[Music] [Music] this meeting is is being held in accordance with the provisions of the open public meetings Act of the state of New Jersey notice of time and place of
this meeting was published in the annual meeting calendar and posted on the bull board by the city clerk on February 13 2025 the 2025 meeting calendar was published in legal advertisements in new Journal start leder in December of
24 additional notice of this meeting was facts to the Bergen Record and the Trenton Times on February 13 2025 and to the start Ledger on February 19th 2025 everybody please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance
roll call commissioner Driscoll present commissioner Glover present commissioner halac present commissioner MC is uh absent at this time commissioner Bardo is absent also
the alternates w w Leon and Noak are absent our Joseph Ryan is our staff secretary is here and our Cil David ravesi
we do have a quum Mr secretary adoption of the minutes of the previous meeting we'll take a minute take a look at them and see if there's any changes modifications or additions I make a motion to accept the minutes all those in favor say I I I
motion carried review of Correspondence Dr Ryan thank you Mr secretary um in the uh original packet that uh was sent out
uh there is a comment sheet okay there's a comment sheet uh that dealing with the proposal for 40 Cottage Street the Commissioners had no uh comment or objection uh the packet also
contains uh some forms with instructions from the New Jersey historic preservation office about historic uh properties um and some correspondence between chairman nowiki and uh Andrea
tingy from the New Jersey state um historic office uh and um we did receive a request for um records under the open public records act um I just included the uh the record request uh sheet uh in
the back of your original packet that was handled that was was dealt with um and I gave out a supplement uh tonight um to the original packet uh there's a uh comment sheet concerning
455-461 Avenue C that was already handled uh now there is a um new request for comment in the supplementary packet uh concerning a proposal to demolish a one family property that that is at 9-11
airs court and to replace it with two new two family houses on the same uh property that would be subdivided into uh two um lots and there's a photo of the existing uh brick home that's there
uh and also architectural plans for the two houses that would replace it and uh they are identical to each other uh and then at the end of the supplement is a um two-page listing of historic
properties done by District that chairman nowiki asked me to um include with the packet and distribute to you tonight uh so in terms of what's in the second packet there's one thing that um
would require action tonight by the commission and that is uh any comment on the the proposal for 9-11 airs Court to um replace a one family house with two
new two family houses okay thank you requests for comments from the zoning board and adjustments and planning board do we have any of that the exis address 9-11 airs
Court yeah it has a one family Brick House on it that would appear to be from perhaps about 1960 thank you uh if anyone has any comment uh I'll pass it on if no one has a comment I'll tell them no comment or
no objection any comments no comments is there anything historic about the site not that I I know of no no okay well since there's nothing anything historic about it I have no objection thank you very much I'll pass that on to uh Planning
and Zoning tomorrow then that's uh that's an easy one to handle thank you anything else nothing else for me I'm sure that um there may be some comments from Commissioners on other items on the agenda such as uh update on historic
properties and I'm assuming that chairman awiki would like to discuss this two-page handout listing uh historic part Properties by District than Youk you
no just hold the chair so I don't push cuz I tend to have a lot of weight when I push back I want to apologize to everyone for being late this evening but there's so much to do and so little time to do it in that I tend to be late a lot
uh especially since I got clipped by a car um one of the things I wanted to do at the beginning of of this uh evening's meeting was to call everyone's attention to something that perhaps they all know now but in case they don't uh we have
lost during the past month someone who was a great friend of uh his preservation and of the history of Bon and that is the watercolorist and lithographer Steven zinski uh Steve was
uh well known for his lithographs of Bon the scenes of the park scenes of different houses and structures schools Etc and he passed away this past month after a long career um he had ended up in the
um in the uh uh Pennsylvania in uh New Hope the New Hope area of Pennsylvania and he was a great guy he was a wonderful man he was a wonderful husband a wonderful father and um we are diminished by his passing
so I would call your attention to that and perhaps remember him in whichever way you want to remember him my thanks to Dr Ryan for giving out this list what I've been trying to do is take a look at Bon from a district point of of you um
uh Jesse Willian one of our members was very interested in districts and we haven't really done that much with districts over the last couple of years but I figured if you name them then people will perhaps start using the names for them and we have places like
Harley Place Howard Place Skyler Place uh the West A Street District which is mostly houses created by Solen humph and his wife Mary Ellen Walsh um we also have have no this looks
strange did we um we have houses on Benmore Terrace Rosel Terrace and we have houses the Fuller estate that the Wesley Court was actually a different estate it wasn't part of the bore project it was part of Colonel Fuller's Colonel Charles Wesley Fuller who worked
with the um Oil Company a lot and uh was listed as a soldier a lawyer a politician an aor and New York uh sorry New Jersey superintendent of Public Instruction so these are all houses that I think are worth taking a look at worth
talking to their owners about see if they if any of them would like to um you know uh would like to Landmark their home Etc uh okay so Dr Ryan Yan and uh Lea haly have gone up to uh we're up to
number five right update on historic properties uh commissioner um HC would you like to give a report on the um St Andrews Church which you've been working on well St Andrew's Church was
designated as a historic site by the Bon city council last month okay how did that go how was the meeting did everything go fine yes it did okay it was unanimous too bad you weren't there I couldn't be there I was very sick and I was not able
to uh well I was there and it was overwhelming it was awesome no problems no problems at all okay well the law firm for the arch dasis they
criticized it but well um our director um Jay the LW director he spoke out with their concerns okay so there's nothing there that needs to be the only thing the only
um criticism that had was when I looked at what was turned in I didn't see the forms that uh commissioner cornuta said forwarded to us to be used so I was wondering why the forms weren't used can well speak to that um here
before the meeting started all that I was asked was for a property report and I gave it um well first I gave it to our our L representative David and then after he read through it I went to city
council and it passed through um Gary laaloa and he approved of it okay well here's the issue that we have potential issue going forwards which is that I think I don't think any of us think that the arch dasis is going to change their
decision and reopen it as a church do you think that will happen it may have well I I don't know um there is a lawsuit I'm not part of this lawsuit the um there are parishioners who have a lawsuit against them and the arch dasis
can't do anything until that lawsuit is resolved it was stated at the council meeting okay that's good um the reason I'm bringing it up is that I I thought that the Commissioners and the uh councilman and the mayor everyone was
interested in seeing if we could come up with a constructive reuse for the property that it would be used as something that the building would continue to exist but that the the parish wouldn't have to maintain it as a as a church anymore if that's the case then what we really want is to be able
to get grant money for the building yes but I think that lawsuit needs to have time I mean the parishioners are all for this lawsuit even though I'm not part of that lawsuit I know they're all for it and it may be a church again we don't
know okay um in case it does not in case in case they are looking to sell it and do some kind of constructive reuse like St Lucy's in Jersey City um in case they do then what you really need is to put the put the information on a new form that's even newer than the ones Carmella
had uh because that's needed in order to do a a shipo statement of opinion that the landmark is worth preserving and that would then entitle them to funding so be aware that this could come back and might need your attention more you'll have to get on to those forms in
order to do that okay agreed but here um the prisioners need to have a chance yeah um the administrator of St Mary's I mean he's all for selling the property at Mark market value and here he can't
do anything because of that lawsuit okay no problem I'm just saying should the should it you know it turn out to be that we're trying to look for a constructive reuse then you will need to put it on the forms and that's why that's why we have the forms and regrettably we had never done a
presentation to our new lawyer to explain to him that we had forms so he didn't know when he was working with you it would have been good if he had come to Lee or to me or to one of the the altimer on the commission so you would have known too but thank you thank you
for a job well done okay uh let's see uh is there anything else you want to report on the other property you're working on the no I haven't had a chance to go back to 17 North Street um for the last 3 weeks I was down with the virus
I'm over it but that's why I couldn't go back to it do you want to go back to it or somebody else no no I did all that work and I need to finish what I started okay any ideas when how long how much longer that would take no well it's been
three years so we're kind of you know no actually it's been two only two yeah okay it's been two okay you know no one's looking to shove I mean shell that property no one's looking to come with a bulldozzer to knock it down then there
would be a priority about it but it's going to be there's no time sensitivity about that property it's fine and just to let you know you wouldn't even have that as a nomination if it wasn't for me I went to the owner and he knew me from
when I lived on Skyla place and I walked my dog banjo he knew me from then he's a very private person he doesn't look for attention so here thanks to me I'm not toting my own horn but thanks to me you
have that as a nomination well remember it's on the crcg report from years ago and it's a part of the listing of houses from the Solen humph project it's part of the 25 houses that they erected so it's already in the district's list yes
but here they don't own it the owner of 17 North Street owns the property um and here he was kind enough to let me go into his home and we discust it he doesn't want any notoriety
a plaque on the front of his house that's fine but other than that he doesn't want anything else since you haven't been back to him for a while if you have an issue with him when you go back I don't have an issue with him if you do then don't be afraid to come to us we're here to help you so please don't be
afraid okay let's go on with let's go forward Future Property reports um uh Lee and I have something please go ahead uh lee do you want to kick us off what mechanics
tress no something no no something else okay go ahead commissioner Driscoll and I are investigating and researching the Bayon dry do and repair down at the old mot and uh some basic history about it
is that uh there is articles from March 25th 1939 and it basically says for warship and Airbase High authorities are offering great advantages Boom for local business would result from action
acquisition of B's New Port Terminal by the Navy for use as an air and sea port together with the possib possibility that city-owned property here may be purchased by the Navy for construction of a huge sh do were revealed exclusively to the Bayon times today
through usually reliable sources I thought it kind of interesting said usually so that's um March 25th 1939 moving on to September of
1940 the Senate to vote on dry do fund the Senate today received from the house an appropriation which included a $15 million for establishment of a naval Supply base and building at the world's largest dry doy Bale in New Jersey the
house passed the appropriation measure last night moving on to January 27th 1941 the city gets to dry do Governor Edison tells the times Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox approved by as a site
for the proposed super dry do in New York Harbor Governor Charles Edison informed the B on times of this this afternoon the governor said the bay on site has been approved by Secretary of the Navy head is for the dry dock which
will be continuous to supply base site notice that they have dropped the idea of some kind of airport now president excuse me Governor Charles Ed medicine is very helpful for
Bon not only to get this dry do built but he was also instrumental in getting a large contract for the elal naval division to build PT boats during World War II eventually Elco did build 399 of
them once it was approved and built became known as the naval dry do from 1942 until 1967 the US Army took over in 1967 and became known as military ocean
terminal May own dry do and repair as it is today it's opened up will be began business in 1997 so Jessica commissioner dresco has uh
contacted the um manager there by the name of Brian quanon and uh he said he's going to pass on uh commissioner dr's number to the general manager to see what we will hear back
what we're looking for is one building to Landmark from the 1940s so we're going to continue to work on this and try to get at least one building landmarked so would not be the actual functional dry dunk it would be a
management or administrative bu building that's what you're looking we're seeing what U if what if anything's left over from the 1940s I also offered that we could come look when it's appropriate for them I don't want to I I want to arrange it ahead of time though yeah do you feel
that there are structures there that are that old they were receptive to it they said they would look into it so we'll see what we hear okay yeah because it's kind of like the bay on bridge you don't want to do something that's going to impact modifications that are necessary to handle you know the like the
modifications to the bridge were for the new ships the higher ships passing underneath exactly so you can't constrain technology but you can try to work with it sounds good sounds good well commissioner and I had discussed
this we're thinking maybe there's a locker room or tool storage building or something that was left over so we have at least one building an inventory would be nice also we should probably we know what all is there and how many buildings
there were there and as long as you didn't get a know from the from the property owners that's a good thing because trying to do this with with them not wanting it becomes difficult right right that was a good sign at least they didn't say
no and get us out of the U thinking of uh investigating and researching it right okay um I do have something which is that I've been working on a book um a black history of Bon book and some some
things have happened recently which is four of the churches in Bon have been very forthcoming with information about how their churches started what issues they faced what uh problems they faced and um I think I want to ask um at Lisa
if she would take a look at these and see if any of them appeal to her as things that maybe as you know landmarks that should be landmarked uh because of their history so if you could take a look at that for us that would be good I'll send you a copy of what we have uh the churches that have responded I think
are the four largest which is Angelic Baptist Friendship Baptist goala Temple and today we heard back from the uh the Evangelical Gospel Tabernacle so they they have all come forwards also miss Mrs
um councilman Booker and his wife have submitted a nice write up about him and his his role in Bon history and uh several other you know groups have will contribute a text to this and I just wanted to make the point that that we
have we're gonna have like 40 writers by the time we're done with this so I think you will find that interesting I'm sorry if you have a chance to take a look at the display case outside yeah they they told me yeah the NAACP put that together so there's some uh history there in
terms of um African-Americans and their involvement um with the city yeah there's a I have a call in Neil um about you know the what he had I think he had a book I'm sorry a box of things that were B is this all the Bayon
stuff yeah okay good makes it easier I don't have to go to Jersey City for it okay um let us see did we have anything else that be talking yeah I wanted to mention that at
uh the most recent city council meeting uh the council approved a Redevelopment plan involving uh congregation uh shm the Uptown synagogue which uh property is going to be redeveloped um there was
a uh speaker who grew up in the congregation uh Renee cherl oi um who asked that the building be saved and if the building was not going to be saved um as a backup she wanted um uh plaque she wanted some kind of uh Memorial
activity so that people would remember the synagogue and uh the council members expressed an interest in working with her on that um somewhat similar to what happened with the um apartment house that replaced the high hat that building
does have photos um and memorabilia in it from the high hat so uh just wanted to mention that cool excellent I'm trying to think has anyone seen anything in the list in the district's list that looks interesting
to them and and Dr Ryan we were asking you about Forester place I was unable to come up with anything historical about Forester place I'm I'm curious as to why it's there what what it's all about and who the Foresters were because Harley
Howard Skyler we know who all of those people were but Forester you're mentioning Foresters frankly the first I've heard of it I know of Foresters from Jersey City I don't know if uh anything about Forester place in Bon honestly okay well there is a Forester
place down uh in the vicinity of of um some of these other districts and we simply have not uh seen anything in our history books about them so I'm curious about them I'll check a few old maps to see if that UNS anything okay uh one of
the things that I ended up involved in and I I reached out to Jessica and to Lee about was that um as the plans for the uh Holy Family Academy turning into beof go forwards uh the bef building uh
on 8th Street the West 8th Street um one is the old mechanics Trust Bank which is I think we decided it's a 1902 structure is that correct think approximate dat yeah yeah yeah it's it's by Arthur Curtis long
year who was a well-known architect from uh Northern New York uh who lived in Bon he also produced The Bank building on 33rd Street and uh Broadway uh it's an a strong dominant building it's like a
great big pie of granite right in the middle of 8th Street and I would hate to see it um ripped to suer uh we have talked about perhaps doing a write up on that them Etc can you ask the city
fathers how they feel about it or city city mothers City fathers City parents because um it belongs I believe to the city at this point in time I think it stopped being a um a bank in 1934 around 1934 with
theol yeah yeah served as City Hall Annex for several decades right and had a lot of documentation information in the basement and stuff um we would like I would like to see it preserved I think most people who see it would like to say that maybe we can do something for it to
brighten It Up cheer it up save it and use it for something um you know something good so whatever the city has in plans for it maybe we could we could take care of that okay okay don't mind delivery it's
something for something that uh I was arranging before um so if you can take a look at that if you can find out is there any opposition to saving it we brought your present thank you very much
okay uh let me think if there's anything else does anyone have anything else they'd like to talk about no no do I hear a motion to adjourn for the evening before we adjourn Mr chairman I'd like to tell everybody that our next meeting will be
March 25th thank you commissioner make a motion we adjourn I second it all in favor I I so be it thank you all very much for