considered that and decided 11 to amend the Northwest Redevelopment Plan to 12 remove the parking requirement, the off-street 13 parking requirement for a movie theater at 14 this location. 15 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: But 16 you're going to remove the off-street 17 parking -- is the sixty-nine units going to 18 have parking? 19 MR. CURLEY: Yes, they will. They 20 will have parking as required by the Northwest 21 Redevelopment Plan and the general Hoboken 22 zoning ordinance. 23 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: All 24 right. Is this going to be right up against 25 the viaduct? 21 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 MR. CURLEY: It will be along 14th 3 Street. 4 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: That's 5 the viaduct. 6 COMMISSIONER JASEK: What will be 7 the main entrance to the cinema? 8 MR. CURLEY: The main entrance will 9 be on 14th Street. 10 COMMISSIONER JASEK: 14th Street. 11 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: You know, 12 there's a turn in there, that road there. I 13 don't know -- it's one way, right? 14 COMMISSIONER JASEK: It's a one-way 15 going east. 16 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: And then 17 there's a turn going from the viaduct into 18 Willow Avenue. 19 MR. CURLEY: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: That's 21 where the traffic all -- 22 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Well, there 23 used to be gas station. That's an empty lot 24 now. 25 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Yeah, 22 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER JASEK: But the future 4 plans, the county has put a 14th Street 5 viaduct. Calls for the closing of the Clinton 6 Street -- that's the low clearance. 7 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER JASEK: And there will 9 be some changes in that area. So where 10 this -- this 14th Street under the viaduct 11 going east, that narrow road. It will have a 12 right turn on Clinton Street and it will not 13 go all the way to the Willow. All the traffic 14 will be routed on Clinton Street going south. 15 I -- 16 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Mr. Marks? I'm 17 sorry, Commissioner. Was there a traffic 18 study included in this? 19 MR. MARKS: No, Mr. Chairman. There 20 was no traffic study included. 21 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: You see, 22 that area there, being from Hoboken, at 23 certain times of the day is very -- a lot of 24 traffic coming down -- you know. 25 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Well, I assume 23 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 that it will -- 3 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: It's 4 going to widen up to handle all that -- 5 COMMISSIONER JASEK: It's right for 6 one week. 7 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER JASEK: And if somebody 9 stops in front of the theater to drop off 10 somebody or pick up somebody it will impact 11 the traffic all the way down on that margin 12 road. That's why I ask where is the entrance 13 because it will be busy. 14 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I do have 15 a question. Mr. Missey referred to a mid-rise 16 building that was built in 2005. Could he 17 identify it on the -- where the approximate 18 location on the subdivision plan? 19 MR. MISSEY: On the subdivision 20 plan, the mid-rise building that's built and 21 occupied begins at the southerly limits of our 22 subdivision limit and proceeds to the south 23 about 150 feet or so to the intersection at 24 13th Street. 25 MR. MARKS: And, Mr. Missey, do you 24 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 know how many units are in the mid-rise 3 building approximately? 4 MR. MISSEY: About 118, is my 5 memory. 6 MR. MARKS: Okay. And the -- are 7 there site plans prepared for the units for 8 the newly subdivided parcel on Grand? 9 MR. MISSEY: Yes. 10 MR. MARKS: And were they approved 11 by Hoboken -- the city of Hoboken -- the 12 Hoboken planning board or zoning board? 13 MR. MISSEY: By their planning 14 board, yes. 15 MR. MARKS: By the planning board. 16 Were traffic impact studies prepared for that 17 at all for that site plan application? 18 MR. MISSEY: Not by our firm but I 19 believe that the city did received traffic 20 impact studies for both those buildings as is 21 typical in Hoboken. 22 MR. MARKS: Okay. And, Mr. Missey, 23 for the twenty-five units on Adams, did that 24 receive site plan approval by Hoboken planning 25 board or zoning board? 25 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 MR. MISSEY: By their planning 3 board, yes. 4 MR. MARKS: By their planning board? 5 And was a traffic impact study prepared and 6 submitted and accepted for that application? 7 MR. MISSEY: To my knowledge, yes. 8 MR. MARKS: Okay. Not for this 9 application, I wouldn't want to encumber this 10 application, Mr. Chairman, but certainly for 11 the -- and maybe as a condition of this 12 application since it's directly relevant to 13 this application, for the applicant I would 14 request that they submit copies of the traffic 15 impact studies for the adjoining developments, 16 which are the newly -- the developments for 17 the newly created lots on both Grand and 18 Adams. 19 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Yeah. I think at 20 the subcommittee meeting we were discussing 21 that. That's our biggest concern, the traffic 22 impact on this neighborhood. So would your 23 applicant be willing to do that? 24 MR. CURLEY: Yes. We have those 25 studies. They were submitted to the Hoboken 26 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 planning board. 3 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: You could get a 4 copy to Mr. Marks? 5 MR. CURLEY: Yes, I will. 6 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I -- see, 7 the problem there, you're going to have a life 8 hazard use in the theater there. And those 9 blocks there are kind of narrow. Emergency 10 vehicles, I don't know where they're going to 11 hook up. I'm sure it's going to be all 12 sprinkled but if something happens -- 13 MR. CURLEY: I believe the emergency 14 exits are at each end of the building -- 15 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: All 16 right. 17 MR. CURLEY: -- on the fifty-foot 18 width so that there's one on Adams and there's 19 one on Grand. And, as a matter of fact, as 20 part of the theater design, I believe we got a 21 coverage variance for the upper floor in order 22 to allow the parameter stairs to be built 23 straight down so that there would be ease of 24 access in getting out of the theater in the 25 event of an emergency. 27 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 COMMISSIONER JASEK: How many 3 theaters will be there? 4 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Screens? 5 COMMISSIONER JASEK: There will be 6 two on one level or two levels. 7 MR. MISSEY: There are two levels, 8 five screens total and auditorium seating for 9 a total of 950 people. 10 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: theater 11 there, it will be the only theater in that 12 area that covers Weehawken, Union City, parts 13 of West New York and Jersey City Heights. So 14 there will be a lot of people coming down just 15 to go to those movies. I mean, it's probably 16 it's needed in Hoboken, you know, but I don't 17 want to jam the -- I don't want a hundred, two 18 hundred, three hundred cars coming down at one 19 time. 20 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Will the 21 residential development overlap the theater? 22 MR. MISSEY: No. It will be -- 23 COMMISSIONER JASEK: It will be free 24 standing? 25 MR. MISSEY: It will be free 28 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 standing. 3 MR. CURLEY: The theater developer 4 is Clearview Cinema. Clearview Cinema has 5 built these types of theaters without parking 6 in urban areas. They've built them 7 successfully in New York and the city council 8 was of the opinion that parking would not be 9 required and that it would be more of a 10 neighborhood theater. There are parking 11 garages, public garages, within close 12 proximity. I believe there's an eight-story 13 garage on 15th Street which is one acre from 14 per floor. It's eight acres of garage space 15 and much of it is going to be public garage. 16 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Yes, Steve? 17 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, just one 18 more question. The sixty-nine units to be 19 constructed or that have site plan approval 20 for Grand and Adams, is that a total build-out 21 or does that leave room for additional 22 development? 23 MR. MISSEY: That's the total build- 24 out. 25 MR. MARKS: That's a total build-out 29 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 for those two adjoining parcels. Okay, thank 3 you, Mr. Chairman. 4 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Any other 5 questions? Do I have a motion? 6 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 7 motion to approve. 8 COMMISSIONER DIDOMENICO: I'll 9 second. 10 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Pending a 11 traffic study on these. 12 COMMISSIONER JASEK: They will come 13 with the plans. 14 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: All 15 right. 16 COMMISSIONER JASEK: This is 17 subdivision so they -- I assume that they will 18 bring all the material when they ask for the 19 site plan. 20 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Mr. Curley, I'm 21 sorry. Will you come in front of us for the 22 site plan, for the two residential buildings? 23 MR. CURLEY: We had not planned on 24 coming before the board on the two residential 25 buildings in that they are not on a county 30 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 street and have no impact on county services. 3 We have filed the application with respect to 4 the movie theater. 5 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Um-hmm. 6 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Isn't that 7 within 200 feet? 8 MR. MARKS: It's within -- it's 9 within 200 feet but it's actually subdivisions 10 along county roads or impacting county 11 drainage facilities for the subdivision part. 12 The 200 feet is for public notice 13 requirements. But it's site plans along 14 county roads and affecting county drainage 15 facilities. So the -- technically the site 16 plans would be exempt for the adjoining 17 residential but they're certainly going to -- 18 I half agree with Mr. Curley. They're going 19 to have an impact -- those sixty-nine units 20 will have an impact on county roads. In terms 21 of the drainage, can Mr. Missey -- I'm sorry, 22 Mr. Chairman, we have a motion and a second. 23 Is it okay -- would it be appropriate to 24 continue the discussion or would we have to 25 table the -- to further discuss this? 31 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 MR. CALVANICO: No. You can 3 continue. 4 MR. MARKS: Okay. For the 5 subdivision, have drainage calculations been 6 prepared for the two adjoining parcels that 7 are not on the county road? 8 MR. MISSEY: Well, in this case, we 9 prepared the drainage calculations for the 10 individual site plans. You may be aware that 11 North Hudson Sewage Authority in this zone, 12 even in the Northwest Redevelopment district 13 now requires detention facilities. And each 14 of these buildings, the two residential 15 buildings as well as the movie theater 16 building, will have detention systems which 17 restrict the outflow or the discharge of 18 stormwater from these sites to what right now 19 occurs for a storm that you expect to see 20 every two years. That will happen for a storm 21 that happens every ten years so that the 22 systems are effective. Also, the parcels 23 before the buildings -- the structures were 24 demolished were almost entirely impervious, 25 particularly along Grand Street. And now that 32 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 will be -- there will be some greenery along 3 Grand. There'll be some greenery on the 4 courtyard for the residential buildings and 5 we're going to install the detention system. 6 So we will be reducing the weight of discharge 7 to the Hoboken drainage system. 8 MR. MARKS: Mr. Missey, in the 9 drainage calculations, does any of the 10 stormwater drain into any of the county catch 11 basins or county storm source, to your 12 knowledge? 13 MR. MISSEY: In all cases for all 14 three site plans, our connections are directly 15 to the Hoboken system. 16 MR. MARKS: And the Hoboken system 17 are CSOs, the combined sewer overflows? 18 MR. MISSEY: That's correct. 19 MR. MARKS: And, Mr. Jasek, do the 20 CSOs have any connection to the county storm 21 system? 22 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Yes. Well, I 23 don't know if you are aware of the fact that 24 the thirty-six inch pipe which goes under 14th 25 Street from Willow all the way to the river 33 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 belongs to the county. And it's a strictly 3 storm. 4 MR. MISSEY: We are not discharging 5 to that storm drain on Willow. 6 COMMISSIONER JASEK: You are not? 7 MR. MISSEY: No. No, we're going to 8 the storm drains which are in both Adams and 9 in Grand for all three sites. 10 MR. MARKS: Mr. -- 11 COMMISSIONER JASEK: I will be 12 interested to see that storm drainage plan 13 because in 1910 when the county built a 14th 14 Street viaduct, they collect the stormwater 15 from the upper approaches and from the viaduct 16 into the pipe which is on either side of the 17 viaduct. And then the county built a thirty- 18 six inch CI pump all the way down to the river 19 which carried the water from the viaduct. In 20 the last ninety years, everybody else 21 connected into this pipes so I just want to 22 make sure that we don't connect too many 23 things into that pipe. 24 MR. MISSEY: Understood. 25 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the County 34 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 Planning Act, which is 4027-6.3 on 3 subdivisions and 6.6 on site plans, gives the 4 county planning board jurisdiction over the 5 subdivisions affecting county roads and 6 drainage facilities and site plans along 7 county roads and affecting county drainage 8 facilities. For this particular application, 9 the subdivision for the nonadjoining lots 10 has -- potentially has the effect of affecting 11 14th Street. We would probably need -- 12 probably a legal opinion to determine whether 13 those sixty-nine units directly affect the 14 county roads or not. If Mr. Calvanico could, 15 between now and next meeting, look that up and 16 determine whether the board has jurisdiction 17 or not. 18 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Mr. Curley, you 19 may have mentioned it earlier, but did Hoboken 20 already approve the site plans for the 21 residential? 22 MR. CURLEY: Yes. Hoboken approved 23 all three site plans. 24 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: And the 25 redevelopment authority? 35 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 MR. CURLEY: The redevelopment 3 agency as well. 4 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: All right. So is 5 that a request? Do you want 6 MR. MARKS: I would request through 7 you, Mr. Chairman, that the board counsel look 8 that up and issue an opinion to the board. 9 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: All right. 10 Anything else? 11 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: That's 12 it. 13 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, we do have 14 a motion on the floor made by Commissioner 15 Fitzgibbons, seconded by Commissioner 16 DiDomenico, if you'd like to continue with 17 that. 18 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Yes. 19 MR. MARKS: Okay. Commissioner 20 Avagliano? 21 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 22 MR. MARKS: Commissioner DiDomenico? 23 COMMISSIONER DIDOMENICO: Aye. 24 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 25 Fitzgibbons? 36 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 3 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 4 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 5 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 6 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: I vote aye. 7 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 8 passed. 9 MR. MISSEY: Thank you very much. 10 MR. CURLEY: Thank you. 11 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the next 12 part of the agenda is 5D, applications 13 administratively approved. This is for 14 Application SP-74-07, Sprint Nextel, located 15 at 286 Central Avenue, which is Block 292, Lot 16 4 in the town of Kearny. Mr. Chairman, this 17 was examined. This is a particular 18 application of hanging telecommunications 19 facilities and antennas off an existing 20 monopole billboard next to the Pulaski skyway 21 in south Kearny. As per the board policy, it 22 was approved by the site plan committee but I 23 would request an affirmation of that approval 24 by the board in full. 25 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Can I have a 37 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 motion on that? 3 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 4 motion. 5 COMMISSIONER DIDOMENICO: Second. 6 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Can 7 somebody approve it? They did already. 8 MR. MARKS: Was there a second? 9 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: They did 10 second it. Who seconded it? 11 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: No one did. 12 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 13 motion. 14 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Second. I 15 thought I saw Doreen second it. 16 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a 17 motion made by Commissioner Fitzgibbons and 18 seconded by Commissioner Avagliano, 19 Commissioner Avagliano? 20 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 21 MR. MARKS: Commissioner DiDomenico? 22 COMMISSIONER DIDOMENICO: Aye. 23 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 24 Fitzgibbons? 25 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 38 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 3 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 4 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 5 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Aye. 6 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 7 passed. And, finally, Mr. Chairman, under 8 Section 5E, applications to be dismissed, this 9 was an application we had received back in 10 June. This was a -- for a telecommunications 11 facility located on Palisade Avenue in Union 12 City. It was adjacent to the south wing of 13 the viaduct. The site -- the general site was 14 the location -- 15 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: This was the one 16 with the problem, right? 17 MR. MARKS: Yeah. On April 16th of 18 this year, there was basically a landslide 19 which undermined the -- the board had concerns 20 about the landslide on the viaduct affecting 21 the integrity of the building. This had been 22 put off at the request of the applicant, put 23 off several times by the board. And in your 24 packets, the applicant actually requested that 25 the application be dismissed. 39 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Do I have a 3 motion? 4 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I'll make a 5 motion that we dismiss SP-37-07. 6 COMMISSIONER JASEK: I second the 7 motion. 8 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a 9 motion made by Commissioner Avagliano and 10 seconded by Commissioner Jasek, Commissioner 11 Avagliano? 12 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 13 MR. MARKS: Commissioner DiDomenico? 14 COMMISSIONER DIDOMENICO: Aye. 15 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 16 Fitzgibbons? 17 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 18 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 19 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 20 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 21 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: I vote aye. 22 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 23 passed. 24 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, under Old 25 Business, I have an item for you but I think 40 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 we should -- it's a legal item involving a 3 lawsuit and I think we should discuss it off 4 the record so we could do it immediately 5 following the meeting. 6 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: All right. 7 MR. MARKS: Okay. 8 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Anything else? 9 MR. MARKS: Any old business? I 10 don't want to do your job. 11 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Any old business? 12 MR. MARKS: Sorry? Oh, the map, 13 once the -- Mr. Calvanico asked about the map. 14 Tonight is the public hearing for the map. 15 The public comment period is open through 16 December 31st. I'll put together and collate 17 all the comments for the map after December 18 31st, furnish them to the board. If there's 19 any changes that the board would like to see, 20 we can incorporate those changes. Then 21 hopefully for the January meeting, the board 22 could officially recommend, adopt the map and 23 furnish it to the freeholder board. The map 24 could then be considered by the freeholder 25 board and used as essentially public policy 41 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 11/19/07 2 and incorporate it as an amendment to the 3 official county map. 4 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: All right. Sounds 5 good. Motion to adjourn? 6 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 7 motion. 8 COMMISSIONER DIDOMENICO: Second. 9 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Second. 10 MR. MARKS: Okay, Mr. Chairman, 11 we're officially off the record. 12 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Okay. 13 (Meeting was adjourned at 7:13 p.m.) 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 42 1 2 I N D E X 3 4 E X H I B I T S 5 APPLICANT NO. DESCRIPTION PAGE 6 SD-70-07 A-1 Preliminary & final 12 7 major subdivision plot, 8 Block 114 Development, LLC 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 43 1 2 C E R T I F I C A T I O N 3 4 I, Mark Weinberg, Electronic Court 5 Reporter and Notary Public, do hereby certify 6 that: 7 8 I was present during the entirety of the 9 foregoing proceedings, and that I caused to be 10 recorded a true, complete and verbatim 11 recording of the proceedings via digital 12 means, in the matter of the: 13 HUDSON COUNTY PLANNING BOARD MONTHLY MEETING. 14 15 I further certify that I am not employed 16 by nor related to any party to this action. 17 18 In witness whereof, I hereby sign this 19 date: 20 November 27, 2007. 21 22 _________________________________ 23 Mark Weinberg 24 25 44 1 2 C E R T I F I C A T I O N 3 4 I, Lisa Bar-Leib, hereby certify that the 5 foregoing is a true and correct transcription, 6 to the best of my ability, of the sound 7 recorded proceedings submitted for 8 transcription in the matter of the: 9 HUDSON COUNTY PLANNING BOARD MONTHLY MEETING. 10 11 I further certify that I am not employed 12 by nor related to any party to this action. 13 14 In witness whereof, I hereby sign this 15 date: 16 November 27, 2007. 17 18 _________________________________ 19 Lisa Bar-Leib 20 21 22 23 24 25