i al to the flag of the United States of America to the for it stands na indivisible andice for all thank you everybody could we have a sunshine announcement please cam yes good evening chairman today is Tuesday June 25th this is a Jersey City planning board meeting with a scheduled 5:30 p.m. start time and in accord 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 June 20th 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 made available to the public thank you Cam could we have a roll call please yes um act uh Vice chair Dr Gonzalez here um yeah I was ready to say hi go no no no please um commissioner gangadin here okay um councilwoman priner here okay uh commissioner stamato here commissioner Torres here okay commissioner Dr Desai here okay and chairman Langston here okay we have seven Commissioners present we have a quorum all right thank you uh Mike can we swear in the staff please I see Matt Francisco ER youuu truth yes all right thank you uh correspondence cam anything yes we do have one item that is requesting to carry to July 23rd with preservation of notice and then we have another item that we're going to um call up um and a request has come from the councilman to uh carry to the July 23rd meeting with preservation of notice so the first item is item 11 on the agenda this is the psng address 675 to 695 Grand Street case number P20 23-53 for preliminary and final major site plan they have requested to carry with preservation of notice to July 23rd um and then the next item on the agenda I don't know how you'd like to address this but um that would be item 12 and we have a request from the councilman to carry this to July 23rd with preservation of notice I don't know if that's all we need to do but um yeah we'll just call it we'll call case p2024 D 0031 is a review and discussion of the adoption of the fiet Broadway Redevelopment plan uh that's going to be carried to the June I'm sorry July 23rd meeting with preservation of notice so anybody if you're here for that item tonight that's going to be heard on July 23rd you will not get new notice this is the notice for that okay so that's going to be heard July 23rd anything else cam uh that's all chairman okay thank you uh we do have uh we do have one item we need to move up uh be actually let's get old business done real quick we have uh just a site plan amend I'm sorry extension so let's call uh item a under old business case p24 p2024 d00 79 is a site plan extension for 311 7 17th Street here's slow down tonight good evening chairman Commissioners Donald Pepe on behalf of the applicant evening councel so uh I did belts and suspenders notice for this request um I do have a copy of that notice package I was asked to bring tonight Mr ly thank you Council so this project was originally approved back in uh May of 22 two which means that our vesting period expired May of this year uh there is a Texas Eastern pipeline that crosses the site in locating the depth of that pipeline it was different than originally anticipated so there's a per long period of negotiation with Texas Eastern to come up with a mutually agreeable arrangement for addressing that situation that and the typical kind of economic situations that we've been confronting recently are why the project has not commenced this is our first request for an extension and i' respectfully request that the board consider it and Grant it okay thank you thank you Council so chairman let's mark the notice as A1 for purposes of the record then with resp to the extension request if the board was so inclined to Grant it it would be for one year and it would be retroactive to the May date May 24th 24 Council okay thank you all right anybody from the board any questions no okay is there anybody here from the public that wants to comment on this anybody from the public Mr chair seeing no public I move to close second okay motion is made and second it public is closed um Matt do you have any issue uh staff supports the extension request okay thank you I'll entertain a motion then I'd like to make a motion at this time to approve case p2024 d79 as presented to the board second all right motion made and seconded for approval could we have a roll call please sorry um Vice chair Dr Gonzalez I commissioner gangadin I commissioner councilwoman Prince Ary I uh commissioner stamato I commissioner Torres I commissioner Dr Desai I and chairman Langston hi um motion carries 70 all right thank you thank you thank you very much have a great evening we do need to move one item up tonight uh that's item 16 on the agenda I'll call that now is case p2024 d00 13 is a minor subdivision for 150 vroom [Applause] Street good evening Council hi I have the attachment if but um for the plan if you want me to put it up there or um for the subdivision plan I don't know um yeah we can okay thanks so [Music] much good okay hi my name is Heather cumer I'm from the Bhed Legal Group and I'm representing um SSB goer LLC regarding a minor subdivision for 150 roomroom street block 12107 Lots 27 and 28 have uh bre monner who's the architect and did the engineer work for this or did the uh architecture for this so this was actually approved in 2020 um and it was never solidified so even though it was approved by the board it was not solidified so what this is essentially is adjusting the property lines uh to transfer about 1,434 square fet of lot area from Lot 27 to lot 28 to help facilitate the development of lot 28 um it was approved previously for not just the subdivision which was approved on August 10th 2022 um memorialized January 4th 2022 uh the block 27 already has existing four-story building on it block 20 uh 28 is had the original approval for site plan which would be five stories of uh for a mixed use building the Lot 27 it's going from 5,686 Ft to about 4,28 Square ft lot 28 then jumps from 3,792 Ft to 500 5,200 26 Square ft not only just a readjust to conform but it also allows it to meet the conditions of the zoning District which is Zone 8 Bergen Lafayette the Journal Square 2060 Redevelopment plan um which would require for four story buildings has to be a minimum 2500 to 4,999 um if you're five stories you have to have a minimum of 5,000 this would allow it to be in compliance for that lot area we are asking for variance again which was granted previously on the application 20 um the planning board application beforehand uh in its four lot depth uh the two lots would be 75 ft and 99 ft instead of the required 100 ft uh and we're just G to going to bring up the existing hold on structure here here we go I'm going to introduce Russ yeah Tru yes I do yes my name is Russell last name is Bodner BN I reside at 52 Long Hill Road in Long Valley New Jersey I've appeared before this board several times in past sure and uh Mr Bodner your license is current tonight yes okay thank you you're qualified okay yeah um just like like Heather was saying this uh project was approved in 2022 last year I came in to get permits and realized that uh there's a little goof up and nobody submitted the the actual subdivision to get memorialized so now we're coming back in just to get the memorialization of the subdivision and like Heather was saying basically we're taking the back lot which is really basically a parking lot right now Lot number 28 is you can see if you go back to the other page there real quick that Backlot says number 28 there and they have this like little on story brick frame nothing building commercial thing that is actually being uh demo mod and the existing four-story frame building is staying so just that little one-story little brick nothing building is coming down and the uh building in the front is staying everything's staying the only thing is we're actually moving the lot line about 25 ft to the uh to the east so we now have a nice lot which gives us about a little over 5,000 square fet 5,226 feet in the uh in the rear of the project which is actually on vroom and vroom Court there's a little actual like almost like a little Street in the back that's called room Court as well in the back section of a lot if you want just go up a little bit hether the other way thanks yeah see there's room Court up there and um really just coming in just to basically get this reapproved so we can get back in and I don't want to waste anybody's time with this it's very simple project um the basic lots are about 50 by one's 50 by 99 and the other one's basally 50 by 75 the one that's 50 by 75 is actually on Bergen which has the existing building on it and the other building will be what was approved was 15 units plus commercial on the uh on the back section it's building so questions anybody any questions all right thank you Mr B okay thank you Council that's it that's your presentation that's it okay thank you is there anybody here from the public that wants to comment on this application anybody from public see no public I move to close second okay motion is made and seconded public is closed uh Matt again do you have anything to add um yes so um staff worked closely with the applicant their attorney on this um as they mentioned the previous subdivision which was approved by the board was never recorded with the county within the 95 or 190 day deadlines to record either a plat or a deed um therefore the opportunity to um enact that subdivision into law expired um there's this active site plan that essentially can't be acted upon because there's no valid subdivision to enable the site plan um it was deemed appropriate to um reapply for the same subdivision and um and I guess just a comment with regard to these baranes is Staff found no um compelling reason or change conditions to question the wisdom of the board the first time around and staff recommends approval okay thank you and um Matt is there a time frame is there a time frame we're trying to work for the site plan uh yes so um in discussions with the applicant um we have decided that um the site plan will be brought at the next meeting um so there is already a um a draft excuse me a draft resolution um in hand that was reviewed by staff and by the board's attorney okay um that will be memorialized tonight okay gotcha thank you U I have a question for for staff um the testimony was just to be clear for the record I heard 2020 and 2022 sorry so I was just it's 2022 my apologies the application it had the original like P20 so my apologies it's 2022 this was brought to the board in 2022 correct okay that's that's want make make sure that's clear for you yes my apologies for that thank you Mr i' like to make a motion to approve case p224 D13 is presented to the board tonight second okay motion is made and seconded for approval all right uh calling rooll uh Vice chair Dr Gonzalez hi commissioner gangadin hi commissioner councilwoman Prince Ary hi uh commissioner Stato hi commissioner Torres hi commissioner Dr CI and chairman Langston hi motion carries 70 okay thank you thank you Council all right let's move on to uh under new business item nine is a final major site plan for 20 long slip council do you want me to call the other application also at the same time yes Mr chairman okay so we're also going to call Item 10 uh is case p2023 D 0103 is a minor subdivis for 20 long slip good evening members of the board my name is alard Webster with the law firm of conell Foley uh we represent the applicant neq AA LLC the developer of the proposed project located at 20 long slip two long slip and River Drive uh which is designated as block 7302 lot 3.05 3.16 3.18 3.19 on the Jersey City tax map uh the property is located with within the residential and Community commercial districts of the Newport Redevelopment area uh this project has a a little bit of a history uh the development of the uh Northeast quadrant has an extensive history uh which I'll kind of briefly run you through uh in 2010 Newport received preliminary and final site um final major site plan approval for Two Towers development with 790 units located at what was Lot 3.21 in 2017 Newport then received an amended preliminary and final major site plan approval interm use approval an extension of a preliminary and final major site plan approval amending the site plan approvals extending the 2010 approvals and granting interim use approval for the Northeast portion of former lot 3.04 currently a portion of lots 3.17 and 3.19 then in 2020 the board granted Newport amended site plan approvals to address exterior landscape and utility mod modifications shortly thereafter this board approved preliminary and final major subdivision approval on existing lot 3.04 which are currently Lots 317 318 319 313 314 315 and 316 and then in June 20 20 2022 the board granted Newport minor subdivision approval to create Lots 317 318 and 319 as well as preliminary major site plan approval for high-rise residential and mixed use development on parcel 8 to consist of three towers ground level retail related parking amenity space and open space tonight we're here before the board on two applications application letter p23 103 a request for minor subdivis division approval of lot 318 to create new Lots 320 and 3.21 and number two application 223-1271 the applicant proposes to construct the tower on proposed lot 3.21 the tower consists of 47 stories in height and consists of 529 residential units 298 one bedroom units 180 two bedroom units 49 three bedroom units and two four bedroom units I may have one of them but we'll see we'll see how it works out uh the ground floor hosts a large residential Lobby package room mail room trash compactor room various utility rooms and approximately 2350 Square ft of retail space amenities are located on the sixth floor of the building including a gym a clubhouse office area Game Room laundry room there will be 750 ft of green roof on the rooftop as well while parking for the building will ultimately be located in the future phase of the project and the interim the applicant proposes accessory surface parking for the tower on the remaining portion of 3.18 which is proposed to become new lot 3.20 my professionals this evening are prepared to present on both applications and I think the board has agreed to that okay um we provided the appropriate notice um I think board counsel approved notice the last time we were here and so I just want to confirm that our notice is still good and this board does have jurisdiction that is correct Council however we did not Mark the notice at the prior hearing so let's mark it I believe there were two separate notice packages that is correct two separate applications so we'll mark the first notice for a 103 or 102 which one do you want to do first Council I hate double-sided paper 102 we're trying to save the we trying to save the1 a102 is A1 a103 A2 A2 thank you all right thank you thank you Council and if you have one of those four bedroom units salude I got in the wrong business then so Council I think once we get are we going to start I suspect what the engineer correct uh do we have an overview exhibit so we can just we do I'm going to ask my engineer to come up and plug in so I know the board is very familiar with the area but I think if we just maybe identify we'll run the drill some of what you just identified is blocks and lock thoughts then we can zero in on what we're actually uh looking at tonight um I'm also in receipt of a number of reports and do you want me to put those on the record um Council sure uh I'm in receipt of a report from the Jersey City mua dated January 23rd 2024 uh which we have no comments and we'll comply uh we're in receipt of a City Engineers assessors comments dated January 17 2024 which have already been addressed and revised plan submitted to this board and made part of this application uh we're in received of a report from uh JC mua dated January 26 2024 and we agree to all the conditions therein we're in receipt of a staff report dated April 11th 2024 um we agree to all the conditions there in uh we're receiv a Jersey City engineering report dated April 12th 20124 uh we note that a result of the receipt of this report our professionals clarified and revised plans previously submitted and made part of this application uh and there's no intention to extend the Improvement along 18th Street to Washington Boulevard so we'll have some testimony about that um but everything else we will we agree and will comply um tonight um I have Matthew nles uh who's my professional engineer um and um if the board swears them in we'll we'll get them rocking okay thank you Council yeah yeah I think it's easier there it is we go okayu Tru yes I do sure my name is Matthew last name is Neu LS Mr nles good evening uh your license is current tonight yes it is okay thank you you're qualified thank you Mr chairman I'm Matt for the record um we actually we qualified him already Yes um Matt you've prepared the uh you've prepared all the materials and testimony uh I know you're familiar with the project would you walk the board through um some of the gibber roll that I read earlier and and explain to him exactly what I was saying sure thank you yep okay you want to stay there you want to come here what do you want to do no either that's fine I can go over there yeah so you can look at your board and yeah makes sense not to break everything I'll step [Music] this all right so okay so just wanted to start with the showing the cover sheet from our site civil plans that was submitted uh I have a a PDF document it's got a selection of our site civil engineering plans and then later it'll have some of the architectural exhibits as well um the site currently consists of a a few different Lots let me just give you zoom into the um to the image up here and just give the board benefit of a just a sort of a walk around as I've done in the past uh this site really is at the far northeast corner of Newport and of downtown Jersey City uh is along the Hudson River Waterfront walkway here uh adjacent to the uh Hoboken train station uh and the former long slip runs right along the northern edge of the property uh in that location so property uh does come out to toward Washington Boulevard here then the left side again only the north side it runs along the former long slip and the um the light rail tracks run right along the northern part of the property hon Riv Waterfront walkway and then uh the beach building is just to the south and east of the site um and the Bisby building is is right here we I'm pointing on lot 3.13 so the property does consist of uh lot 3.05 lot 3.16 which are both parts of 18th Street they were private wideway Lots the development lot itself is lot 3.18 you can see that on the on the screen there on the sheet and um a pedestrian walkway piece of P stre walkways 3.19 that's over here that's a connector walkway between the the Waterfront walkway and the uh the neighborhood sidewalks and such um Mr Webster to mention we're within the uh mainly within the residential district of the Newport Redevelopment plan um and I think that's a good description of the walk around to the site um going to zoom back out of here and then go to the next sheet which is going to be the um subdivision the subdivision part of the plan so I'll jump into the subdivision part of the application right now showing the the final subdivision plot that was submitted uh prepared by 50 states engineering and with this the way this sheet is set up it does a good job of giving you existing configuration of the lot on top and then the proposed configuration of the lot on the bottom so as I mentioned the main development lot is existing known as lot 3.8 it's this large piece of the property here north of 18th Street uh that that makes up the majority of the property and really what we're proposing here is to um to have a lot line in this location where I'm pointing uh roughly North and South just a little bit West of where River Drive is and that breaks the lot into proposed lot 3.20 which is this western part and proposed lot 3.21 which is where the applic site plan application is tonight focused on where the proposed building will be located um and we'll move to the next sheet this is uh this is sheet C300 this is really an overview of the site on one sheet and when I get to the next sheet you can see more detail it'll be harder to see where everything kind of fits together so I just wanted to give you a general look at the site again this is this is existing River Drive the the beach development that's that's in operation here south Waterfront walkway on the right side of the sheet um portion of 18th Street shown here in the gray shading to the north and Park North here just to give an idea where the site is posing a parking lot on the left side here or where the central part of that property and the proposed building will be located here to the east on the Hudson River Waterfront walkway I'm just going to jump down to the next page which is our uh site plan in more detail but it's been broken up because of the size of the length of the property really uh to give you a little bit of a walk through uh we are proposing a 47 story residential Tower 529 units uh covers about 41.6% of the building lot where it's proposed and uh have ret retail on the ground floor Lobby on the ground floor retail is more to the east Lobby areas to the Southwest uh loading and garbage to the Northwest and the north so loading and garbage takes place and some back of house take place over over here which will have access uh through the site we do have a driveway entrance here nor near the intersection of um at the end of parklan I'm sorry at the end of River Drive here where I'm pointing there's sort of a a a double driveway if you will a a driveway where you can drive in lined up with the road and then more of a main driveway where where vehicles and uh you know loading Vehicles going to the back as well as passenger vehicles can kind of loop back out of the site uh again I indicated uh loading and back of house Services over here to the north and west sides of the building and we do have a proposed surface parking lot to the left of that or to the west of it so you can see that here and there's a continuation here on the top part of the page just because it was uh it is a it is a wide property that has its main driveway immediately opposite the intersection of 18th Street here and North Boulevard which is the road that will be in front of the Bisby down here to to the bottom of the page or to the South um there's also bike a bike facility a bikee parking facility shown here in this sort of area that's not hatched in white and that's located along the right side of the the parking lot let me go down to the next page um this is really this is really a grading and drainage plan so just gives a general idea of how we'll handle storm water and um the elevations of the site and for large in large part the elevation the site is already sort of elevated adequately above the the flood plane elevation of the river so in large part the elevations will remain pretty constant there'll be some adjustments but for the most part everything on the ground floor the lobby and even the retail spaces on such are elevated above the flood Hazard elevation so um so that that's handled there um the project design complies with the Jersey C Jersey City stormw Control Ordinance as well as the Statewide storm water rules I meet all those requirements in terms of storm water the storm water in general is directed towards the um this the separate storm sewer system which is in the Newport neighborhood and that ties into the 14th Street outfall so that's generally how storm water is is handled um again the Waterfront walkway has been constructed for quite some time along this portion of the Waterfront so that's that's already taken care of um I did mention that the property is within the regulated flood Hazard area which means it's also within the the flood overlay Zone in the city it requires us to comply with the green area ratio standards uh 0.25 is the required ratio for the site and we have the design does meet that that ratio at 0.25 so to address that move on to the next sheet here which is going to be um our landscape plan for the for the project site uh you can see it proposing some of the some of the different landscape plantings here in the areas along between the Hudson for Waterfront walkway and the project itself there's a planting area there's some trees indicated here with the larger circles and some shrubs with the smaller circles ground cover plantings as well uh I did want to go down here and point out too we're proposing some Street trees along along uh calling 18th Street here so there's the street trees in the locations here um along the north side of the street associated with this project they're already trees proposed on the other side or being built on the other side of the street with respect to the project to the South um again I mentioned on previous part of my testimony that the the green area ratio of 0.25 was achieved um and we comply with the number of trees in the forestry standards in terms of the number of trees that does actually generate two needs for for waivers that'll be further discussed by others in the presentation but two of the waivers that we will need relate to the trees themselves um one of them is a a a minimum distance between trees is noted as 20 to 30 feet and at one location we have that a little bit less than 20 feet 19.5 ft it's a minor waiver and then the with respect to Street could you just point out which two trees are the trees that are too close I think that is where is that that's over here so that's one waiver that's where the uh that's where the that waiver happens and then uh a distance and then the other waiver is with respect to a distance between the trees themselves and the street light or utility pole 50 15 ft is required uh and the lowest we have is 9.5 ft but we have a deviation in four locations or a deviation I'm sorry a waiver in four locations uh this same area generates a waiver with respect to that light spacing as well you can see those two Dimensions there and then over on this over in this location a little bit more to the east again where it's noted on the on the dimension there that it's 12.9 to and 12.09 feet that's the other spot where two trees are closer than than that minimum distance to the um street light and really the reason again is to try and get the required number of trees in was better to Arrow inside of providing the trees rather than not um the appropriate species uh was selected um was approp appropriate species was selected for the trees uh across the site um we did have a discussion with the with with the Forester and they did not did not seem to have any concerns with the design at the time so to just that and now move on to the next sheet which is going to be the lighting plan Mr nolles those are proposed street lights or they utility poles I assume everything's underground utility sorry I have a trou he said I assume everything's underground utility those are Street those are street lights that you were pointing out as requiring the waiver I'm sorry I still having trouble but those are lights or utility poles all utilities are underground stre light there they're street lights I'm sorry about that yep all all the utilities are underground we don't have any we don't have any utility poles in the development area they're just there're street lights um and so so this is the uh this is the lighting plan now that's on the screen and um again just showing the generally the uh sort of the Newport Jersey City standard street lights which are shown along um 18th Street here kind of along the entire Frontage we do have some some back of house lighting along the the north side of the building here and there shown by those smaller circles and symbols and then there are uh you know typical parking lot lights that are also shown here in the uh in the image that kind of have more of a more of a square appearance to the to the isometrics for those um the parking lot lighting does comply with the requirements uh of one to two uh one to two foot candle minimum generally a 2.1 foot candle minimum within the parking lot so we're within that requirement uh the plan does comply with the requirement of a five of a half a foot candle Max at the property lines I think we're at at 04 so we're just under that maximum so it complies with that um we do have a d or we do have a a waiver with respect to the lighting in along the street and that that occurs a lot with this standard light where the the light itself creates a little bit of a shadow right below the fixture so it's sort of a it's sort of an odd thing but you get you get little shadow that shows up and it may not even really be there in sort of real life but it but it shows up in the calculation so you wanted to note it because because there's an area behind a lot of these fixtures where you get you go below the uh the minimum and it's just a it's just a technical um waiver but it wouldn't to bring it up it's due to the shadow of the light fixture itself um and I think I'll just I have one more sheet in the engineering presentation which is just our utility plan um we we we generally have um a sewer service here coming out of the South um Southwest part of the building here are going to the existing sanitary sewer line in uh 18th Street uh connecting to the existing manhole in the corner we do have a gas propos gas service here up along the west side of the building uh we are showing uh a fire hydrant here and a water Sur service tying into the existing water main in this location and two services for the building coming coming off the water main at the intersection of uh riverdrive in 18th Street two water lines coming in which should be combined domestic and and fire Services um uh psng electrical services come into the back part of the building here we are showing uh we are showing Transformers uh in the ground here in Transformer uh service room here in the back part of the north part of the building that really uh concludes the direct engineering testimony that I have I have no further questions Mr chairman all right thank you Council Mr nles uh just two quick questions the surface parking lot surface parking lot the surface parking lot yeah that's I'm assuming temporary correct that's I for hearing sorry yes the surface parking lot is temporary we're going to have we're going to have a Podium building and another building behind it shortly okay understood and uh the two water Services coming in yeah one is sprinkler one is domestic correct they're both combined they're both combined City requirements yeah they're both okay they're both combined and and they're redundant in sense so they both can they both operate both systems and then then they break up inside the uh the utility room inside the building okay understood um that's it for me anybody else just uh pick it back up your uh question uh Eddie just uh talk into your mic pick it back off your question Chev uh if that's the surface Park lot is the surface Park lot is temporary when the permanent one how far is the permanent one going to be from the building itself the permanent one's going to be a multi-level deck in the middle of yeah it's going to be a parking deck in the middle of the structure ifu yeah if you look at our preliminary uh site plan you'll see that there's a eight or 10 story parking deck in the middle of the building okay thank you okay anybody else all right thank you Mr nles thank you I'm going to thank you move over here and run the presentation the rest of it you're a good man my next witness I'm sorry you're going to leave that here for me I think he's going to run it for you are you you can just leave it okay so advancing the slides my next witness is Steven Hill uh architect Hill [Music] West good good evening I do my name is Leo Steven Hill l e o s t e p h n h i l l Mr Hill good evening I don't recall if we qualified you privilege okay uh so if you could just give us a little bit of your background in your Licensing in New Jersey sure um as I stated my name is Leo Steven Hill I'm with Hill West Architects our business address is 11 Broadway New York New York I'm a licensed architect in the state of New Jersey for 35 years now also resident of the state of New Jersey okay and that license is current tonight it is okay thank you your question qualified thank you sir uh Leo all right yeah there you go something you didn't know right snuck that in on me all right uh Leo Hill not stepen Hill all right um talk to us about the talk to us about the the building you've designed okay so my firm has designed this building collaboration with architectonica Christopher Short's also here tonight Christopher is going to talk about the design of the exterior of the building and I'm going to talk about our scope of to work which is the interior of the building the residential units and so forth um so what I have up on the screen right now so you've heard some testimony about the size and scale of this building it's 47 stories tall 512 ft tall 529 units and just about 660,000 grow square feet uh we're going to show you a sample of a few floor plans tonight that'll be of interest to you the first one is the first floor plan the area that you see in purple here are the building Lobby the mail room uh elevator core um I'm sorry this is the package room and the mail room over here um the gray areas are mechanical services and this beige area right here is a retail space that's going to front on the Terrace overlooking the river there are two residential tiers of floor plates uh the first tier is uh um going from the 2 to the fifth and it's going to skip the sixth floor the sixth floor we have amenities and then it'll continue up to the 45th we have 12 units on a floor and it's a mix of one to three bedrooms all orchestrated around the building as you see here on the right side of the screen are the riverfront buildings and the blue units over here face West this is the six floor plan which is our amenity floor we have exercise rooms reading rooms uh General Building amenities you would expect for a building of this typology um the second uh typical floor plan we have here is 46 and 47 we're calling them the penthouse floors there are seven units on a floor and they range from two bedrooms to four bedroom units I believe you have the mix of but I'll run through it again just to be clear we have um 2981 bedrooms 182 bedrooms 493 and two four bedroom units and I think that's about everything you need to know unless you have some questions for me I have no further questions okay um yeah I have no questions at this time anybody else both all these witnesses will be here if there are any questions that the board has subsequently okay thank you Mr well then I'd like to bring up Christopher short from Mark tonic on he'll give you the exterior presentation thank you Chris short is not short as you can see almost went through a day without a comment I couldn't help it I'm sorry was going to say it's a terrible joke horrible joke horrible joke you're better don't don't don't I do Christopher short ch r s t o p h e r s h o r t i Am licensed in New Jersey my license is in good standing I've appeared before this board albe it's virtually welcome in person and uh you're qualified thank you great thank you uh Chris walk us through the beautiful exterior of the building sure uh first of all thank you for the opportunity to present our updated design which has changed pretty substantially since the preliminary application um and we feel the design now is more appropriate for a waterfront lot The View on the screen here is looking South towards Newport uh the long facade there is the north facade and then the short facade is the East facade what you see on these buildings now now are continuous wraparound balconies along the perimeter of the entire building on the long elevations both the North and South elevations you see see two bands of balconies that can aever and curve out further from the linear bands of balconies and then climb up the building now those two bands the distance between the varies right they push and pull at varying Dimensions so they're not quite parallel they're a little bit more organic in nature kind of influenced by the location of the Hudson River on the east side similarly there is a single band that Cascades up uh the entire building that would be shown on the uh Western elevation as well uh the ground floor was mentioned have proposed retail along there we have large a large operable storefront system um that will take in views of the walkway the river and the city Beyond here we have a uh view look in East showing the building running perpendicular to the Hudson River since we are no longer budding a parking garage or a Podium uh we now have the unique opportunity of bringing the design of all four elevations down to grade and this creates the unique opportunity to have balcony space for all the outdoor unit or for all the units um as opposed to having a building just slammed up against the podium you can see the future developments that have been ghosted in as Mr Hill I mentioned previously on level six with the amenity that SE a little bit higher floor to floor there you can see a potentially ghosted um pedestrian bridge is being considered to make that connection to the parking the future parking garage um obviously that will come in in later applications on the top of the building the mechanical and overruns are screened and capped uh so it's creating a real clean top to the building and a very simple profile on the skyline this page shows some overall elevations as well as some detailed elevations there is a continuity in the proposed materials top to bottom Vision Glass spandel glass metal panel uh metal component details uh for the building um since the balconies are such unique design feature the unique design feature of the building we've included some details there with the glass rails of the balcony have been detailed to sit on top of the slab Edge so that allows the profile the slab Edge to read as opposed to being screened if a glass partition or a glass rail came in front of that balcony and that creates that unique sculptural effect that we have cascading up the building on the ground floor which is the blown up elevation you seeing on the bottom uh We've introduced some more organic materials with Stone panels that will contain some scon lighting uh this creates a little bit more of an inviting atmosphere at The Pedestrian level for uh the wobby which is seen on the left and then as that bleeds into the retail and wraps around along the right side here is a night view looking back towards the building uh showing some of the proposed LED light systems um the lights have been detailed into the balcony detail itself and will only occur at the curved portions of the balcony so those two bands on both the North and South facades and then the singular bands on on the east and west facad so even at night there's a sense of movement in the project uh even though the lights are they're fixed they're not color changing it's uh not a big neon sign not a big neon sign so what it is it's there to capture some of the major structural um gestures of the building in summary building has almost a nautical feel to it um it was obviously heavily influenced by its proximity to the Hudson River and we strive to capture that theme in a subtle yet sculptural way so thank you no further questions um I'm not sure if I I missed it uh what's the the material going up the buildings so the majority building I'm sorry oh go back here majority of the material is window wall system okay the mix of vision and spandrel glass and then some metal panel detailing okay that believe it or not that's my only question um anybody else thank you all right thank you sir U Mr chairman my last witness is Sam Bellamy our planner good evening truth the TRU yes I do sure Samuel Bellamy last name b l l m y Mr Bellamy good evening uh We've qualified you as well in the past your license is current yes current and in good standing okay thank you you're qualified great um so as Mr nles mentioned in his testimony it's just design waivers we're looking at tonight um I did review all the plan material the Redevelopment plan the Jersey City Land Development ordinance as well as the master plan um we are in full compliance with the the bulk standards uh of of those of that read M plan and and zoning ordinance um the design waivers are as far as the uh the tree spacing as well as the the distance from the light poles uh so where Mr nles uh indicated it's 19.4326 uh foot difference um as this board's aware there's varying standards uh within the forestry requirements of the city um requirements from SP uh spacing from utility lines uh Street poles fire hydrants curb cuts um so really the design here was to um kind of comply with as much of those standards as we could and uh where we have that little pinch point is is that design waiver we're seeking um there's also four design waivers uh for spacing from the light poles 9.4 52 ft 9.99 91 ft 12.04 ft and 12.92% from those different elements within the streetcape I think overall the uh the the design of the street trees is reasonable and does meet the intent of the forestry standards um with respect to the lighting I agree with the testimony from Mr NES it's really a technical uh design waver and really the the design of the lighting does provide adequate and appropriate lighting along the sidewalk um overall the project does meet the purposes of the Redevelopment plan and master plan um and and that really concludes my testimony with respect to the design waivers okay thank you Mr belly I have no questions anybody thank you all right thank you that's that's our case in Chief Mr chairman okay thank you council is there anybody here from the public that wants to comment on this application anybody here from public seeing no public I move to close second okay motion is made and seconded public is closed uh cam this is yours anything you want to add um well to be redundant um I'm just going to ask that they comply with all conditions in the staff memo that's acceptable okay um we will so planning staff is satisfied with the testimony regarding the deviations for the street trees and the uh candle lit um Lighting on the uh property um they're dominous and staff had the city Forester and engineering and traffic look at the waivers and they agree um the project does meet the objectives and goals of the Redevelopment plan and complies with the zoned plan and the city's master plan um and overall um planning staff feels that the project will be uh welcomed asset to this neighborhood and um planning staff recommends approval okay thank you Cam so uh unless anybody has any other questions or the Board needs any deliberation uh I would entertain a motion and that motion would start with uh item 10 case p2023 d103 Mr Char I'd like to make a motion at this time to approve case p2023 0103 as presented to the board tonight this is the minor subdivision second okay motion is made and seconded for approval all right Vice chair dror Gonzalez hi commissioner gangen I councilwoman priner I commissioner stamato hi commissioner Tores hi commissioner Dr Desai hi and chairman Langston hi okay motion carries all in favor to approve case p2023 0103 correct right it was 01 yep correct okay I'll entertain a motion Mr chair I'd like to make a motion at this time to approve case P 2023 d0102 that's a final major s plan second okay motion is made and seconded for for approval okay um one second sorry this just bothers me okay we're back um okay on a motion to approve Vice chair Dr Gonzalez I commissioner gangan I councilwoman priner I commissioner stamato hi commissioner Torres hi commissioner Dr hi and chairman Langston yeah I agree with the applicant's testimony uh I don't think there's any detriment to the Zone plan or the master plan for the design waivers requested and I'm gonna vote I okay motion carries all in favor okay thank you thank you members of the board thank you very much thank you all right let's move on to item 13 please is case p2023 d35 is a preliminary and final I'm sorry it's double-sided paper again uh as a minor sight plan with C variances for 72 Tunnell Avenue good evening chairman members of the board Ben of and I have to get used to saying this Prime Tel and melli as we have a new partner at our firm okay on behalf of the applicant this evening um the property in question uh as you correctly indicated is for 72 Tunnell Avenue and that's block 7905 lot 14 uh by way of brief background round and before I do that I will actually it just dawned on me I should give Mr lampy the uh notice package chairman this matter was previously scheduled for the May hearing date May 21st to be exact at that time we carried the application with the preservation of notice I had reviewed it electronically this does appear to be the original so we're going to mark it as A1 for purposes of the record thank you Council so with that as I indicated the property is 72 Tunnell Avenue and we are Loc located in zone 4 of The Journal Square 2060 Redevelopment plan by way of brief reference the lot area in question is 2,811 2012.5 square ft we're here this evening seeking to construct a new four-story residential building that would consist of seven residential dwelling units we are also proposing as additional site improvements to add a street tree in front of the property to enhance the front yard landscaping into compliance with the Land Development ordinance contrary to what exists today and to as you'll see in detail to f up the stairs and pathway that connect with the neighbor um that's a little bit of a unique feature but again we will go through that in detail here this evening we have for you this evening one variance only and that is for the building depth above the ground floor from the right of way being greater than permitted I know this board has seen several of these uh variances but the long and the short of it is uh your your Redevelopment plan calls for 70 ft for the upper stories from the RightWay and we are proposing 81.3 ft from the RightWay for the upper stories uh again as we'll go through in detail this is largely a result of having to set back the building quite significantly from that right of way other than that our application complies we believe entirely with both the Redevelopment plan as well as the Land Development ordinance in the city of Jersey City I also want to indicate and thank on the record Mr Ward as I know this project uh began its life quite some time ago and uh and he has worked diligently with our office and our project team to getting uh the application to where it is before you this evening so with that chairman I have two witnesses I intend to call this evening I have our project architect Ramy Batar and then I have our project planner Samuel Bellamy so unless there are any questions of me I'm happy to proceed with my first witness okay thank you Council okay let me give you the yes good evening for you do you testimon tonight truth truth nothing truth I do Ramy r m i last name barar b t r Mr barar good evening I don't believe we've qualified you in the past have we I think we did yes did okay I appeared in front of the board before okay um and your license is current in the state of New yes it is okay thank you sir you're qualified then thank you thank you so Ramy if you can please uh identify the plans that are on the screen for the board this evening and walk the board through what we're proposing here at 72 Tunnell Avenue sure good evening this is Ramy barar um we're here to present 72 Tunnell Avenue the plan uh was prepared in my office and under my direct uh supervision um it was prepared by me uh the uh the the site is uh on T Avenue um one second on T Tali Avenue in the uh in the Redevelopment zone four in the general Square Redevelopment zone four the site shape is a little bit of uh an odd shape it's not a full rectangle it's not uh the uh standard uh 25x 100 this uh the lot size is a little deeper than 100 um about uh in the median uh depth is about 11 11 ft um what we're proposing uh is the seven uh family uh or seven unit seven dwelling unit uh building uh with a with the side yard on the north of uh 3 feet um the Topography of the site uh as you can see tal Avenue or you guys are very familiar with tunell Avenue slops from the north downward toward from the uh from the south downward toward the north uh with uh really uh somewhat a tough slope to to plan and and uh the our site our lot slopes uh from the West to the east upward to with a good uh slope it's a little tough uh to uh sort of plan and um allow uh the easy access allow the accessibility access and everything um and of course to to keep the character of the neighborhood um I apologize um the uh as the uh Council had mentioned uh the only variant that uh we're uh seeking in this uh meeting is the uh the depth the building depth from the public right of way uh which is permitted above the second Flor above the first floor is permitted to be uh or allowed to be 70 ft and we're proposing uh a lot bit over the 70 ft because we have to set back from our uh yard to match the existing yards The exis Yards to the north uh we have to set back approximately uh 10 ft a little bit more than 10t and to the South we have to set back because we are doing the building as a square similar to all the buildings on the Block uh we have to set back approximately 16 ft so that area that is otherwise not required as a front yard in the zoning ordinance uh that area that is lost is something that uh we added to the side or took credit for it in the uh depth of the building and what helps us to do so is the depth of the lot that is greater the than the standard 100 ft lot uh at the same time if I may go to uh the I believe this was uh this was exhibit a was supposed to be this everything was submitted already so I don't believe we need to mark it you can just refer to the sheet as start in the record on sheet ao2 which is the two of eight uh of the plans that uh last modified on March uh 6 2024 uh this uh sheet shows the uh front uh line of the uh or the street line of the lot uh how it's not really aligned uh with all the buildings on the Block and everything and there is a uh a diagram on the first sheet that we can uh see on the um right hand corner on the first sheet of sheet uh a00 you see the uh adjacent building how they're not uh conally uh built on the uh Street line and that's why we tried to do the same with our building and uh because of that we lost uh uh otherwise some space that could be used for the development and uh in the meanwhile uh the depth of the building that we're proposing if I uh May uh discuss this this is very close to the 70 ft that is permitted otherwise if it's on the lot line however the entire mass of the building was pushed backward by approximately the average of 11 ft which is the 10 ft and the 16 ft on the other side or or close to the 16 ft on the other side uh so the footprint of the building on uh if we're thinking about a normal size or a standard size Lot 25 by 100 the uh top floors on the uh standard size buildings will be approximately 70 by 25 which is 1,700 plus 1750 Square ft our building footprint is uh about 200 square ft less than the uh standard Although our lot is slightly bigger but our building is about 200 square ft less than the standard uh because of the topography uh we took uh uh of course the Liberty because we have to set back the building we uh proposed the landscaping and about 60% of the uh front yard again I'm going to keep saying that front yard is not required but we're proposing it uh be to keep the characters of the uh neighborhood and the adjacent buildings and so on so the front yard uh were proposing the landscaping and again we're trying to incorporate ramps and for accessibility the building is um providing an elevator um it although it's a the ordinance does require the elevator for a four-story building uh by code it's h supposed to be if it's a five story or above but we're respecting of course the the uh ordinance and we're complying with the ordinance providing the elevator all of the apartments above the first floor are adaptable they're not outright accessible however there is is a an apartment on the ground floor which is fully accessible that's why we're providing the uh we're providing the ramps and we uh because of that we need to do a regrading in the front yard including the stair that once upon the time used to be a one set of stair on both sides of the lot line to the uh for the lot to the north we will be redoing the uh the stair uh for both properties on the uh either side of the lot line and we will be doing the uh concrete walkway we're setting back three ft from the adjacent building to the north because it has Windows and it has otherwise very very very small setback if we build to the lot line so we're leaving the uh three ft uh for passageway for accessibility and again we're leaving that to uh simply uh preserve the windows and provide a much better uh space or adequate space for the ventilation and the daylight um on the North side we're building on the lot line uh the adjacent building does not have Windows to the uh South and our uh building doesn't have any Windows toward the north so we're building on the lot line uh there is a light well or um a court uh in the uh for the uh adjacent building to the uh South I'm sorry about this South and North is confusing me to the to the South and that is a good size light well and uh our building is uh proposed to just go past that uh area of the uh court or the light well that is provided on the uh plans if we go to uh the next sheet for the plans where we see uh the uh interior of the layout for the building on the first floor a series of ramps to get to a certain level again we're trying to respect the topography and to uh make sure that everything is accessible uh we're providing series of ramps from the street level to the uh interior of the building the front half of the building uh has the uh back of the house um Services the trash the mail room the uh bike storage uh and the backside of the building on the first floor uh has the uh accessible unit it's 100% accessible unit on the uh first floor and we're leaving although it's not required we're allowed to uh by the ordinance to build 100% of the depth of the lot on this level we're leaving approximately uh 10 ft uh to uh provide some uh outdoor space for the uh first floor unit although we're providing again an a rooftop amenity and with the elevator that uh even if it's a disable person on the first floor can take the elevator and go to the roof for the amenity on the top levels it's really simple uh two-bedroom apartment on um the front and a two-bedroom apartment to the side uh we tried to limit the number of Windows toward the uh South Side uh where uh the north side where the uh adjacent building is and uh that's uh very much and uh it I think uh we're providing the rooftop deck and a green roof on top uh uh at the roof and with the accessible uh uh rooftop Deck with the elevator that goes all the way to the roof uh that uh disability person or a person with disability can get to that level um I don't think I missed anything important uh on the elevation or on the facade and I'm going to ask uh Mr Ward a lot because we worked back and forth a lot to be able to provide the retaining wall to provide the facade to provide everything that blends in into the neighborhood in a much better way and I I can't thank Mr Wen enough on uh how hard he worked with us and how many times we had to review this back and forth until got to a point where uh I believe it's a it's very good uh for the neighborhood and it's really um going to lift up the uh this part of the uh block um kind of um from what it was there and the adjacent building that was there and what it's uh going to be proposed and hopefully built thank you Romy uh nothing further for this witness okay thank you that was thorough um just one quick question I'm looking at the lighting plan here um it looks like the front facade is only down lit but the back facade is up and down correct the front facade is down lit and the back facade is up and down because the back facade uh especially on the other levels there is the balcony the proposed balcony and that balcony will limit the amount of uh glare or the amount of light that is going up or uh the uh front facade doesn't have the balconies it has all the bay windows and the idea here is just that in front of the front yard it will be relatively speaking well lit which will provide at a minimum of 1ot candle at the U at the grade level okay very good thank you I just wanted to make sure the front wasn't you know uplet as well um that's my only question anybody else anything all right thank you sir thank you Ry appreciate it thank you so with that I will call my next and uh proposed Final witness this evening Samuel Bellamy of drna Robin and just for the record Mr Bellamy has been sworn and qualified already tonight and if you could just uh yes I re recognize y thank you great um so getting right into the uh bulk relief we're asking for it's one bulk deviation it's for that maximum building depth on the upper stories um we're asking for 81.3 feet at the second through fourth levels where a maximum of 70 ft from the right of ways uh permitted um as as testified to previously um this is an irregular lot and irregular block um we are a little bit deeper than your typical 100 foot lot I'm going to just go back to the cover sheet here um and as you could see on on this image the uh the multif family building to the South uh is a little bit deeper than our property and that building actually goes beyond the uh rear lot line of of our property and then as you go to the north you have uh lots that are a little bit shallower than our our lot and there's kind of that varied um building depth as you go along the along the block so there is this front yard um that runs prominantly along the block front here and that's really what we were trying to to meet with the proposed building design again that front yard setback it ranges from 10.4 ft to uh 15.4 ft with an average of 13 um so we are meeting that front yard setback requirement by matching the predominant front yard setback on the Block what this does is allow us to provide front yard landscaping which is consistent with the rest of the block front um we are meeting those minimum standards um as well as providing the the street tree um as as Mr wi mentioned in his opening um as far as the the ground floor we are providing that 10-ft setback um there isn't a rear yard setback required on the ground floor so that provides for some increased light air and open space on the ground floor level I think that has some direct benefit to the to the neighbor to the South um where there's smaller scale residential homes um with respect to the uh the adjacent multif family building that building is five stories it is located a little bit uphill from our property so that kind of already cast the Shadows on on the Block front so I don't think by what we're proposing would have any um any substantial uh detriments um as far as Shadow impacts on on the neighboring properties um the the building bulk itself does meet the contemplated 70 foot building um Mass so I think we're we're consistent with the requirements there um and then overall there are other storm water benefits with the green Roofing that we are proposing on top here um with respect to the uh purposes of the municipal land use law I think this project is consistent um we are providing an appropriate use and development of the property is a permitted use in the zone um the density is consistent with the the building Ming that that that again is contemplated within Zone 4 so I do think we promote purpose a as well as purpose e with a uh consistent density um for this uh project site um we are providing for the green Roofing and and storm water uh improvements um that's consistent with purpose B of the uh Municipal land use law as well as providing adequate light air and open space with the proposed setbacks and um consistent Building height that we're proposing consistent with purpose e um I don't see any substantial to General Welfare here again I think this project is consistent with what the zoning is calling for here um really that that uh RAR yard extension um variance uh deviation that we're seeking is related to the front yard setback we're proposing as well as the irregularities of the of the lot and the block itself um likewise I don't see an impairment to the uh intent and purpose of the the Redevelopment plan or the or the zoning ordinance I think we're meeting the purpose of of Zone 4 by providing new housing um within a 10-minute walk with the Journal Square station um as well as the purposes of the uh of the master plan um we're proposing all two bedroom units which is a nice mix and and component of this project that does provide for a variety of uh housing options um consistent with the master plan um I don't see again I think this project meets both the the positive and negative criteria um unless Mr wi has any questions that would conclude my direct testimony thank you Sam I was just going to ask uh in your professional opinion as a professional planner do the benefits that you've walked through would they substantially outweigh any of the detriments that may be perceived yeah I think the the design Alternatives we're proposing um would ultimately uh outweigh any detriments I I really don't see any detriments here so I think the the benefits do out do outweigh um you know any any potential impacts thank you nothing further for this witness okay uh thank you Mr baly I have no questions anybody else no okay thank you sir thank you council is that your presentation uh that would conclude my presentation as always I would respectfully request the right to sum up uh if deemed necessary of course uh okay at this time let's open it up for a public comment is anybody here from the public that wants to comment on this application I just actually have a question because the M come on up we have to get you on on the mic here on record I I I just have a question for clarification you still have to ask the question sorry that's all right I I just want to clarify because we live in ma'am we have to swear you in also yes add um Genie Santiago 75 Liberty I just had a question I just want to make sure that this is not because we're in the multi-unit building however we're here for 61 Liberty so I want to make sure that this is not no that okay that one's up next we're going to take a break and then that's going to be the next one up thank you sure anybody else here from public no Mr chair seeing no public I move to close the public second uh I just want to make sure she's with them I think there 61 Liberty okay all right motion is made and seconded public is closed um Matt do you have anything you want to add uh thank you chairman um I believe the testimony hit all the points that I was looking for them to hit uh to Echo some of the things that um uh I heard them mention and that I also want to highlight that they're going to work with their neighbor to do the steps in the access on the side uh they are a deep deeper lot than 100 ft um and they are providing extensive green roof uh all in support of the variants that they're requesting um planning staff's satisfied with the testimony of their planner uh staff recommends approval okay thank you mat Mr CH I like to make a motion to approve case p2023 0035 as presented Board second all right motion is made and seconded for approval Vice chair Dr Gonzalez I commissioner gengan yeah I I a great presentation I think based on the variances there are no detriments it's going to be a great addition to the neighborhood I councilwoman preri uh commissioner Torres I commissioner Dr Desai I chairman link and before I vote just uh let's note for the record that commissioner St stamato stepped away and is not available for this vote um with that said uh I agree with the testimony tonight uh from Mr Bellamy I think the building massing and density is consistent with the Redevelopment plan and the master plan and there is no detriment um with that I'm going to vote I motion carries all in favor on a motion approve thank you everybody okay thank you everybody the time is 6 58 we're going to take a 10-minute break everybody will be back at 7:08 all right thank you it okay could we come to order please again everybody uh we do have the next item for Liberty AV uh we need to delay it a few minutes we're just going to move ahead on the agenda and call something else um I'm just trying to find something that's going to be quick um Mr Hain 20 minutes 25 minutes 10 tell us I think 15 okay yeah okay so let's uh for Palisade right for pal okay yes and nobody's going to call it Palisades tonight uh that's offensive to everybody in the height we'll try and stick to it all right uh so let's call case p2023 0015 is a minor site plan for 485 Palisade Avenue uh good evening everyone Michael Higgins of castano quickly chamy on behalf of the applicant um this is is a project at 485 Palisade Avenue um I'll be quick it's a very brief Pro uh very simple project it is taking the existing uh two-story structure with two dwelling units uh demolishing it and we want to build a four-story structure with uh four dwelling units um to achieve that we need minor site plan approval there are no variances associated with uh this project um so with that I only have one way witness tonight uh that's our architect uh Jeff Lewis um if we get him sworn in okay thank you yes I do uh Jeffrey Lewis J re l w i Mr Lewis good evening we've qualified you in the past uh your license is current tonight yes sir it is okay thank you sir uh and before we start I do have to note for the record that uh commissioner stamato uh has left for the evening uh uh so one two three four five six so we're down to six tonight okay go ahead Mr Los great okay so 485 Palisade Avenue uh this property is obviously on Palisade Avenue we are located uh directly across the street from Riverview Park um there are existing four-story buildings to the left and right of us as you can see uh from the photographs at the bottom of uh our sheet here uh our existing building is a two-story building which is going to be demolished and be replaced with a new four-story 4unit residential building which is shown here on the top right uh we are asking for no variances just a site plan approval uh so just I want to walk through the site plan right here just on the color site plan because it's pretty simple uh we are proposing new uh concrete sidewalks there's an existing Street tree we're going to keep that uh tree but we're going to build a new um conforming tree pit around that tree um looking at our property on the ground floor we set back the front of the building 2 ft and we're using that space to provide a little bit of covered entry as well as a line of shrubs across the front of the building to provide a little more green space um we are built along the right side property line on the left side uh we have an alley that goes about halfway back this alley leads to our trash area as well as the second staircase and then at the back of the building we have a private yard uh for the ground floor unit which is enclosed with a 5 foot uh wood fence I'm going to move right to the floor plans we do have a small Cellar at the front of this building uh it's being used uh for our meters for our sprinkler room as this will be a fully sprinkler building we're providing four small uh storage spaces one for each apartment uh and then we have the stair going up to the second floor uh with uh area for two extra bicycle parking spaces in the basement uh moving to the first floor we have our main entry which provides access to the main stair to the building as as well as apartment number one then along that alley we have our secondary entry which leads to Stair number two um we also have two bicycle parking spaces tucked beneath this staircase and then we have a uh trash and recycling closet which is vented to the outside and the entrance a second entrance to the ground floor apartment so this ground floor apartment takes up the rest of the first floor space that I haven't mentioned it's a three-bedroom two bath apartment 1,238 ft this is our Ada adaptable apartment um like all the apartments in the building there are washer dryer in the unit as well as wall mounted Mini Splits for heat and air conditioning uh the apartment lays out with two bedrooms and a bath in the front and then a Del living dining kitchen and a master suite in the rear the living area also has a door out to the back where we have that uh small private patio and Lawn area which is dedicated to the ground floor apartment moving up to the second floor apart apartment uh again the second floor is entirely apartment number two it's also a three-bedroom two bath apartment it's 1,260 ft um it is accessed from each of the staircases uh the living dining kitchen area is in the front and then the two bathrooms in the center and bedrooms towards the back uh and this apartment has a roof deck which is accessible off of the master suite in the back uh this the roof deck itself is 170 uh Square ft and it's buffered on each side uh about five feet with a raised planter to help provide a little buffer with our neighbors uh moving on on the bottom here we have the third and fourth floor the layout uh is exactly the same as the second floor so it's a three bedroom two bath each of them ,60 ft the only difference is in the back instead of having that roof deck we have a balcony and then lastly we have our roof deck uh the roof deck we set back our usable space uh from all the facad so it's uh 10 ft from the front and the rear facade and then 5T from each of the sides uh we're using that space uh mostly to provide uh green roof trays so we're providing a total of 515 foot of green roof trays those are in the front of the building the back of the build excuse me the front the back and also along the side here and then along the top side here we have a 50ft long raised planter uh the space itself is divided into two um the back half here is going to be used for uh apartment number three and that's 215 ft in total then the front half of the roof deck is for apartment number four and that's 350 square ft in total uh here we have our building elevations uh starting with the front elevation on the top here it is a modern four-story building the main finishes that we're using are gray fiber cement panels as well as a composite wood vertical siding which is used here and in between the windows uh we do have a lot and very large Windows uh as well as storefront doors these are all uh black aluminum frames uh looking at the top of the building at the roof deck we have black aluminum post and rails with glass infill panels for the railing which is set back about 10t um and then the stair Tower which is set back further than that has a L Ray vinyl siding looking at the rear elevation the main finish is that same light gray vinyl sting that I just mentioned all of the windows and doors are black vinyl and we have black aluminum rails and posts and cable rails for the balconies lastly here we have the side elevations so I want to start with the South elevation this is the left side um we're returning the fiber cement panels back uh 5 ft on this side on the upper floors and then on the lower floor we're having that whole Alleyway finished with the fiber panels uh everything above that is the same L gray vinyl siding we're using everywhere else and this section that is along the property line will be finished with a smooth stucco finish uh painted gray and then lastly we have the north elevation this is uh fully on the property line we are also returning the fiber spent panels here uh we're going 10t back here because the building next to us on the right is is set back about 5 ft from the property line so we want to make sure we go back a little extra uh the rest of this this is again um a smooth stco finish painted cry and that concludes my presentation if anyone has any questions I'm happy to answer them all right thank you Mr Lewis I do have two questions uh the condensers for the Mini Splits I think I saw two on the roof there's two on the roof and then two on the lower roof okay and are they shielded they're going to yeah we have the um the specs here we're going to use the they're shielded um visually and then we're going to use the highest sound enclosure that they have available okay excellent um the only other question I have um on the back half of the building on the North side um you know where the the I'll call it an Alleyway ends yes that's on the property line it's on the property line yes okay is the neighboring building on the property line no they're 2 feet off okay um Eddie I'll go to you what do you think of about 2 foot for garbage and any kind of vermin in there you think that's accessible how two foot foot yeah yes I it's yeah yeah it's yeah okay that be f okay yeah those are my only questions anybody else for Mr Lewis no okay thank you sir thank you Council that's your presentation that concludes Our Testimony okay thank you thank you uh all right at this time let's open it up for public comment if anybody's here from the public that wants to comment on this application please come on up sure come on right the truth the truth truth yes your home address please Irina tchen 75 Liberty Avenue i r i n is a Nancy a t is a th i c h e n KO Ukrainian good good evening ma'am we have three minutes for you it's hard yeah it's hard question about neighboring buildings do they have side windows do you cover them or not side windows on the left the building to the right I think has one side window but they're 3T off of the property line so they have enough okay so just one okay so you not block right we're not blocking any Windows all right that's important thank you to okay thank you is there anybody else here from public that wants to comment on this application public I move to close second okay motion is made and second if public is closed um Eric this is yours yeah the application's relatively straightforward um staff has determined that the application does comply with the standards um section 345-4514 5-60 of the Jersey City Land Development ordinance um we just ask that the applicant agrees to to the conditions of approval um otherwise uh staff does recommend approval okay thank you Mr counc you're okay with those conditions those conditions are acceptable okay thank you make a motion to approve case p2023 0015 is presented to our Board second okay motion is made and seconded for approval Vice chair Dr Gonzalez I Council councilwoman Prince AR I commissioner gangan I commissioner Dr Desai I commissioner Torres hi and chairman Langston hi motion carries all in favor okay thank you everybody thank you thank you good evening thank you everyone guess we still don't have e Council you ready for us uh are you ready for me we are ready for you I think I don't know okay on the all right let's call uh case p2023 d77 is a minor site plan for 61 Liberty Avenue so good evening chairman members of the board Benjamin WI Prime tuille and Meli on behalf of the applicant Zub and Mogul uh just uh without getting into any testimony or anything um I want to put on the record that uh I had an opportunity during the break to speak to a couple of members of the public who I know are here who mentioned that uh when they went online and followed the link and went to the portal um there were there's the old application for 61 Liberty there's the new application for 61 Liberty and there was some confusion that they had felt about which plans they were looking at they came prepared with here's 's a whole bunch of variances and that is simply not the case this evening but as a sign of good faith and I just met with uh with one individual outside um and when I told my client we all agreed that if there's an opportunity to clear up any misunderstandings or anything of that nature we'd like to do that so what I'd respectfully request is that the board would be comfortable adjourning our application um to the next available meeting and give us an opportunity to hopefully iron that out so that so that everybody can be squared away on the same page okay uh cam how do we look does July 9th work council do you think July 9th works or do you want the meeting after that I'll ask in case if making changes I'll ask so I don't know right so I'll ask you if you're comfortable putting it on the 9th and if by three days from now I email Cam and say hey we're going to adjourn further to the 23rd if that would be okay but I I need an opportunity to speak to my client to know if we're going to make any changes um otherwise if the board would prefer I will be here on the 23rd so you will have a very good uh I would prefer for the the members of the public that showed up I'd rather give them a solid date night that they can they can rely on that's fine okay all right so we'll so if if you're comfortable we'll go with the 23rd and um and to the extent that with certainly not making promises but if there are any plan changes of course they will be in 10 days ahead um and if not what you see is what you get sure so Mr wi I just want to be clear for the those members of the public that are interested can you give us the date of the last revision to the plan I can all right assuming my office printed me the correct copy um which I will just confirm I'm already not comfortable this this appears to be um the date on the plans are revision through 121 2023 is the is the revision date on the architectural plans and on the Civil plans I also have 121 2023 do you want to just confer with your professional that that's accurate because I don't want the public to go onto the portal and look at the wrong plan and for those members in the public that are accessing the portal the way it works is there are older plans within those files because obviously as things get revised the old plans don't get removed um so it takes a little bit of getting used to but that is the most yes current date and that plan should be there and Mr wi obviously I'm sure you've gotten contact information for those members that uh you wanted to I will do that um my contact is on my notice and they said they will reach out to me probably before I leave the room this evening um which is fine but uh yeah so so again I just want to make sure that everybody's clear and and my client was more than eager and happy to be able to do that all right so July 23rd this matter will not be Ren noticed this is your notice that it is being carried to July 23rd uh for those members that have an interest in the application that was the last revision date if there is subsequent change it will get uploaded to the portal but if you have Mr wi's contact information that's always a good place to start and of course you can contact staff uh if you have any questions yeah our what we think is causing confusion is that this project was denied uh a prior application at the same address was denied that is that that those files are still available on the data portal so we can make those hidden so that there's less confusion moving forward absolutely yeah and just for reference it it actually one of the members of the public said yeah I saw the plan it started with P22 Das whatever it was and I said that is the old file so yeah yeah I think we should uh we should remove remove them we'll make them inactive for let's just make them inactive so that everybody's at least accessing uh the right ones yeah understood thank you cancel okay thank you Council so uh once again for the record case p2023 0077 it's being carried to a date certain of July 23rd with preservation of notice thank you very much appreciate your time and we'll see you on the 23rd okay sounds good thank you Council all right let's uh move on and call case p2023 d73 is a preliminary major site plan for 438 Summit Avenue good evening Council good evening Commissioners for the record Tom lean of Connell Foley here on behalf of 438 realy Associates uh the application before for you as a preliminary uh major site plan application uh I did post notice uh on the portal however I will provide original copies to uh councel chairman I received the affidavit publication proof of mailing with respect to the application at 438 Summit Avenue it does appear to be in order and does appear to be the same as the electronic copy filed so we're going to mark it as A1 for the record all right thank you Council thank you uh as I said the application before you tonight is for uh preliminary site plan only uh it relates to 438 Summit Avenue which is block 10802 Lot 23 um most of you would know it as the state building it is where the DMV is located in Journal Square um it is located at the foot of Sip Avenue where Summit and setp meet and it does run all the way through to Baldwin it is a approximately 60,000 square foot regularly shaped lot we are in the Journal Square Plan here we're in zone three um and The Proposal is to construct a two 25 story uh towers with ground floor retail we are proposing 709 units and 170 parking spaces uh the reason we are asking for preliminary only is because preliminary approval gives um the developer more time and protection from any changes in zoning um that's that's important here because the State Building only actually has one uh year left on its lease and they are uh looking to stay in that space for a significant amount more time um as a matter of fact they will likely have a five-year extension of that lease so the state has come to ask us and asked if we were going to move forward with approvals that we try and extend those approvals as much as possible the uh protection for preliminary is three years with the option to extend it we're actually going to be asking for a little bit more time than that which is permitted under the ml uh section 49g allows the plan board to extend beyond 3 years the protections for an approval uh if the building has 100 units or more in it so that is something that we're going to be requesting of the board this evening um I do have four Witnesses I believe all of them will be fairly quick again this is preliminary so it's really just going over the the proposal and the um and the zoning and that we are fully compliant with the zoning um I will state that I am in POS uh I have reviewed and received a June 7th 2024 planning memo uh if you'll review that memo U prepared by uh director Marion basically says that uh we will have to go back and coordinate with engineering and traffic prior to moving forward with a final site plan obviously we'll agree to that condition so everything you're seeing today is preliminary we are going to have to uh deal with the review agents of the city we've already gotten some preliminary comments from traffic which we can address some of those tonight and obviously we'll have to uh do so going forward uh so with that I'm going to have Michael Dipple come up first who is my engineer okay thank you Council truth the whole truth the truth I do yes Michael Dipple d i p p l e Mr Dipple give evening I believe we've qualified you in the past right uh you may have qualified someone from my firm I haven't been here personally in quite a while but uh I've been doing this a little bit and I was in Jersey City sometime as a younger younger man okay if you could uh just probably the chairman yes yeah could have um I uh I can I have a a BS in in civil engineering from Ruckers University I'm a licensed civil engineer in the state of New Jersey I'm the owner of l2a Land Design some of my colleagues may have appeared here recently and uh I oversaw the preparation of this plan and my license is in good standing okay thank you Sirah you qualified thank you bring your uh I I think Tom was gonna we're going to have have [Music] a an age joke he came prepared okay thank you so what I have uh up now is just existing condition so you can see the 438 Summit Building um which fronts on Summit and then also fronts only about uh 25 ft on Baldwin uh to the east uh generally North is to the top of the page uh just for reference um one of the unique features on this property is that when you enter on Summit you're actually about two levels higher than you would be if you entered on Baldwin um so if you can you can walk into the property off of summit and then you have two levels of parking below you and you can exit out of that parking deck uh onto Baldwin there is another right of way that butts in from the south that's Pine um and that uh that just comes in perpendicular uh to the property so everything on this uh property would be demolished in this application um so let me see if I can uh do this correctly so this is my uh the cover page of my site plan drawings one correction we had preliminary and final site plan we are only seeking preliminary at this F uh at this time so we would uh we would make that correction so I show zoning compliance uh as counselor uh pointed out we are here with a fully uh compliant application and you'll hear more about the building from the architect the site as I described it has the building and the parking levels um we are demolishing everything uh the application and this only shows uh the the ground floor plan uh coming in off of uh Summit there is an entrance proposed uh here where the hand is located off of summit about uh 3/4 of the way to the South along the building to enter into the level of the parking deck you would then have to proceed down a number of levels as I described on the Eastern side to exit out onto ball went through that narrow Frontage um for the Redevelopment plan we do have uh pedestrian access off of parine moving uh out toward Summit to the sidewalk uh along uh Summit and then we have a narrow sidewalk here which goes out to Baldwin there's some discussion about the the gates and things like that um we are leaving the options open on the access there we do show a couple of gates and in your planning report uh that was brought up so as I continue through the set um we are proposing storm water management measures uh we have sized it we're familiar with the regulations and we have shown that uh in the middle of the site the I should say that the lowest level parking deck is only a partial level and uh this storm water management system would be to the west of that so it would be uh just just within uh at the same level as that parking deck but just over to the West a little bit and that would connect out to uh Summit Avenue and provide some storm water management uh capability we have a lighting plan we're showing lighting along Summit along the walkway and you can see the fixtures there uh on my plan and you'll hear more excuse me about the lighting uh from the project architect on the building um soil erosion sement control and we go into the the construction details so um from a civil standpoint the building like most applications takes up almost the entire site with the exception of that little piece uh over on Baldwin um so I think i' I'd rather unless anyone has anything any questions or anything I'd rather leave it for the pretty pictures that the architect is going to bring up on this application okay anybody any questions all right thank you sir we appreciate it thanks uh next I have up Kieran Kelly who is our architect good evening hello tonight going be the truth the whole truth truth I do kieron Kelly c i a r a n k l l y Mr Kelly good evening we've qualified you in the past uh your license is current tonight in New Jersey it is okay thank you sir are you qualified thank you and and thank you for the opportunity to present tonight um so Michael gave a good overview of the project but for the from the purposes of describing how we develop the architectural design I want to just take a step back and look again at the property here on the screen this view is from the north so his plan was orientated plan North this view is taken from the north looking South uh obviously outlined in red is the property itself it's just over 60,000 Square ft in area or 1.39 Acres it's wedge shaped so it has its longer Dimension fronting onto Summit Avenue at just about 190 ft and from that point the uh property Narrows and drops descends uh to a narrow point at about 25 ft on Baldwin and as described the property drops by about 2 ft in elevation uh the property obviously currently has a six-story commercial building that we're all familiar with and a two-story garage at the rear which would be demolished to make way for the application now the property is in uh zone three of the uh Journal Square Redevelopment plan um and within that zone the permitted building or to the permitted project is not governed by faor uh or by density but rather it's governed by a defined envelope which is determined by permitted set or required setbacks uh maximum floor areas of the buildings and also by a maximum permitted height so to summarize very very briefly uh because this property is more than 20,000 Square ft you are directed to use the tower and Podium uh you know uh guidelines and what that does say is that the cium needs to be 5 ft back from the side property lines the towers 20 ft from the property lines with the exception of the Southern uh property line where we're abing a lower density Zone in which case the towers are even further back they're 30 ft we have a front yard setback requirement on Summit Avenue uh which requires a 20ft wide sidewalk and our landscape architect is going to describe in detail how the sidewalk is beautified and we're also creating a pedestrian Plaza for the front end of the building as well as on the southern side we are creating that pedestrian link which was described so where the side yard setback on that southern side should be 5T there was a stipulation to say that between Summit and pine they were like an 8ft setback to create a link in fact we're providing 12T because we wanted to landscape it we wanted to make it a safe and inviting connection uh so you'll see that too later um but this the the overall results of those requirements on the setbacks and also the shape of the lot is a massing uh which you will see in this image which essentially is the project we're proposing which is completely as of right as I said to the bulk requirements and all the requirements of the Redevelopment plan and it consists of Two Towers uh Tower one which is the Western Tower the tower which is more in the foreground uh is on the wider portion of the lot and fronts onto Summit Avenue and then there's a secondary Tower uh Tower two or the Eastern Tower which because of that narrowing of the lot is a more wedge shaped and narrower uh floor plate the plan requires that you can have no floor plate more than 180 ft in dimension so in both cases we meet that and also that you have a minimum separation of a tower of 50 ft and in fact we're providing at its narrowest Point 65 ft and on the Northern end it actually opens out to 85 ft um so as a brief summary of what's in the project uh there are 709 residential units and I'm I'm going to take out my notes so I don't get this wrong in the podium we have 27 residential units and then in the two towers on the western Tower or the tower fronting onto Summit we have 396 units uh you'll see that that plan is more orthogonal um and it allows for more units on the plan the other Tower the Eastern tower has 286 units um and there's 13 units per floor and that's slightly less in the podium we have 170 parking spaces the Redevelopment plan actually uh encourages lesser parking the maximum permitted parking is 0.5 uh we're proposing 170 which I believe is. 23 um and we also have a 25,000 common amenity uh space on the third floor of the podium for Access for all the building residents in addition to all of the exterior uh outdoor Terraces which are common and private access for the residents there are two uh lounges on the roof of the building and we have a 6,4 425t retail space uh front and center on the corner fronting onto Summit Avenue um so with that said uh I'd like to very quickly walk you the plans I don't I'm conscious of your time this is the first floor plan and by first floor it's the the level which is uh sidewalk level at Summit Avenue and this would be the main entry floor for the project uh the retail space as I described is shown in green uh 6,425 ft double height retail space fronting onto summ and then behind that indicated in blue is the double height common residential Lobby and because of the lot configuration and the fact that you know the the irregularity of the lot means that our two buildings are essentially one behind the other as you approach from Summit uh we needed a Lobby which served them both and so what we're creating is in the upper uh corner here the northwest corner there's an outdoor Plaza which leads you in beyond the retail space into the residential Lobby and you see this in this rendering so this is looking directly at the corner the double height retail space and you'll see how the canopy above uh kind of leads the eye back to this which is the main residential Lobby and of course we have a sign there just to Herald the entrance from the sidewalk so uh briefly just to take back to the first floor we have four residential units on that floor there are one bedroom units facing north but everything else on the plan the white area is essentially the back of house or the garage we have a two-way uh circulation system which leads you in through the garage off Summit Avenue and as described leads you down to two lower parking levels uh and eventually you have the opportunity to exit or enter uh on Baldwin in this space you also have double height uh fully maneuverable loading so we have loading space for three or four trucks we have indicated two here but the loading space is 56 ft wide by 40 ft deep and could easily accommodate up to four box trucks if people were moving in at the same time um but all that sorry sorry before you moved on I was reminded by seeing the um the picture you had there the rendering this is different from the site plans that we fully submitted but we did upload the presentation today so this is available on the portal it was not available 10 days before I don't know if you would like us to enter it as an exhibit well and so I think some of the drawings were also not color so why don't we Mark the entire I guess there's 40 slides in this set yes 20 of them are the architectural testimony but this entire presentation was uploaded so maybe we'll just so let's mark it as A2 and and and just to clarify there is there's no new information in in what I'm it's questioning that yeah I know I know just marking it for purposes of the record and clarification as we describe different exhibits so A2 is the entire deck 40 sheets and obviously you can identify the sheets as you're testifying to them thank you and I'm sorry absolutely no thank you I should have pointed that out myself um so again uh sheet A10 was included in the original set simply colorcoded um so just finalizing uh the we have the loading area within the footprint of the building off the street there are 37 parking spaces on this level but in addition to that both Towers have their uh independent their own uh fashion recycling compactor rooms they also have their own transformer rooms their own fire command centers and all of that required uh infrastructure is accommodated here on that first floor um on the street I should also point out that we are creating a drop off and pickup zone so that is uh it's about 45 ft in length uh and it is there for obviously Uber pickups passenger drop off food deliveries uh you know uh FedEx uh so that's so that's there so the major loading occurs within the footprint of the building um just to briefly show you and I apologize because there's a lot of slides here so there is a slight delay in loading uh this is the parking level directly below or what we're calling basement one it's our largest parking level it's 106 parking spaces um as I say it's two-way circulation throughout all the drive vals are 23 ft wide whereas the requirement is for 22 ft so we're allowing uh greater width on the drive vs and also all spaces are standard with the exception of four we only have four compact spaces uh this is the lowest parking level again uh just showing how you can enter or exit on Baldwin so back at this first floor from here we go up to the second floor on the second floor we have more residential units which uh flank the building on the Eastern and Southern sides and many of those units have outdoor Terrace spaces everywhere where we are setting back the building uh we're making use of the lower roofs to provide outdoor manity space uh the blue space is the leasing office and the green space is the upper level of the uh retail at the third floor of the podium which is the top level of the podium we have a 25,700 ft amenity space for the residents of the units it's yet to be uh designed uh but we you know we foresee the usual stuff we'll have a residence lounge co-working space um Fitness Suite um and then we have additional residential units on that floor so from that point up we uh the building separates into the two towers I've already described them the tower on the west uh has more units 18 units per floor the tower on the East 13 units per floor uh all all floors all units are fully Ada accessible building is fully sprinklered obviously um and once you get above the residential floors which are typical uh you were sent to the roof where we are permitted by the Redevelopment plan to have 20% of our roof area as uh enclosed amenity space so in both cases as you see in blue here we have amenity lounges which which open out to fully landscaped uh outdoor amenity Terraces and our landscape architect will describe them um so from there I just want to briefly describe the architecture or the aesthetic of the facade design uh it's worth just describing that because uh these buildings are towers and they're set back significantly from the perimeter uh there's no lot line conditions um so all sides of these buildings are visible and are considered as primary facades there's no rear facades there's no lesser facad uh so what we wanted to do was to create uh a facade system which was easily uh repli replicable uh around the perimeter of these buildings but which also provided uh the ability to to have a little interest um and so I'm going to use the Summit Avenue facade as just a quick snapshot to describe uh what we want to propose uh essentially the way that I describe this is the main um uh envelope the main wall of the building is composed of a um Regular and repeated picture window condition where we have integrated louvers below for Pac units uh and between them and at the floor levels we have uh um charcoal gray uh aluminum accents but the interest of the building comes where uh as an overlay to that we create what I'm describing as a dissolving grid um so at different places around the building uh what we're doing is we're creating a very rigid and very uh easily recognizable red rigid grid um but that intentionally at certain key locations around the building of both Towers the grid starts to dissipate it starts to Fall Away we remove some vertical elements so that you lose that uh you know the the the the repetition and that the facade starts to open up I guess and become a little playful and in here for example you see it it opens up towards the lower leftand corner which of course is our main residential entry and also our main amend or sorry retail space and so when you see that across uh both towers and incidentally this is an image which was not originally included but I included it now for context this also shows 425 Summit which is the existing 26-story building across the street on Summit Avenue uh and just for context in terms of height but that you'll see that on the Eastern Tower a similar uh pattern exists but in the opposite way so the lower right hand corner is the more dense grid pattern and it just starts to open up and dissipate as you ascend to the east where the views of downtown Jersey City and also of New York City open up and there's more panoramic views again this is uh that front corner and this is just to show the materials the uh materials are a dark charcoal gray aluminum as described but the the Grid or the the dis the dissolving grid as I described is actually it's called a spectral um aluminum panel so in dull lighting it appears white but in sunlight and also Dusk and in the summer months when the sun catches it it actually it shimmers a gold and sorry a a champagne and a gold so that at nighttime those conditions it actually that grid reads as a gold but at different times it it varies between that and a white so there's a little bit of Interest over the seasons and over the day uh and that's the final view again that was on the cover sheet so that's the main view of the overall view from the corner of summit um then just in summary I think that the project not only uh meets uh the requirements of the Redevelopment plan in terms of its bulk requirements but also forwards the objectives of the plan uh in that it kind of represents a smart growth project uh obviously you know we provided ample outdoor space we provided uh pedestrian connectivity around the site connecting the other streets um a lot of amenities provided the building would be very sustainable in its uh in the technologies that we include um obviously we high efficiency glazing High efficient uh appliances uh low flush Plumbing fixtures um a very energy efficient design overall um and I think uh that that's really the end of my presentation I'm happy to take any questions all right thank you Mr Kelly um if you could just go back to uh I think it was page 32 in this Set uh I don't have 32 sheets oh sorry where are we now I you know what I was going from the I think I saw that on that's actually that's the sheet right there yes y um yeah that's where I found it um I'm assuming I might be ahead of myself uh it's probably going to come up in landscape but that um the planting is on the top of the building are they just on the roof level or do they so I can't tell with my glasses but do they come down there is planting shown there they are private outdoor spaces uh it is something that when we were preparing the renderings for this meeting that we like the potential idea of the rooftop Terrace which is a fully landscaped Terrace significant planting perhaps incorporating some planting in planters yeah uh on those on those recessed balconies agree and we just thought it was a nice idea something we would explore later should we get approval tonight okay um and then the only other question I have and and I know this is only a preliminary um and this might need your help here too uh as far as the walkway goes the connection to Pine I I know on a previous application and if it it was shown in the uh the overhead the overhead photos there I believe it was the Muller Pasta Factory if if I'm not mistaken that originally came to us with you know the approval didn't condition on it but there was talk about a walkway connection along the north side of this property um and that connection going all the way to Summit is that has that been considered talked about so to be clear you're saying it would be from Baldwin from Baldwin to parine up and to Summit it actually no it's on the it was talked about on the other side of the property on the along the tracks along the tracks um yes um I I think that gives you better access to you know the Journal Square Transportation Center um again yeah I know we're in preliminary right now right that and that is something that we could definitely discuss with the with the city um it's not something we just we we included in this project we we did have it coming from Pine because there's going to be developments on Pine as well sure um so that is again you're as you said this is preliminary there's no that's something we can discuss with both trans transportation and planning okay um as a way to utilize uh the area there to to access the Baldwin Avenue below there is um there is a map in the Redevelopment plan which calls for um pedestrian connectivity and that's the one which we provided between and somebody Mr Kelly just I'm sorry please into the mic just just to give some background uh there is a map at the end of the Redevelopment plan uh I forget what page it's at but it does indicate graphically where it where it foresees pedestrian connections and one of them is this connection which we've provided as I said it was rested to be 8 ft we've made a 12 but at that specific location we do incidentally have the 5ot setback at the podium level on the North side right um so it is not uh you know impossible to provide a connection there and I think we had early discussions but we followed the plan yeah you know in this in this version yeah so so it's something that we can discuss with planning yeah had nothing to do with this site th this was a prior application years ago that's in various states of construction now I don't know what's going on over there but um that that was originally brought up that there was a possible connection a pedestrian connection that would go to Summit from Baldwin along those tracks you remember what I'm talking about Ed you probably do too but there's another site that has a walkway along the tracks that that would then connect Baldwin to Summit to this other site no this is this is that site this is that site would which would be probably the only connection if I remember if I'm you're right remembering um so a previous application on this site that proposed no it it was offsite of this lot right but it it was brought up in discussion that you know that was a possible in the future that it could happen here that yeah so that was a project that was in uh Zone 4 U was utilizing the whole block uh provision of joural square 260 which requires a publicly accessible walkway to U Encompass the perimeter of the site so they were providing a prominade along the tracks uh that I believe went to Rock Street uh down to Academy that's right that's it um but there I I don't remember that particular piece but I'm I'm sure that there might have been some comments about connecting that walkway or prominade along the tracks all the way uh to the transportation center that that sounds reasonable and logical yeah certainly okay again it's preliminary I'm sure you're going to come in with variances on the next application for final this would be a public benefit as far as I see it um so with that those are my only questions anybody else anything this picture Eddie Eddie into the mic if you can into your microphone kept mentioning the exit on Bard with it I growing up and driving in these neighborhoods I never recognized that exit and that garage that setback of that garage that you have at a21 that's an active exit on to Baldwin now that's going out of that garage yes it is yes that's cool so traffic wise trucks and stuff had been going onto Baldwin from that side of the street well current there is a uh there's a curb cut and an access there to the existing garage we're not proposing to bring any trucks at that location you're showing a truck on your DW and turning and exited that way so I assume you're going to have a truck the the intent is not that the trucks would transcend the tree levels of parking to exit on baldman the intention is that the trucks would make their deliveries uh whatever the loading operations are turn and exit there's Provisions for them to turn on the on that Summit level uh parking garage and exit and exit on Summit correct right that AR are bardwood that's not the intent no that's so how would you prevent that the sizing of the road the sizing of the exit is smaller for trucks not to make that turn so the the are you are you uh are your on one of your drawers you show the truck making that turn Al so let's be clear we're not actually preventing trucks but we're not promoting trucks from using that that that's correct correct the only thing which would be a limitation is that the the front portion of this garage is double height it's like 30 ft clear right but beyond this level the height clearance is about 12 ft or so so at that point C certain trucks would naturally be prevented from descending and navigating through the garage if I may add it looks like the truck is coming in and backing into the loading space and then returning back out towards yes I was just looking at architect Ro A5 and A5 detail number one first floor shows a truck making a rightand turn towards baldwood so that's why I brought that up that if it's not the case that's good it's not it's not the intent to to encourage uh trucks to enter or exit on Baldwin okay yeah I have A5 I I don't see I'm s A5 details right here on the right here on the portal y A5 y Lev one yeah you have two trucks coming out one making a left hand turn but making a right hand turn uh those trucks are within the garage if you if in the garage yeah they're right here so and that would be a truck that for example if the truck is already in the loading Bay the one that's going towards my right facing it yeah so going to bwin Avenue isn't it no it's not no I apologize if that's not clear so this is Summit Avenue a truck has entered the garage to this position that's not going to be there at which point they reverse into the loading Bay so that they back up into the loading Bay and then when they exit the and and leave back out to sub yeah which which is a good thing I'm just saying you're showing it going out to b i I appreciate that I do apologize no no no it's so commission I I think what he said is the only reason it's facing that way is cu in his mind he truck drives past the parking space the loading parking space and then backs it correct that's what he's saying okay yeah well whatever it's Hey listen van and white bring in the point I I I know the neighborhood well and I never saw the Gat of that c that garage so these happen right thank you and for the record I don't think I've ever seen there's a gate on Baldwin that that I've never seen that open never once but seen it open yeah I've never seen that open it looks like it's overgrown and that's fine like the back cave pleasure okay anybody else for Mr Kelly no nope all right thank you sir we appreciate it thank you so much let me just get ahead here okay uh next up I have Tom Carmen our landscape engineer who's going to quickly run you through the proposed landscaping for the site good evening truth truth I do yes uh sure Thomas S Carman c m an the address 295 Newark AV Jersey City Mr Carmen good evening we've qualified you in the past your license is current tonight it is okay thank you you're qualified thank you very much um so what's on the screen right now this is a streetscape landscape plan and uh this evening I'll just walk you around the site and then we'll just jump up to the amenity deck and the uh the rooftop so richly detailed landscape plan that includes both a variety of native as well as ornamental plant material primarily on the uh the north side of the building where the plaza is proposed the plaza becomes an extension of the existing Plaza that is just um to the north of the property line there you can see how that um saw tooth Edge exists out there today and we're marrying up with that we have some onr planting there with some or ornamental trees to soften that space and providing some seat Walls Within that area as well to kind of activate that area that overlooks the uh the tracks and also provides kind of a Terminus to uh to sip um as one would be traveling by card uh to the east the sidewalk along Summit includes the uh City standard in terms of the uh the concrete treatment uh sidewalk widths all in compliance and then we do have uh Street trees that the tree variety the tree pit sizing and such is in keeping with the uh the forestry standards um it was indicated the drop off area uh right in between the two groups of the two trees and then as we make our way down towards Pine we do have that 12 foot um setback six foot of it is um sidewalk and then three foot on either side flanking it with some planting down at Baldwin as was just discussed um the garage access makes its way out to there and we're flanking either side of that with uh with some planting uh as well moving to uh my my second exhibit here this is the fourth floor amenity landscape deck so centered in between the two uh Towers themselves we have a common area space that includes barbecue grilling Lounge seating a Synthetic Turf panel the residential units that open up onto this level would have some uh private Terrace spaces on the Eastern side or plan right you see a green area that is proposed as a dog run um that kind of overlooks Baldwin itself the last exhibit I have is moving up to the upper level so the upper level um the roof of both of the towers include a uh a lap pool up there as well as some barbecue grilling some Lounge seating uh the balance of the space is uh extensive green roof planting so uh Mr chairman you had made reference to the the 3D graphic that was presented by the architect um some of that planting um is a bit aggressive in that image from what we are showing right here but we do intend the uh the the rooftop to be uh utilize green roof treatments so that provides an overview of uh streetscape as well as the uh the amenity spaces for the exterior happy to answer any questions okay thank you Mr Carmen I have not anybody else no okay thank you we appreciate it uh finally we have Kate Keller who is a professional planner just to uh give testimony that this fully complies with the Redevelopment plan sure sure I do sure my name is Kate last name is Keller k l l r Miss Keller good evening uh We've qualified you in the past as well you're not in a while but yeah I'm a prin principal with Philips price Greg Hughes out of Hoboken um licensed professional planner in the state of New Jersey and all my licenses are current okay thank you you're qualifi thank you um so yes so you know this as you've heard from our testimony from our prior Witnesses this is a proposed fully conforming uh preliminary site plan application within zone three of the um Journal Square 2060 Redevelopment plan um I'm going to be brief here because the again preliminary and at this as as has been stated we are uh proposing something does fully conform at this point um so basically the the essence of this proposal is that um the team of professionals has taken a site that's irregularly shaped It's Kind situated adjacent to the railroad tracks but it is within Zone 3 which is one of the denser you know commercial mixed use cores of the Journal Square Plan um and using the creative development techniques that our architect and our um landscape architect engineer have described so uh succinctly tonight we have now proposing this development that conforms um on this lot that really and and meets all of the specific both bulk and design and Architectural requirements for this specific piece of property so that includes um you know the building envelope Building height requirements the tower on the base um and all of the unique features that are intended to make uh this portion of the Journal Square Redevelopment plan area um really what it is and the goal there is essentially just to quote what the purpose of Zone 3 is is to provide for active and intensive use of the parcel surrounding Journal Square Transportation Center these are those that are in close proximity to Bus and Rail and within short walking distance and to um enhance and complement the existing commercial Corridor so I think what we have here is um a an application for in development that has retail at the ground floor that is um set forth in the Redevelopment plan it has a variety of open space uses and outdoor are areas um and in general you know it really is meant to activate the surrounding area um in addition to all the other complimentary development nearby through this conforming uh proposal um and you know just in conclusion um you know my opinion this meets uh really furthers many of the objectives of the Redevelopment plan includes a significant amount of new housing its quality new retail space at the grade level um pedestrian and bicycle facilities and improvements you know around the area to make it a more inviting more pleasant walking experience not just for those people who will live here but for everybody using this area um Sustainable Building design techniques low automobile parking ratio and it also um we using utilizing all of the requirements for building setbacks um and the the type of building design to ensure that there's adequate light air and open space um so you know just just given all of the above and testimony that you've heard tonight you know just my my planning opinion is that this is Thoroughly consistent with the Redevelopment plan goals and specific speically that of Zone 3 okay thank you appreciate it any questions anybody thank you I appreciate your time Commissioners Council anything else uh nothing else uh other than to say uh as I said in the beginning I am in receipt of planning's memo which is dated June 7th we plan to comply with all the conditions therein uh and also as I stated in the beginning we are asking for pre preliminary uh site plan here as well as um uh an extension beyond the three years of protection uh that is normally permitted we would ask for five and that's under Section um 455d 49g okay thank you Council and um the application for that that other property I was talking about was 180 Baldwin AV and I'm sure uh I think I worked on that many years ago I think we could put you in touch with the attorney that represented that applicant if he needed it we can provide contact information okay uh so if there's no other questions uh let's open it up for a public comment if anybody's here from the public that wants to comment on this application please come on up anybody from public see no public I move to close the public portion second okay motion is made and seconded public is closed Mr lean if there's nothing else uh Matt you're going to step in for Tanya that's correct okay do you have anything uh so um I think it was it was just mentioned and maybe this can be left to the final but there was uh mentions of the the gates along the the pedwalk um and uh I don't know if you guys wanted to talk about that more or wanted to wait uh uh I I think that is something we will probably address as part of final um and you know there there's also been further discussion here about you know pedestrian access and everything and we will continue to coordinate with uh with planning and transportation on that and um you know when we return to the board that something will have more fully fleshed out understood and just the only other thing that I don't believe I see in the uh staff uh memos is uh that the there is a setback here along with a um a pull out for uh deliveries that which pushes the the public sidewalk onto private property uh so that we would just try to address that in a final approval as well um uh looking at the staff memo which I reviewed as well as the plans um and along with the transportation memo um staff would recommend approval okay thanks Matt Mr chair like to make a motion to approve case p2023 d73 as presented to the board tonight second okay motion is made and seconded for approval my list of name all right doing it off the here all right Vice chair and Dr Gonzalez yeah I think this meets the objectives of the Redevelopment plan and is consistent with the Redevelopment plan uh I uh wish you good luck it looks good I like it uh commissioner gangan yeah same um based upon the preliminary um this looks very very good and very conducive with the neighborhood as well so good luck I commission I'm sorry Council Prince AR hi commissioner Torres commissioner Dr Desai yeah this is Journal Square and I think uh it's turning into World Trade Center or New York and we'll see all people from New York moving to joural square so I'm so happy about it beautiful plan I chairman linkston um I'm excited to see the final the final product um so at this point yeah it's an easy eye for me motion carries all in favor okay thank you thank you Council all right let's move on to item 18 is case p2024 d25 it's for a conditional use at 912 Bergen Avenue good evening chairman members of the board Dante aluy on behalf of the applicant cannabis connoisseur um the property address is 912 Bergen Avenue it's block 10702 uh lot one um this is a conditional use this is for a class 5 retail cannabis dispensary um this is an existing structure we're looking to refit the first floor um with this uh particular use um I have one individual who's going to provide testimony tonight it's uh an architect Greg Korn and uh with that I'll have him come up and we're going to attempt to attach our laptop it's a Mac so we have a USBC here yeah they have the they have all those Mac dongles and stuff must admit I'm actually a PC person but this works fine USBC yes please thank you very very much man this one while we're uh while we're doing that do we have notice Council yes I've we've submitted notice on the portal and uh we FedEx the original package to uh your office Francisco do we have physical notice you didn't get it yet we fedexed it last week believe I have a copy here and I do [Music] sorry just go ahead and check that off got it okay mhm turn receive affid David publication proof of mailing does appear to be in order we're going to mark it as A1 for the record all right thank you Council thank you Council so I'd like to call our architect Mr corop you any testimon get tonight going to be the truth the whole truth the truth I do Gregory Ian Korn uh g r e g o r y i a n k o r n um I'm a registered architect in the state of New Jersey my license is current good evening Mr Corin uh We've qualified you in the past as well I don't know if we have iners yet I don't remember it was a few uh uh public uh Zoom uh meetings yeah sure this is my first time in person okay uh so with your license being current uh you're qualified thank you thank you um so what we have here is a uh uh retail uh cannabis uh location actually um not far from the prior project in Journal Square just south Journal Square um on Bergen ab and um it's actually across the street from our office which we're very excited about this is the closest uh location that we've been able to work on that um you know was a across the street from our office uh so definitely an exciting uh project um I'll just go through the um the drawings a bit and uh try to zoom in on the site plan here so me get that one down yep so the site plan um as you can see that's located at uh Bergen AV and uh new Kirk Street um the project is uh in existing mixed use uh retail ground floor uh office uh upper floors um uh building uh it's a fairly older building uh with um the existing uh space being a clothing store which will be converted for the Cannabis uh retail um I'll get to the um first floor plan now I'm going to skip over the basement plan there is some non-cannabis storage in the basement but I'll address that uh shortly sorry could tell you're a PC guy I a PC guy 14 hours a day but unfortunately maxer so I apologize for this guys you trying to go to the next page uh yeah just get that one oh there it's down there sorry my apologies yeah okay so yeah skipping over the basement now sorry uh the um uh the first floor uh as you enter uh you'll see on the right side is our existing plan on the left side is the um proposed the existing is basically an open um uh open floor uh retail uh clothing store existing uh the uh means of egress the from the upper stores is in in the back as well as one uh restroom and uh another stair which goes on the left side which goes down to the basement uh kind of tucked into the corner of this uh particular demise space is another demise space which is actually just the Bank of America at ATM um uh on with um uh just ATM machines in it uh so the entrance uh the storefront uh on Bergen uh none of that is being changed there there's no actual exterior improvements aside from the signage but to take you through the plan on the left side you'll see the um the entry vestibule which is a secure vestibule which also has some seating the security guard will be there uh and there's very good sight lines to the corner intersection which is great for security as well um and then as you enter the space the main retail space which you see um in this area uh this is where the kiosks are uh for uh display uh Personnel from the um from uh the store will be able to um assist customers in purchasing product there and then they move on to a a really nice um uh checkout area uh that we've designed uh and it's uh a bit larger than the average um uh retail cannabis which is also going to be very nice then in the back of the space that there's a um a wall that divides the U back of house operations as well as the Vault uh and also a secondary uh exit this size of this retail space uh mercal occupancy it requires uh two means of egress uh so we're complying with all that of course that's on the building code side U not really planning but is important to address even at this stage of design and then moving on to the um elevations as I mentioned there are really um no changes to the uh to the um physical construction of the exterior aside from signage this is the existing elevation which you might recognize from um just driving by this intersection and existing uh clothing store there's a 24-hour fitness uh to the left side of the building I believe that's now vacant uh but at the time when we designed it was um still there and then the B OFA which we did not include their sign as proprietary but it's that little red sign in the middle in the upper stories as you can see at the office space uh this did go through a historic review and was approved because it is a um notable Art Deco building uh this is the original signage still on the on the building uh called the herwitz building it's actually really beautiful building um and uh let me get back sorry to the uh proposed elevation that's the existing and this is the proposed there's really very little that's being done uh we're painting the existing stucco band a different color it's this kind of Monolithic and harsh gray color the to meet the um the owner's uh branding they want to paint it green and then a very discret um signage uh on the front um uh just just letter sign uh which it can be enlarged here to see it's just called the Cannabis connoisseurs again no changes at all to the storefront uh everything happening in this building is happening behind the the exterior walls that's pretty much a summary of it I don't know if uh there's anything else I can go over uh you have questions but um that's basically the project okay thank you Mr Korn um yeah I have no questions uh aside from and we'll we'll cover the you know there's no other cannabis locations within within any uh 600 ft from there cor correct okay okay yeah I have no other questions anybody else we're not looking at signages for now on that or is it going to be using the same Petty Grill sign that that size sign that you're going to be putting up for your business no it's it's nowhere near that that that's a quite massive sign yeah and uh you can kind of see it in that photo I'll try to zoom in for you we're we're we're proposing something and it's just in line with the with the um the kind of high-end branding that the client has in mind this is really going to be a beautiful store finishes and everything inside uh to uh kind of Meet the the the demand of the you know the neighborhood dimensions for the sign um the s yes so so the dimensions for the sign um are less than 20 square feet per the requirements uh so uh per the um so you'll conform with the order yeah we'll conform with the ordinance and it'll be as you can see it's just a much smaller the idea is to be very kind of minimalist and discreet that the next thing I have to just wondering it's the most of the uh businesses that come to us you have just one in and out from the front of the building uh is there going to be a divider there one door for going in one door for going out most of the stuff that comes to us has a separate door for people to go in and separate for the people that will leave it yeah there there are separate doors within the space to access the secure vestibule but to go in and out from the front it's you already have the what we have just this one yeah there is of course also because it's a large retail space there is a second means of egress but that is not the formal Eng that's just for fire Life Safety all right that's a okay okay anybody else any questions yeah I I have a question how big is the store size the first floor is approximately 4,300 Square ft 1,400 but not all of that is is the sales floor as you as I showed in earlier a large part of it is back of house the Vault the me the fact that this is an office building above there's also stairway so much of that is dedicated to um support area so Council you've already been in front of the canvis control board and received a positive resolution from them and I guess Francisco you're going to talk about the conditions and any sites within the required buffer zone or anything like that I didn't see yes the map on the uh portal no the map isn't on the portal yet but my Memo's up upload it okay so if there's nothing else Council we have nothing further chairman okay is there anybody here from the public that wants to comment on this application anybody from public chair see no one from the public I would like to close the public portion second okay motion is made and seconded public is closed Francisco okay want address yes uh so this location is in the Journal Square 2060 Redevelopment plan specifically in zone 7 to Deco district so it was the application was reviewed by historic a memo was uploaded to Tyler um uh they did receive approvals from the CCB or the cannabus control board on November 13th 2023 they do meet all the requirements um in terms of Separation distance um the ability to be permitted conditional use their retail um as well as the signage bolt coverage and design standards all meet the requirements this application is not in micro bus um the historic memo is also uploaded on Tyler I can send that to you if you need it yes please okay I have also added it as a um as a condition I'll just read it out there for the record so the applicant shall comply with all conditions stated in the historic memo and with that said staff does recommend approval okay thanks Francisco I'll entertain a motion then chair I'd like to make a motion to approve case p 2024-25 as presented to the board this evening second okay motion made and seconded for approval okay Vice chair Dr Gonzalez I abstain commissioner uh sorry commissioner Gan I councilwoman Prince Ary I commissioner Torres I commissioner Dr theide I and vice chair linkston sorry that's okay nice here Lon yes it is it is getting Beyond I'll give one brain cell I'm gonna give you a high five in a little oh thank you that's chairman Lon check him down I got to tell you Eddie I'm I'm surprised you didn't call it the Canton Tea Garden I'm surprised you didn't bring up the Canton Tea Garden it's the old Canton Tea Garden building yeah he passed by many time anyway um yeah the this checks all the boxes for us as far as zoning goes so I'm going to vote I okay so there's five in favor one abstention okay thank you everybody thank you Council chairman members of the board we appreciate your time tonight thank you very much all right uh we are going to take five real quick but um we'll be back in 5 and we'll set up for the next application very well counselor thank you you can hear me okay just wanted to get the mic set up here and I could go the I could go handheld but uh you know I'll go standard this is what happens I mean I'm turning into a pool boy you know I mean if this whole if this this lawyer thing doesn't work out I think I got a second second career here but just right just you got to tell me what chemicals to put in and I could dump it but all right can we come to order please everybody I don't think that's possible and um let's call Item 19 is case p23 085 is uh okay uh it's for 549 to 551 pavon AV good evening good evening chairman good evening Commissioners my name is Gerard pillo I'm an attorney with janova Burns and I'm here tonight on behalf of the applicant Journal Square Improvement LLC the property we are talking about is 549 551 Pon Avenue uh it's block 9606 Lots 41 and 42 in zone 4A of the Journal Square Redevelopment area and governed by the standards of the plan of the same of the same name uh the application is for preliminary and final major site plan uh I did provide notice of our application I sent an electronic copy uh I do have a copy here with the Chairman's permission I'll approach the de and present it to councel absolutely approach please June 14 chairman I received the affidavit publication proof of mailing it does appear appear to be the same affidavit and proof of mailing that was submitted electronically with the application it does appear to be an order we're going to mark it as A1 for purposes of the record thank you coun and and and thank you Commissioners as I said this property is 549 551 pavon Avenue uh there's a long history to the project here uh I won't go through all of it uh we did appear before this board in November of 2023 at that time the application before you was for a preliminary and final major site plan with a c deviation for relief from the rear yard setback uh posts there were some concerns with data uploads uh and documents available on the portal at that time it was agreed to carry the application uh post that carry several conversations occurred between our design team City Planning and other Stak holders specifically neighborhood association and the councilman of the ward uh from those discussions we were able to redesign or slightly redesign the building to eliminate the rear yard setback so that before you tonight is a fully compliant plan consistent with the Zone 4A standards in order to achieve that we essentially took what was uh from the back of the building and put it on the top of the building so the structure is is seven stories six above grade at 67 ft and this is along Pavonia Avenue so the right of way of pavoni Avenue is 69 ft and in zone a the height is tied to the width of the RightWay so we are within that limit uh the number of units from our last application was 30 that appli that number stays the same here tonight uh the big concern and and the big issue for lack of a better term with this project was there two one family homes one was cleared for demolition the other the historic preservation specialist determined that there was some architectural significance as to that structure and that was conclud that was determined in 2020 so from 2020 to the time we filed our initial application in April of 23 my client their design team sat with the historic preservation office with uh city planning to come up with a scheme that would allow for the structure to remain but allow for also a development to occur around it and so the project before you is really essentially a collaboration of historic preservation City Planning my client's design team uh and to come up with a project that fully complies uh I should note uh we did have two Community meetings one prior to our initial appearance and another prior to our appearance tonight directly from those meetings changes were made uh we eliminated the rear yard setback which was a big concern from our first time and we changed the color of the building uh the initial uh plan showed a kind of grayish building that Nicole Robertson will uh you know she'll provide the full detail but we also changed the color to a red which we believe is probably more contextual with the neighborhood um so all that said before you tonight is an as of right application for seven stories 30 units uh 67 ft in height two witnesses Andrew Grover from Insight engineering who walk you or run you through the civil engineering aspects of the project and then Nicole Robertson from grow Architects will testify as to the Architectural Components of the project so unless there's any questions for me happy to turn it over to my experts okay thank you Council thank you ttim going be the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I do Andrew last name is Grover g r o v e r Mr Grover good evening I don't know if we've qualified you in the past hav uh well virtually I think you have especially we at the meeting back in November but uh I know not so virtual accounts um so your license is current tonight in the license is current in the state of New Jersey okay thank you you're qualified thank you so Andrew you're the civil engineer of this project if you could please just walk the board through or jog the board through some of the Civil at engineering uh highlights of this project please definitely you you summarized it very well in the beginning but I'll so I might repeat a lot of what you just said but um it's fine uh what what I have here on the board is what you got you everyone has has this set of plans these were the plans that were uploaded so I'm just going through the site plan uh set that's uh was revised on February 12th uh 200 uh 24 uh the site as before you tonight is uh 54955 1 pona Avenue uh block uh 90 9606 slots uh 41 and 42 uh the property uh has an area of16 Acres roughly 6,743 square feet uh has a lot Frontage along ponia about um 49 ft uh it is in within the uh Journal Square Redevelopment plan specifically the zone for a community mixed use Zone uh and again we're we're here tonight just for a preliminary final site plan approval uh I'm going to go to uh sheet uh C2 200 which is the existing condition plan uh currently the property has two uh uh homes on it uh as are was pointed out one was uh approved for demolition 549 ponia but the uh other property uh wanted to maintain the facade of the uh the front facade of 540 551 ponia uh we're here tonight uh we're proposing to uh construct a seven story building uh six stories above one story with basement the height is uh 67 ft 10 in uh and we're looking to maintain the facade front facade of 551 peronia uh the breakdown uh there's 30 dwelling units the breakdown is six Studio units 19 one-bedroom units and five two-bedroom units uh and what I want to talk about the height uh requirement for this specific Zone we're in uh is complies with the street RightWay with ponia RightWay width at that area is uh 69 ft Building height is 67 uh 10 in which complies uh the architect will go into further detail in the into the uh building itself do want to point out uh going on to uh sheet C 400 which is our um site plan uh sorry me just go back one yeah C300 I apologize uh the uh site layout plan uh what we what I want to just point out is that we're proposing one street tree where two streets are trees are recommended we're actually requesting River for the tree due to uh there's an existing pole in the midpoint of the property right away and per City forestry standards were required uh New Street trees to be a minimum of 15 ft from the utility poles um so uh doing that will impact on the adjacent property there's a parking lot it will impact this the uh the site triangle of people exiting that that uh existing um parking lot that's adjacent into uh the site uh in addition majority of the proposed utilities will be in that area so we're asking for a waiver on that that second uh Street tree all the utilities are along Pon Avenue we're going to be tying into all the existing Mains uh we did receive uh uh Jersey uh City mua uh letter uh we're working with them to address all their comments um in addition uh storm water uh the project does not trigger any New Jersey uh DP storm water requirements because it's not considered a major development as far as storm water goes uh it's less than one acre of disturbance and less than a quarter acre of net increase in prvious a however we we are uh we do meet the uh requirements for the Jersey City storm water ordinance as a we're considered a minor development so because of that uh the site comp with that um by using green infrastructure um to uh retain the increase of impervious area we're increasing the impervious area about a, uh 570 sare ft so um we're we're treating this with a uh green infrastructure uh technology by using uh peral pavers for the private patios and the rear um which is located in the back here um we did receive letters a letter from Jersey City department of engineering dated October 20th of 20 uh 23 we reviewed all their uh comments and we will comply with all their conditions that's my uh engineering testimony I have no further questions for this witness okay thank you Mr Grover I have no questions anybody else all right thank you thank you my next witness would be and Final witness would be Nicole Robertson from grow Architects hi good evening good evening yes any testimony get it's going to be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes I do your name uh Nicole Robertson ni ni you need need the rest no AG thank you m Robertson good evening we've qualified you in the past uh your license is current tonight yes it is okay thank you you're qualified Nicole before you start this is a presentation slide deck that I did upload or I did send to planning and it was uploaded to the portal counselor I don't know if you wanted uh call it A2 please okay 40 sheets yes I think thank you um I think much of correct counselor 40 sheets yes 40 sheets just identify the ones that you're us if you're not using so in other words just tell them what page you're on if you're not going to go through one through 40 if you're start at page six just tell me about page six yeah I think I may just um go directly to the plans um well let's see um cuz a lot of what is in the presentation no need to uh be redundant let's go right to the architect right to the pretty stuff I'll just remind everyone the um and and as has been stated there are two existing single family houses on the site which are two and a half stories one of them um uh it was agreed would be a demolished the other um we're looking to restore um the structure part of the structure is what was decided with um working very closely with um historic um that would be 551 Pavonia which is the um currently clad in a vinyl green vinyl siding um which is covering a lot of the original details it was you know it's a queenan style uh vernacular style single family house um constructed in 1910 um so it was determined that this does have um historic significance um so we've really looked to maintain and actually restore um the front portion of the house in our proposed um design these are the existing buildings which you'll recall this is the demolition site plan which shows um the 549 building to be demolished and the majority of 551 will also be demolished but we are um making a large effort to restore and incorporate um the 551 house um the historic structure into the design and jumping right to it um our proposed design as jard explained um and Andrew also stated uh we basically are eliminating the rear yard setback and increasing the height of the building by one story and um I think the other kind of major change to the design is that uh the uh portion which is shown in Brick the the new construction is linning now with the face of the adjacent um senior housing project next door um and I think what's been very successful about this change to the design is um and also the and the change in the color um is that we're really framing even more so um the kind of um special nature of the restored um historic house which is really highlighted by the red brick um backdrop and it really highlights the historic features um so this 3D view shows the um overall design which you can see is five stories uh which aligns with the adjacent um building to um to the East and then steps back and Frames um the house and then we have a kind of ramp you know all of these features remain um as previously proposed we set back at the sixth floor and then we still have our um roof deck at the upper level um this this zoning tabulation just shows that we are um in compliance with the um with the Zone there are no variances now on the project um we're still within the required height um based on the public right of way and um our rendered view shows how um we're preserving and um restoring the original historic house um with uh uh you know origin the removing all of the vinyl siding and restoring all of the details and maintaining those features um in the new construction you know we're still utilizing a very detailed brick pattern that um kind of Echoes the angles of The Gables and the dentals that you see in the detail of the house are kind of um replicated in the pattern of of the brick in a kind of abstract way but a way that you know um I think really highlights the significance of of the house itself and these are just our um our plans I'll go right to the um the floor plan so you can see the site plan now you can see how the new construction aligns we have a 3-ft setback now which aligns with the adjacent um neighboring building and then we still set back um and frame the house and you can see the 30ft rear yard setb um in order to accomplish this uh we did have to actually I'll jump forward to here um our trash plan actually Remains the Same it comes out uh um out to the street um one significant change uh necessitated by our you know increase to the rear yard setback is that we had to move the bike storage to the basement but our elevator goes to the basement already so you know people will be able to bring their bicycles in put them in the elevator and bring them down um to the basement level uh first so this is the basement floor plan has all of our utilities our bike room is now down here and then we have our two units at the rear which have access to a private uh rear yard um there's a you know paved area and then a large kind of planted buffer um from the neighbors and then a privacy fence um first floor uh we have four units and each of the units at the rear has a rear balcony which is um in compliance with the plan um we've got the two one bedrooms and two Studios on this level uh main building entrance um Mail Packages that kind of thing and then when we go up to the second floor is um we have our five units we've got um two one-bedrooms at the rear a one-bedroom at the front and then a two-bedroom and then a studio in the middle and we still have our um air well in the Middle Light well air well those plans are repeated um for all of uh we've got second third fourth and fifth floors are repeated up to the sixth floor and then we have our um our roof deck uh not much has changed on this we still have our mechanical area which is concealed um behind the um the core of the building with our stairs that come up to the roof deck and a small elevator Lobby um so we basically U added another story um to the um prior design and you can see that this elevation really shows the level of articulation in the brick work um again we're utilizing the angles that we've kind of projected from the existing historic house and we've used them to kind of inspire and you know um inform the design of the brick patterning which um creates a kind of relief and um Shadow on the new facade um the construction of the new facade which we think brings a lot of visual interest um but the red brick color we feel um allows the historic structure to really stand out so that it's not being overpowered by the new construction our proposed materials are uh on the side here so you can see we've um we still have the siding for the um restoration of the existing house it's a siding made of uh fly ash so it's it's not wood but it um looks like wood but it's more sustainable and more durable we have stucco on the sides and rear and then we have um the proposed brick is a kind of cranberry um color uh very similar to what you see on the rest of the block so that it's a little bit more contextual um previously we had a gray brick um which stood out we think a little bit too much from the context so we think that was a very positive um change uh then I'm just going to go right to um you've seen some of these drawings already but um we have our shadow studies this drawing here I think also highlights um how the proposed design relates to the existing uh structures to the east using the red brick it matches in height at the front and then you know the seventh floor sets back enough so it really recedes and then we have um um you know a ninstory building at the corner I think that concludes my presentation I have nothing further from Miss Robertson question uh Miss Robertson I one question and is uh is the brick a real masonry brick or is it a brick panel yes no it's a real masonry brick and um this is I have a sample this is a it's a Glen Gary brick okay this one has iron spot it was the only one I could get this quickly we actually made this change um last week um but basically what we're proposing is the cranberry Glen Gary it's a face brick so it's a full brick okay understood um that's my only question anybody else yeah I have a question why did you put that the old house that thing in the front it's a good question commissioner we are we have to do that that is what the historic preservation specialist determined that that was the historic portion or the the portion of the structure that contained historical Integrity with regards to its architecture so that was one of the reasons why this took so long to get where we're at today is because of that front piece and and that is required as part of this project to move it forward yeah all right anybody else any questions all right thank you Mr Robinson we appreciate it I have no further uh no further uh uh Witnesses happy to answer the any other questions the board members may have okay thank you uh so at this time let's open it up for public comment if anybody's here from the public please come on up Mr chair I see no public I close move to close Okay motion is made and seconded public is closed um I don't think you need a closing statement do you Council no I just thank you very much for your time as always and it's always a pleasure to be before you so thank you thank you Francisco do you have anything you want to add so I do not want to repeat what was already stated for the record um but I do want to say that historic provided a memo it is uploaded on Tyler um and staff does recommend approval with conditions and I've reviewed those conditions we've reviewed those conditions all are acceptable and we have no problem complying okay thank you Council Mr chair I like to make a motion to approve case p23 d85 is presented to our board tonight second okay motion made and seconded for approval okay Vice chair Dr Gonzalez yeah I like the way you guys did that historical kept that I just I don't think that we've seen that before um I really like it so uh yeah I would I good luck okay commissioner genen yeah I actually this was this is amazing in the way you integrated it um in preserving the umate of the 551 ponia very good very good job very good presentation as well I councilwoman Prince iie hi commissioner Torres um you know just like the other commissioner said that the idea of historic having that as preservation and then you take taking it on um I commend your developer uh it could have been an empty lot for another four years basically and walk away from the whole project right because it's you you took out a task you know and you're actually came out with something that's really it's going to make a good conversational piece that's for sure as we walk by The Neighborhood um I appreciate to the I want to just say my thanks to the developer for hanging in there for the last four years going through whatever Hoops you had to go through with that I'm going to vote a big ey and I wish you the best and that wish this comes true for you thank you commissioner Dr Desai yeah I think that was good idea and uh you escaped the you took uh other way around I v i and chairman linkon um yeah I mean it's an as of right project I appr appreciate the applicant working with the community to uh make changes based on community comment uh again it's as of right it complies with all the zoning and uh there's no detriment to the master plan as well as uh the historic element meeting the Secretary of the Interior standards so I'm going to vote I motion carries all in favor okay thank you thank you chairman thank you Commissioners enjoy the rest of your night you too all right let's move on to memorialization of resolutions Please Mr char i' like to make a motion to memorialize the following resolutions I have seven um resolution number one of the planning board of the city of Jersey City applicant lockme ma Academy Ur LLC for preliminary and final major s plan approval with deviations at 147 Academy Street block 12309 L 3.01 Jersey City New Jersey case number p2023 0064 resolution number two of the planning board of the city of Jersey City applicant is G n djc Holdings LLC for a preliminary and final major site uh plan approval with um 385 3 to 387 Communipaw Avenue uh Jersey City New Jersey block 201102 Lots 36 and 37 case number P 22-1 to9 resolution number three of the planning board of the city of Jersey City applicant is 29-31 Courthouse Place LLC for a preliminary and final major s plan approval with CI and is at 829 Bergen AV Jersey City New Jersey block 13302 lot 22 case number P2 uh 3- 076 fourth resolution of the planning board of the city of Jersey City applicant is SSB Gooler LLC for a minor subdivision at 150 vroom Street Jersey City New Jersey block 12107 Lots 27 and 28 case number p2024 D13 resolution number five of the plan planning board of the city of Jersey City finding the proposed amendments to the joural sore 2060 Redevelopment plan are consistent with the city of Jersey City master plan and recommending to the municipal C uh Council of the city of Jersey City that said Amendment be adopted with revisions Cas Randa was p2023 D68 resolution number six of the planning board of the city of Jersey City applicant is at 27-29 fiet LL uh Avenue and this I'm sorry applicant is 27-29 f at LLC for a preliminary and final major s plan approval at 27229 Fay at Avenue Jersey City New Jersey block 9202 lot 4.01 case number p2024 00002 and the final resolution number seven resolution of the planning board of the city of Jersey City is granting uh minor s plan approval uh applicant is 511 Palisade Avenue project LLC for a minor plan approval at 511 Palisade Avenue Jersey City New Jersey block 2305 L 44 case number P 20 23- 0105 second okay we have a motion and a second roll call please C Vice chair Dr consales I commissioner Gaden hi councilwoman priner hi commissioner Tores commissioner Dr Desai and chairman Langston hi motion carries all in favor to memorialize resolutions all right thank you everybody I do need a quick executive session session Mr CH I'd like to make a motion to enter into a quick executive session second ex session we need to to get