I flag United States of America thank you everybody could we have a sunshine announcement please cam yes good evening chairman um today is Tuesday February 25th 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 meetings act notice of this meeting has been given to the editor of the Bergen Record LS pilito and posted with the city clerk on February 21st 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 made available to the public thank you Cam could we have a roll call please yes Vice acting Vice chair gangadin here councilwoman priner here Comm Torres here commissioner Cruz here commissioner Dr ji here and chairman Langston here we have six Commissioners present we have a quorum thank you uh could we swear in the staff please Mike I got you guys ttim tonight truth truth truth yes uh do we have any correspondents cam yes chairman um we have one item on the agenda where the uh applicant's attorney would like to make a request before you so if you wouldn't mind maybe they could come up right now sure absolutely all right which case is it cam um old business c yeah we're gonna have two good evening Council good evening uh 332 wit in this was previously carried to this evening we did receive a request from commissioner O's office um to carry this application and speak with him about the project we're happy to oblige that so no problem carrying this to early estate the board would like to give us what Cas is this uh it's under old business item C p2024 d241 uh next meeting is the 11th of March if uh if the board doesn't think they have too full of an agenda on that night happy to take that date um I'm sure we have a full agenda a full agenda every night a full agenda um given that this is old business though um perhaps we could accommodate it okay so let's carry it to a date certain March 11th with preservation of notice applicants very grateful for that and uh also case number Council you wave the time for the board Act of course um uh case number 20 p23 d024 this is fairly late in the agenda um there this is uh 77278 Westside Avenue there were also some emails that uh uh were circulated a couple hours before this hearing requesting that uh the application be carried so we're we don't think we're getting to this anyway so we're happy to carry this okay Cam where is that that's going to be a problem yeah okay so case p23 d024 preliminary and final major site plan with variances and minor subdivision for 772 to 788 Westside Avenue we're going to carry to a date certain and March 25th with of notice sorry we can send to the tolling of time as well for the thank you Council thank you anything else cam all right and we have Mr Harington good evening counc good evening Mr chairman Commissioners uh yeah I'm here on uh for this case I'm sorry uh yeah Charles har for the record Charles Harrington of conell foldy um case number 21 701 norc Avenue that's the last item on the agenda um uh requesting that that be carried to the March 11th meeting and I'll tell you why is that um Matt and I had had talked um about a month ago or so before that to place it on tonight's agenda uh and then when the February 11th uh meeting got can canell um we it's kind of a little bit of a mixup between Matt and I I had noticed for it I I understood that it wasn't going to be heard tonight but I asked if it could be listed so I can carry it to March 11th okay so the plan was to carry it to March 11th or hear it on March 11th so you noticed for tonight with the intent of carrying to March 11th I when I noticed I I did not understand that that Matt was going to put it on the 11th okay we're okay with the 11th cam yeah okay so case p2024 d190 for a site plan Amendment at 701 Newark AV we're going to carry to date certain March 11th with preservation of notice thank you thank you Council that's all Cam that concludes correspondence and the Sunshine announcement is uh B1 in evidence okay thank you so let's let get into Old business item a is case p2024 d222 is a site plan extension for 252 Central Avenue good evening Council good evening chair members of the board Benjamin wine of prime toel and melli on behalf of the applicant ak471 LLC um very simply this application this evening is for a one-year extension to the approval that was granted uh and memorialized on December 13th of 2022 that approval would have expired December 13th of 2024 um so we're here seeking just one out of the three one-year extensions um just very briefly as to why the applicant uh had some financing issues and struggles getting financing um I'm happy to say that uh after speaking with him uh earlier before this hearing he has obtained the necessary financing and he hopes to be able to uh complete this project or at least begin this project within the next year so the one-year extension would take us to December 13 of 2025 uh if granted this evening okay any questions anybody all right thank you council is anybody here from the public that wants to comment anyone here from public chair see no one from public I wish to close the public portion second all right motion is made and seconded public is closed Joe anything um does the applicants team agree to the original conditions uh from the original site plan approval yes we do thank you okay I'll entertain a motion then CH like to make a motion to approve case p2024 d222 um as presented second all right motion is made and seconded for approval okay um do a roll call uh yeah okay so acting Vice chair gangadin I councilwoman praner I commissioner Torres hi commissioner Cruz hi commissioner Dr Desai hi and chairman L hi motion carries all thank you everybody okay thank you thank you let's move on to Item B is case p202 4- 0243 is a one-year extension for 804 to 810 Westside Avenue anybody cam do we have anybody for this application that you know of they should be here so okay you just call 804 wests side is that you Mr Harington oh yeah I'm I'm sorry that's uh okay uh Rebecca is uh an associate of ours that um actually we'll withdraw that right now not withdraw but it can be adjourned to a date uncertain because uh there's some issues and I apologize for we we didn't contact the board earlier um we need to look at some issues on that so we will get back to planning and have to re notice for any future hearing okay okay so just for the record we're going to adjourn case p2024 d243 and we'll move on to new business item nine case p2025 d37 is a review and discussion to permit a billboard use in the chapel Avenue Industrial Park Redevelopment plan formal action may be taken good evening ladies and gentlemen uh Robert Kavanaugh the law firm of waters mcfur mcneel uh we represent uh Pacific outdoor advertising which is proposing uh this billboard amendment to the Redevelopment plan over at Chapel Avenue Industrial Park uh the application seeks to amend the Chapel Avenue Industrial Park Redevelopment plan to permit an outdoor advertising signage as a principal use within the uh park zone the amendment would apply only to those lots that are adjacent to the New Jersey Turnpike uh an interstate 78 uh Highway RightWay the request is in respon resp to uh Jersey City resolution 25- 82 which directs the planning board to review the incorporation of billboards as a permitted use and where appropriate prepare an amendment or revision to the Redevelopment plan and that's why we're here tonight seeking your approval to do that should the board approve the amendment we will then submit a subsequent development application for the installation of the bill board that is consistent with the terms of the approved Amendment the uh applicant planner Mr MCD Dunner has prepared a principal points of statement outlining the key elements of The Proposal which we had submitted to the planning department which has been provideed to the planning department while Mr mcdunn is unavailable uh this evening uh I spoke to him earlier I thought he was going to try to make it but he's tied up in another planning board meeting um but we would be happy to have him provide testimony at the next available meeting if it's if necessary and should the board require further Insight or clarification regarding the master plan and the planning analysis supporting the amendment uh in conclusion in light of the uh forging we respectfully request your approve approval of this amendment to the Redevelopment plan once the amendment is approved we'll proceed with submitting the development application for the installation of the billboard in accordance with the Amendments and uh your conditions and requirements Council before I move on um does the name Al MTI ring a bell Al is he connected to this application something I'm aware of our our client uh is the principal of our client is Jo Joseph Jacobs okay but this is that stretch this is the whole Redevelopment but the the property in particular that we're talking about is that little sliver coming east on the on 78 heading west we would beest it's where it is is where the municipal complex is okay we're fine then okay okay thank you trying to determine any conflict EXC me trying to determine any conf I made okay okay Tanya we have Mr McD's principal points yes normally we'd have Mr McDonna here in testifying and uh I don't know if you've had the opportunity to review that and if you're looking to maybe comment on from a planning standpoint chairman I don't know how the board feels about proceeding without planning testimony do have his his points we have the points but we do need some kind of testimony on record I could I could appr I could proceed one of two ways I could have Mr um McDon provide a writing that I could submit to the board if that would be if that would suffice if not I will bring him in at the next meeting and have him uh put testimony on the record um and for any questions that you have I mean I truly thought I could get him here tonight I spoke to him was late as about an hour hour and a half ago and he was unfortunately conflicted between two planning boards and I guess mine was uh not a priority chairman we know Mr McDon I deal with Mr McDon uh quite often I am sure he is at two other meetings however we might get lucky he might be at two other meetings here in Hudson County and he might get here before the close of the meeting right he may so uh why don't we move on for now then do you think it's possible that he may to get here tonight I will I will make a another call if not I'll send him a text and see if he'll at least respond to that people seem to like those now nowadays and uh I I hate them but and I will uh see if I can get him to uh respond to that I you know and I'll I'll come back before you and let you know one way or the other where we're at Mr McDon is a Jan AER I assume I guess I just read I don't even know what I am I know I'm a boomer they say I'm they told me I'm a dinosaur we all fit into those categories so a gen XR will respond to a text okay so give it a shot all right I will news for you the boomers are worse with the texting and they use a lot more emojis all right so we're going to come back to that application let's move on to item 10 is case p2024 d156 is a conditional use at 545 Newark Avenue good evening even ladies and gentlemen I am Edward manard of the law firm of minority and minority I represent the applicant applicant kind buds JC LLC respecting an application to open a retail cannabis store at 554 New York Avenue this will be an approximately 1400 square foot retail facility with no uh consumption area um in a four-story uh building building formerly occupied by law office uh apartments above on a configuration very common for buildings in this area of the city I'm sure you're you're quite familiar with it I'm recognizing the board has a crowded agenda tonight I'll I'll try and keep my remarks brief and the testimony of my client's brief but don't uh don't hesitate to ask uh us to explore any issue that concerns you in whatever depth you you prefer I have two witnesses this evening I have Michael Daniels who's the principal of the and and sole owner of the LLC that will be the owner of the establishment and his architect Eric leapin to can testify as to the technical issues this is an application for conditional use approval no variances are sought all conditions of the conditional use are met and so I think it's a pretty straightforward application unless the board has anything first I'd like to call Mr Daniels sure Mr Daniels step up please good evening board Mr Daniels good evening I do my name is Michael Daniel m i c h a l last name Daniel d a n i e Mr Daniel before we go on Council we do need notice from you do you have your notice with you uh yes it's been it's been uploaded to to uh Tyler I have the originals here if you require them Council we do take the originals I did see that you had it uploaded to Tyler butal seats thank you just give us one second sir chairman I'm going to receive the Affidavit of publication proof of mailing with respect to the application at 545 Newark Avenue it does appear to see the same or the original of the notice that was uploaded to the Tyler portal does appear to be in order we're going to mark it as a one for purpose of the record okay thank you Council go ahead sir thank you um Mr Mr Daniel would you give the tell the board your relationship to the applicant kind buds JC LLC um I am the so owner of kind buds LLC um I'm a Jersey City resident I went to dickon high school I own other businesses in Jersey City I grew up in the area um about two or three blocks away from the proposed location you've lived in Jersey City all your life yes I have you love the city don't you yes sure I do um can you tell the board uh what it is you're proposing to do at 545 New York Avenue uh I am proposing a class five uh cannabis retail um application um um retail dispensary at that location uh question similar to any other dispensary already in the city correct okay uh will there be a consumption area no no consumption okay what is it about this location that Mak it particularly attractive to you um I grew up there I grew up there I went like I mentioned I went to school down the block um there's tons of Redevelopment going on there tons of new buildings and new courthouse as you guys know um I think it's just perfect place it's it's home do you own any other businesses in town I own a cafe blend's cafe it's over on mallerie Avenue um I've been there 5 years now um I also on another uh location a communion store and event space over on uh in stadium Plaza in Jersey City all right now you're um aware that the state regulates these facilities quite carefully there are inumerable innumerable regulations it's it's your intention to operate in strict compliance with all those regulations absolutely um could you um explain to the word there were certain things that the the uh planners review asked us to touch upon can you talk about uh the method of trash disposable trash disposal from the facility um well trash can't be disposed just well cannabis disposed cannabis trash can't be disposed um with other trash unless it's shredded and it also has to be um it has to be um you have to make notice to to the state letting you know what the amount of cannabis waste that that you plan on disposing of and it can either be mixed in but it also when it is um when it is disposed of it has to be somewhere where it can't be accessible to anybody anyone else so there will be a secure area in the store of course and will the the Cannabis waste be kept in the secure area of course okay and uh most of the garbage that goes out from the facility would consist of what um lunch employee lunch uh be most of it and and what are you going to do with that that'll be put in a in a reg regular garbage um bin and it could be rolled out into the front of front of the um the location on you know to be picked up by by the um City's um just regular Street pickup when it's not a pickup day where is it going to be kept uh we have it in the back of the uh store locked away okay it's also going to be fenced fenced in okay that that the fence is going to be around that where is it going to be it's going to be in the back of the store okay outside okay thank you um you want to give the board a brief overview of the security that's going to be installed at the facility so our security plan was approved um by the Jersey uh by the Jersey City police it's one of the requirements for the Cannabis board um it was done by the sapphire risk Group which is like the gold standard when it comes to these security plans um it consists of having security guards multilock doors thermal cameras lighting uh that's pretty much most of it [Music] um what yeah that's pretty much or does any questions he'll be sure to ask and can you explain uh the signage that you're proposed to install outside of the store the signage is very simple we already have an awning we just plan on putting our logo up there L is it going to be a logo or is it just going to be lettering just lettering like our Our Kind buds JC and there's there's a depiction of it in the in the plans that are on fire correct thank you U I don't have anything further for for Mr Daniel available to the board all right thank you I have nothing for Mr Daniel anybody else um you're going to have an architect come up or he's only one testify no we have an architect okay I just uh I'm getting mixed up I look a little further but you're the same block as the courthouse what what block are you on nework AV uh yeah I know you're on nework AV the Old Courthouse right the old closer to the Old Courthouse yes you're closer to it right to the Old Courthouse yeah always thought the Old Courthouse was 545 and I'm saying this guy should have put a cannabis I grew up in Jersey City and I'm thinking is it a 545 the old cour the new court well what's considered old the higher building not the real Old Courthouse um so you are the you're not on the same block you're either to the left or closer are you closer to the ticket in high school closer D in high school those the dest high school but you're still the 200 ft away from okay thank you next question will be to the architect running courthouse is 583 the old buildings 59 I always think it was the tour building at the 595 595 yeah okay well those are pretty cool but right probation anybody else any other questions no okay thank you sir thank you go ahead Council chairman for the record there is the Cannabis control board resolution in the package from uh looks like November of 2023 so Mr lampy in the package that we filed are are there are numerous documents required by the ordinance I I could go through and I did that in my submission I didn't see a need to spend time on it tonight but each and every requirement of that ordinance is met with the exhibit as applicable it's all it's all in the application package thank you Council thank you yes sure it's Eric E r i k last name leapin L IE p i ns Mr leapin good evening I I don't believe we've qualified you in the past have we uh if I don't think so okay if you could just run through your qualifications your licensing what state you're licensed in all that stuff sure so I'm the principal owner principal architect and owner of zelta design with my principal uh office address at 139 Chestnut Street in Nutley New Jersey I'm a licensed architect in the state of New Jersey and my license is active um and in good standing and um I've done numerous projects throughout Jersey City but not uh in front of this board yet okay um and you were the the principal architect on this project correct okay thank you you're qualified thank you um thank you thank you Mr chairman you got it uh Mr leppens would you describe give the board an overview of this project project please sure so it's really uh for the most part an interior renovation of a 1,00 just shy of a 1,400 ft ground floor commercial space um so you walk in and there's there's a lobby area um with a reception desk and then there's another door which leads you into the retail area so you have to uh first check in and then you lead to the retail area which is where the transactions occur um and then in the back there is uh an existing restroom which is proposed to remain uh but mainly it's a cosmetic upgrade with uh the new awning being re or the existing awning being reskinned on the outside of the building thank you um would you the planning report ask us to address the issues of of Odor Control first of all do do you see in these uses any need for Odor Control I don't so there's no consumption Happening Here on site so everything that is uh on site and sold and that leaves a premises is um sealed um would any order control measures be installed nevertheless there will be charcoal filters and uh you know an exhaust fan but uh I don't see any ex odors from this facility occurring okay and is there any um equipment that would generate noise outside of the facility proposed to be installed uh just your standard air conditioning uh through wall system which is consistent with what the Upper Floor Apartments have so no uh real addition of noise than what's currently there and does this application comply with all the requirements of the Jersey city ordinance yes it does are any variances necessary that you're aware of no I don't have any further questions for this witness okay thank you sir anybody any questions Eddie I know you have one no my my question but as I'm looking at it more um I just noticed that the the bom in this facil cuz a lot of the facilities that's just Tak it out it's um accessible to the public right this baffle once you get into the retail space yeah you're in the retail space and then you have the door that goes in there's that existing room that has three doors once in the bathroom it's in and out right which is very small room that's like a little closet space or correct that's what that is yeah so nothing's going to be stored in that little space as far as no no cannabis no cannabis being stored in there it's just a some reason a little passage correct that one from one room to another okay and um all right that's what drew me up because sometimes these facilities don't provide I don't see access to the bathroom right for the clients it's only for the workers that's when you have it the other way about um one more thing is your exit and entrance so the the the exit for the facility is actually just a corridor for the entrance too they'll be going through that one you're not going to add another door in that Avenue are you the only uh entry and exit for customers is on Newark Avenue there is a rear door but that's for employees only where the trash would be taken out you know that that kind okay that that's all I have chairman all right thanks Eddie anybody else yeah I have a question sure go ahead do what kind of lighting you have outside with the signage sure so this the signage is a is a canvas awning so that's non-illuminated uh there are security lights on the side of the building um which just illuminate from the first floor down and that's all that's there and when does the light goes off is it after like business hours it's on or it's off I would have to defer to U the operator for that one I'm not I'm not sure I'll call him back and asking that any other questions I'm sorry any other questions for uh the architect no okay thank you council do you want to call Mr Daniel again Daniel would you answer um yes deze a question about lighting hours so so the lighting the lighting what what it does it turns on after when the sun's it's like a a uh what is it called a uh no um it's like a sens it's a sensor light so and it's adjacent to the building so nothing the lighting doesn't go into any any other premises any other facility just on our facility so uh for a security standpoint thing if let's say somebody was trying to walk in on the premises the lights will go off but during the day there's no there's no lighting there yeah that okay but there's no exterior lighting say after hours except for that sensor correct okay yeah there's nothing that would be in you know interrupting or um going into anybody else's building okay and it's a photo cell is that the word you were trying to think of yes okay doctor is that does that answer your question okay anybody else no all right thank you Mr Daniel thank you Council anything else else I think it's a perfectly conforming application again we could stay stay all night some boards want to hear about these things all night I don't think that's your interest but um yes so we'll we uh submit that the application is is right for approval thank you okay thank you Council uh is there anybody hear from the public that wants to comment anyone from public jery no one from public I wish to close the public portion second okay motion is made and seconded public is closed and I have no idea whose application this I'm I'm I'm stepping in for this one this is actually um inherited this from Francisco oh that's right um I've reviewed the documents uh that were submitted to the plan or to the to the portal um as well as the uh the staff memo prepared by uh Francisco dated December 12 2024 um as well as the uh the map that was prepared uh there we did do a check this location is permissible for uh class cannabis retailer uh conditional use uh it was submitted to uh city planning ahead of any other permits being approved for a nearby uh retailer which there is one uh on Newark Avenue uh they do meet all the conditions of the conditional use um in our staff memo we do recommend uh six conditions should the board make a motion to approve I would just asked if the council had has reviewed those conditions and if they would uh would agree to those conditions um Edward um sorry were you did you have time to review the conditions in the staff memo I through sure EXC so I'm sorry old age not a problem I used to be able to read okay following conditions one all materials and color selection shall be as shown on the final plans yes um no change on to the facade and sight design including materials as well as any changes that may be required by the office of construction code shall be permitted without consultation approval by planning staff of course number two all testimony given by the applicant and their expert Witnesses in accordance this application shall be binding that's understood our people are under oath and they understand that number three priority to the issuance permit the applicant shall seek and receive approval by the Cannabis control board and cannabis Regulatory Commission I know we have CCB approval I think CRC comes after after the planning board so we we OB obviously can't open under state law we can't open until we obtain that it's a perfectly appropriate condition number four architect of record shall provide an affidavit confirming the development is built according to the approved plans prior to the issu of the first CEO uh five we can actually foro uh Commissioners um so we can like just skip to six okay number six is the applicant will comply with all conditions of approval set forth on the record by the planning board Andor City uhis City Planning staff of course we will okay thank you uh staff recommends approval okay thank you so I'll entertain a motion CH I like to make a motion to approve case p2024 d156 as presented to the board this evening together with staff recommendation and conditions second okay motion is made and secutive for approval okay on a motion to approve acting chair uh gangen I councilman prer Michael I wish you best of luck it's great to see you continue to invest with your businesses here in Jersey City I vote I commissioner tus U Mr D I didn't catch what high school you went to uh High School Dickerson High School cool I was that the better one for us but um tired this is what when they first started cannabis in Jersey City this is what I was always hoping for this is what I hope for in my neighborhood now in Ocean Avenue in Greenville somebody from the neighborhood when you said why am I putting it there it's because I'm from that neighborhood put great answer I've been waiting for that answer for years as people come in from other states and stuff to establish a business here brother I wish you a lot of luck I hope you're the best on it I hope you a lot of success and that I appreciate that you're here it's still a Jersey City with that I vote a big eye commissioner Cruz congratulations I commissioner Dr Desai I chairman LX Yeah Eddie took my uh my whole speech um so congratulations wish you the best of luck uh same um you know every night we hear these things and and it's so nice to hear somebody from the neighborhood that's that's giv it a shot so best of luck I hope you make it uh obviously and I for me motion carries all in favor all right thank you thank you all right let's move on to item 11 is case p2024 d149 is a preliminary and final major site plan and and conditional use for 523 Tunnell Avenue good evening Council good evening um David singer from the law firm of porio Bromberg and Newman on behalf of the applicant um before we get started I want to Mark um the uh Affidavit of publication and Service as A1 thank you Council thank you I'm I'm here on behalf of grass house uh LLC um which is block 3203 lot 78 and9 um we are here uh for site plan and conditional use approval for a commercial tenant where all conditions have been met for a class five cannabis retailer at an existing ground floor retail space with Associated signage in the HC Highway commercial Zone under Jersey city ordinance uh I understand that the agenda is long so I'm going to be as brief and succinct as I can um this is an application on behalf of an applicant that meets the rationale for the use P namely social equity for a person with long ties to the community here in Jersey City the applicant proposes to improve a parcel by demol uh demolishing a one-story masonry building abutting the existing two-story woodf frame building which will then be improved to house the retail cannabis establishment parking will be reconstructed and restriped and the site will be further improved with Associated Landscaping improvements tonight uh you will hear testimony from the applicant civil engineer guy uh Lego marcino regarding the present condition of the property and to provote site improvements you'll also hear testimony from the applicant architect Ronald Elkins who will take you through the floor plans and some operational details about the application we also have uh with us the traffic engineer Connor Hughes from Dynamic traffic if the board so chooses to um hear a testimony uh from Mr Hughes uh and um we have a representative from the applicant uh Michael price who is here uh to answer any questions that the board may have of him as well um this application has received um Jersey City CCB approval already uh with that I'd like to call up my first uh witness um guy uh Lego marcino hello there you you're behind me set up I got to get over here are we going to get me on here or where um okay truth truth truth yes I do what's the password guoga marcino l a g o m a s i n o uh can you please provide the board with your education area expertise and licenses you've held yes that's okay sir we've qualified you a million times uh your license is current tonight though yes huh your license is current tonight yeah but still Curren okay thank you you're qualified yes first testimony okay can you uh go through the site plans for the board please yes I well I will so uh this site has been pretty much dilapidated for many years and it's definitely a corner which definitely would definitely need a major upgrade even to for any type of commercial space and I want to look and talk about what we're doing to upgrade the site and to make it aesthetically pleasing uh for for all uh in the neighborhood as well as uh the the use that's going to be used for it it's a corner that is a difficult Corner uh which is high volume and traffic as many of you know uh that to be during uh peak times but um I'm here for that I'm here for what we're doing with the site itself uh with the upgrades there is really the utilities here because I know I've been here before issues with uh pumps and and drainage system so uh being from a civil perspective uh there is no sanitary line at this corner uh and I think that's pretty much why I'm drawing this up here that we're showing that we're shipping uh if you can see this uh the line here these two lines here uh before we even get into the really what's going on inside the building which I leave for the architect but the sanitary right now even I uh is is being was a septic system which is already converted to a pump system down which is down by the railroad so in so upgrading the site we're going to have uh the rotor runoff going to a detention system which then has collected nothing is going to see back into the ground because the ground is suspect even this whole neighborhood so we're going to keep keep the water retain it and and like you know let uh offices that would allow the water to seep out slowly to down um that's the first thing so so we're already going to take care of all the requirements for the water retention the next thing is now we're going to have an opening a new road here let me get back to uh the other one which is um now my site plan um which is this one here so let's go to the site plan uh there is going to be the new opening on the Tunnell Avenue side which would be able to enter from that side right now they're entering more or less if you you can get to that side from here you're going to be turning into that and it's going to be more uh open that the V will allow traffic coming Southbound on T Avenue to have access and as well from County Road right now it's County Road is there but we're obviously upgrade that whole corner with concrete and actually we have 10 trees maple trees going in as well as a few uh shrubs uh so it's a it's you know for the Landscaping uh we're really upgrading this whole corner from uh from the state that it's in right now we have over 10 uh believe we have over 17 walking spaces and as wir as well as um a truck lane which should be able to maneuver ins inside uh the area that will'll be able to um get and unload and for the establishment as far as the sanitary uh we as you see in the corner there after number 17 uh I'm sorry not s the trash the trash would be uh in a trash bin on away from the building and obviously there is nothing in that area that would be uh would be would be detrimental to the neighborhood because we're going to actually have shrubs to the uh west of it as well as grass area that will not really be a major uh you know detrimental to if there are to build next to the west of it um as far as um just wanted one more point with the lighting um the lighting is all new Lighting on uh on right now I think there's just some real heavy duty lights just strobes on it but we're going to defin use uh uh light LEDs all over the parking lot that will allow to establish as well even on the sidewalk that if there's anyone walking to the establishment not to The Establishment they'll actually have lighting fixtures as well I think that should cover most of my testimony as far as um as as far as the site itself is concerned can you show the board where we're demolishing the I think the the architect has those plans that he was we talked about it before that he'll be uh touching on that is the new curb cut approved by uh dot right now he's already we're already putting in uh an application for them you know they take a lot of time to do that as far as the county as well uh uh we all these applications are in the process and as well as anything we're going to adhere to I think the JC M has already reviewed some of uh we have comments from that we're going to discuss with them the options uh what they're asking from us um certain things we I think I'll speak to Rich about at the jcmua in regards of we're not agreeing with some of their perspective of what they were asking for but I don't think we're going to be in adherence to the jcm way requirements I'm sorry to say that last we're going to be in adherence to their requirements but right now based upon the the review the ini review they had made comments that necessary that you know as far as they they they requested more Greenery on the building and I think that's maybe something that the architect would discussing that we we're not at a standstill I think we're more or less at an impa that we're going to try to get to a conclusion of this we will be able to provide for them if they want in the end uh giving them what they want but I I don't think within the criterias of the code will be able to stick with what the original plan is that it's not going to be modified that whatever they've asked for is not going to be major modification it's just it's just that I don't think that it's it's necessary that's so that's where we're at right now so Council we have the Jersey City mua letter from December 3rd 2024 yeah you have a copy of that yeah we have the copy of that we have the copy of that and we've already been trying to in discussion with them but we wanted to come before the meeting here point one says what you're proposing is not acceptable that's correct that's proposing that in the sense of of drainage you've proposed something point one in the December 3rd mua letter says what you proposed is not acceptable that's correct have we been discussing with the MUA how to get that we have but then they asked us about getting approvals from the do and that's from December and so now we're in the with the do trying to get some approvals there as well so if they're waiting for the approvals with the curb Cuts that's that's that's uh that can take time that's not what number one is about okay but refresh me I don't have number one in front of me so I could pull that up somewhere but if you have it if so number one is their proposed 2 in hdp pressurized storm line shown on sheet se-11 that's the one I showed before yes connecting to the existing 2-in pipe in county road is not acceptable that's correct so the two things this the side is large enough we can do citch into the site we have no problem with that and we spoke that to to I think it was who was we that which name was that uh baj uh so so what I'm saying is that we have spoke but since we already have a 2-in sanitary line that is pumped that's been agreed and we already worked with that there's a 2-in sanitary there now that's pumped out of there that I designed maybe with green uh with green we installed it years ago maybe like 15 years ago so they're not looking to do the pump because they feeling that that might be they could be a backup so either way we can do a so doesn't impact the site whether we're going to have a half pipe or a full pipe we just need to do a perk test and find it because the site is large enough that we can seep into the ground so that's the only thing that I think that I wouldn't agree that it doesn't affect the site so I just don't agree with that statement what com speaks for itself you have 11,000 square F feet almost of of land and you have a lot of open Asphalt area what makes you not upgrade the pipe now though if it's this is not acceptable they're telling you why wouldn't you we've had this conversation with you before before we this is not the first time you're bringing the same conversation back on a different site different site yes yeah I mean seems like now that I'm listening to you this conversation came before yes everything what makes you think it works this time time we still have we we we settled with uh uh I don't know about that part let's let's skip let's skip the other side we don't need to talk about that what I'm just saying stor detention with pumps on the side sir nobody's saying that we can't resolve the issue what we're saying is this is a comment in an mua letter from December it's the end of February it's not acceptable what you proposed you're saying that you have other possible solutions to the problem but that belongs at the MUA they haven't accepted or seen these other possible solutions the point of talking about the history between this board and you along with the MUA is we've gone through this dance before MH and you had to go to the MUA and get their approval for us to move forward it's his out that is correct so this would be the third time in my career Council I think you made a comment that um you even willing to wait to the very end of the project being built and done and everything to address this issue the situation here and you're bringing that up to this board that that is like for working I I work in a construction field that sounds crazy let's let's not understand the site the way it is we got 11,000 square feet 11,000 square feet of site in itself there there is no doubt we can use the seepage of the soil if we need to to take care of that we don't need to go to any pumping any system in the drain but so there we have too we have too much sight we so we vote on what's in front of us yes I understand you know whatever you're proposing to us tonight isn't acceptable to the MUA that's correct that's what so that's not acceptable to us all right we would ask if the board be willing to have that as a condition to any approval that might come up the board I think we need to say it we need some kind of comment letter back from the MUA absolutely so we we need something that's acceptable to the MUA before we yes the last two projects we went to them way we able to get a letter that we we able to condone that they approved this I agree I think so respectfully I don't know why we don't have that letter yet right I know it's a different application but we know it's a problem you have multiple Solutions in your toolbox you need to present those to the MUA and settle on the one that they accept and present that to us the only other comment that I have at this time is I don't know if anyone's going to talk about term plates and and width and the do permit is pending when was that F Well we submitted in them and we're still on the review before we have the official submitt because we have other there's a traffic engineer too also uh so there's multiple we submitted for the DOT permit or I understand we're in a process of it because we have uh uh with Dot in order to do this you need MPT traffic control and all those other things you can't submit without having that uh that and then you got to go to the county as well because you're between a state highway obviously in the county road so in the county road as well so I don't know if that's part of the contingency here but obviously it's I don't think that will impact the site itself since it's a large site it's a matter of just maybe moving a tree or the curb Cuts I mean you have 30 something feet here 34 feet I mean for an opening here it's more than big enough whiff to get in and then you have 48 ft on on County Road so yeah I you got the turning radius I don't I don't know what obviously do or the county is going to say but if they tell you no on either one of these no I agree that was a contingent to come before the board understood I'm not disputing that I didn't know if you had before I just didn't know if you had a sense that this is going in the direction you want it to be going or if you know they haven't said anything and we'll we'll wait to see we'll deal with the Turning but we can't even get past the MUA comments I don't think yeah I think I have one more question there go ahead so since you spoke about the storm system there's two existing Builders there that you are demoing uh Lal V and a building right so I'm going to assume well I'm not going to assume I'm going to ask you straight out you have a solution for the waste in that build no the waste is going to continue the way it is right now okay just I want it on the record you have a uh a plant for the waste the waste is not changed we've been approved by the MU JC mua okay the green installed it I just wanted to hear you say it all right that's all thank you that's that's there so it's only question of storm I think the MUA had some other comments well Council as far as I'm concerned the the Civil plans presented to us tonight aren't acceptable to the MUA how do we move forward without that being acceptable to the city the board um sounds like the board wouldn't be willing to have that as a condition to approval so I would say we'd carry this okay application okay um Matt any thoughts uh I think uh just um having some experience with jca's jcu's turn around uh perhaps the second meeting in March would be a good date to carry too okay so Council we're going to carry you to March 25th and we're going to preserve that notice actually notice is uh already in so okay no so we'll we'll continue this application with testimony taken already great okay um I'll entertain a motion for uh the carry to March 25th date certain CH i' like to make a motion to carry case p2024 Das 0149 to uh date certain March 25th 2025 with preservation of notice second okay motion is made on seconded to carry can we have a roll call please acting chair gengen I councilwoman preri I commissioner Torres I commissioner Cruz I commissioner Dr Desai I chairman Lon hi motion carries all right thank you thank you everybody have a good night all right let's move on to Mr McDon how do you feel you want to jump right into this I'm ready all right let's do it so let's uh let's call Item nine back is case p2025 Z37 this is the review and discussion to permit a billboard use in the chapel Avenue Industrial Park Redevelopment plan for action may be taken okay uh Robert kavor again wers MC first McNeil for the applicant Pacific outdoor advertising um Mr McDon uh do you want me to go through his qualifications again your license is current tonight Mr McDon yes you're fine you're qualified gonna ask him okay uh yep I have that yes I do sure hi everyone John mcdna MC capital D OU and I'm the applicant planner uh John McDon we can hear you but can we get Mr McDon a mic of some sort he can he can go in front of you have to turn it on Mr McDon uh can you please provide the board with a description of the requested Amendment and provide testimony as to the consistency of with the plan sure this is a pretty simple straightforward request to add one additional use to the Chapel Avenue Industrial Park Redevelopment plan particular to lands that abut the New Jersey Turnpike extension um this will essentially affect a single piece of property that is slender in shape uh it's Pencil Thin and has limited utility for other permitted uses in the zone um what the petition is is to add a billboard for permitted uh principal use to your list of principal uses in in the zone again with the usual caveats that this would be subject to all the Outdoor Advertising regulations and specific only to lands that abut uh the turnpike extension so this is the only place in the entire Redevelopment plan where this would happen we think it serves a positive utility on a land that has limited utility given it's a very very narrow shape and these are lands that are immediately adjacent to mua property uh so this could provide a nice Public Service public service announcement um the benefit of this particular land use is that it does provide real-time messaging in digital display so in collaboration with the city and collaboration with the MUA we can Pro provide real-time messaging as part of this land uses function that's that's the essence of what the applicant is asking the petitioners asking the board to move on Mr McDon we just need a little bit on consistency obviously with the master plan and with the Redevelopment plan sure again the essence of the Redevelopment plan is to promote Commerce Economic Development given the constraints of this land and its former association with a rail line it does have limited utility so this will take unproductive underutilized land and put it into functional use I think that's right on point with the master plan goal okay thank you Mr McDon any questions anyone all right thank you thanks for coming all the way over here sorry to mess up your flow no worries yes T do you have anything do you want me to open it up for public first or do you want to okay is there anybody here from public that wants to comment on this application anyone from public chair see no one from public I would like to close the public portion second okay motion is made seconded and public is closed Tanya uh so I just have a few recommendations just for consistency um with how the rest of our plans read um if you see Mr McD's memo um under G9 i' I'd ask for it to be removed since we don't reference uh D variances in our Redevelopment PL since Jersey City uh does not do D variances and Redevelopment plans um and then on 10 uh which will then be nine um everything after without requiring relief for the D variants which is again just um a repeat that uh we don't like to have that D variance language in our Redevelopment plans we have no problem with two principal uses on the lot um and then uh number two and this is where it gets a little tricky because the site that the um petitioner and eventually applicant will be building on is split zoned and some of it is in Port industrial and some of it is in Redevelopment um so once this use is permitted we have a standard in um our code that says if the majority of the lot is that zone then that whole lot becomes zon for that that deals with any kind of split lot zoning and my only concern with number two is that we don't have any official formal designation for the remainder of this site um so I don't know if we can just kind of go ahead and put it in Redevelopment without going through that process but um because it's split Zone and the majority of it will be within the Redevelopment uh the billboard use will be permitted should the board approve it um and then as Mr Torres was reminding me and Mr mcdna and I have had this billboard dance for at least the last 10 years um the master plan in 2000 did have language verbiage uh about protecting the scenic Corridor um and which is why we haven't had Billboards along um specifically 78 in the entire time the last master plan did not include that language any longer um and instead it included language asking us to take into consideration where these uh Billboards would be appropriate um and instead of just having an outright prohibition on it to look at it a little bit more critically um and so that I think is addressing what this is and however the board feels comfortable with this and how uh Council you feel comfortable with it is I would like it if there was this would be the only billboard within the chapel Industrial plan and I don't know if that becomes an issue for economic competition or whatever um but if that's possible um it would be no okay no shaking his head no I there there are NJ do standards for distancing requirements um but yeah okay and so that that is uh that's my comments um I recommend approval with those changes um and actually recommend referral to the city council with approval from the planning board okay thank you Tanya Eddie you have something well um I feel like there's lack of information here uh uh why we didn't have Billboards and what kind of what is this Billboards are going to be used for public information or advertisement purposes both both with the um with the applicant order petitioner is uh saying to the board and to the city is it's going to be an advertising billboard uh of course but it's going to also be available to the city and the jcmua for any kind of Public Service Announcement they have in fact when I spoke to the owner today he told me that if there was if even if he had full a full contract for for use of the billboard by say a third party that if there was an emergency that came up that the city needed to put something on that billboard his contracts with anybody that's using the billboard would allow that that City emergency would take precedent over what goes up on that billboard so Mr dun said that it was going to be for um public notice when he made his in his comment just now right it's going to allow but the truth of the matter is it's basically mostly used for advertisement purposes right but the but there's an emergency but not only just if there's an emergency he is going to the the client when I spoke to him and and you know I'm relaying what what he's told me specifically more than once that the um the city and the MUA will have access to this billboard to put our public service announcements uh you know there'll probably be some kind of uh schematical plan that they'd work out with uh fitting in with the oops sorry because these things are digital and we've seen them on the highway they change and they turn you probably fit more than uh okay you know I guess it's whatever the whatever cont structure structure Wise height what we're going to what's going to be built there we don't know how that looks yet we're not there yet not there well right we're not we're not there yet yet right thank you thank you C but I think there's a couple of things that we want want to make clear if we're going to make a positive referral to the council in terms of consistency with the master plan which is what we're all charged with right this is a request to be amended in a Redevelopment plan only the governing body can do that this board is familiar with the procedure we're determining whether or not it's consistent with the master plan we heard director uh go through through exactly what the conversation regarding Billboards and Commercial digital Billboards has been within the city I think it's possible that there are other constraints that are put on the site within an amendment that maybe will help uh but that's a city governing body question when it gets there in terms of consistency I think it sounds like based on Mr McD's testimony along with the director's testimony the idea of a digital billboard for commercial purposes is consistent with the master plan along this Corridor and specifically within this Redevelopment zone so that's really the question I think uh that's what the board has to determine the testimony of the two planners is in favor of it being found to be consistent but there's nothing that's says that when we send the transcript we can't say to the governing body here's what our general concerns are we are concerned about how high the billboard is going to be we are concerned about the distance of the billboard M they're highly regulated so the do really regulates the distance between getting the permit uh and things of that nature there's there's a good amount of criteria that has to be met or or dealt with messaging on billboards whole different bowl of wax that's First Amendment stuff well beyond uh our concern here at at this board so with that uh I agree in terms of not wanting to permit uh any type of a d variance in a Redevelopment plan I think the purpose of the Dual use language as I'm understanding it is just to be clear that in this Redevelopment plan we would permit two principal uses on a site if one of those principal uses is a billboard correct that's the way I read it that's the way I interpret and that's the way I would recommend it to the governing body if I was going to actually write anything uh in terms of the agre John MCD John mcdo agrees with s lampy there's nothing more to do tonight okay um yeah I agree I think you know as far as as what's in front of us tonight we're just deciding on consistency with the master plan but yeah there's some concerns that I think Tanya's brought up tonight that should go forward with the city council so um with that said I'm comfortable going forward with a motion CH like to make a motion to approve case p2024 d37 which is approved billboard use in the chapel Avenue Industrial Park Redevelopment plan and for to city council for adoption second okay motion is made and seconded for um adoption uh I'm sorry being forwarded to city council with uh positive recommendation of consistent with the master plan with the comments Incorporated by the panel acting Vice chair gangadin hi councilwoman Prince Ary hi commissioner Tores I just u i get um Council thanks for clearing that up on that that issue there because um I was on this board when we was asked to take Billboards off of certain parts of the city and um not being clear as the years passed by uh but I agree part of a master plan fits into that section you know only thing is sometimes these things start a presidency of happening in other places as it goes along but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it um with that I could see this uh be a part fitting into the master plan with the plan of staff I uh I'll agree and I vote I commissioner Cruz hi commissioner Dr asai hi chairman Langston yeah I agree uh that it's consistent with the the goals and objectives of the master plan and uh I think it should get a positive recommendation to city council but you know as we discussed tonight I think there's some clearing up that has to happen before it gets adopted and uh I hope they take that into consideration but my vote is I motion carries all in favor to recommend to city council with a positive thank you very much thank you everybody Mike do you want to get a break in now okay uh let's take a 10-minute break everybody it's 6:51 we'll be back in 10 meet again everybody and let's call Item 12 on the agenda is case p2024 d124 is a preliminary and final major site plan for 538 Palisade Avenue good evening everyone Stephen Joseph for the applicant this is a notice application um I have or notice package here we'll mark this as A1 thank you Council chairman receive the affidavit and O proof of publication for 5345 38 Palisades Avenue here in the city had the opportunity to review it it does appear to be in order we going to mark it as A1 for purposes of the record all right thank you Council all right and Mr Joseph I I got to tell you as somebody that doesn't have hair that the haircuts offensive why why would you cut that hair I apologize I I will talk to my barber about this and and no it looks good but we didn't recognize the I'm sorry oh we'll come back I promise give me give me a couple I know and that's what's offensive to me I said the same thing years ago uh so this is a fairly simple project it five-story building 11 units commercial space ground floor also parking no variances preliminary and final major site plan approval we have an engineer available should you require testimony but we're just going to present architectural um unless there's any questions so let's bring up Anthony get him sworn in we'll we'll try to get through this quickly okay thank you Council I do absolutely Anthony C vandar Jr V an and d r m a r k Mr vanderark good evening we've qualified you numerous times your license is current tonight good evening chair uh yes my license is still current okay thank you you're qualified all right and we'll we'll just Mark uh the presentation set as A2 um it it's everything's in the plans uh with the exception I think of the rendering but it just easier presentation and how many slides is this Anthony I'll be presenting 14 slides what it is 16 slides it's 16 slides in the deck I don't think I need the back two only with questions let's call it to 16 and just send it over to planning sounds good all right take it away all right good evening everyone um as Mr Joseph had previously stated we are uh proposing an as a right application here um this is 534 uh 536 and 5 38 Palisades just to briefly show you where we are we are approximately mid block on the Eastern side of the street in between South Street and Bower Street we have approximately 74 feet of front edge with a 100 ft of lot depth uh facing the East total lot area is at 7,42 FT pre-existing condition uh let's go uh slide number two top left hand corner uh we have three uh you know two and three story wood frame structures two families and three families that are set back off of the property line uh they're adjacent to uh some greater lock coverage to the north and uh some similar structures to the south bottom right hand corner uh again slide number seven uh front facades of the uh three buildings to be demolished uh the application you have before you this evening uh has a fully compliant building that's going to bring the project forward to the front property line kind of uh you know in uh compliance with the uh buildings that are directly to the north um 540 is a couple of feet set back but then you have a 542 which is that taller uh three-story masonry building uh at slide number [Music] six this project is in the rc2 district um again as of right this permits a five-story a 55t tall building um with certain setbacks uh we are providing all setbacks in compliance with the rc2 we're providing 11 units although the uh density calculation of the rc2 permits 13 um I'll show you uh the next couple of slides that these units are a little bit uh of the larger size uh the rc2 is uh very generous uh in building volume uh and we took advantage of that we have units that range uh between 1329 ft and all the way to 1890 and square ft and they range from 2 three and four bedrooms we are proposing uh 11 uh parking spaces here two of them uh meet the EV or the electric uh vehicle uh charging stations uh that is compliant with the state mandate um we are proposing a 2010 square foot retail space top floor of that is at 85 sare ft and then we have a storage uh below with the remainder of the balance looking at the site plan uh working from the sidewalk line in we are proposing three new Street trees all new curbing all new sidewalk we are proposing a 10-ft uh driveway curb cut 14 ft to the driveway flares um the principal building height again is five stories that's centrally located there's a four-story portion that's located 10 ft off the front yard again this uh is is in compliance with the rc2 front yard setbacks for the top floor the adjacent property uh to the South has lot line facing windows we made light well accommodations for those lot line facing windows we have an additional light well here to the north to the leand side of the plan uh that's to accommodate an additional bedroom that's in the center of the plan uh proposed lock coverage at the first floor is close to 85% we have a 15t uh rear yard setback from the first floor and then a 30 foot rear yard setback at floors 2 3 4 and five as part of this application we are proposing rear yard uh uh landscape rear yards for two of the units um we have a uh 8ot roof deck uh at the first floor above the garage for the second floor units and then Canever balconies uh again at floors three four and five and that's 5 feet off the back of the building pH this project will have a proposed seller uh strictly for utilities and a 1,25 square foot uh portion of the uh retail space that's uh only going to be used for storage first floor again curb cut as I previously mentioned uh we will have uh the main entry to the building that will be to the north side of the property uh curb cut for the driveway access and then again retail space uh to the southern portion of the property 11 parking spaces at the first floor and again uh a 15t uh set back to the rear yard with perimeter landscape and privacy screening uh at the rear yard we have a unique set of plans here uh because of the building volume that the R2 uh kind of uh grants us um we have uh 11 duplexes here and we have a a unique way of treating these duplexes is that each one of these duplexes is going to have a front view and a back view depending on the level in which you're at and it also has each one of these has outdoor space so uh just plan left uh lower left hand side uh would be uh unit 3A uh unit 3A again is at 1,56 Square ft that crosses over uh the hallway to the third floor and facing the rear yard now is the living room area of that unit so we we have a a condition where each one of these units crosses the center hallway and they're color coed uh you know left uh front left back Center and then so forth on the right um the parking count was taking uh uh into consideration of the worst case scenario is the number of bedrooms which would be 35 um the main living area which is located here on on floor plan number three or third floor uh you have a convertible uh third bedroom and that's for ad a compliance in the need a handicapp person uh uh buys that unit going back to uh the second floor plan again an 8ot uh roof deck and each one of those are equally distributed at 176 Square ft with the remaining 7 ft of that uh lower garage roof we have 385 Square ft of extensive green Roofing trays both ends at the second floor uh have a uh non-combustible stair that takes you to a steel stair that takes you down into the rear yard the center unit does not get uh rear yard access only uh the roof deck um outdoor space upper floors are very similar uh only five in total um the floor plate is diminished at the top floor with the 10-ft setback but again um five units um lower left hand corner crosses over to the rear so fourth to fifth floor uh and then again right side back right side uh and again they cross over each one of these units has outdoor space again the fourth floor plan in the rear has 114 square foot uh Canal levered uh decks um and that's for the 5-ft projection working the way upward again same deck projection off of the rear but there is a front uh uh roof deck of a 10ft set back there for uh units left and right and in this case uh green and orange each one of the units on the top floor will have an internal uh access there to uh again 245t of roof deck we are proposing a 1500t extensive green roof um uh within the required setbacks of the R2 rc2 Zone going back to the lower roof plus the upper roof of the extensive green Roofing we have approximately 1,8 50 combined extensive green roof which is the equivalent of 25% lot area so uh very generous we'll have centrally located uh rooftop condensers we're thinking split systems there will be no Pacs in this building facade uh working your way now to the front elevation facing Palisade Avenue uh at the base uh we have a uh a gray or warm gray cast stone uh followed by ACM at the u-shape which which is around the perimeter a charcoal horizontal banding system at the floor levels and then we have a white vertical uh ACM that matches the main feature of the building which is the u-shape around the perimeter we're proposing a 12 fo4 floor to floor height from first to second and then the remaining floors are consistent at 10 fo 8 second third fourth and fifth uh the elevator stops at the top residential floor therefore the overrun is only approximately 4 feet and the stair bulkheads are at 10 ft uh above the finished Roof System any of those stairs that are within proximity of a building perimeter are sloped uh to minimize the uh line of sight on the stair bulkheads uh that service these upper roof decks going back to the rendering once again um main residential on the bottom far left uh garage uh door uh retail space and then a uh second means of Vass all the way here to the right hand side a wraparound white ACM white vertical acms and a horizontal charcoal ACM building is set back and again there's a uh a medium gray ACM uh which is an aluminum composite material that matches the base cast stone material in the rear yard we will have uh a cement board panel system that mimics the building language on the front facade Florida for Heights remain the same as the orinal originally testified principal roof level is at 55 ft which is in compliance with the RC uh two Zone building elevation to the South uh two light Wells uh for the lot line facing windows for our adjacent neighbor we are wrapping uh the ACM cladding around the first uh 10 ft because we know that's going to be visible uh down the long length of Palisades um and then we pick up with a uh a cement vertical excuse me horizontal sighting uh at the remainder of the building here yard again has the privacy screening and you can see here that we have the kver decks with privacy screening in between the units North elevation similar ACM wraps uh and again horizontal siding cement board with the Canever balconies and a rear yard screening again as part of the as of right application um the building mass is uh permitted um the buildings that are directly uh to the north of us are very deep uh one of them is even close to 100% law coverage buildings to the South again have uh some setbacks front and back however our shadow should be casting over the top of them so again as of right application building mass is as of right this concludes my testimony okay thank you Mr Vander Mark um poured concrete or wood frame this will be wood frame at 10 fo8 okay they will have a concrete Podium at the first floor and then wood trust is above okay all right any questions anyone the um the balcony glass that's on the fifth floor the balcony glass on the fifth floor where the deck is uh is that all the way flush to the bottom or is there in between that part of the there's going to be a space in between that glass uh and the in the actual elevated deck system elevated deck right so it's not it's not a glass that goes all the way flush to the roof no it do to the P okay so just a consideration of uh any safety precautions you could use there where people are over that doorway of everybody coming in and out that nothing gets kicked through that that space that's open um I just want to put that in com as appreciation to that balcony space whatever definitely add that yeah s something to think about right thank you anybody else any questions no um actually I don't know if this is appropriate now or not um I was looking at Transportation comments as far as the material on the sidewalk that there's no um no change in material or grade there there's a a section going into the garage where you change the the pattern in the sidewalk has that been addressed you want to do it under civil yeah okay uh we'll do it it's a little too much for me to just say so okay no problem anything else from Mr vanderark Nobody all right thank you sir we appreciate it okay let's let's get you morning real quick Mr Joe I assume we'll also deal with the MUA comments regarding major development and yes yes absolutely ttim the truth the whole truth the truth I do Brian liin l i EB e s k i n d Mr liskin good evening your license is current tonight it is okay thank you you're qualified if you just tell us a little bit about the transportation comments and the change in grade that was uh I believe the Chairman's question how that's being addressed should uh the the comment from uh the division of a transportation plan was regarding um maintain a continuous concrete sidewalk across the driveway entry um we we can work with um the city on uh a p band that delineates um that walkway then and um and to not disrupt the the concrete sidewalk itself um I I I think a delineation of Sunport is appropriate for for pedestrians walking um to understand that there's um a driveway there um and and the uh front elevation of the building that Mr vanark went through disguise is that that garage entry well so it again from an engineering standpoint um you know would prefer to see some type of um demarcation so so Brian we're we're happy to comply if we have to but we'd like to work with Transportation on not complying with that comment if we can to for safety reasons correct yeah and there's no grade change right I know that the comments talk about a grade change but there isn't a grade change there is there correct after the um the driveway apron um you're flush with the okay understood and uh how about the Electrical veh uh the electric vehicle comment we will comp that we're going to comply with that okay and I and I failed to mention that uh you know always in these garage situations we do provide a linear LED uh at the sidewalk level and then also a uh a lighted eye level as well for pedestrians they're looking look down or they're looking up they have an indicator light there okay excellent thank you and I think the other question that Council raised was there was a an initial letter issued by mua uh with comments and they later revised that letter um changing how the project is being treated from a from a development and storm water standpoint um so if you could just maybe say a couple words on that and confirm we are now complying with the revised mua letter correct the design has been updated uh to comply with the rules for major development under the this control ordinates um and meet the stor reductions um associated with those that's been resubmitted to the MUA it's been resubmitted yeah as part of this refiling okay all right any questions all right thank you sir we appreciate it Council anything else that includes our direct testimony all right thank you is anybody here from the public that wants to comment please come on up yes truth truth Tru yes I do uh my name is Pera and j i o p a r r i l l a and UMC me home address 532 Palace Avenue J City New Jersey good evening sir we have three minutes for you guys um well I we have a concern on um my wife and I own this um twoing home at lot 13 which is 532 since 2003 the concern that I'm looking at is that the the way the building is is just buting up against our home and um we have um exhaust Ducks there from our vent fans and we have Windows I know you spoke about the setbacks but they don't seem to match where our windows are um looking at our property survey we have a portion of that Alleyway and I'm concerned if there's something that I need to repair I'm not going to have any any space to get to repair it um so I I I have an an issue with that okay um how much first of all your your property is on the lot line or you have space in between the lot line and your building you have space there's an alley presently right now there's an alley over um over 2 feet maybe 30 maybe 29 in and um I have a portion of that alley so I'm I'm able to you know to work on my windows or whatever I need to do do we have a a site survey yeah could we bring it up okay excuse me sir sure Mr vanderark if you could just help us with which side of the property this gentleman is on also South Side okay so right now we're talking about this condition here um the way the survey indicates is that your building is is sitting right on the property line and the alleyway is technically on the 534 property of 2 fo2 uming to my property survey that we had 2003 I mean I'm not I'm just saying that mine is showing something different I don't dispute it yeah just so I I have a copy on I can email to you guys I didn't think I should print it out if you need to show that um uh scroll down can you scroll down please you said you on the South Side yes uh okay L 13 yes3 okay yeah the one on the right there is this a survey or a portion of a survey do we have no this is uh this is the actual survey I have a question for him can I ask him a question go ahead you you don't have any utilities or anything attached to that side of the building right now I have um exhaust Ducks you said a duck yeah I think like three of them that we have it's bathroom and from the kitchen of and they and they they exhaust out that that space there yes they do use your aware this yes what's going to have to happen is that Mr vanderark you got to come up talk into the microphone what's going to have to happen is that those are exhaust ducks are going to have to be transferred now uh vertically you know within uh you know probably within our construction envelope on the on the sidey yard there right because they they you know you can't have them blowing directly into the wall and we're not going to inconvenience him with uh having to do the work himself so as part of this development I'm sure the owner would agree now that those Ducks will be transferred vertically in the side wall of our of our building you know to whatever distance 36 to 42 in above the roof line at that point and the side war of your building it's going to have to be you know because I I don't think we're going to W uh otherwise so have anybody spoken to the neighbors about this before it's obvious you could see some type of exce on the other side of the building on the south you know on the fa of the building yeah so we were in contact with RNA and uh that's actually where those mua comments came from and got revised is after discussions with with RNA um none of these issues ever came up in the past but what what I what I will say I think is it's not uncommon for there to be exhaust vents or other things on the sides of buildings especially when buildings are on the property line those sorts of ducks and vents shouldn't shouldn't be there there shouldn't be anything anything there um and it is typically something that gets worked out during the building department process because this gentleman's property is on the lot line my client will need a protection plan and a sent from this gentleman to file permits with the building department and that's where I typically see these things worked out I I do think that the information presented to the board this evening including the survey and Architectural plans and the engineering plans um all show that this gentleman's building is on on the lot line that turns out to not be true if there's other information that that this gentleman has that disputes that um I'll exchange information with him and that's something that will have to be addressed but um you know this was several purchases that my client made there were I think multiple surveys and there will be more surveys in the future as construction goes on um so I I I think the information here tonight is that this is an as of right project and the the survey is accurate um I I could again certainly exchange information with this G my cot is not that if the project is right or as a right or not you know the project itself you went through the process of putting the application in we went to the process of drawing a beautiful building and designing a a beautiful building in that neighborhood not knowing that what's going to happen to the exhaust stuff that's at the side of the building of a neighbor that lives right next door to you right no I I at that part the neighbor was there that wasn't brought up and you're saying you're you're under the impression that that's your property that Alleyway a part of it is from what I saw on my under survey it shows up um maybe less than less than a foot of of that section of the alleyway um so I just want to be clear when we use terms like Alleyway I don't think this is an Alleyway I think this is a side yard of property whether that sidey yard is part of your property or the applicant's property according to the survey that's shown on the screen it appears that your building is on the property line but you're saying you believe your survey shows something correct different yes sir okay so first of all that's an issue that's got to be worked out whether it's here or somewhere else it's a legitimate issue that needs to be worked out we got to go on what's in front of us and it appears from this survey the building is on the property line the the neighbors building not the applicants building the neighbors building I think In fairness to the applicant the issue of dealing with the exhaust within their building running it up as to not cause this gentleman any further inconvenience or expense is not something that you would attempt to deal with prior to application for a lot of reasons up to an including uh not getting to this point tonight so I think that that's why it was designed the way it was designed knowing that the exhaust would have to be relocated clearly the applicant is not only understanding that is telling this board they're willing to incur that cost and do it within their building get it to the necessary code height above the building those are the legal comments for what they're worth chairman in the board obviously uh if you're uncomfortable with the surveying issue uh you have the right to further explore that if it turns out that there's a boundaryline dispute that's got to be rectified and yeah I have all the confidence in the world that Mr Joseph knows how to do that over the course of the next several years before the building would get constructed and you know we we do intend to put the building on the property line so if the property line is moved some Dimensions may change maybe not but that's that's our intention here there's no intention to build over our property line sure the only other thing I I'll say is that that you know this application was was carried I think once or twice right and my phone number is on the bottom of every notice I don't like surprising this board although that's happened a lot lately and I don't like being surprised myself so I you know wish I had a little bit more time to to well I I called that's one known for Jersey City and then they told me to bring it up at the board meeting so if I need to call you I'm called you you mentioned the the setback on the windows I guess on your building I guess but they don't seem to align to where our windows are um so that that was something else I just noticed that now certainly ask you a question you said RNA you contacted RNA they said it's okay but did you contact The Neighbor Next Door I I didn't personally contact The Neighbor Next Door I I always contact the formal community group Neighbor Next Door yeah RNA is not here no I I understand was there I understand yeah we I mean yeah we sent out the notices but I I again I'll exchange information with uh with this gentleman and and we'll we have to deal with it I I I do think it's a Construction level issue well I just want to make one one quick comment then um I what the the it's above and beyond what they want to do like they they'll take care of the expenses of the resource which is very aate for you that's that's being a good neighbor right um and that's what the board likes to hear uh we can't force them to do it but they willing to do it um and another thing to keep in mind that I am always have a problem with is whenever it's a small space and you made the comment at the beginning of your talk how do you waterproof maintain or fix a small space later on so this building going to the property line will be a sealed no headache problem going down the future when we have a small space you have a potential for garbage buildup and impossibility of ever repairing anything if something goes wrong on the side of those buildings you know so just to keep that in mind I appreciate the fact that you guys are willing to do what you want to do and uh and and and and when this building gets dropped right well let's call it 534 and we have ample space to measure exactly where his windows are we're certainly going to accommodate where his windows are we would never be partially building a wall in front of this gentleman's Windows right so so you know that's something that you know I'll go on the record to say that your windows are certainly going to be accommodated right won't have to be correct Mr vanderark you know so they have to provide a certain distance through these window wells for those existing Windows along the property line so as far as the lot line goes I if you know a dispute will Council walk me through the process sure this this building can't get built if your survey is incorrect and your neighbor's survey is well it it's not that it can't get built but it'll have to be adjusted if there's a discrepancy between the two surveys so if I take a look at this survey doesn't match a survey that we have then we'll either go back to our surveyor or get a third surveyor to take a look at at it surveyors make a mistake all the times that's why we we end up in gaps in the legal descriptions across properties it happens right um I I like to think that the survey from you know today as opposed to 2003 is more accurate but I've been proven wrong with that many many times technology does not always make things better of course so that that's what we have to have to happen but this is the first time we've been notified of a potential discrepancy so Mr Joseph the one thing that M I'm a little concerned about is the neighbor believes that his building is a foot or so off the property line which is even believe it or not more problematic than if it's on the property I I I think surveys are misread and misinterpreted often I certainly misre surveys many many times and the difference between a dotted line a dashed line a solid line um it's very possible there's no discrepancy in the surveys and especially when a property's been used a certain way for such a long time it's it's easy I think to assume that this is my property this is your your property and like I said this will get worked out before ground is broken before anything's demolished yes I I mean I have several several matters where if the building department even hear is there's a potential dispute they don't want to touch it uh until that's worked out as as they should as and chairman I would even say that it's completely reasonable that there be a condition in any resolution of approval with respect to property lines and surveying of of both properties sure yeah I I think we you know we do do represent that the materials submitted are accurate and and true I I do think that's a standard condition Mr Joseph my problem obviously as you can appreciate is exactly to the point that you just raised which is there's a possibility that both surveys are wrong because both people took the wrong monument and ran from the wrong point and you know it's very rare here in this great City but elsewhere absolutely I appreciate that there would be no objection to such a a condition and like I said when when properties are this close together and and being attached and on the property line building department does require a consent as well from there okay okay so we'll add that condition uh whatever the outcome is tonight uh that you know site site boundaries have to be worked out before any construction takes place absolutely okay anything else sir I don't know if it's relevant but um the new building coming up um there's not enough parking for the residents I know that there parking spots for their their cars but is there going to be any kind of enforcement so that you know the residents who live there can park um because I I don't know if um the people who's going to move in are going to be able to park in that building or park outside it's just I don't know if this is what bring it up but it's so sir I would say this to you they do not need any type of Rel Le from this board with respect to how much parking they are or are not providing uh the city is well aware of parking in the city and this is my neighborhood as well I I live a few blocks away I get it believe me I get it yeah it's not part of that his issue it's just something I wanted to say yeah no I mean they're they're complying with everything they have to comply with at this point as far as the board goes but as my neighbor my neighborhood goes yeah I get it but yeah they're complying okay write down your all right is there anybody else here from public that wants to comment anybody else from public see no one from the public I would like to close the public portion second okay motion is made and seconded public is closed cam you're handling this uh yes I'm covering for zuru and firstly just the project itself meets the purpose and intent of the Zone plan it's a four to five story mixed use building in the rc2 zone and um secondly the uh planner assigned to this issued a staff report dated December 19th of 2024 are those conditions acceptable they are acceptable with the additional conditions discussed this yes and uh with that sixth condition for the survey dispute to be remedied um do we want to make that uh remedied prior to memorialization of resolution or signature plans sign I think signature plans are more appropriate Council yes agreed that would be appreciated okay um yeah I'll put it on the record that I think Mr Joseph should obviously get a hold of the gentleman get a copy of his survey as soon as possible and analyze it himself to determine if it's something that is going to need further exploring by uh Mr Joseph surveyors okay and um with agreement to those conditions planning staff recommends approval okay thank you Cam chair i' like to make a motion to approve case p2024 d124 is presented to the board together with the additional conditions um second okay motion is made and seconded for approval okay acting Vice chair gangan yeah I just want to um emphasize that uh going forward just work with the neighbors as good neighbors um and resolving the issue there I councilwoman Prince ery I commissioner Torres I commissioner Cruz I commissioner Dr hi and chairman Langston yeah I uh want to Echo uh commissioner gan's uh comments there you know we always encourage being a good neighbor um legally we can encourage that that but you know we do encourage it so uh you know I'm happy to see you're willing to work with the neighbor and um I think it's a great project I think it's a good fit for the neighborhood and uh it's a nice design so my vote is I motion carries all in favor with conditions okay thank you so much I keep taking up so much of your [Laughter] time not going to say anything okay let's move on to item 13 is case p2024 d01 89 is a conditional use at for Jordan Avenue all right um good evening um ladies and gentlemen of the board my name is Micha Leon I'm from I'm with the law fir of porio blman and sorry I'm with the law fir of poro blman and new um I'm here today in representation of applicant Mar Maris LJ LLC located in Ford Jordan Avenue identified in the city of Jersey tax map as lat 27 block 151 02 um I will like to Mark the affidavit Public Service as um ex7 81 thank you Council so we have a very straightforward application today um the applicant is requesting a conditional use um approval for a commercial tenant where all the conditions are met um for a class five cannabis retailer at an assistant ground floor commercial site this application has received approval from the Jersey City CC V the applicant is proposing an interior alteration and signage to the building um this s is located within a neighborhood uh within a neighborhood commercial onon District under the New Jersey ordinance section 345 that 60.5 which permits retails of sales and services you will hear today testimony from the applicant architect Ronald Atkins who would take you through the floor plans and some of the operational dets details about the application in addition you will also have the opportunity to speak to um one of the representative um of of the applicant and eore go um in case you have any additional questions that you would like to proceed and I think with that um I would like to call um Mr Atkins chairman for purpose of record I've had the opportunity to review the affidavit Ser appr proof ping with respect to the application this evening it does appear to be in order so we can mark it as a one for purposes of the record all right thank you Council let's see do my move in the I don't want to cover up your notes is this okay I didn't want to start pulling on cables and that's fine everybody does it it's fine can you see oh yes be the truth the truth truth I do sure Ron r o n uh last name Elkins eel k i ns Mr Elkins good evening your license is current tonight yes it is okay thank you you're qualified thank you thank you um Mr ains can you provide the board um with the floor pin and just walk them through it certainly so as Mr Leone mentioned this is uh for Jordan Avenue uh block 15102 Lot 27 um in the nc1 neighborhood commercial Zone and it is an existing let me get through these it's an existing thre story um masonry mixed use building two residential units above or two floors of residential units above commercial um office and retail on the ground floor the ground floor space is approximately 900 square fet I'll I'll touch more on the uh exterior uh in a moment but basically the scope of work is minimal demolition on the interior there are some glass wall panels that we're planning on reusing existing restroom at the rear of the space and then there is a walkway along the north side of the property here the gist of the plan is basically customers North is directly basically plan North is up on the the plans customers enter and exit at the west side of the property um your IDs will be checked by a guard immediately and then if they are uh of age they are allowed to enter the retail area uh and Shop once they once they pay they'll be exiting you know directly out the same doors that they came in on as for um deliveries you know cannabis deliveries will be delivered on the northeast exterior door that's an existing door and an existing exterior walkway we will be adding additional lighting and security on the exterior of the building for security and um safety once deliveries come into to the space they will be unpackaged back in this uh open Office receiving area which at that point then they will be entered into the inventory and then taken to the Secure Vault for long-term storage any cannabis Laden waste whether it's spoiled products or um or residue from packaging will be safely stored here in the interior waistbands which will then be hauled out to the curb by an oops by an employee um during a scheduled licensed waste huler uh to for pickup they won't it won't just be left on the on the curtain um looking at the restricted areas um it might be a little difficult to read on the screen but basically the only area that customers have access to without ID check is here at this white area here at the front once they are uh determined to be of age they are allowed in the shopping area basically this single slash area here and that's it everything else is off you know off limits it's only uh employees The Vault will be secured with um a wire mesh below the drywall um all six sides of the cube if you will the floor uh all four walls and the roof are the ceiling of the The Vault will be secured and then um the security plan has been redacted because I know this is you know public information but basically there will be security cameras essentially in every corner corner of every room except the restroom all the doors will be electronically controlled um with key fobs or uh or PIN codes and uh we will also be adding exterior cameras to the front um just to identify anyone coming in coming in or or leaving the space uh carbon filters will be added to Dedicated exhaust systems to um to mitigate any odor you know that might escape from the from the space however most of the products that will be coming into the space will be prepackaged and sealed anyway so there's going to be very little odor to begin with um guards will be employed to basically make sure no one um you know starts to consume on the public sidewalk right outside of the space or also to eliminate loitering or you know long lines I think cannabis dispensaries have been open in Jersey City and and New Jersey in general long enough now that the there won't be lines around the block um you know once they open usually exterior work will basically be limited to the you can see in the elevation here at the bottom rightand corner the two existing doors on the property will stay one is um access to the residential units one is access to a small uh utility uh closet with gas meters electric meters things like that the storefront will be slightly reconfigured and um replaced with similar storefront that's there now however it will will have a an opaque uh security film on the the glazing so that people on the sidewalk won't be able to see into the space um and then there's also an existing you can see it in the photo a little bit better an existing roll down shutter that'll be uh repaired and maintained for security after hours U signage will be limited to this zoom in a little easier this band here which is basically the uh limit for the nc1 zone and it will not be illuminated U again because signage in in C1 zones is not allowed uh we will have exterior let me Zoom back in on that we will have exterior security lighting on the side the north side of the building which is on the left side of this elevation here primarily for that walkway um for employee access and deliveries uh in that site and I believe that's the end of my testimony unless there are any questions okay thank you sir um anybody questions anyone okay thank you thanks thank you um I just wanted to make sure whether the board wanted to speak to um the applicants representative I don't know from a zoning standpoint if it really so I don't think we have makes a difference in our decision or not sounds good okay thank you all right is anybody here from public that wants to comment on this application anyone here from public chair see no one from public I would like to close the public portion second okay motion is made and seconded public is closed who do we have here Matt you're handling this yeah okay uh so uh Francisco Espinosa did the initial review um to which I inherited I reviewed all the documents submitted to the Jersey City uh planning office um and I also reviewed his memo uh dated 12224 um similar to the other case that we heard tonight I will be uh asking to strike condition five but all other conditions uh in the mo in in the event that a motion is made to approve this application staff does recommend that those conditions apply uh I would ask the council if you've been able to review uh the memo in yes conditions okay so minus five um those other five conditions would would be applicable we did do a review of um the location it's permissible here uh there's also a map attached to the memo uh that shows that there are uh no uh uh concurrent or approved uh cannabis retailers within uh the buffer from this location uh staff recommends approval okay thanks Matt chair would like to make a motion to approve case p2024 d189 as presented to the board second okay motion is made and seconded for approval acting chair gangen Vice chair hi that's fine chair that's fine take it no thank you just wanted to make sure you're listening it's yours councilwoman priner hi commissioner Torres hi commissioner Cruz hi commissioner Dr Desai hi chairman linkston hi the chairman linkston thank you thank you Council have a good night thank you right let's move on to item 15 is case p2024 I'm sorry I skipped one uh item 14 case p2024 d0120 is a minor site plan for 23 Maran place you got me either way because I have 15 also perfect good evening again chairman Commissioners for the record Benjamin wine of prime Tel and melli on behalf of the applicant medna Builders LLC just before I start this is a notice case uh notice was actually provided multiple times for multiple meetings but uh most recently for this meeting and I'll just defer to councel to confirm that is in order I believe I have a copy of it as well I do can have my pad have the original no thank you come onm paper paper left chairman I receive the Affidavit of publication with respect to the application at 23 Marin place here in the city had the opportunity to review it it does appear to be in order you're going to Market is A1 for purposes of the record thank you Council thank you Council uh so with that just a brief introduction to the application uh the property in question as I mentioned is 23 marry in place block 10404 lot 4. 1 and we are in the R1 Zone um I have to stop saying that uh this is one of the more recent applications in the aho overlay as obviously there have been a number since uh it was adopted but this is an application taking advantage of the affordable housing overlay and ultimately we are proposing to construct a new three-story building consisting of 11 residential dwelling units along with an accessory dwelling unit in the rear I want to indicate as well that while the majority of these units are one-bedroom units as you'll see from our architect the ground floor does house that three-bedroom affordable housing unit and I do have confirmation from your division of affordable housing that it is satisfactory and it passes their muster and ultimately they signed off and certified to the uh to the plan as being presented this evening I also want to indicate as I know um commissioner Tor has always asked the question every time that the Adu in the rear is also a three-bedroom unit but that will not be the affordable housing unit just preempting the question I know is coming and uh and once as well I want to indicate for the record we did initially intend to appear in January at this meeting um we were we were reached out to actually a day before that meeting on the Monday by Mr capazo Joe capazo um my understanding is it's not a formal neighborhood association and when I had asked and done my due diligence there was not a formal Association but he reached out and said hey you know we do typically discuss applications in this area would you be amendable to um adjourning your application to meet with us and I apologized and I would have reached out sooner but I had no objection to doing it my client was amenable um we were then supposed to be on the February 11th meeting although that was unfortunately cancelled so now we're here uh at the February 25th meeting and I can comfortably say we did meet with Mr capazo and the neighborhood association um being that this is a virtually as of right application there really was not much feedback uh or commentary at all um the one variance we have and then I'll move into my professionals uh we went back and forth with city planning on this in your order ordance it talks about the location of bicycle storage and it says that it cannot be located more than four vertical steps from grade and if it is you must provide some alternate means to get there um a ramp system something of that we are providing that so we initially did not view that as a variance it seems to comply with the language City Planning felt uh and it may be to to be safe better safe than sorry that we should seek the variance and nevertheless support the variant by virtue of the fact that we do have the the ramp there or I should call it a runnel um and so belt and suspenders we are going to have planning testimony to speak to that variance as well so with that chairman Commissioners unless there's any questions of me I'm happy to proceed with Mr Bodner who is our architectural witness okay thank you Council grab that all right should be up come up truth truth nothing truth yes I do yes my name is Russell Bodner b n I reside at 52 Long Hill Road in Long Valley New Jersey I appeared here several times before I'm a licensed architect since 1995 and I've been in my own business since 1997 and Russ your license is in good standing this even good standing today thank you Mr bner you're qualified okay thank you very much as we're as we're seeing here I put on the rendering first I kind of like to show the pretty picture first um our building itself is a is going to is an R1 it's going to be a three-story building we're comp with all the um bulk requirements for the R1 you want to Mark the SL deck not going to cut off Russ but suggest that we mark this as A2 uh this particular rendering as it was not submitted as part of the package Russ just to confirm before we go forward the rest the remainder of the plans are what's on the portal correct okay correct yes that's correct so I figured we'll just start off with this as well um as you can see here it's a it's a it's going to be an 11 unit project uh in terms of the front building and one unit in the rear the 11 units in the front building are uh 10 one bedrooms and they range from uh 655 ft to 745 Square ft so uh in terms of one-bedrooms and then the uh the three-bedroom in the front building which is our affordable unit is um 1184 Square ft and we also have a three-bedroom in the rear of our Adu in the back of the building which is 1165 Square ft so as you can see here are buildings primarily in the front we're trying to uh mimic some other buildings in the neighborhood adjacent to us is a brick building and we took some metal panels and we put some metal panels underneath the windows and that one time I had them white but then we you know um we we changed them over to a black metal panel with a black cornice and we have C board siding on the side of our building with um some uh insert overlays in terms of around our Windows to give it some uh character because our left side of our building still will be visible because we have a parking lot next to us our left side of our building has a 3ot plus one um setback from the side our right hand side of our building is on the property line the adjacent buildings on the property line it kind of goes off a little bit of angle start off about four or five inches from the property line and goes off to about almost a foot in the back but the building has a little bit of a lean to to it so it actually kind of leans in 2 in in the front and like 3 in in the back so it's about 1 foot at the most in the back so um that's one of those things that seems to happen quite often um in Jersey City um on older buildings as we jump into the plans uh like I said earlier we are on 23 Marin Boulevard I mean Marin um Place Marin place I keep saying Marin Marin place it's off of GES Avenue and Side Avenue it's right around the corner from Broadway um everybody's familiar with Broadway it's a very large street that uh comes into Jersey City off of um tunn Avenue so um let's jump down a little bit um in terms of the plans uh as you can see here we actually have a basement a little well it's not really a basement more of a seller than it is a basement it's only a partial uh basement our parking for our Pikes is located in that basement and that location on the bottom down there we have nine bike parking spaces down there on the left hand side you can see that little runnel design on the staircase where it actually flips down when you have your bike so if you take your bike you flip the thing down you run the bike up along that up to the next level and you come out and we also have our trash room down there we also have a mechanical trash room machine that actually brings up the staircase to to bring the garbage out and brings the garbage back downstairs um we decided to do that instead of trying to find another location I actually had proposed at one point in the backyard to put some bikes back there but it was outside and and nobody thought that was a great idea uh as you can see here we also have the two Street front uh two Street trees that we're proposing in the front of the building and uh we also have some Landscaping in the back and around the sides and we have some walkways that go into the Adu area in the back and like I said before the Adu is a three-bedroom which was 116 65 ft and the front unit here are affordable at 1184 ft behind the two um we have um two one-bedrooms and they're they range from 655 ft to 745 ft if we go back down to the next page which is our second floor you can see the second floor of the Adu the second floor of the Adu has a two bedrooms on the upper level and down below we have four one bedrooms and they range from six 655 ft to 745 ft and again the third floor is an exact copy of the second floor without obviously the Adu because the Adu is only two stories and only 18 ft tall and our roof is um accessible only for mechanical equipment we don't have no roof deck there's no accessibility for the roof deck um it just has the roof deck and we have green Roofing trays we have a 500 squ ft of green Roofing trays um on our roof um and as we go back down you can see the uh the elevations like I showed earlier in terms of the rendering um some of our materials consists of the brick a little bit of stone work in the back of the uh on the back of the building as well as our cement board siding and our rear of our property as well as the cement board siding we're riding on the left hand side um on the left hand side from the front of the building which is our Eastern portion of the building and as well as we could see we have the our front facade has a brick facade that we were proposing as you saw in the rendering earlier uh if we go to the next page you can see that we have a light well which I forgot to mention earlier we have a light well adjacent to the neighboring property they have some windows on our property we gave ample area from them they have obviously the 3 foot one from their um from our property line to our actual windows that we show which gives them a little bit more than 3 fo1 like 3' 5 3' 6 to their windows but we actually gave the one foot on one side and the one foot on the other side adjacent to the windows and they have two windows so our light well is quite large on the right hand side you can see the other areas are is where we're saying we're touching the other buildings these two locations here and the rest of it is either above the building or adjacent to the building so those adjacencies have cement board siding there is a little bit of a weird thing on the right hand the left right hand side of our property there's a small retaining wall and that retaining wall goes up about 3 feet so that retaining wall is in disrepair we're going to end up rebuilding that entire retaining wall to obviously to make the construction much nicer and we're doing that all the way around our entire property at first I had the Adu was said to be at zero lot line which is actually our garages were actually at the zero lot line uh the new ordinance came in saying we have to move the Adu 2 ft off the property line so we actually have a retaining wall in the rear which I'll then have to fill in the two feet area and then put a new retaining wall in to make the Adu so that's where that's a little bit different than the normal things going on in this property as you can see down here on our uh zn6 sheet you can see the elevations of the neighboring buildings are all about three three stories they all have um you know double hung windows we stayed with the concept in the neighborhood they some of them have corn some don't so we decided to put the cornices on the on the building to give it a little bit of that existing old school flavor so we don't like kind of stick out as a totally new building in the neighborhood so um that's pretty much uh everything here um just you know our lot itself I didn't say earlier was 4,500 Square ft um and our building coverage is 82.5 which is under the 85 Max required space lck cover yeah so I was just going to ask a couple of questions so one regarding the building coverage I noticed when I was looking at the uh agenda right now I I believe it's a mistake it does say there's a building coverage variance but I don't think that there's a building coverage requirement here it's simply if you exceed 65% we provide um more than I think 15% on the roof that's what we did we Prov and we are compliant there okay we're compliant there as well as there's a if you have the Adu it's a 90% requirement for total lot coverage and we're only at 89.7% with the to you okay and including all the sidewalks and everything else and then my last question for you is uh as to the site plan we are closing up the existing curb cut that's there and reducing the impervious coverage on the site is that correct correct yes okay thank you chairman I have nothing further for Mr Bodner okay thank you Council um Mr Bodner I saw the mechanical units on the roof are they screened or are they not screened yes they're screened okay I thought I saw it on there I just wanted to yeah we have the screening all the way around them all the way around these units and there actually some screening details uh further down and the set of drawing but you have screens all the way around and we also I provide my 4ot almost 4ft Power Pit around the entire building because we do actually have a staircase that goes up there and I rather er error on the side of question in case anybody still goes up on the deck that so no child or somebody actually goes to the edge of the prop edge of the building and falls off which is the last thing somebody's going up on that roof yeah somebody will go up on the roof and that might be an issue if they fall off um as you can see here that here's that screening detail down on zn7 so you can see what is um the screening I still s some lights out there just so you know you can go up there and have some just in case you know you need to fix the Mechanicals or in case something happens on the roof so as you can see also the green Roofing trays are mentioned on the bottom as well as in these locations um I don't really know um that's pretty much my entire test I don't really have anything else in here that I okay uh anybody else any questions um on that the next page z uh zn8 zn8 yeah zn8 is the those pictures so that white building on the side with the windows yes that's the uh your neighbor's building yes and the light well is that location of those windows that's where the light well is going to go so what is that pipe there that pipe is the electrical pipe which comes down and luckily like I said I could still kind of leave that because I do have that little four or 5 in space between our building and their building I I have a 4 space between buildings well no because like sometimes you have spaces between buildings like around 4 in or something at the end you end up taking a a piece of like metal or you have like framing pieces that go in there and you connect one building to the other building with in this way if you and you have you have to connect the top and the bottom so you have no water or anything that goes into those locations so you actually connect not only the front like at that location where the window well is again I have to put that and as well as like if your building's a little bit off sometimes I have to put a little can on my building to your building if my building is taller than yours so this way the water does not go in and I flash over the top of it it's it's something I it's you know that's why the building department requires the ability to talk to the neighbor and make sure preconstruction that you can kind of do this because I've have I'm in court right now somebody that won't building they won't they keep telling me we wrecked their building but they won't let me fix the hole it's going on for like a year so right now though that electrical you put a 4in space of in between let's say let's say let's let's go higher let's go 8 in spacer 12 in spacer between Builders how does somebody service that if they have a problem with the electrical yeah I mean I could do we could also fix that um for them because in reality sometimes I do that as well during construction like right now you can see it goes down to the neighbors yeah you take we would end up taking their line bringing it down and then bringing it underground to that location because you know and we still have that ability to do that um for them because that's not that big a deal because it's only it's a very small pipe um in terms of what it you know what it is in terms of that and they have some of their electrical feed lines coming down there so we could bring those down for them as well um that's something that we always end up working out a lot of times in the field with people they have like wires or something adjacent that will have to talk to psng and have um the head relocated to the front and then they and the W and the line will come down like if it still comes down it have to come down the side of the building right at that location then in luckily we have like I said I actually have the 4 Ines for the first time in a while that we're we're actually not so bad because that pipe's only two that's only inch and a half two inch line because it's only a you know it's only a single phase 200 a Fe that you're looking into it and um leave it aside that's going to be a headache later on it's yeah those always those weird things you know that's why I said like you can see here it's like the building's kind of inset but it's inset where the block is and then all a sudden it kind of goes the other way you can see in the back it kind of starts coming out a little bit so it's you know they they gave you the in the survey they always give you the one number they never give you the upper numbers you know so and then it kind of has a little bit of a slope I check these out now that one of my buildings I didn't Dr out when I was younger and it was actually inside my uh building envelope by a foot six that's how far it was leaning that's crazy that's a little crazy all right anybody else any questions no all right thank you Mr Bodner we appreciate it all right so with that I will call our next and Final witness Carolyn Rell to speak to the variance relief being sought I'll bring you need that or I'll that ring for you you can leave up the pretty picture yeah get the picture there it is I do Carolyn worstell w r s t l l Mr worell good evening your license is current tonight it is okay thank you you're qualified thank you very much um so as as Ben sort of mentioned we're here for a single uh of variance um and it relates to that bike storage location uh we are providing the more we're actually providing more than the minimum number of biking bike parking spaces uh but the only reason we're here is because of that location um and as Ben mentioned the language in the ordinance is a little bit vague it does say ramps and elevators may be utilized to provide access to bike storage not located at the first floor level we are providing what could be termed a ramp the runnel is essentially just you know a ramp that you put on the stairs and you guide your bike on it and you push it up the stairs or you let it you know gravity take it down the stairs um it is meets that definition of a ramp but City uh the city didn't feel that that quite met what they what their intent or thought of a ramp would be um so we are here requesting um that relief um because we do we do we don't have an elevator uh in this building um as the other alternative to get access to that basement um so you know overall we look at this and say that this is you know a very uh there's no substantial burden here um we are providing the parking spaces we're providing that alternative access it just is not what you would think of is like an ADA ramp it's a slightly different ramp uh but the methodology that's being employed this is a standard commercial product it's something you can buy you know and they they make it you tell them how long you want and they will make it for you um so it is a commercial product that is out there it meets building code it is used in other you know residential or commercial applications um so we do believe that it that it meets the intent of the ordinance which is to provide that alternative access um I think overall this project uh the the benefits of this project all substantially outweigh the very minor minor uh detriment of this one uh uh ramp for the St for the for the bikes um you know this project is overwhelmingly conforming with the R1 uh District standards that includes all setbacks all coverage height uh you know we're providing as I said more than the minimum number required of bike spaces uh six are required and we're providing nine um the placement um does sort of allow for in more uh and larger units on that ground floor including that 18 adaa unit um so by allowing the bikes storage to be in the basement um we are sort of creating more space for that ADA accessible unit um and this project overall is really improving the site right now it's at 100% loot coverage you know with this we are removing you know that lot coverage we're bringing it into conformance with what is permitted within the ordinance we're eliminating a curb cut we're cre adding new two new Street trees to the street so I think overall that there are a lot of benefits that are being accured by this project as a whole um you know I think that this uh project is consistent with the municipal land use law uh you know it's consistent with purpose C providing adequate light air and open space uh it's consistent with purpose e uh establishment of appropriate population density it's consistent with the ho and we are providing that affordable housing unit um we're promoting a desirable visual environment consistent with purpose I uh with the new new building uh with the improved uh you know streetcape with the the street trees as well as the the some the the new uh yard landscaping um there's no substantial detriment here to the public good um as I said the building is overwhelmingly conforming with the R1 we're visually improving that streetcape and we are providing the required bike parking spaces and we're trying to meet that intent by providing this alternative um there's no substantial impairment to the intent and purpose of the Zone plan uh project is consistent with recommendations of the Jersey City land use uh uh element uh to continue efforts to enhance residential neighborhoods and ensure the city's available housing is balanced and meets the needs of all current and future residents and it uh uh fulfills the purpose of the R1 District to accommodate existing housing encourage a compatible infill and preserve the streetcape and utilize on street parking where lot Frontage is narrow so I think that overall um this project meets uh both positive and negative criteria um and that the variance can be uh relief can be granted thank you Carolyn I have nothing further for this witness all right thank you Mr worstell I have nothing anybody else okay council is that your presentation uh that would conclude my presentation I respectfully request the right to respond to any comment or sum up at the conclusion okay um one comment one comment I'll have is uh you know I always this one there's affordable units that the affordable unit is made out of the same materials has the same appliances there's no difference whatsoever visually from the market rate units okay thank you all right so uh at this time let's open it up for public comment anybody from public come on up I do Michael Manzo M zo lifelong 82 right Avenue Jersey City Mike good evening we have three minutes for you good evening all and just to clarify something we do have an organization it's called a neighborhood a community and uh we have great leaders me or Prince ARA our former councilwoman uh held all these Community meetings to keep us AB breast and look out for us and now we have Mr boiano because of the redistricting so we do have an organization we found out that there was a building going for a variance I reached out for Mr capazo we reached out for Mr wine one two three we got together I think it was the best thing that could have happened um ironically uh in the backyard to 23 Marian place is 943 Pavonia and across from that is like 9:30 so I think Jean uh oconnell did the variance for that parking became a crazy thing we split hairs reconfigured just to get it to work now all of a sudden it's laxed or not even require fired and we're into this affordable housing overlay this is totally new for us we don't know how it's going to work the only thing we asked and and we had this at one of the community meetings that some of the people from the community should be allowed first access to these units and I think was Chuck at some of the meetings where they didn't think it was legal but now a couple council members are picking up on it to rewrite it to maybe we can have a shot at getting the residents first crack at these units uh that's all new okay okay uh the elevation works out to his benefit on the uh right side where he's going to rebuild I think that's going to work out pretty good um and what was mentioned tonight by a couple comments here was good neighbor practices tonight it's beautiful facade it's the trees it's this it's that but once the construction starts they work late they block streets they throw debris all over they're inconsiderate I think the best that happened that night when we got together between the Menner company and Mr wine we have a good understanding we exchange numbers and I'm very very confident that if all works out with this affordable housing overlay I think the construction is going to go pretty smooth thank you very much for your time thank you Mike we appreciate your time all right is there anybody else here from public that wants to comment chair see no one for public I would like to close the public portion motion is made and seconded public is closed who is this I'm here on uh no I'm I'm here on beh Sophia today there it is okay um and uh reviewed the the documents uh tied to this application uh reviewed the staff memo um and even uh authored some of it with Sophia and uh it is dated January 2nd 2025 uh this is an application um I think that was well covered through the testimony staff uh does agree with the planning testimony regarding the variance um with regards to uh the bike location uh bike parking location uh there are uh seven recommended conditions in the uh staff memo I would just ask if the council reviewed those and if they agreed to uh agree to those conditions I could have sworn I saw six so I just want to make sure oh there were seven yes we have no issue with them now there's eight no I'm just uh all right so uh staff recommends approval all right thank you Matt sorry had a joke chair would like to make a motion to approve case p2024 d0120 as presented to the board to get of a staff recommendation and conditions second all right motion is made and seconded for approval acting Vice chair yeah I just want to reiterate um work with your neighbors in regards to that electrical be good neighbors um I councilman preri just uh for a clarification the ordinance that the city council passed as it relates to priority for Jersey City residents it has to do in part with the funding that the project gets so if there's no abatement no pilot no federal no State funding a conversation can be had about that so please again and have that conversation with your neighbors Mar and I know that there are a lot of elderly people that live there that are looking for transition to smaller apartment so please do keep that in mind I vot I commissioner Tes yeah I know that the um Vance with the ramp whether it which way they make you go um I like the way it looks the picture that shows it tuck underneath the banister and stuff like that it seems like so that could work and uh it's a good alternative um and the affordable housing um glad it's in the same building like always that is important thing so with that I I vote I commissioner Cruz I vote I commissioner Dr Desai I votee I chairman linkston yeah I think the the deviation is more than reasonable um I've seen those ramps before and it's it's workable it's absolutely workable so uh other than that I think it's a good project I'm happy to see affordable housing for the neighborhood and uh Council I appreciate you being a good neighbor and uh reaching out and Mike thank you it's nice to hear somebody come down and say something positive that carries a lot of weight with us it carries weight when you come in for something negative that you you can go both ways so um with that said I'm going to vote I and good luck thank you motion carries all in favor thank you all right thank you all right let's call uh item 15 is case p2024 d 0163 is a preliminary and final major subdivision for 229 to 231 Dwight Street good evening everybody uh chairman and Commissioners for the record Benjamin we of prime to V and melli on behalf of the applicant 225 Dwight Street Holdings LLC uh this application before you this evening is for preliminary and final major subdivision approval uh no variances affiliated with this application and it is for the property located at the address is technically 2 29- 231 Dwight street block 2494 Zone R1 but uh the I know the mailing address often calls it 225 Dwight Street so to to go by the block and lot I think that's the the most appropriate way um I just want to indicate for the record what we're proposing is to uh is to subdivide the subject property into seven almost identical all conforming Lots um we have had an opportunity to work with the tax assessor department and confirm that they are comfortable with the labeling of the Lots as we've done it um we've also had the opportunity to work with Mr Black and planning staff as to generally the configuration and the fact that there are no variances and as well uh the location of what would be shared driveways uh in the event and obviously at some point hopefully there is development on these seven Lots so those have been laid out they've been discussed at length with Mr Black um the idea would be to have four driveways for the seven properties three of them six of them will have shared driveways the seventh because it's an odd number you know you can't kind of propose a shared driveway with your neighboring property um because it's it's you can't bind them to something else so that one would be an independent driveway uh ultimately obviously there is no development proposed here today so there are no driveways being proposed today it was just more of a matter of some back and forth regarding the subdivision um with that I have one witness I intend to call this evening it's a little unusual but just the I think I've done it here before just the surveyor who is going to speak to the existing site conditions and his proposed subdivision along with its compliance with the lot area and lot width requirements which are really the only operative zoning requirements uh for a vacant lot being subdivided so unless you have any questions of me I'm happy to proceed with Mr Rodriguez notice councel notice right get that for you thank you chairman receive the Affidavit of publication proof from mailing with respect to the major subdivision does appear to be in order we're going to mark it as A1 for purposes of the record Council I've had the opportunity to review the proposed subdivision plan I think the only real clarification it's pretty straightforward they're going to be 25 foot wide Lots varying in depth to some degree but I think it's that last lot that seven or 907 that I think you just need to get some testimony as to how that still conforms with the requirements and it's got that little cut out yep understood just testimony get tonight going to be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I name Juan j n Rodriguez r o d r IU e z Mr Rodriguez good evening your license is current tonight yes my license is current okay thank you you're qualified all right and if I could just ask before you get started as I see you didn't bring the computer um cam would you be able to put up the plans from the portal this I guess we can just put up the subdivision plan yeah I got we usually make you say Please Mr wine thought I said please but if not double Please Mr Rodriguez while we're waiting ski or snowboarder I see the steamboat hat ski guy all right yes while we're discussing I've just learned that there's actually this big distinction when I ask people if they ski it's like insulting if they snowboard they're like no I snowboard it is oh okay it is I stay off mountains just to be clear it's all it's all insulting to a hockey player just park about currently C right this is it oh this is the arit this this should be it oh that's all state hold on let's go back to yeah how do we maybe sort by just you went to subdivision subdivision that's what you put I mean that's it that's the only one you got you don't have mine uh there should be that one if not we can hand out know it was submitted by email we can hand out the hard copy we refer this is good this is good this is this okay yeah I mean we can use this one right here a copy of mine okay all right so one another one that's going to be filed so one what I'm going to ask you to do if you can just explain the existing site condition and then I'm going to ask you to just discuss the uh seven independent lots and their compliance with the area and width requirements So currently the uh the property is a large reang rectangular piece that's 175 ft uh in with and uh the property is uh sorry about that uh so the property is a large lot that's rectangular shape and it's 175 ft uh long by U 10210 ft deep with the exception of the uh lot on the um left side on the west western side of of the property which has a little corner cut out in the back um which is kind of insignificant right there so they're all about 25 foot the New Lots are all about 25 foot wide uh they all are uh 2,500 square ft Plus in a area um and then the property conforms with um with a base map that was prepared also by our company um which was done under the uh State um regulations in um uh for Bond uh surveys and Juan just to confirm to uh Mr lampy's Question um the measurement in your review of the ordinance the definition of lot width is at the location of the required front yard setback is that correct cor yes correct so in other words even though it's the the one I think it's 9.07 is notched in the rear the lot width measurement is not taken in the rear but taken at the zero foot front yard correct okay and actually in the back is actually well wider with with if you take the uh the notch out right it's even wider and all of these Lots exceed the 2500 foot minimum as well is that correct yes okay they all do so chairman I know it's a little brief but that's really the extent of my examination of Mr Rodriguez no that's I think exactly what we needed so um all right anybody any questions no all right thank you Mr Rodriguez appreciate it Council anything else so chairman um as always I'll just reserve my right to sum up but I have nothing further on direct okay thank you uh is there anybody here from public that wants to comment on this application anybody from public chery no one from public I would like to close the public portion second all right motion is made and seconded public is closed cam this is yours I think yeah planning staff would just ask that the applicant agree to the conditions um in the planning staff memo y we have no issue with those okay uh otherwise this is a completely conforming subdivision and planning staff recommends approval all right thanks again chair I'd like to make a motion to approve case p2024 d163 as presented to the board for approval second all right motion is made and seconded for approval acting Vice chair Gaden hi councilwoman Prince Ary hi commissioner Tores hi commissioner Cruz hi commissioner Dr Sai hi and chairman Lon hi motion carries all in favor with conditions all right thank you everyone have a good night you Council um we're going to take our our Gan if it's okay we're going to going to take five right now if you want to set up for the next uh application while we're back there good night I didn't want to I didn't want to go back to my be like know come to order again please and we do have an announcement to make after we get or before we get started we only have security here until 10:00 tonight so we need to be done with testimony by 9:30 tonight all right we have to get out of the building before security leaves obviously we can't have locked doors during a public meeting that's uh violation of the public meetings act so uh 9:30 is end the testimony tonight all right I apologize everybody room got quiet didn't it for the record it's 9:03 okay oops so let's um call Item 16 is case P20 24-135 is a minor site plan for 328 Holiday Street good evening chairman Commissioners good evening Council um e conell appearing for the applicant Ian gut and Shannon Smith there's a minor site plan for 328 Halliday Street it's a undersized lot between Lafayette and maple um I have two witnesses tonight um carollyn greo is our architect and Carolyn warell is our planner the Carolyn team and there's only one variance for building coverage so it is a notice case notices thank you Council just let me Mark it chairman I'm going receive the Affidavit of publication proof of mailing with respect to the application at 328 Holiday Street here in the city I've had the opportunity to review it it does appear to be in order we're going to mark it as A1 for purposes of the [Applause] record okay before I call Caroline the the rendering that's up at the board is not in the in the portal so that'll be A2 and that's going to be the that's going to be the only sheet you should be testifying that yes okay you any testimony you tonight going to be the truth Tru truth yes Caroline c a r o l i n e my last name is Grio g r i e Miss Grio good evening have we qualified you before I'm not positive okay if you could just give us your background your licensing and where you're licensed um I have a master's degree from Pratt Institute U master of architecture I am a licensed architect in both New York and New Jersey okay and that license is current tonight the New Jersey one I mean yes okay thank you you're qualified thank you thanks Caroline would you take us through the site plan yeah um so the project address as as Jee mentioned is 328 Holiday Street it's currently a vacant lot um the project is the new construction of a two family dwelling the Redevelopment plan is Morris Canal it's in the residential Zone The Block is between Maple Street and Lafayette Street in the Bergen Lafayette neighborhood uh the address is across the street from the rear of a Jersey City public school PS22 uh the public school fronts Van Horn Street on the next block over um on the northeast side of the block uh there are twostory wood framed homes in the center of the block there is vacant land owned by the church at um and then um the let me see the uh center of the block um beyond the vacant land owned by the church uh our project Falls in between a couple other uh masonry buildings um the property towards the north is uh two stories with a basement the property that um is to the south of us is three full stories so in order to be consistent with uh you know the conditions of the block front we have a uh kind of mimicked the stories and the the uh finished floor levels of the property on our South uh so the um first floor is going to be um entered similar again to that property to the South with a two steps and a stoop again about 2 fet above grade so it is in line with the finished floor of the building on our South the uh first floor uh will contain one one-bedroom unit and a common entrance uh so there's a bedroom in the front um at the first level uh next to the common entrance which leads up the stairs to the second unit uh there's bathrooms uh and a kitchen in the center of the plan and then uh the first floor unit will have access to the rear yard there's a rear patio with pavers um and then a rear grass area um we are seeking a building coverage variance as the attorney mentioned um the uh building coverage uh variance is for an additional 5% of coverage we are not seeking a rear yard setback so we still are maintaining the rear yard setback uh even with the building coverage variants and again it was it's due to the hardship of the narrow sized lot um the proposed second floor plan has again bedroom in the front uh bathroom and kitchen in the center of the uh building and then um living space in the rear on the third floor which is so the second floor unit is duplex the second and third levels um there's again bedroom in the front bathroom and then office space and a family room in the rear um of the third floor uh our roof plan consists of uh a penthouse with that provides access um and storage uh we have a roof deck and also green roof uh The Green Roof takes up approximately 21% of the gross area of the building so uh as I mentioned we're applying for an additional 5% of building coverage but again even with the 5% of building coverage we've uh we we have an additional 15% of uh green roof so if you count four or 5% um of building coverage The Green Roof covers that and then an additional 15% that logic um the front of the building is again going to be in character uh with in line with the character of the buildings in the middle of the lot on either side of us so it has a brick face um we also have uh black details so black window sashes and Frames um uh black corness uh black Cornus over uh small Cornus over the entrance um and then there's a cast uh like a uh medium brown cast stone that also uh counts for the water table and with the lentils and the cills of the windows um the rear of the residence uh will be vinyl siding um and again the black frame Windows um and um the the the building is attached so there'll be party walls on either side um uh there'll be uh both stucco and then vinyl siding for the portions of the building on the sides that do not front I'm sorry that uh do not attach to the existing structures on other side and um unless there are any questions I could includes my testimony okay anybody have any questions all right thank you appreciate it okay then I call carollyn relle to just to give planning testimony on the building coverage okay Miss worstell uh if you could just confirm for the record that you have been sworn in already tonight and are still under oath uh yes I have been sworn in and I'm still under oath okay thank you uh good evening um so as mentioned we're here for a single variance and that is for the lot coverage um this is a substantially undersized lot is approximately um 1,660 Square ft where the r District um within the the marsh Canal Redevelopment plan was based on a typical or the older R1 District so it's 2 200 sare fet is what is contemplated um so this is about almost close to a thousand square feet smaller than your typical lot is anticipated to be um so we are seeking you know the additional coverage it allows for a larger building footprint that creates more livable spaces on what is otherwise a much smaller lot than is generally expected um but we are still able to provide all of the conforming setbacks we're still providing a conforming rear yard setback side and front yard setbacks um so it really sort of that little bit of a mismatch between what is the requirements for the yards and how that sort of plays out and creates a building footprint um and so we're we're seeking to have that additional 5% um which really again allows for the the layout as was presented um this additional 5% really is sort of mitigated by a lot of the um improvements that are being done to this property um there is going to be new rear yard um uh created uh they're going to be pulling out you know I think believe there was a a shed and whatnot at the rear of the property that is going to be pulled out and so that creates a new landscaped area in the rear yard where there there wasn't historically um additionally there's going to be that green roof cover that again adds to the storm water management onsite uh which will again provide those benefits and mitigate that additional coverage um I you know I think that the uh granting of the deviation advances the purposes in Municipal land use law um it's consistent with purpose a uh it's an appropriate use and development of the property this is a conforming to family development uh which is uh a conforming use within this this Zone uh it's going to provide an appropriate population density consistent with purpose e um and it will promote a more desirable visual environment consistent with purpose I we're providing that infill development we're sort of filling in that Gap you know the the missing tooth between these structures um as it were um so I think that that really will create a better visual environment along this whole block Frontage um and sort of really again create and and complete that block um between these existing structures um I don't believe that the granting the deviation will result in a substantial detriment to the general welfare um as mentioned you know this is otherwise a completely conforming application um and the additional coverage is you know looking to be mitigated through that additional uh green roof um it meets all of the required height set backl and uh uh uh other standards that will provide for that light air and open space um and it will not result in a substantial impairment to the Zone ordinance or the Zone plan um this is consistent with the residential Zone which was to encourage a denser pattern of development where housing is in proximity to public park space and Light Rail station uh and to protect and preserve the residential character of the Lafayette neighborhood through consideration of scale streetcape setback design and impact and I I do believe that this project really meets that intended goal of of that District um it promotes the goals of the Redevelopment plan including um acquisition of vacant land and d buildings for purposes of community uh essentially creating the construction of new homes um for use and occupation by residents of of the neighborhood so I think that we're really consistent with that goal um as well as the the Jersey City master plan uh to create housing that's balanced that meets the needs of current future residents um so I really think that uh the positive uh uh and the negative criteria have been met and that this uh variance can be granted okay thank you any questions all right thank you very much Council completes our presentation all right thank you is anybody here from the public that wants to comment on this application anyone from public sh soon no one from public I'd like to close the public por second okay motion is made and seconded public is closed um um Eric this is yours yes okay staff agrees with the testimony provided by the applicants professionals um as mentioned and demonstrated the subject clot is undersized and quite narrow um which pretty much influences that building coverage variance here um and even a compliant building coverage on a law like this um would most likely influence a increase rear yard setback um which um the current rear yard setback that's being proposed is 35 ft so that would increase it even further um to try to bring the building coverage into compliance um so this is like a good middle ground here um so staff recommends approval um contingent upon the applicant AG grain to the conditions enumerated in the staff M we do agree to the conditions okay staff recommends approval okay thank you chair I'd like to make a motion to approve case p2024 d135 as presented to the board together with staff recommendations and conditions second okay motion is made and seconded for approval acting Vice chair gangan hi commissioner Cruz I commissioner Dr Desai I commissioner torus I councilwoman Prince AR I and chairman Langston yeah I agree with Mr worstell's testimony I don't think there's any detriment to the master plan or the Zone plan and uh overall I think it's a good use for a small lot and uh I vote I Mo thank you very much motion carries all in favor all right thank you all right let's call Item 17 is case p2024 d0210 is a preliminary and final major site plan with C variances uh address being 2966 Kennedy Boulevard and 69 Cottage Street good evening Council okay thank you uh uh for the record Charles Harring of con Foley on behalf of the applicant this is a notice case and I'd like to give these to councel council let's obviously we're not getting through the whole application let's try and pick a a spot where we can make a clean break with testimony okay just so uh you know as far as the record goes if there's anybody that isn't here tonight that has to read that testimony later so let's just keep that in mind okay understood we do you think you're going to get through Mr vandermark because I don't think you are I don't think so I mean I mean you got 15 minutes yeah so I'll mark the notice I have no issue with that but we got 15 minutes and you want Mr vandermark to talk for 15 minutes I don't know that it does you any good but let me uh I don't want to waste time but uh that's entirely up to if if he wants a split testimony that's all yeah I mean you're not I'm just trying to keep a clean record that's all agree let me um how long do you think you you'll be 10 I don't know if we break 10 cl's 25 minutes on a bad day let's do this Mr chairman I receive affidavit publication proof of mailing with respect to the applicant Journal Square Tower LLC it's preliminary final major site plan 2966 County bouevard and 69 Cottage Street I've had the opportunity to view it does appear to be in order we are going to mark it as A1 for purposes of the record Council if you want to swear Mr vanderark in and have Mr vandermark provide 10 minutes of testimony that is fine it's completely up to you and in your discretion he has 10 minutes okay we'll we'll start yeah we we'll bring him up uh I will just give a quick overview here this just I just turned it sounds like Mr Vander Mark's not getting any testimony you know I'm just going to hand it off to Mr vanderark okay and let the record show that Mr vanderark is uh has been sworn in tonight already is under oath and is qualified thank you chair uh good evening everyone good evening again once again Vander Mark I understand you have a slide show up on the screen and I have 44 slides in this exhibit deck so A2 is a 44 slide exhibit deck that'll be a A2 A2 okay so just to Brak uh the board up to speed here um we have a pre-existing site uh of 20,800 square fet okay that is 60% greater uh than uh what the uh Zone 3 commercial center uh minimum is right so uh we have a large site we have a corner site that uh is benefited by the office bonus a quarter Lop bonus D um and we are here tonight uh to propose an additional 20 stories in compliance with the new mih the mandatory inclusionary uh housing ordinance okay so this project was originally approved at 35 stories we originally approved of 35 stories we are here tonight with a 56 story version that is in compliance with the height uh in number of feet we are here to ask for a variance for number of stories however we are working within the permitted volume of the Redevelopment plan area and not requesting a variance for the building bulk and mass as part of this application it is a truly uh mixed use application it's a great application that this board has approved uh previously at 35 stories uh for various setbacks this application had uh just a uh you know basically bring everybody back up to speed um this application had a banquet hall and had several restaurants uh one including a rooftop um and it also had a hotel component as well as a residential component here so the existing site uh is the old Pep Boys location it's at the southeast corner of cottage in Kennedy um Boulevard uh again prominent location this is a gateway project for Journal Square project construction is already underway uh as you can see here from the uh photographs of the construction site we have five stories already constructed the uh the mih the mandatory inclusionary uh housing uh was passed we halted construction on the 35 story version and came back to you to ask permission for the additional 20 stories uh to include an affordable component so it's this application uh before you this evening has 542 residential units of the 542 we are proposing 63 affordable units which is the equivalent of 11.6% I think we are first uh uh in line uh you know bringing this new ordinance uh to fruition uh and we have it here in for uh in front of you you know we have some hardships uh you know based on the uh setbacks that were were previously approved um you know coming back in here and trying to kind of bring this building back in to to kind of meet um the required setbacks on what this is being considered a new application is quite difficult it's a hardship to you know basically uh reconfigure the structure on a on a Podium and a foundation that's already there this is the southern portion of the building uh we're facing south and again uh the setbacks are already in place uh on the podium of the building we are trying to take this project as soon as it loads to here so this is the proposed 56 story uh version of the Imperial Tower again uh previously approved at 35 uh we have before you a principal roof height of 55 stories you had the original application at 35 you have the 20 additional stories for the uh inclusionary housing compliance and we have triggered uh a new variance uh at the rooftop uh with the amenity space the previous Redevelopment plan permitted 20% uh roof coverage um in the rewrite in the last rewrite of the Redevelopment plan it dropped it to 10% therefore uh we cannot uh comply with the new ordinance at 10% we are leaving the previous 20% but it triggers an extra story so it's 35 Plus the 20 plus the previously approved uh rooftop amend with restaurant so that is where we came to 56 uh very quickly once again um only a change in residential density uh but we are including uh from 252 to 542 we're including 63 uh units at 11.6 for the affordable uh component this project also has 154 hotel rooms that doesn't change from uh the 35 story version to the 55 story version we also are providing 202 parking spaces uh to go with both the uh banquet hall and the restaurant uses we're providing 295 bicycle parking spaces with eight outside this application has two retail spaces at grade level uh one located on Cottage Street to the East and we have a uh a cafe Hotel Cafe uh at the uh first floor which is the southern portion of the first floor the banquet hall and the restaurants from the 35 went from 34th and 35th to 54th and 55th so they move up all the way to the top of the building and then the residential uh uh affordable component gets sandwiched in from 35 to basically 53 uh very briefly a new analys there a new quick breakdown of what we have here we have 108 studios in the new version of this project they range from 553 to 596 252 one-bedrooms and they range from 625 to 684 72 one-bedrooms plus Den at 814 to 856 72 two bedrooms at 1100 to 1154 25 two bedrooms plus Den at 1269 and 11 three bedrooms uh at 1,248 which is compliant with the 2% requirement of the Redevelopment plan a lot of those three bedrooms will be part of the affordable housing component so Council I feel like we're moving faster than we should be moving I feel like Mr vandermark is trying to move faster than he's even comfortable moving uh we're not getting through this I don't want to rush through this I do want to go back a couple of slides though and I want to just make sure that everybody understands this Foundation or Podium has already been constructed correct and now we're trying to work what was approved and constructed for that project into what is being proposed as the new version of that project is that fair I guess guess should have had you give your overview that's right I and I agree there's there's there there's there's a lot of meat that has to be put on this bone you know and okay yeah I think there is and so that everybody understands what you know what we're doing here because it is a unique situation and a unique opportunity because we are dealing with what's already there with the columns um we have to use use those columns because they're you know they've been piled driven in and um we have to uh reinforce them going up so that limits our ability to to meet the setbacks at the upper floors but at the same time we're my clients see this as an opportunity to provide you know a larger project but with the affordable housing in it um to take advantage this is this was the intent of the amendment that was passed in August so you're going to have the prior project had no affordable housing um this one's going to have 63 affordable uh units um so you know we think it's it's a win-win alt together but we do have to work with what's already been constructed the my clients made the decision the business decision to stop and then to come back to the board you know which is not an easy decision but um that's when we get to the variance part the deviations you'll you'll see why we're asking for that relief because if it was you know a blank slate ground up you know it'd be a different story that that we're discussing with the board tonight and I don't want to prejudge anything I don't know if that's you know going to get you into a hardship position or not so yeah it's it's it's a and we'll address it whether Anthony said hardship it is it's it's a hardship in that it is it is constructed um could we build what's already approved yes we think that there's a lot of benefits outweighing the detriments here because of uh because of the affordable housing component that that real in in a signature location and an opportunity to provide you know the first project with affordable housing under the new ordinance so with that said I think we're probably ran out I probably just ran out the clock um so uh but I don't think it's fair to everybody to to rush it I think it's important I think everybody needs the testimony I don't think it's fair to the board I don't think it's fair to Mr vandermark who I am sure spent a lot of time trying to to bring this forward I can't imagine that this is something that he just clapped his hands and made happen I I don't believe that so uh I think that you know we have to go through it at the proper pace and I think this you know is is worthy of that so and I agree I think if we lay it out so everybody understands what we're trying to do here I think hopefully everyone will agree that this this is this is a great opportunity um uh for this project but not too fast all right so Cameron what are we looking at we we'll have to carry to March 25th our next meeting has an item on it that is going to it's been carried since uh October and we can accommodate this at the next meeting I was hoping since we started carrying it to March 25th because we've opened it right or you want to carry it to the first meeting in April March 11th isn't available since we opened it and continue under old business the case that I'm talking about as a matter that is under old business testimony ongoing with open testimony so I don't I want to give you a date I want to you're looking at an hour and a half probably probably about at least an hour at least an hour we could put it at the end of March 11th but I I don't even know what the point of that would be back in this position I want it at the top of the agenda on the 25th to 2th make sure that we get through it yeah so that's what we're going to do mhm okay sounds like a plan so March 25th and cam seriously I want it oh it'll be an old business with testimony taken yeah all right so this matter is being carried to March 25th there will be no further notice we will see everybody then okay thank you thank you thank you and while I'm up here what are what are we doing with the other app applications that were behind this I had the the one the next one the uh 18 and 19 right they they would have to go to March 25th too 25th yeah but they'd be under new business yes okay understood thank you thank you Council okay with that said let's uh do memorialization of resolutions please sure there's 14 resolutions lordy don't take that with you sorry I think I'm going to need two bottle of water Santo no I'm good thank you resolution of the planning board for the city of Jersey City approving an extension of preliminary site plan approval applicant 134 Bas Street LLC for extension of preliminary site plan approval property 352 LS Marin Boulevard block 1509 9 lot 3 case number is p024 d221 resolution of a planning board for the city of Jersey City applicant is Homestead market LLC for preliminary major site plan approval with deviation variances 32-40 Cottage Street and 73-77 Newark Avenue block 7902 Lots 22 23 24 46 47 48 49 and 5050 Jersey City New Jersey case number p2024 d006 resolution of the planning board for the city of Jersey City applicant is 285 Newark Avenue LLC for final major site plan amendments approval 285 Nork Avenue block 12906 slots 16 and 17 Jersey City New Jersey KP 20240 119 resolution for the planning board for the city of Jersey City applicant is 377 Ogden Avenue LLC for Amendment final major site plan approval with AC C variance 415 Palisade Avenue also known as 415417 Palisade Avenue block 392 Lots 35.1 also known as block 3902 Lots 35 and 36 case number is p2024 d70 resolution of a planning board for the city of Jersey City case number is p2024 D 0214 applicant is Gran Harmon LLC address 743 Grand Street Jersey City New Jersey block 17201 Lots lot one decided on Tuesday January 28th memorialized on Tuesday February 11th application for time extension six applicant driven holding LLC for minor site plan approval with C variances 285 Forest Street Jersey City New Jersey block 2135 Lots 12 case number p023 d24 applicant DM DM Capital Group LLC address is 37337 25 4th Street Jersey City New Jersey block 1102 lot 6 and 7 on Tuesday January 28 to memorialize on Tuesday February 11th applicant application for preliminary and major fight major site plan approval with C varians case p2024 that 0110 applicant 610 communa Avenue LLC 610 communa Avenue Jersey City New Jersey block 17902 Lot 23 decided on January 28 2024 memorialize on February 11 2025 applicant application for site plan amendments case number p2023 d112 for minor site plan with variances applicant is saber manour address is 259 Baldwin Avenue Jersey City New Jersey block 9606 slot 5 case number p2024 D21 for withdrawal of Prior approval applicant is 203 Baldwin holding LLC address is 203 Baldwin Avenue Jersey City New Jersey lot 10832 block 10832 lot 32 applicant kbds Jersey City for conditional use approval address is 545 Nork Avenue Jersey City New Jersey block 9601 lot 9 case number is speed 02456 applicant is KR acquisition Corp for preliminary and final major site plan approval with deviations and variances block 11606 slot 1 approved lots 1.01 and 1.02 72 Montgomery Street case number is p024 d014 applicant is K acquisition Corp for preliminary and final major site major subdivision approval block 11606 Lot 1 block 1 1606 proposed lots 1.01 and 1.02 72 Montgomery Street case number is p 0 24- 0141 applicant is REM Nar Properties LLC for preliminary and final major site plan approval with C variances 32532 a Johnston Avenue block 17505 Lots 110 and 11 Jersey City New Jersey case number is p 023 d55 all right so I have a second okay C acting Vice chair hi councilwoman Prince hi commissioner Torres hi commissioner Cruz hi commissioner Dr Sai and chairman Langston hi motion carries all in FA favor to memorialized resolution right Santo do you need Executive session executive session do you need Executive session un no all right motion to adjourn from somebody motion to adjourn second all right thank you guys get home safe