##VIDEO ID:4WMHW2K8MU0## I pledge Al to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all thank you everybody could we have a sunshine announcement please yes chairman good evening everyone today is Tuesday September 10th in the year 2024 this is Jersey City planning board meeting with a scheduled 5:30 p.m. start time and in accordance with the open public meetings act notice of this meeting meeting has been given to the editor of the Jersey journal the Jersey City Reporter and posted with the city clerk on September 6th of this year and the uh this meeting was also posted with 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 all right thanks cam could we have a roll call please yes uh Vice chair D here commissioner gongen here councilwoman priner here commissioner Torres here commissioner Dr Sai commissioner green here and chairman Langston here we have a quum we have seven Commissioners present thank you could we swear in the staff please Mike yes uh do we have correspondence cam yes chairman um we have one item that is adjourning and is going to Reen notice so um that would be item 11 on the agenda um under new business bear with me okay so it is case p2024 d42 it's a conditional use at address 4415 M Street and they will Reen notice and that's a date uncertain okay thanks Kim and uh please let's let the record show that commissioner lipsky is at the Das um okay do we uh have anything else cam um only if you'd like to go through the adjournments no no I'm fine with that okay so let's uh move on to Old business under uh seven old business item a is case P2 0 24-12 is an uh administrative Amendment for 99 Monitor Street good evening Council good evening uh Mr chairman members of the board Robert verell from the law firm of conell Foley um this is an administrative Amendment uh essentially a technical correction uh this building was um approved by this board back in 2022 um it's a seven story mixed use building with 87 residential units five of the units five of the 87 units are affordable units um as we were finalizing the uh affordable housing agreement with the division of affordable housing it came to everyone's attention that the ordinance that was cited under the init the um site plan approval resolution was actually the incorrect one uh we had a um a uh Redevelopment agreement dating from 2017 on this project that put us in a different category once everybody realized that we just needed to make everything consistent so essentially the long and the short of it is no change to the number of affordable units the breakdown just changes so effectively there will be there still are two Studios uh there will now be two one-bedroom units as opposed to one uh there will still be one two-bedroom units there just won't be any three bedroom affordable units and that complies with the uh ordinance that's applicable here I do have a representative of the applicant should there be any questions but this is purely administrative so chairman at different times obviously there are scribers errors and in the breakdown Council states that it is per the correct ordinance so I think to be consistent and corrected uh there's no objection to it it is as codified under the city code all right thank you Council any questions anybody no okay thank you thank you council is anybody here from the public that wants to comment on this application anyone from public seeing no public I move to to close the public portion second okay motion is made in second at public is closed uh Eric do you agree yeah staff supports the affordable unit revision um staff just asked that the um the conditions um enumerated in the staff memo uh dated September 9th um they just we just ask that the applicant agreed to those conditions but otherwise we recommend approval yes we Have No objection to that okay great thank you I'll entertain a motion Mr Char to make a motion to approve case p2024 d121 is presented to the board tonight second okay motion is made and seconded for approval commissioner green I commissioner Torres I commissioner gadan I commissioner Dr Desai I commissioner lipsky I councilwoman Prince r i Vice chair chair Dr Gonzalez hi chairman Langston hi motion carries all in favor okay all right thank you thank you Council all right let's move on to Item B case p2024 d143 is a one-year extension for 975 Garfield Avenue good evening Council good evening members of the board um Veronica schme from Connell Foley on behalf of the the applicant 975 Garfield LLC um I did notice for this case and I have the original with me if that could be marked into evidence thank you Council so yes we are here for applicants um third and final request for an extension of of the site plan approval obtained under p19 d77 which was granted in 201 19 uh September 24th 2019 um applicant previously requested and was granted a 2-year extension under p 22- 047 uh which brought us to September of last year um we are now here obviously again for applicants third and final which would take us to September uh 24th of this year um we're aware that this is basically just a belt and suspenders application um it's just to keep our protections up to date um the applicant is the designated redeveloper uh just finalized updating the RDA this summer so we are just aware that we are out of time and will need to come back for a new application at the end of this month okay thank you Council notice thank you chairman for purposes of the record I've had the opportunity to review the affidavit publication proof of mailing we're going to mark it as A1 for purposes of the notice and council is correct obviously uh with respect to when the request will run through okay thank you Council any questions anyone no all right thank you and is there anybody hear from the public that wants to comment on this application Mr chair seeing no public have one sorry good afternoon I need to swear oh sure you swear any testimon get tonight truth truth nothing but truth yes home it's Lenora Richard in and my number is 264 Randolph Avenue Jersey City New Jersey and I live uh about 5T from where this development is taking place that they're asking for an EXT we have we have three minutes for you go ahead I'm sorry to interrupt no that's okay go ahead yeah so I I understand that they're asking for an extension which I'm hoping you guys do Grant because um there's several things that need to be seen before they begin doing this Construction uh I just wanted to note that since they've done the excavation the um backyard of my property is now actually cracking before it gets to the foundation of our home I've asked them to also put up some type of tarp we don't have central air conditioning so our windows are open so during that time all that was coming in I've had them come come in I've also taken um videos of the gentleman that said he was the business manager so I'm just asking that before you guys do allow them to come in and start doing the construction that you have somebody come out and see us because I'm telling you with this construction our houses are going to collapse because we can feel the vibration through our homes so if you can have somebody come out visit with us so that they can see like I said I've taken video and I've also had the company um business manager come up and see that this is what's happening I mean that it's it's going straight to the foundation so once they start really drilling we're going to have a problem thank you thank you m Richardson counil do you uh can you address any of that you know I am here of course only for the extension but obviously I'd be happy to take down your information so that my Superior in our office can contact you okay thank you Council anybody else from public if you'd like to comment please come on up see you know one from the public chair I move to close the public session second okay motion is made and second a public is closed Eric again anything any problems uh very simple one um staff just requests that the applicant agree to the conditions um associated with the original approval yes absolutely we agree otherwise um staff recommends approval okay thank you make a motion to approve case P20 one second chair is there a way to add to the condition that there would be a followup with the uh person who spoke today Miss Richardson that would fall on the building department that wouldn't fall on the planning board that's correct but of course we'll take notice of council's representation that she'll get the contact information and reach out to M Richards okay Mr chair now at this time I'd like to make a motion to approve case p2024 d143 as presented to our board tonight second okay motion made and seconded commissioner green I commissioner Torres I commissioner gangan I commissioner Dr Desai hi commissioner lipsky I councilwoman Prince AR hi Vice chair Dr Gonzalez hi chairman Langston hi motion carries all in favor okay thank you thank you Council all right let's move on to item C is case p2024 d131 is a 2-year extension for 365 I'm sorry 369 wind street I will also be covering this one um Veronica schme from conell Foley for the record here for 369-377 uh whiten LLC um as theair chairman just said we are here for an extension of the appr approval for the final major site plan which was approved under P 21-30 um it was approved back on August 9th of 22 uh 2022 and so accordingly the approval expired last month uh August 9th um so the applicant is now requesting the two years to get us to 2026 um the reason being the applicant has a couple other projects in the queue that they're anticipating are going to take a little bit more time including one that also uh right down the block um so they just anticipate needing a little more time to finalize get financing and get construction going okay thank you Council um thank you Council I think I'm more comfortable with one year we're okay with that I think you understand okay thank you any questions anyone no okay thank you is anybody here from the public to comment on this application anybody from the public like to make the motion to close public second okay motion is made and seconded public is closed Eric again similar to the previous case um staff just requests that the applicant agree to comply with the conditions associated with the original approval we agree staff recommends approval okay Mr CH I'd like to make a motion to approve case p2024 d131 is presented to the board tonight second okay motion is made and seconded for approval commissioner green I commissioner Torres I commissioner gangan I commissioner Dr Desai hi commissioner lipsky hi councilwoman Prince AR hi Vice chair Dr Gonzalez hi chairman Langston I motion carries all in favor okay thank you everybody thank you Council Sophia are you ready to go for uh item 17 the cell phone I just I want to get that out of the way it's quick you know okay if we could uh we're going to make one adjustment here uh in new business I'm going to call Item 17 is case p2024 d003 is a minor site plan for 412 to 418 Whitten Street good evening Council uh good evening uh my name is Ed purcel I'm an attorney with price me shman and dear Mino here tonight on behalf of T-Mobile Northeast LLC with respect to its application at 412-418 Wht Street that's block 1705 lot 17.01 uh that property is located in the Todd North District of the Morris Canal Redevelopment plan uh essentially what T-Mobile is doing and this is a permitted use uh and this particular uh zone is attaching attaching antennas to the top of that building uh the purpose of that attachment is to replace um an ex existing facility that t-mob previously had in the area the building burned down there's a temporary site so now this is sort of the permanent replacement for the old site um as far as uh there's you know this manary equipment on the roof a generator um again we're fully compliant I do have um engineering testimony um RF testimony and planning testimony I'm going to try to keep it as tight as possible certainly I don't want to go out to spend a lot of time on it uh so with that Mr contrell Council there was a notice package online M do you have the original of that I do yeah I have a copy right here how don't we just get that marked and then yeah chairman this has been the customary practice here obviously these are cell towers the board has heard way too many of these applications over the years so Council if we can keep it to the necessary testimony the board would appreciate it uh certainly certainly Mr lampy um chairman it does appear to be the original of the electronic version of the notice that was received and uploaded to the portal it does appear to be in order we're going to mark it as A1 for purposes of the record okay thank you Council uh Mr catrell can you over your qualif testimon ton the whole truth and nothing but truth I do sure it's Joshua C Co t t r e l l you might where's the button on the mic we got you uh Mr gatrell can you just provide your qualifications sure I have a bachelor's of science from Rucker's Rucker University in civil engineering I have approximately 20 years experience in uh site plan design last 15 years specifically geared towards the wireless communication um industry that's your chairman would you and is your LIC current tonight is current in the state of New Jersey yes okay thank you you're qualified okay thank you um Mr katell you prepared the minor site plan that was submitted to the city dated April 28th 2023 last revised June 5th 2024 yes can you just discuss what's being proposed with site so existing on the site is a eight-story multi-residential uh building um cons on the on the roof on the main roof of the building T-Mobile is proposing to install a equipment steel equipment platform with your standard equipment and a gas power generator on the penthouse roof T-Mobile's proposing to install antennas on steel frames uh total amount of antennas is nine all antennas will be painted Battleship Gray to blend in with the sky um and basically that's it all electric um Telephone fiber um gas will be routed from with inside the building up to the roof okay and that's essentially all all right and that and that coloring was made at the made that coloring change was made at the request of the uh city planner correct sorry the coloring request for the antenna yes it was yes okay that that's all I have for Mr patrell okay thank you um The General is it shock mounted at all uh there'll be um isolator pads mounted on the steel frame perfect underneath okay thank you um that's it for me anybody else have any questions no no okay thank you okay Council um how many other Witnesses you have um we have an RF expert to talk about um EMF compliance and why it needs to be at the hype we don't have to do that we're fine we have a planner who can talk about compliance with the subject plan although I think we're here that's why we're you know we're compliant that's why in front of the planning board yeah you're in compliance um generally I hate to say cell phone applications we look for the color we look for any I think we covered that any grounding I think you know unless anybody has any questions I do go ahead I have a question um just um you mentioned that there was a fire in the other building where these attendant were before um considering the safety of the building I don't know what building you're talking about or how much damage I the fire fire what do you plan to do with those attenders that are on that building now are you going to abandon them and they going to stay there or my understanding is that they've been removed and that there's been a temporary replacement site that's on air now and then once this is operational we're talking about then the temporary site comes down then it comes down yeah okay Co that's where I want to know okay thank you thank you anybody else okay thank you council is anybody here from the public that wants to comment on this application Mr chair saying no public I move to close second okay motion is made on seconded public is closed Sophie do you have anything you want to add any concerns uh no planning staff just asked that the applicant agreed to the conditions outlined in the memo sent on August 9th agreed planning staff recommends approval okay thank you Mr chair I'd like to make a motion to approve case p2024 00003 is presented to our board tonight second all right motion is made and seconded for approval Vice chair Gonzalez I commissioner lipsky I commissioner Dr Desai I commissioner gangen I councilwoman Prince aray I commissioner green I commissioner Tores I and chairman Langston I all in favor motion carries okay thank you thank you Council all right let's move on to item nine is case p2024 d154 is a review and disc discussion of implementing new fees for zoning review as well as fees for Planning and Zoning Board applications this can you hear me we got you great so a lot of this is in the zoning uh division category let me give you very very brief explanation of what a zoning review used to be like you'd submit your application and paper to zoning You' pay $100 and one uh revision would just get the application denied and then you'd have to completely resubmit and give another $100 so that could be something as simple as I didn't put a tree on my plan denied $100 um that being a process that was kind of onerous anyway um when we moved to the Tyler system that kind of just went away on its own so an online portal you submit an application there is no denied resubmit is back and forth with amendments um so the amount of time that's being kind of put in or the revenue loss is happening is that the say that it was fair to do 100 100 100 no um but the numbers that um I've kind of balanced out here are better representation of the amount of time a Reviewer is spending reviewing what we call a zoning review application which you guys don't see those are the applications that are don't require any site plans and don't have any variances um so in order to kind of norm normalize it we just have it as $50 a unit you can kind of see it was a little all over the place um but just the way to do it is simpler how we do it in planning which is per unit um along with the non-residential which was again doing something that was three different categories flat fees not taking into consideration that um it was much more substantial review something that was 50,000 square feet versus something that was 2,000 square feet the only difference was kind of $200 the amount of review um really should be comparable to the size of the application that you're reviewing and that kind of this number tends to really kind of regulate that I only have one type oh here which is that it's $250 for the first 5,000 square feet not $5,000 square feet um that's my typo but just so you know that really means that the majority of businesses are 25 to maybe 3,000 square ft so those smaller businesses are still paying the 250 review um which is probably going to be the majority of what goes through a zoning determination letter which you guys have seen they come in your applications there was not a fee for it um there was no de there was no name for it um within the fee schedule so what was happening not just your zoning determination letters but there's multiple things that uh determinations and certificates are required for for example driveways and short-term rentals so what was happening was that because short-term rentals are regulated by Commerce and driveways parking in front of them are regulated by parking authority there was a part where Zone would come in and review it and not be able to charge anything because the zoning or the ordinance regulating that said zoning certificate and we didn't have zoning certificate specifically in our pay schedule even though that's exactly what we were doing and I can almost promise you that zoning spends more time on driveways and short-term rentals than parking Au already does so this will allow us to charge fees for that and to properly do the reviews for that um on to what you guys are more accustomed to reviewing there's not a lot of changes um we no longer have minor site plans for signage and storefront since we changed the ldo so the 1,000 flash fee also takes into consideration that we also had a variety of numbers here um that's based on you know the amount of time that um the reviewer puts in of course but then the majority of our reviewers are overseen by supervisor planners and then they come here um and they're continuing that application all the way out through to the board and then uh special meeting request those come from the applicant uh it was previously three it is now being changed to 5,000 that is very specific to the amount of money that it cost for us to run a special meeting um and we're still barely making it with a 5,000 and so that again that that's going to cover um the attorney all my planners for overtime uh the stenographer ETC uh extension of site plan approvals which we've been seeing much more is going from 300 to 500 um and that's really it other than one other the thing which is that we had consistently had a price per variance except for the C variant where it was 500 for the first and 250 for the remaining so there's no discounts for the additional variances you just pay per variance uh you get one half off for this and that but no it's just 500 so I know I ran through those but as far as like what you guys review there's not a substantial amount but the zoning fees and the processes are still under 345 so under this review boards review okay thanks T any questions anyone [Music] no all right is anybody here from the public that wants to comment attorneys nothing saying no public I move to close the public portion okay motion is made and seconded uh obviously we have Tanya's approval here on this so uh I'll I'll entertain a motion Mr chair I'd like to make a motion to accept and approve the review and discussion of um implementing new fees for zoning review as well as fees for Planning and Zoning Board applications and forward to city council second okay motion is made and seconded on a motion to approve Vice chair Dr consols hi commissioner gangen hi councilwoman Prince hi commissioner Torres hi commissioner lipsky hi commissioner Dr Desai hi commissioner green hi and chairman Lon I motion carries all in favor okay thank you right let's move on to item 10 is the review and discussion of uh certified artists Bradley friselle Shimona Stokes Nicole Deo and Maria uh Pavlova formal action may be taken good job um okay so I'm just going to stay here normally I'd walk up there but and I'll do this going forward but um so the four artists that you just said are certified under categories 1 2 3 4 5 and six and the artist uh review board um has sent them here to get approved so that they can be eligible for the certified artist housing um new artist certified housing units have come online that's why we've seen so many artists coming forward lately and um planning staff recommends approval okay thanks Kim anybody any questions any questions all right thank you uh is anybody here from the public that wants to comment on these artist certifications anyone from public see no one from the public wishing to speak I move to close second okay motion is is man and seconded public is closed and we have Cam's recommendation so I I will entertain a motion Mr chair I'd like to make a motion to accept and approve the review and discussion of certified artists Bradley friselle Shimona Stokes Nicole Deo and Mara Pavlova um is presented to the board and forward to city council second okay motion is made and seconded for approval okay on a motion to approve Vice chair do Dr Gonzalez hi commissioner gangen I congratulations councilwoman Prince hi commissioner Torres hi commissioner lipsky hi commissioner Dr Desai I commissioner green I and chairman langson I motion carries all in favor to um to certify the artist not memorialized resolutions thanks Camp all right let's move on to item 12 is case p2023 z39 is a preliminary and final major site plan for 2115 vanor Street good evening Council good evening chairman um e conell appearing for 215 vorce Development LLC um this is a notice case and uh I have the original publication in notices chairman I haven't received the Affidavit of publication proof of mailing this application has been carried multiple times from prior meetings I've had the opportunity to review the electronic version of it this is the original and it appears to be the original of that electronic version does appear to be in order we're going to mark it as A1 for the record thank you Council so this is an application of for a five-story six unit residential building with 11 W Street parking spaces there are four variances for number of stories maximum Building height loot coverage and front yard setback um just I want to put on the record that back in April we St uh we sent through all our plans renderings to the PUK community um since uh April we've had four separate uh email um back and forth about the uh application and the rendering uh and most recently we had a very collegial meeting that lasted a couple of hours and we feel that we've addressed all the issues of the organization and we like to thank Diane case for putting time in to do this for us with that I have two witnesses tonight will wierman our architect and Charles height will be our planner thank you Council truth truth yes I do sure it's William wman last name is spell w c k n MN Mr wenman good evening your license is current tonight yes it is okay thank you you're qualified again thank you very much um so I just like to reiterate uh what jean just said about um our meeting with Miss case and the community um we take uh neighborhood comments very seriously and um this was a the design that we're presenting tonight was a successful collaboration um and we we thank her for her efforts here so um as Jean mentioned uh we are proposing a um five-story Residential Building uh for the corner of uh vanv Street and Sussex Street um this rendering here is uh a view looking Northwest at the proposed building um I leave this up just to give you a sense of what the project looks like before I go through the plans um the revisions that we made since the last uh since our original originally scheduled hearing were related to the the fenestration on the building um the colors uh the materials and some some of the the basry detailing um the neighborhood had no issues with any of the variances that we that we we were seeking uh it was mostly related to the design of the facade um so I'll just start by walking you through the floor plans um vanor street is to the top of the screen and Sussex Street is to the right so um the building has a large ground floor parking garage we have 11 parking spaces uh plus um one of the spaces is an ADA parking space all of these spaces will be deeded to specific units within the building um there are six total units so four of the units will have two parking spaces and then two of the units will have a single parking space um it's also worth mentioning that um some of these spaces are tandem spaces and um we intend to use the uh Ada uh aisle as a a maneuvering space for these um the tandem spaces um along the west side of the property we have the utility spaces and the the the egress stairs and then at the corner um we have a large uh Lobby right off of the main the main main entrance which is which is on Sussex Street um second and third floor plans are identical uh there's two units per floor um each of these units are are large 2,000 plus square foot apartments with uh three bedrooms each um there's a there's a private elevator in the center of the building and then we have the the egress stairs again on on the west side of the of the building um one of the units is is North facing here and then the other unit is uh south facing um these units have large large Windows these are these are loft-like Apartments um and like I said the the second and third floor plans are identical um the fourth and the fifth floor of the building uh are occupied by two units um these top floor units are duplex units um again they're oriented facing north and facing south the the main entrance to the unit is on the on the fifth floor and um the lower floor houses uh four bedrooms plus a uh small Den uh the units are very similar uh the difference being that the unit to the north has a uh small small balcony the fifth floor is the main uh living space for for the units um so we have a large entry foyer um as well as a large kitchen and living and dining room there are also there's also a den and uh an office planned for this level of the apartment there's also uh an interior stair for these units with access which accesses uh private roof decks above so this is the uh roof plan of the building um we have a at the center of the plan we have an amenity space along with a uh common roof deck for the lower floor units and then on the North and the South Side we have uh private roof decks for the top two duplex Apartments the roof deck is uh surrounded by a a green roof um buffer between the the edge of the deck and the building parit this is the um sorry this is incorrectly labeled this is the van VOR Street elevation um this is actually the the east facing elevation uh which was shown in the the rendering on the first page um the design is is very simple um it was inspired by some of the more traditional uh buildings found throughout the district as well as some of the industrial buildings that uh were common throughout this neighborhood um the building features brick as the primary facade material um as I mentioned previously we have large oversized aluminum windows and um the top floor has uh decorative uh arches um as well as a a masonry cornice for the for the ground floor facade um um the this area over here is the the lobby and the amenity space for the building and then we're we're detailing a uh decorative metal grill for the for the parking garage which gives a little bit more of a a decorative look um it's a little bit more interesting than just having um open open Windows here this uh this design is carried around to the South elevation this is correctly labeled this is the Sussex Street elevation um the again the design is consistent um and we have the the main entry um at the at the center of the facade with a with a large canopy over over the entrance this is the west elevation it's pretty straightforward this is right up against an approved uh building so that's right on the property line so um we're just as a placeholder we're we're uh indicating stucco for for for this facade and then finally this is the north elevation um and again we're carrying the the design of the of the primary facade around to the to the sides of the building so the the window detailing the brick is the fac primary material is all consistent across all three exposed elevations um here we have our our shadow analysis um happy to answer any questions on this and then um finally we have our uh material board um with an enlarged detail of the ground floor garage screening um as well as an enlarged detail of the of the building parit um and that concludes my testimony thank you all right thank you Mr wenman um any questions anyone I have a question for you sure um when you mentioned the um stuckle on the side of the building and the building going to the property line it's um it's not up against the building though is it it's I can't see that on the uh let me what's the space between one building to the other that's alongside of it they're they're both right on the lot line they're going to be both right on the lot lines correct so is there any space at all three Ines anything is right maybe a couple of inches just just okay that's M show what's the couple inches okay what is a couple inches oh well right now it's planned to be right on the property lineal yeah so we're not going to have like a five or six inch space and nobody's going to get there to clean it or do anything in there no correct right so it's not be one foot that it's going to get damaged and nobody it's going to be close tight together that's right okay um the other thing is I didn't notice what you're doing with the garbage you were talking about the garage area with The Walking um I see the mechanical room I see the uh electrical room I'm not seeing so we have a we have a next to the bicycle room yeah a flexible uh stage don't have no note on that what it is sorry my draw doesn't say what that is it's just an empty room gotcha um yeah so we we have a a refu room here for for things like large boxes know Furniture items that may be disposed of um and then we have on the upper floors each each floor has its own uh trash room which will be um emptied regularly by Building Maintenance so would be going downstairs store downstairs it'll be just taken out of the building right it'll be brought down from the trash room on each floor out to the curb for pickup for pick up and you have no room downstairs in a basement just in case you get too much garbage upstairs or something's going on that's that's what that that room on the first floor is is for it's for the for um large next to the bicycle okay so regular trash you know TR kept on the on on the individual floor and then if anybody has a large box or something that can't be stored within the the trash room on each floor they can bring it down to that that room on the floor all right that's good uh bicycles how many bicycles on these racks only five it's it's a double height rack oh it's a double height rack okay cool okay and then the next one was the um tandem pocket that you mentioned uh you said the um tandem poet they're going to be for the units that are have double um parking spots sense they'll be dedicated to those units that are going to have double parking spots okay that that's all I have thank you okay thank you um I do have two questions for you I didn't hear anything about uh mechanical unit screening on the roof sure let me uh we do have um a a screen provided around the the equipment um but the the building parit is also about 4 feet high so it'll it would be higher than any of the proposed equipment on the roof okay but then there's screening on the back side of it as well right um my other question is on on the let me just get to it here on the garage screening um we usually look for louvers on garage screening I I know this is a little more attractive than a Louver my concern is headlight shining out into the neighborhood um is there anything here that mitigates that one of the things that we talked about was doing a double layer for the screen so that the there's an inner layer and an outer layer that's offset that are offset from each other so they would it would block any light or you know views into the garage as opposed to just a single single layer um so that's that's something that we're considering and we would be agreeable to okay um I thought the ordinance I could be wrong um camera you handling this yes yeah I'm covering for this yeah the garage screening ordinance does that call out specifically louvers to I I think the language says something about shielding you know light shining from inside the garage going out yeah it it should be doing that so uh if there's anything that is allowing for light to get out we're going to have to find a way to screen that sure we can submit a a detail okay so we'll add that as a condition of approval absolutely okay all right uh that's it for me anybody else any questions okay thank you Mr White don't truth the truth I do yes Charles height last name spelled h y DT he Mr height good evening your license is current tonight good evening it is okay thank you're qualified thank you um yeah Charles would you go through the planning issues on this application please I I will so just to remind the board we are in the uh Tidewater District Redevelopment plan um this is the historic buffer District so we are pulling the zoning bulk requirements from that subdistrict of the Redevelopment plan um the existing conditions just to reiterate this property is occupied by a one-story industrial building um there's not much architecture to it uh so what you're seeing today is really uh a renovation of that industrial concept into what would be a mixed use uh a multifam development um the specific variances that we're requesting tonight are with respect to the building height the coverage uh and the front yard setback all really have to relate to uh the existing conditions of the building uh and what we're trying to Envision as a really permitted multif family use in in in on this property um with respect to the building height uh these are bulk variances so there's uh Building height in feet and stories what the Redevelopment plan permits is uh 45 ft and four stories uh what is being proposed tonight is 51 ft and five stories um the issue here is that we are also in a flood plane so the flood plane elevation is at 11 ft uh the finished floor level is at 6 feet and uh that difference uh the Jersey City Zoning code allows you to increase the permitted Building height to uh meet that finished uh flood plane elevation which is approximately additional 6 ft so now the permitted height becomes from 45 to 51 at that point we're left over with this half story of space that could be built uh but just really an oversized crawl space if you will at the ground floor to raise the finished floor elevation above um in this proposal we're asking the board to increase that ground floor um 4 and 1/2 ft to create that functional ground floor level so you have the lobby the parking the mechanical um all that refuse area uh in doing so you actually have a lot more efficiency on that lowest level that's technically in the flood plane and then the residential floors above again only four residential floors are elevated above the floor flood plane so um in that Essence um that's the driving Factor uh in terms of the design of the the overall building elevations um there are other taller structures in the neighborhood across the street in a different District in the Redevelopment plan there's a large multi-story mixed use development um along across vanv um I didn't have a chance to count the stories but it's upwards of 15 stories in height um and in my opinion in doing that in the um in utilizing the ground floor it presents a lot of benefits in terms of function which outweigh the detriments um I would offer that this this uh variance meets that flexible standard uh in terms of the lock coverage and front yard setback we're both relying on the existing conditions of that industrial structure uh first and foremost the uh the lock coverage is permitted to be 75% based on the zoning standards um what exists today is 100% we're actually scaling that back to 95% in the rear uh interior corner of this this property um it's a corner property so we have uh full Frontage or or zero front setback on both sussix and vanvorst I'll get into that in a minute but in the rear we create a little bit of additional space that than that currently exists and we carry that through on the upper fours uh where there's adjacent Windows to provide that light and air so the building on the upper stories is set back but at the ground level it is proposed to be 95% uh coverage so again um we're trying to respect um allowing for the appropriate massing of the building um consistent uh zero foot setbacks on the front facades and then creating a little bit of space for the interior Corner um we do also have a green roof which helps with storm water benefits um uh to offset that additional coverage um with respect to the front yard um there the language is to maintain the existing streetcape so essentially this is a zero front yard setback um it is an outling property and the fact that it's an industrial building that we're transitioning to be more consistent with the other residential and mixed use uh developments in the area um so we are maintaining zero feet um along Sussex and uh and um and vanvorst um and that's uh that's greater than what the other Street on Sussex are so the existing condition is a little bit closer to the sidewalk than the other existing properties on susex so that creates the uh the front yard setback variance um again the street Scapes are going to be improved we believe the uh the proposed design of the ground floor and the upper floors with that industrial Aesthetics helps further the uh purpose of of the Redevelopment plan um in terms of of the front yard setback and how it how it's designed um those are the three variances in detail uh I do also think that overall this application furthers purposes of the land use law and the Redevelopment plan purpose a to guide Redevelopment um purpose e to establish appropriate population densities this is a permitted density the six units on this 5,000 roughly 5,000 foot property um we are also uh providing in uh improvements along the streetcape and the proposed design of the building to further an environmentally visual um uh interest along the street that's purpose I um when we look to the negative criteria again it's the balancing test here um we are proposing a multif family use where currently there's an industrial use so that transition in my opinion is consistent with the Redevelopment plan um I don't think there's any impairment of the Redevelopment plan or the the master plan um and I'll just quote the historic buffer District uh to provide development to complement and maintain the historic District's streetscape and pattern of land uses so this is predominantly a residential mixed use neighborhood we're transitioning industrial to residential um with respect to any substantial imper detriment to the public good or general welfare again the massing of the building creating light and air in the interior um we are reutilizing an existing curb cut that's why we're providing the off street parking for the units um so that does exist um and in terms of uh any impacts from the coverage um we are also Pro providing that storm water management in terms of offsetting that impact um that's what I had for direct presentation tonight happy to answer any questions okay thank you Mr height any questions any yeah um M TI um so is that single story windowless uh Yellow Brick monstrosity still there or has it been raised it's still there of uh 3:30 today when I did my site visit yes right and is there you mentioned it's industrial use are there any cleanup issues that associated with it um I I have not gotten any information on that um I would imagine if there were they would have to go through any proper channels so the remediation of the site would have to happen to allow for the development thank you okay anybody else go ahead just uh since you put up the numbers on the um height Val um they're allowing you to you B it up 6 feet because of the flood R right correct am I okay I'm on now thank you can tell I should keep my glasses on I should that'll help uh then you said you're going to going to be 6 ft so there's a 4ot difference we're asking for the extra floor 10 ft the 4ot difference is that still in the flood Rim though is that like are we still at flood level of 4 feet so if there was a flood the cars that are parked there the lobby area I have a chance of be in in a 4ot flood Rim correct it's um so the the finished floor is with respect to the resident habitable space so that occurs at the Second Story um of the proposed and that's elevated above the flood plane that ground floor would still technically be within the flood plane will be on flood plane so electrical W meical room are we is there anything that you are foreseeing to protect those areas from being in that flont range cuz now you're they're all in a Front Range area right so yeah and I we're getting a little bit more into mechanical design from my knowledge that additional variance relief we're requesting helps us to allow for space to mount that equipment above that that six foot above that 4 foot so you'll be higher that theot that's my understanding of the the design of it I I would defer back to the project architect if we even have gotten to mounting the the mechanical design of it because usually we're not at that point I mean the people that are going to be parking their cars there are going to need to know that they're in a flood area right so that's that's up to them they decide to buy it or whatever that's up to them but now when you talk about electrical and safety to the building um I think those numbers should have been figured out before we had this conversation that would have been a lot helpful so I don't know if um Mr werman wants to address if if we even have gotten to that point A lot of times the HVAC equipment and system isn't designed when we're at we worried about the electrical panels coming into the room how big they are how you know uh how far off the floor they are my experience sometimes they're not that high up you know they're not they're definitely never more than 4 foot high um yeah it's it's obviously a concern with with all of our projects that are located within the FL the flood plane um So the plan for this building is to use a combination of dry and and wet flood proofing techniques so for rooms like the so the facade will be provided with flood vents along the parking garage to to deal with the with the flood waters the more sensitive uh mechanical rooms it's really just the electrical room on the ground floor uh we plan on using um a dry flood proofing technique so watertight door and then waterproofing around the electrical room to to help uh yeah prevent flooding um of of those specific spaces okay so the electrical room the sprinkler room okay so okay yeah understand that that that that works as long as they work you know long as they really I've seen other I'm I'm in I'm in the Construction St I've seen them go either way you know so they don't leave the door open I'll take that off the Record um the so the concern then my concern is so as we as I'll speak for myself okay as I approved this to go forward we're stating that the build is going to have a issue with a flood uh being in the flood um area the other buildings the existing building there right now is coming down correct okay uh yeah I'm not gonna go any more than that all right thank you very much for you asking the question thank you all right thanks Ed anybody else no okay thank you Mr height presentation so the public okay thank you is anybody here from the public that wants to comment on this application hi you SAR testim tonight going to be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do your name home address please sure it's Diane case last name is spelled k a e 192 Washington Street Jersey City Miss case good evening we have three minutes for you yes um first of all I want to say thank you to the applicant and that we did appreciate the extra time that they gave us uh to work with them to help bring this uh application into a more uh uh appropriate design uh we look forward to actually continuing a little bit of that because this is one where the devil's really in the details and the more definition we can get on this building the less blocky it will look and I think we've we've gone um we've taken considerable steps in that direction and I think maybe a couple more steps and we will have exactly what what's going to work but the one thing I did want to bring up was something that you all brought up which was the screening and the screening is on the first floor level it's not at upper levels so it's not a huge concern to the neighborhood obviously sealing lights would be more of a concern because they have a tendency to stay on if the ceiling lights are put on timers where or motion detectors that helps the other thing is that we would love to see some kind of artistic screening because it's right at the street level we're walking past it on a regular basis so having a series of louvers is not exactly something that we'd be interested in as a neighborhood so um like I said we hope to continue our collaboration with this project team we've had some really really good meetings we've had some really good back and forth and uh we are happy with where the design is right now and we look forward to continue to fine-tuning it thank you okay thank you Miss case and um Mr wenman and and Council um maybe I wasn't clear about the screening the if it was a Louver system would be inside any kind of decorative screening I think the screening that's there is more than sufficient as far as the looks go but I'd rather have louvers on the inside to block light coming out I understand so this could be something there could be a decorative screening outside but inside the L absolutely yeah that's we can I think that's what you talked about right Mr and we'll submit a detail to to planning okay and that's a condition right put a condition on okay thank you all right is there uh anybody else here from the public that wants to comment sen public Mr chair I move to close the public second okay motion is made and second it public is closed um cim anything you want to add yes um okay so we're going to just reorganize the staff conditions real quick so in the staff memo memo uh provided online dated July 9th we can omit the first condition um which was to revise the drawing so that they Incorporated the histo historic buffer um architectural elements um so that's been done so we can omit that and then we're going to add a 10th condition for the garage Louver and screening uh which we've put on the record tonight um are those conditions acceptable to the applicant they're acceptable and and the 10th condition is also acceptable okay thank you um and then just for the record it if you're removing one and adding one it'll be the ninth yes that would won't be a t unless it's sort of left open we want to put closure for Mr odonnell agreed yes I didn't want confusion about the existing ninth condition though or wanted to go into the details of Shifting numbers down but um true we would have nine conditions in total so thank you um now I would just put on the record that planning staff agrees with the professional planner testimony given regarding the variances um we do agree that they uh meet the uh C C1 and C2 um standards for uh permitting a variance in this Zone and planning staff finds that the variances will not have any detriment to the Zone plan or the master plan and they can be permitted without um having any adverse impact to the Public's General Health welfare well-being and beyond that um planning staff finds that this will be a welcomed addition to the neighborhood and it's an attractive building in the historic buffer and planning staff recommends approval okay thank you Cam Mr chair I'd like to make a motion to approve case p [Music] thank you for helping um I like the I like the um the result so I I I vote I commissioner gangadin um the variance in my opinion my V is I councilwoman prer hi commissioner Tes um just as one of the conditions that of the safety of the building and the welfare of the people in the building um just a uh consideration of the mechanical rooms that they are being protect protected as uh in that area and um the rest of the variant I see that's that that's they uh fit the building very fine in that area um familiar with the neighborhood um and thanks for working out with the community it's a very important uh with that I vote on commissioner lipsky yeah I know how meticulous Diane can be and uh diligent so I commend you Council for working with the community and getting it to a point of EX so I vote I commissioner Dr s yeah the only thing I like about is the parking you have enough parking for people so I vot I commissioner green I and chairman Langston yeah I uh I agree with Cam's testimony as well as Mr Heights uh I don't think there's any detriment to the Zone plan or the master plan when it comes to the deviations uh requested and my vote is I motion carries all in favor with conditions okay thank you thanks everybody for their cooperation appreciate it thank you all right uh we're going to take a 10-minute break everybody it's 6:50 we'll be back at 7:00 7 two hours Short the de I'm going four properties into one and build a new 8-story 53 unit building with 31 parking spaces uh just to quickly give you the unit breakdown there are 15 Studios that average 432 square feet 18 one-bedroom apartments that average 568 16 two bedrooms that average 1,43 ft and then four 3bedroom apartments that average 1,186 ft um here we're showing the uh rendering of the building I do want to show the site plan and walk through a few quick things uh so I want to start with the street the existing properties do each have a curb cut so there are four existing curb Cuts we'll be removing them building a new curb with only one 10ft curb cut we're also providing new sidewalks and one new Street tree to have two trees total uh the building itself is built to the rear property line and built to both side property lines with the exception of this 5-ft alley on the left um that alley is there to respect the uh windows on the three-story building to the left there the front uh setback is just about 6 ft uh and that was chosen to match again that building to the left it's the exact same front setback as the building to the left and we are using the space in front of the building basically for Planters as much as we can uh and the other thing site plan that I do want to note is we do have a storm water retention system it's located on the in the cellar level all of the building leaders go there first so the as Tom mentioned the engineers here if you did want to discuss that with that I'm going to just move on to the architecturals and this is I'm going to start here on the seller plan uh so the seller we have a sprinkler room at the bottom left just so you know uh Liberty Avenue is at the bottom of the drawings so the sprinkler room here is just at the front of the building off Liberty Avenue so this will be a fully sprinkler building the front here actually is our storm water detention uh tank and then we do have a room with some storage lockers that will be rentable to uh tenants then besides that the rest of this floor is basically parking it's accessed from this ramp that goes up to to the first floor and I do just want to deal with both floors together as far as the parking so I'm going to move on to the first floor uh so you're we have the single access for in and out uh right here on the left with the two-way Drive aisle which again wraps around and then down and that's where that ramp is that goes down to the seller level so in total both of these floors together have 31 parking spaces uh five of which have EV Chargers uh 48 bicycle parking spaces so almost one per unit and then actually seven uh motorcycle parking spaces and some of the extra space okay so staying here on the first floor uh we spoke about the uh parking space I do want to get into the residential uh the main entry is on the right side of this drawing which is closer to uh St Paul Avenue we have a large residential Lobby which gives us access to the stair to the parking area and to two elevators uh also we do have an amenity space on this floor located in the back it is a total of of 516 ft and it also has its own Ada bath attached to it on the left side of the building we do have that 5 foot alley that I mentioned and off of that alley we have our second stair and we have our trash room uh the building has a trash shoot which leads directly to this room there's a compactor in the room and there's direct access to that side alley to bring everything out to the street moving on to the second floor this floor is entirely residential and we did increase the setbacks on this floor so each of the side yards are now set uh 5 feet in and the rear yard is now 30 feet uh the front did not change however we do have two small cancel levers in the front so what we have on this floor are eight apartments in total and it's a mix of Studios which are shown in the blue one bedrooms which are the gray two bedrooms which are the green and three bedrooms which are brown uh so all the apartments in the building including these are Ada adaptable they all have washer dryer in the unit and we're using uh electric he- pumps with wall mounted Mini Splits for heat and air conditioning uh on this floor we do have that roof uh section on the first floor that we're going to use for private roof decks so the back five Apartments will each have their own private roof deck as well as that we're going to have 1,156 ft of green roof trays on this uh second floor this is a plan for the third fourth and fifth floors uh there's also eight apartments on this floor however the mix is a little different there are three Studios two one bedroom apartments and three two-bedroom apartments so there are no three bedrooms on these floors then this this plan is showing the sixth seventh and eighth floor here we only have seven Apartments per floor so they're a little bigger uh it's one Studio three one bedrooms two two-bedrooms and there's a three-bedroom on each of these floors as well then lastly for the floor plans we do have a roof deck on the building uh it's served by both elevators and stairs and we have an elevator Lobby between them here um it's a common roof deck it is set back 10 ft from the front of the building um we're using that space for green roof trays there's a total of 1,258 squ feet of green roof trays on this floor we also have a large section of HVAC condensers and we have an emergency backup generator for the elevator here we're looking at the front elevation to the building and here we were looking to create a building with some depth and interest by using some small Canal levers in the front as well as a variety of different building materials and colors so the Bain our main building material is Brick and we are doing that in two different colors uh one side is a simple dark ray brick it's a black diamond velour and the other side is a mix of three different blends a three excuse me it's a three brick blend that we're showing here on the right of the drawing uh this brick uh is accented at the base with a cast with a cast stone base as well as a cast stone band above the first floor uh the second U major material we have here are fiber cement panels and we're using those in three different colors actually so there's a charcoal colored panel that are located in between the windows vertically and then there are two on the main sections that are fiber SM panels uh the lower levels have a light mist colored panel and then at the top we have arctic white panels and then you can see the stair bulk heads that are Beyond and those will also be uh arctic white however those are fiber SM siding uh lastly working our way back down all of the windows and doors on the building at the front at least are a black aluminum frame we also have a black aluminum wrapped canopy above the main entrance here on the right and lastly here the garage door is a black steel rollup garage door this is the right side elevation the ground floor is is on the property line and everything else is set back 5T so on the ground floor we're going to have a dark gray smooth stco finish and then everything above is going to be fiber spent siding again the two colors uh with the light mist color at the lower levels and the arctic white at the top and lastly we are um we do have a 5ft brick return around the side elevation here now we're looking at the left side so here's where that alley is uh so this is on the property line and again will be finished with a smooth stucco finish painted dark gray and again the same two color uh a fiber cement siding and that same 5ft brick return uh the main difference here is we do have the alley so we have the side door for uh the stair and we have a again black steel rollup door for the uh garage area so we can have direct garage I'm sorry for the trash area so we can have direct out from the trash and then lastly here we have our rear elevation which is again the same same story where we have a smooth stco finish on the ground floor and then the two colors of Fiers SM siding above uh that would conclude the architectural presentation I could answer questions now or after whichever you prefer all right thank you Mr Lewis uh I just have just a couple m questions the screening for the uh condenser units is it the wood slat screening or is it the uh aluminum equipment screen that's listed right there um o let me check for you that's an that's a question I wasn't ready for I believe it's the wood slots that we're showing here on the right yes it's the wood slot fence okay the aluminum is for what the stair Tower oh the aluminum is the is is for the um yeah it's for on the stair Tower and it's for the generator okay and then my other question while you're on the generator that's shock mounted as well I believe it has to be okay um and then my last question comment uh I could ask it now I could ask it later but I just want to make sure and we'll add this as a condition of approval that uh the affordable units are constructed with the same fit and finish as the rest of the building there's no discernable difference between those from the market rate units in the that is 100% true okay thank you that's it for me anybody else just have a question sure goe do we uh cam do we have a staff memo on this so juru couldn't be with us tonight unfortunately and um we were just going to read into the condition uh uh the conditions into the record um but so yes the answer is yes there is a staff report we have it okay can agree to all the conditions in it yes yes we have a staff report and I believe it was online there's nothing online could be mistaken we could we could print it and then bring it back yeah actually remember any comments in it right no just the staff recommended conditions which were yeah this might be the situation where the applicants saw it um but we maybe didn't togg it to available for the general public and on the public facing website um this is this just comes down to maybe uh being still new to the system um but we did disseminate it to the applicant um we we'll leave it with the board what with what they want to do okay um yeah I don't want to penalize the applicant because it's it's not up there but uh we you know we do need to we need to do better on those we need to get those up we had a uh a rule in the past where it had to be up by the Friday close a business this before the meeting all staff reports so uh let's try and get back to that if we can all right guys understood yeah I'll I'll double check to see the the time that we uploaded it um and if that's some of concern as well I'll talk to that to shanu about that but I will certainly make sure that she needs to know the difference between um one that's internally sure um available versus publicly available okay gotcha thank you uh anything else any questions all right thank you Mr Los thank you thank you uh next I'm going to um have Lee Klein come up and just address the uh memo we received from Transportation truth truth I do Lee middle initial D is and Daniel kleene kle i n my license is current and in good standing and I'm also a nationally certified professional traffic operations engineer and that certification is also in good standing okay thank you Mr we appreciate it and uh I I forget what your voice sounds like sometimes it's nice to have you actually come up and testify said that last time I know I'm floored when you come up I love it so I'm looking at the August 5th 2024 uh report from the Department of infrastructure division of Transportation Planning and there are four comments I'll just go through them quickly uh one of the comments is the accessibility of uh handicap person through the garage we have a series of ballards that are protecting some interior walls there and I believe the spacing between those ballards is at least 3 feet so handicap accessibility should be through those ballards uh number two is a parking garage space number 18 it's in the corner um on the council can we can we show back the parking level yeah on there pent was yeah thanks sure basement level yeah and then so just to go down for the next one okay good just hit the right button yeah good so the one on the upper right hand corner is space number 18 uh it's an 8 point or an 8 foot wow 8 FO 3 in wide space it's marked as Compact and so is number 17 next to it in a situation like that a vehicle can pull in head first and still open up their driver side door without hitting the wall if a passenger was in the car they'd have to be let out first before they Park um loading so the comment is about this being a dead engine Street and they're recommending a horseshoe driveway but in the situation on uh Liberty at the end of Liberty on the left hand side the west side is a hydrant and on the east side there's a series of driveways so basically the end is not parked so a truck if they had to if they're doing it today would come down do a k turn and then exit and then the uh last comment is about the electric vehicle stations and I think we've got five but I think we need to move one of them to the handicap spot because at least one needs to be a handicap uh EV charging spot so we've got five it's like one two and three on one level or one and two on one level uh 3 four 2 three four on the basement so we'll move one of them over to the the EV and we then we'll meet the state statute you don't have to increase the size of the spot for the charger no it's a it's a post-mounted you know like if this is the spot it's post mounted up in the in the front there's a head to charge my car and then usually if there's a car next to it so they're double-headed okay understood that's it anything else that's it for that any questions anyone yeah I have a question how many bike parkings you have I believe we have 48 bike parking spaces 24 in one level and 24 24 on the basement and 24 on the first level yes and do you allow ebikes to be parked that I'm going to leave I mean I haven't been here since I've heard that question so um I I think the the type of bike racks that we have would probably not be able to hold um one of the ebikes because they're they're larger yeah it's the the racks are for standard um you know obviously we can put it into the lease as a policy that we wouldn't allow that in there but you know that's that's hard to police you will make people sign that they won't park ebikes there that would be something we could put in the lead is a restriction yes yeah because of the fire yeah I know it's it's a problem throughout the city I know so yes that's that's a standard lease condition at least in the ones that I've reviewed these days is to to make sure that people don't put the ebikes in but again it's it's a difficult thing to because this this area where you have the building so many people have bikes over there they use even ebikes and everything and probably you won't know they are parking in there so you have to get it signed in the lease yeah we can we can add that as a condition of approval if you would like yeah I think that's probably where we should headle with it okay all right thank you Doctor anything else anybody all right thank you Mr kin we appreciate it um and finally I'm just going to have Sam Bellamy come up and uh quickly confirm that there are no uh variances for this project truth the truth nothing Tru yes I do sure Samuel Bellamy last name b l l m y Mr Bellamy good evening your licens is current tonight evening yes it's current in a good standing is this going to be the easiest money you ever made hopefully I'm here I'm here later on tonight okay all right so yeah this this property is located in the R3 District it's a conforming multif family use as Mr lean said the affordable housing overlay replaces the traditional density standard with one based on a bulk and the bulk of the building is conforming so overall this is directly in line with what the zoning calls for and is completely conforming all right thank you any questions anybody nice very nice work all right Council anything else uh the only thing I would add is that we did uh meet with um the the condo board uh for 75 Liberty across the street we met with about uh 15 people uh from the condominium just to to walk them through the proposal there was not um any serious um uh complaints about the the project uh we did say that we would continue to meet with them uh to discuss construction because obviously it's a dead end street so there was concern about um about construction and being able to navigate the street sure uh and with that uh I I did review the uh The Memo from planning and we do agree to the uh the conditions there in uh along with the condition uh regarding the um the finishes in the affordable unit uh replacing one of the Ada spaces as an EV space and um a um a requirement in the leasee that no ebikes are allowed in the uh the bike area excellent okay thank you all right is there anybody here from the public that wants to comment on this application Mr chair I see no public I move to close second okay motion is made and seconded public is closed cam you want to add anything um all right so I don't know how you want to handle this chair but would you want to Mark into evidence one copy of the staff memo or would you rather just read into the record the conditions I think if you explain anything of relevance in the memo that's sufficient for the board's purpose and then any of the conditions obviously uh you can articulate okay um so I suppose actually since Tom's actually mentioned the memo already maybe we should just mark it into evidence okay um just so we have a record let's call it A2 thanks Matt um so thank you for agreeing to those conditions and the math uh staff memo um planning staff agrees with the professional planner testimony this application does not have any variances um and this application does meet the purpose of the affordable housing overlay um so planning staff is satisfied with the purpose of this application and the um design um will not have any detriment to the Zone plan or the Public's General Health welfare or well-being and planning staff recommends approval with the conditions uh stated in the planning staff memo okay thank you Kim Mr J I'd like to make a motion to approve case p2023 d71 with conditions listed as a uh as um presented to the board tonight second okay motion is made and seconded for approval okay on a motion to approve uh Vice chair Dr Gonzalez hi commissioner Gaden I'm happy to see that there are some affordable housing units in this building I commissioner councilwoman Prince Ary hi commissioner Torres hi commissioner lipskin hi commissioner Dr Desai I commissioner green I and chairman Langston I motion carries all in favor with conditions okay thank you everybody uh thank you let's call Item 14 is case p23 083 is a preliminary and final major subdivision with variances for 206 vanv Street and council do you want to call the next one concurrently yes please okay so we'll also call Item 15 is case p23 d84 is a preliminary and final major site plan with variances for 206 vanor Street okay now for the record Charles Harrington of Connell Foley on behalf of the appc and I do have U the original Public Notices that were sent for the respective applications we we did provide separate notices for the subdivision and for the uh site plan and I have them here chairman receive the Affidavit of publication proof of mailing with respect to both the subdivision and subsequent site plan application for purposes of the record while we're going to hear the presentation together we're going to Mark the notice for case p23 d83 which is the subdivision application as A1 and we are going to Mark the notice for case p23 084 as A1 little a who appear to be in order and we can Mark those accordingly thank you Council okay thank you uh so we have here uh before you tonight is uh or the two applications uh the one is uh a request for a preliminary and final major subdivision uh and and then uh the second application is for a site plan approval for the remainder Lots um for five two family homes and then one lot uh will be used as a play area for a daycare that is is will be um occupying the adjacent building so this right now it's a it's an existing corner lot uh around 15 not around it's 15,000 square F feet uh if you're familiar with the uh poles hook area in this this area by at it's it's close to the St peters's prep practice field and it's the commonly referred to as the bell fuse building down there it's a it's very old old building and and um the portion that's part of the site plan before you tonight is the parking lot area um so the purpose of the subdivision is to subdivide out the existing belf fuse building uh as one lot uh and then H uh create six additional lots that front the long Water Street and that's where we would create the five tow houses and and the the play area uh to um to be associated with the daycare that will be in the in the belf fuse building um now the property is a little kind of unique too in that it's it's located within the Tidewater Basin Redevelopment plan area um and it's within the historic buffer District but there's also a small sliver that is located in the uh po hook historic district uh and I I point that out because we were required to go to the historic preservation commission to have the subdivision reviewed uh and and uh receive uh approval on that and there were some uh changes and work that we were proposed to do to the belf fuse building as part of this site plan application and that that was approved and we received a certificate uh of appropriateness uh a few months ago um so uh you'll see the the uh the variances we're requesting uh with regard to the subdivision are related to the minimum lot size sizes of the respective lots for the town homes uh and then there the other ones are related to the existing belf fuse building which are existing conditions and we cannot change um then you'll see the the uh variances we're requesting with regard to the the site plan and the town homes are really related to to the the undersized nature of the lots and specifically the the depth of the lots you'll the Lots um are broken into a 25 ft wide corner lot and then the remainder five or 20t wide so you have you know a good substantial width on the lots and although it's not in the historic district the the the minimum lot size for the historic district is 18 ft wide um but because of the Bell fuse building we can't go any uh any further um back um there about 60 to 65 ft deep um so that that's going to generate a lot of the requested variances uh we're seeking we're also seeking a request for relief from the parking uh the the current plan would require a minimum of one unit per one parking space per unit and a maximum of two uh we are not providing uh for any parking uh in the tow houses again we're our our thought is to have kind of a townhouse style similar to the historic districts uh at as noted that this is in the historic buffer District in the Tidewater Basin plan so directly to the East are are actually one and two family homes uh you have larger buildings uh to the South and to the West um but our thought is similar to Historic District uh tow houses parking is not permitted on on developments less than 10 units so we think that's that's an appropriate um development option here uh so we um we have the HPC approval we have you know I see you know Miss cases here we did meet with her and and some of the neighbors with regard to this and and and some other issues related to it I'll I'll let Miss case you know speak for herself um on on her her opinions but uh we think it's a it's a it's a good project that's going to fill up uh a surface parking lot which you know you don't you don't want surface parking lots um and um it's an appropriate use so with that said I I have um three Witnesses tonight I'm going to bring up uh my engineer Mr Raymond he's just going to walk you through the the site and point out how the the the subdivision breaks out uh then Nicole Robertson is our architect and she'll walk you through the proposed uh uh units in the architecture and then Gabe Balor is our our planner that'll um walk you through the the respective requests for the variances and that being said I'm going to bring up Mr Raymond hi uh sure oh gosh I did this last time Edwin last name Raymond r e i m o n license engineering New Jersey office at 11 Park Avenue in rodford New Jersey okay thank you sir and uh that license is current tonight it is okay thanks you're qualified you're welcome okay CH go ahead okay Mr Raymond if you could give the board the benefit of your knowledge of the site and welcome through the proposed subdivision and the respective Lots okay so what we have in the screen right now is the Subdivision plat uh we have the as you mentioned the whole entire property and then it's going to be subdivided into the the portion that you see in Gray on the top and then the the bottom part of of that drawing you're going to see five rectangles and then one blank space next to it so you have six lots that are going to be the subdivision that we're going to be talking about here today and those are lot numbers can you zoom in please all right so we have number 30.01 which is going to be the playground down 30.02 through 30.06 which are going to be the town homes all these slot are going to be uh 20 foot wide except the one at the corner of moris and Barbur and that is going to be 25 ft wide uh the lot on the right hand side which is going to be the playground it's going to have a a funky shape on the top it's going to have 10 10.5 ft then 1.5 and then again turning to the right uh to complete the 20 ft that is the actual Subdivision plat that we're going to be discussing tonight the next drawing is going to be the okay so the next drawing is the existing condition plans go back yes so as uh Shu mentioned also the existing condition plants is basically a parking lot um it's more than 90% imperious and this is going to be removed to put the new building the total square footage of this slot is 8,084 square ft uh by the rules of the Jersey City municipal code for a stone Water Management this qualify as a minor development and to that effect we are going to provide a Blue Roof for the construction of this project uh the Blue Roof is going to reduce the flows as required uh we're going to talk about that later a blue roof or a green roof I'm I'm sorry a green roof yes I apologize for that uh the side plan that we see here is on the second drain like that yeah you going to see here on the right hand side which is load 30.01 that is going to be the playground where we have a small grass area and the rest of our lot is going to be imperious the lots to the left are all the residential New Town Homes and they're going to have a setback from the property line where you're going to see the steps going up and also a landscaping area why do we have these steps and it's because we are in the flood plane and we are elevating the entrance of a building to Elevation 11 the AE elevation on the sun is N9 so we are 2 ft above the flood plane elevation there is nothing below the 11.0 elevation that we have for this building so all the utilities are on elevation 11 or above on this plan you can also see three Street trees on the side of moris street you're going to see one proposed Tree on the side on Van Bor Street there are two existing trees that are going to remain on Van Bor Street and there is one street Tre that is going to remain on moris Street in addition to that we are not going to impact the intersection of moris and VOR because there is a raise uh uh pavement at that intersection that is called traffic calming and that is uh for pedestrian use so that area is not going to be part of a scope of work for the project so as you can see the area that is cross hatch on the right hand side where you see the the gray color on moris Street that's where we begin the new sidewalk and then on the street we're going to do full death bement for all the utilities are going to be underground the same thing is going to happen on Van Bor Street we're going to do uh milling and Paving from the end of that Race intersection all the way to the limit of a project which is a property line moving to the next drawing this one here yeah okay moving to the next drawing we have the utility plan on this utility plan you're going to see a lot of lines because we have all these Town Homes we have to provide by by code utility service to each of his town homes one of the comment from the Jersey City mua was that we're going to have a lot of cuts on the water line that is fronting m Street that's where we're going to provide most of the connections on the proposed utilities so the Jersey City mua recommended to replace the whole entire section of water M along moris so that's what you see on the drawing at the very bottom when you look at the where my pointer is the heavy line that means that is a replacement of a water line and you see like five five small black dots in there those are the water valve so we have the connections from the water main on the street to all the laterals that are coming into the building the same thing happen to gas electric that is coming from a pole on the right hand side uh the sewer connections are also connected right there on moris street and then for the unit that is on the left hand side we have all the connections on Van VOR Street uh moving forward to the next drawing this is the lighting plan the lighting PL was also reviewed by the engineering office um no comments we meet the requirements as far as the pollution of Lights we have less than 0.3 encroaching the the side property lines on the back um in addition to that I would like to point out that there is a street Lighting on on these two streets also uh on moris and Van and also there is actually one um new type of streetcape lighting on on bambor Street almost at the intersection and this is um I don't know if a board if a members would like to uh hear about the stone Water Management I find it kind of of interesting the type of system that we have but looking at the faces I don't think that you going to hear about it do that real quick is it yeah is it different than any other is a little bit different I like toar yeah absolutely so what we have is that for the last uh let me say first we had to revise a storm water management report because of this new layout that we have on the subdivision we have the lot at the corner what we did is that we didn't take advantage of the green space that we have on the right hand side we brought in a company that is based in Maryland that is really into a green and blue roof and we brought in a new type of blue green roof that we're going to provide for this project which has almost twice the capacity of water storage than the one that we've been using in the last three or four years so that being said without even looking at the green space that we have on the lot of the corner we were able to achieve the minimum requirements by the JY City J C standard for the storm water for minor development which is 0.6 gallon per square foot of imperious surface so we have 636 cubic feet of water on this green roof whereas we need only 66002 so we are over 30 cubic feet of water above what is required on this green roof and we are not even going to the lot that is at the corner so H how or tell us about how yeah tell about tell us about the the increase where did the increase come from the increase come from from what is called the capacity of the me Meda that you have for the green roof so they were able to combine and a different sizes of materials and the vegetation that they using because that's very important to the type of vegetation that you use in the green roof and the media that you use so we have a 6 Ines of media that is slightly different than the media that is typically used they have been looking into that for years I guess and they were able to get the volume of detention within that green roof with an a specific type of vegetation right so the vegetation in combination with the c an C analysis is that you know the part the size of a particles the type of of of material that you use all that together that's what give you this High detention in the green roof interesting some kind of patent on this um I I don't think I have it with me but I I can next time that I come I can bring it in actually and show it to you but the patent I don't think that is been uh no this is this is the first one that we did we change that okay yeah it's green technologies that's what it's called so they don't have a patent as of now as far as I know but they can be duplicated by other people well is I found like I found it in the internet anybody can find it I called them and I spoke to the owner and I did a zoom meeting with him I explained to him what we do here in New Jersey the rules that we have for the stone water management and the guy was like a jumping on the chair I'm so happy when I told him the things that I wanted to do and he said Edwin if you want me to come to the meetings I can come so you find you find this one compared to what we've been using for the last three years absorb a double the amount of water what is the weight to the structure to move or any of that has to change that's very that is very good yeah what happened also is that you see there is something called the wiing point of the media which is at one any% of moist below the wiing point the vegetation dies so the capaity is from that witing point to the saturation of the media all right what they have been able to to do is plant or get a vegetation type in combination with a soil that the mix that they have to give you that detention in that media higher than what is typically done okay which is very interesting okay yeah let's say if I use 0.3 minus wiing point 0.017 now I'm using 0.5 minus 0.017 so it's is a substantial increase in the tension that you have see and to your enthusiasm it looks like this is a u oh I I love it economical too right it's like it's it's almost but the point that you were making is the weight you see this is what happened now they have different sizes 6 Ines 8 Ines 10 Ines intensive and extensive because remember DP has two different type of green roof intensive and extensive so in the extensive green roof you are a 6 in and those six Ines are giving you more capacity but the weight for the structural engineer when start designing the thres on the roof that's what really matters we are at 70 pound square foot versus some of the other models that we had we were talking about over 85 PB square foot so it's a 15 lb square foot difference in Lo very nice glad you made that phone call I'm sure I'm sure we'll be having this discussion with planning uh so in all seriousness Mr Harrington I think obviously in an urban setting like the one that we have here this this could be the type of a product that could really benefit the entire city and uh have you seen it have you actually seen it in application anywhere he invited me already to to come because he has like um the way he works is that he's like me he's a consultant to all these companies that provide for him that provides but he has come up with so I can I haven't seen it in application yet I haven't I have seen the brochures and the picture because he showed me pictures of the green we haven't seen it in the field yet but haven't been in the field yet okay that's what it is and you're going to go see in the field I assume you Kidd me kidding does I have to go there so Mr Harrington if we could provide planning with this information I think it would be very helpful because if this gentleman is is giving us accurate information I think we're going to be looking for for these green roofs in the future yeah oh the reping here already yeah AB absolutely we share that information with planning yeah that's the one that says revise August yes AUST 24 yeah okay all right we're going to call it for here yeah all right true we any any other questions for for Mr Raymond I don't think so anybody any questions I know okay thank you sir okay uh can take it out no this is yours yes I don't know and uh just for the record where I I believe all the all the sheets we're showing you um on the overhead are contained within the package we submitted to uh to Tyler and to the board but um I ask that they be marked as uh A2 are we up to A2 okay and also slides yeah the engineering and Architectural slides 35 30 is it 3 35 yes 35 yes thank you councelor and just uh before um Miss Robinson uh begins I just want to uh let the board know for context uh you heard the the application earlier for 215 vanvorst this this is caddy corner to it it's about 200 feet away on the other side of the street mhm okay now yesu truth yes I do it's Nicole n i o e Robertson r o b RTS o n no no more Miss Robertson good evening uh We've qualified you before your license is current tonight yes it is okay thank you qualified great thank you take it away okay so um we just prepared a slide presentation which is a little bit of a condensed highlighted version of the drawings the drawings go into a lot more um detail but these are basically excerpts from or they are excerpts from the drawing so we've talked about the location of the site I won't spend a lot of time on this um Chuck covered this and and Chuck and Edwin um covered this uh uh thoroughly um to discuss the fact that we're in the Tidewater Basin Redevelopment um we the um in the historic buffer zone so we are a kind of buffer between the pois hook historic district and the larger buildings that are part of the Tidewater Basin Redevelopment plan um this these images just show the existing conditions the belf fuse building um and the way that the um subdivided the proposed subdivision to the Lots um is organized in the perspective View and then you can see the existing uh belf fuse building buing which is a historic structure um we did get approval from historic to modify the building in order to accommodate um the proposed structure on the um what is currently a parking lot at the corner just kind of move through this quickly um our zoning tabulation chart uh highlights in yellow the variances that we're seeking which um uh Mr Harrington explained in detail really um come from the the fact that you know the the rear of the site is kind of uh defined by the existing belf building which is a historic structure um and it leaves us with um a limited depth to work with but the width of each of the proposed uh Lots is really consistent with what we see in the historic district um the corner lot 25t wide and then the um remaining five uh Lots being 20 ft wide each um so of course the minimum lot size is one of the proposed variances in the subdivision um highlighted in yellow there and then the others that we're um discussing are the front yard setback which um I'll show in our site plan that actually we do comply at the corner with um a 5ot minimum uh rear yard setback requirement but because the site is not a perfect rectangle there's actually a kind of taper so the front yard setback tapers down to um 4ot 6 so it starts off at 5T at the corner and then tapers and because of the very limited depth of the site um we really um didn't want to lose even a few inches um to work with with the living space um and then the the maximum lot coverage also is um well currently it's 100% lot coverage uh we're proposing um you know it's less than 100 it's around 99% but you'll see that um much of it is permeable pavers so those um are counted as um I guess as lot coverage but they do allow water to infiltrate through um and as um Mr raymon has um explained in detail you know we were really thoughtful about um the design of the drainage system or the um water retention system on the roof with an extensive um modular Green Roof System that has a higher capacity than than what is typical um same we uh not proposing any parking again we're in a kind of um the historic buffer between uh you know the PA pois hook um neighborhood where uh parking uh off street parking is not permitted for developments less than 10 units and then we have larger buildings with um uh provision for parking we are not proposing any parking in this to kind of be in more in keeping with um the character of the pois hook neighborhood um so in summary we're proposing five attached two family homes and one playground space with planted areas that will serve the daycare that's at the ground level of the belf fuse building which is a historic structure that we are um renovating at the interior um the proposed Building height is four stories as has been said um you know we do need to elevate that first floor um above the base flood elevation to an elevation of 11 um so all of the habitable spaces of the project are um are well above the the flood plane as well as any utilities um this drawing here shows how um we do need to maintain existing openings on the Bell fuse building but then we are proposing to um demolish an existing overhang and also infill um one of the um existing windows on on the belf fuse building and all of this has been uh presented to um HPC and was approved as part of their review of the subdivision proposal um this drawing shows um is is intended as a diagram to show the proposed coverage which does include this this is not building coverage um but actually lot coverage which just show shows um The Patio area in the back so all of this is count Ed towards coverage um if we were to comply with the required coverage um we would have an even smaller um building and um which would be difficult to make work um given the the small depth of the Lots uh this diagram is showing um really highlighting that each of the units in this project has um private outdoor space so we have an 8ot um rear yard setback Which is less than the required 15 ft but again if we would do the 15 um foot rear yard setback um the the depth of the units themselves would be um reduced to a point that it would be difficult to um make the plan work but we're using that 8ft rear yard setback as um an exterior patio for private outdoor space which is very nice and also provides um a second means of egress from the um you know we need to provide all of the windows on the rear of the facade um the bedroom windows open to um the rear yard and then have access to um the public RightWay via this um the blue line which shows um this uh uh pathway which leads to moris Street um the main entrances to the tow houses are on Morris Street and um as Mr rayon mentioned we're up um several steps to reach that um 11 elevation and the red triangles indicate um where we have entrances to the units we have a common trash room that um is accessed off of Van VOR Street which is highlighted in the pink and then um the utility rooms are all also elevated above that um 2 feet above that base flood elevation so they're um out of the way of any kind of flood Hazard um our site plan here shows um the uh planted area for the playground that serves the um daycare use and then we have our our lighting plan which just shows you know um understated light fixtures that complement the um proposed uh architectural design um to quickly go through the units so the ground level which is again elevated about 4 feet above existing grade which is at 7.5 approximately um we're at um 11 so um sorry so it's like three and a half ft or so um the the ground level or first level of all of these units um these are uh two bedroom units uh largest one at the corner um and then we have and this unit is about over 1,73 Square ft at the corner with a lot of you know uh windows and then we have um the four other units are basically uh mirrored they're um duplicated and and mired and they're each about um 890 Square ft um and then highlighted in blue and purple and pink are the stairs that lead up to the triplex units above I do want to also point out that there are some planted areas here at the front um of the building and then we have our um 5 foot setback here this is um what I was mentioning um so we do meet that minimum uh 5ft setback requirement at the corner but because of the shape of the lot and the taper that exists that you can see in the lot line here um it tapers down so we have a reduced setback as we um get uh further further um East um at the second floor uh this is the first level of the triplex units it's living dining um very large open space um I think a lot of the idea behind these town houses was to really encourage uh families to stay in pois Hook I think one of the challenges of um for a lot of people downtown is that it's you know there are not a lot of uh large units for families so a lot of people end up um moving out um so the units are big and they're really designed to um encourage people to stay in in the neighborhood and attend the schools and you know really build their families in Jersey City uh the third floor plan which is the second floor of of the duplex um has in in the typical units uh there's a very large kind of primary bedroom suite um that fronts on Morris a large you know bathroom walk-in closet and then um a bath a bed a bedroom at the rear of each of the units with an on Suite um bathroom uh at the corner unit I mean that's a it's a little bit of different kind of unit we have two large almost like primary Suites where you can imagine you know uh a parent staying um uh something like that I mean it's really encouraging uh the the the extension of um these spaces to uh larger family um and then on the top floor of the triplex units we have three bedrooms so each of the triplexes are five bedroom units they're big um they're around 3500 Square fet each um which is which is quite large but also very similar to you know what you'll see in some of the larger kind of Brownstones and um that you find in paus Hook and so we have two smaller bedrooms at the rear and then a large um on Suite uh bedroom with on Suite bath and walk-in closet at the at the front the roof plan which we've talked about um a little bit and it sounds like um uh the the the selection of the um Roof System uh has been updated since what we are showing here to something that has a higher capacity than what we typically use but you can see the size of the roof deck is actually um pretty you know small we didn't want to do anything um too too large but there is space for an outdoor kitchen and um it's set back from the street so it's not visible and um these the roof deck is um surrounded by um the modular green roof tray system that Mr raymon spoke about um this is a drainage plan and then we have our um proposed elevations so the existing elevation right now is the belfus building is a very uh beautiful historic uh brick structure and then with a um the the uh gray zinc addition um the and then of course it's an open parking lot um the building that we're proposing um it really we really view it as a transition um truly a um a a buffer uh between the historic district and the Tidewater basement redevelop Basin Redevelopment plan so at the base of the building we're using a red brick which I have here so we're using a red brick at the base of the building that really connects to what you see in the neighborhood and um at the ba belfus building and then above hold this um sure and then above we're um proposing a dark metal panel and the orange uh panel here is the proposed uh color of the window frames which is a custom color which relates to the tones of the brick um and then we also have some fins that you can see in this elevation uh these orange fins which um just create some Dimension and visual interest at the corner um I do want to just kind of it's it's a little hard we're in artificial um light here but we did test these materials outside because you know we really didn't want to do a black building we did look at this outside and the way that the light hits this we're facing south we're facing west we're getting a lot of um sunlight these you know this does not look super dark when you're outside um so we thought it was appropriate and um actually complemented the base in Brick uh very nicely and this material as well um you know it's got a kind of metallic quality that we thought was um really great at the rear of the building we have um a stucco which we refer to as light but again like once you get stucco in sunlight it it really looks much lighter than what the sample looks like so we have actually been moving away from the lighter stuckos because it just um it it looks we think it fits better with the proposed metal panel and the rest of the the pallet which is um in here so this is the elevation on Morris Street um so you can see the rhythm of the tow houses is really articulated by the the windows which are large and we think makes for a really bright happy interior space that um families are looking for um and it relates to you know the larger buildings across the street which have you know very large Windows um so we think it's a nice complement to that the rear of the building is is stucco with Black Metal Frames um so it's definitely a simpler design it's not visible from the public right of way at all we're also showing um wall mounted condensing units on the rear of the building um at a level that you know isn't visible um you know from the street at all and it's just a way of kind of keeping uh the mechanical equipment off the roof and then this is a drawing that just shows um the modifications to the belf fuse building which again um was reviewed by historic and um approved as part of the subdivision approval that they issued and then we have an axonometric view of the proposed project um which just gives you a sense of the kind of scale and relationship to the surrounding buildings our visual impact um study or block elevations shows how you know in the historic district we do have um smaller structures or even you know we have one on the street that's also four stories so we're we're really not proposing anything taller than what is um found on the Block um The Block is variable there's a a kind of mix of buildings of different size and then we're kind of stepping up um to the um Tidewater Basin Redevelopment plan which you can see in this elevation um the Morris Street block elevation uh there's more of a contrast although you can see that there are some there's um some buildings here that are four stories so we're relating to that and um we could um imagine how this steps up to um the other building larger buildings across the street visual impact assessment this is just showing how we're not seeing um the railings around the roof deck or the bulkhead um when you're across the street and then we have our building sections and then some details Shadow studies um don't I'm not going to I mean what we're proposing is is it it will obviously cast a shadow but not larger than what is already being cast um across the street and that would be that's it are Shadow studies so I'll just end on this axonometric view thank you uh any questions so the the biggest one that jumps out to me are the condenser units on the back of the building M how are they going to be serviced um where do they drain to did they just drip uh good question I mean that was you know let's see let me go back to this well I think it's they may have to be mounted a little bit lower um but it's yeah um that hasn't been totally worked out admittedly but um we didn't want to put them on the roof so that was I mean I think it's accessed by ladder but it's yeah have you ever serviced a condenser unit I mean it's definitely done all I have not personally done it but um yeah it could be could be difficult to reach those um I wouldn't want to climb that ladder with equipment on me and right and that's not a it's not a flat surface back there is it um well it is yeah there is a little bit of a slope um yeah I mean we could certainly look at another solution for that I think that was um something that you know I I mean besides the safety aspect of it the right the look The Look of it is yeah I don't want to sound extreme here but that that's appalling where they are right now yeah maybe the alternative is to put them up on the roof maybe they go on the roof yeah I think this this came from um intentions good intentions but yes we could we could put them on the roof that might make more sense that's usually what we do or we can put one in the backyard servicing the ground floor unit and the upper unit could be serviced by one that's on the roof that would be easy to do well now we need to talk screening too so if you know if that's the proposal we need to see a different rendering MH yeah I think that we I think we could I could talk with the owner about putting them on the roof I think that was that was a request um that we do that but I I do think there are some practical issues um but there is space to screen them on the roof let me go back to the roof plan um we do have a lot of space on the roof to work with um but yeah we may need to you know I mean then your green roof calculations change as well yeah I think we're actually way over the requirement I think if I saw it Ed I don't know if Edwin uh Mr raymon is here but um I know that we're way over the requirement given this um system so I don't I don't think it would be a problem to you know create a smaller area here maybe behind the bulkhead that could um you know conceal a condensing unit it's it's really one unit um so we can use a mechanical screen it wouldn't be visible from the public right away it would be kind of linked to the bulkhead um I don't think that's an insurmountable um thing but yeah point taken for sure so yeah yes well that's what that's what I was saying on the ground floor we have space we no don't know I mean on the Roof oh on the roof yeah we could do that as well I mean they're already small um the roof decks are pretty small but we could just put one you know probably not that big even you know yeah I mean you're going to but yeah you'd to be careful with the egress there too mhm I think we got to give it a little more more yeah we're not going to solve it right now no just yeah but I think there plenty of space to work with Mr Harington just clarify for me the addition and the re the rehabbing of the building includes an addition no does not include an addition the Bell fuse is not being worked on at all except for the few changes that we presented to the HPC which there are basically some encroachments off the off the building that we're removing in order to uh move forward with this development is that the overhang on Van VOR yes yes okay so that's encroaching into what's going to to be created correct so it's not an encroachment it's well yeah if if weach after creation correct uh so I'm looking at the subdivision drawing and I'm just trying to understand that overhang is being removed and that Tetris piece is not getting filled in with with that townhouse and again again I don't know if you have the we do this now the subdivision plan right there what what is the tetris piece it's this oh so that's being removed right there that's being removed yes maybe I'm looking at something that's changed I'm looking at the major subdivision looks like the revision date on this was March 7th 2024 latest revision date there you go that's what I'm looking at okay that this is the SD yes okay is this right or is this not the right drawing yes I believe that's that's correct so you're you're looking at the overhang your question is about that I'm talking about the white Tetris piece where the overhang is yes what is that that that is um that's the the figure ground it's a it's an AIS way to a trash room I believe yeah that's right yes if you see on a site plan that's where the trash enclosure is as you walk you walk from vanv uh to the enclosure there it is if you enlarge that yeah see you have a green space there and then you have the the pathway to the shared trash room what property does that land go with is my question oh that will be part of the corner lot so it's some kind of easement across that corner lot for the benefit of the other building yes but it and that trash room Services which building all the buildings correct yeah all of the town houses yeah the 10 units so everyone is going to and potentially the the last lot if it's ever developed I presume that's right if it's ever developed so well Nicole you can explain it how they're going to bring out their trash bring it they would um go out their front door and walk around the corner I mean and put it in the trash room why would they do that so that was not explained at all okay um but okay yeah no that's the ideas rather than putting it on the street um or you know in some other it's just a way of centralizing the trash trash collection it's a little bit of an inconvenience but whose building is it part of it's part of the tow houses construction um oh you're saying who town houses are not all one building no right and we're subdividing for fee simple purposes correct so we're not condo thish no but there there will be an easement in place for the benefit of the other Lots uh for that purpose so the guy that gets that unit has that trash room as part of his structure or gal or whatever it's it's behind their structure there's they don't have a a rear yard like uh the other um Parcels so that trash room is a separate structure I'm trying to so it's under you can see on the um second floor of or the first floor of the triplex unit it um butts up against the belf use building but underneath it so there's a kind of um covered outdoor um walkway where we have Paving that leads to the trash room so on the next floor which is this yes that powder room is above that trash room yes yes and is it footing and foundation for that building that trash room is it part of the footing and foundation work of that n unit MH yes yes yes creative okay and we're going to have some kind of cross easements for all of that is what you're saying yes and that's what it's easy to do now because it's all common ownership uh so we we can create the necessary easements and we're done I I just from a practical standpoint I don't see why anyone would carry their garbage down the street and around the corner when they're just going to you know it's easier to put it in a bag and leave it on the street I don't see the point maybe I'm missing something I don't know was there a reason for a trash room I think it's to Common trash room yeah it's to centralize the trash so that we don't have um trash bags on the street at all it's it's to prevent who's gonna pull that out for pickup is everybody going to go there and pull their own trash out uh yeah there would be a bin and you would just go out with your bag and I don't know but on collection pickup day pickup on pickup day who takes it outside two nights of trash one night of recycling who's responsible for moving that out um the homeowner the one homeowner for all of the other the individual homeowners would have to be responsible for bringing their they're not going to they're not going to do that why would you go unless you had a maintenance company or a super that get accomplished why would I go and dig into other people's garbage and find out which one's the one that I left there on Monday and I'll take it out on Friday so perhaps this can be thought about a little bit more but the the the room still has utility it could be the trash room for that corner unit if it's if it's not desirable to keep it as shared and it could be become some sort of private storage as well for that corner lot so I I think the it still has utility as designed whether or not they go with a shared trash uh concept or not yeah because I mean ultimately the unit owners could decide to put it in their backyard to area as well if they they wanted the idea is just to you can't put the crash out on the street unless it's collection day anyway it's just the the idea is to have have a another option for you in my neighborhood you'll see people that cuz their house is together and you see people putting cans in front of their house you know and you don't want that no you don't want cans on the sidewalk waiting for the trash day so they can just move it a couple more feet to the curb it's it doesn't it doesn't make it for a good clean neighborhood you know um I just can't imagine that the guy all the way or the gal or all the way by the play area the playground area is going to walk the 100 feet to the corner the 100 feet down the block to go into this trash room to pull their garbage out to the street I have a hard time getting anybody to take the trash down the driveway which is 30 ft yeah and it's not his her problem at that point right they're so far removed the person in that end unit it's kind of that person's problem perhaps I only asked the question because I couldn't appreciate it on the drawing I didn't we we realize all of this we don't have any provisions for townhouse to have a shared trash facility like this there's no Provisions in it for a into unit building anywhere in the city um so it is not a requirement of the plan to do a shared uh trash facility um or even make Provisions for such facility um it is left because it is it is a personal preference often um so I I not sure if I'm not sure if they can just uh reprogram it as part of this uh decision tonight to just be private to that unit maybe that's something for the board to consider but they still have to then address trash or no no no no they don't just like any one two unit building okay but is that piece carved out in the subdivision separately or that's part of that lot and it would be an easement after are the fact that's correct okay okay so as Matt said if it's not a trash room it could be another you know some kind of common room that that could be used but there'll definitely be an easement for the use by the the respective Property Owners okay um I mean well but if it's not going to be a trash room and I I don't know if we're making it but if it's not a trash room why then wouldn't it just go to that Triplex why would the other people have the need to even go over there and what would you you would repurpose it into some kind of common but we we could I mean use or you'd add it to that unit we could I'll defer to the board I mean if it's not a trash room if they prefer it's not if it's not a trash room then to to have it just attached to that corner unit that's that's okay as well sure yeah I don't know if you want to see any of that and see how it's reprogrammed and if the board prefers to do away with this concept or not I I don't I don't design buildings I I don't come up with these plans I I've you know I'm here to vote on what's presented to me um the condenser units alone are are a massive problem for me uh I'm I'm not going to tell you to stop your presentation and pull this right now I'm just saying I I have serious concerns about the condenser units where they're located how they're going to be serviced it so you know I'm I'm voting what I'm presented with I I think um put on a roof well I think we can we can definitely put the condensing units on the roof uh we have plenty of space even just using the existing proposed uh deck area and that is usually what we do um it's very practical have to say it um we already our visual assessment diagram demonstrated that it won't be visible at all from the public right of way if we would screen the units um they wouldn't be bigger than than any kind of normal condensing unit so I think it's reasonable to say that we would put them on the roof deck and Screen them and that could be a condition um I I want to see the screening on on a drawing you know that's not that's a little more than I'm willing to condition okay I I think we you know if that's the proposal if we're going to move them to the roof we need to see a drawing that they're screened so what would the board prefer that we come back with that screening and and and then proceed uh I don't want to get ahead of myself here I mean we've committed we'll commit to to putting the condensers on the roof so I think the answer to that question is yes I think the only other question is do you want to address that trash room or do you want to move forward with it as proposed well I think we that's up to you right the chair was clear that he's not going to make that decision ision the comments are what they are as far as general thoughts about it I'll put it that way yeah I'm I'm not in the marketing business to think about what that space could be purposed for what's marketable to your clients that's that's not a decision I should be making on your behalf okay well I we'll look at that issue while we take a look at the the condenser issue yeah and then come back and and show it to the board so that you have it all together okay um before they move forward with that I have something else I would like maybe they could look at it to uh it's just a safety aspect in the playground area and the back of the playground area we have a fence that leads out to the easement and we also have a door I mean that leads out to the easement and we also have a door that leads to the back of townhouse properties what is the safety aspect of people that children at a plane in that playground or anybody going into the townhouse property back area um so these these gates are all um the gates that uh you see kind of in line at at the rear of each unit uh open in One Direction so they're kind of push gates in an emergency they're only intended for emergency use okay to access the means of eass so it's not something that would you know uh we're not it's it's not designed for residents that stays open yeah it does not stay open it's locked those are locked and the daycare exits from this door here um to access it's a second means of regress for the daycare to get out to the street and also to access the playground um but the kids aren't you know residents aren't going to be using this except for because they are going to use the East though this can use that East to get out that's the egress so they're not locked that's what it's for it's a a push bar correct yeah it's a it's a push bar yeah the egress they're going to be using the egress so that's what my concern is is the people from the tow hous is in that same area as the playground but that you to have a lock bar yes all I'm all I'm seeing is a door you know yeah um so so those are all fences obviously between the tow houses that's a fence into the playground area M that's right is that Back Fence private like they are you going to be if okay let's put it this way I come out of my that ement I come out of that egress I'm in the back of that space looking into the playground can I see true that fence no this is a it's a it's a boardon board fence staggered um good planks you can see it here it's um good that's that that's that's what I was hoping you yeah no there's the yeah no view into the playground area yeah that fence surrounds that playground area but the green space in the front of that lot as proposed is open to the street like we see it yes yes yes and is that for anybody that's for um it's like a common Green Space it's just Green Space Landscaping but but it's open to the public correct yeah okay M and not part of that playground for the children yeah that my question okay do anybody else have anything while we're we're on it okay Matt do you have a a date for Council do you have a an IDE on when we can uh get this back in front of us I mean take long I we could revise these quickly yeah um what's uh it's obviously not the next date uh October 6 I think is the first October meeting E I think or is it eth yeah okay eth that was is probably the best um I think the next meeting in September is very very packed we don't make that um so to add more would be carry not great if you got to carry so carry to the October 8th meeting would be preferred okay so motion I guess yep chair I'd like to make a motion to carry case p23 di 083 uh to uh o October 8th meeting second okay motion made and seconded to carry case p230 83 to a date certain October 8th and do we want separate different motion we want separate I was going to make a different okay that's fine okay um Vice chair Dr Gonzalez I uh commissioner gangan I councilwoman prer I uh commissioner Torres I commissioner lipsky hi commissioner Dr Desai I commissioner green I and chairman linkston I motion carries all in favor motion chair at this time i' like to make a motion to also carry case p23 di 084 to date certain of October 8th 2024 second okay motion made and seconded vice chair Dr Gonzalez hi commissioner gengen hi councilman preri hi commissioner Torres I commissioner lipsky I commissioner Dr Desai I commissioner green I chairman linkston I motion carries all in favor okay thank you everybody thank you Council Mike do you uh want to get break now while we're in between okay we're going to take a five minute break everybody and uh we'll call Item 16 case p2024 d106 is a preliminary and final major site plan for 119 Merit Street uh Tom lean of Connell Foley for the record uh the application is a preliminary and final major with variances uh I did post uh my Affidavit of notice to the portal but I will provide the original to councel thank you chairman I receive the affidavit publication proof of mailing with respect to the application 119 Merit Street it does appear to be the same one that was posted at the portal I've had the opport to review it it does appear to be in order we're going to mark it as A1 for the record thank you Council thank you Council uh just to give a little bit of background here uh this this property is known as 119 Meritt Street it is one of the last properties uh in Jersey City before you cross over into Bayon uh it abuts uh the Conrail tracks and the highway um at the end of Meritt where uh where old Bergen meets Merritt uh this board actually uh heard approved an application uh at this site uh about two and a half years ago uh in 2022 uh the approval at that time was to take this um somewhat odd shaped piece of property it's a very long uh property that runs along the tracks uh it's undersized for the Zone which is the port industrial we don't deal with the port Industrial in front of this board a lot uh the port industrial is a zone that that deals with much larger Lots 880,000 Square F feet we're here we uh we're about 27500 um and the The Proposal was to uh to take this site that frankly is in bad shape it's um um it was used by Conrail uh even though they didn't have an EAS Min to access the the the tracks um it's it's heavily forested um uh there's no sidewalks in front of it there's no curbing um it really just sort of is a cap piece uh at the uh the end of the road there um and our client was hoping to utilize it as an auto body shop this board did approve a tubay auto body shop along with a um a self- automated uh Car Wash um the board approved that application but with some heavy caveats to it uh namely that we meet with traffic and engineering and basically redesign uh not only the entrances to uh to the property uh but also the striping on the road in order to uh to and the signage on the road to make sure that we had safe Ingress and egress uh we did meet with traffic uh there was at least two site visits um and eventually we did hammer out what we thought was a a pretty good safety plan and they signed off on what uh we were proposing as far as the striping and signing for the property uh unfortunately in the interim um my client uh paved a portion of the property uh that was not approved by this board for the auto body shop um I believe he either got bad advice or was misinformed Med about what he was allowed to do with that parcel and uh thereafter he was ticketed for it for uh having a illegal parking lot and uh we did go through the municipal court process he did plead guilty to uh that ticket um and he now realizes he made a mistake and uh what we're here now in front of the board is to try and rectify that mistake by trying to integrate that parking area into the original proposal um we also so took a took a look at what the board had originally approved and took some of the uh the concerns the board had especially about the car wash into consideration uh the board had issues with the fact that they thought there might be queuing onto the road for people waiting for the car wash and that it might cause some uh significant circulation issues on the property therefore we removed the car wash from The Proposal um and instead we're just going to have this be strictly an auto body shop um with uh with enough parking for that use on the site uh we're hoping to integrate that parking area that my client should not have paved over uh into the proposal um and in this process we've done a lot of work with City engineering and city traffic including an additional site visit uh to really go over the improvements uh to the property to not only make it uh safe to enter and exit um but uh also to have safe internal circulation um as part of The Proposal uh we will be putting in new sidewalks along the property we will be putting in new Landscaping along the property and uh per the uh the other signage and safety proposals as far as striping of the road that will be also incorporated into uh to the improvements that we're making to to the property uh so what we're proposing this evening is a six Bay uh auto body shop there will be uh 20 parking spaces 18 for the auto body use and two for the uh the on-site office there um we do have some variances they are essentially the exact same variances that were approved as part of the original approval um but we are going to request them again because this is a new application based on the amount of coverage that we are putting onto the property uh so with that I'm G to have Jeff Lewis come up and run you through the plans um and then I think the the most important testimony this evening is going to come from Lee Klein as our traffic expert to uh to talk about access and eress onto the site okay thank you Council what did you do to me Tom brought up YouTube for some reason okay um and Mr Lewis um just for the record you were sworn in already tonight you were qualified tonight and if you could just say for the record you understand that you're still under oath for the record I do understand that I am still under oath okay thank you sir go ahead thank you okay so as was mentioned um we are proposing a new uh service station here on the property it is a very strange and long property it's about 50 ft wide and 450 or so feet long so it's a very long and narrow property um there's one existing building on the property it's located all the way at the Western corner here it's a two-story uh concrete structure we are going to be keeping that building and utilizing it as um an office and as the waiting area and a customer counter area for uh for the property and I'll show you the floor plans for that to be a little clearer and we're also proposing a new one-story building along the back property line here there is um some storage space as well as six garage bays in this building um so as you can see um well not as you can see but I'll show you a photo later of the existing uh conditions there are mostly no Cur curbs or sidewalks on the site so we are proposing many improvements there uh so we'll have all new concrete curs all new concrete sidewalks uh there will be three curb Cuts one located here in the center of the property that's the entrance to the site and then two exits uh one here to Avenue C and this is a right turn only and then a second secondary exit at the end of the property here which is also a right turn only lane um there's also two new Ada curb ramps to cross the street one here near Old Bergen Road and then a second here towards the end of our property um and then we are also proposing eight new Street trees as part of this application uh looking on our site uh as was mentioned we have 20 new onsite parking spaces uh two of them are located right near the office there are six here right next to the garages and then 12 in that rear parking area that was already paved that we discussed previously um we are vote proposing some landscape offers around the site uh we have some here on Avenue C as well as many here and all the way down here along Merit street so most of Meritt Street has landscape buffers um the other thing I wanted to mention about the rear parking area it actually is elevated up a few feet is a little bit of a hill to get up there so to help mitigate that we're proposing a new retaining wall along Merit Street it starts about where that um easement in air quotes begins and extends all the way to that that second exit uh at the Eastern end of the property on top of that wall there's going to be a 6ot uh wood fence that continues along the front of the property and also along the side and the whole rear of the property um with that let me just talk a little bit about operations and how circulation here is going to work uh as I mentioned we do have the one main entry from Merit street so people would come in and generally be um met by an attendant who's going to direct them where to go whether it's directly into a bay or to park basically right in front of them um there's a couple different Services here so some people would stay here and wait in the waiting room some people might choose to leave their car and come back for it later um however most of the internal circulation of cars is going to be dealt with by employees themselves they'll be the ones taking the cars into the bays out of the Bays if people leave their cars to come back the secondary lot here is going to be used to uh store their cars while they're gone when they come to pick them up or if they waited to get them uh their car would be brought to the exit on Avenue C and left here for them to uh pick it up and leave right next to the waiting room um so and again as I mentioned this is a right turn only out of Avenue SE and then there is a secondary exit that we intend mostly for um for employees not really for uh clients to use um and then the last thing was that shaded area I think it's kind of been clarified that that it's it's a right of way for that conil has been using to access their tracks however there is no legal uh easement there but we're working with them to to make that happen we acknowledge that they do need to get to their tracks here we're looking at uh the new floor plans uh the top right is for the existing building that will be uh renov ating uh the ground floor is waiting room customer counter and an existing half bath then there's a second floor that's just an office and again an existing half bath uh we're refinishing the exterior of this building too uh right now it's just a two-story masonry building uh the ground floor we're leaving the masonry we're going to be painting it uh charcoal gray the second floor is going to be uh finished with a green vertical corrugated metal siding uh we are opposing two signs on the building uh the first is a large sign that's facing Avenue C and that sign is uh about 765 Square fet the second sign is above the door uh facing Meritt street that sign is 25 sare ft and then uh moving down we do have the on story new shop that's shown here we have two storage spaces in the front and then we have three garages each with two bays and they are going to be used for um individual uses so the first uh garage would be for auto repair the second would be for oil changes the third is going to be for tire changes um then moving down to the new buildings elevations we did uh choose materials that are going to match the existing building so we have uh CMU base that's also charcoal gray that same green vertical corrugated uh metal pan channeling and then we do have the six garage doors which are also going to be uh steel rollup doors and they'll be painted white or they'll come white then here we are seeing a few photos of the existing site down on the right here that is that existing building we're going to be reusing and refinishing and then here are some pictures from Meritt Street where you can pretty clearly see no curbs no sidewalks no Street trees no Landscaping nothing but asphalt really um um that's really it there's not a lot of architectural here as was said Le's testimony is going to be the main stuff um but I can answer as many questions as you have now if you like council do we have pictures of the entire site currently showing this paved parking area do we have any pictures of on here of the new paved area yeah not on my drawings did you bring any Mr height does have them and as before he begins his main testimony I he can provide them unless the board would like to hold off until he gets them right for the to note the plan is basically what was there so this is this is what the saing area is what the plan is showing that's what was was done except for we don't have that secondary exit that we added here that's not there so right now it's just a dead end and all this Paving is existing so and we will show you pictures but that's that's basically what was built a quick question Okay Okay I uh I live very close to this area and um so what you're saying is the the let's start with this the where the little building structure is now you have two-way traffic right one going towards Avenue SE one going isn't there a different elevation where you have the where the tree scrape is uh where the build where you proposed to put the building right I'm going towards um East mhm that's a different elevation there's a ramp height difference there there's there's a little bit of a hill this is mostly flat this section but the the rear parking area there's a little bit of a hill up to it there's a little bit of Hill so you're going to be using that section that's up there that I see all the time right that's not part of car rail that's that's that's not part of that's not part of because it looks so but now let's go to the two pictures that you showed the two pitches you see the treescape and the fences is that part of conil I think the exist the chain link fences there I think the fences are their property line is that correct is that the property line or no it's actually further back it goes further back it goes further back go further back we're about 50 ft are you cutting into that hill and taking dirt out that Hill I can show you on the site plan that Hill is actually cut out on one side it is yes yeah so you could see the cutout of the property here yes that's where we have that that's that piece that comes down that piece that comes down that's where that is and that's where you're going to put the building up against but yes so the building is going to act as a retaining wall we have a twoot uh twoot thick block wall for the back wall of that however by the time it gets there it's only going to be like this high or so because it is coming down yes so it won't be much of a hill by the time it gets to our building and then and then once we get towards the back of the property we're coming up and so we're f is coming down and you're going to go as tight as to con rail's property as possible corre basically what you're doing yes however we are as much as I look at that I don't I know you got a tape measure like me but as much as I look at I don't see it we're close we're close to their property we're up against their property where that Hill is but then we step back the proper down another 10 or 15 ft so we we're not right up against the tracks then later on when we see the other pitches we're going to see the same thing on the part that he paved and the tracks are right there right tracks are close there yes they're really close to it right Clos there yeah so how much of an easement how much of an easement you think you're going to get with con to make it on that you're not walking on the tracks I I'm we are we're building a there's going to be a six foot wood fence between six foot wood fence going that way on our rear property line in between whatever car rail needs on their property line so Council we need to do a better job of identifying Direction okay so let's use okay I see that now all you know okay North Southeast and West sure sure sure so the purposes of the record okay so so the property R runs lengthwise east to west with Meritt Street bordering to the north the Conrail tracks are to the south of the property and above the proper the exhibit please we go back to the page we were on the property runs from sorry west to east the Conrail property is down here and the tracks AB it to the South and here is Meritt Street to the north okay the train tracks are on the raised platform behind the property that we AB but and then there is a slight rise in the property and this entire area is basically flush with where the track is okay conre was using this line here as access to the tracks basically going from Merit Street up the little Hill to the tracks understood yes conr we thought had an easement through here they do not have an easement through here we are in the process of negotiating une easement with them so they need this access so the hope is is that mutually if there is anything that needs to be done as far as access both for our construction and for them to get to their train tracks we'll be able to work together you have enough space correct I am not representing my the uh my client on that matter because I have a conflict with Conrail but that that is conversation is ongoing and is my understanding that it's a good conversation right now um commissioner Torres and and chair um I have the survey of the property and its present condition if we'd like to bring that up for reference that's just G to show how it doesn't show I can't tell you what it shows until I see it so I have is notna answer my question do you think it might okay do you need your question answered commission okay is this is this working cam no it's not so Council we're going to show the survey we're going to show the survey and then and then Mr height does have pictures of the area that has been paved the survey was submitted by you yes it was yes the survey is on the public portal right and that's where I'm accessing it from but you just don't have it in your slide deck is that yeah the survey your it was all the way at the back I was getting that before I told you to stop [Laughter] flipping those are shrubs we've lost control of the ship minutes this doesn't help this is an existing condition survey that is showing the new parking lot yeah it is but okay does that help you in terms of the rail Mr Torres I just don't see the new park lot where you're looking at you drive by which new parking lot Park Lot correct tracks only where you going to put that fence up that still have parking spes the the the parking space will be entirely within our line so there there won't be an easement necessary they'll be entirely within my client's property I get on top of okay see the yeah so now I see where it say barer I okay you're going to put a fence up in that section there it's going to go along that southern the southern property line so the people that come out of the pocket spots won't be on the tracks they won't that's correct be there'll be a six yeah no it's it's it looks fairly close but there's going to be a six foot fence between the tracks and the parking cars yes so the fence as depicted is the fence isn't depicted is that fair well not on the survey but it's not on the survey correct is it going to be on the property line correct where that iron Rod is set correct and that Jersey Barrier hashing is that some kind of retaining wall or right now it's yes it's it's basically to prevent cars from driving onto the tracks if they're parked there so that will be replaced with with the fence as a more aesthetically pleasing option instead of a jersey barrier understood and I'm just trying to help commissioner Torres in terms of I see I see that does that give us the distance from that iron Rod to those parking spaces it's 10 ft it's a 10 foot step back okay so the parking spaces are 10 ft from where the fence is proposed to be correct is a 10 foot space between yes the fence and the parking spaces and then whatever distance from the fence to the tracks commissioner okay can we go back to as long as you're uh do you want to see the pictures of the existing conditions of the parking area before we do that or do you want Jeff to just go back to his um let's see the pictures first and then and then I want to go back were these submitted or these were not submitted all right so let's back up let's mark how many you got you gotta talk Mr hi still under oath hi was waiting till someone introduced me I got you Mr height did you take these photographs or do they accurately depict the site that you have visited yes today okay first photograph is from what vantage point so this helps with um beautiful sky the sub the subject property has an existing structure on it a two-story structure it's on the uh Eastern portion of the property so sorry Western portion of the property so as you make your way East um photo Facing East correct um this is where there's a parking area that's level with the surface of the pavement um there is that fence uh there's no sidewalk that's part of the proposed improvements um as you move further east um you have the what would be part of the new pavement that you see coming up from from the street and this is where the increase in that ramp up to the uh furthest portion of the property um where you have a higher level in terms of topography so this is part of the um proposed that would have stop right there can you tell me by looking at this Photograph if this proposed ramp depicted in this Photograph more or less lines up with the depiction of what was being described as the Conrad non-documented easement yes okay um we're about halfway down the site yeah and then this is um looking back West uh so you see some of the vehicles are currently parked at the higher elevation this is portion of the unpaved area right along on the subject property but near the property boundary with Conrail and then this is a View at at the top portion of the property in terms of elevation of that paved area the quote unquote new paved area correct so I think the third photo probably gives you an understanding of how one portion of the property is accg grade with the street this is the ramp up to another portion that had Paving recently I think the next photo that you showed where the two cars are sitting on top that shows a better clear that clears it up for me that there's enough space you don't see that when you're on the road when you're at the lower level correct you can't tell it looks like the tracks are basically right at the edge correct this I never climbed up there so you know I'm like so this this shows me that there is a buffer there there is a clearance there that nobody could be on the track so that clears it for me my stand on the spot I pass it about eight times a day so it's like I know so Council we're going to Mark those I counted five photographs A2 through A6 please provide these digitally to planning staff as well for posting on the portal do that so Mr Lewis and Council you might want to get in on this one too um probably according to the the resolution on our according to the resolution on the last decision item 16 talks about to mitigate the requested variance a new sidewalk and multiple trees are proposed along Merit Street improving the existing condition further almost the entirety of of the East portion of the property is currently landscaped and will remain so with conditions approve improved to areas that are currently unkempt this proposed Landscaping mostly fronts on the R1 District mitigating any sight lines from low impact residential homes additional bushes are proposed on the property along the existing structure in front of the proposed parking spaces and in front of the drive aisle queue further limited sight lines onto the property from the residential Zone due to mitigation and the Improvement of the existing conditions the variance can be granted pursuant to legal legal legal can can we focus on that and show us where that is and what's changed on this plan absolutely that resolution sure so um the paved area that my client was not supposed to have paved admittedly um was previously almost entirely forested let's call it um that has now been paved um one thing I I didn't mention in my opening was that um I met with Council councilwoman Ridley and uh she also raised concerns about sight lines and visibility from uh the R1 that is why we are proposing the six- foot fence up there that fronts onto Merit that was at her request so that at least gets into the mitigation from from the visibility standpoint I hope um we are as previous per the previous approval we are providing the sidewalks uh we are providing um I think we're providing more sidewalk then had been approved under the previous approval the sidewalks will go further down from uh where they were previously approved to where I think it it stopped just uh after the original driveway we're providing more trees than we did and more plantings uh in front of that paved area as well um and then one of the things uh that we can also uh speak to is is that we're we uh provided storm water drawings uh to show that there is going to be some on-site detention uh to to mitigate some of that that additional coverage that's um that's been added by that that Paving so um you know this is a new application uh I understand that the arguments we made previously for those variances part of it was that the other portion of the property would remain unpaved unfortunately is now paved and we're trying to mitigate that or at least ameliorate that change condition through the fencing and additional landscaping and improvements to the property but we're we're mitigating it by keeping the pavement rather than removing removing it and bringing it to you know obviously we're not going to get old growth back understand but we're we're mitigating it by keeping the asphal and building a fence there where I understand that um you know th this is a a different storm water situation now understood we do understand that um one thing I would raise is that the parking consideration here is different under the ordinance we needed 20 parking spaces for for this use um you know I I I can't speak to whether this board would have granted a parking variants it would have been required if we didn't have that additional area for these cars um and you know again while I my my client realizes he should not have done what he did uh we're left with a situation where we've got to make this the best site that we we possibly can and uh I think we're we're trying to do that with with the improvements that we're we're proposing to is part of this application but chairman that's for the board to decide yeah uh I can appreciate the argument but no it's just you know the the resolution doesn't the this new site plan being the resolution for your client doesn't really make the property whole like it was before it it doesn't do anything to you know a six- foot fence is much different than the trees that were there before so you know it's I I guess it just comes down to what we think is the best solution tonight so I I really have nothing else to say about it I have one quick question councel do you know um you have any idea how much vegetation was was thrown down like were there trees what kind of I I think the only trees that were on the site were actually um a budding Merit I don't think that there were trees in the area that was paved I I I'd have to go back and look to see if I can find some pictures um maybe even from Google Earth on what it looked like prior to the paving um but I I think it was really more just overgrown full of plants um kind of Rocky uh I don't know if there was a tremendous amount of trees that were removed to because it would have been a lot of work to remove that to do that Paving but I I I can't speak to it I don't have those exist the prior existing conditions with them so then in if I may in the resolution it says it is currently landscaped but it sounds like it was not currently landscaped it was overgrown and you know and again saying that your client needed the extra parking spaces so we took the parking spaces and now we're going to put a fence up I you know I I you know and and knowing the issues we have with our tree canopy and knowing the issues we have with flooding in areas and the need for these kind of permeable surfaces that would have been a better solution here but now it seems like you're it it sounds like there there's a there's just a disconnect with what was also in this resolution I as as I'm reading it I may be incorrect here but as I'm reading it I think it's it's the board's resolution I think the sentences right one one thing I would say is again that that area was used by it was used by Conrail for access it it was passable uh you know a truck could get up there I think it was just it wasn't really in any kind of paved or used way I think it was just sort of a Rocky Hill that was overgrown that's s time that basically that's was just there was never any trees or just there a lot of overgrown a lot of garbage a lot of banded cars and a lot of uh car trucks since I've moved to the neighborhood that's thought I was be um I think the six foot fence is more for set back south that is not part of the I don't think it was part of the part that was ripped out for the pavement of the road where the six wheel fence is going to go well that's correct I'm talking about a six- foot fence between the Conrail track and the property and then also what was proposed was a six foot fence along Merritt to prevent visibility from the road of the parking area so I'm talking about two two different fences serving two two different purposes yeah but the I it seemed like it was always just a lot of overgrown area um quick question though for the architect if this moved for if this moved forward you are Paving that road anyway that's coming from Avenue SE all the way up to the end of the property on the east side right yes it'll be all paved going up the hill yes paved anyway because you were going to be driving cars back and forth on that road correct right yes and then the same as you're G to be Paving down the ramp on the east side to exit the property correct right that would have a cut out for a driveway right to exit the all that stuff that's not existing right now that's right it's is it the parking lot that they built is a dead end right now yeah because even on Avenue see it's just that the gate is there they open up the gate and you go over the curb yeah that's not a curb yeah there's no cut out there it's just a curb going over that's right it doesn't exists the only curb on they only made it a Ness because somebody put a gate up and put a gate that opens that's why it's a NIS by all done without permission yes but and listen I moved to the neighborh 18 years ago maybe long 19 years ago so it's been like that ever since I looked yeah in that neighborhood that's that that's exactly used to be used by the buses but the buses had the same thing they they didn't use the property on the top conell did the buses used it close to the building just to go in and out but they went over the sidewalk and not there was no cut out for them no there's no curve there at all I'm talking about the parking lot to the east I'm not talking about curbing no curbing any of that yes but even the park lot to the east is going to eventually be Ash for right it was not going to be it has been oh they were not supposed to it it was supposed as per our resolution it was supposed to be improved the UN it's what is it the second sentence further almost the entirety of the East portion of the property is currently landscaped and will remain so with conditions improved to the areas that are currently unkempt the end of that sentence is that the area that we're talking about that was paved yes it is okay thank you for saying it um because I'm you know I'm in my head thinking am I talking about the same area that's in the resolution you are okay so are we supposed to go back and relitigate the old variances um that this as far as I'm concerned those variances are void because that was one of the proofs for the variances it was certainly part of the the argument for it and I I will leave it to Mr height to to make the case for it I I think the biggest reason for the the variances is is the the nature of this site um they all almost relate to the the setbacks it's a difficult site I understand that but that's and there are there are requirements setback requirements that in this Zone that were set for an 880,000 foot lot this is this is a 27,000 foot lot sure um and and when M when Mr height gets gets into the proofs for it I I I will I believe that the case is still there uh especially because of the hardship of the undersized nature of the lot um and you know we can we can call it relitigate this is a new application um and it's it's up to us as the applicant to make the case for those variances again and a new uh I don't think we can really con consider the previous application because it's it's it's a new it's a new application to this board and we're we're asking you consider the existing conditions are completely different now because your your client Chang let's let's be clear right now we've got a site that is not in compliance with anything that's correct right yep so this isn't Essence let's just move forward and forget anything before today that is the applicant's hope that is the applicant's Hope and contention yes okay I guess well it's up it's up to the board does the board want to move forward does the board I mean I mean I'm not going to vote on it right this second obviously we you know but yeah it's out of compliance I guess is okay is the reality and I think that council's been very upfront about that absolutely I agree and you know I the the mechanism for a property being not in compliance is is a ticket from the city which my client received he pled guilty to paid his fine and uh again the Hope here is to is to try and amarate his mistake and make this the best site we can possibly make it um considering the limited amount of uses that are permitted in this Zone and the limited amount of things that can be done with a property of this size in this Z but once again the the solution and we you know we hear this time and time again and I'm taking this as I'm not considering old applications that we've heard but you know this is the same old story where the applicant changed the conditions went against the resolution that's in front of them pays the fine comes back to us and the solution is to have us okay what they did I I'm not asking the board to condone what my client did I'm I'm asking the the board to approve an application that I hope makes this a better site than what it currently is but we didn't consider any buffering nobody said you know what maybe we should still put some buffering along that parking area we do have buffering there is buffering proposed there's a 6ot wooden fence and and the planting area and planting area as well mhm as well as new Street trees the sidewalk this buffering along Merit we're talking about there's nothing between or to the east to the east well we have a six foot fence that runs from here all the way along there on the front property I don't consider fences to be buffering that's part one of the buffering goes there goes around the side and along the entire back yes you seeed with a fence we do have all these shrubs planted between the parking and Merit street right right behind the fence right and then we have a lawn area over here we can plant more shrubs there if you like and we do have the street trees on Meritt as well again that whole area was supposed to be landscaped but that's what's being proposed that's what being proposed I you know I'm done chairman okay thank you okay so let's I guess carry on with the presentation okay I I know it's you know know it's tough to at this point but let's carry on with it and we'll decide on you know what's in front of us tonight okay um I I will bring up Lee Klein as my traffic expert to uh to go over the uh the internal circulation and Ingress and egress to the site as well as the our meetings with traffic and engineering and the proposals for safety within the the right away okay and once again for the record Mr Klein has been sworn in tonight uh has been qualified and if you could just State for the record that you understand that you're still under oath I understand that I'm still under oath my license is still current thank you sir yet hasn't expired yet Trump didn't cancel it yet let's hurry up um let me get into the circulation on the screen we have exhibit one which is a uh a plan that shows vehicles that enter and we're showing a right turn entering in from Merit into the entrance only driveway and then they either go to the left to to exit out the Right Turn Only onto Merit or they come in and circulate and then exit to the right turnout only on Avenue C uh just to show that that that circulation works that way also we had as uh our Council said we met with the city either via Zoom or in the field or on conference calls about six times in the last two years since September of 2022 uh to go over this and we came up with this we have to move the Stop Bar if you look at the word merit in the middle of the screen uh where the turn right turn in we have to move that Stop Bar back back to the west to accommodate this driveway um and then we're putting in the handicap ramps which are not shown on this one because this was done before we we met with the city I guess this last time in the field we added uh handicap Rams to cross right where the word street is in Merit the St in street that area and then we've got one right where the number 450. 0000 is we've got that Crossing again where there's a Stop Bar to get across and then that to continue East there's sidewalk on the north side of Meritt street so we accommodated pedestrians we accommodated the vehicles coming in uh and then the parking requirement for what we're proposing we've got the two parking spaces for the office and that's what's required for that it's one per 500 square fet and we're a little over 700 Square fet so we need two each service Bay there are six of them needs three parking spaces so we need 18 6 * 3 is 18 and between the ones are on the Eastern portion of the lot and the six that are lined up right next to the service Bays we've got the uh 18 parking spaces there for a total of 20 parking spaces on site so that meets the requirements of the parking for the uses that we're proposing um we also I put together a traffic engineering evaluation report dated May 31st 2024 and I just to get on the record the trip generation that we're proposing we looked at automobile care center and we also looked at Quick Lube vehicle shop those are two uses that are in The Institute of Transportation Engineers trip generation manual 11th Edition you can either do it by service Bay or square footage and we looked at it both ways six Bays or about 2672 square fet and we looked at the the highest one was quick lube based on six Bays the peak hour of the adjacent Street an hour between 7:00 and 9: in the morning and an hour between 400 and 600 in the evening we're looking at 18 trips about 12 coming in Six coming out and the morning Peak 1 hour and in the evening peak hour an hour between 4 and 6 16 coming in 13 coming out for a total of 29 so we're not looking at a significant amount of traffic as a matter of fact I went back and looked at the car wash the one Tunnel Car Wash uh was going to generate more traffic than that in the 80 78 to 80 uh range in that in that range so we're looking at less traffic from this proposed use we're accommodating the parking there's no chance really of queuing onto Merit street with this type of a use as you heard from from Mr Lewis uh a customer will come in somebody will check them in the office and either ask them to park in one of the six spots facing the train tracks or the angled spots will be taken over by one of the employees to park there or they may pull it in front of the service Bay and again an employee will take it inside so we're looking at very little chance of anybody queuing up on on Meritt street trying to get into the site um yeah and as as Mr Lewis mentioned I think I mentioned in my circulation the Western driveway on Avenue C is going to be right turn only there's going to be signs and there were some signs on that uh previous slide that showed Right Turn Only signs no left turn signs uh and then the exit to the east the exit out of the angled parking space area again right turn only and then the entrance from Meritt is going to be uh either it's going to be a left in or a right in and that's why we're moving that Stop Bar back so if somebody stopped at that at that traffic light traffic signal then they can make a left turn in on merid Street Westbound and that's all I have okay any questions for Mr Klein okay thank you Mr kin appreciate it uh chairman before I bring up uh Mr height I I think I'm I'm hearing loud and clear from the the board that they have a serious iate with the fact that the uh the prior resolution and the the arguments that were made before this board were we were mitigating some of the items that we proposed under the previous application by keeping the the raised area uh as as landscaped and um that's that's not what you're seeing today um you know this this application does comply with the coverage requirements in the zone it's 90% where it's 72 um but I I I think based off of the fact fact that um what previously had been a mitigating factor is no longer present I think we have to go back to the drawing board to see if we can add additional Landscaping to this site to try and make some of the mistakes that were made here whole sure so um my request would be to uh to adjourn the application uh let us go back to the drawing board and see where we can fill in some uh some holes in the property with some additional Landscaping okay um and on top of that see if we can um make a more significant impact with um blocking some of the sight lines with with um some additional Landscaping to to beautify the property from the road okay understood thank you council do we need kind of vote for that the applicants adjourning requesting to carry the meeting uh so Mr lean we don't have a date we're going to R notice and we're going to carry the application what are we thinking TimeWise obviously wave time for the board to I I will put on the record that I wave wave time for the board to uh to to make a decision on this application um my best guess would be uh either in late October or early November is when we'll we'll probably have something that can be uh reviewed and approved by by planning and hopefully be back before this board the board can accept that and uh the matter will be adjourned until a later date at which time there'll be new notice given understood okay thank you Council um while I'm here uh I do have two more applications at the end of the evening that I'm going to ask be adjourned for 29 and 29a and 31 monitor okay so that that's going to be uh case p2024 0068 minor site plan with C variances for 31 Monitor Street uh do we have a carry date on here cam it would it would be October 8th okay so carry to a date certain October 8th uh item 20 case P20 24- 0069 minor site plan with C variances for2 9A Monitor Street cam once again October 8th yes Carri to a date certain October 8th thank you Council thank you thank you Mr shaan is it are they listed as two different 29a and 31 yes1 and 29a yes two different okay and we carry both okay okay thank youe on that motion no no no there wasn't a there wasn't a motion Council how much time do you think you need here given the hour what is short love it um can we Define very short period of time short it's only the 3-in binder this time yeah that's all okay 10 minutes starting now okay so we're going to call Item 18 case p2024 d56 it's a minor site plan with C variant for 14 cooh Street floor is yours Council good evening may have please the board Ronald shalin appearing on behalf of the applicant and I point out to the board that the the the real applicant is the owner of the building other gentleman who's who's seated uh with me on on the right side here uh his intention is to move into this property he owns the property he's renting an apartment now uh he is going to be occupying the addition to this property uh for his family so I'd like to call the architect uh at this time Eric he'll walk you through uh the plans and keep it brief start with the page that we suggested sure so Mr San I've had the opportunity to review your Affidavit of publication proof of mailing it is in order we're going to mark it as A1 for the [Music] record uh okay TR the whole truth nothing the truth I do you uh my name is uh Eric E r i c Worster w r c s t r I'm sorry my mic was off Mr Worster good evening um I believe we've qualified you in the past correct well um it would have been several years ago okay it's still a yes though so yes okay thank you so you're license is current in the state of New Jersey tonight okay thank you you're qualified okay Mr Worster you're the project architect for 14 Cole Street are you not I am uh would you uh pull up on the on the screen the uh the picture of the existing building for the rendering that you have sure I think that's a good place to start so here we have uh the major elevations of the building and if we look at um elevation number one we see the front facade of this uh existing building at 14 Kohls the building was determined uh to be in possession of historical significance uh that was based off of a determination letter from 2022 so the client and I have kept the building as the front of the building as is and design the addition around it so the addition occurs in the back and portions of the rear drawing one you see the front facade but you also see the addition in the the back and if we go to to drawing number two we see the side elevation where the the front elevation is on the left with the with the stoop shown and then we see uh the addition in the back starting roughly where the existing building ends so that's about 41 ft and the materials are carried through from the front which is masonry uh carried through to to the back in a kind of stepping uh almost a Counterpoint kind of fashion in order that for the addition not to just have a sort of hard Edge um the rear of the of the addition which is drawing number three then shows the Meson at the bottom three floors and then the metal uh upper floors which are built around the form of a maner roof and this again is a way of kind of keeping the um scale uh down to uh kind of a residential scale and it's also a reference to the five-story buildings that are in the back and on the side of the um current building uh if those are the main features of the building I have uh plans that we could go through that would show that the lower levels um have been developed into two duplex units there's a third floor uh floor through unit and there's an upper level with a penthouse and all of the features in this building in terms of the addition are you know modern features including an elevator uh modern Windows there's Landscaping in the rear yard there's balconies and there's an amadiz roof which includes a Terrace and solar panels on top of the penthouse and from your knowledge it's the intention of the owner to occupy the penthouse is that correct that is correct and he collaborated with you in designing the building that uh that was shown to the board correct okay now the only variance uh that is is required is the height variance is that correct that's correct and Mr height will address that in a few moments that's all I have for this witness can we just identify what that height is from the architect yes uh the height overall is 46 feet okay okay any questions okay thank you sir thank Mr height okay you're still under oath Mr height yes recognize thank you okay uh would you take us through the principal points that justify the variants that we're asking for and uh initially identify exactly what the varness is yeah so um we are in the R3 District multif family it's a permitted use um we're about a block off of Newark Avenue one of the main uh mixed use corridors in the city uh near the downtown um we are requesting a maximum Building height variance in feet and stories um again A C bulk variance request so we're dealing with either a physical hardship what I would offer is a flexible standard um in terms of the benefits outweighing the detriment uh what's proposed osed is an elevation of 46 ft and again that's to the top of the penthouse story which only occupies a portion of that uppermost fifth Story um it's set back substantially from um the main the main Edition and from the front facade of the existing structure that runs along coal Street so um that's the the the proposed height what's permitted as uh was just mentioned is 42 ft so we're in excess of 4 F feet um the proposed Edition has been designed um to allow for sufficient Flor to ceiling Heights to accommodate the new layouts the duplexes that will occupy this portion um so in doing so um to create a an appropriate uh floor to ceiling height with the first floor being just off grade uh we're Rising a total of five stories 46 ft um the 3 District also regulates stories where only four is permitted uh but five is proposed so uh on on this type of lot um we're less than 6,000 square ft uh so they do have uh the lower uh height standard um but uh this is a very unique lot I would say uh some of the benefits in terms of the V visibility of the massing or what I would say lend itself to an appropriate design alternative um Cole Street uh has an alley that intersection intersects uh near this property that would that alley is the only visible point for the addition there's no other vantage point from along Newark or um uh further south along Columbus that you would see the main mass and certainly this this addition it's only from that Alleyway um so I do think where the proposed addition is in the rear of the property set back from um the main uh existing portion of the building that's going to be retained is an appropriate location on the site the addition meets all the setback standards and coverage standards of the R3 so it's not a bigger footprint that wouldn't all otherwise be permitted um and really this this upper story uh the fifth Story Penthouse is to accommodate additional bedroom units for a family sized um for the applicant's own family um to occupy so it is a it is a diverse type of housing that's being introduced to uh to the overall neighborhood um those are the positive criteria uh we did do uh an impact statement uh a visual impact assessment um I can pull that up I can set it up if you want to take a look at the the shadow study um with respect to the ml um again we we are uh guiding appropriate development um but for the uh Penthouse story this would be otherwise a compliant building mass in terms of the four stories below um we are uh establishing an appropriate appropriate population density the permitted you the permitted density is is permitted in the R3 District um there's no density issue or unit count issue uh and as the architect mentioned the design was taken into account uh in terms of separating the the brick work from the existing structure and the proposed Edition um we've also worked in some of the vertical elements at the penthouse and upper stories to create a little bit more uh differentiation uh on the fourth and fifth stories so um those are some of the positive aspects from the purposes of of land use planning uh in terms of the negative aspects as I mentioned we did do a visual impact assessment based Bas on that and the area of the block that this property sits on there's very limited views um of the proposed Edition it's set back quite a distance from the main Frontage um and it will be Blended in with the overall roof line and the design of of the Aesthetics of the facades of the building so um we do believe we mitigated the proposed massing on the fifth Story um and again it it complies with the setbacks um there's one property to the north that is vacant along Newark Avenue so as this is under construction you would you would see the construction um I don't know the condition of that property uh it is what we call a gap in the streetcape uh I don't know if it's associated with parking or anything else of adjacent property but if that were ever to be filled in this would over time have no no visibility from Newark Avenue uh in the immediate term you would you would see it from from that vantage point but um other than that it's just from the alleyway so those are the visual impacts um there's really no other impacts because we're only requesting the additional height and uh in stories and feet so there's sufficient light and air there's sufficient separation at the property lines there's no impacts to any adjacent properties and um in terms of consistency the adjacent property to the East and to the South are both five and six story structures so it is consistent with um with other buildings in the area I I should take that back there's the restaurant at the immediate corner of Kohl's Gringo and the alley Beyond South beyond that is a a six-story structure now M Mr height there's no change in the density that's that's proposed right correct okay I don't have any further questions of Mr height okay um uh I have nothing for Mr height anybody else no okay thank you sir thank you Council I do need to bring Mr Worster back up though okay I do have uh a question that popped up um so let's talk about the mechanical equipment on the roof I'm assuming those are skylights next to it correct those uh as you look at the front elevation the first front elevation got the mechanical equipment off to the right those angled those are the panels solar panels oh okay okay um is that is the mechanical equipment visible from Cole Street the way I'm looking at it right now yes it's intended to be screened for that reason okay do we have kind from the alley as you as you mentioned okay do we have a detail on the screening uh here are enlarged elevations and up on um drawing number six we show uh a metal scrim metal post system that would be used for the screening and those are condensers CU we we would have we'd be using um split system hva uh systems for the apartment okay is there any screening on the front elevation of that unit uh yes if you look at drawing five uh it shows sort of the top it shows the top of the front elevation and it has screening on that side as well can you identify the screening I'm just looking at that like it's a unit uh where by where the um where I'm circling right now is the the screening that's a screener that's the actual so it's it's small condensers yeah in that area okay I'm I'm looking at that as one mechanical unit there no no it's um it's meant it's meant to kind of pick up the the railing of the penthouse which is also set back and the screen um are meant to have they're both in a uh kind of a modern um idiom and set back from the front of the street and relate more to the addition okay I'm just I'm not seeing the setback that's all uh oh well if I can show you at a different drawing what I mean um well I'm looking at drawing five above it the side South elevation oh yeah if if you look to the left it's um the drawing itself is cut and you would go another 40t to the left to get to the front of the building is another dra yeah I can show you a different drawing so here for example and this is a uh drawing one the section cut um shows the units the the condenser units in the screen that's about 40 feet from the front facade right there okay so I'm just I'm trying to imagine if you're across the street on coold Street looking up at that elevation can you see that screening it it you know I might be looking at a 5 foot spot where I can see that screening that that's what I'm trying to get down to here um the all right just trying to get this to B in that drawing side elevation yeah yeah in the when I took the initial uh site sections through the the building to determine where I would place the addition it was set back far enough from Cole Street from the other side of Co Street uh so that it wouldn't be visible from that point and so on site elevation a a right that vantage point is from cross the street the street acoss the street from Co exactly right and bite elevation that is the front elevation of Kohls that's across Maxwell Street uh site elevation B is as if you were standing on just right in front of the building and imagine you're looking at the whole building in a in a elevation so a is really a section I'm showing the building behind behind it the five St tell me I'm reading the drawing wrong you have a and b and then you have number four key map with A's and B's yeah so the a shows how the section is is cut and shown in the the drawing entitled a likewise with B so is B the vantage point from Maxwell well an elevation drawing is is a flattened it's not a perspective it's flattened so it's like a PL the plane of B is is being where the buildings are projected onto and then you're looking at that as a picture and that's the same with a so the the a elevation a is basically the side elevation I understand it's the side elevation but maybe maybe I'm reading it wrong what is the diagonal line cutting across sight elevation a that's a sight line right so that's your Viewpoint that's the view from Maxwell or from Co is from Kohl's B is from Maxwell yes so if you're on Maxwell that's what you can see from that side of the street from Kohl's on a you can't really see anything past that parit there is no parit though the top of the roof line the top of the roof line right the the mechanical screening isn't depicted there so the mechanical screening comes up how high uh 30 in okay from the parapet height and from the roof height it's 42 in okay and that's a flat roof right there's no it's a flat roof it would be slop to drain there' be an internal leader system just like any other flat roof sure okay now that answers my question that's I was just trying to get down to what that was if it was screened or not okay thank you thank you for clearing it up all right council is there anything else or does anybody else have any questions uh I I acknowledge receed of the planners report dated August 9th as well as the jcmua report which is dated August 12th I don't know if that should be marked into evidence Mr mramp does not need to be marked and we agreed to be bound by the terms of both of these okay great thank you all right so uh is there anybody here from public that wants to comment on this application Mr chair public I move to close the public second okay motion is made and seconded Public's closed Sophia do you have anything you want to add for us um no planning staff has no comments nice okay thank you we appreciate it Mr T i' like to make a motion uh to approve case p2024 d56 as presented to our board tonight second okay motion made and seconded for approval Vice chairman Gonzalez hi commissioner lipsky hi commissioner Dr Desai hi commissioner gangen I councilwoman Prince Ary I commissioner green I commissioner Torres hi and commissioner uh chairman Lon all in FA favor motion carries thank you all right thank you Council uh so I'll entertain memorialization of resolutions at this point CH I'd like to make a motion to memorialize the following resolutions there's 14 I believe um number one's resolution of the city of Jersey City planning board case number p23 032 Westside Avenue Holdings LLC address 791-8585 lot 6 through 10 and 25 decided on Tuesday June 11 2024 application for preliminary and final major site plan approval we see variances second resolution of the city of Jersey City planning board in the matter of rosef LLC 296 old Bergen Road Jersey City New Jersey 07306 application number p2024 d005 decided August 20th 2024 application for a minor site plan approval Jersey uh third resolution is the city of Jersey City planning board in the matter of 3438 Kennedy Boulevard LLC application number p2024 d71 decided on August 20th 2024 memorialized September 10 2024 application for a minor s plan approval with C variances and design waiver SL exemption relief for the resolution of the planning board of the city of Jersey City in the matter of n uh 982 Summit LLC application number p2024 - 0072 at 982 Summit Avenue Jersey City New Jersey 073 7 decided August 20th 2024 application for a minor sight plan approval fifth resolution of the city of Jersey City in the matter of grand uh Jersey Group LLC 185 mam Street also known as 52 Etna street block 15801 L 3.02 case number p2024 d93 uh decided July 23rd 2024 application for preliminary and final major site plan approval with deviations number six is resolution of the planning board of the city of Jersey City finding the proposed amendments to scatter site uh Redevelopment plan are consistent with the city of Jersey City master plan and recommending to the municipal Council to the city of Jersey City that said Amendment be adopted number seven is resolution of the planning board of the city of Jersey City for preliminary and final major site plan uh with deviation submitted by 85 monitor llc at 85-87 Monitor Street block 1 19003 Lot 10 case number on that is 20 23- 00009 eighth resolution of the planning board of the city of Jersey City uh is applicant Patricia rafas property 77-79 Grand Street Jersey City New Jersey block 14304 lot three for a minor subdivision with C variances case number p2024 0017 hearing date was August 6th 2024 number nine resolution of the planning board of the city of Jersey City applicant A Higher Ground dispensary LLC property is at 41 Marin Boulevard Jersey City New Jersey block 15901 Lot 19 for a conditional use approval case number p2024 D 0074 hearing date August 20th 2024 result approval 10th resolution of the planning board of the city of Jersey City applicant 651 tunnel AV LLC for amended preliminary and final major site plan approval with bulk signage variances block 1 1901 Lots 1.01 Jersey City New Jersey cas number on that was p2024 0097 number 11 resolution of the planning board of the city of Jersey City applicant Matthew Walsh for minor subdivision approval at 213 Congress Street Jersey City New Jersey block 1405 lot 9 case number p2024 d67 number 12 resolution of the planning board of the city of Jersey City for amended preliminary and final major site plan with deviations submitted by am Development LLC at 306 Johnson have block 17502 lot 16 case number on that was p2024 d26 number 13 resolution of the planning board of the city of Jersey City applicant 900 Bergen LLC for an extension of final major site plan approval with deviations at 900 Bergen AV Jersey City New Jersey block 10701 Lot 4 case number and that was p2024 D 0151 final resolution number 14 of the city of Jersey City planning board applicant Jess realy LLC for preliminary and final major site plan approval V with variances at 46 Congress Street also known as 386 New York Avenue Jersey City New Jersey block 1705 lot 26 case number p23 d89 a second all right we have a motion in a second C we have a roll call please Vice chair Dr Gonzalez hi commissioner gangan hi commissioner councilwoman Prince AR hi commissioner Torres hi commissioner lipsky hi commissioner Dr Desai hi commissioner green hi and chairman langson hi motion carries all in favor to memorialize resolutions thank you do we need uh executive session anybody move to adjourn second okay thank you guys we're adjourned appreciate it