1 1 HUDSON COUNTY PLANNING BOARD 2 IN RE: ) ) TRANSCRIPT OF 3 MONTHLY MEETING ) PROCEEDINGS: ) 4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _) Administrative Annex 5 567 Pavonia Avenue Freeholders Chambers 6 Jersey City, New Jersey Wednesday, October 20, 2004 7 7:05 p.m. 8 B E F O R E: 9 RUSHABH MEHTA, CHAIRMAN 10 MARY E. AVAGLIANO, VICE-CHAIRMAN 11 RENEE BETTINGER, COMMISSIONER 12 MICHAEL HOLLOWAY, COMMISSIONER 13 JUDE FITZGIBBONS, COMMISSIONER 14 DANIEL CHOFFO, COMMISSIONER 15 BORIVOJ JASEK, COMMISSIONER 16 A L S O P R E S E N T: 17 ARTHUR GLATMAN, ESQ., Board Attorney 18 STEPHEN MARKS, Board Secretary 19 Reported By: 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 MEHTA: Please call the 2 meeting to the order, please. 3 Arthur, does this meeting comply with the 4 Public Meeting Act? 5 MR. GLATMAN: There has been 6 publication as required by law for the meeting. It 7 was handled by the Secretary to the Board. 8 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Steve, can you do the 9 roll call? 10 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Avagliano? 11 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Present. 12 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 13 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Here. 14 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Choffo? 15 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Here. 16 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Fitzgibbons? 17 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Here. 18 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Holloway? 19 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Here. 20 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 21 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Present. 22 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Liggio? 23 And Chairman Mehta? 24 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Here. 25 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, we have a 3 MONTHLY MEETING 1 quorum. 2 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Good. 3 Please, everybody rise. 4 (Flag Salute takes place.) 5 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: In attendance, if 6 anybody is from the public and they like to do any 7 comment, please come up, and you have to write down 8 and notify the secretary. 9 Memorialization of resolutions approved at 10 the last meeting: 11 Application SP/SD-36-04, Casa Blanca 12 Development; SP-80-04, Cellular Telephone, AT&T. 13 MR. GLATMAN: Mr. Chairman, if I 14 might, we couldn't memorialize resolutions. The 15 transcripts have not been received. Apparently, 16 they're not ready, and as a result, we're going to 17 wait until we get the transcripts. Hopefully, we'll 18 have it by next week, so we can skip over that. 19 What we do have is, we had an amendment or 20 correction to SP-64-04. That was RP Associates, 7108 21 Kennedy Boulevard, North Bergen. A review with the 22 applicants, with the Planning and Engineer's Office 23 and a review of the transcript, we did make a few 24 changes in it, and it can be introduced as old 25 business or as a new memorialization of the approval, 4 MONTHLY MEETING 1 so that's where we stand with that. 2 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: So whatever item is 3 on the memorialization, they are not available right 4 now? 5 MR. GLATMAN: We have no transcript to 6 do the resolution on. We're going to try to have the 7 transcript to avoid any problems. 8 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. Then we will 9 skip that one and we'll go to the next one. 10 Applications declared to be exempt: 11 SD-89-04, New Liberty Residential, LLC; 12 SD-90-04, New Liberty Residential, LLC; SP-93-04, 13 AT&T Wireless; and SD-97-04, Liberty Storage, LLC. 14 Do I have a motion? 15 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I'll make a 16 motion to declare these applications exempt. 17 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I'll second 18 it. 19 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Steve? 20 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 21 made by Commissioner Choffo and seconded by 22 Commissioner Fitzgibbons: 23 Commissioner Avagliano? 24 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 25 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 5 MONTHLY MEETING 1 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 2 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Holloway? 3 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Aye. 4 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 5 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 6 MR. MARKS: And Chairman Mehta? 7 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I vote aye. 8 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 9 passed. 10 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Thank you. 11 Let's call for the next application, 12 SP-91-04, 300-302 Mountain Road, LLC, Union City. 13 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: They're not 14 here? 15 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: They are not here? 16 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the 17 applicants were notified by both telephone and by 18 letter and they were aware that the meeting was this 19 evening. 20 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. Let's wait and 21 go to the next case, SP-92-04, Dean Marchetto, 1225 22 Willow Avenue in Hoboken. 23 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Probably 24 late. 25 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I spoke to 6 MONTHLY MEETING 1 the attorney for Dean Marchetto, who was planning to 2 attend this evening, so -- 3 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Maybe he's 4 late. They're late. They'll be here. 5 MR. MARKS: I'm not sure what's going 6 on. 7 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. We can go to 8 the next one, SP-94-04, Laundry Fresh of North 9 Bergen, 6113-6115 Kennedy Boulevard, North Bergen. 10 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Here's Dean 11 Marchetto. 12 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Yeah. We 13 got to wait. 14 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: North Bergen people 15 are not here or -- 16 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Are your 17 people here? 18 MR. MARKS: Again, Mr. Chairman, the 19 applicants were notified via telephone and by mail. 20 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Mr. Chairman, 22 may I make a suggestion? 23 Since the gentleman back there has a baby, 24 maybe we can hear them. It's not going to be too 25 long, will it? Maybe we can hear his case first. 7 MONTHLY MEETING 1 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I would go 2 along with that, too. 3 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Which one is his 4 case? 5 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Hoboken. 6 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: The 7 transfer of City of Hoboken -- 8 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: RCA. 9 MR. LEANZA: Thank you, very much. 10 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Call RCA, City of 11 Hoboken and Green Township, 1118 Adams Street, 12 Hoboken. 13 MR. LEANZA: That's correct. 14 My name is Frank Leanza, L-E-A-N-Z-A, and, 15 first of all, I express regrets from Fred Bato from 16 Community Development of Hoboken who couldn't make it 17 here tonight, and Joseph Sherman, the town attorney, 18 they asked me to stop by. 19 I'm one of the principals of the developer, 20 and, actually, he is, because everything is going to 21 be in his name, so if you want to swear him in later 22 to testify, you can. 23 Actually, what this is, is, as part of 24 Hoboken -- 25 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: One minute. 8 MONTHLY MEETING 1 Arthur, can you swear him in? 2 MR. GLATMAN: Well -- 3 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Can we bring 4 him up close? 5 MR. GLATMAN: Why don't you come 6 closer. 7 MR. LEANZA: I'll be happy to. I'll 8 be happy to. 9 MR. GLATMAN: I don't think it's 10 necessary to. 11 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. 12 MR. LEANZA: What this is, as part of 13 its Northwest Redevelopment Plan in Hoboken, the city 14 and the redeveloper have agreed that we would build 15 90 units of affordable housing. It's all going to be 16 two and three-bedroom apartments so we can have 17 families stay in Hoboken, and as part of this, and to 18 make it affordable to the people, we're gonna' live 19 there as is. 20 Also, to us, as developers, we've entered 21 into Regional Contribution Agreements. We've already 22 entered into such agreements with North Haledon, with 23 Demarest, and this is one with Green Township. 24 They're gonna' give us 13 RCA units, so that 25 means Green Township is not gonna' build 13 9 MONTHLY MEETING 1 affordable housing units there, but they're gonna' 2 give us the money in Hoboken so we'll be able to 3 build 13 affordable housing units for residents of 4 Hoboken, and under the State Statute, we need the 5 County Planning Board approval. This has already 6 been approved by the Mayor and Council of Hoboken, 7 the Mayor and Council of Green Township, and also to 8 the Council of Affordable Housing, but, ladies and 9 gentlemen, your approval is necessary under the law 10 in order for this money to pass from the suburban 11 towns into the city so we can get some affordable 12 housing down here. 13 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. Mr. Jasek, 14 other than this approval, the county has no 15 jurisdiction; am I right? 16 COMMISSIONER JASEK: That's correct. 17 We just need to approve the agreement. We 18 have nothing to say about the design or location of 19 this building, as long as it is not on the county 20 road. 21 MR. LEANZA: Yeah. It's not. 22 It's located between Adams and Jefferson 23 Street and between Eleventh and Twelfth Street in 24 Hoboken. It's presently the location of an old 25 warehouse called Atlantic Steamers that used to 10 MONTHLY MEETING 1 service all of the old ships that used to dock in 2 Hoboken. The last tenants moved out of there about a 3 month-and-a-half ago. We have the property all 4 fenced in. We have the permits. We're going to 5 start demolition probably within the next month or 6 so. 7 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Mr. Chairman, I 8 have just one question. 9 Where is Green Township? 10 MR. LEANZA: It's up in Morris County 11 someplace. 12 COMMISSIONER JASEK: It's up north? 13 MR. LEANZA: Yeah, and it's one of the 14 counties we're allowed to do switches with, because 15 there's only certain counties that are allowed to 16 give us, money to us. 17 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: We already 18 approved affordable housing for that project in 19 Hoboken from other cities, so this would be -- 20 MR. LEANZA: Right. 21 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: -- an 22 added -- 23 MR. LEANZA: Yeah. This would be an 24 added one. 25 We have, like, 54 in the bag already. This 11 MONTHLY MEETING 1 makes another 13, which is like, 67. We'd like to 2 get up to the whole 90, but, if not -- you know, 3 we're still going to have to build the 90 houses, but 4 everyone we get in, it, it makes the rent that much 5 cheaper for the people. 6 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: As a 7 resident of Hoboken, we definitely need affordable 8 housing for our citizens. 9 MR. LEANZA: We can use another 90 and 10 another 900, to tell you the truth. 11 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 12 motion to approve. 13 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll second 14 that. 15 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. Steve? 16 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 17 by Commissioner Fitzgibbons and seconded by 18 Commissioner Bettinger: 19 Commissioner Avagliano? 20 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 21 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Choffo? 22 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Aye. 23 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Holloway? 24 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Aye. 25 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 12 MONTHLY MEETING 1 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 2 MR. MARKS: Commissioner -- and 3 Chairman Mehta? 4 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I vote aye. 5 Definitely, like Commissioner Fitzgibbons 6 mentioned, Hoboken needs affordable housing, and it's 7 a good project. Good luck. 8 MR. LEANZA: Okay. Thank you, very 9 much. 10 Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and thank 11 you for taking me out of order. He appreciates it, 12 too, so he could be in bed by eight and I could watch 13 the Yankees. 14 Good night. 15 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Good night. 16 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Good night. 17 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Stephen, the first or 18 second or third application already here? 19 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I did 20 receive -- and the Board Attorney has a copy of the 21 letter. I did receive a fax this afternoon from an 22 attorney, Alan Zublatt, who represents the applicants 23 on SP-98-04, Sprint Spectrum. Nobody was available 24 to make this evening's meeting, so they requested 25 that their hearing on SP-98-04 be postponed. 13 MONTHLY MEETING 1 We do have the applicants, I believe, for 2 SD/SP-99-04 and SP-92-04. 3 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. Then let's -- 4 you can put the motion on for SP-98-04, Sprint 5 Spectrum. 6 Do I have a motion for postponement? 7 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Make a 8 motion -- 9 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I'll second 10 it. 11 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: -- to adjourn. 12 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Oh, to 13 adjourn, okay. 14 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I have a 15 motion by Commissioner Holloway and a second by 16 Commissioner Fitzgibbons to postpone the resolution 17 on SP-98-04. 18 Commissioner Avagliano? 19 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 20 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 21 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 22 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Choffo? 23 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Aye. 24 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 25 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 14 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. MARKS: And Chairman Mehta? 2 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I vote aye. 3 Okay. Can you call next case, SP-99-04, St. 4 Paul of the Cross Church, Jersey City? 5 MR. ANDRIL: Good evening, 6 Commissioners. My name is Alcides Andril. I'm an 7 attorney with the Law Firm of Andril & Espinosa 8 located at 534 Westfield Avenue in Elizabeth. I'm 9 here on behalf of the applicant, St. Paul of the 10 Cross from Catholic Church. 11 The application is -- doesn't require any 12 development. What we're really doing here are 13 rearranging lot lines so they more closely approach 14 the structures that are on site. 15 If you look at the plans, you'll see there 16 are a number of structures that were constructed on 17 site without any real concern for lot lines, and at 18 this time the Church is faced with the task of 19 selling one of the residential properties that it 20 owns. It has owned a number of residential 21 properties on that block, which have all been sold, 22 however, the last property had a rather substantial 23 encroachment from the existing Rectory building and 24 when the Church went to sell, that's when they 25 realized that the lines don't really match where the 15 MONTHLY MEETING 1 properties are, so what we're proposing to the 2 municipality is to restructure the lot lines into 3 five lots that essentially segregate each of the 4 structures on site. 5 If you look at the plans, you'll see that the 6 residential property, which is 150 Hancock, will 7 ultimately, with municipal approval, be 25 by 85 8 feet, which would remove it from the encroachment of 9 the existing Rectory building, and then we would 10 provide five -- four additional lots, each one 11 housing a separate building, being the Convent, the 12 Church building, the Rectory and the School. 13 As you'll see in the plans, we've tried to 14 leave as much space between the structures as we 15 possibly can, and this would allow for future 16 development. That would make sense. The only actual 17 development on site is to remove a very small portion 18 of the existing School building, which is, in effect, 19 a one-story structure housing, some outdated 20 bathrooms, which would then allow us to create a 21 straight property line from Hancock right through to 22 Sherman Avenue. 23 That's basically what the entire project is 24 about. We're not developing. We're not changing 25 anything. There's only a minor demolition involved 16 MONTHLY MEETING 1 so as to remove encroachments, and we're moving one 2 lot line forward to avoid an encroachment with the 3 Rectory building. It's a very straightforward 4 application. 5 I have Father Reyes here, who will testify if 6 you have any questions. I have the architect and 7 planner who can testify, whatever the Board's 8 pleasure. 9 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Is this property line 10 adjacent to the county road? 11 MR. ANDRIL: Jorge? 12 MR. TOLL: No, it's not. 13 MR. ANDRIL: No. It's not on a county 14 road. 15 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: So, Commissioner 16 Jasek, it is just major subdivision application? 17 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Yes. It is a 18 major subdivision. 19 The Review Committee reviewed this 20 application and recommends to the Board for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: One 22 question. 23 Did Jersey City approve that? 24 MR. ANDRIL: No. 25 Our, our schedule date is for November 9th. 17 MONTHLY MEETING 1 Yours came before. 2 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Because we 3 don't -- I don't know. Do we -- we can approve it 4 pending -- 5 MR. GLATMAN: We can approve it. 6 We've done this repeatedly where, contingent upon -- 7 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: -- Jersey 8 City's approval? 9 MR. ANDRIL: You came first. It just 10 worked out that way. 11 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Any Commissioner has 12 any comment? 13 I don't see any major problem in the 14 subdivision. 15 Do I have a motion for approval? 16 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I'll make a 17 motion to approve SD-99-04 subject to Jersey City's 18 approval. 19 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I'll second 20 it. 21 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 22 by Commissioner Choffo and seconded by Commissioner 23 Avagliano: 24 Commissioner Bettinger? 25 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 18 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Fitzgibbons? 2 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 3 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Holloway? 4 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Aye. 5 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 6 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 7 MR. MARKS: And Chairman Mehta? 8 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Aye. 9 Okay. Which applicant is here? 10 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Dean 11 Marchetto. 12 MR. MARKS: I'm sorry. 13 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Which applicant is 14 available right now? 15 MR. MARKS: I believe the applicant 16 for SP-92-04. 17 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. Let's call 18 next case, SP-92-04, Dean Marchetto, 1225 Willow 19 Avenue, Hoboken, New Jersey. 20 MR. MARCHETTO: Good evening, 21 Commissioners. My name is Dean Marchetto and I'm 22 appearing this evening as both an applicant and the 23 architect for the project. 24 The project that I'm here to describe is -- 25 MR. GLATMAN: Before you go further -- 19 MONTHLY MEETING 1 DEAN MARCHETTO, having been first duly sworn 2 according to law, testified as follows: 3 MR. GLATMAN: And Mr. Marchetto has 4 been before the Board dozens and dozens of times. I 5 think everyone knows his credentials. He's qualified 6 as an expert. 7 MR. MARCHETTO: Thank you. 8 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: We don't have any 9 problem. You can proceed. 10 MR. MARCHETTO: Thank you. 11 I own a building on the corner of Willow 12 Avenue and Thirteenth Street in Hoboken, which 13 originally was purchased by me about 10 years ago. 14 It was originally built as a Norwegian Church at the 15 turn of the century, and about 10 years ago I 16 purchased it from the American Legion, who had 17 purchased it many years ago, and it was an empty 18 building at the time and I renovated the building 19 into my office, and that was about 10 years ago. At 20 that time we did new sidewalks and curbs, and the 21 building is in, you know, beautiful condition and 22 it's been restored. At this time my office is 23 growing and I'm seeking to put an addition on the 24 back of the building. 25 I have a photograph here that I can pass 20 MONTHLY MEETING 1 around. This is a photograph of the existing 2 building starting, looking at the back of the 3 building where the addition will go. I have a scale, 4 a scale cardboard model which I prepared for the 5 Hoboken Zoning Board and for you. 6 Basically, the building, the existing 7 building is right here, and it's, like I said, it's 8 100-year-old building. It was originally built as a 9 Church, and what I did was I fitted the interior up, 10 replaced all the windows, new front door, new roof, 11 cleaned all the brick work, because it was dirty and 12 100 years of soot. We reside in the building now for 13 our offices. At this time there's a yard in the 14 back, the rear yard, and what I'm seeking to do is 15 put a new room on the back, a room that would 16 actually cover a parking space, because the rear yard 17 is used as a parking space. 18 By the way, this is Willow Avenue and this is 19 Thirteenth Street. Willow Avenue is the county road 20 and that's why I'm here. I brought the project to 21 the Hoboken Zoning Board, who approved it, but 22 because the building is located on a county road, I 23 believe you have jurisdiction. There will be an 24 addition that I'm proposing to put on the back, it 25 will be an office and conference room, and what we've 21 MONTHLY MEETING 1 done here is, if you look at the photograph, and you 2 can see that the back of the building is basically 3 flat. Traditionally, old Churches, especially, like, 4 European Churches, they typically have an a-vial 5 (phonetic) down the middle, and in the back of a 6 Church is what they call the aps, which is where the 7 alter usually is. The back of, let's say Notre Dame, 8 or any one of the major churches has an alter, the 9 room in the back, which is known as an aps, and 10 that's where the alter goes. Well, this building 11 never got one, and so I thought that what we might do 12 is build a new addition on the back and, actually, is 13 representative of what would have been a modern 14 interpretation of an aps. Being that I'm a modern 15 architect and this is an old building, rather than 16 try to build something that looks like it's 17 100-years-old, we decided to try to do a modern 18 interpretation, so this is a copper shell and a glass 19 addition on the back sitting up on three columns so 20 that it's kind of like a modern aps attached to the 21 back of the building, and you'd be able to park 22 underneath, so it also covers the parking space. 23 That is an office. 24 The Hoboken Zoning Board did approve it and 25 there will be no, no work to this curb, curbs and 22 MONTHLY MEETING 1 sidewalks, because it was all done 10 years ago, and 2 recently the county did some traffic light work here 3 and they patched it up very nicely, and it's all 4 well-taken care of. I think the curbs and sidewalks 5 are fine. They won't be changed, so there's no real 6 modification to the county property, but for the 7 purpose of completing my application process, I 8 present the project to you for your approval. 9 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: So, in other words, 10 you are planning to add -- 11 MR. MARCHETTO: This. 12 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: -- the extra space on 13 the existing parking lot? 14 MR. MARCHETTO: Yes. There's an 15 existing parking lot here, and the parking will stay, 16 but I'm building it up over the top. 17 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Yeah. 18 MR. MARCHETTO: There's a set of plans 19 that were filed with the Board, and I have them here, 20 if you need to see anything more detailed. I have 21 the elevation drawn here, on the side. You can see 22 that there's the side of the building and there's 23 the -- 24 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Yeah. 25 Nice. 23 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. MARCHETTO: -- the building on the 2 back. The floor plan is here. You can see, this is 3 the ground floor plan, this is the parking in the 4 back, those are the three columns, and then on the 5 upper level you can see that this is an office space, 6 has an extension on to the back of the building. It 7 required a rear yard variance from the Hoboken Zoning 8 Board and they granted that variance. It must be 9 about two, two months ago, and we're prepared to 10 start working but I wanted to make sure I got my 11 proper approvals. 12 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: That is 13 adorable, Mr. Marchetto. 14 You have additional parking besides just 15 what's going underneath? 16 MR. MARCHETTO: No. That's all we 17 have. 18 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: That's all. 19 MR. MARCHETTO: We could have tried to 20 open up the building and put a garage in it, but it 21 would have, it probably would have compromised the 22 historic character of the building. Fortunately, 23 this part of Hoboken, during the day there is parking 24 out on the street. If I was downtown, by the train 25 station, it would be very difficult, but during the 24 MONTHLY MEETING 1 day there's diagonal parking here, on Willow Avenue, 2 and most of my employees conveniently find a place to 3 park here, so I haven't had a problem with parking. 4 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: That's good. 5 Good. 6 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Commissioner Jasek, 7 any question or any comment? 8 COMMISSIONER JASEK: I don't have no 9 question. I have just a comment. 10 It's a, it's a very inventive solution. I 11 assume that the Hoboken Historic Committee approved 12 it. 13 MR. MARCHETTO: Well, you know, it's 14 not in the Historic District. 15 COMMISSIONER JASEK: It's not? 16 MR. MARCHETTO: It's not in the 17 Historic District, because I've done some work with 18 historic buildings before and you deal with the 19 National Park Programs, who runs the Historic 20 Programs for the State. They often prefer if you 21 don't try to design something and build something 22 that looks like it was done 100 years ago. They want 23 to be able to be able to have a person look at the 24 building and understand what's new and what's old, so 25 I think that, where this building, to be on the 25 MONTHLY MEETING 1 historic register, they would not disapprove of the 2 approach I've taken to try to put a modern addition 3 on an old building rather than try to make it look 4 like it was 100 years ago, and it's not -- it kind of 5 compromises the integrity of the -- 6 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Is that 7 building 100-years-old? 8 MR. MARCHETTO: The building's 9 100-years-old. 10 There's a little corner stone on the building 11 that says 1913 and -- there's two dates. There's 12 1890-something and 1913. I don't know why there are 13 two dates there. I think they might have bought 14 the -- 15 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: They may 16 have had a smaller Church there, maybe at one time. 17 MR. MARCHETTO: Maybe, and then when 18 they rebuilt it in 1913, they may have kept the 19 original congregation date. 20 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I'm an Elk 21 member. In 1905, next year marks the 100 anniversary 22 of the Elk's building. 23 MR. MARCHETTO: Of the building, 24 yeah. It's a nice, beautiful building on Washington 25 Street. Now Washington Street is in the Historic 26 MONTHLY MEETING 1 District, and I would have had to go to the Historic 2 District in Hoboken were I on Washington Street, but 3 on Willow Avenue, I'm out of the Historic District. 4 COMMISSIONER JASEK: I compliment Mr. 5 Marchetto. I've seen the building and I am familiar 6 with that building. I have been inside to do some 7 other project, Mr. Marchetto, we had with the county, 8 and he decorated inside perfectly. It's very 9 beautiful and if it needs more room, by all means. 10 MR. MARCHETTO: Thank you. 11 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I was in 12 that building before it was renovated and everything, 13 so I know what it looked like. 14 MR. MARCHETTO: It's nice to keep old 15 buildings alive because, you know, with all the 16 development pressure in Hoboken for residential 17 buildings, you know, the developer could have bought 18 this and took it down and put, like a condo here. 19 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Yeah. 20 MR. MARCHETTO: But I think it's 21 important for our culture to be able to save historic 22 elements from the past, and as long as they can be 23 financially feasible and produce a utility for an 24 owner, by all means, I think it's a good thing to do. 25 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Yeah. 27 MONTHLY MEETING 1 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: That's 3 beautiful. 4 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'm very 5 impressed with your design, and I'd like to make a 6 motion to approve. 7 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I second 8 it. 9 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: That's 10 adorable. 11 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Steve? 12 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 13 by Commissioner Bettinger and seconded by 14 Commissioner Fitzgibbons: 15 Commissioner Avagliano? 16 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 17 Mr. Marchetto, you always give a great 18 presentation. I'll always appreciate it, and your 19 drawing and presentation is great. 20 MR. MARCHETTO: Well, thank you. 21 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Choffo? 22 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Aye. 23 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Holloway? 24 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Aye. 25 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 28 MONTHLY MEETING 1 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 2 MR. MARKS: And Chairman Mehta? 3 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Aye. 4 Good luck. 5 MR. MARCHETTO: Okay. Thanks, so 6 much. 7 MR. GLATMAN: Just one request from 8 you. Could you mark the photo A-1, the model A-2 and 9 the plans A-3? You keep possession of them. 10 (A discussion was held off the record.) 11 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Steve, any other 12 applicants here? 13 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, there are 14 two applicants -- applications, I guess. The 15 applicants are no shows, so the attorney -- would 16 that be postponed or how are the applications 17 treated? 18 MR. GLATMAN: We put them as they 19 didn't show. We carry them over one more hearing. 20 If they don't show after the second notice, we 21 dismiss the application. 22 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: All right. 23 MR. MARKS: And these applicants were 24 notified. 25 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: All right. 29 MONTHLY MEETING 1 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: That's bad. 2 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Make a 3 motion to -- you have to do it per application or we 4 can do it general, postpone it? 5 MR. GLATMAN: We can do a general 6 postpone, the ones that didn't, that didn't show up. 7 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: All right. 8 I'll make a motion to postpone the applications that 9 did not show to the next meeting. 10 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: I'll second it. 11 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a motion 12 by Commissioner Fitzgibbons and seconded by 13 Commissioner Choffo: 14 Commissioner Avagliano? 15 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 16 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 17 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 18 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Holloway? 19 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Aye. 20 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 21 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 22 MR. MARKS: And Chairman Mehta? 23 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Aye. 24 Okay. Arthur -- 25 MR. GLATMAN: Yes. 30 MONTHLY MEETING 1 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: -- you mentioned one 2 other resolution as old business. 3 MR. GLATMAN: Yes. 4 We had memorialized at our last meeting, 5 September 22nd, SP-64-04. The applicant received the 6 Resolution. They looked it over, they had some 7 questions and they wanted a few changes. We reviewed 8 the transcript carefully. This is one with two 9 different driveways. We changed the size of the 10 driveways, we added additional signage to the 11 driveways. We made recommendations to bring the 12 property line -- bring the sidewalk all the way to 13 the property line. There were quite a few changes 14 that we demanded from the applicants, so to clarify 15 it a little bit more, let's make sure it reflected 16 the transcript exactly. We've amended the Resolution 17 and that's to go before the Board for approval. The 18 changes are minor. We worked with it between 19 planning and engineering and we're satisfied. We 20 provided a copy to the applicant and at this stage 21 we're very comfortable with what we have and we feel 22 it's very accurate on the transcript, so if the Board 23 is satisfied, we can memorialize it and then move on 24 beyond that. 25 COMMISSIONER JASEK: I make the motion 31 MONTHLY MEETING 1 to memorialize, again, the Resolution of the case, 2 64-04. 3 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: I second it. 4 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay, Steve? 5 MR. MARKS: On a motion to 6 re-memorialize SP-64-04 made by Commissioner Jasek 7 and seconded by Commissioner Holloway: 8 Commissioner Avagliano? 9 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 10 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 11 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 12 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Choffo? 13 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Aye. 14 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Fitzgibbons? 15 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 16 MR. MARKS: And Chairman Mehta? 17 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Aye. 18 Okay. Now, in reference to Hudson County 19 Planning Board Bylaws. 20 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the Bylaws 21 Committee, which was an ad hoc committee created at 22 the last Board Meeting, did meet, made 23 recommendations, essentially, to change the bylaws to 24 update and reflect changes to the administrative -- 25 the County's Administrative Code. The attorney has a 32 MONTHLY MEETING 1 copy of the -- a soft copy of the -- a digital copy 2 of the bylaws changes and we should be moving on 3 those in the near future. 4 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Everybody was 5 supplied with the copies, right? 6 MR. GLATMAN: Everyone has hard 7 copies. 8 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Nothing 9 amended. 10 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the bylaw 11 amendments were not finalized and we should be 12 getting them for the November meeting. 13 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Oh, okay. 14 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: All right. 15 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Could we have 16 a copy of the amendments to see what's going through 17 or -- 18 MR. MARKS: Sure. Sure. Sure. 19 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Okay. Thank 20 you. 21 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: So we can't do the 22 reading or we can't approve as of today? 23 MR. MARKS: Not as of today, Mr. 24 Chairman. 25 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. So postpone 33 MONTHLY MEETING 1 for the next meeting. 2 Okay. Arthur, I just receive a letter from 3 Mr. -- 4 MR. GLATMAN: Is that -- 5 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: -- Howard Barmad from 6 North Bergen. 7 MR. GLATMAN: Right. Yes. 8 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: And this is in 9 reference to one of the applications which is still 10 pending and it didn't come in front of our Board yet. 11 MR. GLATMAN: No. It's not yet before 12 our Board. It will be on the next meeting. 13 The Site Plan Committee sat down with our 14 recommendations, with our experts, with the 15 applicants. Numerous changes have been made to the 16 plan. We will address the questions raised by the -- 17 by this letter. It addresses, in particular, the 18 visual impact of this project is at the foot of the 19 Palisades. It does not go above the Palisades. It 20 stops, I guess about 40 feet below the top of the 21 Palisades. What distinguishes this from many of the 22 other situations, and the ones that he cites, this 23 site was specifically zoned for development. When 24 the local zoning was done, they specifically moved 25 down from above the Palisades to below the Palisades 34 MONTHLY MEETING 1 to protect the vision going into New York and also 2 some of the westward vision into the Palisades, so at 3 least part of the Palisades will remain visible. 4 It's something where they did spend specific time. 5 These other cases, those issues were not particularly 6 addressed. That's something we'll discuss when the 7 application's here. Counsel for the applicant has 8 been advised that I thought it was a good idea if 9 they brief, also, but discussing with the attorney, 10 Miss Berkenwall, and I made some suggestions to her, 11 and they will, they will brief it and I will brief 12 it, also, and it's for the Board to decide. As I 13 said, it's an issue that he raises, very valid issue, 14 and to a certain extent, I think it's legitimately 15 addressed by the municipality. 16 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. I understand, 17 but so far the case is not present in front of us, so 18 we can't discuss or we can't make any comment on the 19 particular issue. 20 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: No. 21 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: So, the mean time, I 22 will suggest, still, to hold on to this letter and 23 keep it on file and when the case will be presented 24 in front of us, as a public comment, as a part of the 25 record, we can take this letter on the record. 35 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. GLATMAN: Okay. 2 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Any other new 3 business? 4 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Mr. Chairman, I 5 want to go back to the bylaws. 6 Shouldn't we address the two items first? If 7 the applicant doesn't show twice, he's out, and, 8 second, if the application's submitted and for 9 whatever reason Planning Board doesn't take action on 10 that, what happens then? I don't know. Steve might 11 be on, on the sick leave or something like that and 12 for some reason for 30 days we don't take action, is 13 there anything which would be addressed on that? 14 MR. GLATMAN: Well, what we can do, 15 and very simply, what we can do is, if we have a 16 situation where we can't meet or there's some delay, 17 first question is, was the applicant -- application 18 actually complete. 19 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Right. 20 MR. GLATMAN: So no time runs if it's 21 not complete, and then the second, you'd ask for a 22 waiver of the time, and most applicants will, indeed, 23 you know, address or grant any waiver if it's 24 necessary. Otherwise, if the Board has a special 25 meeting, we can address it, and, if necessary, the 36 MONTHLY MEETING 1 Board also has a right on any application, even if 2 it's deemed complete, to request additional 3 information, and that will toll any time span. 4 COMMISSIONER JASEK: All right. You 5 feel that there is no need to? 6 MR. GLATMAN: Not really. It's in the 7 statute, so it's addressed. 8 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Okay. Good. 9 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I think those type of 10 issues are addressed on Roberts Rules, anyway. Like, 11 if quorum doesn't happen and we can't have a meeting, 12 it is postponed to the next meeting, anyway. 13 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Umm-hum. 14 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: And if attorney feels 15 like, to put it in writing, it's a different story, 16 but I think it's under Robert's Rules, anyway. 17 Am I right? 18 MR. GLATMAN: Roberts Rules is used by 19 the Board, but it's not binding. I would suggest 20 that we put in a clause, if an applicant does not 21 show up without a reason, does not request an 22 adjournment, you know, the matter will be dismissed, 23 so there's no question. 24 COMMISSIONER JASEK: All right. 25 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. So you are 37 MONTHLY MEETING 1 still working on the bylaws so you can amend this one 2 item. 3 MR. GLATMAN: Sure. 4 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: And as soon as 5 possible, can you just submit all the amended or 6 proposed amendments to all the commissioners? 7 MR. MARKS: Definitely, Mr. Chairman. 8 I'll work with the attorney. 9 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Do you think you 10 need, again, committee meeting or you will be fine? 11 MR. GLATMAN: No. It's just cleaning 12 it up. We can do that. I'm not going to have a 13 meeting. 14 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. I think next 15 meeting is November 15th, is Monday. 16 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I have a few 17 housekeeping items. 18 I was contacted by one commissioner who 19 requested business cards, so I will -- for the New 20 Jersey State League of Municipalities, so I have a 21 form here, if the commissioners request a set of 22 cards to give out to contact people. I have, 23 basically, a form to fill out, if you'd like to put 24 in your personal information related to telephone 25 numbers or e-mail addresses, and I would ask the 38 MONTHLY MEETING 1 commissioners, before they leave tonight, just to -- 2 if they're interested in getting copies of business 3 cards printed up, just to fill the information, so I 4 will pass this along right now. 5 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Okay. 6 MR. MARKS: Sorry. Thank you. 7 Also, Mr. Chairman, I did receive a voucher 8 back from the State League Municipalities. Everybody 9 who requested to be registered for the conference has 10 been registered for the conference. That's the 11 conference registration, not the hotel registration. 12 I sent in the hotel registrations for the 13 accommodations for all the Board Members who 14 requested it, and each commissioner individually 15 should be contacted by the hotels themselves. The 16 request form was put through from my office, but the, 17 the hotel should be contacting everybody 18 individually. 19 And the third point was the next -- the date 20 of the next meeting is on a Monday, November 15th. 21 That is the week of the League Municipalities 22 Conference. It was moved to a Monday because the 23 conference spans from Tuesday, the 16th, through 24 Friday, the 19th, so the -- on the annual meeting 25 schedule, which was adopted in January, the 39 MONTHLY MEETING 1 Wednesday, the Regular Wednesday Meeting was moved to 2 Monday, the 15th. 3 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Does any commissioner 4 have any objection or problem with the Monday date? 5 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I don't 6 have an objection. I won't be able to attend the 7 15th. I have another engagement someplace. 8 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Anybody else? 9 Okay. I think, then, we hope we will have a 10 quorum and we'll continue closer with the number 15 11 date. 12 MR. MARKS: And one final item, Mr. 13 Chairman. 14 I was in contact with the County 15 Administrator and the Freeholder Chairman, Freeholder 16 Jeffrey Dublin, who is a new Freeholder, was 17 appointed as the Freeholder Alternate for the Hudson 18 County Planning Board. His name has been -- he was 19 sworn in as a Freeholder, so I believe, as an 20 alternate, he's automatically a member of this 21 Board. He has been sent information related to the 22 Meeting Agenda and the schedule and his name has been 23 added to the -- for the Planning Board. 24 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Question. 25 When the regular Freeholder isn't here, 40 MONTHLY MEETING 1 shouldn't he not be notified to be here to take 2 over? 3 MR. MARKS: He was notified of today's 4 meeting. 5 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Okay. 6 MR. MARKS: Also, by statute, and 7 we're resolving with the Clerk of the Freeholder 8 Board and the Council to the Freeholder Board, by 9 statute, the County Planning Board has nine members, 10 two of which are supposed to be freeholders. The 11 freeholders may have an alternate. Mr. Dublin, 12 Freeholder Dublin was appointed as the Freeholder 13 Alternate, but there is a vacancy in the second 14 freeholder member, so in speaking with the Board 15 Attorney, Mr. Glatman, I believe he would be, so long 16 as there is no second Freeholder Member, he would be 17 entitled to be, to be a voting member. 18 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: I already had 19 opportunity to speak to County Executive and I 20 mentioned about the current situation and he 21 requested the bylaws and statutes, or you can say he 22 will work with Freeholder Chairman Sal Vega, and if 23 it's necessary, appoint one extra freeholder on the 24 Board, and regarding, I think one of, one public 25 member for the alternate, also. 41 MONTHLY MEETING 1 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, by statute 2 and by the County Planning Board Bylaws, the Planning 3 Board is entitled to two citizen alternates, 4 alternates for the citizen members, so the County 5 Executive along with the Freeholder Board may appoint 6 up to two. 7 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Yes. That's the one, 8 I already spoke to County Executive, and you can say, 9 hopefully, in short time we will have an alternate, 10 also, so we'll have a full Board so we will not have 11 a future problem for the quorum. 12 Any other new business? 13 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I'd like to 14 say that I'm glad to see that the County Executive is 15 being very interested in this Board, and a few of us 16 old board members here remember when we couldn't fill 17 a quorum and we had people waiting, and, and I'm glad 18 they're taking, that the County Executive is 19 taking -- is very interested in filling this board to 20 move this county forward with a development. 21 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Thank you. I think 22 the County Executive itself, so that he's appreciate 23 the work our Board is doing so far. 24 Okay. If there's not any other old or new 25 business, do I have a motion for adjournment? 42 MONTHLY MEETING 1 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll make 2 that motion. 3 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: To adjourn? 4 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: To adjourn. 5 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I'll second. 6 CHAIRMAN MEHTA: Everybody say aye. 7 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 8 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 9 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Aye. 10 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 11 COMMISSIONER CHOFFO: Aye. 12 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 13 (At 8:00 p.m., proceedings were concluded.) 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 E 3 I, MICHELLE GRUENDEL, a Notary Public and 4 Certified Shorthand Reporter of the State of New 5 Jersey do hereby CERTIFY that the foregoing is a true 6 and accurate transcript of the testimony as taken 7 stenographically by and before me at the time, place 8 and on the date hereinbefore set forth, to the best 9 of my ability. 10 I DO FURTHER TESTIFY that I am neither 11 a relative, nor employee, nor attorney, nor counsel 12 of any parties to this action, and that I am neither 13 a relative nor employee of such attorney or counsel, 14 and that I am not financially interested in the 15 action. 16 17 18 MICHELLE GRUENDEL, C.S.R. License No. XI01905 19 20 21 22 23 24 25