IED to the flag un United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all thank you could we have a sunshine announcement please cam okay good evening chairman uh today is Tuesday April 2nd in the year 2024 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 Jersey journal the Jersey City Reporter and posted with the city clerk on March 27th of this year this meeting was also posted on the Jersey City division of City Planning web page and all distribution materials made available to the board were published and available to the public thank than you Cam uh before we do roll call Santo do you want to swear in our newest commissioner our newest former commissioner thanks okay if you could raise your right hand and repeat after me I Darlene green I Darlene green do solemnly swear or affirm solemnly swear and affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I'll bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the government established in the United States and to the government established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially and impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties as a class two member perform all duties as a class two member of the Jersey City planning board of the Jersey City planning board according to the best of my abilities according to the best of my ability congratulations thank you congratulations just sign this one okay with that said cam can we have a roll call please yes um commissioner Dr Desai please commissioner green present commissioner Torres present commissioner Gaden here uh Vice chair Dr Gonzalez here and chairman Langston here okay we have six Commissioners present we have a quorum okay thank you could we swear on the staff please Mike yes okay thank you Cam do we have correspondence yes chairman um so for the record uh we did Mark into evidence the uh Sunshine announcement as B1 um and then we do have three items that are carried on the agenda um so the first item is uh under the adjournments category and it is Item B under the adjournments and they are actually carrying to a date UNC certain and they will have to re notice so they are carrying to a date not certain and they will be noticing again what case number is that K that is uh Item B case P22 d227 address is 605 to 607 Grove Street thank you so Cameron that's just adjourned and it'll be Ren noticed then okay when it's placed on a subsequent agend okay so that is the first item uh we have two more um item 17 on the agenda case p2024 D60 um this is a review and discussion of an amendment to the PowerHouse Arts District Redevelopment plan and this is being carried to our next regularly scheduled meeting uh that is April 16th um and that's with preservation of notice and then next and last we have item 19 it's P2 3 -94 address is 40 lbeck it's a preliminary and final major site plan they have requested to carry with preservation of notice to April 16th um and that's our next regularly scheduled meeting and that is all okay thanks cam uh all right let's get into Old business then item a under old business is a uh case p2024 d23 is the second one-year extension for pimary and final major site plan for 20 carbon Place evening Council good evening chairman good evening Commissioners Council staff Michael my name is Gerard pillo I'm an attorney with janova Burns I'm appearing this evening on behalf of the applicant 20 carbon Place Corp LLC uh excuse me 20 carbon Place Corp um property is 20 carbon Place block 22103 Lot 12 uh as you indicated chairman we are requesting a second one-year extension of the preliminary and final major site plan uh with deviations that this board granted in 2020 those was for two uh 12-story buildings um surrounded by a 8,000 ft public Plaza um the property is located at in midrise zone B of the Culver rule 440 uh Redevelopment plan or area and governed by the provisions of that plan uh the basis and the request uh for the reasoning we're asking for the second year uh obviously this case was involved or this applicant was involved in some litigation with the uh it's a joining land owner that screwed up the timing in terms of moving forward the lawsuit was resolved as the lawsuit was resolving and in the process of resolution uh my client uh the land owner be uh obtained a new partner uh they brought in a new design team they did some value engineering uh and we anticipate making revisions to the project uh but we are asking to preserve the zoning and the prior approval uh just in case something happens but we anticipate coming before this board with a revised project very soon um but we are asking for the additional year just to as I said preserve that zoning it's in place okay thank you Council and obviously any staff comments any conditions that were placed on record carry through with the extensions correct and my client agrees to the same okay thank you does anybody have questions no no okay is there anybody here from the public that wants to comment on this application anyone from the public Mr chair seeing no public I move to close second motion made and seconded public is closed uh J do you have a comment questions anything um to comply with the conditions in Orin approval so uh St for approval okay thank you that's it thank you Mr chair like to make a motion to approve case p224 d23 is presented to our board tonight second okay motion is made and seconded for approval Vice chair Dr Gonzalez I commissioner Dr Desai I commissioner genen I commissioner Torres I commissioner green I chairman linston I motion carries are in favor thank you thank you coun thank you Commissioners okay let's move on to under old business Item B is case p2024 d24 is a preliminary and final major site plan uh three one-year extensions for 804 Westside Avenue more than one year hi good evening uh my name is Veronica shme of Connell Foley and I'm here on behalf of the applicant for 804 to 810 Westside Avenue um I did actually notice for this um the underlying approval had C variances so I would just like to ask if those could be marked for the record and I have a hard copy with me as well sorry yeah uh I'll take the hard copy please yeah so again gentle reminder to everybody uh we're going to need those hard copies tonight so I hope you brought them so uh we also have an extension this evening uh the applicant is requesting three one-year extensions of its uh ma major site plan approval which it obtained under P20 d102 um the original C variances were for rear yard uh curb cut on Westside Avenue and drive a WID and and the um approval was obtained March 22 of 2022 which was memorialized by resolution on April 5th of 22 um so the protections afforded to that approval are set to expire on May 5th of this year so the applicant is requesting three one-year extensions of that approval taking us to 2027 um the reasoning for it is as I'm sure you guys have heard many times uh there have been uh troubles with financing and obtaining permitting and also this applicant is involved with some other development properties in Jersey City which has tied up its time and financing um and to that end we would request three one-year extensions so my question would be why the threee three one-year extensions rather than we generally don't give three one-year extensions in one shot it's usually a one-year extension at a time so why the change why going for three as as we discussed with the client he thought that that would be the amount of time that he would need to be able to really turn his attention to this produ uh project I do know he also has some uh personal uh situations he had a member of his family that's now very ill so he has requested that I request the additional three years to really get his ducks in a row with his other projects and be able to fully turn his attention to this one properly okay um and obviously same as the last application any you know conditions on the record any um staff comments they would all carry forward through all the extension um does anybody have any questions chairman for purposes of record let's mark the notice as A1 and then with respect to the request uh we've gone over that we want to see progress and we want to see movement so uh while I understand the applicant's request I don't know that three years is appropriate I think it should be a one-year extension and they can always come back seeking additional uh extensions agreed Council um and you know obviously I empathize with your client um it's a tough situation but legally this board generally doesn't give more than a one-year extension in one night so yeah we would uh we would have one year on the table uh so anybody any questions okay uh is there anybody here from the public that wants to comment on on this application anybody from public the chair sign no public I move to close second okay motion is made and seconded public is closed cam do you have anything you want to add um I actually if you don't mind giving me a minute I need to confirm that are we sure that it wasn't uh done as three because it was going to it would expire um like we were acting retro asking for retroactive extensions that was another one of my extensions oh it was okay okay all right so um so for purposes of the record cam we can make it retroactive in the event that there was any Gap but the extension will be from the memorializing resolution or the Sunset date forward one year from uh either today's meeting or if it had expired already this one was set to expire on April ail 5th of this year will be one year from April 5th okay okay um yeah so so planning staff agrees the one-year extension to April 5th of 2025 um with said conditions on the record and um staff recommends approval all right thank you Cam okay Mr chair like to make a motion at this time to approve case p2024 d24 is presented to our board tonight second for one year okay motion is made and seconded for a one-year extent tion uh Vice chair Dr Gonzalez hi commissioner gungan hi commissioner Torres hi commissioner Dr Desi I commissioner green I and chairman Langston I motion carries all in favor with conditions thank you thank you Council all right let's move on to new business item 9 is case p2024 d18 is a section 31 review for 921 Bergen Avenue good evening council members of the board my name is Mark lebman I'm with the firm of kesa shanian and Gian tamasi I represent the applicant I have three Witnesses for you this evening uh without any further Ado I will jump right into it and but I do actually have one statement that I told my client I was going to make I told your attorney I'm very familiar with this property I started my practice of law in 1995 in this building with Peter Willis and John Young doing criminal defense work I spent a lot of time in this building so it's kind of cool for me to be here to see a school going into this property I think it's a really neat adaptive reuse of a cool old building in Journal Square and it's great to be back here in Jersey City so with that I'll call my first witness Katie Han and Council for the record this is a section 31 review it is for a school to go into an existing building on Burgen Avenue so uh the board is very familiar with these section 31 reviews uh so just bear those comments in mind when moving the application we will keep this uh moving along quickly I know You' got a a busy night I um I don't know if um Council you want to swear my witness or or not if it's your preference Mike I'll put that good choice cause a problem here Catherine k a t h r i n e Han hn all right Miss Han can you tell us uh what we're doing here why are you here sure uh I'm one of the co-founders and co-leaders of Kindle education Public Charter School uh we're a new charter school that launched in Jersey City on communa Avenue this year with a sixth grade and we are looking to move to this new facility uh in the fall so that we can expand our school uh this will be a site for sixth through 8th grade so a full middle school for us all right wonderful and Council just one second um so we're testifying or I'm sorry we're qualifying Miss Han as a fact witness tonight just for the board board's notice uh this isn't expert testimony this is fact witness testimony how long have you been in the educational field uh I've been in education my whole career about 15 years now uh I previously worked with the New York City Department of Ed and left that position in 2020 to start this school so we've been working on this project for quite a while and we're really excited about this new location all and about how many students do you think you'll start with we'll start with 132 in this site next year in sixth and seventh grades and we'll add our eighth grade the following year for just under 200 at full capacity okay and um how did you come to choose this location one of the components of our school is that we're an intentionally diverse School Community um which I know may seem obvious in Jersey City um but many schools around the country and even in New Jersey are are quite segregated still um and so when we first founded our school were we were looking at Journal Square as an ideal location because of its central location and public transit um as a place that we could really bring together uh students from different communities across Jersey City we unfortunately weren't able to find a location to launch there this year which is why we launched on Communipaw Avenue so we're really excited to be uh potentially moving to Journal Square in the fall wonderful I have no further questions for this witness I pass her to the board okay thank you Council I have no questions anybody else I I do have a question yeah about the students you said it's seventh grade next year we'll have a sixth and seventh grade and the following year we'll add an eighth grade so at capacity this will be a site for a middle school 6th to 8th grade and do you have any parking over there uh there are some neighboring Lots uh with paid parking available and that's what we would use and we would also anticipate that the majority of our students will take public trans Transportation as well as our staff that's actually the case currently at our current site on communa Avenue um as a middle school a lot of students come to school by themselves um and there's even more access to public transit in Journal Square okay so I I have a question are you going to be moving from communter Port sixth grade to into that building yes okay and Miss Han is this um servicing the local community is it open to the rest of the state so as a public charter school um in our Charter we give preference to students who live in Jersey City so the vast majority of our students are Jersey City residents we have a couple from Bon right now uh which might change with the change in location okay understood thank you all right anybody else all right thank you Miss H appreciate it I'd like to call our project architect Jason chimur chairman we can have the witness sworn I don't know how much uh the witness has to present given the fact that it is a retrofitting of 1500 third and fourth floors to be a school I think for our purposes Council we're more concerned with the consistency with the master plan from uh thank you Mr lampy we'll get right to that I just do want to put a little bit of testimony from the architect um into the record there was a a comment in one of the review letters asking about signage and um our witness has prepared an exhibit to show a small sign that we want to present to the board and respond to thank you that inquiry then we'll move right into our planning I do agree the architectural plan kind of speaks for itself thank you councilth Tru I do uh my name is Jason jamura j o n CM a good evening sir I don't believe we've qualified you in the past halfway no okay if you could just go over your background any licensing and uh what state you're licensed in so I am a registered architect in the state of New Jersey um more than 10 years 11 um I am a partner at KSS Architects address is uh 163 West 23rd Street New York City um I've been with KSS Architects for 12 years been practicing architect for almost 20 years now okay and your license is current tonight in New Jersey it is okay yes thank you you're qualified thank than you thank you Mr chairman um Mr chmer can you um I know you've got some plans up on the screen but I want to get right to the exhibit that we're going to address that was rais in the review letter if you could show us the Kindle sign sure for the sake of understanding where it is um this is a an exhibit that was presented as part of the site plan application so you should all be familiar with the ground floor plan U new Kirk is on the left side of this page here and the proposed signage is on the corner of the building facing the alley that is off directly off of Newkirk okay this is a supplementary exhibit that we have prepared for tonight in response to one of the questions around compliance with the master plan Council let's Market is A1 for purposes of the record thank you Mr lampy as you'll see on the right side of this drawing there is a proposed 4 foot by 5 foot so 20 square foot sign that is directly applied to the face of the building uh this is proposed to be a painted metal sign that is essentially pin mounted to the masonry um it is approximately 6 foot about 6 and 1/2 ft above grade as to prohibit uh tampering as best we can uh it's roughly centered between the existing window and the corner of the building closest to new Kirk Avenue there are no lights or any um moving Graphics proposed as part of this it's a it's a standalone stationary sign unless the board has any more questions for Mr chura I have nothing further chairman I think the floor plans speak for themselves as far as the uh use of the two floors as a school if we want the witness to go through it again it's a section 31 review yeah agreed um agreed I just want to make sure there's no more there's no other exterior changes to the building everything is internal no that's correct everything is internal to the building there are no proposed changes to any existing entrances or sidewalk or even the uh glazing windows or masonry above okay excellent anybody any questions CH I do have a question though because of the uh I know that uh yeah my mic is on okay I'll bring it down um the nature of the building my question is uh you're taking two floors in this building uh how do you the rest of the building is a rental building for office or apartments what's the rest of the building going to be renovated to uh my understanding is that there are various uses in the building it's a mixed use building soing ground floor has former bank there's a gym most most of the building is actually office space above two it's basically all office space a lot of which is right now what do you have to prevent students from traveling to different parts of the building so the if I just call attention to the plans just so when I speak about it I'll go through this very quickly uh but the the students are proposed to enter the back of the building facing the the alley between new Kirk and Sip and that is a an entrance that the landlord has dedicated to the school use okay then they then utilize this stair that's eastern most or Western most on the plan which is again dedicated to the student or School use on the Upper Floor that stair on the west side of the plan is utilized to go between essentially between the third and fourth floor and it's limited to student use on the other floors in the building the landlord has proposed to install access control and and device locks to prevent the students to prevent students from going so people could come down the stairs but the students won't be able to go up the stairs the students won't be able to access other floors e St so they'll have to preserve that exit as you okay that's what that was my be such a large building on that first floor is there a door proposed to you know at the elevators to to prevent kids from traveling through that hallway uh not at this time the a Lobby is common all the way out to Bergen okay um similarly the landlord has agreed to dedicate one elevator to the school for student use and they're allowing the the school to use a second elevator for Freight and deliveries um but there's nothing necessarily separating that elevator from the rest of the lobby okay I was actually concerned about egress just that they they maintain those two forms of egress too for the kids yeah there I there is no proposal to change any of the current egress paths out of the building there's three stairs within the building all of which provide egress okay anybody else doctor uh what what are you doing for the safety of the students when they come to the school um can you clarify in terms of traveling to the school or within the school yeah inside the school so I mean aside from having locks on the doors which is pretty typical um we're proposing an elevator lobby at the third floor so that if there is someone who happens to get off the elevator that is not a teacher or someone that belongs in the school that there's an extra level of security so there won't be metal detectors or a posted security guard I can't speak to that as the architect that's more of an operational question for the school I'm not sure I don't know the answer we can call Miss hon back up if you'd like to ask that question can somebody some step aside Mr sure we'll have um some controlled access as Jason uh mentioned so stairwells there won't just be key cars going to the other floors but also to get onto our floor preventing any external you know potential Intruders from coming on and then the uh locked elevator Lobby which will be released by maglock that will be controlled in the main office um so there will be controlled access in that sense and then we'll have security cameras throughout that are always visible from the main office which is where our staff will be monitoring them and monitoring the comings and goings of guests uh we also plan to have a kind of guest uh sign in station in the lobby with video that goes straight to our main office so that we are aware of any guests who are coming up they're given a visitor tag um before they even access our floors okay thank you Miss H anybody else any questions okay thank you sir thank you appreciate it call Sam Bellamy our professional planner good evening any testimony tonight the truth the whole truth truth I do sure Samuel Bellamy last name b l l a m y Mr bellam me good evening uh good to see you in person good evening first time um so we've obviously qualified you in the past your license is still current yep C Uh current and in good standing okay thank you sir are you're qualified um sure so get getting into uh my review jesar Robin did prepare his own Inc consistent uh consistency review memorandum um that does identify by both the consistency with the master plan and also the Redevelopment plan which when adopted and since amended um was also consistent with the with the master plan so as far as the section one review again we are a public charter school use so that does fall under that criteria um for for your consideration for consistency with the master plan um I am going to highlight some of the those elements um that we did identify within our report um so the property is located within zone 6 the preservation zone of the the general Square Redevelopment plan uh generally that zone is the purpose is to uh uh preserve historic buildings that Define the general square area so I think with this adaptive reuse project again utilizing two floors within the existing building we are further um advancing that purpose of the intent of the zone six of the plan um we're also consistent with several of the objectives of the plan um objective one is to reestablish joural Square as the primary um Central business distri district again we're providing a charter school use um it's generally consistent with the mix of uses in the surrounding area I think that will continue to contribute to the overall diversity of uses uh within the general square area um we're also consistent with per uh objective nine which is to encourage the Adaptive reuse of existing structures again we're not proposing any changes bulk changes to the building it's just adaptively reusing the former office floors for the public charter school use um what we're further consistent with objective uh 14 which is to provide conservation and preservation of Select structures with historic significance uh again um providing for adaptive free use so again I think we're doing that with this proposed project um re reutilizing the um historic uh office floors within the building um further we're providing for an education use within the general square area um again that's overall consistent with the general surrounding area and we'll continue to uh contribute to the uh activation of uh of the area um with respect to to the master plan um we are consistent with several of the principles of the plan which is to provide flexibility that allows um for adaptive use of office spaces so again that's what we're doing with this proposed project um but I think most importantly we're upgrading Community facilities and infrastructure uh to accommodate population growth and address changing needs um so with this project you heard from our um from our representative of the school we're going to add a school use that provides um for child uh for Education Services for um students in the local area um we did also review the historic preservation elements of the plan uh this location isn't identified in the 201 uh 2015 historic preservation plan um those plans do speak to the general um historic buildings within the general square area which again I think we're um we are promoting the the purpose of the uh zone 6 preservation um within the uh new 2024 the historic preservation element it does identify this property as being eligible for the uh for local designation so again I don't think the Project's doing anything to um uh stray away from that I think we're we're not we're not making any changes with with respect to the outside of the building um overall we we also permitted use within the plan again consistent with the surrounding area um we're not proposing any bulk changes so there's there's no uh there's no non-compliance with with the bu criteria um we are adding outdoor bicycle spaces to um contribute to the the school use um but with respect to loading it's going to going to continue to uh operate the same way that it does for the office uses um so overall I think the project is consistent with the master plan and also the Redevelopment plan um I'd be happy to go over anything the board has all right thank you Mr bellam me um I I don't know if this question is appropriate now or not just uh given the abroad up the historic aspect has uh historic preservation seen the sign that was presented tonight that you're aware of uh I'm I'm not aware um I think we did submit I I'm not aware either but the review letter we have says that all the proposed signage has to be reviewed by the HPC before purchase manufacturer and installation so we intend to comply with that suggestion and hopefully they're okay with it it's okay it's not even going to be visible from a street have to be that used to be a parking lot when I used to work at that building I think it's a park now so I I'm hoping there's no problems with that okay understood um yeah that's it for me Mr Bel anybody else no that's it okay I kind of want to go back to the security part I don't know um in light of all the shooting um I think you just said like there's cameras I'm talking about someone being posted and then I'm talking about metal detectors for people coming in and out of the building for unfortunately including the children that's coming in um no one never like considered like having metal detectors or having a posted security guard because if an incident happened okay we got it on camera but we don't have a physical body acting right no I I understand uh commissioner what the concern is and I'll let my witness respond to it in a moment but I'll just note that um as part of a a chapter 31 review that's really kind of beyond the purview of what the board is is here to decide okay um you know the primary concern here is are we generally consistent with your master plan and your housing plan okay um does the board have any suggestions that may make a better plan and that's why I think the comment is somewhat appropriate to be directed here uh I think the bank is still active at this site and I would presume that the bank has armed security protecting it as an extra measure of security but I'll let my witness answer your question okay yeah we're not contemplating um metal detectors at this time there has been a lot of research about the added anxiety that that causes students and that's just not the kind of environment that we want to create in our school um but we have considered in the budget for later years as we grow and can support more more operational overhead in the addition of a security guard and then I also just wanted to clarify that um by controlled access we don't just mean that there will be cameras but there's actual you need key card access to get into the building of course um anyone who's already on staff would have that so it doesn't prevent against uh a known uh Intruder I suppose but um in terms of an outside person um including a student they won't they won't have key card access they would need to be um buzzed in by an adult okay yeah thank you that's all I have okay thank you Council no other questions anybody okay at this time let's open it up for public comment is anybody here from the public that wants to comment on this application anybody from public Mr chair signal public I move to close second okay motion is made and second a public is closed cam anything you want to add um yeah so just two formalities um I'm going to have to mark into evidence the historic preservation memo dated March 18th and then Mark into evidence the planning staff memo dated March 18th as well C the uh historic preservation and and staff memo are on the portal correct yes do we need to mark them Santo we can2 okay and um then I'm just going to ask that the applicant's attorney agree to those conditions stated in those reports yes okay um planning staff recommends approval with the conditions uh stated in the report and actually specifically it is Staff recommends approval for voting in favor of comporting with the master plan yes thanks yes that's right cam it's actually not an approval it is a determination of whether or not the uh plan as proposed is consistent with the master plan and the Redevelopment plan in which the property sits so I find that the question of Miss green is appropriate I think it's something that everybody uh should be considering at all times safety of the children is very important an to all of us uh but from this body standpoint the question is whether or not the application as presented is consistent with the master plan and if it is not consistent with the master plan what recommendations does the body have that would make it more consistent with the master plan okay thank you Council Mr chair I like to uh make a motion to accept case p2024 d18 um as presented to us today um as being consistent with the master plan second okay motion is made and seconded okay Vice chair Dr Gonzalez hi commissioner gangadin I um I just want to make a quick comment I'm happy to see that this space is being used as utilized as a school it's more choices for student and parents as well thank you commissioner Dr Desai hi commissioner green hi commissioner Torres hi and chairman Lon Council I do want to share with you uh I believe that was the first building I ever worked as a union sprinkler fitter as well um it's a nasty basement down there I'm sure you weren't down there back when Siggy used to own the building and he'd walk around and collect the rent from all the uh that was the place so uh yeah I have a little history there myself so uh very cool I I do vote on and it is consistent with a master plan and Redevelopment plan I appreciate it thank you Mr chairman thank you Council we did submit uh a resolution for the board's consideration if we could get that executed because we need to get that off to the State Department of Education as soon as possible to get the wheels moving okay and uh I can't guarantee that right now but I'll Santo look at it as soon as he possibly can wonderful have a great night all right thank you Council you too okay thank you motion carries all in favor all right thanks cim uh so let's move on to item 10 is case p2024 z43 is a section 31 review for University Academy Charter High School good evening uh good evening chairman board uh Christopher buggy on behalf of applicant University Academy Charter High School uh I have two witnesses this evening uh representative from the school uh and project architect I'll call Mr Lugo the representative of the school first yes hi my name is Erie Lugo e r i e last name Lugo l u g o all right Mr Lugo just tell us uh a little bit about yourself where do you work what do you do sure I'm the lead person for University Academy Charter High School I've been here since 2005 uh the school opened in 2002 um probably my 26 year in education now and uh what is the school seeking to do with this application so we are seeking to build a steam center science technology education Agriculture and math uh with the physics lab biology lab chemistry lab technology lab uh a laundry room for students that need it uh uh uh gender neutral bathrooms uh we're going to have a new egress to make sure that uh we can get the students out safely from the second floor level and um we look forward to having service learning projects where we actually grow uh leafy vegetables that we would be able to push back out into the community and approximately how many students attend uh uh 432 students we are approved for 460 and and how long have you been operating at that location since 2002 we started in NJCU and then we moved uh 2002 let's say okay thanks uh I don't know if the board has any questions for Mr Lugo hi I have nothing anybody else okay thank you sir this is the first steam project I've ever heard never heard that yeah we we we want to rival NJIT I love it I love it okay next I'll call the project architect uh Matthew mzn tonight going to be the truth the whole truth truth I do sure it's Matthew m t t h e w and my last name is mzn it's MCC h s NE y Mr mcchesney good evening I believe we've qualified you in the past have we i' I've been before you for section 31 review so I believe I was qualified yes okay uh and your licens is current tonight in the state of New Jersey okay thank you you're qualified again okay thank you all right Matt if you could just take us through the project sure I have the um yeah if you want council do you have a planner with you tonight uh no just the architect and just the uh representative from the school okay thank you is is there anything that needs to be done to share the screen cam cam you want to share the screen oh okay okay perfect oops okay thank you um so I'm going to walk through the project quickly um quick overview the the the property is located at um 275 Westside Avenue um in between uh my um it's located between carbon place and Fisk Street um zooming in a little bit on the building itself um essentially all of the work is going to happen within the building the only things that will happen outside of the the current um building is we're we're adding the new stair Tower um or stair Edition in the back of the building so this view is looking at the back side of the building um and then the only other thing that could potentially be visible on the exterior are some exhaust fanss um because of the Fume hoods associated with the science labs um the property is located within the Westside um the Westside Redevelopment plan um which is and as you can see on the slide it's within this this blue section which is um the permitted use there is college and universities and schools um the former the the area that the the school is taking over was previously um NJCU space and is now being moved from from that higher ed use to um the K through2 use and um the the building is consistent with the um with the requirements of the of the Redevelopment plan um it's a school use um in in this traditionally mixed use neighborhood um the expansion of the school's program is key to its success in this location um the stair Tower addition is on the back side of the building it doesn't impact um The Pedestrian environment and um the also the stair Tower is going to be consistent with um aesthetically consistent with the REM the rest of the building um and I'll touch on that in a minute looking at the at the floor plans um the ground floor there's no this is the ground floor there's no change other than the construction of this stair Tower in the back corner here and on the second floor um we're renovating basically the what appears to be kind of the right hand side of the plan this white area um again currently this is um it was formerly like a business incubator space so there's some smaller office spaces and then a large open area that used to be used kind of as a as a co-working space um the building what we're we're doing is renovating that space into um new science labs there's going to be a biology lab a chemistry lab and a physics lab um we're also adding a music room um a computer technology room and then in the center of the space is an area for um it's kind of a maker space where where students can create things um there's a big um there's a lot of students who are interested in fashion so they're going to have some sewing machines for things like that um and other kinds of things that that spur student interest and Project based learning the next slide um and here's some quick uh quick elevation of the stair Edition it's going to be um clad in metal siding which is similar to some of the other components of the building um and the the majority of the building is a brick brick facade um so you can see the new stair Edition here and then on the next slide um oops this well these are the the planning drawings these are just Zooms in of that so it's um going to cover up this one section of of brick facade that's on the back of the building where the new stair will be located and then there'll be an exterior exit for students to get out of the building in an emergency um the area of renovation is about just under 10,000 sare ft and the stair Tower is only um 238 Square fet so it's a very very small um compared to the the rest of the building um the footprint of the building is is a little over 30,000 s ft and that's presentation okay thank you sir um any questions anybody okay U Matt I actually do have a question since the applicant doesn't have a planner here so obviously schools are an applicable use in the Redevelopment plan I'm concerned about the exhaust hoods uh the exhaust hoods yes for so for the science labs there's what's exhausted through those hoods um it's so Yeah so basically uh in chemistry you have chemicals there are special storage cabinets some chemicals can't be combined they have to be stored separately and so we may have a hot plate where we're heating up something and just making sure that all those fumes that everything you're working on is going up that vent okay and what controls what goes out into the environment that's just an exhaust vent that blows out into the neighborhood so we're not we're not talking um chemicals that you have to worry about uh or in theory but right accidents Happ cly everything we we do have in there gets reported to um I'm sorry Department of Education no no the yearly right to no survey right so we go through all the chemicals uh that we use are all inventoried and so it's not anything that we have to worry that we're using something that uh our teachers can't use um I I don't know how how else they answer the question okay have you ever read one of those right to no surveys I submit it I submit it every year and so now we actually have uh software that it all goes into and then it and then I take that data and I put it into the right to know and you have to enter all the numbers and you know so everything is all cataloged okay we've had one visit uh currently what we do is we actually are on New Jersey City University campus and we use their C chemistry lab okay um cost us about $50,000 a year so we're ready to steer away from that and have our own lab okay yeah and it would it would be consistent with what happens at other high schools with DW in in residential neighborhoods as well so okay okay thank you I do I guess there a question maybe a comment to so in the same we for what the chairman is speaking about um since this is in line with my trade and working in a lab at another College um you going to have a um acid waste type of piping system or a neutralizing um waste system in set in progress that once everything is neutralized then it goes into the uh so all of the sinks in the science labs have um acid neutralizing tanks so anything that goes down the drain goes through that tank neutral the acid then it goes before it goes into any of the uh sewage or yes yeah and it all happens locally at the sink we don't even have some schools have a central system this is locally at the snc so even if there's a combined sewer in that area it won't affect anything outside in the environment out of that school correct it's neutralized as soon as it as soon as it leaves that yeah okay okay anybody else all right thank you sir council is that your presentation yes that concludes chairman okay thank you was anybody here from the public that wants to comment on this application anyone here from the public say no public I move to close second okay motion is made and second it public is closed Matt do you have anything you want to add um not too much chairman um staff reviewed the materials provided by the applicant for this section 31 review and um found it to recommend it as broadly consistent with the master plan and the Westside Redevelopment plan um staff didn't find any need to scrutinize the specifics of the educational uses as um K through 12 um primary secondary education is an as of right use in the Westside Redevelopment plan um it's um you know this is a mixed used residential commercial Community um moving away from what was additionally light and medium industrial uses over here and um schools especially primary and secondary schools naturally anchor such communities um staff recommends accepting this as consistent with the master plan not approval all right thanks Matt Mr plan Mr plan Mr chair I'd like to make a motion to accept case p224 d43 uh as consistent with the uh master plan and the side uh Redevelopment plan second okay motion is made and seconded vice chair Dr Gonzalez hi Dr Desai commissioner Dr Desai commissioner green I commissioner gangadin great addition to the school I commissioner Torres great addition I think it's well needed to take it out of the college into the school and uh CD schools grow that way it's a it's a great thing uh I vote I and chairman Langston I good luck guys appreciate it thank you very much thank you okay let's move on to item 11 is case p2023 d34 is a minor site plan for 17 Berkeley Place Council good evening good evening chairman Commissioners uh good to see everybody in person um it's been a long couple of years but uh but nice to see everybody I know I seem taller on Zoom for the record oh we saw you two weeks ago at the yeah same size for the record Benjamin wine of prime and toel on behalf of the applicant 17-19 Berkeley LLC uh just before I launch into my presentation I will note that this application is a minor site plan uh and under the uh under the statute uh notice is technically not required however we did go ahead and file notice anyways so with that I believe Mr lampy would like a copy thank you Council chairman council is correct it is not required under the ml however uh since Mr wine was kind enough to do it I will be kind enough to review it and Mark it for purposes of the record all right thank you Council so I assume that will be A1 so just a brief introduction will be A1 count the application is for 17 and 19 Berkeley place which is located at block 7808 Lots 2 and three and we are within the R1 zoning uh Zone I do want to indicate that the property currently consists of what is now vacant land and is located just in The Enclave uh just north of Journal Square just uh for orientation purposes the neighborhood is surrounded largely by residential uses of varying sizes and dens ities and what we're proposing here this evening is to take advantage of the affordable housing overlay uh which provides uh for no density maximum um but we are providing one three-bedroom affordable unit as part of our project consistent with the division of affordable housing and then also uh under your new R1 ordinance I believe this may actually be the first one that you're seeing uh to propose an accessory dwelling unit at the rear of the property so the substance of the project in particular is for 11 res residential dwelling units located within the principal building and again one of those will be a three-bedroom affordable unit dedicated uh per your ordinance uh and under the affordable housing requirements and then one accessory dwelling unit in the rear of the property for a total of 12 units on the property we also do recognize that uh given that your affordable housing requirement is 10% uh it would be of the 11 principal units is my understanding uh the one would be provided on site and then the 01 as discussed with City Planning and the division of affordable housing would be likely a payment in lie again to that division of affordable housing um at a rate of I believe it's $188,000 payment um with that uh our application is free of any variances um I will indicate that we actually do have our project planner here as well this evening I don't intend to call him that's Sam Bellamy uh in case he sounds familiar um originally when we filed this application it was under your old R1 requirements it actually did not have the accessory dwelling unit at the time um but under the old R1 the height calculation was I think I can say it now that you've adopted a revision a little bit wonky and it was based uh on floor to floor Heights but also based on topography and it was impossible to comply with what the requirement would have been but now that the requirement is a flat 35 ft we are under that requirement um as we always were so we don't have any variances but uh since Mr bamy was going to be here this evening anyways I did ask him to stick around just in case any questions do come up so with that chairman uh unless there are any questions of me I intend to call one witness here this evening that's our project architect Tom messac okay thank you [Music] Council [Music] Ruckus it doesn't have a it's not an HDMI it doesn't have an HDMI you want to get the project Bo the boards yeah we have dongles available so we can find the appropriate yeah you guys thought of everything it's an older yeah you're right I unfortunately didn't grab my newer one this morning oh I see I see yeah yeah okay this one looks like a regular is there a US reg oh I see I see HDMI Mike this counts as your five minute break right okay everybody just a regular you know monitor if we don't have it we can show the have physical boards you need help Mr wi think you'll have to we do have physical boards so we can go ahead and uh present through those so Mr wine while we're sitting around uh even though he's going to he's going to run the only reason you're before this board is because you're more than 5,000 square feet if it was under 5,000 square fet you'd be able to administratively pull permits from the building department but because we are in excess of 5,000 square ft the minor sight plan is what's triggered and there's no variances being sought in connection with the application so it's simply because of that reason is that accurate that is an accurate statement and for the record um the plans that you will see here this evening were submitted to the board more than 10 days in advance so nothing should be new and exciting Tom will get you sworn in I'm not comfortable Thomas messic t h o m a s m s u k good evening I'm sorry my mic is off Mr messic good evening uh We've qualified you in the past I believe your license is current tonight it is okay thank you sir you're qualified good evening all right so Tom if you can go ahead and briefly walk the board through the existing conditions and what we're proposing here this evening can I use that one to stand over there okay great apologies on the technology issues we had this morning or this afternoon rather so um as Ben stated um you we're looking to do an 11 unit building um three-story unit uh three-story uh building uh with the U affordable housing overlay and the accessory dwelling unit um our building our main building is situated towards the front of the property and in the rear of the property consistent with the zoning ordinance we have the accessory dwelling unit um I'll take you through the architecture of the project okay so um for our basement because and just to go back to the site real quick um the site is um very sloped from uh Berkeley Avenue towards the back of the site so with that in mind and we believe there may be some rock on the back end of the site we've kept our basement primarily towards the front of the building and a little bit smaller just to avoid any of the the rock that may be towards the back of the site our basement is generally for Mechanicals a little bit of storage and uh a garbage room for uh trash and recycling um first floor we have our main entry facing Berkeley we do have an ADA lift uh for Ada accessibility to the first floor and uh we have three units on the first floor uh right side left side um we have a a one-bedroom on the right side of the plan and a two-bedroom on the left in the back of the unit um we have our three-bedroom and that would be considered the affordable housing um unit all units do have washers and dryers uh all first floor units can be made adaptable for Ada use if necessary uh we also have a bicycle storage room on the first floor a smaller trash room for Ada access because um you wouldn't be able to access the basement and essentially lies uh located a stair Tower um also because of the topography the existing topography on site um the back of the building is actually set in the ground so we do have uh window wells at the back of the building for uh light and egress out of emergency egress out of the um the back unit our second and third floors um are the identical but now you're on sheet A2 on A2 correct I'm just there might be people following Along on their okay digital uh sheet A2 um we have uh our second and third floors which are identical uh layout on both floors um each floor consists of four units um each unit on the second and third floor are one-bedroom units um our roof we have um access to two um roof decks uh with uh 512 Square ft of green space and then um centralized mechanical area so that that's a little bit hidden from um street view each unit will have individual control um the HVAC units are relatively small for like a mini split system um moving on to A3 A3 shows our floor plans uh that we're proposing for our accessory dwelling unit in the back first floor be primarily uh living space we do have a one bedroom um on the ground floor a mechanical space and a half bath on the second floor we have um three bedrooms upstairs and each bedroom has an onsuite bath the roof here would just be Fe for mechanical purposes and nothing else um and our elevations for the accessory dwelling unit um the materials for the front of the accessory dwelling unit will match the um unit uh the main building uh and I will get into the materials shortly um we do have a railing at on top of the accessory dwelling unit just primarily for safety for any uh maintenance or um you know anything else that needs to happen on the roof but don't anticipate anything uh the rear of the building there's no windows because it is on the rear property line and um you know all our bedrooms do face you know the opposite building so um our uh Building height is under the 18t uh requirement from grade to the uh the top of the roof structure going on to uh drawing A7 uh drawing A7 is the elevations of the primary building uh the upper left the front elevation is the um the main elevation facing uh Berkeley Avenue so we do have uh primarily a brick facade um with uh some cement board siding to break up that facade with a canopy that extends over our stairs the only um technical signage would be the address on the front of the canopy um the other sides of the building have the windows that we need for our unit and they are in um compliance with the um construction code for uh like the our closeness to our lot lines um going back to materials just for a moment so I'm drawing a 0 to uh we show our materials so for our uh brick on the uh front facades of both buildings we'll have a buildin brick it's called Alaska white velour and then our uh our siding uh primarily uh on the sides of the building uh would be the James Hardy arctic white and then the front of the building uh the Grays would be um the lighter gray is gray slate by James Hardy and the uh darker gray is iron gray also by James Hardy um our numbers on the front of the canopy would just be a uh a pin letter uh finished in uh Rush nickel um that's primarily it on the architectural I'll touch a little bit upon the engineering because our engineer could not be here tonight um also the these plans are also uh submitted and part of everybody's you know package um let's see our go to the end of this first okay so on engineering drawing c302 this outlines our uh drainage that has been designed for the site um the drainage uh we are detaining water on the site as opposed to just letting it run off as it did in the past uh and currently does so um the engineer has calculated out what the requirements are in terms of the uh the detention and we have provided that underneath our uh sidewalk um in terms of uh lighting um it's not that one I think it's one more one or two more okay so on sheet c-102 um the lights are shown with the spillage you can see that all of our lighting stays mostly in the site a little bit there's a little bit of uh spill over on the right hand side um actually no I'm sorry U the lot line is out here so all of our lighting does stay on on the site um in terms of landscaping I'm going to go back to our uh for she in terms of landscaping we do provide two Street trees and um everything shown in green would be um Green Space uh the beige would be the the sidewalk areas um so we do have a little bit of Green Space you throughout the site that's primarily everything that we have yeah Tom I just had one follow-up question for you I know since you know these uh adus or accessory dwelling units are Rel relatively new feature for the ordinance um you did confirm that the uh the separation between the principal building and the accessory building as well as the egress path to the accessory building are compliant with all building yes they're all compliant okay correct all right I just wanted to put that out there I know this board has not really seen these uh as of yet but uh chairman and Commissioners that really concludes my examination of Mr mesach as I've indicated our planner is here um not that I think he's relevant uh at this point but he is available okay thank you you Council Mr messic I do have one question sure on the accessory dwelling unit uh there's a a steel railing around the top what what's actually located on the top that we just the mechanical unit and you know a couple of internal roof drains okay get the water off so we put the railing up there primarily as a safety feature in case somebody has to go up there work on the mechanical system there's no direct access we do have just a roof hatch um so it's not like people would be up there on a regular regular basis um but we did put the rail on for uh just the safety of any worker that may have to go up there okay I'm all about safety um where is the roof hatch thanks okay the roof hatch um is on the second floor if you look at the plan on sheet A3 lower leftand corner is the second floor plan our roof hatch um is behind the stairs uh to access the second floor in between like the closet and the stair okay the main thank you okay anybody any other questions the uh I do I have um question on this accessory build that we have so that it's a um three bedroom unit or it actually has four bedrooms we have a ground floor bedroom and there's three bedrooms on the second on the accessory unit on the accessory dwelling unit correct and to enter into that unit it's separate from okay I got confused with this one for me I don't know why I'm looking at it and I'm like so I'm not I'm not seeing is it part of the uh principal building it's not part it's separated um separated that's what you're saying it is separated in the back yes the back okay there I believe there's 10 ft between so the only thing I would like to see if there's a if we could put a condition that out of no circumstances that winds up being a affordable housing unit right because then you're separating the affordable one affordable housing from the people in the other building correct and commissioner that's a that's a great point I will just indicate if I didn't do this before with the division of affordable housing they actually had a similar uh request or condition um that the three bedroom in the principal building is designated as the affordable unit yes I know I you stated that too he stated that that's going to be the affordable housing one but I'm just saying in the future we can have something down where the building that is not attached to the other building it never would would never become changed into an affordable house unit for unless they wanted to do it as an edior I mean if they want to have two Well it can't be replaced right so the they cannot replace the unit in the main structure and substitute it with this unit in terms of affordable okay that's what I so there there will be a restriction with respect to the three-bedroom in the principal building dedicating it as the affordable unit in connection with the proper okay that's what I wanted to be that's correct I believe it will be a deed restriction as well I think that's how it's done so yeah I guess to clarify in process commissioner Torres um within the affordable housing agreement um which is a a staff's recommended resolution requirement here um between the division of affable housing and the applicant it would specify exactly which unit in the building is the deed restricted affordable unit um there's no moving things around there's no um there's no there's no ba switch or sub that's to we get a CEO and then the build in two five years from now will still be it'll be a condition of the resolution that the three bedroom wor five years from now 10 years from now not right now so the resolution is going to require as will the affordable housing and the applicant has agreed to it and is going to have to be bound by it there's going to be a deed restriction so it's going to be recorded in the county registar that this particular unit which I don't know if we have a actual there's a unit number I believe it's unit three on the first floor okay so the three-bedroom on the ground floor of the principal building will be the affordable unit with the deed restriction and only eligible to those people that qualify uh based on the affordable housing guidelines and rules that's why I'm looking for and to be clear as well that's all so whether this is a rental or a or condo units that that restriction goes into effect I believe it's for 30 years yeah sorry I I'm just basically my thought is that okay down the line we don't like the tenant that's affordable we don't we we understand so let's put him outside now because this is the first time I see an outside building that's attached to the same building now I have somewhere I can send that person to because we don't want him on the same floor as us you know that type of thing so to a pro that's what's concered me the most on this project understood that's just to clarify it is unit one on the ground floor okay it's been denoted as unit one correct thank you and that's on drawing A1 for reference Eddie I think the outside unit's the best one in the whole to be honest with you but yeah it was actually it's a pretty cool unit um so Council and and Mr messic um the only condition that I usually put on an affordable unit that's in a building is that it's built with the same fit and finish as the rest of the units in the building there's no difference in material no difference in ceiling Heights right it's exactly exactly the same as the rest of the units okay it has the same amenities every unit does have a washer dryer obviously the the kitchen facilities are all the same in all the units okay great anybody else any questions okay thank you thank you and Council I don't know that I assume it's Mr bellam is your planner tonight I don't know that we need his testimony right now um maybe we'll Reserve that right if a question comes up if that's okay sure and that's your presentation so with that I'll certainly reserve my right to sum up but that would conclude my direct examination okay thank you so at this time let's open it up for public comment if anybody's hear from the public that wants to comment on this application come on up to the microphone Mr chair I see no public I move to close second okay motion is made and second it public is closed um Mr wi do you want to have a closing statement sure the only thing I would add is uh and I should have indicated in this the beginning I did receive Mr dilva staff report um I do take no exception to any of the conditions uh that he indicates therein and we're happy to comply there with I thank the board for the opportunity and respectfully request that this site plan application be granted as presented great thank you Mr do you uh let's get Matt's comments um as Mr wi mentioned um yes a staff report was submitted to the board dated 318 2024 um substantiating um the applicant's assertion that this is indeed an as of right application compliant with all provisions of the R1 zoning the affordable housing overlay and the accessory dwelling unit provision um staff recommends several conditions um including um and I just want to highlight that um those um among those conditions are per the requirements of the affordable housing overlay the applicant shall agree to comply with chapter 188 of Municipal Co code and coordinate as necessary with the division of affordable housing to obtain a fully executed and recorded affordable housing agreement and and related approvals and agreements which would include recording a deed restriction prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy or temporary certificate of occupy so um with that um that's all I have to add to this excellent thank you Matt this would I like to make a motion to approve case p2023 0034 as presented to our board tonight second okay motion is made and seconded for approval Vice chair Dr Gonzalez I um commissioner Dr Desai I commissioner green I I commissioner gangadin I'm happy to see that there is an affordable um unit here and it's a three-bedroom as well I commissioner Torres hi and chairman Langston yeah I agree with commissioner gangan um it's always nice to see a larger unit as the affordable unit um I'm excited about the accessory dwelling unit I think it's you know it's a big step forward for the city and I'm happy to see the first one in front of us tonight so it's definitely an eye for me motion carries 5 Z okay thank you thank you thank you we'll see you in two weeks all right Mike you want to get a break in perfect time uh all right let's take a 10-minute break everybody at 655 we'll be back at 7205 okay and uh just as an announcement 40 lbeck has been carried to April 16th if you're here for that case and if you're here for the padna um amendment to nightclubs that is April 16th okay [Music] stand or okay how are now hope not really right