IED Al to the flag the United States of America to the repblic for it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all all right could we have a sunshine announcement please cam yes chairman good evening everyone today is Tuesday March 11th in the year 2025 this is a Jersey City planning board meeting with a scheduled 5:30 p.m. start time and in accordance with the open public meeting Act notice of this meeting has been given to the editor of the Bergen Record L ESP L espito and posted with the city clerk on March 7th of 2025 this meeting was also posted on the Jersey City division of City Planning web page and all distribution materials made available to the board were published and available to the public thank you Cam could we have a roll call please yes chairman Vice chair Dr Gonzalez here councilwoman Prince ER here commissioner Tores here commissioner lipsky here and chairman L here all right we have five Commissioners present we have a quorum thank you uh could we swear in the staff please Mike matth the TRU truth yes thank you uh do we have correspondence cam yes chairman we have one item in new business that I've been informed will be carried to our next regularly scheduled meeting with preservation of notice and that is item 11 on the agenda that is case p2025 d42 it's a review and discussion of an amendment to the Land Development ordinance regarding the general development checklist okay thank you all right we're g to first of all I apologize for a late start everybody um we're going to jump around the agenda a little bit there's a couple things I want to get done first thing so we're going to start under old business uh luckily it's the first one item a is case p2025 0045 is a one-year extension of a final major site plan approval for 659 Grove Street good evening everybody James mccan from the LA room of conell Foley on behalf of the applicant um yes this is an application for a one-year extension of a final site plan approval uh my client the applicant is the owner of the property uh the planning board granted this uh final site plan approval in 2021 my client acquired the property in 2022 and then filed an application to refine the project um an application for an amended site plan approval in 2023 been working with the D and the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority on some sanitary and storm sewer issues but we have them worked out and you might have noticed that might the same case is the last case on the agenda tonight 659 so hopefully if you give us a one-year extension we can get back here in a month or so and uh have the amendment heard to be honest Council I never read the last page so I know we're not we're not getting to it okay anybody any questions okay is there anybody here from public that wants to comment anyone from public saying no public I move to close the public second motion made and seconded public is closed um Matt do you have anything you want to add uh staff commends approval okay thank you Mr chair i' like to make a motion to approve case p202 5-45 is presented to our board tonight okay motion is made and seconded VI chair Dr uh I commissioner lipsky I commissioner Torres I commissioner councilwoman Prince AR I and chairman Langston I motion carries all in favor okay thank you thank you Council thank you everybody so uh while I'm up here I am going to ask that my two cases at the end at the end of agenda be carried to next meeting with preservation of notice if you would give me the opportunity to do that I would appreciate it sure 650 Grove and 659 Grove yes chairman and you comfortable carrying them right now yes okay so we're going to carry uh cim are we good for the next meeting for both of these um this would be the 25th I would appreciate it if we could at least one of them actually no you know something I thought of this and my entire team was prepared for April 8th for both cases so I'll just I'll just consent to April 8th with preservation of notice okay we we should do April 8th council do I need to turn my affidavits in at this time or can I do that the next time I don't you hold on to that okay so we okay we're going to carry case p2023 d17 it's a preliminary and final major site plan for 650 Grove Street to a date certain April 8th with preservation of notice and we're also going to carry case p2023 d18 is a site plan Amendment for 659 Grove Street uh to a date certain April 8th with preservation of notice thank you Council thank you okay so we're going to move over to item nine under new business this is a review and discussion of Avery Cole uh Nathan Huard Mike drand um that's a tough one for me Yen Lee what is it Yen Yen okay ysen Lee uh as certified artist formal action may be taken um okay so as we normally do um just reiterate the criteria that they've satisfied for being artists in the city and they've met criterias 1 2 3 4 and five and that was determined by the artist certification board and staff agrees and we recommend that this board votes in favor of them being designated as certified artists so they can apply for the artist housing and with that staff recommends approval okay thank you Cam any questions anyone is there anybody here from public that wants to comment anyone from public saying no public I move to close second okay motion is made on second it public is closed uh so we have planning's recommendation I'll entertain a motion Mr chair i' like to make a motion to approve the review and discussion of Avery Cole Nathan hovard Mike drand and ysen Lee as certified artists second okay motion is made and seconded vice chair Dr Gonzalez hi councilwoman Prince hi commissioner Tores hi commissioner lipsky hi and chairman langson hi motion carries all in favor okay thank you let's move on to item 10 is case p2025 -41 this is the review and discussion of an update to the zoning map regarding rezoning Lots on Palisade AV from R3 to rc2 formal action may be taken good afternoon Commissioners uh this is an item that was um uh brought To Us by the community um they wanted to uh us to bring back some implementation of the master plan uh we also met with the council person both Council people uh in this area uh councilman boano and councilman CLE um regarding this matter there are a number of lots on the east side of palate Avenue near Hoboken avenue Route 139 that are currently zoned R3 and are kind of an island onto themselves uh it's recommended that these Lots be rezoned from R R3 to rc2 uh to continue the resoning of the this Corridor conducted in the phase one of the master plan implement station um there are eight separate tax slots consisting of four and five story built multi-unit residential buildings and three or four story 2unit buildings uh the lot widths range from 18 ft to 50 ft in width uh and the existing densities range from 44 units per acre to 157 units per acre with a median density of 45 units per acre uh so this is some of the lot are they're aligned with the the rc2 zoning um and there is a map attached uh to the documents that were published to the the data portal showing the the lots that are considered for uh resoning to rc2 uh regarding master plan consistency this recommendation will assist in consolidating districts furthering a principle of the land use element and the rc2 is also implements a stricter requirement for mixed use for uring uh multiple principles of the land use element such as make the city more walkable bikable Transit friendly and less reliant on the automobile strengthen neighborhood oriented commercial areas and promote the development of a diversified economy uh staff recommends approval okay thank you any questions anyone okay is there anybody here from public that wants to comment anyone here from public saying no public I move to close second okay motion made seced public is closed Matt we have your recommendations I'll entertain a motion Mr chair I'd like to make a motion to approve the review and discussion of an update to the zoning map regarding rezoning Lots on Palisade Avenue from R3 to rc2 and forward for formal adoption second okay we have a motion and a second for approval uh Vice chair Dr Gonzalez I Council one preri hi commissioner Torres hi commissioner lipsky I chairman Lon hi motion carries all in favor okay thank you uh we're going to jump down to item 13 uh it's case p2024 d019 is a site plan Amendment for 701 Newark Avenue evening Mr chairman Commissioners uh Charles Harrington of Connell Foley on behalf of the applicant I do have uh the Public Notices that I would like to give the council TR to receive the Affidavit of publication proof of mailing with respect to the application at 63971 Newark Avenue I've had the opportunity to review it it does appear to be the original of the previously submitted documents and Mark it as A1 for purposes of the record thank you Council okay and I'll just give a brief uh overview of what we're here for tonight well uh Mr fedus sets up his computer uh as the board may recall this um this is a project at the end the Northern end of the uh Homestead Place uh extension uh we're here tonight um for some some uh proposed amendments I I note that the unit count is not changing uh the project still has 20% affordable housing uh we are asking for the ability to increase the amount of affordable housing uh uh in the future um without having coming having to come back to the board the reason being there is a pending tax abatement application before the city council and part of that application is to increase the affordable from 20% to 25% uh so in the event that that is that is approved uh we would increase the amount of affordable units so we would go from 72 units to 90 uh units of the 360 um so the uh the Amendments here you're seeing tonight um are typical of a large project making some some changes uh before construction uh Paul will take you through some of the ground floor changes that uh really make it a better project p and agreed to move the Transformer room um back off norc Avenue so now we have retail fronting on norc Avenue uh we also have some changes to the second floor rooftop with some mechanical uh uh utility up there and then the top floor um you'll see the um one of the there's three deviations one of the deviations is to exceeded the permitted floor to ceiling height it's a 35th floor which is permitted but that's the amenity level so we're proposing an amenity uh level story uh of approximately 20 feet maybe a little less which really makes it a nice a nice space um and the other variances are are with related to the first floor and and the the reprogramming that we've done because there is a mezzanine uh inserted into it so that that that limits the floor to ceiling height at a portion um so that being said I'm going to have Paul walk you through it and then I'm just going to have my uh planner come up after that and kind of reaffirm what's in the principal Point statement okay thank you Council I do Paul frus f e i t a s Sure Mr Mr frus good evening we've qualified you before uh your license is current yes sir okay thank you you're qualified all right I'll try to be as concise as possible uh I'm going to go through the planning board set which basically kind of uh shows the the changes to the plan uh site plan basically just describes the changes in the bulk um as Mr Harrington had mentioned earlier uh the units have not changed the unit accounts remain the same as they were previously submitted um you'll notice here on the first floor this was the original uh proposed layouts with the Transformer room on facing Newark Avenue uh with a larger retail section uh along Homestead Place uh we were able to get PSC and to agree to situate their Transformer Rin towards the back of the building along hstone place and 28 Cottage Street allowing us to have in this section over here where the trans for which used to be uh a new retail space uh behind it is is basically another retail area uh that Services Homestead Place as well uh this location over here also is where that deviation happens with respect to the heights of the floor uh this ceiling height uh is slab height is at 9 fo 10 versus the 20 ft which is required and when I show you the second floor that's basically the rational is we have an electrical room above the Transformer room that Services the Transformer we just didn't have enough room uh to service it on the first floor and get all the the programming in place so again here is our second floor originally uh with the Transformer uh electrical room in the same location as you can see right here the layouts change a little bit based on coordination with the engineering drawings uh original second floor uh bike rooms uh we had a Terrace here uh which changed during coordination as we ended up having a mechanical Terrace we kind of reallocated a bunch of uh program within the building to the second floor so the Terrace uh is now being used for a generator uh these floors the only changes really are we've just highlighted the HMF I'm sorry the uh affordable housing uh units that they're clearly seen um again on the third floor we've added a Terrace on the third floor which was not originally there to make up for the one we lost on the second floor and then we have a bunch of typical units that again just highlighting the affordable housing units on each of the floors I'm just working my way up the building uh this is the original amend floor on the 34th floor and now we have an additional amenity space what was uh different uh between the two is basically this section of terce and this portion of Terrace were um were added to the amenities to kind of take care of some of the programming requirements uh we still fall within the uh allowable ter uh roof terce requirements so that's this section right here and right here it's the rooftop only changes here we're basically adding an exterior staircase to access the bulkheads and then uh revised mechanical layouts on the bulkhead first bulkhead and then the second bulkhead as well with an accessory stair to service for service lighting's changed somewhat uh based on on the uh changes to the program on the first floor uh the light levels will be maintain as required by uh our conversations with Mr D Silva so we're still very much concerned about making sure that the lighting uh in that throughway through the building is properly lit and um gives people uh a comfort in in in going through the space and same thing holds true for the lighting on the uh on the rooftop am manity space the rooftop of manity space Also as Mr Harrington had mentioned uh we're asking for a uh some leeway and making it taller uh originally 12T but we can't we we've we've run into that being an issue with respect to coordination and mechanical pieces elevations have pretty much remained the same only difference being is that we've added a um a Windbreak um canopy at the basically at like the at the third floor IT projects out about 5T um we did a wind study it it proved to it it proves to kind of help mitigate some of the wind wind issues uh along the large face of this building um everything pretty much Remains the Same except for the fact that now instead of having uh these unsightly louvered doors and louvers along Newark Avenue we've been able to uh provide a new retail face on New York Avenue uh location mhm and then only other difference on the elevations is is uh up at the rooftop we there was a change in uh when we added those uh amenities uh pieces to the elevation Up on the Roof we added a facade to it so uh basically that's what these these uh elevations depict this is uh these are sections through through the passageway on Homestead Place and you'll notice the change reflects the the canopy right here at the third level for the wind mitigation and then basically showing the uh mechanical louvers uh for the psng vaults on the uh on the first floor in their relocated State har how' we get psng to relocate I I don't know I wasn't in those conversations so my clients had you know extensive conversations with them and it's it's really kind of a a miracle that something like this happened because it's a terrific change but I don't know how they how they got them to change maybe because we have we have the walkway and they have direct access from the homestead walkway because I know they they always require that you have direct access to it it can't you know you can't be within within the building and have to go in the building to get there so maybe they changed their mind just because they do have essentially that's you know it's a public uh walkway way so they have that access now I I agree that it's obviously a incredible change that benefits everybody so that's why I asked the question I I'd love to see it on other projects yeah I mean this is the before as you can see and then you know the after it really makes a big difference for the building and that basically I think is the you know summarizes the extent of the changes to that we're uh you know requesting okay thank you Mr frus any questions anyone I notic when you were sh yes let me check yeah well I mean part of it is we do have to have it it uh you know can't just be on the lower floors it does go up on the upper floors as as as part of the requirements how many it's right now it's 72 it's 20% and in the event uh the tax payment application be it would increase the 90 uh units uh and what's interesting about these because of the the the programs that they're seeking through the hmfa um all of the units would be 50 uh 50% or below Ami um you all 72 or 90 of them so you're you're looking at some you know very affordable units in the area it's up to the 24th floor yeah no no so floors 7 through 24 there are units on each of those there are three units four units on each of those FL okay anybody else all right thank you Mr frus okay so my next witness is uh Mr Bellamy of drar Robin and as I said for an interest of time and efficiency because I know the board has a long night tonight I'm just going to ask him to confirm uh that the you know the reasoning within his principal Point statement uh is is still current as we are here tonight and if the board has any questions about any of the requested variances okay thank you Council yes I do Samuel Bellamy last name b l l a m y Mr Bellamy good evening your license is current tonight yes current in a good standing thank you qualified and uh Mr B you you did prepare a principal Point statement in support of the requested deviations tonight is that correct yeah it was prepared dated um February 14 2025 and and that was submitted as part of the application that's correct okay and have any of your uh analysis or reasoning changed uh with regard to that statement uh as of tonight uh no the planning justifications outlined in that memo remain Uh current and uh accurate so consistent with your report you believe that the requested deviations are uh are permitted and satisfactory under the the statutory requirements yes that's correct I'll defer to the board now if you have any questions okay thank you Council anybody anything all right thank you Mr Bellamy and Council obviously um Matt I'm sure you're going to bring it up but you'll agree to comply with any deviations that were in the original application any conditions of approval yes conditions of approval I apologize absolutely and I believe prior conditions all affordable units will be built out consistent with the market rate units okay excellent all right that's your presentation then yes all right thank you is there anybody here from public that wants to comment anyone from public Mr chair saying no public I move to close second okay motion is made and seconded public is closed Matt anything you want to add um staff just asks that um the applicant abide by the following three conditions is the conditions of approval um that all testimony given by the applicant their expert Witnesses in accordance with this application shall be binding that all conditions of the previous approval which I believe was numbered p2318 shall made in full force and effect um which covers many of the standard boilerplate conditions that um we typically cover and that um that um while that the amena project provides for this 20% affordability that the applicant is permitted to increase the affordability the um the number of affordable units within the total of 360 residential units um without necessarily needing to return for board approval um you know it's staff's opinion that you know person to the request that a higher percentage of affordable units is only better and without substantially changing you know other parameters or impact of the um of the appli and the development um with that being said staff recommends approval of conditions and those will all be acceptable okay thank you thank you Matt I like to make a motion at this time to approve case p2024 d190 as presented to our board tonight second okay motion is made and seconded for approval Vice chair Dr Gonzalez I commissioner lipsky I commissioner councilwoman Prince AR hi commissioner Torres hi and chairman Langston yes so I think the changes are uh consistent and don't uh have any detriment to the uh Redevelopment plan uh I think it does make it a better project so my vote is I motion carries all in favor okay thank you Council uh all right let's move on to Old business item Item B is case p2024 d241 is an administrative Amendment for 332 Whitten Street good evening everybody Stephen Joseph casano quickly tramy for the applicant um this was previously noticed and carried with preservation of notice um so let me try to pick up where we left off last time or where my colleague Mr Higgins left up last time there were some questions raised about the uh sidey yard of this property and the adjacent neighbor having some concerns we submitted some we submitted a survey on to the portal for the board's review uh we were scheduled to appear at the last meeting but commissioner od's office reached out to us and asked us to carry so he would have an opportunity to review the situation as well we did meet with uh commissioner OD and and his Aid to talk about the project I'm not sure if um his Aid is still here but we did meet with them I did send Cameron all the information that we sent over to the commissioner I'm going to try to explain this as uh as briefly as as possible I think there's there is no access there's no easement there is no anything which permits the neighbor at 3:34 wden Street to come onto my client's property and get into their backyard U that has that has never existed based on our title report based on our survey um this property was actually taken by the city there was a condemnation here and this is a Redevelopment project the JC entered into a Redevelopment agre agreement with a prior owner who couldn't build the project and then with the JC's consent that was transferred over to my client and um the project was was completed so this was looked at on multiple levels multiple different parties over very long period of of time there is a a party wall with the other property at 3:30 white and Street for the maintenance of the utilities within the party wall um but there's nothing nothing with 334 um it it's it's not an Alleyway it's a side yard no access no gate and that's that's never been the case as far as we know with regard to um some of the construction process we're here because my client didn't do the right thing right my client built something without getting the proper approval there was also some mistakes that happened during construction where the neighbor's property was damaged my my client has admitted that has taken full responsibility for that and I'll just read a list of some of the items that were already completed so new sighting was installed on the side of 334 white and Street there was new stucco installed the backyard floor patio was completely repainted new gutters were installed at the rear the gutters in the front of the property were repaired my client replaced and painted the fence at the the front of the property adjacent adjacent to our property and the front shutters were painted once construction completed at 3:32 white in the entire neighbor's house will be power washed that's what my client agreed to do with the neighbor uh Jeff's here again tonight we made some modifications after the last Hearing in consultation with staff we're going to run through those now and then happy to answer any questions so let's get Jeff sworn in all right thank you councelor Sam oh I'm sorry and we also have a license planner this evening as well Sam bam May who will give some brief testimony great thanks jef welcome yes I do Jeffrey Lewis JF y LW I Mr Lewis good evening your license is current yes it is all right thank you you're qualified thank you okay Mr Lewis just before you start chairman since this is an application that had been uh previously heard we have to make sure that everybody is eligible to vote so uh there was testimony previously taken and we just need to have those members that were not present for that hearing to confirm that they've either watched the YouTube or read the transcript uh it looks like the only one that was not here was Dr Gonzalez yes Mr chair that is correct and I did um have the privilege of watching both the the the video YouTube and read the transcript okay excellent thank you so we have corm great thank you okay so I'm just going to briefly discuss uh it is a built building there are two additional changes that we are proposing to that building uh to bring it better into compliance with the approved elevations uh the first is the handrail detail uh you can see what we're proposing here on the top right uh previously we had a smaller profile it was just a 2-in high handrail so we're bringing that to a 4-in tall handrail which would match the height of the previously approved handrail uh the material is still aluminum here instead of wood and again that's the result of moving the PSG meters beneath the stairs which required the stairs to be concrete which made the uh railing into aluminum so we are bringing that uh profile a little more into compliance with uh what was previously approved uh the second and more major change would be to uh the windows on the Upper Floor uh so previously as you can see on the photograph here the windows at the top floor and the transoms up above were right up against each other uh and that's uh traditionally not how this building looked and that's not how it was approved to be built uh you could see the historic buildings to the left where you can see space between those transoms and uh the upper Windows you can also see that we were proposing it in our uh approved drawings uh looking at what we are proposing tonight we did increase that space uh it was right up against those transom now there is uh 1 8 and 3/4 in between the trim of the third floor windows and the transom window above uh I think that space gives us some regular spacing between there as well as between the floors below uh and again brings this elevation uh better into compliance with both what was previously approved and uh the historic building itself uh those are that's the summary of the changes we're proposing here all right thank you Mr Lois uh any questions anyone all right thank you okay let's bring uh let's bring Sam up for some brief testimony sure and Mr baly you've already been sworn in qualified and if you could just uh confirm that you know that you're still under oath yes I confirm I'm still under oath okay wasn't that long ago right all right so um this project re uh originally receed three deviations um I did have a chance to review the updated plans as well as the transcript and resolution from the prior approval um in that prior testimony I did reference the um Improvement of the original historic faade um those elements have obviously been lost with the with the work that's been constructed um but I think that the bulk of my testimony remains true that originally Justified the the deviation relief so just to summarize that there was a maximum building coverage deviation 60.6 7% where 60% was permitted That Remains the Same that did not change at all and I I still find this to be a DI Minimus uh deviation relief that's mitigated with the landscaping and permeable pav pavers and other Landscaping improvements that are proposed um there was also a deviation for minimum rear yard setback that was related to the deck that extended off of the building the building itself does still remain in compliance that did not change from the prior prior approval and then the combined front and rear yard setback deviation again remained um as as it was approved um and I think overall just the building footprint isn't um consistent with what the zoning calls for and with that I think this project does continue to um promote the purposes of the municipal land use law I don't see any detriment to the general welfare or the uh impairment The Zone plan or zoning ordinance um so with that I think the deviations still do remain justified in both that the positive and negative criteria have been met Council that uh does conclude our direct testimony I no longer see the commissioner's Aid um here in this room so I I think I would just ask Cameron during staff comments to confirm he saw the email that I that I sent to the commissioner okay any questions for Mr Bellamy anyone okay thank you all right is there anybody here from public that wants to comment on this application Mr chair seeing no public I moved there's a public um yes swearing together but then we'll hear your your statements separately yes my name is sonan s o n y a d Coleman c o l e m a n and I'm Alma Coleman a l m a c o l e m a n Coleman 34 whiton Street Jersey City okay good evening ladies um whoever wants to start please go ahead you have three minutes each um Mr Higgins said that U I never had access to the backyard I've known Miss Miss wman we used to share fences because she didn't buy treated W so if they were rot we would just replace them together so always had access to yard but another thing they're saying that um that uh they I don't understand how they tore the wall down this supposed to be a historic house they tore the wall down and they didn't put it back up in other words they just gained footage more room into their living room or family room or whatever you want to call it and that's what they do with that they never put it back up I thought they were just going to put the windows back like they were before like a facade but instead they torted the wall down and just made extra room for the for their living room on the second on the the second floor and the third floor so I don't understand how they did that and then on the other side they have these exhaust pipes that's there and mo mostly people put that on on the top of their house but instead what they did was built a h chairman we should Mark the photos that she's she's attempting to to show ma'am how many photographs do you have are they all different okay uh do you have copies of those photographs no I'm not real I have copies of some of not all of them okay let's so we're going to have to mark them and we're going to have to take them so why don't you hand them to me Mr Joseph yes can you take a look at these and tell me if you have any issue or objection to them I have no objection to these photos uh some of them appear before the work done some after no and ma'am you took these photographs yes and these accurately depict the condition of the property both before and after the project was right undertaken okay so chairman members of the board members of the public I have five sheets of photographs in total there are one two three four five 6 7 8 nine separate photographs we are going to mark them as 01 for the purposes of the record and they'll be reflected as having been provided by this witness here this evening ma'am what I would like you to do is if you want to talk about any of the photographs specifically uh I would ask that you let us circulate that or we can circulate them amongst the board and you can continue with your comments I don't know if you need particular photographs for what you're speaking to no okay thank you um maybe just give us one second we'll let the photos go around and then and then we'll pick it right back up okay for for said that car that's the great car for for for we're going to find out for okay Miss Coleman go ahead and I have the photos with me okay um the like the exhaust pipes that's on the side there that picture M okay instead of them being on the roof they couldn't put them on the roof because they have a huge deck back there about the size of a room upstairs and they said that they fixed my fence they they had destroyed the fence with leaning all kind of things up against it until it was just they they had to fix it because it was terrible which would have made their house we're talking about no not that that the um oh oh I left that one back there should I get it that one we're talking about no that's after before they destroyed it oh that's before they destroyed it I don't know if we have an after here was the fence replaced or it was not replaced they fixed the wire in between there not the bars you know it's it's just a chain link fence and they the bars within in the front or the rear of the home on the side on the side of my yard on the side in the which would be but in the front this is the fence we're talking about here right right right that fence okay yeah there the green one you know they had a lot of garbage going on over there when they you know you know fixing the house over there sometimes they would even take the gate that they had up there which is a big Iron Gate and lean it up against my fence so it was really destroyed the the wire in there that's what they took out they didn't put any new bars up they just put the wire inside de yeah probably how many sections would you say that fence is ma'am three sections so post to post how many posts you think oh two two okay and they're what six feet 8 feet apart maybe the posts I don't think they're 10 feet off the property line from your front yard to your to your house is 10 ft maybe so okay okay never measured it okay Miss Coleman anything else yeah um sure go ahead he said he put a side in on my house MH the s in that he put on my house would be about I'd say about this wide all the rest of that he put stuck stuck stuck stuck stuck down the bottom of it and I said to him why don't you put cement like you did on your house he said well I'm going put stoo so he he put it there but he never put the the side in on it at all except that little piece from that overhang this on the house he put a small section from there and the rest of that so we're talking about I got to go get the other pictures from back there but um right it's none of these right right no those are that's showing that's just the fence before they they did the renovation yeah those are the only ones I have here but um he he didn't he didn't put the the the side in there so what like he said he would what was your when okay when they came there they told me do you know who you spoke with ma'am yeah these people here okay okay three of them they're sitting there MH they told me that I would sign the contract and they would do siding on this on my part of the house the side of my house but that didn't happen but um if you signed a contract yeah and they didn't tell me that they were going to tear down the wall cuz like I said it was like a facade before if you look on there you'll see the picture of the windows before and if you look at another P you see the man starting to tear down the little things that will hold in the window one second ma'am Mr Joseph is this news to you like it is to me news to me okay cont that's did you have any conversation with these people directly the contct love it thank you you think you might want to talk to these people now I want speak going beh of that backyard when just give us one second while let's handle this one and then believe me we'll get to you so I'll take a look at whatever they have my understanding my client's understanding it's it's the protection plan and access letter that's required the building department so we'll take a look yeah see what they have why don't you hand that to Mr Joseph first that's a document that they asked you to sign ma'am yeah why don't you show it to your clients Mr Joseph yeah I I I mean I think I'm okay answering this as an as an examp probably yeah I have no objection entering this into into evidence this is the uh uh access and let's take a look at it sure let's take a look at it first before we describe it and we'll see if there's any other documents that Miss Gman has [Music] spe okay I'm going to mark this as B1 so miss Coleman what what this letter is is saying that they are going to perform work on their property that I don't know whose handwritten note it is it's mine okay iom put yes everything so dusty windows that is fair Miss Coleman but what this letter is is not an agreement with respect to doing any work at your house it's notifying you that they're doing work at their house or their property and that they will be protecting your structure and putting measures in place such as netting to mitigate debris they wanted me to sign also they wanted you to acknowledge that you got the letter that's why they wanted you to sign it just so everybody's clear as to what what the document is and if I may like I said in my intro but I'll say it again my my client did damage their property right that's that's why all these repairs were made to to the fence and to the gutters and um the fence post and the cement padding under the fence post were also replaced new but Mr Joseph it doesn't sound like we got all the way there the my understanding is the only thing that's left to do is to power wash the house and my clients were waiting to do that until I'm just suggesting that that is not the Coleman's understanding yeah based on what I'm hearing it it certainly appears that way and right my client's happy to have the city come and inspect to confirm all this is done um I I don't think anything's been submitted that shows the work hasn't been done and I think we've also submitted some photos to the portal as well you submitted that the work is done we we submitted some photos to the portal I believe that show work was completed so miss Coleman let's let's make this real easy um Mr Lewis also has those photos we're gonna have Miss Coleman make it real easy for the board the fence in the front yard has not been addressed in your opinion yes no they put I miss col if you could miss Coleman just please speak into the mic so we can get it on record put the wiring inside there inside the green part not the post because the so they did not replace the post they just replaced the fencing wiring itself mhm and you were under the impression they' replace the post and the wiring oh I wasn't even concerned about that okay I was good with just the wiring cuz that's what was damaged the post didn't they didn't break them or anything so the wiring was fine with that are you happy with the fence now the fence is good okay M but this tearing down walls and adding footage to their house your house I'm first concerned with your house and your property the that paper was so that I would sign so that they could put attach the H that the the what do you call it overhang back to the wall Miss Coleman I'm trying to help you trying really hard to help you Mr Joseph says that his client has repaired the damage to your house that they caused that they caused damage and that they repaired it and the only thing left for them to do to your house is to power wash your house no I didn't at the sighing so you feel that there was siding that they were supposed to do that they they have not done that's what they said they they asked me to sign the paper so that they could put that overhang on the house MH now that's what he said he Ed said that he would put the side in there but the s that he put there was is only a few inches the rest of it just St stco stco and you wanted it to be siding and he said he would put siding is your position but he didn't put it there but he didn't do it he only put it like up to the top okay like where the overhang is he put a little piece there and the rest of it he just did stco stco St stco okay okay no okay this is what one now that's where my part coming at so miss Coleman Miss Coleman let's get you on Mich they said we never had access to that backyard we always had access to that backyard we never went through the front Alleyway because those windows was there and the glass was breaking so we never went through there so other Miss Coleman Sonia Coleman after it just started breaking so of course nobody would go through that alley because this these windows was falling apart so what we did was the city didn't always come and clean that backyard we cleaned that backyard cuz that was coming in our backyard mhm so they said we never had access to it we always had access to it see it's what they're saying that's not true we always had access to that backyard well they didn't live right they didn't live there they didn't know what went on in the backyard cuz we couldn't come out the front because in the front this glass was falling you could hear it falling at night time but I have a survey of their property mhm which includes a portion of your property okay your property your house is on the property line what you think is an Alleyway is not an Alleyway well it was it's the side yard of their property okay so I can appreciate that historically you were being allowed to use it by the prior occupant maybe that you were going into their backyard and coming no they had a gate up see they had they had their gate up and it was an alley you could walk through that's not it was an alley there was they had a gate up we had a gate up it was an alley but it's not an alley but that's that's what it was that's what I'm telling you that's how it was then I don't know what it is now what they want it to be then they have a tree in that backyard that's sitting right next to our property so when this tree grows it's all the leaves going to fall on my mother side close to very close to the fence and then is but up against the other neighbors of tree is in their backyard so that's going to be a mess some trees trying to grow like this Miss Coleman's give me one second please Council yes chairman who is tadco tadco is an environmental company um I imagine they were responsible for either remediating something or removing an oil tank but I'm not specifically familiar with their involvement in this property okay it's on this letter so as soon as it it circulates to the board we'll give it back to and then sure we'll see what Tad CO's involvement was here so I don't see anything on the portal that references any kind of report from tadco but I'll let you sure look at it before before we talk about it or maybe two weeks from now so my client did inform me that they retained tadco to do the management and coordination between the property owners and for for processing of uh getting that the access and protection letters from the neighbors so that's why their name was on the letter so to your point chairman a there's nothing on the portal B There are four photos in the portal uh one dated from 2023 and then three from 2024 mhm showing work on in somewhat of an alley I don't know and over they Point there's pictures of the trees budding the fence so I don't know if they were taken by tadco because in the letter it's just TCO was to as you mentioned coordinate the observation survey and present you know the preconstruction uh conditions to I guess match what potential damage may have occurred correct soed they uh uh which is standard for any project when you have adjacent Property Owners right we we typically don't submit the construction permit um as part of this proceeding only thing is is if you're submitting a letter from 2023 and on the portal uh and you stated on the record earlier that everything's been updated uh there's no report from tadco and there's four pictures one from 2023 which shows you know debris and Ne needed work then three other photos including a description of what Miss Coleman said in terms of trees in the backyard are budding the fence so I submitted the letter or you're referring to the letter letter that they just uh submit now well the one that you reviewed that uh was supposedly a contract but it was a notice of uh work to be done correct uh so Mr Joseph the letter says we also hired tadco to provide an on-site meeting and conduct a visual observation survey of your property to identify and record existing conditions Prior to construction any damage mutually agreed to be a result of our construction activity shall be repaired on our expense in a timely manner so it sounds like tadco went out there and prepared document mented and prepared a report which we the board do not have I don't know if you have it but we do not have it no I I don't have that it's the first time I'm seeing I'm seeing that letter you know typically that's a same here no it's typically um it's a construction related item right so those those letters are are common they're required when when you have adjacent properties like this and sure you know again my client has admitted that there was damage and has uh we're saying that it's been repaired but if there's anything that's been unsatisfied my client is agreeing to do that work but I don't know how you can argue that in a letter that was sent on 2023 that an independent company a professional company would come out and do due diligence and you're standing here do you have a report from Tad I I don't does your client have a report from tadco um I can certainly yes they they have a report from tadco um it wasn't part of this application package because it's I mean honestly it's typically typically not right the permit application package is typically not made part of this record so Mr Joseph here's the problem right the problem is we've got work that was done not in accordance with an approval and a neighbor that is not Happ happy with the damage to their property as a result of the work MH makes it very challenging for the board understood I I think what I'm I think what I'm trying to ask is what is the board looking for what what for the matter to be carried till April MH and for Miss Coleman to come back and tell me that you've at least addressed the issues that she felt you agreed to address specifically related to the damage to her property it seems like from her point of view she's got damage to her property that your client has addressed some but not in a total accordance with what her understanding was so and I I think my concern is that this issue of access through the sidey yard has come up quite a few times now and for uh Miss Coleman to be satisfied or to say she's satisfied in front of this board that would be something that they require that so Council that's that's a separate issue okay as far as I'm concerned as far as the board's concerned um and the law for that matter so we're going to follow what the law is as far as the sidey versus the alleyway you know we have to go by the letter of the law and these things if I know it wasn't historically called a side yard I get it it's legally a sidey yard so we're going to have to go with the sidey yard wherever the the property lines fall that's what we have to go by okay um so Council what what I'd like to have happen and Miss Coleman have you dealt with commissioner od's office on this yes okay so you've dealt with Corey yes okay Council you've dealt with Corey yes Coran commissioner not he was here earlier but he had to leave okay um so obviously I'm not going to mediate this are you comtable having Corey be a go between that's and at least report back to us that you know because there's emotions here there's emotions there we're going to get to the we're going to get to the the solution that's that's what we want to do we want to see everything just move forward we want you to be made whole but we want to move forward as well so let's have Corey from commissioner o days office try and mediate something at least go out there I may accompany Corey if that's okay with you there's no objection from the applicant so I hate to speak for Corey but I'll reach out to him and see if I can get him on board to take care of this and um I'll try and coordinate something through him where we can go out I'm not going to be able to talk about anything while I'm there this we we um yeah we're in an open application so I can't discuss any details of the application while I'm there um Council I know you know I hope you understand that I'm going to be impartial when I go out there I'm not going to discuss anything that I shouldn't be discussing but I do want to see it for myself of course the thought never crossed my mind absolutely chairman one thing in terms of designating or accepting that Corey GGA could mediate this thing I mean uh what legal standing does he have to do it I mean because I'm looking at New Jersey administrative code whomever and as it said abide by the unified uh construction codes and then come back and show documenting that that has happened to both s side satisfaction and I agree with that too Council I think if if tadco it says in this letter the tadco has prepared a report of some sort right am I misspeaking here tacco was hired so whatever Taco was hired to do if they produced a report which it appears that they produced field notes and reports so that's something that that Council should be able to get a hold of and go through with respect to the commissioner's question this is an application to amend a prior approval where things were done and they were not done the way it was approved so in addition to not building the project according to the approvals there appears and it appears that the applicant doesn't dispute it that there was damage to miss Coleman's home and it seems that the applicant and Miss Coleman don't necessarily agree as to what was agreed to be done so that's what council's going to attempt to resolve to the best of his ability and if he needs somebody else since everybody seems to be comfortable with the name third party helping then then it would only make sense that that individual continue to make efforts Miss Coleman it sounded to me like you thought you were getting sighting it turned out to be stucko and the picture the other side their building has riding down to the ground that seems to be the open item and then obviously the power washing at the house I don't think your expectation is that they're going to come inside and renovate your your kitchen I don't think that's what you're you're asking for [Laughter] expecting is is that what you're looking for I'll be back here again because prob and my mother's 77 years old she's good at it though you should see if Tad CO's hiring because not only do you have photos but you got excellent notes on those photos oh everything Mr Mrs Comey before you walk away um I just want to make a quick little comment that way as this goes on and they go looking put your microphone they go looking at this with whatever counsel has requested that you do it is on they can't hear him in the back your use your teacher voice then yeah I had a loud voice so I I just respect to the pictures that you showed us with the PVC and then you see this PVC hanging um I am pretty sure it was all done by code and what I'm looking at in those pictures with my expert opinion is sometimes those units that they installed in the house they are specifications by the manufacturer and you cannot maybe get to the roof with it because of the exhaust if you're limited on how many turns you can make you're limited and I I do this for a living so we're safe oh they're safe yes yes there is a distance safe distance from one house to another or where people are walking I in my opinion I don't like the way it looks it could have been done maybe neither but that's that's that's that's not I just want you to have peace of mind to stay that there is sometimes when you we see these PVC pipes sticking on the side of a building it's done that way only because you can't you if you make too many turns to go up to a roof that unit is not going to work properly it's not going to do its job and that's so that's the engineers so we're limited on how they get installed and that's why so I would say that's aore correctly because it was inspected by the codes and the stuff like by the by the inspectors that's what that's all I'm saying so you have peace of mind there would be no health issue to you at all that's not that's not an issue oh well I don't listen Mrs Coleman I I agree with you I don't know that either but I do know that it had to be expected it was looked by official oh I I'm not going to I'm not going to speculate on that I I I do this for a living and I know that what you see there is basically what anybody else would have done Miss yeah Mr Lewis yes could you take a look at this exhibit for us and just identify what those vents are and back to the mic gotta go back to the mic Mr Lewis sure let me just bring the floor plan up if I could help me to make sure I'm sorry it doesn't have to I just need to see it yeah that's what I thought so so those the ones up top the most of the PVC events are for the furnace it's the furnace uh intake and exhaust okay there's also um a bathroom exhaust vent and then there's obviously the roof leader as well that has the PVC at the base okay and that's that's finished product what I'm looking at looking at in that picture yes that's how they require us um there probably would I can't see oh actually it looks like there are screens on there so yes that would be the finished product okay but that's they're not getting painted or anything like that usually we don't but they could be okay I think they are allowed to be um if that's we can in this process we'll talk and if they want them painted we'll figure out a color for sure one of these are turning brown ready one of them started toown is that that is a the the one that's coming I think that with that has a little cap on it that is a drain line for the ray water so it's you're looking at three different type of lines there mhm Eddie and let Mr Lewis answer these excuse me let Mr Lewis answer these okay okay I like the professional to talk that's okay um but he is correct actually it's actually for there's a drier vent there as well so there's a there's one derrier vent there's a bathroom exhaust vent there are intakes and exhausts for the uh furnace and then there's that uh roof leader that's the roof leader coming down okay and where does that roof leader go that goes back inside yeah it goes back inside to the existing we had an existing storm line in the basement that it attaches to okay yep because when it rains they have this like a box on top it goes I don't know whether they need um a gut on that or what but iteso okay so miss Coleman if if you could do one thing for me before we do this site visit before we come out and look at this get us a list okay and Council obviously will provide you with that list I want to make sure you have it and we'll we'll go over it okay so April 8th Council yes it's March 11th uh let be a little more realistic what's the second meeting in April Cameron 22nd it's going to be the 22nd yeah it it's whatever uh Chairman's schedule is um for getting out to the property I we're not going to be back here until the 22nd to give us enough time yeah we need to set this up I'll call that's during the day though right you'll be here at 5:30 on the 22nd could you be here April no no of April April I have idea what I'm doing April 2 okay so Eddie you want to join you want to go out and look at it with me up to you up to you and anybody else you're all welcome anybody that want can't have a quarum we can't have a quarum okay yeah I don't know yet I'm G to reach out to to Corey and see when I can get him out there I'll reach out to council and the Coleman and we'll set something up actually Corey will do the setup okay so let's uh I guess we need a motion to carry yes sir Mr chair I'd like to make a motion at this time uh to carry case p2024 0241 that's a 332 wit Street to a date certain of April 22nd second okay we have a motion and a second to carry to April 22nd cam Vice chair Dr Gonzalez woman Prince ER commissioner Torres hi commissioner lipsky hi and chairman Lon hi motion carries all in favor to carry to April 22 with preservation those thank you Council you're on for Bright Street next I am okay so let's um we're going to take uh a break and we'll be uh back in probably 10 but let's set up for that yes sir thank you busy tday Cory wants to get involved Cory's going to be involved yeah yeah guess what he's involved now but they are lied very well my okay could we please come to order again everybody uh we do have a one case that's going to go up real quick we were promised 20 minutes I believe all right we'll see so um let's call case p2024 d116 is a site plan Amendment for 2 to 38 Journal Square listed as 10 Journal Square and just for the record I don't know if everybody's up the speed on our quit time but 9:30 is Council I think you were here for the last one Mr Joseph are you aware of that or 9:30 stop time for security outside I am okay so 9:30 is the end of the meeting no testimony after 9:30 we'll stop you in the middle of a sentence whatever it is and we'll pick it up whenever we get to it okay go ahead Council I have a 748 by the way Jee poino Eugene poino Jova Burns I'm here on beh behalf of the applicant I have some papers for Council you Council Mr chairman I'm going to receive the affid a publication proof of mailing with respect to the application before the board this evening at 2-38 Journal Square listed as 10 Journal Square I've had the opportunity to review it previously it was scheduled for the February 25th meeting it was carried through through tonight with preservation of notice it does appear to be in order A1 for purposes of the record thank you chairman Mr Commissioners uh I'm representing one joural square or Jal Jal Square it's the large project right in the center of Journal Square as you know uh it is nearly completed uh we have a couple of adjustments that we need to make to the project not unusual for a massive project of this size um part of it has to do with the fact that we have a large retailer coming to the to the location the issues that that are going to have you're going to have testimony about are the movement of a trans Transformers from one side of the plaza to another some adjustment in the the location of things in the plaza uh we'll have a uh increase in the lawn area of the plaza and uh we have some increased parking in the garage so those are the issues I have five witnesses but those Witnesses are just going to testify as to the change the small changes that I'm talking about and that's it okay so may I call my first witness David Brown how do I you want that right oh yeah there it goes [Music] I do David Brown D V D BR R WN Mr Brown uh good evening hi uh your license is current tonight yes sir okay thank you you're qualified okay Mr Brown uh I want you to talk about simply the Amendments that we're here before the board for uh one relates to the facade changes signage locations uh and briefly the parking area right so H something oh there it goes okay great so I've got uh I think I have four or five um slides to to go through uh before handing over to the landscape architect quickly as you can as quickly as I can Brown all those slides are contained within the architectural sets submitted yes sir yeah okay I think there were 17 sheets total we're just going to present five tonight okay okay so on the first page um there's really only one change here in the table here that just shows that we're adding 100 additional uh parking spaces to the parking uh structure which um laws will will'll go through in more detail and this plan you can see bubbled in red essentially is the scope of the sign band uh that runs over the ground floor entrance uh to the to the retail unit and the only change really is that we are changing the color of that band it it was originally designed to be um spandrel glass we're replacing that with metal panel that's going to be painted black to kind of go with the uh tenant's um you know uh identity and kind of fit the coloration of the rest of the building so you can see that here on the southwest corner and the Northwest uh corner there's also been some subtle slight adjustments to Door locations just dealing with some egress issues and um and the entrance to the retail tenant so here on the elevation this is a partial elevation really only shows the podium uh you know the fold Building height is 64 stories really showing the kind of bottom 13 stories in this but you can see here on uh the bottom leftand corner of the elevation that location of that sign band that's been changed from spandrel glass to metal panel that's painted black that's on the um s that was the um South elevation because you can see that portion there on the on the left hand side this is the west elevation so this is facing the the new Plaza um so here on the south southern side of that uh elevation and on the North corner of that elevation and that's really just the the changes that we wanted to talk about architecturally so I'll hand it to um well before you go yeah no changes to the to the uh configuration of the buildings is that correct that's correct no changes to the configuration of the of the podium including the garage is that correct that's correct in terms of the yeah in terms of the massing and architecture yeah no change with respect to the plaza in any way except for what we're going to testify to today uh correct yeah the the programming of the plaza is still the same there's just been some minor adjustments to some of the landscape areas that's all I have for this witness okay going to be the truth the all truth and nothing but the TRU I do speak uh Ryan paresi r y a n p a r i s i good evening Mr P your license is current tonight yes it is okay thank you you're qualified all right and I have uh four quick items to go through so I'm just going to point them out um on the screen here so uh the first is uh the lawn panel that is located this large um activity lawn as located here in the southern portion of the site um increased in size so with that we're adding more programming more green space uh the second item uh is the PSC volts uh that were previously mentioned here with their shift the fountain then shifted uh to the South but the they shifted from and to um they were shifted further south which then um resulted in the memorial Fountain then having to shift further to the South to accommodate the PS and volts but the size of the fountain Remains the Same um and around the fountain we added a cane rail um just for additional visitor um Plaza safety um within the uh around the water feature and then um finally we added 12 bike racks uh to the north side of the building right by the PATH station and um these were in response to the uh to Transportation comments that we received that's all I have for this okay uh Mr PR in your opinion the shift of the fountain does that change any pedestrian access whatsoever it does not no okay okay that's my only question anybody else all right thank you sir thank you could you could you just leave it there oh sure Mr penin got to be SM yep you any testimony give tonight is going to be the truth the whole truth truth I do Carl with a k peny p is in Peter eh n ke Mr peny good evening your license is current yes it is okay thank you you're qualified Mr py for this for the prior uh application with respect to traffic uh you also testified as well is that correct that is correct okay and you're basically supplemented your traffic report is that right uh that's correct I was asked to actually do an updated traffic report which we did for staff yes okay would you testify with respect to the traffic now yeah certainly so the application the amendment before you this evening really has to do with uh how we're going to manage parking within the garage there's no change to the axis that's been constructed quite frankly there's no change to the size of the deck uh inside it's just it's really about how it's going to be managed from a uh traffic perspective this is really a transactional issue the proposed tenant or the tenant that's actually coming into the site is requiring that they have 100 spaces available to their patrons and and they'll be validating their parking that is resulting in in in the owner having to manage and create the 100 spaces uh for that retail tenant and then manage the remaining spaces for the residential uh we end up as a result with an exceedence of the max requirements in the general Square Redevelopment plan of of a 100 spaces uh from a traffic impact standpoint when we prepared the original traffic study uh the study was not uh was was not throttled by Park it was based upon the retail use size actually a supermarket was a more conservative analysis plus the number of residential units so all of the traffic study remains valid there's no changes in our findings and conclusions and really more importantly if you recall uh and and this condition will carry forward as a condition of the original approval we did agree to post uh occupancy monitoring and re-evaluation particularly of Sip Avenue and Bergen to see if there's some signaling adjustments that will be needed once it's occupied so overall the the development Remains the Same from a traffic standpoint in my opinion the allocation of 100 spaces to the retail supports the success of that unit it doesn't change the conclusions of my prior traffic study it doesn't change the access it doesn't change the deck and the deck will be operated by a very experienced uh deck operations outfit uh familiar to this uh to this board and this is a larger retailer is that right this is a larger single larger retailer yes that's all I have this okay so quick question where is the garage entrance so the garage entrance basically Falls just between Enos and the what I would call the Eastern end of the building uh so Enos uh off Avenue off off AIP off AIP Avenue correct which is really the only location it could ever be because we would never be able to have access from Bergen Avenue or or Kennedy so to the right of the residential entrance to the right of the residential entrance where the indentation I don't know if I can yeah to the right of the residential entrance correct okay and there's no traffic coming off of Kennedy Boulevard there's no access or eress from Kennedy Boulevard or top offs no Ubers no uh correct I don't know what's let back up but no sorry okay all right thanks for answering it thanks okay thank you sir um my next witness is uh the parking operator Omar Pereira should I plug in this you can you want to disconnect this is this HDMI yeah I don't think I have HDMI work I'm cutting into our time here there's the white I think I got it I think it's this one all right you swear any testimony tonight the truth truth nothing but the truth I do for the uh Omar Pereira representing last parking o m a r p e r e r a would you give the board the benefit of your background please uh yes I've been uh in parking for 21 years uh 16 of those years with last parking I'm the general manager for the state of New Jersey operate over 12 locations I 500 plus space locations in Jersey City okay so we'll qualify you as an expert in parking operations Mr per would you just quickly you submitted a report here is that correct yes would you just quickly go through the report in terms of how you're managing the park the parking in this location sure um I'll go through this briefly um as the other two gentlemen uh stated uh we are adding the spaces but not adding any or changing anything with the structure or uh uh anything surrounding the structure uh the way that we're going to add the spaces is by stacking and providing a valet service uh so um I'll just go briefly through the entry and access process uh pretty much uh entry uh into the into the garage uh you'll have uh three lanes uh one dedicated in one dedicated out and then the Middle Lane will be a a reversible Lane on the purpose of that is to mitigate traffic so uh during Peak uh Ingress uh you'll have two lanes going into the garage and then egress you Peak egress you have two lanes going out of the garage uh and then also you have a staging area with uh the entryway leading up to another set of gates uh and this was done purposely in order to uh um encourage if there is a backup or there is traffic the backup and the traffic is going to be contained within the building uh initially when we're going to start the project we're going to start it as a self park facility so uh all retail will always be self- parked uh so the space is dedicated to the uh client will be um um always retail uh the valley will then kick in once we reach to a certain occupancy that uh allows us to or or uh deems us to pretty much push cars into a stackable situation uh we have four uh I'm sorry we have two high stackers on the 11th floor uh which are lifts uh and then we also have stack spaces which you'll see the stack spaces like the tanm spaces right here with the three uh deep spaces uh those again will be managed at self Park until we get to the uh point that occupy reaches the level to justify uh switching over to valet parking um in a nutshell that's pretty much it uh the only other thing will be the access procedure for um excuse me for the uh the retailer uh so our goal is really to limit the um the point of contact uh at either Point entry or exit to about three to four seconds uh so coming in uh we do have license plate recognition uh that's going to marry a license plate to H1 one of the uh tickets that are coming in and out of the veh I'm sorry in and out of the garage uh that allows us to do validation prior to the car actually getting into the entry uh so basically the customer will come in uh receive their ticket uh they'll go do their shopping uh we set a price parameter so you spend up to 10 bucks uh and then you get validated uh your validation is actually the receipt from that R retailer you come in scan your ticket and scan the receipt and out you go it's uh basically the exact same system that we have currently operating at the Whole Food's garage uh with the uh Harbor Side 6 uh component and is that how you monitor all the other cars the cars in residential area uh yes the cars are the residential area actually that's the easy part because every single resident will be uh Associated to their own account uh license plates will be recorded to every single one of the resident vehicles and uh that's actually easier access uh because you come in pull into the lane uh the uh license plate readers will read your license plate and let you right into the building quick question yes so hypothetical let's say I send my wife to the retailer for dog food they don't have the product we want is she charged for parking uh there is a 15-minute grace period That's programmed in every single uh every single situation yeah unfortunately yeah if you do uh get into a situation you past that 15-minute grace period you'll be on the hook for the first hour but there's always going to be an attendant on site we're going to be man 247 uh and in that case you know we can make an exception for them okay so you're so you're saying that if I go to that store that retail space and I stay half hour or so and find nothing that I want I have to pay for the pocket the validation is uh yes it's so it's not free pocket for the real space you you stated that it was free parking for the customers of the for the store f for the but it's not you have to buy something well that that's the part of the retailer being there that that's why retail that's not that's not a feet parking space okay it's it's not I I I go to a store and I go with my wife and we walk around and we're looking and we don't find nothing we want she starts looking at dresses she starts looking at this I'm already wanted to leave an hour ago now I got toay pay for the parking it's a parking garage and I understand that CH but the 100 space is given to the V for the space was supposed to be free parking that's what you said there you well free parking for after it's validated which is after an expense of certain amount of money the $10 the $10 number is a number that they could change based upon what the what the US are could prove I was in your business and your store I shouldn't have to pay for pocket I I believe there are going to be exceptions to that the same thing we do with Whole Foods in that scenario again those are exceptions to the rule you would go to the front desk of the retailer and ask validate they always they will always have um the ability to validate pretty much any ticket the reason why we do that is obviously to stop abuse we don't want anyone coming into the garage parking going you know somewhere else well that's that's different that if I go into the garage and I go somewhere else then my could be told just like if I go to targets and I decide to go to take the train and go into New York City my car is going to get tow right I can't I can't just go to certain parking areas park my car and then go to the even okay the bank I go to I can't even go to Warg greens across the street because they'll tow my car right so basically we're not supplying fee parking it's a garage location and therefore it there has to be some economic parameters to it why if you ask costs a lot of money that you you that it should be written down as not a free parket facility Well it is to the extent to those customers that uh pay buy something buy something that so I had to pay buy something to get a free park I think we're talking about I think we're talking about nomenclature here uh to a certain extent there's going to be over the course of time there's going to be be adjustments as to how they deal with the public at large Target is going to is going to be the responsible party here because they're the ones that are providing the parking right so we are that the testimony here is only as to the operation okay so the uh then okay the operation um question about the operation then in your experience in park park said 20 something years Y is there any mechanism for somebody to go into a parking area that doesn't use the facility what happens to that car uh meaning if if it's an abandoned vehicle if no not abandoned I go and I co into a facility and I you and I go somewhere else I don't use the space that the it's for you just have to pay for parking well you have to pay for parking when you come out you'll be you'll be charged the full board rate so now I use your facility I still have to pay for parking well yes it's a paid parking facility in general you get the validation for the retailer okay remember the public if you were a member of the public and you needed to go into in Journal Square anywhere in Journal Square and you went into a garage anywhere in Journal Square including uh Port Authority's garage we operate Port authori okay I I understand what you're saying but Port Authority doesn't tell me that I could go into that garage and if I take the PATH train or don't take the PATH train I don't have to pay for parking we're stating here that if you're going to go to this let's say you mentioned Whole Foods it's Whole Foods if I decide to go to Whole Foods in Jah square and I don't find the coconut water that I want I got to pay for paring well we make exceptions you know there's always there's always an exception is going to be but the answer is yes the answer is yes it's not free parking it's validated parking for shopping in the retail I never said there was free parking I all I say what all I've presented this witness for is to ex explain the operation of the parking garage that's all I presented him for it was stated it was stated that the tenant that's going to take that space wants to have a 100 spaces for free pocket that's what was stated on I don't think I st stated that okay all right then I'm sorry that I took it I took it the wrong way what I think it's validated parking it is not free parking that's correct and if I'm understanding the testimony the applicant is not in encouraging anybody other than Target shoppers retailers yeah to retail Shoppers come in and use the parking that's correct for that retailer that's right and I assume they hope that people spend the $10 and then they validate the parking there is uh I might at this point raise because I think it's logical to raise the issue of whether or not this would ever be open to public parking you know without respect to residences and that might be the situation that comes up if they find that the parking garage is underutilized in which case we'd either go back to the planning Division and say you know this is the issue this is what we have or I would ask that that we simply be allowed to uh think you'd have to come public parking no I think you'd have to come back here the ask now is for a retail the ask now is not for public parking that's correct if it's going to convert in the future I think you'd have to come back here because I'm not sure that cental but I Mr mampy but I think that uh you know that's something we can discuss we're going to discuss it right now because I think it sounds it's not before us right now I'm not asking for it right now that's not I'm what I was that's my point this is in connection with the retailer yes I understand that okay I just want the record to be crystal clear that the record is Crystal Clear okay so my position chairman is if it is going to be be used as a public garage this board would have to be petitioned as an amendment to to this if the board were to approve by the way I wasn't objecting to doing that you said it might not happen Sant no I was suggesting of a procedure okay let's uh let's move on please any other questions I do I have one more is there going to be Security on in the garage and who's providing it uh I don't believe there's going to be Security in the garage we do have cameras on every single level uh however we are going to be man 247 so there is going to be Staffing on site an attendant yes an attendant and then once we get into valet that attendant uh uh Staffing will probably increase uh probably about 20% on the top level yeah okay thank you okay anybody else pres good okay thank you sir thank you Council one more okay trying to make my commitment of 20 minutes that sailed that ship sailed by minut minutes yeah Mr morony I do it's Sean San morony m o r o NSK Ki Mr morony your license is current tonight yes Mr chairman okay thank you you're qualified thank Mr Broski I'm G to ask you a couple of questions sure uh you submitt statement of principal points from a planner perspective is that correct that's correct are there any changes to that that which that which you submitted is that correct that's correct no changes are there any as far as you know any violations of the Redevelopment master plan with respect to this project um only with regards to the maximum parking uh ratio that we're seeking relief for and that's other than that no no okay I have no more questions okay thank you anybody any questions as it comply with is it is it comply with the requirements of the Land Development off yes it does okay any questions to the witness or in general your choice all right so if you're finished it would be to you Council uh so the memorial Fountain is that the fountain uh or the structure of the fountain that's currently there in joural square no no no no that was originally approved uh with the first Redevelopment with the first site plan approval this is the same as that um I think they're just moving it slightly I I don't think it's more than a foot by the way but it's it's very and I think they're adding a a pedestrian protection in banister that's it so but that was owned by the city right I don't know who owned it but your client owns it now my client erected it it is it's on a portion of the property that it now owns so he or she didn't move it over over the one that was currently no no no no no in fact I was involved in uh in disassembling that we made a real effort to re retain all the the names on the stones and contact the people that were named in those stones so there was an effort and I think that's still going on as a matter of fact so just I'm so that other fountain that was erected 20 years ago is uh oh that was in bad shape that you remember that was that was not working they were there was stuff in it and it was it was not kept well unable to be salvaged I'm sorry unable to be salv unable to be salvaged thank you so your client will maintain this new Pond the entire the entire Plaza the entire Plaza even the lawn area all that that all The Pedestrian walkways all of that is their responsibility there is a maintenance agreement that's was signed in that regard way back when by the way good to know okay thank you Council that's all I have is there anybody here from public that wants to comment saying no public I move to close second okay motion is made and seconded public is closed Matt anything you want to add um yes certainly chairman um so it's not every day we see a request for a parking maximum relief um this is actually a pretty rare variance ask in front of this board um so in general obviously increased parking supply has an inherent benefit in the sense of parking is an amenity um but you have to balance that against the um potential negative impacts Associated um academic literature has established that when you increase parking Supply it induces shifts in the mode split of Any Given sense of trips and mode split in the sense of how are you completing any given trip are you walking are you biking are you taking Transit are you driving Etc when there's more parking more people tend to choose to drive for any given trip um because obviously parking is a pain point and often whether it's the expense or the hassle of parking people will often look to other modes when parking is in scarce Supply in an area um so obviously both Transportation staff and planning staff had you know concerns about potential inducement of Greater traffic by the you know by exceeding the established parking maximums here in the Journal Square Redevelopment plan which um serve the purpose to um fundamentally Orient um the ongoing Redevelopment of the district towards um the Abundant public transit available and really minimize the traffic impact of that new development um that being said we've had very productive conversations between the applicant and City staff um and the staff um the applicant has agreed to several mitigation measures um and so in my staff memo dated January 31st 2024 this has been on the docket for a while um their outlaid is nine recommended staff conditions for approval um of this site plan Amendment and the associated parking VAR um I want to highlight three particular conditions um for the board to be aware of um so first and foremost um I think we include uh I requested chairman that I submit a resolution in advance and the resolution was submitted earlier I think it contained all of your conditions it it did um and staff is greatly appreciative um and so three itions I do want to highlight because they they pertain to the specificity of the granting of this variance and the potential and mitigating the negative criteria of this variance um is that the applicant shall operate the parking garage in the manner of State on the record regards to hours of operation Staffing levels usage of Tandem drive a parking and queuing of vehicles any significant changes to the operation of the parking deck shall be approved by planning staff um in laz's memo as well as um Mr pereira's test Tony outla in detail how they plan on operating this deck um and you know any obviously any traumatic change warrant staff review there um furthermore and I believe Mr palino already referenced this in the record for the first 12 months after the building is first occupied the applicant shall monitor the traffic impacts including average weight time level of service and pedestrian safety of their development of all intersections of Sip Avenue between Bergen and Summit Avenue um basically this is about ground truthing um um your engineers traffic study and really making sure we got this right since it's so critical to get it right here in terms of properly mitigating and if indeed there's a degradation to traffic conditions or pedestrian safety conditions that at the applicants expense the applicant work with the city to install the appropriate traffic infrastructure for managing those impacts I think we that was part of the original site plan approval yes I believe there was a similar condition as well yeah um those those are those are maintained in this this um lastly originally at this location before construction began there was located a city bike talk um that had to be temporarily relocated to the west side of Bergen Avenue to accommodate construction um the applicant um in discussions agreed that um they would work with the city to identify the location for the installation of city bike docking capacity east of Bergen Avenue on the same side of the street of the PATH station again at and have that installed it applicant I don't think we said that I think the I think that the agreement was and it's in the resolution that I provided to you if you read that you would if you read that aloud you would see what I think was the agreement that was submitted to you earlier you I think you agreed with it um it's basically that we would cooperate with the div with the division of planning division of transportation and trying to find a location and pay for the for the that location the installation of a City Bank City bike yeah in that location and um Trans in transportation in their memo dated certainly um too many memos in front of me janary January 3rd yes identifies the parameters for which an appropriate installation of the city bike station entails which includes specifically making sure that capacity is installed on the east side of Bergen Avenue in close proximity to the PATH station uh I I I don't know whether that is the the the location that was there was no location that was there was no specific location agreed on the issue was that the two issues one this was very late get getting test you know that right that the the issue of city bike locations was not ever before the first site plan approval not part of this amendment at all and it was raised in your in the division of Transportation review your memos and we are attempting to address that by simply saying that we will pay for the relocation of it it could be on uh Path property since path is what actually generates all of those oh certainly it does not have to be on your property per se just has to accomplish I I don't know whether I I I don't know whether the resolution I believe the resolution provided to you was uh simply that we would find a location pay for the uh the new location and um if that's you know if that works and yeah it all it did work but who who picks the location yes so that location is ultimately subject to um the staff discretion of the division of Transportation Planning and it's going to involve you know path Port Authority it's going to involve everybody a lot of moving courts it's ultimately Transportation staff's recommendation on where the it sounds like they've located but now we got to see if Port Authority will allow think I don't think it's been located the the size of the city bike uh location you remember the plaza was already designed as it was so this comes this is a this is a layering on but the bottom line is it's up to Transportation staff's discreation right yes yes end the story yes you know the applicant is free to identify cand locations but it's ultimately up to Transportation staff's approval sure right which that's the condition I think that's what I have in the resolution proposed resolution is [Music] it I have a copy here so the wording the wording of the condition in the draft resolution that Mr palino submitted to City staff and the board's attorney States in in order to promote active bicycle transportation to the area and mitigate traffic generation the applicant and the division of Transportation shall consult and cooperate with one another to identify a location in the area to host City bike docking station and install City bike docking capacity at the applicant's expense um does the board have intent to maybe add a some writers to that language related to City staff having the ultimate I think that well just what we said tonight on the record I I think that recommendation should come from traffic and planning staff oh sure so traffic traffic and planning staff shall have the ultimate sign off on the final location of this I think the word was recommendation that the chairman used right discretion is what the chairman used I said recommendation but I'm fine with discretion that's a better word maybe it's City transportation's recommendation and discretion as to locating these throughout the city is it not it is and obviously there's always the boilerplate condition regarding complying with all review agent recommendations and in transportations memo they talk about the parameters for the appropriate location of a city by so Council maybe I'm missing something if the department wants to place this on the Port Authority property and the Port Authority is okay with it and you've agreed to pay for it no problem no problem right nope so that's what the condition is going going to say and the board determines conditions the applicant doesn't actually have to agree to conditions the applicant can object to the condition but we decree conditions that's how this works so that's the condition and that's how it's going to read in the resolution and if the applicant doesn't like it it's not the applicant's choice it's the board's pleasure so move along it's the no I think maybe a misunder there the board establishes conditions and there's a whole list of conditions here that have been agreed upon I think the that's not the issue I think the issue is that the chairman is trying to get to is who at the end makes the determination yes is that right yes yeah and we so so and I want that determination to come from that you want that I understood it as a recommendation but if there's well that's the so let's change the language to determination that's fine I'm not I'm not with you about that no I want it binding I want it binding that it's planning staff or Transportation St problem here's the problem with having it binding and that is that if uh the division of Transportation says for instance it's needs to be on the lawn of the plaza and it disturbs the entire design of the plaza that's a problem it's got to be in a suitable location I mean if you want to put words about a suitable location for a city bike that's so okay with me chairman linkston do you trust the professional judgment and transportation staff to know what a suitable location is I do yeah but that's not a matter of trust it's a matter of what the document says and I'm always lawyers are always concerned about what the document says so planning board chairman are also concerned that it falls in the hands of the applicant and I got to tell you in my experience Council I'm going to take traffic's recommendation 99 time times out of 100 all where that location is that's fine but all I'm saying is that the location must be suitable it could be at the discretion recommendation whatever you want whatever terms you want to use determination is fine for me as well but it need needs to be a suitable location right so that's an issue okay with suitable in there the termination of a suitable location certainly that's fine that's what's all talking about yeah because I think obviously it's incumbent on both the applicant and City staff to act in good faith to find of course a Sol I don't I don't have any doubt that that's the outcome but what's on paper is on paper so at the end of the day if an agreement can't both parties can't come to terms on it it falls back on this board exactly okay okay exactly that's that's exactly where I was heading and can we put that as a as the condition you could say that in the event of any uh disagreement that it comes before the board that's fine for final determination that's let make that the condition okay understood okay right so in the event of any disagreement there's cooperation Etc but in the event of any disagreement then the matter is presented to the board for final determination okay and we're done so all right thank you yeah that's bad right I open that up for public already I did okay so I'll entertain a motion Mr chair I like to make a motion to approve case p2024 0116 is presented to the board tonight second he motion is made and seconded for approval Vice chair Dr Gonzalez I commissioner lipsky hi commissioner councilwoman Prince AR hi commissioner Torres um I'm definitely not satisfied with a big store second biggest store coming into a facility the ask for parket spaces and can't Supply fee spaces so with that it was stated I'm going to vote no on it because of that reason let them come back and give the people that going to go to their store a free parket spot so I vote no chairman Langston um it's an ie for me but with the comment that if we had a protected way to bike to Journal Square this would be a different application so maybe we could work towards that in the future rather than approving a hundred Extra Spaces in Journal Square oh certainly um ultimately um the program of the public right of way is at the discretion of city council sure um so um can also a County Road yes and so yes County roads are the jurisdiction of the county department of transportation and ultimately the county um accounting commission so yeah I I you know I think it would be great for um you know city council to look at that I know there is a um there is a bike ped master plan that city council adopted that has several proposed treatments for the area that city council has yet to act on sure um and uh but you know as we've talked about with other aspects like loading zones that um you know ultimately reprogram the public rway requires city council to affirm that okay thank you thank you thank you Council thank you shall we uh deal with the rest of the agenda before jumping into 87 Bright Street um sure requests to carry going into April Council understood um case p2024 d173 this is 359 uh Johnston Avenue um we would request that this be carried with preservation of notice uh Cameron a April April 8th sir April 8th April 8th April 8th April 8th and then uh case number p2024 d207 this is 89 Neptune Avenue uh carried also to April 8th Cameron question mark yes sir all right okay and that's also preservation of notice and the both those applicants consent to the tolling of time for the record okay excellent thank you council do we have the attorney for case P20 24225 present come on up please 30 oh no no no to the mic so aggressive um sorry so you're more than welcome to hang out for the rest of the night I don't think that we get to you you don't think so I I don't think so okay I can't say it yet can I just discuss with my obviously you're not going to recuse you're going to abstain I mean abstain sorry yeah that's right yeah yeah yeah you can abstain and we ask four yeah that's fine okay is there any way we can go first quickly I can't put no another piece of new business in front of old business right now okay I wish I could chairman it might be uh argued that it's a continued use given that it's Joseph's Forest we're going from one flower to another 9:30 tonight if you want to give it a shot give it a shot we're gonna wait okay thank you thank you okay so let's get back into Old business item C case p202 4-88 an amendment to previous approval p1812 for 87 Bright Street go ahead coun right good evening Stephen Joseph casano quickly chami for the applicant this is a notice case um this was uh previously noticed and it was carried with preservation of notice if we can mark this as uh A1 in uh I believe that's already been marked A1 correct I'm sorry I believe that's already been marked A1 did we take a look at notice last time there was a we had a re notice because of a canceled hearing okay so we I'll just wait for Council Yes actually if you want to bring it up I'll leave it for them and and then you can start okay all right 87 Bright Street um our direct testimony is going to be fairly brief on this um it's the actual application is not that not that complicated it's an amendment to a prior approval for what amounts to design changes and Code Compliance uh the work however it was already completed I know the board hates hearing that uh and a TCO was issued the building is occupied it was converted and the condos and the units were were sold already um these changes happened without the consultation of planning staff another thing board does not like to hear ever um the explanation behind that is Jersey City's building department removed jurisdiction to the Hoboken building department so all of these changes were made at the all the Code Compliance changes were made at the direction of uh the code review official in Hoboken and there wasn't there wasn't the communication that there should have been with with planning for those changes um the changes are outlined in a in a memo that we submitted by the architect it's a it's a onepage it's a one-page memo um some of those changes include changes to the layouts a change to the Skylight hfac mechanical changes lighting changes changes to utilities and the stand pipe some of the side colors some of the non Street facing siding materials um and then the the change that's created the most confusion which is a change to the fire escape we had um one type of fire escape and the building code and the code official required a change to a different type of fire escape there was a lot of confusion around that there was a lot of requests that were made from from the neighbor and from City Planning about documents to be submitted to the city which we believe we've complied with at this point so what the board I think needs to know is that this fire escape was inspected twice it was approved twice there the Board of Education where the fire escape sits um has stated in writing that there's no objection to this application proceeding and the architech can talk a little bit more about what that looks like um and we'll of course answer questions but I think let's see let's see the plans and go from there okay thank you Council so Council just before we do that why don't we have uh Council come up and place her appearance on the record Council I apologize that's okay sorry do you want me to do just a very brief opening right now I would like you to place your appearance on the record an excuse me an stud Holm an s d h o m me from post poock and I represent the Opera at VVC Condo Association and its officers and they're at 8385 brigh Street which is adjacent to the east to the applicant's property okay so councils we were here back in September there were some ground rules laid out out as to the exchange of various documents posting those documents on the portal and I expect everybody to respect those rules and there's not going to be additional documents this evening that have not been exchanged between you is that fair and accurate everything that we have was posted to the portal delivered to the city staff um I I don't know if the email from the board of was sent to miss home it was it was Miss Maran sent it to me um you know I've got to say we posted all of our stuff and then it got taken down I guess obure stuff isn't allowed to be up there and we may have exhibits just photographs and Exhibits and stuff that weren't given in because things have changed since September but nothing intended to sandbag Mr Joseph or surprise the board I just but has it been supplied to Mr Joseph I think they all have okay but I didn't but I can't be positive of that because I didn't know that was a continuing requirement since our stuff that we had given in was taken down and I apologize for that I really didn't understand we've given everything we can for the board to address the presenting legal question here which is whether the Board of Ed whether they have amended their easement to permit the structure all they've said is go on with the application we don't care if you all waste your time and then the legal question of whether even if they were to amend their written easement which they haven't done yet whether that would suffice because my clients also have an easement my clients are the dominant tenement in that easement area they have they had a easement for a long time it's been recognized for a long time Miss Max letter and again she was here on an occasion when we didn't have a quorum she's not here tonight that happens because she's planning director in Hoboken that letter was given to Mr Joseph this was all done back in the fall I have not seen an easement for your client's property you haven't seen a written document memorializing the existing haven't seen that there isn't one but that doesn't mean they don't have an easement and that's the legal question confronting the board and we've been very clear on that and again miss miss Max letter goes back to October 28th she's not the Board of Education the board of education did not say that they've granted your client an easement and there is no written easement nor did they Den nor did they deny that they had in fact they say and documents from Mr Joseph recognized my clients non memorialized easement by implication they abs look at it I disagree Santo you think could dump cement in my client's back east fire escape area because that's what you're saying if you say my guys don't have an easement you're saying the Board of Ed could fill it in with cement or his client could fill it in with cement obviously they couldn't obviously my clients have an emergency egress easement stop saying words like obviously if you'd like me to Bri do not have a written document correct we don't need it we have an easement right eement don't have three written down thank you Council thank you go ahead Mr Joseph so just um I we did receive some documents I think it was back in November or December of last year I haven't received anything new since then uh so I I do want to acknowledge that um I would just say just I guess to make this easier I would I would have just a standing objection to any new evidence and materials being presented this evening and I I also think that the focus of the objection should be on the application before the board and and and my client's property not whether even exists on the adjacent property and and issues related to that so with that we'll get into our direct testimony we'll present the the changes unless there's more questions go ahead Mr Joseph go ahead councel oh I I wrote it one we had a re notice cuz so it's A2 then it's A2 I apologize thank you Mike plug anything else you have to plug it in here thank you okay there's that right yeah yep that is okay all right let's get youru truth I do James Cornell J mes c o r n l l I'm not often asked to spell it so it's kind of funny but Mr Cornell good evening we've qualified you in the past your license is current tonight I yes it is okay thank you you're qualified all right so James I just want to confirm before you jump into it you did prepare dated July 16th 2024 there's a list of I apologize um you PR please just confirm you compare you prepared a memo dated July 16 2024 this this outlined changes from the approved plans this is a complete list of all those changes uh yes yes and it was gone over uh a couple of times with uh historic yeah so that was my next question is you've worked with City staff on as much as you can on on this okay correct great thank you James thank you okay so um I guess I'll just go through the list and um I'll go up to the roof plan uh to start is number one on the list and I originally these plans do not show uh before and after they're just the the current plan uh but there were two existing skylights that we had um hoped to be able to reuse but uh at uh when they were finally um taken apart to see if they can be repaired and reused um they were unsalable so then um several other Square uh skylights and rectangular skylights were put in the roof uh in instead of those um they're on the flat portion of the roof that's not seen by the public right away right away and it was discussed with his historic um ahead of time uh that the two other skylights were not salable okay so historic new prior to their installation yes 100% okay um then there were several minor interior uh layout changes that did not change this the size um or uh size of the apartments or the number of bedrooms um they had to do with uh another item that was change which was the type of mechanical system so then there was some reorganization of closets and and uh bathroom locations to a fit uh a larger mechanical closet originally we're doing a hyper heat system uh which basically had no closet and uh a tankless hot water heater and that was forced air so then um layouts were changed for that reason um uh so on the rear elevation um originally there was exposed steel around the lower uh four Windows um and the client had that bricked over um don't know why but that was his change um so that that's one of the changes in the rear elevation that's not seen by the public right away as well um I'm sorry could you just highlight what was bricked over what was approved and what is currently there uh let's see I don't know if I have that [Music] tool no this cancel so there's no way for me to do that Circle it and zoom in onance okay yeah that's a good idea so um it's these four Windows here um there was a exposed steel uh grid um that went around the windows that now is covered with brick those window sizes changed or no the windows those are the actual size window and those were the approved style of window um they are yes yes they're still the nine grid window um style that was there originally and the one is a door um at you can see at the side of the sky fire escape that was approved there as well okay that was approved as a door yes as in this same configuration that we're looking at right now um for for egress for um the uh easement that we had extended down to our property okay and what was the steel around the windows what was the size of it um it was about 10 in wide it was an ibeam I mean a w section okay looks like an ibeam um and uh it just went around it looked like more an industrial look than what it looks like now you know so that was scrapped that was originally there yes and it was ready I really don't understand why they would have gotten rid of it because um I don't either they spent the money to have a larger size beams put in so that it had this similar look all the way around all the windows but um the project has gone on since the end of 2016 and a couple of contractors have gone and gone uh one of them passing away during covid so at some point maybe there was a misdirection but I'm not privy to any reason why they would have changed that okay um so um I have a a third floor balcony um right and left's doors have been changed oh that's on the front so I'll have to go to the front elevation um which you can't see okay so there's no elevation of this because not seen from the street so apparently um when I was creating this document it wasn't uh important but uh there were two doors on each side of a giant slider that um were changed to Windows of the same proportion so there was always access to the balcony so no Eis changed as far as that because of the sliding door there and where exactly are we talking about that is on the third floor um right here so there's a giant slider in the middle and the two windows on either side um are full length Windows uh like a door but they're they operate as a window instead of a door so it would be this one here and this one here okay and what was originally approved there a door but there was already the windows correct um so there there's already a slider in the middle so it didn't change any access to the the balcony okay but the slider was originally approved or no correct okay yep um and then on the neighboring building between um 87 Bright Street and what when we started the project was a vacant lot um there was brick on the the upper portion of the uh side of the building that uh was done away with because okay can you show us can you show us on the plan that and I cannot show you an image of that uh I don't have a side elevation um but I will say that um is along this this party wall along this party wall um this one right here can you highlight with a pointer or something where we're supposed to be looking I was hoping I had a tool for that but apparently this does not have that that's why I like the the so hand drawings so I'm going to stop us right here okay we're not prepared Council we're not prepared understood what what date are we going to do this now I can't even believe we heard this in September and we're here and we can't find a pointer to show us what we're talking about I pointer I'll give you the pointer all right you'll have to hit the screen with it so they may have to turn around um right so Eddie can you guys can you guys see it we're we're gonna have to turn around and look at this now is going to be available to see on record Camp it's not going to be able to be seen on record I mean I I didn't think that this was a um it didn't come up before now so I was not prepared for that yeah guys I I I apologize for everybody that came down for this we I'm not gonna I'm not going to walk the presentation through okay we want a presentation where we can ask questions and be shown what what we're talking about okay okay Council you understand Council you understand I don't know if the board would do this but I'm probably not if you're asking probably not go ahead short legal argument and with a witness who is a fireman who may or may not be able to be here he's here I can put on five minutes argument 10 minutes of him it's out of order but it sets the table a little bit and then we don't have to worry about getting him back next time next time we might have this which would be nice so I'm I'm fully prepared to go ahead with that one witness um which may help clarify a little bit of what Mr L and I were talking okay can I have one second sure I apologize I had a different computer the last time but it uh wouldn't hook up to these I thought the iPad would have worked but so so that's my concern my concern is I want to get him on record I want his testimony on record I need the we don't have the cont Cas in Chief in order for him to then present his position whatever that may be so I his position is is somewhat divorce from the casein Chief it just has to do with the safety of the fire escape in the existing easement but they have to go through that in order for him to then then I understand and I should also ask Mr lampy do you wish were you expecting that my clients would have their existing easement reduced to writing the way other properties have had my clients have an existing easement all properties with back doors on that lot line do 87 did not have a back door in the lot they had to get so let me say this put it in writing let me say this they have a written easement yes they do because they had no back door they needed it they have one yes they do you do not have one because I don't need it because I you do not have a written easement I I do not have a written document memorializing the existing ement and it's not Council I'm not going to play semantics you don't have a written easement you don't need a written eement but I can provide one but you don't have one is what I'm saying requiring me to get one is what I'm asking I'm not going to tell you how to do your job please don't tell me how to do my job your job is board is the law on prexisting thank you thank you that they don't need to be documented but I will if you insist so I want some kind of proof that you have an easement your client has an easement there we have we have testimony and we have testimony backed up with documents test expert testimony documents to be expert testimony it's testimony is the history building and the negotiation of the existing eement so Council I'll be very clear on the record my question was do you have a written recorded easement we do not have a written recorded easement thank you okay thank you you want to present testimony and talk about an easement by prescription and easement by necessity you're free to provide that testimony the board will weigh it and make its legal determination which obviously as we all know is subject to review by the court yes thank you very much Cam April 22nd sounds good and in the meantime if there's any exhibits that haven't been shared back and forth please share them so I'll entertain a motion to carry to April 22nd Mr CH i' like to make a motion at this time to carry case p uh 2024 0088 toe of April 22nd 2 with preservation of notice preservation of notice Vice chair Dr Gonzalez hi councilwoman princi commissioner Torres hi commissioner lipsky hi chairman Langston hi motion carries all in favor to carry to April 22nd preservation no notice nice work did you know this was going to happen Okay so let's call uh item 15 case p2024 d225 is a conditional use at 3662 JF cable AFF for good evening Council good evening everyone my name is Kelly Brennan of McCarter in English and I'm here before youu representing sarif and Suns LLC uh before I get started can I give you the affidavit sure chairman I'm receive the Affidavit of publication proof of mailing with respect to the application at 3662 Kennedy Boulevard here in the city it does appear to be in order we're going to mark it as A1 for the record thank you Council thank you everyone uh tonight we have a very straightforward application for your consideration applicant proposes to open an approximately 2,287 micro bus cannabis retail store on the first floor of an existing building located at 3662 JFK Boulevard block 505 Lot 12 located within the rc2 Zone this application is for a conditional use approval and all the conditions have been met uh tonight I have two witnesses for you first is El Elizabeth sarapin the owner and operator of sarapin suns and the second is Drew Monarch principal of mon architects so I would like to call up Elizabeth the truth the whole truth the truth I do name Elizabeth sarapen you need me to spell e l i z a b t h s a r o f i e m no problem good evening sorry my microphone's not on uh good evening so you're the owner operator of the business Okay so you're just going to be giving us testimony on operations of the business yep and the such okay exactly okay um okay can you please explain your relationship with Sarah and S yep I am the sole owner and operator I Own 100% of the business and what's your connection with Jersey City I am born and raised in Jersey City I went to McNair academic high school and my entire family is still here and part of the city and sure sorry that's correct any and um I went to McNair academic and then my entire family is also still here operating businesses in the city as well and what do you proposed to do with this Bas um proposed to operate a retail cannabis dispensary similar to any other cannabis dispensary in the city and were you approved by the Cannabis control board yes I was approved in October of 2024 by the CCB and will you comply with the multitude of laws and regulations promulgated by the state in connection with cannabis yes I will um and that's all I have for this witness unless you guys have any other questions okay anybody any questions no hi um good evening um I just have a couple of things I just want to confirm with your team um first uh want to confirm that uh just kind of speak on uh confirming that the location is not within 200 ft of the school confirming that that is correct um and I also like you to speak towards the uh sorry confirming that the the separation distance from other class five retailers uh is at least 600 600 ft there are no currently approved dispensaries within 600 ft yes uh thank you um and then um for General Provisions uh you just want to confirm their General Provisions in regards to controlling odor uh from your establishment sure so there is no consumption on site um all the Cannabis that we receive and distribute will be prepackaged and sealed so we don't expect um any odor but to mitigate there will be HVAC systems and carbon filters to mitigate any potential odor odor appreciate that um and in terms of noise uh any sort of General Provisions you have in terms of controlling noise that's associated with use um we will have Security on site to ensure that there's no loitering outside um other than that we don't expect to have any noise issues and H is normal HB for this type of use right correct and um I'm sorry I didn't hear I didn't hear the question the HVAC is normal for this type of okay and um in terms of um you how to how to use will operate in terms of security how inventory is managed and the state that um and it's secured sure do you want to walk them through your security sure just at a high level um we did contract with Security Consultants who have done detailed security plans which was provided to the CCB and also the state but on a high level um we have 247 video surveillance um which also feeds to the state we have 24/7 alarm systems in case of any Intruders or um yeah and then um we also have access control so by keypad or key card um limiting access for only authorized personnel there will be a security guard um who is in the vestibule which is the only public area um checking IDs to ensure that nobody who is not supposed to be inside um gains access and I think that's it yep and architect we'll walk you through the floor plan to go over that a little bit more okay and uh I guess one more uh and one more uh matter which is the trash removal yeah so um we will have a dedicated waist bin within the Secure Vault um waste will then be collected on a scheduled basis um by a state approved and licensed um waste hauler so no waste will be left on the curb at any given moment no cannabis waste cannabis waste so personal trash personal business well trash by the employees of the business and any any members of the public that come in that throw something away that's not cannabis really related correct we'll go out with normal City pick okay thank you okay and then I guess I'll have your um just arc architect uh kind of go over you know works on any work on the facade interior and but yeah that's all my questions for now thank you okay thank you all right I would like to call up Drew Drew Monarch testimon tonight be the truth the whole truth nothing the truth I Drew Monarch d r e w m o n a r qu Mr Monarch I believe we've qualified you in the past I've been involved uh I worked with DMR for a while and I know they've done work with the the city okay but you presented to usally no okay so if you could just go through your qualifications and your licensing sure uh license in four states um Jersey license is in good standing in Jersey in Jersey is okay number one yes of course it is and what's your educational background I have a master's degree in architecture from Norwich University in Burma okay thank you you're qualified then she took everything okay it's not up there yeah it's it's not connecting um see if I can just go directly without this it's weird oh wait it sounds like it it sounds like good see Mr Monarch can you walk everyone through the proposal for this project absolutely so we do have a seller space uh below that is just going to be that's where the gas meter is the electric meter uh and the mechanical units will be located in the basement uh we are going to provide access down below uh both from the employee entrance and a secondary access point as well as you can see by the the plan here on the bottom left um plan to the the middle side here uh if you walk in from Kennedy Boulevard to the vestibule you come in you make a right you go into the retail sales floor space uh from there you're looking at the transaction counter that's where the employees will be and then there's um a secure access point that leads to the back order fulfillment area The Vault space and as you can see on the right side as well there's going to be the employee entrance which is a new punched opening in the exterior that gives you the access uh secure access to the back employee break room owner office uh and there's a direct correlation to kind of make your way through from the employee break room out to the retail sales floor as well and can you walk them through exterior yes so the exterior uh is going to be cosmetic changes um with signage and uh and coloring uh painting of existing facade material so at the top this is the the view from uh Kennedy Boulevard so we're proposing to put in um some signage on the front door with has hours and operation uh General signage above that with a blade sign uh which I'll will show you on the next elevation um all of the existing material will just be painted did to to go with the The Branding theme um and this is looking from I believe it's Grace Street uh which is the perpendicular Street off of Kennedy um again permitted signage you see the blade signage on the the leftand side and the um the facade signage with sarapin Suns and does this project comply with the Jersey city ordinance it does and were any are any variances required there's no variances to my knowledge all signage any questions anyone the um gra Street um I'm just looking at it again the grace on Grace Street the one that you just showed the windows in the back are they secure the um for the basement is that going to be a secured window or is that how is that uh or just a regular panel glass uh the window in the basement uh let me go up to the the images that I have there's a small window there I see I see it on the great Street drawing so you can see that they're they're they're graded out windows underneath that all the way in the bottom okay let's see what you got there yeah all right so it's existed ex exactly okay y we're not really and that's 10 in maybe small yeah I think it's a a 32 by 16 goes with coursing of block okay okay okay anybody else all right thank you sir we appreciate it thank you council is that your presentation yes it is okay thank you is anybody here from the public that wants to comment anyone from public one from the public wishing to speak I move to close second okay motion is made and seconded public is closed uh do we have any comment staff uh just wanted to confirm one more time that um there aren't there will not be any consumption areas as part as this project correct all right thank you uh staff recommends approval okay thank you I'll entertain a motion then I'd like to make a motion to approve case number Pete oh sorry give me one second no problem 15 yeah no I know in case p2024 D2 0225 uh for conditional use at 3667 John F Kennedy Boulevard 3662 3662 sorry about that I knew I'd get one wrong no wor okay do I have a second second okay motion and second for approval okay um Vice chair Dr Gonzalez I obain uh councilwoman Prince Avery hi commissioner Torres um big plus raised in Jersey City from Jersey City and the family still here you had me right there that's the way we want to see this business go we want to see it go for the people that were here all the time always keep their roots in Jersey City with that I vote a big eye thank you um commissioner lipsky yeah I think it's nice that uh we have a homegrown product literally and figuratively and I think it's also tasteful that you've had an employee break area so I think that's really cool and sensitive so I vote I and chair oh sorry and chairman Langston uh same same here I you know what this is the second meeting in a row we've had a city a homegrown resident that's opening a cannabis shop and I I love it I love it you go to the best School Jo thank you so um any any idea on opening date where are you in the process as soon as possible what's what was that September okay awesome okay good luck best of luck it's an I thank you everyone motion carries thank you appreciate it that was a good gble all right let's move on to memorialization of resolutions Please Mr chair I'd like to make a motion Mr chair I'd like to make make a motion to memorialize the following resolutions I have six today uh resolution number one of the city of Jersey City planning board in the matter of 23 Maran Place application number p2024 d0120 decided February 25th 2025 memorialized March 11 2025 application for a minor site plan approval with C variance in design waiver SL SL exception relief resolution number two of the city of Jersey City planning board in the matter of AK 471 LLC application number p2024 D- 0222 located at 252 Central Avenue and designated as block 4404 lot 3 decided February 25th 2025 memorialized March 11 2025 this was an application for extension of preliminary and final major s plan bulk variance and design waiver SL exception approval number three is resolution of the planning board of the city of Jersey City case p2024 di 0179 for minor subdivision applicant Waverly homes LLC address is 32 Waverly Street also known as 32-34 Waverly Street Jersey City New Jersey block 5 802 lot 42 Number Four City of Jersey City planning board in the matter of 225 Dwight Street Holdings LLC application number p2024 d163 decided February 25th 202 25 memorialized March 11th 2025 application for a preliminary and final major subdivision approval and resolution number five of the planning board of the city of Jersey City applicant 701 Newark AV LLC for final major s plan Amendment approval with deviations at 701 Newark Avenue forly known as 693-7111 formerly known as block 79 02 Lots 25 26 27 28 and 29 case number on that p2024 d190 and the sixth resolution hot off the press is resolution of the planning board of the city of Jersey City approving an amended preliminary and final major site plan with deviations and conditions applicants one Journal Square Tower North urban renewal company LLC one Journal Square Tower South Urban Reno company LLC and one Journal Square partner uh Partners urban renewal company LLC four amended preliminary and finer final major s plan with deviations property address 10 Journal Square block 9501 Lot 23 case number p2024 0116 do I have a second second okay Vice chair Dr Gonzalez hi councilwoman Prince ER hi commissioner Tores hi commissioner liy hi chairman linkston hi motion carries all in favor to memorialize resolutions need uh executive session anybody no do you you're good I'm fine okay Mr chair I'd like to make a motion to adjourn thank you everybody we're adjourned