welcome to the April 8th 2024 meeting of the zoning subcommittee of the rier city council all rise and salute the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Madam Clark rooll call of the members councelor greo SAA here here councelor Kelly here here councelor noveli here here councelor sylvestri here here and uh chairman zambuto here here qum is present first matter on tonight's agenda is an ordinance further amending the revised zoning ordinances of the city of Rivier relative to homebased child care okay um I think we've we've discussed this at lent and we we've come come to an agreement so uh Madame cler if you'll read the Amendments into the record we'll be all set uh there were several several technical amendments submitted by councilors McKenna and sylvestri the makers of the motion everyone get those in their packet I'll read them out loud for number one csection 4 section 170815 is amended by inserting the words the in parenthesis e after the words Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care number two c section 5 Section 17 08151 is amended by deleting more than 10 children and inserting in place thereof the number of children allowed by eec three csection 6 section 170815 2 is amended by deleting 10 and inserting in place thereof the maximum number of children allowed by eec section I'm sorry Amendment four C section 7 section 1708 275 is amended by deleting the Massachusetts Department of Early Childhood Education and Care and inserting a place thereof eec amendment five see section 7 section 1708 275 is here by amended by deleting six and inserting in place thereof the number of children allowed by eec amendment number six see Section 8 section 17 08276 is amended by deleting the Massachusetts Department of Early Childhood Education and Care and inserting a place thereof eec amendment number seven see Section 8 section 17 8276 is amended by deleting 10 and inserting in place thereof the total number of children children allowed by eec for a large family child care home Amendment 8 csection 8 section 1708 276 is amended by deleting the second to last sentence in its entirety and inserting in place thereof a large family child care home shall employ the minimum number of approved assistance required by eec when the total number of children participating in child care meets the eec requirement for employment of assistance amendment number nine c section 16 SEC section 17442 D is amendment is amended by deleting six children at a time and inserting in place thereof the total number of children allowed by eec at a time and last amendment number 10 c section 16 section 17442 is amended by deleting 10 children at a time and inserting in place thereof the total number of children allowed for large family child care homes by eec at a time okay we'll call for a roll call on those amendments offered by councelor McKenna and Silvestri councelor Gino SAA yes yes councelor Kelly yes yes councelor novas selski yes yes councelor sylvestri yes yes and chairman zambuto yes yes those amendments um we approved so now the ordinance as amended to reation to receive a favorable recommendation I thought that was understood to the to offer it to the rier city council uh roll call shall the zoning subcommittee offer a failable recommendation for adoption of the um sorry zoning ordinance relative to homebased child care uh as amended uh councelor greo SAA yes councelor Kelly yes yes councel noeli yes yes councelor sylvestri yes yes and chairman zambuto yes yes the ordinance as amended has received a favorable recommendation thank you next matter is Overlook Ridge LC carav Baris residential relative to a zoning ordinance further amending the Overlook Ridge overlay District good evening name and address please Marshall tier 210 Hudson Street Jersey City New Jersey give us a moment for our technical thank you all right so all you press is the space bar okay no just tell me one thing thank you thank you good evening everybody um this is a matter we talked about a couple weeks ago um on your screen you see right now the two sites that are being discussed for zoning amendments uh tonight site one parcel one is the uh small site right at the Salem Street interchange behind the fire station and site 15 is the uh multif family site at the top of the page uh these are the remaining two sites in rever for development Overlook rdge uh tonight we're we're discussing essentially one amendment that applies in multiple places and on both Parcels um otherwise the application is consistent with his zoning um that one amendment is not making the hotel a condition of development at Overlook Ridge uh on paral one the retail parcel uh it defines a hotel use it defines a retail use it makes a retail accessory to the hotel we're asking that requirement be removed and the retail be considered a primary use and not limited to 5,000 ft which it has right now on partial 15 on lot 15 uh the way the ordinance is prepared we cannot apply for a building permit for the multif family on 15 unless a building permit has been issued for a hotel on lot one so once again the hotel is a condition in all other regards we're not asking for any other variances or changes to the Z zoning uh in lot uh one it is Our intention as we said before to build retail neighborhood retail service for the thousands of residents at Overlook Ridge which they sorely need and on lot 15 we're proposing to build a multif family community of 310 units uh zoning allows for 376 proposing to build five-story building zoning allows eight story building and in addition to that we're proposing to have 15% of the units set aside for affordable housing which is not required under the ordinance at all so so that is the simplest part that is the simple part of this request it is simply to uh remove the hotel as a condition uh as it applies to both sites uh we did prepare language I've already talked about all that so we did prepare language this is the ordinance as proposed but it's easier to read what we've changed and that's in this one here you're not say one more time I'm sorry you're not changing anything here tonight from from what you proposed no this is exactly what we proposed last time no no change I'm just walking through it again all right so in case somebody slept through my last present I I think everybody's in tune to what you're doing up there and I think uh what I'll do is open this up to the counselors that might have any last minute questions but I think we've worked pretty hard on this everybody feels good about it so uh Council sylvestri thank you Mr chairman um I just like to make sure we get the uh the amendment for the flag poll and on done thank you and it's up again so we're going to make sure we note where it is so we can yes I appreciate it I told my guys take a picture and make sure they locate it thank you very much council president presid K thank you Mr chairman I can confirm that that flag is up so thank you very much you bet um we're on it I and I appreciate it um we just had a project go get approved with affordable housing units that were going to give preference to Veterans and people with disability would you be able to guarantee some of those units for affordable go to veterans in our community I can't guarantee it what I would do is guarantee a marketing program to outreach to get them to come I can't make them I can't make people apply for an apartment we've tried this over the years all sorts of places and the the most productive thing to do is agree and we'll come in writing with what we're proposing but we'll agree to an Outreach and marketing program that we do before we start renting to others and uh and we'll we'll focus that on rever we'll need help from whoever in the community can give us that information and we'll do a very aggressive Outreach and that we can commit to I can't commit to people leasing I know you can't guarantee but I appreciate that you bet thank you Mr chairman Council Kelly thank you um is that the same response or does that is that applicable also to senior housing it's the in other words you're doing 15% affordable housing right and I thought I saw somewhere you would be agreeable to 5% of that not guaranteeing but regarding veterans anything for seniors yes I'm going to take this one just because it pertains to not only this project but a few others that have come in front of the council um including 133 Salem Street um and this was actually um to go to La project for a second there was a requirement to set aside a certain amount of units for seniors and we actually received um feedback from the state that that's in violation of fair housing law um because basically the way that um the law states it is if you're going to have senior housing it must be um senior preference it must for housing developments that are set aside solely for seniors um and that receives subsidies therein so when we're talking about more the local preference you know the different things that a city council might want to add on to a project veterans is is acceptable and that's past muster but senior housing just a few units within a larger set of units that are not set aside for seniors that was flagged as being in violation of that law thank you for the clarification appreciate it from the planning board okay you want to read that now the city planner is that you still the city planner the city planner offered some language that the clerk will read this was the offering by Council of sylvestri and then it kind of combines um that 15% affordable housing amendment that the planning board had submitted uh to the city council and the draft um Amendment would be as follows section 1723 80f General regulations for the Overlook Ridge overlay District so new section F the owners of the property shall provide the city of Rivier with a development agreement that stipulates a flag poll must be maintained on lot one at a location to be approved by the site plan review committee and further that the development agreement stipulates that 15% of the proposed residential units to be constructed on lot 15 located in the city of Rivier reserved for affordable housing with at least five of those units reserved for affordable veterans housing well he yeah I think we can leave that and with the stipulation that we can't he force him he's going to he's promised to Market so we'll have to alter that I'm concerned about the word Reserve I can't Let's uh we we'll aggress L Market towards veterans we'll pre-market okay yeah however you want to wording is fine with me I can't reserve okay that's no that's fine we'll change that language you good with that okay you Council novaski you want to speak goad yes thank you Mr chairman um regarding the veteran portion all I would ask is your marketing people be in touch with our R Veterans office to let them know when uh bu rooms are available apartments are available for them in case they have someone that may want to apply yeah we'll coordinate both the disability and the and the veterans we'll have to coordinate with with the city on on the contact person for outreach okay and we'll do that that that's first of all um second of all uh my thoughts over the years since the project way way back when uh was going uh really upset me uh that you know you're coming back now asking that this be taken off that the hotels be taken out and that was one thing that we needed back then but you know now things have changed uh I'm still not happy that uh we were lied to by your prior owners uh and because I remember Joe sha standing up here and telling us we were going to get a hotel there and so when I heard this again and over the years and it wasn't happening it really really upset me but knowing that we're going to be getting a large sum over the years of rentals uh you know I've calmed down a little and you know and I know there there's things that change and we want to move forward and you know I will be supporting this and um you know also any we're going talk about the other changes on the zoning uh I will be supporting that but um I I just don't like people coming up and lying to us you know and stroking us don't don't appreciate that at all understood thank you thank you thank you Council novaski I think what happens here is those of us who' have been here a long time uh we're lied to and we don't take handling to that but this is we're moving forward in good faith with you with your uh you've done everything we've asked you to do and and we appreciate that so I'm not going to hold you to the people that lied to us oh councelor Gino saai yeah you got it have you did any thought um had any thought on what you're going to put there for retail you know we talked about that last time I what my vision is for what what satisfies the residents there the the beauty of having something retail is unfortunately this small it's not that much retail is we can afford to be picky and and we're going to try to do stuff that supports what the community there needs what they would like to have so certainly my hope is for at least one you know restaurant and at least one store that sells food items and other Sues and things that are needed and this would hopefully be local shops and people that in the area that that uh are interested in doing that you know a dry cleaner pick up and drop off I mean just the things that 5,000 people that could walk to would enjoy having I'm just concerned because it the hotel was such a big uh big scale and I don't want you to come back and say we need to put more Apartments there no the the lot one site just so everybody's also clear the lot one property when Overlook Ridge Road flips to the other side of the uh Firehouse you're left with a relatively small piece of property it's just a few acres and couple acres for a parking lot so nothing large is going to happen there and uh the hotel the the retail when we laid it out just for the discussions for tonight not a site plan application obviously we're not there yet we we tried to fit as much retail as you could fit on there and still park it pursuant to the ordinance and we only fit 10 or 11,000 ft of retail if you adequately park it and there's no point in building retail if you don't adequately park it so we we we want the retail we think that retail is necessary and we're going to build the retail you know soon as we can thank you you bet a bodega right that's that's my listen I'm I'm I live in New York so Bodega answers everybody knes on every street corner in the communities of Manhattan and New Jersey they don't call it bodas but it's the same thing same product all good so I think if we we're all done with questions here we'll move forward to uh read the Amendments that Amendment language go right ahead and further that the development agreement stipulates that 15% of the proposed residential units to be constructed on lot 15 located in the city of of Rivier be dedicated for affordable housing period is that is that by the way Mr director thank you for uh for uh clearing up that law for us because we do like to obey the laws here we don't want to make our own and some sometimes we try to make our own here and we get slapped down for it so thank you for that no problem happy to help Marshall want to finish this I think we're I think we're finished up here I I didn't hear the reading I was asking a legal question but I'm assuming doesn't say reserve for then I'm okay whatever else you write is fine it's all good we're all good as long as it doesn't say reserve for we're going to hold you to aggressively markeing got it without putting that in there yeah happy to do it all good call the rooll on that Amendment so on that Amendment uh to the Overlook Ridge overlay District councelor greo SAA yes yes councelor Kelly yes yes councel noeli yes yes councilor sylvestri yes yes chairman zambuto yes yes that amendment has been approved and now for the uh Overlook Ridge overl District ordinance as amended uh for a favorable recommendation to the full city council councilor Gino SAA yes yes Council Kelly yes yes Council noeli yes yes Council sylvestri yes yes and chairman zuto yes yes the ordinance has received a favorable recommendation as amended thank you very much have a good night thank you very much next is an amendment to the zoning map of the city of Rivier relative to the Conservation District in ra1 zoning District in North Rivier is that Frank thank you Frank stringy city planner still city planner I didn't know you've had so many titles I didn't know if you kept that one it's okay um I have uh zoning Maps here they were part of your your packet I don't know if you still have them but U it helps you identify the location of these Parcels in North Rivier that we're speaking of tonight uh the city of Rivier uh has a large track of land in North Rivier that is uh deed conservation land it's approximately 18 Acres uh over the years we've assembled as many Parcels as possible to be contiguous with that to increase that District uh there are six Parcels included in this amendment that reson land owned by the city of Riva presently that is ra1 and resoning at to CD Conservation District and they're all contiguous with the existing Conservation District however there's one parcel off Mar Mara Street approximately 6,900 Square F feet that's a standalone isolated parcel in the middle of the ra1 district U so this amendment would request that that parcel be zoned ra1 contiguous to with the land around it um the idea behind that there there is an interested party who owns a privately owned parcel right in the smack middle of our Conservation District that's about s close to 8,000 square ft and he requested through the city council to do a land Swap and give that parcel to the city of Rivier which is currently own its own C CD and and transfer for the city to transfer the parel on Mara Street which is about 6,900 square feet Which is less than the parcel he would be giving to the city and he owns a lot the land uh AB buding this so This parcel on Mara streets alone is not a buildable lot but combined with his present lot it creates a buildable lot of well over 8,000 square F feet uh which would be on the city's tax roles so um under the Mass general laws the city council has the has the authority I got it so let me get this straight we're not voting on that land swap deal tonight absolutely not okay so I I want to stick to what we're doing I just wanted to give the background to the reasoning behind this and you're obviously forward and I'm sure we'll be for it in the future but I want to just get this piece out of the way great thank you huh any committee members want to discuss this I thought everybody was good with it yeah you good with it yeah okay so I think we can we can vote on uh what the city planner gave us shall the zoning subcommittee offer a fa recommendation for adoption of the zoning map amendments as reported by city planner Frank stringi councelor Gino SAA yes yes councelor Kelly yes yes councel noeli yes yes councelor sylvestri yes yes and chairman zambo yes yes this this ordinance has been awarded a favorable recommendation thank you and lastly on the special permit application of 8 Rivier Street LLC requesting a special permit from the Rivier city council to raise the existing non-conforming structure and constructed 9unit townhouse development at eight Rivier street name and address sir thank you Mr chairman members of the committee for the wed Rook Salvo engineering Alliance 194 Central Street in SAS so as as was just read nine unit townhouse um five units um on the on the westly side four units on the easly side ass by a common driveway home ownership opportunity here the city of reier so right be happy to answer any questions any committee members we I this was a good presentation before the council after the public hearing and I think everybody's in favor of it and I don't think there's anything to add except to uh read conditions into the record we wave the reading wave the reading my my clerk has no voice tonight so we're going to try to try to get her through this meeting roll call shall the zoning subcommittee offer a favorable recommendation for granting the relief requested by the special permit subject uh to the city planers conditions councelor Gino SAA yes yes councelor Kelly yes yes councel noeli yes yes councelor sylvestri yes yes and chairman zambuto yes yes the special permit has received a favorable recommendation for granting thank you great thank you no further business that's the end of the zoning subcommittee for