- 1 - 1 HUDSON COUNTY PLANNING BOARD 2 RE: ) 3 MONTHLY MEETING ) TRANSCRIPT OF ) PROCEEDINGS: 4 - - - - - - - - - - - - - ) County Annex Building 5 567 Pavonia Avenue Third Floor Freeholders Chambers 6 Jersey City, New Jersey Wednesday, September 19, 2007 7 6:30 p.m. BEFORE: 8 DANIEL CHOFFO, Chairman 9 JUDE FITZGIBBONS, Vice-Chair 10 MARY AVAGLIANO, Commissioner 11 RENEE BETTINGER, Commissioner 12 JEFFREY DUBLIN, Commissioner 13 BORIVOJ JASEK, PE, PP, Commissioner 14 RUSHABH MEHTA, Commissioner 15 16 ALSO PRESENT: 17 JOHN J. COLLINS, ESQ., Board Attorney 18 MARIO TRIDENTE, Board Inspector 19 STEPHEN MARKS, PP, AICP, Planning Director 20 21 Reported by: 22 Mark Weinberg 23 Veritext Court Reporting 24 25 - 2 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Good evening 3 everyone. I would like to call to order the 4 meeting of the Hudson County Planning Board 5 for this evening, Wednesday, September 19th. 6 Mr. Counselor, has this meeting been properly 7 advertised? 8 MR. COLLINS: Mr. Chairman, notice 9 of this public meeting was published in the 10 Jersey Journal and posted on the bulletin 11 boards of the clerk of the city of Jersey City 12 and the clerk of the county of Hudson and 13 subscribes to the Open Public Meetings Act. 14 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Can I please have 15 a roll call? 16 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Avagliano? 17 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Here. 18 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 19 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Here. 20 MR. MARKS: Commissioner DiDomenico? 21 Is not present. Commissioner Dublin? Is not 22 present. Commissioner Fitzgibbons? 23 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Here. 24 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 25 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Present. - 3 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Holloway? 3 Is not present. Commissioner Mehta? 4 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: Here. 5 MR. MARKS: Commissioner NG? Is not 6 present. Chairman Choffo? 7 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Here. 8 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, we have a 9 quorum. 10 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Thank you. Would 11 everyone please rise to salute the flag? 12 (Pledge of Allegiance) 13 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Could I just 14 remind everyone to speak into their 15 microphones for the court reporter so we could 16 get copy for the minutes? Proceed, Steve. 17 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, adoption 18 of the meeting minutes from August 15th, 2007, 19 is there a motion. 20 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Do I have a 21 motion? 22 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: I make a 23 motion. 24 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Second. 25 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a - 4 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 motion to approve the meeting minutes from 3 August 15th, 2007 made by Commissioner Mehta, 4 seconded by Commissioner Avagliano, 5 Commissioner Avagliano? 6 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 7 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 8 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 9 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 10 Fitzgibbons? 11 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 12 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 13 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 14 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Mehta? 15 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: Aye. 16 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 17 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Aye. 18 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 19 passed. Mr. Chairman, the memorialization of 20 resolutions approved, conditionally approved 21 or denied at the last meeting beginning with 22 the Municipal Stormwater Management Plan, -05 23 for the City of Bayonne; the Municipal 24 Stormwater Management Plan, -07 for the City 25 of Jersey City; Application SP-102-06, Hartz - 5 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 Mountain Industries, Inc. for Harmon Meadow, 3 Block 227, Lot 5.03 in Secaucus; Application 4 SP-30-07, Mori Properties, located on Paterson 5 Plank Road, Block 227, Lot 9 in Secaucus; and 6 Application SP-40-07, C.C. Rental, located at 7 230 Secaucus Road which is Block 62, Lot 3.02 8 also in Secaucus. 9 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Do I have a 10 motion? 11 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll make a 12 motion. 13 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Second. 14 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman , on a 15 motion made by Commissioner Bettinger and 16 seconded by Commissioner Avagliano, 17 Commissioner Avagliano? 18 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 19 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 20 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 21 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 22 Fitzgibbons? 23 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 24 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 25 CHAIRMAN JASEK: Aye. - 6 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Mehta? 3 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: Abstain. 4 MR. MARKS: Abstain. Chairman 5 Choffo? 6 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: I vote aye. 7 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 8 passed. Next is applications declared exempt 9 beginning with SP-56-07, RPL Holdings, Inc. 10 located at 250 East 22nd Street which is Block 11 476.02 and Block 477.02 in the City of 12 Bayonne; and Application SP-60-07, NY SMSA 13 Verizon Wireless located 5707 Hudson Avenue, 14 which is Block 70, Lots 19.01 and 19.02 in the 15 town of West New York. 16 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Do I have a 17 motion? 18 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: I make a 19 motion. 20 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll second 21 the motion. 22 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a 23 motion made by Commissioner Bettinger and 24 seconded by Commis -- I'm sorry. On a motion 25 made by Commissioner Mehta and seconded by - 7 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 Commissioner Avagliano, Commissioner 3 Avagliano? 4 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 5 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 6 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 7 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 8 Fitzgibbons? 9 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 10 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 11 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 12 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Mehta? 13 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: Aye. 14 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 15 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: I vote aye. 16 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 17 passed. Next on the agenda is site plans and 18 subdivisions scheduled for hearing beginning 19 with MSMP-06 which is the Municipal Stormwater 20 Management Plan-06 for the city of Hoboken. 21 Mr. Chairman, there were two errors on the 22 agenda for this evening. The city of 23 Hoboken's Stormwater Management Plan was 24 actually listed on the agenda under 25 applications to be memorialized. Since they - 8 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 weren't here last month, it should have 3 appeared under applications for public 4 hearing. I was in conversation with the 5 consulting engineer from Schoor DePalma for 6 the city of Hoboken. He was actually either 7 going on vacation or out of the state for this 8 meeting and he couldn't have anybody cover for 9 him so he had requested that the Hoboken 10 stormwater plan be postponed, that the public 11 hearing for the plan be postponed or adjourned 12 until next month. 13 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: All right. Do I 14 have a motion to adjourn? 15 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 16 motion. 17 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: I second. 18 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a 19 motion to adjourn MSMP-06 made by Commissioner 20 Fitzgibbons, seconded by Commissioner Mehta, 21 Commissioner Avagliano? 22 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 23 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 24 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 25 MR. MARKS: Commissioner - 9 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 Fitzgibbons? 3 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 4 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 5 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 6 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Mehta? 7 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: Aye. 8 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 9 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Aye. 10 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 11 passed. Next on the agenda is Application SP- 12 37-07, New Cingular Wireless PCS located at 13 410 Palisade Avenue which is Block 190, Lot 31 14 in the city of Union City. 15 Mr. Chairman, this application, too, 16 the application was here in June. This was 17 the building that was adjacent to the south 18 wing of the viaduct which had collapsed and we 19 were concerned about the structural integrity 20 of the basement. It was adjourned from June 21 until August. They requested another 22 adjournment from August till this month and 23 the structural report that the engineer was 24 preparing wasn't ready as of today's meeting. 25 So they, too -- I believe the letter from the - 10 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 attorneys in your packages this evening and 3 they're requesting an adjournment till next 4 month to complete the structural integrity 5 report. 6 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: All right. Do I 7 have a motion to adjourn this application? 8 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 9 motion. 10 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Second. 11 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a 12 motion to adjourn Application SP-37-07 made by 13 Commissioner Fitzgibbons and seconded by 14 Commissioner Jasek, Commissioner Avagliano? 15 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 16 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 17 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 18 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 19 Fitzgibbons? 20 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 21 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 22 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 23 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Mehta? 24 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: Aye. 25 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? - 11 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Aye. 3 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 4 passed. And finally, Mr. Chairman, the first 5 application scheduled for public hearing is 6 SP/SD-48-07, Regan Development Corp., located 7 at 498-14 Broadway in the town of West New 8 York and city of Union City. 9 MR. BRIGLIADORO: Good evening, Mr. 10 Chairman, members of the board. 11 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Please state your 12 name for the record and spell your last name. 13 MR. BRIGLIADORO: Absolutely. My 14 name is Richard, last name, Brigliadoro, B as 15 in boy, R-I-G-L-I-A-D-O-R-O and I'm an 16 attorney with the law firm Weiner Lesniak on 17 behalf of the applicant. 18 Mr. Chairman, members of the board, 19 we are very pleased to be here tonight before 20 you in regard to what we think is a really 21 nice application. It's a fifty-two unit 22 residential development which is located at 23 the intersection of Broadway and 49th Street 24 on the border of two municipalities, the town 25 of West New York and the city of Union City. - 12 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 What we are proposing is fifty-two 3 residential units, ten of which will be for 4 developmentally disabled individuals but all 5 fifty-two units will be affordable rental 6 units. 7 We have gone to the city of Union 8 City Zoning Board of Adjustment and we were 9 approved before them and we have a resolution 10 that was adopted and memorialized by the board 11 on August 9th. And if Mr. Marks doesn't have 12 that, I can provide you with a copy here 13 tonight. 14 In addition to that, what we are 15 proposing is four stories of living space over 16 one below grade parking level, one at grade 17 parking level and we also have a commercial 18 component with approximately 2600 square feet 19 of commercial space on the first level. 20 We have also filed our application 21 for development with the town of West New York 22 Zoning Board of Adjustment and that 23 application is on file. We have review 24 reports and we expect a hearing date very 25 shortly. We are also working with both the - 13 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 city of Union City and the town of West New 3 York in regard to getting an inter-municipal 4 agreement together between those 5 municipalities because, as I said, basically, 6 half of our building is going to be within 7 Union City and half of the building is going 8 to be within the town of West New York. 9 I have here with me tonight three 10 individuals in case the board has any 11 questions. I'd like to introduce them to you, 12 if I may, very briefly. Seated in the front 13 row is our site engineer, Mr. Calisto Bertin. 14 And in the second row behind him in the first 15 chair is Mr. Jose Carbajo, our architect. And 16 seated to his left is Mr. Larry Regan, the 17 developer. 18 We're also in receipt of Mr. Marks' 19 letter, review letter, dated September 10th, 20 and I will tell you that we have absolutely no 21 problem in complying with any terms and 22 conditions contained within that letter. In 23 particular, there are two items, items 5 and 24 6. One asks us to provide some additional 25 shade trees on 49th Street and on Broadway - 14 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 near 50th, which we're more than happy to do. 3 And also we will provide a bike rack as 4 requested by Mr. Marks. 5 That's a brief overview and if you 6 want to hear from anybody, we'd be happy to 7 present the board with whatever information 8 you would like. 9 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Could Mr. Bertin 10 explain the project to the board? 11 MR. BRIGLIADORO: Absolutely. 12 MR. BERTIN: Good evening. 13 MR. COLLINS: Can you please state 14 your name for the record, please, and spell 15 your last name? 16 MR. BERTIN: Yes. Calisto Bertin, 17 C-A-L-I-S-T-O B-E-R-T-I-N. 18 C A L I S T O B E R T I N, having been first 19 duly sworn according to law, testified as 20 follows: 21 MR. COLLINS: Can you please state 22 your qualifications for acception as an 23 expert? 24 MR. BERTIN: Oh, I'm a licensed 25 professional engineer in the state of New - 15 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 Jersey. I've been preparing site plans since 3 1985 or 86 and I've appeared before this body 4 on numerous occasions. 5 MR. COLLINS: Thank you. Mr. 6 Chairman, satisfied. 7 MR. BERTIN: As was just explained, 8 this is a site. It's a 19,000 square foot 9 site and it straddles two municipalities. The 10 municipal line runs right through the center 11 of the site. Currently, there are industrial 12 type buildings and old generator repair 13 manufacturing facilities there now. And we're 14 across the street from the firehouse. What we 15 do is propose to obviously to take down all 16 the buildings that are there and construct a 17 building that occupies almost the entire site. 18 We will have one driveway on 49th Street. 19 Broadway is at the bottom of this page and 20 49th Street is on the side. 21 When we come in from 49th Street, 22 there's an at grade parking garage and then 23 there's a ramp within the building that goes 24 down to a parking level below. There's a 25 total of fifty-nine parking spaces. There's - 16 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 also two small retail components that face on 3 Broadway. You can see there's quite a lot of 4 wide sidewalk on Broadway. Right now it's in 5 disrepair. There's sidewalk in some areas; 6 the rest of it is driveway and asphalt. 7 That's all going to be replaced, all the curbs 8 and sidewalks on both Broadway and 49th Street 9 will be redone. And there's fifty-two 10 residential units. 11 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Primarily one- 12 bedrooms? 13 MR. BERTIN: Yes. I forgot the 14 next -- I'm sorry. I should remember this. 15 Okay. There's eight one-bedroom units, 16 twenty-eight two bedroom units and sixteen 17 three-bedroom units. 18 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Any questions from 19 the board? 20 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: I think, 21 Chairman, in the application it says number of 22 dwelling, fifty-two, and number of bedrooms, 23 sixty-five. So I think according to their 24 information, the number of bedrooms will be 25 more than 100. - 17 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 MR. BERTIN: If that's -- we add 3 that up -- I could do that but it might be. 4 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: So which would it 5 be? Your application states sixty-five 6 bedrooms. 7 MR. BERTIN: I guess we'll have to 8 go by what's on the plans, both the 9 architectural plans and our plans, where the 10 distribution of units probably has changed. I 11 don't know why it's written that way but -- 12 you want me to -- 13 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: And you have 14 only sixty-one parking space? 15 MR. BERTIN: We have fifty-nine 16 parking spaces? 17 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: So that's also 18 wrong on the application. 19 MR. BERTIN: Well, probably when the 20 application was made, it was an earlier 21 version of the plan. This plan has gone 22 through some changes both in terms of access 23 and the design of the building. So that's 24 probably the discrepancy. But the plans that 25 were submitted have all the information as - 18 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 I've just relayed to you. 3 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: So plan is 4 regard to approval from Union City but they 5 didn't get the approval from West New York 6 yet? 7 MR. BERTIN: No. We've been waiting 8 to get on the agenda in West New York. 9 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: When do you expect 10 to be on West New York? 11 MR. BRIGLIADORO: Mr. Chairman, we 12 filed our application in the middle of June so 13 we expect to be on the agenda shortly. 14 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: All right. Could 15 you make sure that Mr. Marks gets a copy of 16 Union City's resolution and if you do get 17 approved by West New York, we'd like a copy of 18 that also? 19 MR. BRIGLIADORO: Mr. Chairman, I'll 20 tell you what. I'll give Mr. Marks the 21 resolution right now from Union City. 22 MR. BERTIN: And one other aspect 23 you should note if you didn't pick it up from 24 the initial presentation, this is 100 percent 25 affordable housing. - 19 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Is it HUD 3 money? 4 MR. BERTIN: No. 5 MR. BRIGLIADORO: Mr. Chairman, if 6 you need more specific information as to that, 7 I have Mr. Regan who can tell you the funding. 8 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: If he doesn't 9 mind. 10 MR. BRIGLIADORO: Not at all, sir. 11 MR. COLLINS: Please state your name 12 for the record. 13 MR. REGAN: Larry Regan, president, 14 Regan Development Corporation. 15 MR. COLLINS: Please spell your last 16 name. 17 MR. REGAN: R-E-G-A-N. 18 L A R R Y R E G A N, having been first duly 19 sworn according to law, testified as follows: 20 MR. REGAN: To the board members and 21 Mr. Chairman, we've been planning this 22 development with the cooperation of both the 23 municipalities of West New York and Union 24 City. As you've heard, this property sort of 25 splits the difference between the two - 20 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 municipalities and it's quite an interesting 3 political situation; we've been enjoying the 4 positive situation. But o this issue, 5 everybody's on the same page. Both 6 municipalities are fully supportive of this 7 development as 100 percent affordable housing 8 being funded through predominantly three 9 sources, the state of New Jersey Housing 10 Mortgage Finance Agency, the state of New 11 Jersey Department of Community Affairs and 12 your Hudson County Office of Community 13 Development through the good leadership of 14 Susan Merds (ph.). Susan is in the process of 15 committing funds to write down the rents to do 16 a hundred percent affordable housing. One, 17 two and three-bedroom family units. This is 18 primarily -- though it is allowable for senior 19 citizen housing, what the focus of both 20 municipalities was to provide family work 21 force rental units at an affordable price for 22 their current residents and Hudson County 23 residents. 24 With that, there's also an 25 additional component. We'll be working with - 21 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 the Arc of Hudson County to provide ten 3 special needs housing units for persons or 4 families with persons with developmental 5 disabilities. 6 So, as our attorney stated, it is 7 all hundred percent affordable. I'm happy to 8 answer any particular questions on the 9 financing. 10 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Any questions? 11 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: Where the -- 12 you're going to keep living in the units. 13 Where -- which school they will go? Union 14 City or West New York? 15 MR. REGAN: We have a meeting 16 scheduled for the 2 -- next Thursday with the 17 attorneys and the municipal leadership of both 18 municipalities to go over exactly those 19 issues. That is on the minds of both 20 municipalities. Both municipalities have 21 planned on coming together to go over items 22 such as that, who's going to provide fire, 23 who's going to provide the police, who's going 24 to pro -- which schools are the kids going to 25 go to. That is where we're headed on Tuesday - 22 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 and both municipalities are looking forward to 3 the meeting to resolve it quite quickly. 4 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I think 5 the only problem will be the police and the 6 board of education. Fire department is a 7 regional -- Hudson regional. So I can't see 8 any of them turning this thing down. I can't 9 see West New York turning this down, you 10 know -- 11 MR. REGAN: Right. 12 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: -- 13 because it's beneficial for them. The only 14 argument is, is Union City going to control 15 one half of the building or West New York's 16 going to control the other half of the 17 building. 18 MR. REGAN: I think that's going to 19 be the most -- you know, how we're going to 20 deal -- the policing is the most pertinent. 21 The schools, Union City and West New York have 22 both in principle agreed to a payment of lieu 23 of tax agreement so that they're going to 24 split the tax ratables for the building in 25 total. As Calisto has said, the line is right - 23 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 in the middle, so it's fifty/fifty and that 3 fifty percent of the taxes will go to the 4 school districts in one and fifty percent in 5 the other. I assume it's going to be that way 6 but we'll be happy to let this board know 7 after Tuesday. 8 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Well, I 9 could suggest that Union City do the day 10 patrols and at night West New York patrols 11 there. 12 MR. REGAN: Okay. Thank you for 13 your advice. 14 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Mr. Chairman, 15 what will be the address? One address or two 16 addresses? 17 MR. REGAN: I have no idea. 18 MR. BERTIN: Well, the door happens 19 to be on the municipality -- 20 MR. REGAN: We'll find out. 21 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: And 22 you're lucky because the road you're building 23 could have been part of North Bergen, too. 24 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: No, it 25 didn't -- the back side is in North Bergen so - 24 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 it will be in -- 3 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Any other 4 questions? Do I have a motion? 5 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 6 motion to accept. 7 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll second 8 the motion. 9 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a 10 motion to approve Application SP/SD-48-07 made 11 by Commissioner Fitzgibbons and seconded by 12 Commissioner Bettinger, Commissioner 13 Avagliano? 14 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 15 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 16 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I vote aye. 17 It looks like a wonderful project. Good luck. 18 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 19 Fitzgibbons? 20 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 21 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 22 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 23 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Mehta? 24 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: I vote aye. 25 And also get the information and the copy of - 25 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 the approval of West New York to Steve Marks. 3 MR. BRIGLIADORO: Commissioner, we'd 4 be happy to. As soon as we get into West New 5 York, get that approval, no problem. We'll 6 get it right away. 7 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: Because our 8 approval is only subject to the local 9 approval. 10 MR. BRIGLIADORO: Yes. Actually -- 11 and I don't mean to cut in during the motion 12 and the voting but one of the conditions of 13 Union City is that we enter into an inter- 14 municipal agreement with West New York. So we 15 know that, we're working on it. West New York 16 will also have a reciprocal term like that. 17 But I'm sorry, I don't want to intrude any 18 further. 19 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: That's okay. 20 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 21 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: I vote aye. Good 22 luck. 23 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 24 passed. 25 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: And if you could - - 26 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 - that agreement also, if you could just 3 provide Steve with a copy of that, the 4 interlocal agreement? If you don't mind, just 5 for our records. 6 MR. BRIGLIADORO: Mr. Chairman, 7 whatever you want, you got. Thank you so 8 much. 9 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Thank you very 10 much. 11 MR. BRIGLIADORO: We think it's a 12 terrific project. Thank you for your time. 13 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the next 14 application scheduled for hearing is SD-61-07, 15 Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc., located at 16 300-400 Park Plaza Drive which is Block 227, 17 Lot 4.06 in the town of Secaucus. 18 MR. HUGHES: Good evening, Mr. 19 Chairman, members of the board. My name is 20 David Hughes. I'm an attorney with Hartz 21 Mountain Industries in Secaucus, New Jersey. 22 This matter concerns a minor subdivision plan 23 which was filed on our property in the rear of 24 Harmon Meadow. This property was previously 25 declared exempt from the Hudson County review - 27 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 but I believe the board had several questions 3 concerning the plan itself. I have Mr. 4 Michael Ritchie, R-I-T-C-H-I-E, with me here 5 this evening of Azole and Furey (ph.) to 6 address any of your concerns. 7 MR. COLLINS: Please state your name 8 for the record and spell your last name again, 9 please. 10 MR. RITCHIE: R-I-T-C-H-I-E, 11 professional land surveyor. I've been doing 12 it for forty-five years. 13 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Could you just 14 state your full name, sir -- 15 MR. COLLINS: State your full name, 16 please. 17 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: -- for the record. 18 MR. RITCHIE: I'm sorry. Michael L. 19 Ritchie. 20 MR. COLLINS: Thank you. 21 M I C H A E L R I T C H I E, having been 22 first duly sworn according to law, testified 23 as follows: 24 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Could you just 25 explain the project to us? I know it's a - 28 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 subdivision but -- 3 MR. RITCHIE: There is no specific 4 project. There is simply a division of an 5 existing subdivision line at the rear of the 6 property. The project has been fully 7 developed. It exists today; it's already 8 there. All we're doing is simply subdividing 9 a very small portion of this existing plot 10 that's on the property. You might be able to 11 see it a little clearer on the second sheet. 12 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Can you please 13 mark your exhibits? 14 MR. RITCHIE: Sure. 15 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Thank you. 16 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Speak 17 into the microphone. 18 (Sheet 2 for application SD-61-07 was hereby 19 marked as Applicant's Exhibit A-1 for 20 identification, as of this date.) 21 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: He's marking it as 22 A-1 for the record. If you could just speak 23 into the microphone, gentlemen? 24 MR. RITCHIE: The entire track 25 is 34. -- roughly, 34.5 acres. That's the -- - 29 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 you could see it a little clearer down in the 3 lower right hand corner. We're cutting out 4 two parcels. One will be 2.42 acres and the 5 second one will be 1.73 acres which obviously 6 leaves the balance of the track about 30.5 7 acres. Basically, the piece of property now 8 is fully developed. The portions that we're 9 cutting out is currently used as a parking 10 area. And that's about as much as I could 11 tell you about it right now. 12 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: So it was a 13 parking lot, you sub-divided and it's still a 14 parking lot? 15 MR. RITCHIE: It's an existing 16 parking lot now, yes. 17 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Is there going to 18 be parking back on it or it's going to remain 19 a flat service? 20 MR. HUGHES: It's going to remain a 21 flat surface. 22 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Well, it 23 hasn't affected the county, right? There's 24 nothing to do with the county roads or 25 anything like that, right? - 30 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the law in 3 this, the County Planning Act, basically gives 4 the county planning board jurisdiction over 5 site plans along county roads and affecting 6 county drainage facilities, which this is not. 7 And any subdivision affecting a county road or 8 a county drainage facility. And it was just 9 with regard to the previous application by 10 Hartz Mountain from last month. That was 11 memorialized today. They were putting in 12 Hartz Mountain as the applicant was putting in 13 a parking deck. And it was the concern of the 14 site plan and subdivision review committee 15 whether even though this particular parcel or 16 proposed parcel is not directly along a county 17 road, whether Hartz Mountain or some other 18 interest or entity was also proposing or had 19 plans to clear the parking garage or some 20 other deck that would accommodate a lot more. 21 So that was the concern of the committee and 22 the committee examined the application and it 23 wasn't apparent in the application. If there 24 is no impact and there's no affect on the 25 county road and they're not increasing their - 31 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 intensity of bulk density of the use, then it 3 should be declared exempt from planning board 4 review. If they're subdividing it to put in 5 something that's larger that could potentially 6 through -- I believe it's Harmon Meadow 7 Boulevard or -- that leads to Paterson Plank 8 Road, then potentially there could be an 9 impact. So that was the concern of the 10 committee. 11 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: All right. Mr. 12 Jasek, you have any questions? 13 COMMISSIONER JASEK: No, Mr. 14 Chairman. I make the motion to exempt this 15 application from the county planning board 16 jurisdiction. 17 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I second 18 it. 19 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a 20 motion made by Commissioner Jasek and seconded 21 by Commissioner Fitzgibbons, Commissioner 22 Avagliano? 23 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 24 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 25 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. - 32 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 3 Fitzgibbons? 4 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 5 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 6 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 7 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Mehta? 8 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: Aye. 9 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 10 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: I vote aye. 11 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 12 passed. 13 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Thank you. 14 MR. HUGHES: Thank you, Mr. 15 Chairman. Have a good evening. 16 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the next 17 application scheduled for public hearing is 18 SP-62-07, Louis Stefano, applicant, located 19 833 Willow Avenue which is Block 170, Lot 13 20 in the city of Hoboken. Mr. Chairman, just 21 one -- there was -- I said before there were 22 two errors on the agenda this evening. The 23 first was with regard to the Hoboken Municipal 24 Stormwater Plan. The second was on this 25 application, the block and the lot were - 33 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 actually juxtaposed and it appeared originally 3 on the agenda as Block 13, Lot 170 and it's 4 actually the reverse of that. So that 5 addresses the discrepancy. 6 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: So it's Block 170, 7 Lot -- 8 MR. MARKS: It's Block 170, Lot 13. 9 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: -- 13? 10 MR. MARKS: And that will be 11 corrected when the -- if approved, that will 12 be corrected when the application becomes 13 memorialized. 14 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Thank you, Steve. 15 Good evening. 16 MR. TAPIA: Hi, good evening. My 17 name is Edwin Tapia. I'm with Foley, Perlman 18 & Campbell in the city of Hoboken on behalf of 19 the applicant, Louis Stefano. 20 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Can you please 21 spell your last name, please? 22 MR. TAPIA: Tapia, T-A-P-I-A. 23 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Thank you. 24 MR. TAPIA: It's in regards to 833 25 Willow Avenue, as you know. - 34 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 Just by way of a background, this 3 application was submitted to the Hoboken 4 Zoning Board on July 17th and it was approved 5 for a five story five-unit structure. We 6 sought certain variances for that approval. 7 It was an existing Chinese restaurant of which 8 four stories were constructed over the 9 existing structure. 10 By way of also a footnote, it was 11 our intention to bring this evening a copy of 12 the final resolution. But in trying to secure 13 that, the city attorney has notified us that 14 there were some technical issues with regards 15 to the board minutes and he assured us that as 16 soon as they secured those, he'll issue that 17 final resolution. And of course, we will 18 update and supplement our application. He's 19 also graciously offered to provide any memo, a 20 letter or anything that the board would 21 require to attest to that fact. 22 Just as a final note, again, this 23 property is situated on a county road and 24 proposes no curb cuts or no road openings and 25 it's going to preserve the existing - 35 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 streetscape and fortunately we have with us 3 this evening Mr. Caramia of ICOM Architects 4 who was our architect on the project and I'd 5 like to take a minute to introduce him and see 6 if the board has any questions, Mr. Caramia 7 can certainly answer them. 8 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Please state your 9 name for the record and spell your last name. 10 MR. CARAMIA: Ignacious Caramia, C- 11 A-R-A-M-I-A. 12 I G N A C I O U S C A R A M I A, having been 13 first duly sworn according to law, testified 14 as follows: 15 MR. COLLINS: And can you please 16 state your qualifications for acceptance as an 17 expert? 18 MR. CARAMIA: I'm a licensed 19 architect with over twenty years experience. 20 MR. COLLINS: Thank you. 21 MR. CARAMIA: I've appeared before 22 numerous boards. 23 MR. COLLINS: Thank you. 24 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Proceed. 25 MR. CARAMIA: If anyone has any - 36 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 questions -- but I can go through the project 3 and just walk the board through it. 4 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: If you could 5 explain it to us. 6 MR. CARAMIA: As Mr. Tapia indicated 7 earlier, it was a one-story structure which we 8 are -- with a Chinese restaurant at the base 9 which we are renovating and altering. And I 10 would hasten to say adding on to -- we are 11 adding four stories to it. It will be a five- 12 story, five-unit apartment building, in 13 effect. Again, as he said, we are making the 14 streetscape. We are providing shade tree in 15 the front. We are not changing the footprint 16 of the building although the upper floors are 17 smaller than the lower floors. If I can just 18 get to the other plan -- 19 MR. COLLINS: Can you please mark 20 your exhibits? 21 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Can you just 22 identify and mark that exhibit? 23 MR. CARAMIA: This is Sheet or Z-1 24 or A-1? 25 MR. COLLINS: If you could just mark - 37 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 that. 3 MR. CARAMIA: I'll mark -- Z-1 is 4 fine? 5 (Sheet for Application SP-62-07 was hereby 6 marked as Applicant's Exhibit Z-1 for 7 identification, as of this date.) 8 MR. CARAMIA: The second sheet 9 simply shows some of the site work that would 10 be involved with the site drainage, the tree, 11 the landscaping, the sidewalk repairs or 12 replacement, repairs to the curb or the street 13 itself if necessary, unlikely but covered in 14 any event. 15 The third sheet, Z-3, does indicate 16 the floor plans on each story, including the 17 roof plan. The ground floor, again, is a 18 deeper floor with one apartment unit in it and 19 the upper floors are more typical with, you 20 know, again, one unit on each floor, 21 handicapped accessible, elevator building, two 22 bedrooms per unit throughout. Again, five 23 stories, five units. 24 And finally, these are some, I 25 guess, miscellaneous views or illustrations - 38 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 indicating the composition or the percentages 3 of materials that is brake and metals and what 4 the breakdown is for the -- I guess, actually, 5 this one was really prepared for the Hoboken 6 planning board but we did include it in this - 7 - 8 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Is there a 9 basement or is this built on slab? 10 MR. CARAMIA: There is not a 11 basement. There is a basement presently but 12 it wouldn't -- we wouldn't use it. We would 13 back fill it. 14 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: You're 15 going to keep the existing structure that's 16 there? 17 MR. CARAMIA: We're not going to 18 keep it. I don't know what kid anybody into 19 thinking that we would actually bear on it but 20 it is an existing structure or it is an 21 existing footprint that we wanted to, you 22 know, maintain. I mean, there are walls 23 there. We could keep some of it. Our 24 foundation is going to be offset some. Again, 25 we haven't gotten into the construction - 39 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 documentation -- 3 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: And 4 there's another building that was just built 5 right next door to it, right? 6 MR. CARAMIA: That's correct. 7 That's correct. 8 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: What's 9 that address? 10 MR. CARAMIA: This is -- the 11 adjacent building? 12 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Yeah. 13 What is it? 14 MR. CARAMIA: That's 835. 15 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: 835. Can 16 I ask the -- that does not ring a bell to me. 17 835 Willow Avenue. Has it gone before this 18 board for approval? Do we know? 835 Willow? 19 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I will 20 check our database when we get back to the 21 office but I do not believe -- 22 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: 'Cause I 23 did have problems on that street and people 24 building structures without coming before the 25 board. - 40 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 MR. MARKS: I believe there is a 3 problem -- 4 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: This is 5 the first time that these people came before 6 the board and they did the right thing. We 7 have people not doing the right thing. 8 MR. MARKS: I agree. 9 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: You can check on 10 that, right, Steve? 11 MR. MARKS: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I've got 13 to say something. I ate in that restaurant 14 and, believe me, I had to suffer. I had a 15 quadruple bi-pass but I was at a few times by 16 the Board of Health and that's why they don't 17 insist. 18 MR. CARAMIA: Honestly, I asked Mr. 19 Tapia if he was going to characterize the 20 restaurant before we got up here just in case 21 anybody had been there before. So turns out - 22 - 23 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I don't 24 know. Mr. Jasek, do we have any problems with 25 that site? - 41 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Well, Mr. 3 Chairman, I don't know how we're going to deal 4 with this projection of the upper floors into 5 the county right away. In the past, we 6 brought to the attention of the Freeholders 7 and they would issue the easement for that. 8 That policy now has been put on hold so I have 9 no idea how we should address that at this 10 point. Maybe Mr. Mark knows more about it. 11 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Steve? 12 MR. MARKS: Mr. Caramia, does the 13 upper floors they actually project into the 14 county right-of-way? 15 MR. CARAMIA: They do. We have a 16 bay that projects out about two and a half, 17 three feet over the lot line -- or over -- 18 well, over the lot line, correct. But that's 19 the mechanism to kind of break up the facade 20 and help bring it down to scale some. Because 21 again, it is a five-story structure and it 22 does play off of some of the adjacent 23 properties and buildings. It plays with that 24 mix. 25 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I wouldn't - 42 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 recommend that the -- it's an architectural 3 feature which I wouldn't recommend be removed 4 from the application and the site plans. In 5 the past, the county has executed an easement 6 with property owners that are doing such -- 7 with such things. However, easements give the 8 property owners basically vested rights or 9 interest in the party. And I'm not sure if 10 that's the best way to go. The city of Jersey 11 City I know -- and town of Kearney both 12 whenever there's an encroachment that is part 13 of the site plans, they either issue a license 14 which gives basically temporary and revocable 15 permission to the property owner or they just 16 accept the encroachment. But if in the future 17 the -- in those particular circumstances the 18 city of Jersey City or the town of Kearney 19 need the right-of-way back then the ones and 20 the burden is on the developer to cease 21 encroaching. 22 So I believe that is probably the 23 way that the county is going is either a 24 license or an agreement to recognize the 25 encroachment. I would not recommend going - 43 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 down the path towards an easement. 3 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Well, we spoke 4 about this in the past. 5 MR. MARKS: Yes. 6 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: What -- do you 7 know -- Commissioner Jasek was asking. Do you 8 know what the freeholders' position is on this 9 or has it been resolved? 10 MR. MARKS: It's something that the 11 board had recommended a policy a year ago. 12 The law department basically put that on hold 13 and they wanted it to be part of a larger 14 package of recommendations or policies. And I 15 could tell you, it's a separate discussion 16 that doesn't impact this particular applicant, 17 but we will be updating the site plan and 18 subdivision resolution or site plan ordinance. 19 The freeholders this month will be awarding a 20 contract with H2M & Associates which was 21 recommended by this board and that's an issue 22 that's part of a larger package of changes 23 that will be included. 24 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: So we're able to 25 vote on this then? - 44 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 MR. MARKS: You'd be able to vote on 3 this. 4 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: All 5 right. I make a motion that we approve it. 6 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Any other 7 questions from commissioners? 8 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Is there 9 any parking? 10 MR. CARAMIA: No there's not. In 11 fact, it's not permitted by the Hoboken zoning 12 ordinance, any lots less than twenty-five feet 13 from where -- twenty-five or less. 14 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: One thing 15 I've noticed in the picture, Mr. Chairman, 16 that there's a fire hydrant. 17 MR. CARAMIA: That's correct. 18 That's there to stay. And -- well, okay. 19 There's a fire hydrant and a tree. We were 20 going to provide two trees but the fire 21 hydrant's there. We'll keep the fire hydrant. 22 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: I actually had one 23 more question. In your application, it states 24 that the Zoning Board of Adjustment for 25 Hoboken approved this -- is this correct, - 45 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 September of 2006? 3 MR. CARAMIA: That is correct. 4 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: And, you -- I'm 5 sorry. What did you say earlier, Mr. Tapia 6 about the resolution? 7 MR. TAPIA: Yeah. We made an 8 attempt to secure the final resolution from 9 the city's attorney's office, Mr. Doug Burns, 10 but apparently there was some either technical 11 glitch or some logistical issue with regards 12 to the board minutes. Mr. Burns has assured 13 us that once those board minutes are secured, 14 he'll prepare the final resolution and forward 15 it to our office. In the interim, he did say 16 that should you require a memo, a letter or 17 anything attesting to that fact that he's more 18 than willing to provide that. 19 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: We would like 20 something for our records. If you could 21 provide that to Mr. Marks. 22 MR. TAPIA: Absolutely. 23 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: So, Mr. Tridente, 24 you have anything? 25 MR. TRIDENTE: Do the site plans - 46 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 include removal of the sidewalks and the curb 3 cut? 4 MR. CARAMIA: Well, I indicated that 5 we do show standards for those sidewalks and 6 curb cuts. We haven't determined whether we 7 need to or -- I'm sure -- 8 MR. TRIDENTE: I would recommend 9 that the curbs and the sidewalks be brought up 10 to county standards. And that the curb cut -- 11 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: We have pictures 12 that we'll be reviewing -- I'm sorry, Mario. 13 MR. TRIDENTE: And I'm sure 14 Commissioner Jasek and the rest of the board 15 that sidewalk -- the curb -- it looks like a 16 whole depressed curb. 17 MR. CARAMIA: I don't want to spend 18 the owner's money when he's not here but I 19 will hasten to add that there are steps there 20 and there are things that have to be done to 21 that sidewalk. So, I mean -- and it's going 22 to get beat up as the construction takes 23 place. I wouldn't -- I certainly wouldn't 24 object to repairing or replacing it all if 25 that's -- - 47 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Usually when we 3 see sidewalks in this condition, that's one of 4 the -- 5 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Your 6 problem is when we do -- 7 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: -- requirements we 8 ask. 9 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: -- when 10 we do -- repair that site there with the 11 sidewalks, probably it's going to be unlevel 12 because you're probably going to have the best 13 sidewalk on that block. I know that area. 14 There's a lot of sidewalks -- 15 MR. CARAMIA: That's true. In fact, 16 there is a portion of sidewalk that we did 17 indicate that would have to be removed and 18 replaced but we didn't indicate that that 19 would be the whole -- the case for the whole 20 frontage. 21 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Okay, Mr. Marks. 22 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I do have 23 a question. I'm a little confused. The 24 applicant submitted a planning report which 25 was prepared by Edward Colling, PPA, ICP dated - 48 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 August 7th, 2006. On page 1 of the report, 3 under -- that's the third paragraph down, 4 Proposed Development, it says "The project 5 proposes to add a four story building over the 6 existing first story at a height of 7 approximately forty-seven feet as well as 8 extend the rear of the first floor by twenty 9 feet. A total of four residential units are 10 proposed over the ground floor. The ground 11 floor will have four parking spaces as well as 12 a lobby." Have the plans changed from this 13 report? 14 MR. TAPIA: No. The plans are as 15 they are before you today. And in my attempt 16 to clarify this discrepancy from the September 17 10th letter also which noted that there were 18 parking spaces, it was minor oversight in that 19 the plans -- the plans report submitted were 20 from a previous level of the project where we 21 had to modify. But the plans report was 22 merely for just reference -- 23 MR. MARKS: Okay. 24 MR. TAPIA: -- not for purposes of 25 the project. - 49 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 MR. MARKS: So there are no parking 3 spaces? 4 MR. TAPIA: No parking spaces, no. 5 MR. MARKS: Okay. And no need for a 6 curb cut or anything. 7 MR. TAPIA: No. 8 MR. MARKS: Okay. 9 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Can we just 10 clarify? Is there going to be a new curb and 11 sidewalk? 12 MR. CARAMIA: Yes. 13 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Just for the 14 record. 15 MR. CARAMIA: Yes. 16 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Any other 17 questions? 18 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 19 motion to approve. 20 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Second. 21 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a 22 motion to approve Application SP-62-07 made by 23 Commissioner Fitzgibbons and seconded by 24 Commissioner Jasek, Commissioner Avagliano? 25 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. - 50 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 3 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 4 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 5 Fitzgibbons? 6 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 7 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 8 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 9 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Mehta? 10 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: Aye. 11 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 12 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: I vote aye. Good 13 luck. 14 MR. TAPIA: Thank you. 15 MR. CARAMIA: Thank you. 16 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 17 passed. Mr. Chairman, the last application 18 scheduled for public hearing this evening is 19 SD-63-07, Bayonne Local Redevelopment 20 Authority, I believe, located at the Peninsula 21 at Bayonne Harbor, which is Block 404.1, Lot 22 14 in the city of Bayonne. 23 MR. COLLINS: Please state your name 24 for the record and spell your last name. 25 MR. JESSUP: Matthew Jessup, J-E-S- - 51 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 S-U-P. 3 MR. COLLINS: And please state your 4 qualifications for expert. 5 MR. JESSUP: I'm an attorney with 6 the law firm of McManaman & Scotland. 7 MR. COLLINS: I apologize, Mr. 8 Jessup. Thank you. 9 MR. JESSUP: No problem. Good 10 evening, Chairman and commissioners of the -- 11 excuse me -- Hudson County Planning Board. My 12 name is Matthew Jessup. I'm an attorney with 13 the law firm of McManaman & Scotland and 14 appear on behalf of the applicant, the Bayonne 15 Local Redevelopment Authority. 16 The application concerns a minor 17 subdivision of a portion of property located 18 at the peninsula at Bayonne Harbor within the 19 city. More specifically, it's Block 404.11, 20 Lot 14. This is a portion of the property at 21 the tip of the peninsula. 22 The subdivision will create three 23 lots, Lot 14.01, which is a 1.7 acre parcel of 24 property that is currently being leased by the 25 BLRA to the operator of the dry dock which is - 52 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 on the peninsula. Lot 14.02 is a .28 acre 3 parcel of vacant property and the remainder 4 Lot 14 is a 1.57 acre park. This is the 5 public park that is currently up and running 6 at the tip of the peninsula where the city's 7 September 11th memorial is located. 8 The purpose of the subdivision is 9 two-fold. First, pursuant to the 10 redevelopment plan that governs all 11 development at the peninsula, all parks that 12 are created on the peninsula are to be 13 conveyed over to the city for operation 14 maintenance by the city of Bayonne. So Lot 14 15 will -- upon subdivision will be conveyed over 16 to the city now that it is a completed park. 17 The second reason is as a separate 18 stand alone lot, the park will be eligible for 19 certain funding through the state's Green 20 Acres program. So additional improvements or 21 renovations to the park as needed may be 22 funded with the low interest, low and grant 23 Green Acres program. 24 There is no change in use to any of 25 the three parcels. There is no change in - 53 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 access to the park. And there is no change in 3 available parking to the park. The Bayonne 4 LRA has made application to the city of 5 Bayonne planning board on September 4th. That 6 application is currently being reviewed for 7 completeness by the city planner and will be 8 on a future agenda for the city planning 9 board. 10 I have also on behalf of the Bayonne 11 LRA Jessie Ransom who is a planner with the 12 LRA and Andy Rigel who is the consulting 13 engineer to the LRA should the commissioners 14 or the chairman have any questions. 15 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Any questions? 16 COMMISSIONER JASEK: How many spots 17 are there for the public to visit the park? 18 How many parking spots? 19 MR. JESSUP: Oh, parking spaces? 20 There is a pretty large lot located right next 21 to the park. Based on the aerial that I'm 22 looking at, there's -- looks like 75 or 100. 23 About 100. 24 COMMISSIONER JASEK: That's good. 25 Definitely that's plenty. - 54 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 MR. JESSUP: I hope so. 3 COMMISSIONER JASEK: It is not a 4 private lot, right? 5 MR. JESSUP: No, it is not. 6 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Okay. Thank 7 you. 8 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Any other -- 9 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Are there 10 any bike paths? 11 MR. JESSUP: Not at this time. I 12 could call Jessie Ransom who could discuss 13 whether or not the Redevelopment plan calls 14 for a bike path, I don't know. But there are 15 not at this point any bike paths. The park is 16 the only portion of this area of the peninsula 17 that has been converted pursuant to the 18 Redevelopment plan. 19 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: What kind 20 of park is it? Is it a ball park? 21 MR. JESSUP: It's just an open space 22 park. 23 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Oh. 24 MR. JESSUP: -- with containing 25 the -- - 55 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Capacity. 3 MR. JESSUP: -- largeness. 4 Containing the large memorial. 5 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: That's 6 the new thing now, you know, for open space. 7 I don't believe in that. I want ball fields. 8 MR. JESSUP: Well, I believe other 9 portions -- 10 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: You know, 11 we have problems in the community that I 12 lived. Parks were not for kids. You have the 13 parks that adult are saying they're not for 14 kids. So -- 15 MR. JESSUP: Right. Well, although 16 not specifically part of this subdivision, the 17 Redevelopment plan does call for several ball 18 parks and other active recreational 19 facilities. 20 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: On the peninsula? 21 MR. JESSUP: On the peninsula, 22 that's correct. So we'll get you parks. 23 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Not in 24 Hoboken. Probably is too much money. 25 MR. JESSUP: Take the light rail - 56 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 over to Bayonne and you'll be all set. 3 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, just for 4 the record, this is actually one of the sites 5 that has been funded through the Hudson County 6 Open Space Trust Fund. So your penny tax 7 every time you pay your property tax, this is 8 a site that was funded in part by the Open 9 Space Trust Fund as well as Green Acres and 10 the city of Bayonne. So it's -- I think it's 11 a worthy project. And also to address 12 Commissioner Bettinger's concern, this year's 13 application for 2007, the city of Bayonne, or 14 BLOA, rather, submitted an application for 15 bulk heading in fact to support the Hudson 16 River walkway at the park. So we'll be able 17 and somebody or anybody would be able to ride 18 their bike along the waterfront there. 19 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: So there will be 20 bike racks in case they want to park their 21 bike and walk? 22 MR. MARKS: You know, that may be a 23 condition of approval tonight. 24 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Anything else? Do 25 I have a motion? - 57 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 3 motion to approve. 4 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll second 5 the motion. 6 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a 7 motion made by Commissioner Fitzgibbons and 8 seconded by Commissioner Bettinger, 9 Commissioner Avagliano? 10 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I vote aye. 11 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 12 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 13 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 14 Fitzgibbons? 15 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 16 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 17 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 18 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Mehta? 19 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: Aye. 20 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 21 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: I vote aye. Good 22 luck. 23 MR. JESSUP: Thank you. 24 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, the motion 25 passed. Mr. Chairman, the next spot on the - 58 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 agenda is applications to be dismissed. The 3 site plan subdivision review committee 4 recommends that Application SP-28-07, Pedro A. 5 Venegas, applicant, located at 535-30th 6 Street, which is Block 161, Lots 26 and 27 in 7 the city of Union City be dismissed. Mr. 8 Chairman, the applicant on this application 9 needed a letter of exemption or a letter from 10 the county from his bank, I think, for finance 11 purposes. The application itself is not on a 12 county road and would have been declared 13 exempt. However, the applicant never 14 submitted any plans to the board and I don't 15 believe the applicant submitted the proper 16 application fee. We had reached out to them 17 because it was incomplete. We had reached out 18 to the applicant to have him submit the plans 19 and essentially was told that he got the 20 financing from his bank without the letter 21 from the county so he wasn't going to do 22 anything further. Instead of declaring it 23 exempt because we never saw the plans, I would 24 recommend that the application just be 25 dismissed 'cause it was incomplete and -- - 59 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Will he be 3 back later on? Come back with it later on? 4 Or just 5 MR. MARKS: No. It's -- 6 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: -- dismiss 7 it right now? 8 MR. MARKS: I think he got his 9 finance approval from his bank and no longer 10 needed anything from the county. So -- 11 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: All right. 12 You want a motion to dismiss it? 13 MR. MARKS: A motion to dismiss 14 would be appropriate. 15 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 16 motion to dismiss. 17 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Just did. 18 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I'll second 19 it. 20 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, on a 21 motion to dismiss Application SP-28-07 made by 22 Commissioner Fitzgibbons and seconded by 23 Commissioner Avagliano, Commissioner 24 Avagliano? 25 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. - 60 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 3 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 4 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 5 Fitzgibbons? 6 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 7 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 8 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 9 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Mehta? 10 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: Aye. 11 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 12 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Aye. 13 MR. MARKS: Okay. Mr. Chairman, I'm 14 sorry, old business. I have items under New 15 Business, Mr. Chairman. Actually, under -- 16 you know what? There is something under Old 17 Business. 18 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: This ? 19 MR. MARKS: No. That's under New 20 Business. 21 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: All right. 22 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, sent out 23 in your packages this month was correspondence 24 related to the subdivision applications for 25 the 6th Street embankment, the proposed 6th - 61 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 Street embankment. And I'm looking for it 3 right now. There were, I believe, two 4 packages of correspondence in your mailings. 5 The first is by -- it's a letter dated August 6 23, 2007 addressed to Santo Alampi. That's an 7 attorney from -- signed by Susan McCurry, the 8 assistant county counsel. That is basically a 9 follow-up correspondence to a previous letter 10 which is also in your package. The letterhead 11 is Alampi & DiMerris, Attorneys at Law, dated 12 August 14th, 2007 addressed to Alberto Santos, 13 clerk of the board, and it's signed by Santo 14 Alampi. Mr. Chairman, the attorney for the 15 applicants of the four subdivision 16 applications appealed the board's decision of 17 the denial of the subdivisions from June. 18 Even though the board rescinded the denial and 19 declared the application incomplete in July, 20 it was alleged by the attorney for the 21 applicants that the board didn't have that 22 right or authority. The applicants' attorney, 23 Santo Alampi, appealed it to the Hudson County 24 Freeholder board. The assistant county 25 counsel, Susan McCurry, wrote back that in - 62 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 effect the board does have the right to -- it 3 was missing material facts as of the date of 4 the June public hearing. It does have -- the 5 freeholder board sustains and believes that 6 the planning board does have the right to 7 rescind the denial and the application is 8 further -- or continues to be incomplete 9 pending the preparation of a traffic impact 10 study. And basically says that the applicant 11 doesn't have the right to appeal at this time 12 to the board of chosen freeholders. They 13 haven't exhausted their administrative 14 remedies. And the freeholder board is 15 basically the board of last resort before it 16 goes to, I guess, the courts. 17 So they said, basically, the county 18 upheld this board's decision and said it 19 wasn't ripe for their action. 20 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: There 21 isn't a problem with that. Didn't the courts 22 strike down the agreement between when they 23 sold the train -- the railroad sold the 24 property to the owner. 25 MR. MARKS: You know what? I - 63 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 probably forgot to say the most important 3 thing. The Federal Surface Transportation 4 board and a decision dated August 8th which is 5 attached to Susan McCurry's letter of August 6 23rd, the Federal Surface Transportation board 7 ruled in favor of Jersey City and Assemblyman 8 Lou Manso and the Embankment Preservation 9 Coalition and basically said that Conrail did 10 not have the right to sell the 6th Street line 11 to the applicants and therefore they undid -- 12 you have to go through -- since railroads are 13 federally regulated, they have to go through a 14 federally prescribed process to disburse or 15 dispense of real property. They did not go 16 through that process and essentially, the 17 Surface Transportation board ruled that 18 Conrail still owns it. So the applicants for 19 those four subdivisions are no longer -- I 20 mean, they're basically -- I'm not a lawyer 21 and Mr. Collins could give you what the legal 22 meaning of this is, but they don't own the 23 property and I'm not sure if they even have 24 the right to make application for these four - 25 - 317 Jersey Avenue, LLC, 389 Monmouth Street, - 64 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 LLC, 280 Erie Street, LLC, and 354 Cole 3 Street, LLC. They don't own the property any 4 longer by rule of the Surface Transportation 5 board and essentially, I'm not sure if they're 6 even in a position to make an application. 7 They are appealing it to the Surface 8 Transportation board. It took a year and a 9 half to get the original ruling so it may take 10 some time to make the appeal. 11 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Will they be 12 coming back in front of us? 13 MR. MARKS: It's a very good 14 question, Mr. Chairman. 15 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Maybe two 16 years from now. 17 COMMISSIONER JASEK: If they win, 18 yes. But we will not be here. 19 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, that's 20 under -- basically old business. 21 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Mr. Chairman, I 22 have one item of the Old Business. Last 23 meeting, I was not here but I did read very 24 carefully the minutes of the meeting. There 25 was a discussion with Mr. Campbell. He - 65 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 represents Dr. Kim. He wanted to put a fence 3 around his building on Poplar Street. There 4 was a vote on that that there would be 5 recommendation sent to the freeholders. Was 6 anything sent to the freeholders? 7 MR. MARKS: I'll have to check on 8 that. I'm not sure. I, too, was away for 9 that meeting so as a point of order, I'm not 10 familiar with that. 11 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Yeah, you are 12 correct. You were not here. But it is in the 13 meeting that there was a vote to make a 14 recommendation to the freeholders to deal with 15 this item. So if there is a letter of 16 recommendation, I would like to have a copy. 17 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, as you 18 know, Janet Lawra and Michael Escales from my 19 office were both in attendance at the meeting, 20 so I'll discuss it with them and get back to 21 the board. 22 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Okay. Thank 23 you. 24 MR. MARKS: You're welcome. 25 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Anything else, - 66 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 Steve, under Old Business? 3 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I don't 4 believe there is any other Old Business. 5 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: New business? 6 MR. MARKS: Mr. Chairman, under New 7 Business, there are two items to which I'm 8 trying to look up right now. Okay, the first 9 under Section 7(a) is introduction of the 10 Draft Hudson County Parks, Open Space & 11 Historic Preservation Map. In your packages 12 this evening, under -- it says 7(a) New 13 Business, you have in -- it's a color format 14 on a smaller scale. I apologize, I will 15 print -- after we printed out the larger 16 version, our printer actually died so we will 17 try -- we're having it repaired and we will 18 print out larger maps. But essentially, in 19 the County Planning Act, the freeholder board, 20 which is the purse strings of the county 21 should not be making any improvements, capital 22 improvements or property acquisitions if it's 23 not mapped out. Technically, does that happen 24 all the time? Yeah, the freeholder board is 25 fluid. They're the governing body; they could - 67 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 do what they want. But to the letter of the 3 law, the -- any property acquisitions or road 4 improvements or what have you ought to be 5 basically mapped out and put onto both a map 6 in the county's master plan. We're updating 7 the master plan and reexamination report and 8 the county's capital plan. 9 The map that's in front of you -- 10 and I have a larger scale copy -- so, Mr. 11 Chairman, this basically maps out several 12 things. One, county parklands which are easy 13 to identify. They're in the dark green. The 14 light green areas are other non-county parks 15 which are light green. There's also light 16 green lines, shaded lines, which are basically 17 areas which are on the municipal DEP, 18 Department of Environmental Protection, 19 maintains a database of properties which are 20 preserved for open space. It's called a ROSI 21 or ROSI, R-O-S-I. It's recreation open space 22 inventory. Those are any properties which 23 have received Green Acres funding which have 24 the -- basically, the diagonal lines. The 25 historic sites in Hudson County, Hudson County - 68 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 is one of the oldest counties in the state, 3 has many historic sites which are eligible -- 4 and this is basically a function or a purpose 5 of the Open Space Trust Fund, among other 6 things. Any properties that the county is 7 thinking about purchasing should be on this 8 map. Any properties that municipalities are 9 purchasing, so they're consistent with the 10 county's Open Space Trust Fund, ought to be 11 placed on this map. Historic preservation 12 sites, national historic -- national register 13 sites, like the Hudson County courthouse, 14 ought to be listed on this map. Sites that 15 are eligible or are on the state register of 16 historic preservation -- National Register of 17 Historic Places are delineated on this map. 18 Also, trails -- the board a couple years ago 19 adopted the Hudson River Walkway Plan, which 20 basically requires developers -- it's 21 consistent with state law in requiring the 22 walkway to be constructed by developers along 23 the Hudson River waterfront from the Bayonne 24 border down to the -- from the North Bergen 25 border with Bergen County down to the Bayonne - 69 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 Bridge. The county is also preparing a 3 Hackensack River Greenway Plan which is 4 similar to the Hudson River walkway 5 facilitating public access to the Newark Bay 6 and the Hackensack River waterfront. And 7 likewise, the communities out in West Hudson, 8 Kearney, East Newark and Harrison have made it 9 known that they would like a walkway along the 10 Passaic River waterfront. The Open Space 11 Trust Fund last year funded a portion -- I 12 think it was 800 feet -- for a walkway from -- 13 basically Frank Rodgers Boulevard, the Jackson 14 Street bridge over to approximately the site 15 of the new Red Bull stadium. I believe it was 16 800 feet. Those things ought to be on the 17 map. And it lets -- it's not just for the 18 general public to know. But if it's on the 19 map then developers know and the county can 20 when we ask a developer to provide east west 21 access to the Hudson River waterfront walkway. 22 If it's on a map, you could basically -- it's 23 not enough that we have a plan to do it. 24 According to state law and case law, you have 25 to have a map basically showing your policies. - 70 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 And that's what this map does. 3 In addition, besides the parks, the 4 open space, the historic sites, the trails, 5 the east coast Greenway Trail, the east 6 coast -- yeah, the east coast Greenway, which 7 is a trail from Maine from Florida that goes 8 in this particular area from Newark through 9 Kearney, Harrison, Secaucus and Jersey City to 10 Manhattan is eligible for funding, federal and 11 state funding. If we put it on the map, we 12 could identify it for funding opportunities to 13 the state and federal government as well as 14 for the Open Space Trust Fund. 15 And then finally, there are 16 environmentally sensitive areas. We didn't 17 make this stuff up. The light blue areas are 18 wetlands which the Department of Environmental 19 Protection has delineated in their database. 20 The shaded blue and gray areas are the flood 21 plains within the county. Those are flood 22 plains which have been delineated by both 23 FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management 24 Administration, and by the U.S. Army Corps of 25 Engineers. Similarly, both wetlands and FEMA, - 71 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 if a particular property falls within a 3 wetlands area or a flood plain area, this map 4 should inform both the developers and the 5 board that their site is subject to flooding 6 either by coastal floods or storms or by 7 wetlands. And there was a situation with FDP 8 which keeps coming up in which the developer 9 paved over 70 acres of wetlands along Secaucus 10 Road and either inadvertently or depending 11 upon how you see it on purpose caused flooding 12 to happen to all his neighbors because he 13 didn't take the proper steps to alleviate the 14 flooding. 15 So a map like this would inform the 16 board and inform developers and would also 17 help the board put forth those conditions to 18 alleviate the flooding and alleviate the -- I 19 guess, congestion or other things, any other 20 negative consequences of development. 21 And then finally, besides the 22 wetlands and the flood plains, are steep 23 slopes. The DEP has formulated wetlands -- 24 not wetlands -- stormwater regulations on a 25 state level. They're implementing the Clean - 72 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 Water Act and the state is actually 3 prohibiting development on steep slopes. A 4 steep slope is any site which has a fifteen 5 percent grade or more. And essentially, 6 through the master plan and through state 7 preservation efforts, the Palisades cliffs, 8 which essentially run from the Depressed 9 Highway or Route 139 along the rear of 10 downtown Jersey City, the rear of Hoboken 11 along Paterson Plank Road, basically the 12 change in elevation in Weehawken from the 13 bluffs area on top of the Palisades to the 14 lower waterfront area up to West New York, 15 Guttenberg and North Bergen are slated for 16 preservation under DEP guidelines. You can't 17 build on steep slopes. Building on steep 18 slopes actually has a negative effect and 19 consequence on stormwater runoff and drainage 20 and such. 21 So, if the board -- and this is just 22 for introduction this evening. I would ask 23 that the board consider introducing it. Once 24 it's introduced, we'll have a ninety day 25 public comment period. We'll send it out to - 73 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 the municipalities. We'll post it to our 3 website. We'll collect public comments. And 4 then in ninety days, depending upon the size 5 and scope of the public comments, if the board 6 wants to make any changes to this, this is a 7 pliable document and subject to change. But 8 then at the end of the ninety days and once 9 it's changed again or amended, if the board 10 adopts it, it helps guide policy for the Open 11 Space Trust Fund advisory board, the 12 freeholder board and the planning board for 13 future consideration when dealing with 14 developers and making Open Space purchases. 15 Does anybody have any questions? 16 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: You want us to 17 introduce this tonight? 18 MR. MARKS: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I got a 20 question. We have development going on on 21 steep slopes right now. 22 MR. MARKS: Under DEP -- 23 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: What are 24 you doing -- 25 MR. MARKS: Under DEP guidelines, - 74 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 the steep -- basically steep slopes, 3 development on steep slopes is grandfathered 4 for sites which are already developed. So if 5 you're doing a redevelopment project like the 6 bindary -- it's on Paterson Plank Road, the 7 bindary, which is Harrison Plank and -- 8 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Yeah. 9 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Hope Street. 10 MR. MARKS: -- Hope Street? That 11 would be grandfathered in. But actually 12 DEP -- the DEP has guidelines for -- and it 13 doesn't mean it's impossible but you have to 14 take certain mitigation measures just like you 15 do when a developer, like FDP, when a 16 developer paves over wetlands, they have to 17 take certain mitigation measures. So, the DEP 18 has actually prescribed these guidelines or 19 they are enacting these regulations. It 20 doesn't outright prohibit it but the developer 21 of these sites has to take certain mitigation 22 measures. 23 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: What was 24 stopped by the municipality granting these -- 25 you know what I mean? I mean, we're going to - 75 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 want -- is the municipalities going to be on 3 board with this, too? 4 MR. MARKS: Well, we're going out 5 for public comment and the municipalities, if 6 there's a certain site which is, say, a flood 7 hazard area or a wetland or it's adjacent to 8 an existing municipal park, they'd be able to 9 point to the site and say, well, instead of 10 putting development in there, we would like to 11 preserve it as basically a buffer between the 12 river and existing development. And that 13 helps with -- the county has received money 14 from the Federal Emergency Management 15 Administration to prepare all hazards 16 mitigation plan. And basically, as -- if the 17 area -- and we've been very fortunate, but if 18 the area ever gets hit by a direct nor'easter, 19 there was a direct nor'easter back in, I 20 think, 1938 which hit Long Island. It was 21 called the Long Island Express. It killed 22 hundreds of people from the tidal surges and 23 it felled, it knocked down hundreds of 24 thousands of trees. And it's kind of lost in 25 our collective memory but for the last sixty - 76 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 years we really haven't taken a direct hit 3 from a nor'easter. We are being a peninsula 4 surrounded by water. And if we were to get 5 another direct hit, we can have a Katrina type 6 situation here. So if municipalities want to 7 be proactive and the county wants to be 8 proactive and preserve flood plains and 9 wetlands, essentially, wetlands act as a great 10 sponge for absorbing water -- stormwater and 11 then slowly metering it back into the system. 12 If you develop over every square inch of 13 wetlands, you're going to create, just like 14 FDP did for their neighbors and those 15 neighbors have been slowly coming before this 16 board for the last year, and I could name them 17 if you want me to but I'm sure you remember, 18 we've been asking those neighbors to make 19 contributions to our pump station. And it 20 really wasn't the flooding -- isn't 21 necessarily the fault of the neighbors but 22 when you pave over seventy acres of wetlands, 23 it's going to have a consequence. 24 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: But we 25 have a problem in lower Jersey City and - 77 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 Hoboken. The problem is the development. You 3 know, we -- most of that -- some of that ain't 4 even on county roads. 5 MR. MARKS: Sure. 6 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: The way 7 they're developing, the sources just can't 8 handle it no more. You know -- I mean, you go 9 in downtown Hoboken and get hit with a good 10 rain, you need canoes. There has to be a 11 limit to -- I mean, you know, that's got to be 12 taken into consideration, too. I mean, 13 Hoboken is -- downtown Jersey City and Hoboken 14 are all marshlands. All landfill. Okay? And 15 they just keep on building and building and 16 then you get hit with nor'easters, you know, 17 some of these buildings be flown down the 18 street. 19 MR. MARKS: You have an excellent 20 point, Commissioner. It's well taken and this 21 map and DEP regulations wouldn't prohibit 22 development in existing developed areas. It 23 would allow redevelopment. But it also 24 informs the board when you do have 25 applications in former -- or existing, I - 78 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 shouldn't say former -- in existing wetlands 3 areas or flood plain areas that the developer 4 -- that really the onus is on the developer to 5 make certain mitigation measures to make sure 6 that they're -- if they are paving over 7 wetlands that they're not adversely affecting 8 the neighbors. 9 So this doesn't prohibit -- this is 10 basically an informative document. It's an 11 informative map, which it would inform the 12 decisions of this board and developers but it 13 certainly wouldn't prohibit anything. And 14 maybe if a municipality sees that there's a 15 nexus between wetlands, flood plains, steep 16 slopes, you know, existing parks, that may be 17 a site they want to preserve and apply for 18 Green Acres or county Open Space Trust Fund. 19 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: I like it. Could 20 I just get a larger -- it doesn't have to be 21 that size but, like, even an eight and a half 22 by fourteen. I can't read that. 23 MR. MARKS: No, it's more for 24 illustrative purposes. Once our printer is 25 back on line, we will print out large scale - 79 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 maps for everybody. And even -- we have a 3 color copier which we printed out the smaller 4 scale but even the color copier can't 5 accommodate the ledger size, the eleven by 6 seventeen. The eleven by seventeen would have 7 been a little bit better than what you got but 8 we couldn't feed that through the regular 9 copier so instead of -- if we're going to 10 color -- 11 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: It's 12 understandable, Steve. Just blame Nassiel, 13 that's all. 14 MR. MARKS: So we will get everybody 15 copies of this. But if it's introduced 16 tonight, we will be allowed to go out for 17 public comment and then we will report back to 18 you in ninety days what the municipalities 19 have to say whether they agree or disagree. 20 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Do I have a motion 21 to introduce this? 22 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I make a 23 motion to introduce this. 24 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I'll second 25 the motion. - 80 - 1 Hudson County Planning Board - 9/19/07 2 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Mr. Marks, 3 could you please mark that application AAA-1? 4 MR. MARKS: Okay. That was 5 introduced by Commissioner Fitzgibbons and 6 seconded by Commissioner Bettinger? 7 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Correct. 8 MR. MARKS: Okay. Commissioner 9 Avagliano? 10 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I vote aye 11 on AAA-1. 12 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Bettinger? 13 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I vote aye. 14 It was an excellent introduction, Mr. Marks. 15 MR. MARKS: Commissioner 16 Fitzgibbons? 17 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 18 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Jasek? 19 COMMISSIONER JASEK: Aye. 20 MR. MARKS: Commissioner Mehta? 21 COMMISSIONER MEHTA: Aye. 22 MR. MARKS: Chairman Choffo? 23 CHAIRMAN CHOFFO: Aye.