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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=7POuFP8iHZ0

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Good afternoon. I would like to call this virtual meeting uh to of the Jersey City Planning Board to order. Today is Tuesday, July 28th with a start time of 5:34 p.m. Can we all stand for the pledge of

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the allegiance? I pledge algiance 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.

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>> And God bless our troops. >> Thank you. Can we um sunshine announcement cam? >> Yes, madame chair. Good evening everyone. Today is Tuesday, July 28th, and this is a Jersey City Planning Board meeting with a scheduled 5:30 p.m. start

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time. And in accordance with the Open Public's Meeting Act, notice of this meeting has been given to the city clerk and posted on the city bulletin and on the city website on July 23rd of this year. This meeting was also posted on the Jersey City Division of City Planning web page, and all distribution materials made available to the board

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were published and made available to the public. >> Thank you. Roll call. All right. Commissioner Barnaby >> here. >> Commissioner Kaplan

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>> here. >> Commissioner Conway >> here. >> Commissioner Patel >> here. >> Commissioner Capers >> here. >> Commissioner Stamato

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>> here. Vice Chair Wick >> here >> and Madame Chair Gangadin >> here. >> Okay, we have a quorum. We have eight commissioners present. >> Thank you. Can we swear in a sec? >> I see Matt, Cam, Matt, Sophia, Ben. Do

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you guys swear any testimony you give tonight is going to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Cam correspondence. >> Yes, Madam Chair. Uh first uh we've just marked um the sunshine uh announcement

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into evidence as B1. Um oh my blur it's here. Um but correspondence starts under old business on page seven of the agenda. Um

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item Case P2025-0 133. It's a preliminary and final major site plan with C variances. Address is 547 to 555 Summit Avenue. They've requested a carry with preservation of no notice to August 11th.

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>> Okay. >> Then moving into new business on page 10, item 18, case P2025-0 172. This is a minor site plan. Address

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is 219 Freeman Avenue. They are requesting to carry with um uh they don't need to preserve notice because they they're a minor site plan, but they're requesting to carry to August 25th. Continuing on to page 12, item 22, case

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P 2025-246. This is a preliminary and final major site plan with C variances. Address is 250 Fair Mount Avenue. They've requested a carry with preservation of not notice to August 25th.

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Next case, item 23. Case P 2025-0253. This is a preliminary and final major site plan with C variances. Address is uh 1,721 Kennedy Boulevard. They've requested a carry with preservation of not notice to August 25th.

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And then the last two items requesting a carry are on page 13. Item 26, case P23-043. This is a preliminary and final major site plan with C variances. Address is 300 Communal Avenue. They've requested

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to carry with preservation of notice to August 25th. And then lastly, item 27, excuse me, this is uh case P2025-00004. Address is 278 Pine Street. This is an administrative amendment and they've requested a carry with preservation of

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notice to August 25th. And that, Madam Chair, concludes correspondence. >> Thank you. I'd like to move on to all business. I would like to call case P206. -0064,

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a one-year extension. Property address is 405 Route 440. >> Okay. >> And for the record, I'd just like to announce that council person Little is in attendance. >> Good afternoon. How are you? >> Good afternoon. Sorry, I was 5 minutes late.

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>> That's okay. >> I'm good. How are you? >> Good. >> Okay. Good evening, commissioners. >> Good evening, >> Rebecca Marello. Connell Foley here on behalf of the applicant tonight. We're seeking a we're actually seeking a

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two-year extension of preliminary and final site plan approval that we received originally under P under application number P20-022. So, um, by way of some background, this property is located at 405 Route 440.

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It's located adjacent to there's an existing Target across the street right now, and it's also located across from the um pending Bayfront development along the river. So, this application

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was originally approved on October 27th of 2020. The applicant received preliminary and final study plan approval to construct an eight-story building with 150 residential units and 108 parking spaces.

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So the initial vesting period for this application um it originally ended on October 27th, 2022. So keep in mind, right, site plan approvals do not expire. um just any protections from changes in zoning um

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can expire if the vesting period is not extended. So the original the original approval the vesting period ended in October of 2022 and then um the applicant sought a three-year

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extension to extend the approvals from October of 2022 to October of 2025. That was under case number P2022-147. The planning board granted three one-year extensions.

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So, as this board is aware, um normally the applicant is entitled to three one-year extensions of the vesting period. Um but there are certain exceptions to that rule. So, I'm going to quote the MLUL. So it's specifically

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under NJSA455D-52E. The planning board may within its discretion grant additional extensions to the applicant if the board deems reasonable for certain projects that contain 100 or more residential units by

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taking the following points into consideration. The number of units that a project has. um economic conditions and as well as the comprehensiveness of the development. So, we're here to

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assert that this project qualifies for this additional extension as it is an eight-story building with 158 units. And this development is very comprehensive because the original approval um as part

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of the comment letters that the applicant received from the JCMUA, this project is required to connect its sewer connections into the Bayfront development. So as many of you I'm sure you are

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aware, the Bayfront development has not been constructed yet. Um the the the connections here are going to probably go along Kellogg Street, which is where this project is located near and the infrastructure improvements along Kellogg Street have not commenced yet.

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Um, additionally, as part of the original project, this applicant is not allowed to pull construction permits until they get a highway access permit for the NJ DO um in connection with this project. So,

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because the Bayfront development, it's still pending. We're not able to connect into any existing infrastructure because it's not there as of today. Um, we are respectfully requesting that this application falls within the MLUL under

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section 52E and that this board may in its discretion grant additional extensions of the vesting period. So with that, we are requesting a 2-year extension extending the vesting period from October 27th of 2025 to October 27th of

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2027. And that is the crux of our application. If the board has any questions, I'm happy to answer. As Santa, would you um like to validate that? >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. uh council

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is correct under section E of subsection 52 of the MLUL uh applicants meeting certain criteria can get the approval validated past the typical three-year and council's also

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correct with respect to site plan approvals and variances don't expire. uh variances can expire if there's a sunset provision of the ordinance. It usually happens with use variances. We do not have any such situation [clears throat]

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here in the city. So, uh it protects them from a change in the zoning. That's that's the protection that's sought. It's contemplated under the MLUL, I think, based on what I know of happening over in Bayfront. the fact that they

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have to tie into the uh infrastructure that's yet to be constructed. Uh I think that that would be grounds for the board to use its discretion and to grant that extension. I would add it's unusual that

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applicants are willing to wait for other projects to come online. Usually they're pushing and telling the municipality, well that becomes your problem and that becomes the other applicant's problem. I

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get to build my project. So I think they they're in a situation where they need some other pieces to happen in order for them to move forward. And I I would say that that seems to be a proper exercise of the discretion of the board if if the

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board so chooses. Again, it's discretionary. The board doesn't have to match. >> Thank you, Commissioner Conway. I see your hand is raised. You have a question. >> Yeah. I just had a question. Um I was just wondering if there were any

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affordables that were going to be in this proposed development as far as um the 504 Hudson. >> Right. So, there are no affordable housing units with this application um this approval. And I just I just want to

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make clear so the original approval for this project under case P20-022 there were 12 conditions of approval for that project and many of those conditions of approval tie into all these issues that I previously discussed

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that we have to connect to the Bayfront development sewer line. Um we have to get these access permits from the DOT before we could pull permits. So, in that respect, that's why we're seeking this relief because our hands

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are somewhat tied here due to the comment letters that we received from the JCMUA and city planning. Um, but that being said, no, there are no affordable units in connection with this approval.

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>> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other board comments? Hearing none, I would like to open for the public. Is there anyone from the public? Anyone from the public? >> If there's no one from the public, I'd like to make a motion to close the

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public portion. >> Second. >> Second. >> Public is closed. Matt, it's over. >> Um, thank you, Madam Chair. Um, not too much to add here. Um

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I think as you know council stated pretty clearly like the project was always envisioned to tie into likes of sewer and power and transportation infrastructure that are being furnished as part of the Bayfront um the Bayfront development. Um,

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and you know, I I think I think staff staff agrees that they've made a pretty good case and count our council has affirmed that they've made a case under the law for an extension. Um, staff recommends approval. Um, staff >> with all existing conditions

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>> with all existing conditions from previous approvals remaining in force. Yes. >> Matthew, why wasn't affordable housing required here? So, I I did not do the approvals here in 2020. Um, so Matt, you might need to

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help me, but I don't think the zoning required it. Um, the the zoning here is the waterfront plan development zone district. >> Yes. So, the zoning did not require affordable housing back then. It does not require affordable housing now. So

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they could submit this as a brand new site plan and it's they still would not be required to do affordable housing. >> Mac, is it possible that we could ask for that? Ask them to make some of these units affordable.

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>> Um I'm not sure there's a nexus here, but I I defer to council. >> Yes, Sanso. What do you think? So, in connection with the approval saw tonight, it's for an extension of an existing application. Uh, you know, the board can ask, they

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can't mandate it. And if it were to be rejected, the board's got to be cautioned that they [snorts] cannot mandate affordable housing on this site. Would there be a possibility council where we could ask for it? But

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just see what the reaction would be. >> Sounds like you are asking. I suspect the answer is at this junction no. So you know I wouldn't let that factor into whether or not you want to exercise your discretion for the vesting period.

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Understanding that if you do not grant the extension from the change in zoning, the approval is still valid. >> Santo, >> can you advise if the board were to be interested in in mandating affordable

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housing? Would that is there a different process such as updating the zoning requirements for an area as opposed to doing it on a site like this basis? >> It's a council, right? Governing body decision. Governing body has to determine the requirement of affordable

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housing in the city. This site is not subject to affordable housing. >> All right. >> Yeah. This site the zoning the zoning does not require affordable housing. Um this staff opinion that

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it isn't really with >> and correct me if I'm wrong. If it's something that the city council would like to look into doing that, it would they would take it to the planning department to study that as well. >> Is that

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to study whether or not they want to >> to include to change the zoning for um affordable to include affordable housing. >> So they would introduce an right. The answer is they would introduce an ordinance with respect to affordable

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housing. However, wherever in the city or across the entire city and then it would come to this board for the review in conjunction with the master plan, you'd make your recommendations and it would go back to city council, the only

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body in the city that can actually pass legislation, pass ordinances, and bind uh all of the boards. >> Thank you for that explanation. Um, at this time I'd like to entertain a motion. >> I would like to make a motion to approve

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case P206-000064 as presented to the board with all existing conditions in place. >> Second it. >> Vice Chair Wick >> I. >> Commissioner Stamato >> I. >> Commissioner Kaplan

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>> I. >> Commissioner Capers >> I. Commissioner Conway, >> no. >> Commissioner Barnaby, >> no. >> Commissioner Patel, >> I

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>> uh Councilwoman Little, >> I. >> And Sher Gangadine, >> I. >> Motion carries. I believe that's five in favor, two against. I I want to make sure I got the count correct. >> Yeah.

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So the motion does carry. >> Yes. >> With Commissioner Barnaby and Commissioner Capers voting against. >> So that's six and two. >> Six and two. Correct. [clears throat] >> Commissioner Conway voting against >> and Kanway. Six and three. Excuse. Five

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and three. >> My apologies. [laughter] [gasps] >> Wait, sorry. Who was >> 62? >> Yeah, I was 62. Yes. Six and two. >> Commissioner Conaway and Commissioner >> Barnab.

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>> Correct. >> Thank you, Rebecca. >> Thank you, everyone. Have a good evening. >> You too. I'd like to call KB205-01 0106. The address is 342 Johnston Avenue. It's

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a preliminary and final major site plan. Tom Lean. And for the record, this this case has been pulled in March March 24, 2026. And the commissioners present were vice

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chair Elizabeth Wick, Commissioner Patado, Commissioner Bavin Patel, Commissioner Andrew Kaplan, and myself. So I would like to ask Commissioner Capers, Commission

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Commissioner Conway, and Commissioner Barnaby and Commission and Councilwoman Little if they had read the transcript or watched a video. >> I have. >> Yes, I have. >> Okay.

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Commissioner Little, Councilwoman Little, sorry. Sorry, I was having trouble opening my Zoom. Um, I am pretty sure I read this last time it was on the agenda, but I am just going to Can can I just open the document real quick and

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confirm that I have reviewed it? >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. [laughter] I'll I'll recognize it. [gasps] Okay. Yes, I have reviewed it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Go ahead, Mr. Lean. And then we'll mark the notice.

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>> Uh, yep. Uh, good evening, commissioners. Tom Lean of Connell Foley here on behalf of the applicant. Uh, we did previously notice for when we were uh, heard before the board on May 24th. Um, we did issue a new notice given the fact that this is on Zoom. Uh, that was

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uploaded to the portal yesterday and I just want to concern confirm that council is in receipt. >> Thank you, Mr. Lean. I am received the affidavit of publication proof of mailing with respect to the application at 342 Johnson Avenue here in the city. It does appear to be in order. We're

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going to mark it A1 for purpose of the record. >> Thank you. Uh just to give the uh the uh board a little bit of history here. This is a project located in the Lafayette Park redevelopment plan. Uh it was initially approved uh back in um uh

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2020. It's been through a number of amendments. Uh the building is uh almost completed. Um and my uh client is seeking a TCO soon. We came uh before this board asking for some amendments to

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the ground floor to accommodate some additional retail space based on a tenant um that we had entered into a lease with. Um at that time we showed a picture to uh the board that showed uh one of the uh original windows that had

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been approved by the board had been changed to a second means of uh ingress and egress. uh that was required by code to accommodate um the proposed retail space that we had in the building. Um admittedly it was not approved by the

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board and uh the prior chairman of the board um basically bounced us at that time um and asked us to deal with city planning and wanted to move on given uh the conditions on the ground. Um we do offer an apology to the board. Uh the

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construction that was done to replace that window uh was done in response to the fact that there was some inclement weather that was coming um earlier in the year. Um instead of uh putting in the window, my client replaced it with uh with the door uh that they were going

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to ask for approval from of this board. He shouldn't have done it. He knows that that was incorrect and we we apologize greatly. Uh however, we do believe that this is a great project that does fulfill the requirements of the redevelopment plan. Um just to give you a little bit of background, it's an

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eight-story building with 55 units. Uh nine of those units are affordable. Uh we are also providing uh a resiliency space in the building uh which can be utilized uh by the community when there is an emergency uh such as a hurricane

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or flash flooding. Um since we have been before the board, the office of uh emergency management has actually been out to the site. They are very pleased with what we are delivering to them. Um, we are currently in the process of negotiating an agreement with the city that allows access to the public to that

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site. Um, and despite uh us going against what the board uh had previously approved, uh we do believe what the project is delivering um is is a net positive. Um, so we do apologize, but I'm gonna let Rich Garber just run

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through the changes um that we're requesting besides that change to the door uh which are things that my client has not built into the building yet. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to uh to Rich Garber. >> Hey Rachel, you swear any testimony you

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give tonight is going to be the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. >> I do. >> For the record, can you state and spell your name? >> Sure. It's Richard Garber. G- A R B E R. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Where is your license current and in good standing? >> It is renewed every July 31st. Yes.

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>> Which is coming up pretty soon. Your apology. >> I I've done it already. Yes. >> Thank you. [laughter] >> Uh nice to see everyone. Um my apologies also. Um Tom had spoken to you all. We were before the board thinking that this

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would be an easy touch base for this project back in uh May. And uh it does turn out that the um former chair was doing his job and had gone past the building or something like that and saw that there was some um modest

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construction and and it was modest truthfully uh that was done that that shouldn't have been done. Um we're very happy of this built with this building. We've been before the board uh I think I was first before the board w with this on 2017. So it's been a number of years.

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Um and uh we are almost there. The building is nearly built. Um, previously this uh this building was applauded by this board uh called a beacon. Uh bringing some very much needed housing and affordable housing to what is a kind

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of gateway block uh Johnston to the park right off Pacific as you know. And this is the old for those that remember the old U-Haul station that was around when when we were all much younger. Um that that existed there as a vacant lot. And now this building is about 95% complete.

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Um just to give because there's some new board members just giving you a little bit of background. So this is the corner of Johnston right off Pacific. It's about a 9500 square foot lot. Again it was a formerly a U-Haul site and it is as uh Mr. Lean had suggested

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in a a fairly interesting but small redevelopment area called Lafayette Park. and Lafayette Park. Um the history of this was that it was really um uh seriously flooded during Hurricane Sandy. It's low land. And one of the interesting things that was written into

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this uh redevelopment plan is that there is a trade on density and height uh that the that the developer can opt to take uh in exchange for both affordable housing which we've already spoken about as well as a uh 400 ft resiliency space.

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And when Mr. Lean was talking about uh the OEM folks uh these are the folks that we've been engaging. So just to um give everyone a heads up and you see what the difference is. I have here listed the approved uh resolution on your left and the u the current

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submission on your right. You see that the number of units have not changed. Still 55 units, nine affordable with three studios remaining. Now we have uh and one 20 uh 28 onebedrooms with six affordable and 24 twos three affordable.

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So no changes there. Rich, one second. I'm sorry. I don't know if it's just me. I'm not seeing any of the >> Yeah, Rich. I only saw the picture of the front of the building. >> Hold on. Oh, my screen is paused for some reason. How did that happen? One second.

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Uh, let me just share again. One second. Sorry about that. >> Okay. Can you see? >> Yes. No. >> Okay. Yeah. My apologies about that. I don't know what just happened. So, um, no change in the number of units or the breakdown of units. And you can see

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here, three studios, um, 28 onebedrooms with six affordable and 24 twobedrooms with three affordable. So, a very kind of integrated uh, mix of units. We find we have decreased the number of parking spaces from 14 to 12. And we'll show you

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why in a second. And that has to do with the um the the leasable space for a tenant. And I would posit that ground floor retail is really really critical uh in this part of town. And you'll see that in the site plan. And because of that uh what we are doing is we're

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picking up nominally 200 square ft of commercial space. We go from 22.89 to 2476. Um the total gross unit area has um uh not changed. It's actually gone up a little bit through some just some some

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some uh some minor modest changes in the upper floors that are that are dimminimous. Um we do have that 400 ft² resiliency space and then we have decreased the bike parking to 30 bike parking. We were at 1:1 and we decreased

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it uh 0.5 is the requisite so we're a little bit over.5. So no variances created uh even though we have gone down in parking and gone down a little bit in bike storage as well. [clears throat] >> Mr. mean, do we have to mark this? >> Um,

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I believe we're going to Rich, this is from the prior approval. >> So, this was Yes. Uh, Mr. Alampy, this was marked prior uh in May, but we could we could we could mark it again. I did put a new date on it if you'd like.

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>> Yes, let's remark it as A2. >> Okay. >> Okay. since we remarked the notice as A1 for tonight. >> And so, uh, calling your attention from that previous list, um, the bike parking has gone down as has the two off-

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streetet parking spaces. However, no variances are created. We were compliant. We were we had a little bit beyond compliance and now we're we are compliant. Um, so what does that look like? Um, the main thing here is the ground floor and that I'll go through

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all the plans for everyone, but the ground floor is the one that has most significantly changed. And what you notice um is that the lobby area is still this kind of sort of sideways H shape um uh that that that the lobby is

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actually in between there. That's located on Whiten Street and then we have the circulation around it. And then the green area is the um the expansion of commercial space. And >> sorry, can you zoom in? >> Can I zoom? I have a plan that I can

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show I can zoom. Let me explain the changes and then I have a plan that I can show you that is zoomed in so you understand. [gasps] But the big picture, what I want everyone to understand and and hopefully you've all been on Johnston. Johnston is really a um a block that that that re really deserves

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and and and and frankly begs for in some ways um uh retail space and by expanding the retail footprint and you can just see that in in the green shade here. The the left is what's approved to the right which is what is um proposed. we can

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accommodate a restaurant with a uh sort of open kitchen which is very popular now with restaurant tenants. And so this this this and it doesn't have to be a restaurant by the way but but it is um it is uh really kind of uh catering to

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that. Uh and I I'll zoom in sir on this plan in one second. Uh the upper floors really don't change. I'll go through them quickly. Uh the gray areas the gray areas in the plan are the affordable units. So you could see there were some on the lower floors and then we have the

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upper floors. Uh and then a nice roof deck. Um and then going back to that ground floor plan one more second. So the one other thing I wanted to mention and you can see sort of uh on the lower leftand corner of the proposed plan we do have a new emergency not emergency

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but a an egress path for a second stair that comes down. That is where that door was built uh during the snowstorm as Mr. lean had had suggested and again the owner should not have done that. We were actually not aware of it when we came uh and Mr. Langston actually called it out

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and and I'm I'm glad he did. Um so moving through I'll just go to that plan and then the elevations again. Um I'll I'll go to the ground floor in a second. Um so to show you the plans uh excuse me I'm just out of context here. One second

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please. to show you the ground floor plan. Um, in particular, uh, let me just show this. Yeah, one second. >> Could you zoom in a little bit? I'm having difficulty seeing this. >> Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm just trying to to do that. One second. For

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some reason, I'm not looking at doing this properly. One second, please. >> Yeah. Okay, there it is. Sorry about that. I'm having problems with my PowerPoint tonight. So, this is the proposed first floor plan. And so, now this one I should you should be able to

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see fairly clearly the residential lobby still at Whiten Street. And you can see this red triangle here. This is the entry. >> Can you zoom further in on that, Rich? >> Sure. >> So, residential lobby. Is that better? >> Okay. The res the residential lo Sorry,

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I have a big monitor here, so I don't uh what you see. Um uh residential lobby is still on Whiten Street. The vehicular uh drive aisle is still on Whiten Street and you can see that here with these larger arrows. Up at the top we have a

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transformer vault that was required by PSENG. And then if I scroll down you see this green space which is the commercial space. And so now what we've done is we've taken the bike space from next to the trash room and we've given that back

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to the commercial space and put the bike room back in the parking area here behind the transformer vault. So that's the large change that's happened here and that was all to try to make this

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commercial space more marketable to a restaurant tenant. And then you can see because we moved the bike parking and and had to redo the um uh a little bit of the ground floor, we then created, if

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you could see my hand here, a small uh emergency egress corridor on the western side of the building that is only for outgoing if for in the case of an emergency that would move past through a fire rated wall past beyond the

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commercial space. And this is the door, as Mr. Lean said, that was uh built uh without without this board's approval. Um we think that the changes, I'm going to zoom out now, are um are good changes. We I want to reiterate that

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we're not in any way um creating new variances. Um uh all the parking still works. we are meeting the parking requirement which is uh by a bedroom count and we've uh expanded that commercial footprint a little bit as well. Um and then the upper floor plans

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again I can just kind of take you through those uh I I I took you through those briefly but we are showing we we've colorcoded and worked out with the affordable housing folks uh the units that will be affordable and so forth and I had gone through that in the list. Um I next want to draw your attention to

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the resiliency space. So, this is a copy of a letter that I wrote to um the the deputy director of the office of emergency management. And I wrote this letter on May 19th of this year to uh Mr. Martin Valente. And it basically

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talks about how uh it it captures a meeting that we had with OEM where they came to the site on March 14th and we walked through. And I want to also kind of mention that in addition to this project uh which is nearly completed,

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the owner has another project on Whitman Street that is under construction and then another project on Pacific that we've had some initial discussions with the planning department on no formal application yet. And all of those are subject to this redevelopment plan and

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have resiliency spaces. So we were talking about all three of them and how they might work together. But this letter specifically memorializes how we will use that resiliency space at 342 Johnston. And you can see that the space

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I'll just read from my my letter. You see here um I can zoom in on this one also if you'd like. One second. Um the space is designed as a climate uh controlled um refuge to keep individuals warm or cool during extended power outages or severe weather events. It

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will feature integrated charging stations for phones um provided by wall-mounted power strips to rem to maintain vital communication lines. A schedule of items including flashlights, blankets, chairs, and tables and a first aid station are listed on a drawing that

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I will show you next. And we went through this and walked with uh Mr. Valente. We have an occupancy load of 26 people and that's per an IBC calculation. Um and then I listed something about the other addresses that I had just mentioned before. Um next is

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the resiliency space. Now this is in our floor plans as such and this just lays out uh how that resiliency space will be used. It's required to be a minimum of 400 ft 400 square ft and you can see here we have and and the the the

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contents were worked out with OEM, right? So the schedule uh of of items are here. We have cabinets. We have charging strips. We have a medical grade refrigerator. We have a series of lanterns or flashlights, emergency myar

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blankets, folding chairs, folding tables, hand sanitizer, a series of wall cabinets, a wall-mounted uh first aid station, and then portable water, which will be in, you know, the the plastic um you know, containers. Um and they lay

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out like this. And so, uh, you enter the space, there's folding tables, there's a series of chairs, a waiting room, there's the cabinets, the refrigerator, and so forth. And the way that OEM thought that they would use this is actually for intake, right? So, this is

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probably not going to be a building where, you know, 50 people or 100 people in the event of a serious emergency would be housed, right? That's not what this is for. But they would use this as a as a point of entry uh intake for the neighborhood should the neighborhood

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flood. And OEM would then move people from this location to uh a school or you know something like that where where people could actually be housed in the event of an emergency. And so Mr. Valente and his team were extremely happy with this. You know they said that

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they could really use this. And um we had there had been a little bit of wonder about how these spaces which were always written into this redevelopment plan would be used. And I'm happy to say that we uh I think are the first to actually figure this out and memorialize it. So we're we're excited about this

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and we're happy that the building uh can can serve this. And then this is just a an email that I also have in the presentation. This was received on um Wednesday uh May 20th of this year, a

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couple of months ago, uh written by um Greg Kierce, who is the director uh of the Department of Public Safety and the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. And he writes, as you can see here, one sentence, Marty, I have reviewed the proposed location and approve its use by this office. So

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through this communication and coordination, we were able to find a way to work with OEM. And again, we're super excited about that. We do think that this is a um an important um public give back aspect of uh this building and and

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hopefully a couple of others that we're working on as well within this redevelopment plan to serve the broader community. Um so that's important to us. Uh and then finally, this is uh a snap that I did take of the portions of the building that are built properly and per

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plan. By the way, uh this is on the Whiten street elevation. And I just wanted to show you the um level of detail of some of the brick work and the metal panel. Um we were uh and have been uh very actively on this site and have had a pretty good uh understanding of

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what's been going on through construction. the that door we talked about a few minutes ago, not not withstanding. Uh and and do think that the building is going to do uh everything that it's supposed to. And with that, I hope you will find it um appropriate to approve uh these uh

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modest changes to the ground floor uh and and hopefully can also get behind the good work that I think we've done with OEM uh and approve this building so we can move forward with the certificate of occupancy. Thank you. Uh, thank you, Rich. I have no other

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witnesses. Uh, as Mr. Garber said, u, you know, listen, we we obviously our client apologizes. This board never likes us to come and ask for approval for something that, um, you know, was already built. Um, you know, it was a small portion of what we were asking

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for. Uh we we do again apologize, but we do believe the project is going to deliver um some some great benefits to the community, including the affordable housing and the resiliency room. Um and we just asked the board to take the totality of the work that's been done here into consideration uh in approving

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this amendment. Thank you. >> Thank you. I see uh Commissioner Stamato. >> Uh yes. Uh Madam Chair, I have a couple of questions. Um, Rich, would your uh would your people be

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uh interested in approving like a a weather station? Not a big not a large unit. It's not a large unit, but basically give us ne necessary information when it comes for um I don't know if Marty brought that up to you at all. There is a number of locations that

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we're looking throughout the city in the area that you're in right now would be perfect especially with the height of the building and if there was possibility of putting up a small type of repeaters type of uh antenna on top of the building both units would be out

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of sight out away um no more than maybe four or five feet high um someplace up on the top of the roof area of the building. So, Commissioner Stammano, before I agree to that, I have to ask, would we have to come back to your board for that? [laughter]

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>> I don't think so. >> I think I think height requirements. [laughter] >> I think I think we'd be happy to entertain that. If you could you could send us the information through Mr. Lean, I I'm happy to review it. >> I would have Marty I'll reach out for Marty and let him handle it because he's

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part of the OEM. Now, I have another question for you. Can we go down to the basement to the garbage scenario, the trash? Sure. [clears throat] On the ground floor, right? >> Yes. >> Yeah. Sorry, one second. >> Now you're how many stories?

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>> Sorry, one second. We are uh a total of eight stories. >> Eight stories. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Can you explain how the garbage and the recycling most important thing how that is going to get down to that room to those that room area? >> Sure. I'm glad you asked that. So, if

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you look on the on the individual plans, and I have here our proposed second floor plan, and I didn't talk about this because this was something that we uh you know had been had been brought up before. On every floor, we have a dedicated trash room with a compactor

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and a shoot. >> And so, uh there's local storage on every floor for recycling as well as the trash shoot. We actually worked with a um uh a company on that um uh on that

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compactor. And believe it or not, that and this was from another another hearing, but that trash room grew a little bit to make room for a piece of equipment that we are sure uh fits has been installed properly and and and works with the magnitude of of occupants

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in this building. And so all they have to do is walk to the end of their hallway and they can dump their trash. It's compacted. recycling is stored and there is um you know mana a management company an employee that comes around and will also uh help with the removal

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of recycling on the back on the ground floor. Uh it is rich. Yeah, it is taken from if if you could see it's taken from the trash room out through the garage and then on the garage we have it will they will

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basically just open the garage door and bring it out for cons for collection right in the driveway. >> This will be done privately. Private collection >> private hauler for a building this size, sir. Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. Just go back to show me how it's going from the trash room out to the

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garage area. That's where it gets a little confusing. >> Yeah. So here's the trash room. So you would you have a double door here >> that is operable and you you move you basically move through the path of

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travel of the of the open um uh the open space that's required for the ADA parking. And so this is an 8oot dedicated space that'll never be blocked. And you move right through there and right out the garage for the program. >> No inter no interference with a bike

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room or anything like that. Right. No interference. No, the bike room is is up on the other side. Yeah, we've worked that out. We >> Okay, >> I just want to remind everyone, all the commissioners, the board, that this application has been approved. It's had a hearing and this is for the Korean

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barbecue kitchen that they've retrofitted the site to accommodate, adding an exhaust and a chimney and a bigger retail space, which has caused the loss of parking. Nothing else about this project is changing. It's been approved. So, I I just wanted to remind

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the board that this is >> the only reason why I'm bringing it up is because exactly for what you just said, you you're putting in a a commercial kitchen and that area is very lowbound and and um I'm just concerned about type rodents, things of that

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nature, especially when you're dealing with food. >> Okay. Just reminding it's for Korean barbecue. just curious. First time I was hearing about um the commercial kitchen outdoor. I have no nothing against it. I'm just curious to see how it's going

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to move, what the flow is, and that's where I'm coming from. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Uh Richard, Mr. Gerber, I just want to refresh my memory in regards to the um nine affordable units where they're located. >> Sure. So, I'll just go back to the uh

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and just to show you that there there is par. They are not and this was this was already determined with um the affordable housing folks and and Mr. Lean can speak to that. >> Yes. >> So you could see that we have not changed the locations at all of those

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units. So there are a series of four proposed on the second floor. There are a series of uh one, two, three, four, five proposed on the third

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and uh fifth floors and that's how we get to the number. So these are these are you know disseminated through the building uh and they uh some of them are uh have face the rear yard some of them face uh Whitman Street. >> Okay. And the buildout is the same as

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all the other >> absolutely absolutely required to be so. Yes. >> Thank you, Commissioner Kaplan. >> Just quickly before I just want to say we actually have entered into the affordable housing agreement here. It's not pending. These are already within

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the agreement which has been recorded. So these have been dealt with with the the offices of affordable housing. >> Thank you, Mr. Wayne. Commissioner Kaplan. >> Thanks, Madam Chair. Um, I guess my my question is related specifically on the ground floor where you're moving the bike room. Uh, can you just clarify the

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number of bike spaces um in the originally approved application and then any amendments that have been approved and then the current uh proposal for the board in terms of the number of bike spaces. >> Let me just go back to that slide and share again just to make sure that everyone saw this because I did want to

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read I did read through this before. So if you see we originally had proposed 55 bike spaces that's one to one and and part of the reason why we had that is we just we had some additional space you know we weren't maximizing the retail

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space and we had that extra space and so we gave it to the bike room when um different restaurant tenants as as as Cam had had noted came they said we need a larger space we want to have an open kitchen this kind of thing and that

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required us to rethink the location of that bike room. One of the things that we had to do was decrease the amount of bike parking not creating a variance condition. The bike parking per the LDO is 0.5 to one. So that would be uh 28

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units, right? Basically and at this point we are proposing uh 30 bike parking if I'm not mistaken. Where did I write that? Yeah, 30 bike parking. So, we are still above that 0.5 threshold. And then that bike parking is just to

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kind of be clear to everyone. And I kind of had this up before uh back next to the sorry I try to zoom. Um back next to the transformer room, which is here. And so you see that we have bike parking for

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30 bikes. And in our construction drawings, we have the bike racks that hang said bikes that have been reviewed and approved by the office of the construction code official. >> Perfect. I was just going to ask, is the same device to affix the bike to the wall as what was previously approved?

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>> Correct. Um, and then I guess my only question is would you be amenable due to the reduction in bike parking? I understand it doesn't create a variance condition, but to install bike racks outside of the building on the sidewalk >> for public or your residents,

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>> I mean, as long as something like that doesn't require a franchise or something of that nature, I'm sure we can speak to the client about that. >> Okay. I think there's a city standard. Um, but you know, thank you. That's my only question.

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Thank you, Council >> President Little. Um yes, thank you so much for this presentation. Um the case description on the portal uh and on the agenda, it states that the re retail space is increasing from one

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commercial tenant to three. Um, but this is it. It looks like you're just enlarging the commercial space as a >> I think that's a that's carried over from previous comments that I had made in other presentations which is that the

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commercial space and the location of doors on said commercial space allows it to be subdivided to a total number of three smaller commercial spaces. It probably will be, as Mr. Lean has said

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and Cameron has suggested, ultimately it will go to one restaurant tenant, but it was always important given the not great state of retail spaces in the city and all you have to do is walk down the street and see that that we wanted to be

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as flexible as possible. So, uh, in reserving the right to subdivide in up to three spaces, which would be appropriate for a small new stand or something like that, um, we, um, I think that I put that on the record at some point in the past. Uh, and that should

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still be on the record. We should still be able to subdivide it that much, but I think the current the current goal is to actually get that one tenant in there with the open kitchen as has been discussed. >> Okay. Thank you for the clarification. If the if if the um idea is that like it

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could feasibly be subdivided into three spaces, I just want to note that it looks like there's only two doors and two bathrooms. >> No, there's a third door. So So right now there's there are two bathrooms. So So what you're bringing up, ma'am, is is perfectly legitimate, but keep in mind

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that this is governed by code, not uh zoning or planning. And so I I just do want to point out there are three entrances. Uh I'm sorry. There are two entrances now because this became a gas meter. That was another change that was PSEG kind of frankly forcing our hand.

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So at this point with the two entrances, this would be subdividable into two spaces as is. If we wanted to turn it into three, um assuming we get this approval, we would have to come back to you to put another door in. By the way, uh but I think that we're comfortable

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with this as is. Um but again uh given the state of uh retail tenencies in the city I think it's always better to have more flexibility as opposed to less and that's how we advise our clients. But as shown this is one uh one commercial

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space with two doors and two unisex bathrooms. And so as such it could be divided into two if we wanted to. Um, and if we wanted to divide it into three, we would have to come back and and get a third door in here somewhere, probably on Whiten Street.

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>> Oh, sorry. I I was just saying that was actually my next question was for you, Santa. [laughter] Was if if the description says three um and the agenda says three, do we need to amend that given that it could only be subdivided into two currently? I

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>> so I'm not concerned about what the agenda says in the description. The application is what it is for. My question to Mr. Lean generally is is it not being proposed as one commercial space and is it not being proposed as a restaurant space? And I only asked that

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question because I thought that was what the intent was. There was either negotiation and possibly even an executed lease which has caused this component to come into the fold. Regardless of all of that, uh, internal

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outfitting, as long as commercial space is permitted under the redevelopment plan, which it is, the way the space is divided, the number of uh different commercial spaces, then you get into code compliance in terms of how many doors you need, how

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many bathrooms you need, etc., etc. That's depending on the internal will be dealt with in the building department if and when something like that were to happen whether it is a year in the future, two years in the future. But Mr.

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Lean, am I wrong in the intent and the reason for the amendment is because it's going to be a restaurant uh consuming the entire commercial space. So let me just address one thing and I think this would be helpful for the board not just for this but going

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forward. Uh the description that is on the portal once we file the application we as the applicant have no ability to change that anymore. So if things change through the application process if the unit count goes down or goes up we've lost the ability to to make that change.

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So I think originally there was a concept of trying to make this as flexible as possible. while this has been pending, my client did enter into a lease um with a restaurant operator, the purpose of this application is indeed to fit it out for that, should that fall apart for whatever reason or should that

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business move on at a later date, we do have the option to turn this into two commercial spaces of permitted use here, uh and generally fit outs, uh as long as they're not changing what the uses are. Uh they don't need board approval, we can always go to the zoning officer for that. Should there be a need to add a

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third door, that obviously would be in your purview and we would need to file another amendment. >> Okay. Thanks thanks for clarifying that the the description on the portal is not >> it's not always 100% accurate. >> Yeah. Yeah. And and and that there's no legal issue with the description not

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matching what you're applying for. >> Yeah. I our our notice speaks to what the size of the uh the commercial space we're asking for is. And I'm sure Santo would would back me up that that's really what we're asking of the board and what's relevant relevant for what we're asking

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>> you to approve tonight. >> Thank you, Commissioner Conway. >> Hey, what's going on? Um, I just had one question. So, being that you're changing it to like a fullscale restaurant, um, the volume of trash, would that be a concern for you? Do you feel like you can adequately, you know, transfer that

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trash to the trash room or are they responsible for taking out their own trash in a different fashion? Like how does that tie in? Cuz with food, you know, there's a lot of waste that's usually associated with that. >> Great question. So, commercial tenants

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do not utilize the building spaces that we have outlined for trash. So part of their the burden on them is to come up with an interior design concept that allows them to adequately secure their trash within their allotted space which

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is the space that we've shown you. And they will have to cart it um you know on their own and they may enter into an agreement with the building owner that it gets carded when there is regular pickup for instance. But uh all that will be held within that commercial

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space and it will be carded uh accordingly. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Commissioner Kaplan. >> Just one more quick question just a confirmation. All these changes they don't trigger any variances. Correct. This is purely a site plan conversation. >> Said I've said that several times that

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there are no new variances created. Yep. That's correct. I wanted to make sure. Thank you. >> Yep. >> There's no Is there any other board comments? >> No. I had a I just had a comment as far as for if I may, Madam Chair, if I may.

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>> Absolutely. Yes. >> So, I see the the the picture here. Is there anything in place for like public safety? Because in that area, I know there's some parks, basketball courts, and things of that nature. And I don't see anything as far as like is there a

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requirement for like public a public barricade? Because I mean, I see that there's open. It's just open. Is there anything in place for like public safety? >> Uh, I'm not quite sure what you mean, but I would I would advocate as a

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dedicated urban person that barricades in front of a building are not friendly devices. Uh, we want it to be open. There's a lot of glass on that ground floor and we want the ground floor of our buildings to participate with the discussion with the pedestrians on the

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street. There are courts across the street. Um, but there's also been a lot of new construction over there. There's a lot more people over there. So, there's a lot of pedestrians that are inherently stabilizing that neighborhood uh very positively. And we've been a

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part of several buildings over there. >> Thank you. >> Okay. I would like now to open for the public. Is there anyone from the public? >> If there is no one from the public, I'd like to close the public portion. >> Second.

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>> Mr. Selene, would you like to wrap up here and then I'll go to our planner which is Kim? >> Yeah, I I have nothing else to add. Again, we we do apologize for the construction of that door once you know we we advised our client not to to do any more construction. There hasn't been

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anything else that hasn't been approved. Uh as as both Rich and I uh have laid out to the board, there's a lot of positives to this project. It's affordable housing that is going to come online very very quickly after this approval. my my client is looking for a TCO ASAP. We've been very very

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cooperative and working working with the office of at uh emergency management not just on this building but my other my clients two other buildings that are going to have components there. So uh we do apologize for the past but we are asking for the board to uh to approve this tonight given given the totality of

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what we're what we've constructed here. >> Thank you Cam. >> Okay. Um, we're going to add a seventh condition um, council lean to the uh, six

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conditions that are in the planning staff memo dated uh, March 19th. You you agree to those conditions? >> I I agree to the existing ones. Um, I'll wait to hear what the seventh one is. >> Okay. Yes. Uh, the condition to explore the added bike parking on the street uh,

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that was added by Commissioner Kaplan. Um, are all those conditions acceptable? >> That is acceptable. We will work with staff on possibly uh providing additional bike parking outside. >> Okay, thank you. Um, Commissioner Kaplan, do you have something to add? >> Was there something from Commissioner Stamato? Well,

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>> I was going to say that >> I know Commissioner Stamato mentioned something the weather the weather station up top which we have no objection to, I think. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. So uh an eighth condition for the exploration of

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um weather monitoring station at this site uh will be added as well. >> Okay, >> understood. We will we will agree to work with OEM on that. >> Okay, thank you. Um planning staff would just echo the uh the site amendment does

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not trigger any variances. It complies with the zone plan, the redevelopment plan, and the city's master plan has many inherently beneficial uses, and the city sees this as u an asset to the neighborhood and to the city. So, with

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that, planning staff recommends approval. >> Thank you, Kim. I'd like to entertain a motion. I'd like to make a motion to approve case P2025-0106 as presented to the board this evening with all eight conditions. >> Second.

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>> All right. Commissioner Barnaby >> I. >> Commissioner Kaplan >> I. >> Commissioner Council person Little >> I. >> Commissioner Conway. >> I.

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>> Commissioner Patel. Hi, >> Commissioner Capers. >> Hi, >> Commissioner Stamato. >> Hi, >> Vice Chair Wick. >> Hi, >> and Madame Chair Gangaden. >> I just want to say it's a great addition. This project is a great

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addition to the neighborhood. Um, with no variances requested and we are getting nine affordable units at the same time, it's a plus for the neighborhood. So, my vote is I. >> Motion carries. All in favor with conditions. >> Thank you all. Thank you.

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>> Thank you everyone. >> Okay, I'd like to move on to new business. I'd like to call KP205-0068 preliminarian final major site plan with variances. Address is 597 Marian Boulevard, also known as 166 Port

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Street. Mr. Uh, I believe this one is being handled by Mr. Harrington. >> Oh, >> okay. >> Okay. >> Yes. this. Uh good evening uh madam chair, commissioners. Um this I'm going

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to be handling that this one tonight. Um and uh maybe I Oh, I see that they're being promoted now. Um Ian Burton, Christina Aa, Paul Freredus, John Mcdana, and Gary

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Dean. And yeah, for the record, Charles Harrington, Connell Foley on behalf of the applicant. And um just as a side note, I'm sorry we couldn't go forward with the Summit Avenue tonight. That was a Tyler glitch that that happened with

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with uh we we we believe we have a great solution on that. But uh we'll we'll check back with you on August 11th um on that trash. Um, so, uh, yeah, before beginning, I I this

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is a notice case, so I I did provide, uh, the notices that were uploaded to the Tyler portal, I believe, on July 20th, and we also sent them directly over to uh, Mr. Lampy and Mr. Came and Mr. Black uh, uh, yesterday to cover all

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bases. >> Thank you, Mr. Harrington. and I am in receip the affidavit of publication proof of mailing with respect to the application. Uh [clears throat] it's identified as block 7104 lot 3 here in the city. It does appear to be in order.

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So madam chair, we're going to mark it as A1 for purpose of the record. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. So yeah, I'll give a a background on on this which I think is necessary to uh for the project. Um uh my client has been designated uh by the

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Jersey City Redevelopment Agency as the designated uh redeveloper. Uh that is a requirement as part of the affordable housing bonus B uh provisions that are being used as part of this project. Uh the project is located in the Jersey

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City light rail redevelopment plan area. Uh, and if you're not familiar with that, it's it's on the north side of uh the the exit um to the Holland Tunnel. Um, so you you see, you know, a lot of development going on over there where the Best Buy is. As you're coming out of the Holland Tunnel, the Best Buy is to

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your right. There's an Exxon station directly across the street. That Exxon property is the subject property that we're um uh discussing tonight. Um, it is located in what's called the commercial strip district and it's also

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within the neighborhood district overlay. Uh, it was it was put into the the neighborhood district overlay uh during the last round of amendments um to the Jersey Avenue uh light rail redevelopment plan amendments a few years ago. And and what that does so so

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the property fronts on 14th Street, Marin Boulevard, and 15th Street. It's also directly next door to the the existing Holiday Inn um that uh is is to the west. Um so what the uh the neighborhood district overlay uh

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provides for is that uh this property can um can utilize the the uh affordable bonus B provisions in the redevelopment plan. and and what that does is it uh it triggers an affordable housing

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requirement of 15%. Uh within within the project. So this was a uh uh created to you know as an end to a developer to to uh use the bonus and then now we're creating 52 in this instance 52 affordable units as part of this

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project. Um the property is a large property. Uh it's 32,000 square feet. uh a rectangular property uh as I said it's you know with three frontages. So the zoning permits you to go 14 stories and 160 feet. Um I'd also notice a little

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nuance here that under the um the bonus B provisions in in short it's you you can have residential fronting along 15th Street to the north and then on the uh on the south side you you have to use a commercial use. That's why you you have

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the hotel units that are part of this project. Um and so overall the project is is proposing um it's appro supposeded to be 17 stories, 344 uh residential units of which 15% will be affordable.

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So that's uh 52 affordable units. you have retail on the ground floor and then on on the southern side uh you'll have hotel units which uh there's a total of 371 hotel units as part of uh the overall development.

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There are uh a few variances or deviations that we are requesting and and I admit that these are similar to um a project that was approved by this board probably within the last year or two directly across the street to the north. Um which uh if you if you have

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gone down Marin Boulevard over the last few years, I don't think it's there anymore, but it's a doggy daycare. So if you're ever stuck at that light, you hear all you know the dogs across from the shopping center where the Best Buy is. that that building and we'll show during the presentation that that property is being developed with a

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17story uh residential building. So, we're asking uh for relief to permit uh 17 stories. Uh we're asking for relief for an additional 9 ft 111 uh in um there is also a request uh with regard

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to the street trees um that you have um surrounding the properties and the spacing. Um there al also um it's kind of an architectural element for the front yard setback along Marin and 14th Street that we'll we'll address uh during the presentation because there's

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the property or the building is is a U. So we'll we'll show how that that works. So overall within the development and then lastly it's um there's there's a request uh with regard to the sidewalk width or the width of Marin Boulevard. the the redevelopment plan has a

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provision in there that they ask you to um uh expand the width of Marin Boulevard uh and and create another lane. We have and you you probably saw it in in the on Tyler Jersey City traffic department says we don't support

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that. We don't want another lane on Marin Boulevard here. We think it it it'll create uh you know faster traffic, more conflicts, whatever. It's it's in the it's in the their their letter. Uh so we're proposing and that's we're

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proposing what similarly was approved for the the project across the street is not to create that uh and and and keep consistent with the the recommendation of the Jersey City U traffic and engineering department, but that triggers a variance. um technically by

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by going with the recommendation of the traffic uh Jersey City engineering department would create a um a a deviation. So we're asking for that and then that obviously the board can you know can make their decision as to what they would prefer. Um but we will uh

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again we have uh 52 affordable units that breakdown will be five studios, five onebedrooms, 27 twobs and 15 threebedrooms. So, it would provide for a lot of three-bedroom units. Uh, as as part of this, I think the the minimum requirement is 11 and we're we're

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providing for uh 15. Uh, you'll see during the presentation, we do have a loading uh on-site loading that that will address the the loading unloading uh and and the trash. You'll see that the trash room is is uh located directly next to the um the loading area. Um and

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that's on 15th Street, so it's off the one of the main drags. So, uh, with that being said, I I have, uh, a few witnesses here tonight. I have my engineers, Ian Burton, uh, my architect. We're we're is Paul

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Friedus, but, we're gonna have ask that the project architect, uh, Christina Attaya, uh, testify after Paul is sworn in. And I have a planner, um, Mr. Mcdana. Uh, and then, uh, we also have our traffic engineer here in the event, uh, the board wants to hear from him,

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uh, Gary Dean. So, and I'm going to turn it after that, uh, quote unquote summary. I'm going to turn it over to, uh, Mr. Bur. >> Hey, spray in. >> Yep. >> If you can raise your right hand. >> Yes. Sorry. >> Do you swear any testimony you give

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tonight's going to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? >> I do. >> And for the record, can you state and spell your name? >> Ian Burton. I A N B U R T O N. Thank you. >> And is your license current and understanding? >> It is. >> Thank you. You may proceed.

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>> Thank you. Share my screen. I have uh three slides. this evening. I'd like to enter them into the record. Uh dated or entitled 597 Marin Boulevard aerial uh dated November 19th, 2025.

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>> We're going to mark them as A2. You said three slides, >> correct? >> And obviously after the presentation, it'll have to be submitted. >> Understood. Um so going through the the slide deck, the the first is the zoomed out kind of

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aerial to gives the site location. Uh so the project site is known as block 7104 lot 3 located at 597 Marin Boulevard. It consists of 73 acres uh nearly 32,000 square ft in the center of the screen. It's located in the uh commercial strip

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district, the neighborhood uh district overlay of the Jersey City uh a light rail redevelopment plan utilizing the affordable housing bonus B. Um it's located along Mar Boulevard with uh 14th Street to the south, 15th Street to the

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north, the Holiday Inn, uh to the west, uh in the general vicinity. It's um just south of the Jersey City Hoboken Limits, southeast of the Lacawana Center, west of the Acme uh Newport Plaza, and the Holland Tunnel. Currently consists of a

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gas station, some U-Haul parking. Switching to the next slide. This kind of shows the the proposed development with the uh ground floor footprint in dark brown and the uh tower in light brown, the U-shaped. Uh the site is proposing a 17story three uh building

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with 344 apartments, 371 uh hotel rooms and approximately 4,200 square ft of retail and 15% uh or 52 units are affordable apartments. Uh the project has a number of variances including uh building height where 14 stories is

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permitted but 17 stories is proposed uh and 160 ft uh is permitted where 169.9 ft are proposed. Uh we're also requesting a deviation from street trees where uh 20 trees are required for this uh site where we have 15 and street

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tearation street tree separation uh where 30 ft is the maximum distance required but we have 60 ft proposed on 15th street where our curb cut um access is. Um, and then we also have a deviation from front yard setback where the

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overhang shall not dominate the the facade but do so on 14th Street and Marin Boulevard. Switching to the last slide. It kind of just shows the uh the the first floor building footprint and all all the uh accesses. Um so it has a residential

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access on the corner of um 15th Street and Marin and a hotel access in the center of Marin Street with retail uh along 14th Street. and then the the truck access curb cut along the center uh of the building on 15th Street. Uh

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the site has uh 186 bike storage throughout the building with one outdoor uh which meets the requirements of uh half a bike spot per residential unit plus four spots per 6,000 square ft of retail. So where 173 are required, 186

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are proposed. And then the outdoor bike rack is located on 14th Street uh near the retail area. The site uh is maintaining the existing uh curb elevations around the building which range from elevation 5 to 9. The site is located in a FEMA flood zone AE with a

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elevation of 11. Um and as such the residential areas and the hotel lobby is raised to elevation 12 while the retail on 14th Street maintains the uh existing curb elevation uh or set at same same sidewalk elevation at elevation 8. And

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the site has been designed uh for to meet the NJD flood hazard rules for the title flood proofing and we have submitted an application to the D accordingly. Uh the site storm water is it's defined as a major development per Jersey city standards and as such we uh meet the

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quantity reductions for the 210 and 100year storm uh by the hydrograph method and the storm waterers collected via the roof leaders and discharge the existing storm sur uh near Marin and 15th Street. Uh we've uh been in contact with the JCMUA the

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last couple months and coordinating our water and sewer connections and the storm connections. We have an 8 inch combined domestic uh water and fire service off of uh 15th Street and working with them on any uh public improvements that we can make to the water man on 15th Street. And we have a

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12-in uh PVC sewer connection uh off of Marin per the JCA's request. and we'll work with, you know, local gas and electric uh for their connections off of 15th Street as well. Uh again, we have uh 15 street trees uh five on uh 15th,

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four on Marin, and six on 14th Street um which are uh you know spaced accordingly and to avoid uh utility conflicts and any existing signage that's out there. Uh in addition, we also have some green space in the ground floor in the rear and uh a a green roof

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which meets the green area ratio requirements for the city. Um and then I think as Mr. Harington alluded to. Uh right now our site plan has been designed to meet the requirements of the redevelopment plan along Marin where we are required to provide a a 15t sidewalk to the face of

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the building and the a 49 ft uh kind of roadway cartway width which is um you know 8 ft for two bike lanes and I think it's 11 ft for each of the three lanes. Um but we'll work with the transportation department uh because they they requested only two uh vehicle

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lanes. Um so you know have to coordinate between the two on the uh the ultimate marin cross-section. uh the site lighting has a number of street lights in between the trees and some uh overhead lights on the overhang

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and um in general we we have coordinated with the JCMUA with their comments from October and we have uh called and met with them and we'll work with them to address any of their comments uh and you know work with the division of planning or divide division of transportation on their September uh 20 September 25th

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2025 letter to uh address any of their comments as That kind of wraps up my my presentation >> and um based upon the fact that there is so much flooding within the area, did you guys consider any additional mitigating factor to um for the severe

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flooding in the area? >> Uh I guess nothing uh extraordinary. you know, the the residential and hotel lobbies are set above. So, they have, you know, they meet the standards of uh being able to access and exit the site without having um any of the the flood proofing

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uh you know, for the main doors and then the the retail will have the the flood proofing design as necessary. >> Okay. because I know that area serious, you know, have some serious flooding issues there, especially with the

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flooding that took place um last two weeks and two weekends ago. >> Yeah, we've we've submitted and um kind of had some initial conversations with the D and that's uh under review. >> Okay. Okay. Uh Commissioner Kaplan,

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>> thanks Commissioner uh Vice Chair Gangden. Um, I just wanted to clarify, uh, I'm a little bit confused about the correspondence back and forth with the transportation department about that lane. So, could you just point out where the additional vehicular lane was that's

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been removed and what that space is now being shown as? >> I I'm going to chime in for a moment. It was always envisioned to uh make a more robust bike infrastructure u but a road diet and keep the existing

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cross-section of the travel lanes. A road diet was done instead and bike infrastructure was was added at that time. And I think that that's the impetus for uh the recommendation that we've received on this site and other sites along this Marin Boulevard

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corridor from the Division of Transportation. Thanks, Matt. I I appreciate that. I guess my only question is in reading the transportation department's memo. Um they note uh utilizing some space for um uh where is it? retaining the protected

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bike lanes and using the additional space for uh instead of a travel lane, an on- street parking lane with loading zones. So, I'm just unsure if that was accommodated, unable to be accommodated um or or just kind of the history in in that comment and how we got to this.

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>> Uh so, I guess my my understanding of the redevelopment plan and I kind of zoomed in on the screen here and you can kind of see >> um above our site, right? There's two lanes uh two bike lanes and then two of the the protection of the bike lanes uh which extend down and then what we have

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rendered here was kind of what uh you know our reading of the redevelopment plans uh requirements. So again two two bike lanes but a total curb to curb is 49 uh feet wide. Uh so that kind of fits in three 11 ft lanes. Um I think if

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reading the transportation letter they had kind of I believe they they only wanted two travel lanes. So that would that would we have 11 feet I guess of um of extra space to I guess determine what the transportation

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wants based off of the reevelopment plan and I think they talked about uh you know a loading zone for the site u along the site. That's that's where kind of where we're where our position is we would work with the Jersey City traffic

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division to to assuming that you know the board uh recommends that um if this is approved uh to create what what they think is appropriate there because yeah our reading of this this is that they do not want another vehicular lane there. uh

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they they want to accommodate as Matt said I think you know bike lane and then their their memo speaks to a loading zone as well um that that they believe would be uh a benefit there. >> Thank you. Yeah. No, I I concur and my reading with the memo as well is to not

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add additional travel lanes for the reasons they stated. I think that variance is appropriate and I think my question is really more related to the site plan and that the operations in that loading zone. you know, having a hotel in this area, um, you know, there is one, but having, you know, a loading

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area for Uber, drop off, pickup, um, deliveries, I think would be a beneficial, and since it was mentioned in that memo, I just unclear if that's going to be incorporated into the proposed, uh, revisions. Um, [clears throat] >> that that would be that that's great.

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>> Want to follow the recommendations of the traffic department. >> Great. Thank you. And then one other question on the on the civil for the site plan. Um I see as per if you could zoom in to the the corner um as shown of Marin and 14th. Um

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just to note the ADA ramps in that catch basin. Um could you speak a little bit to you know I appreciate there being two ADA ramps that's always preferred but just um how they line up with the crosswalks if you're going to need to do any striping revisions and also uh catch

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basin locations as it relates to the the curb cuts. >> Yes. Um so I think uh I know transportation had commented on shifting a little bit on the 15th street of adding a curb bumpout which I think we can accommodate. And so I, you know, I think something similar at the

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intersection of 14th Street would would help kind of make sure that our our ramps are aligned with with the crosswalks. Um, I think that's probably the simplest solution and it kind of gets us back in line with the existing 14th crossing.

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Um, I um >> I don't Go on. >> Oh, no. I I I I I appreciate that that context and and I'm a big fan of bumpouts, but um it may be challenging uh and depends if you have a parking lane and how that bike lane lays out in the street cross-section, but appreciate

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the openness to it and the the further dialogue. Um and then I think the second part of my question was related to the catch basins. I think the preference is usually to have a catch basin upstream of the ADA ramps. It looks like you have a single one on the corner. Uh is that >> I believe that's an an existing one. Um

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but I'm I'm sure we you know u we'll continue that conversation with JCMA on on you know updating their infrastructure as needed especially you know as it relates to curbs. >> Great. Thank you Kaplan. The bumpouts

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that um in question there are these the one that is the newer design with the swell where it should um uh disseminate the water faster. Is that is that what we're proposing or considering here?

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>> I believe you're thinking of a ring garden which can be placed inside a bumpout and I don't believe that's been brought up but >> okay >> that would be the terminology for what you're describing madam. >> Okay, gotcha. I think that uh to add on the specific bumpout that we had an initial conversations with uh

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transportation was if you could see this white striping that's kind of curved it's you replace that with a with a curb and then fill it you know the remaining area with concrete >> uh sidewalk so it would help your pedestrian you know give a little bit more area before they have to cross the

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street. >> Gotcha. Gotcha. Um, council person Little. >> Uh, yes. I I have a few questions. Um, but although I first want to note that I I love the concept of of putting some

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green infrastructure in for flood mitigation in the curb bumpout if that can be accommodated. Um, so I wanted to voice support for that. Um, but most of my comments are are surrounding the the bike lane and the cycling infrastructure. Um,

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so the redevelopment plan called for uh two 8-ft buffered bicycle lanes and um I understand there are currently bike lanes here. Um my question and I'm not I'm not sure if this is a question for Mr. Burton or Commissioner Kaplan. um

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whether whether these bike lanes here are are as robust as the redevelopment plan calls for or if the redevelopment plan prescribes uh a you know wider more buffered bike lanes or or if what the redevelopment

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plan is asking for is essentially the same. Uh I guess I I'll you know uh so we have uh right two 4ft bike lanes and two 4 foot um I'll guess the buffers. So a total of 8 ft and I believe so 8t on either side believe that's what the

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redevelopment plan uh stated. >> Okay. I'm not familiar with this uh redevelopment plan so I can't comment on that council personal. >> Yeah. I I think the short answer of that is is that we we can continue to work with the infrastructure on on what they proposed because you're right,

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Councilwoman, that I think we've got a lot more room to work with there on on the west side. Um to, you know, if they they think a more robust bike lane um is is appropriate there, we could we could certainly do what they they deem appropriate. and and as to the green

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infrastructure in in a bump out there, we we can absolutely uh uh try to incorporate that. >> Awesome. Thank you. Um and then, you know, on the topic of bike lanes, I I live nearby this proposed development and um I am a frequent cyclist, so I

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[clears throat] have a little bit of experience with the current bicycle infrastructure here. Um I I will note that this uh proposed building has no parking and um and it states there will be 250 sorry 215 bike

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spaces but um I was only able to identify 181 on the plan is it can you speak to the correct number of bicycle um bicycle spaces being provided in this development? Um I will I guess I'll I'll defer to the architect to make sure my

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numbers are correct, but I believe it's 186 uh within the building. So it's um if I looked earlier, you know, every floor I think has five spots and then there's a one one floor with a with a few more. Um so I uh I don't know if that we have the same issue with the des I don't know what you were looking at

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with the description. Um >> it was the the general application. So, so maybe that language was not updated, but and I guess the uh thank you for clarifying uh the exact number, but I I guess my my larger point that I'm trying

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to make is that it seems like it seems like the intention is for people in this building to mostly cycle to get around, right? Cycle or walk or take Ubers uh because there's no parking being provided. Um, and you know, as as

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someone who lives in this neighborhood and is a frequent cyclist, um, I I will say right now, like Marin Boulevard is terrifying. Um, because [clears throat] what happens is you have these protected bike lanes and then they spit you out onto I78 and then there's no protection

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even if you want to keep on going south. And so I personally I always either go all the way west to Cole Street and take the Cole Street protected bike lane or I go um all the way east and take Washington and the protected bike lane there. Um because this one it kind of

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just spits you out um on the exit from the Holland Tunnel and then and then people are driving aggressively. Um it's it is pretty hostile to cyclists and pedestrians this intersection frankly. And um you know given that you're expecting your

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residents to predominantly be cyclists and pedestrians uh I was wondering if you might be amendable and and given that you don't need to do as as many um redevelopments to Marin Boulevard to this block of Marin Boulevard as the redevelopment

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plan would have originally called for based on your coordination with infrastructure. I was wondering if you might be amendable to extending the bike lane further south to allow people in this building to have uh have have greater accessibility.

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>> Well, I think you when you say south Oh, south. Um Oh, on uh >> further south than Marin. Yeah. >> Between um between 14th and and 12th. >> Yeah. I mean, I I think longterm, and

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I'm sure Commissioner Kaplan can speak more to this, but I think longterm the goal is to have all of Mar Boulevard be have have a bicycle route, a a protected bicycle lane. Um, but that is not currently the case. And this particular stretch of it, it spits you out on 14th

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Street, which at that point is I78, and is like what, six lanes of traffic or something. And >> it it just feels very hostile as a cyclist. I I never use that route because it just spits you out um in that >> right >> that intersection.

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>> Yeah, I think again the I think that the the answer there is yes, we we can look to extend it from um 14th to 12th Street. Um, and uh, I know that it's not part of this application, but um, I know the uh, the easement agreement that we

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got extended before the city council a few months ago, um, is there's there's 13th Street as part of there's the Mecca development there. Uh there's a plan that was approved by this planning board a number of years ago that you go uh the and because of the issues you just

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raised and all the development that's happening now on on the north side of 14th Street is to try to it makes a connection where you you'd go across tw uh 14th Street is the the shorter uh the shorter highway portion if you will of 78. 12 Street's wider. So, it would take

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you across uh 14th Street and then there's a little po portion of what's called 13th Street there between those those two lots, the Mecca Mecca buildings. And then you make a a left towards the water. And then we we're creating that that developer is going to create a pedestrian and and bicycle

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pathway that will connect you down to the Newport Parkway and into uh into the uh the Newport section uh and Washington Boulevard. Uh, so that I mean that's not part of this application, but it's approved. But that is uh something that that was thought about a few years ago because a lot of the issues you just

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raised, Councilwoman, to to try to make it a safer connection from from that side of of 14th Street to to the rest of uh downtown, but we can we can yeah absolutely extend it from uh 14th Street to 12.

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>> If I can just jump in briefly, Madam Chair. >> Sure. Um, just for everyone's awareness, the jurisdiction of 14th Street as well as Marin from 14th through 12th Street is that of the Port Authority. Um, it's not city right of way. So, I don't think the

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city is able to make any commitments to what can or can't be there, but there have been conversations between the city and the port authority about completing the bike lanes south of this area where it concludes. So, I think the city would welcome um that, but I don't quite know

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uh what level of commitment can be tied to this this application. I'll defer to staff and Santo on that. >> Any for [clears throat] >> Can we get Commissioner Barnaby? Commissioner Little, did you finish? I'm sorry. >> Yes. Sorry, I didn't lower my hand, but thank you for for to look into extending

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the bike lanes. Um although it may be a complex process, thank you for looking into it. But the the applicant would agree to uh partake in that in that those communications and commissioner uh Kappa makes a good point. I I forgot that they do have jurisdiction over that

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that that >> correct >> Commissioner Barby. >> Thank you, Chairwoman. Uh so regarding the trees, I see that you guys are uh seeking uh relief from five trees and so it is for signage. You mentioned um the northern part 15th Street looks a little

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sparse. I'm wondering if we can add some more in there. Either there or Marin Boulevard. So, it's um at least we get a little more in there. >> Yeah, I can definitely uh uh look into right the separation I think is between 20 and 30. Um and so I know we have a

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handful of utilities leaving from Marin and then there's right the the signage for the 14th Street. Um but we can definitely look into and see if we can add a few more. >> Great. >> That's on 15th Street. Uh, Commissioner Barnaby. >> Yeah. 15 or anywhere else. Even on

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Marin, if they can add one or two on either side, maybe get one or two more in there. >> Okay, perfect. >> Thank you. >> Um, I thought I saw Commissioner Patel. >> Well, Commissioner Kaplan answered it. I was going to say that, you know, Gold

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Street is a much better safer option crossing uh 14 to the rest of the downtown than Ming Boulevard. >> Okay. Commissioner Kaplan, I asserted that, you know, we don't have a jurisdiction over it, Port authority. So, >> yep. >> Solve the problem.

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>> Thank you. >> Council person Little. >> Sorry, I just um Commissioner Barnaby's question raised another question for me. So, um since there are 15 trees proposed but 20 trees required, will there be payment in

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lie of trees, if you will, uh for for the remaining five trees? So that I I believe this is in the is this is pretty typical for for developments in the city where a payment is made. So a tree may be planted elsewhere. >> Yes, absolutely.

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>> Great. Thank you. >> Require council person. >> It is required. >> Great. Thank you. >> Any other questions for Ian? I just have a I'm sorry, Madam Chair, if I may.

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>> Commissioner Capers. >> Uh, yes. I just wanted to know if Ann could just elaborate more on the 15th Street side. He mentioned that um that was a better um street for garbage removal. If he can explain the difference between the hotel

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and the residence, what plan does he have on that side of the street? >> I think that might be more appropriate for the architect to address. I think yeah for the architect when he does his presentation. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thanks.

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>> If there's no other questions for Ian, can we move on to our next witness? >> Sure. So So this is the one where we're going to ask that Paul Fredus be uh sworn in as the license architect and then uh Christina Mattea is the uh the

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project architect that worked hand inand with Paul and u she if she can present the project. So, if they can both be >> And I'm sorry, I'm gonna request a break before we do this because I don't think you guys are going to be done in like the next 10 minutes. >> Forgot about you.

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>> That's all right. Thank you. All right. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, it's uh 7:13. We'll take a 10 minutes break. We'll be back at um what is it? 7:15. 7:20. >> 7:25. >> Thank you.

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>> Thank you. >> Thank you. Hey, maybe we should talk about something I would like to call the meeting back to order. Mr. Harrington, you were where we're going to swear in Mr. Freighus.

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>> [snorts] >> Mike, >> I'm just waiting for Chuck. Sorry. >> Sorry about that. I was uh clicking and wasn't doing anything. So, yeah. Okay. Uh so, at this time, yeah, Paul is up here. Paul, I think you're muted. And uh

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Christina is there. I think you're muted as well. There you go. >> All right. So, I'll swear you both then. If you could raise your right hands. You swear any testimony you give tonight is going to be the truth, the whole truth. Nothing but the truth. I do. >> And ladies, first could you state and explain your name for me? >> Christina Aier. C H R I S T I N A

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T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T I Y E H. >> Paul Freighus. P A U L F R E I T A S. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Freredis. Your license current and

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standing. >> Yes, it is indeed. Thank you. And um Christina will be um acting on your behalf. >> Yeah, she's a project lead on the on the project and she's very familiar with the uh the building itself and its components. >> Okay,

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you may proceed. >> Okay, thanks Christina if you uh want to present. >> Sure. Good evening, commissioners. I'd like to present. >> Do do we Christina do we need to mark any exhibits as part of your presentation here? Um right

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>> right right now we're starting with the plans but we will share renderings that will um have to be an exhibit as they weren't shared before. Yeah. >> So Mr. Harington when we get to those we're going to mark those as A3 and you can just identify them number of

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renderings and the date of the rendering at that. >> Okay Christina could you zoom in a little bit on this please? >> Sure. >> Thank you. So, starting off with the ground floor plan, um we have both the residential component and the hotel component. The

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hotel component lining 14th Street and the residential component along 15th. They have separate entries. The hotel entry is off Marin, which you see here. It's a pronounced entry into the hotel lobby, and then the residential entry would be off 15th Street, which takes

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you up to two separate different cores that take you up to the tower. Um, our utilities are placed on 15th Street. We have our transformer vaults there. And then we also have our trash room and loading dock that serves both the residential and hotel component. Um, the

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trash rooms for hotel and residential are separate, but eventually they both funnel through the service corridor and lead you to the loading dock. Um, which the truck can then pull in, pick up and take out. Um and it would be a privately managed trash company that comes for

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pickup daily um for both the hotel and residential component. Um we lining 14th Street with retail um floor to ceiling glass for the retail component. Um creating that activated

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frontage at the human scale. Um, same for the residential lobby. And we'll look into it more when we pull up the renderings as well. Um, so this is basically how the ground floor component and the base of the building is being laid out. And then as we go up to the

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residential floors, this is when you start to see the separation between the residential and hotel even more. So, the hotel would take the lower um let's say half portion of this tower right here as an L-shape as part of the courtyard and the residential portion would take the

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14th street side. Um again, separate elevators, a corridor that divides a wall and a corridor that divides both components um as you go up throughout the >> Can you zoom in a little? >> Sure, >> please. Um, so we have our hotel units again,

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floor toseeiling glass that maximizes views and transparency in and out of the building on all corners of the building and within the courtyard um, with a separation of 60 ft away. um maximizing

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efficiency in these units um and including obviously the 15% affordable that's required on site which is 52 units for the residential component as well. The residential and hotel floor plans throughout the tower are quite typical.

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So moving our way up, they're pretty consistent. Um, again, it's a U-shaped tower, uh, with glass fronting all three sides in the inner courtyard. Um, and then as you go up to the last floor, we have our step back at the 17th floor of

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10 ft. Um, quickly pulling that up, you see that the whole um, frontage right now is stepped back 10 feet on all sides. And then the west side has also been stepped back to allow more glazing um and views off to the west side as

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well. Um moving up to the roof lounge uh and the roof floor, we have our green roof for um water retention. And then we have a smaller roof lounge um that both um actually only residential use would be

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using. Um, again maximizing views and glazing and amenities for the tenants of the building. Moving on to the elevations. Um, the building materiality is predominantly brick on this site. It's a beige warm

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brick that speaks of the contextuality of the neighborhood here. Um, with accentuated vertical peers of the building to elongate the massing and the volume. The ground floor is um provided with clear glazing into the retail and

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lobby components as well to activate that visa v between the pedestrian and public realm and the interior environment. Um again floor toseeiling windows with operable windows into these hotel and residential units to maximize

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transparency for this for this tower. um moving along different facades right now. Again, similar component here on the north elevation. Um and then as we move to the west um along our property line, we do have a stucco uh wall. Um

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it's being designed to be scored to create a more dynamic feel and not just a flat um monotonous facade. So we would have score lines horizontally and playfully vertically to create that dynamic environment. And then as we go up, we did step back the building um to

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create that jog and also allow for more light and air to these top units as well. The interior face of the courtyard is predominantly curtain wall glass um insulated unit curtain wall glass while the exteriors remain predominantly brick

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material. These are just some enlarged views of the elevations along with a shadow study. Um, moving along to the signage plans and materiality. This is a reference of the

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brick. It's a three-toned brick that creates that dynamic facade. Um, a sample of the material of the stuckle, but we would probably match a more similar color to the brick so it all looks quite uniform. and a sample of the insulated glazing unit that we would be

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using for the windows for for all these units. Um, moving along to the exhibits. So, we are calling this A3 with today's date. And how many sheets do we have or slides here? Uh,

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>> we have two views that we want to share today that have not been uploaded previously. Um so this is the view looking on east of the building along Marin. So this is the hotel entry where we wanted to define a vibrant portal entry to invite

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pedestrians and um future um guests into the building um with a curved accentuated um podium. Again maximizing glass. We do we are in a flood elevation as Ian mentioned. So we are five foot above the

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base. So keeping kind of the base within that monolithic brick along with some planters to warm it up but everything above that being floor to ceiling glass to allow for transparency and views into the space. Um and on the second slide this is a

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closer look at the Marin um Boulevard entry. Again, the the podium being um focused on clear glass transparency, inviting people in while the tower remains as the pillar for these vertical

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peers that go up and using the predominant brick material on this site um to accentuate the volumes. >> Christine is zoom in again, please. Right. Nice. Christine, when you're while you're you

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have this up, I don't know if this is this is the appropriate slide or or plan sheet, but could you speak to the the front yard setback how we uh that that projects a little bit? >> Yeah, we are providing the 15 foot um sidewalks along all three sides along

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14,1 15th and Marin. Um we are showing the the steps upright here but we are still providing the 15 ft and then the tower above would lever that 5 ft.

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>> And could you show that maybe make that larger to show how where that's shown on that sheet? >> Yes. This is the dotted line of the tower above and then the glazing line is the line of the base on the ground floor and and this is our 15 foot line

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>> and it's all within the property line. Right. >> Correct. >> So it's almost kind of works as like a canal lever or not a can lever but a uh >> that that is it's a like a five foot canolver which you could again going back to the rendering you can start to see it here for the tower and the sulfid

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that it creates. That's that dotted line going across your plans. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Again, the hotel wanted to be more pronounced as an entry. It's a double height. It invites people in with the

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curvature and just creating this massing um element as like a juxtaposed position in this more monolithic volume. in the residential entrance if you maybe show that. >> Yeah, I can pull it up. I don't know if we have an exact view, but I'll pull it

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up in the elevations. It's also pronounced as well. Um, it does have access from acquired street as well. Um, versus the hotel access, which we can see right here. It's going to be a full glass corner that invites people in. Um,

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and [gasps] and just of views for the residential portion of the building. Beautiful building. >> Thank you. >> Is that your presentation, Christina?

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>> Christina, that complete your presentation? >> Yes, it does. So, >> so I have a couple question, Christina. Um, so there are two elevators. One will be used for the hotel, one will be used for the residential.

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Um in regards to the garbage are they separated the residential, hotel and commercial or are they separated and where their assembly all together? >> Correct. So the hotel trash has its own shootute coming from the tower that

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would be serviced by the staff. Um, and then the residential trash room is also separated. And then they all funnel through this common service corridor that gets you to the loading dock that the truck can come in and pick up for both um programs.

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>> Okay. >> So, nothing's outside, right? >> No, nothing's outside. >> Beautiful. Um, is the hotel run privately? Do we know that? >> Um, it's going to I think it's still in the works, but it's probably going to be the same property manager that's running the residential. It'll just be a

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different type of um asset to run with different kind of um leases and rentals, >> but it's not I think the question maybe uh chairwoman is it it's not intended to have a flag like a Marriott. It's a

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intent is to have the private ownership. Correct. >> Right. Correct. >> Okay, that answers the question. Um the 52 units that are the affordable um where are they located? their location and are they built out the same and they have the same amenities as well?

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>> Yes. So, they're evenly distributed throughout the tower. Um, you can start to see a couple of them here. There are two bedrooms and one bedrooms at this corner and three. >> Which floor is that? The first floor. >> Um, this is the second floor and it's the same typical floor plan that goes throughout the towers. So, the 52 floors

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are spread out vertically, the 52 units. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So they're all throughout the um entire building. They're not just settled in couple just a few floors only. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> And all all finishes would be the same

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as as the market rate. >> Correct. Finishes, appliances, um full interior spec built out would be the same as market rate. >> Okay. >> And how many affordable units? >> 52. >> 52. 52. Okay.

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>> Thank you. I see Commissioner Kaplan. >> Thanks, Madam Chair. I was just could you provide an overview of the number of units, types of bedrooms, etc. in both the hotel and the uh residential spaces. >> Yeah. So, for the residential, we're 344

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total units and for the hotel we're at 371 total units. The hotel units are all kind of open layout. You could call studio units. Um, and for the residential component, we are split between studios up to three bedrooms.

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So, pulling that up on the screen. Um, so we have a couple of studio and what we call studio plus that come with a den 146 for the studio plus. Studios 114, one bedroom is 36, twobedroom 33, and

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threebedroom 15. Thank you, Commissioner Conway. >> I actually had the same question, the breakdown [clears throat] on the types of units. >> Okay. >> Um, but in addition to that, so being that there's no flagship for the hotel, so I'm assuming that the developer is

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looking to do like a Airbnb short-term rental. Is that what it's probably looking like? But yeah, I think these these hotels I think they're set up for long-term stays, not your your daily rates.

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>> Okay. Because there's all So the number of studios, the studio plus versus the regular studio, that's not included in the hotel number or it is. >> No, this is separate. This is just the residential component. And then moving down to the um hotel, they're all kind

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of considered, if you want to say, studios because it's an open layout of one single room and that's 371 of those kind of units. >> Okay. So that's separate. So the 146 and the 114 are separate from the hotel. >> Correct. >> That's an awful lot of studios,

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but Okay. Thank you. That was all. >> Commissioner Kapler, >> uh Councelor, Mr. Harrington, you just noted, I guess, that the intent of the hotels is for long-term stays. I'm just curious if you could elaborate on kind of the envisioned uses

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um for the hotels and and making and how that space is differentiated from, you know, a residential rental. >> Well, it's a I mean, you're daily, but you're also set up uh for long-term stays. you know how certain hotels have two different components, you know, or

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some some are set up so like a Marriott suites, you know, might might be for, you know, a more extended stay as opposed to the daily, you know, holiday in which is right next door. So, it's uh it's really it's open to both. Um, but it's it's a hotel use. It's, you know,

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it' be subject to the 6% uh uh city tax for for hotels. So, it's not Airbnb um because it's it's strictly uh regulated as as a hotel and you you have to um register as a hotel and you have to pay your your hotel tax. So, it will it will

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generate revenue for the city on top of property taxes. >> Commissioner, >> I'm I'm sorry, Madam Chair. May I just follow up briefly? >> Sure. >> Um but there's not a defined like length of stay or anything like that. It's just the design of the unit can accommodate like a suite a longer term stay. Is that

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correct? >> Yeah, that that's correct. Yes. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Patel. >> We can't hear you, Babin. >> You're on mute, Bobin. >> So, would it be like a year-long stay or

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a six month or, you know, months or, you know, I mean, long-term stay, I understand, but you know, what is the definition of a long-term stay? Yeah, I I don't think they anticipate, you know, maybe like, you know, two weeks to to a month, you know, or a week, you know, the guy, the person who's in for

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business, you know, for a week. I I don't think it's anticipated to have have a long term. I mean, because that that that gets expensive because you've got uh again, you got a 6% tax, you got all the other the other things, but it's not it's not a it's not set up for a

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year, six months. It's it's really the intent is the like [clears throat] your h your your Marriott suites, you know, where they they say, "I'm gonna I'm gonna be here for a week or two uh for business." And um I don't know if this question is for you or for Santos but is it possible

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in the future maybe 3 4Z around the road that you know you want to convert these hotels room into um the housing or apartment or condos whatever XYZ may be and what happens then? >> Yeah. That's a good question and it's

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right now uh you're not allowed to um it's the zoning doesn't permit you to to have these well actually as as they would they would allow you to have them as there is a provision in in the local ordinance that you can you can convert

429
02:12:06.000 --> 02:12:23.040
hotel units to residential but if you >> only where residential is allowed it is not allowed in this instance so it would not be convertible under that clause >> okay it's Yeah, I mean it's that's not being proposed here, but that's that's the ordinance that you would look to and

430
02:12:23.040 --> 02:12:39.440
it would then it would require 15% of them to be to be affordable, but the bottom line it's not it's not permitted. Uh it's a hotel use that that is is at issue here. Um so you'd need a zoning change or or you or that you'd look to that ordinance to see if it if it

431
02:12:39.440 --> 02:12:55.199
applied or not. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you for the clarification, >> Commissioner Capers. Uh >> yes. I just wanted um more clarity on the entrance. I know you said the entrance for the hotel is on Marin and the entrance for the

432
02:12:55.199 --> 02:13:12.800
residential is on 15th. Now, is both the hotel and the residential are those both identified as 597 Marin? >> No, they they will have separate addresses at the time. Um and they would probably have to follow the street name

433
02:13:12.800 --> 02:13:30.239
as well. >> Okay. cuz um I mean I don't know about the other commissioners, but I would like to see how you had the uh hotel picture shown and I know you got this one shown in as a as a level, but I would like to

434
02:13:30.239 --> 02:13:46.079
see the side on 15th Street the actual with the corner and the entrance like how does that work? because that's clearly close to the corner and that that could be very congested at time very very congested. So I would like to

435
02:13:46.079 --> 02:14:02.719
see that picture of 15th Street of the entrance of the residential if that's something that that you're able to do. And also as far as the I know you said you guys got a storage right here, but how is the vehicle getting into the

436
02:14:02.719 --> 02:14:20.079
storage right here? Are they backing in? Now they coming in head first >> to the loading zone. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Christine, what's I guess you >> Yeah, I mean they're they're they're coming in head first and then they're

437
02:14:20.079 --> 02:14:35.679
backing out. They're rear loading. I I need to check with um our civil if we've done a maneuverability study and if we haven't, we we will put one together when we talk to transportation. >> Yeah, because the traffic flow of that on 15th Street goes in one direction. Right.

438
02:14:35.679 --> 02:14:51.199
>> Yeah. >> Commissioner Capers, you're referring to the rendering for the the finished rendering for the 15th Street entrance, which is um Yeah, it's something that I was disappointed that I didn't see there either because we saw the Marin Boulevard side or

439
02:14:51.199 --> 02:15:04.400
>> correct. >> Yeah. Um anyway, you guys have that that you can present that. >> We Chris, >> yeah, we I think we've submitted something of the visual impact. We just probably not at this level of detailing,

440
02:15:04.400 --> 02:15:23.880
but we we can pull it up. Yes. >> And uh chair people, I just like to mention also the loading, a lot of that loading will be done after hours uh for the loading dock, especially for the trash. Uh so that should mitigate some of the your traffic concerns,

441
02:15:24.480 --> 02:15:40.719
>> right? So this is just a >> that's both for uh for trash and recycling. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Yeah. This this is part of the submission. This is in the visual impact uh state.

442
02:15:40.719 --> 02:16:00.000
>> Correct. We we've shown every corner of um the building on these views and this is coming in from view B. So it has a glass return that invites people that are coming down on Marin to you know kind of pronounce that this is

443
02:16:00.000 --> 02:16:15.040
the residential entry as you go in and it would have a signage band of course um as we detailed it out more >> and you have 15 foot sidewalks there correct and then >> and it looks to be 22 and a half feet

444
02:16:15.040 --> 02:16:32.080
from curb to the entrance >> correct because it's also recessed to pronounce it >> and I think it's important also for the commissioners to recognize that The reason the glass is not going down to the sidewalk in those locations is because the the first floor is elevated

445
02:16:32.080 --> 02:16:49.599
for uh flood proofing. >> Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it does go all the way down at the residential entry. So, you >> Well, you have an entrance there and then you go up. There's a >> That's right. interior to the >> Yes, it's an interior stair and a and a lift. Um but, you know, we didn't bring

446
02:16:49.599 --> 02:17:08.240
the glass down because of flood proofing concerns. Mr. Conway, you have a question regarding here. >> I'm still not sure that's correct, Paul. Um, if you guys want to go back to the floor plan, fine. I also don't think it's a a detail that that's very

447
02:17:08.240 --> 02:17:23.840
important to spend much time on, but I believe there's doors in a in a rotating door that great. >> The picture shown there doesn't look like rotating rotating. >> No, I agree. there. The entrance is the stairs and everything to access the

448
02:17:23.840 --> 02:17:39.439
floor are interior to that entrance. I was just suggesting that the Yeah, you can see >> those doors aren't made out of glass. I mean, I assume >> Yeah, they are. But I guess what I'm saying is the glass on the Maron side uh after the stairs is shortened because

449
02:17:39.439 --> 02:17:56.000
it's uh it's below below the the level of the sidewalk. While we're spending some time on this, I just want for the board to note, and I think staff's in support of this, but instead of doing ramps, which would take up a good deal of floor area, they're opting to do

450
02:17:56.000 --> 02:18:14.240
elevators um both into the lobby of the residential and the hotel. And >> that's that's basically what we show, >> right? Madam Chair, just to confir um Commissioner Kaplan, let me just get Commissioner Conway first, please.

451
02:18:14.240 --> 02:18:30.960
Commissioner Conway. >> Hey, thank you, Madam Chair. Um I'm sorry, I don't mean to go off the topic of what you guys were discussing, but um so total units including the hotel is 715, but I'm assuming the affordable is just

452
02:18:30.960 --> 02:18:47.439
based off of residential alone, correct? at the 344 with only 52 units. >> Yeah, it's it's only a percentage of the res >> of the residential. It just seems like smoke and mirrors because somebody might think that there's a lot more than what there is. And is there a breakdown on

453
02:18:47.439 --> 02:19:02.559
the affordable types? I don't know if that was discussed or not type of units. >> Sure. There's there's five studios, five one bedrooms, 27 twobedrooms, and 15 threebedrooms. >> Okay.

454
02:19:02.559 --> 02:19:20.080
So, all all the uh three bedrooms are going to be affordable. >> Great. Okay. Thank you so much. >> Um, Commissioner Kaplan. >> Sorry, just to confirm, if you go back to the last view on that entryway, the

455
02:19:20.080 --> 02:19:37.359
area that's green with the trees in that, >> I'm sorry, the site plan, uh, the architectural plan. Um, if you could just zoom back in there, those are interior spaces, correct? with the landscaping. >> Correct. Yeah, >> that's it. Thank you,

456
02:19:37.359 --> 02:19:54.560
>> Council President. Little >> Yeah. Um, you mentioned that the um first floor is, you know, it's it's somewhat elevated because of flooding. Um, and then it was also pointed out that the ADA access is in the form of

457
02:19:54.560 --> 02:20:12.000
elevators. Uh is there a concern about um how how will the operator how will the elevators operate um in in during wet weather events? Is there are are they um is there flood mitigation protecting the elevators in any way?

458
02:20:12.000 --> 02:20:28.160
>> Yes. Uh elevators and even uh egress doors have a it's basically like a more passive approach to uh flood proofing because you still have to be able to get out of the building. Uh so all of that kind of gets considered when the uh when this happens, you know, management comes

459
02:20:28.160 --> 02:20:50.319
in and battens down the hatches and then you know we weigh things out. Um the building gets closed up as tight as it can but also provides the a means for people to eress out of the building in case of an emergency. >> Thanks.

460
02:20:50.319 --> 02:21:07.600
So to go back to Commissioner uh Conway's question and I and I think he he brought up a valid question. The affordable units is based upon the um the dwelling which is 344 and the hotel component of this is much

461
02:21:07.600 --> 02:21:27.680
more which is 371 um hotel rooms. I just want to reiterate what uh you know Commissioner Conaway was thinking at the same time as well. Can we increase the affordable units? >> Well, no. I mean, it's it's ba the hotel

462
02:21:27.680 --> 02:21:44.240
component is a commercial component. It's not the the affordable is not based upon the residential I mean based upon the the commercial component. >> Has there been a study on how well hotels do in that area? Like are you sure that it's even, you know, a great

463
02:21:44.240 --> 02:22:00.720
idea? I mean, obviously you guys love the idea, but has there been any type of study that shows like that type of business in that area and would it thrive in that situation? >> Yeah. You had you have um the the Holiday Inn right next door >> that's also a name brand that people

464
02:22:00.720 --> 02:22:17.600
know, >> right? >> Are unfl flagged. >> It's it's unfl flagged, but it's still it's a hotel. I mean, they're I know they're doing well. They're they're a client of mine. They obviously during COVID know the hotels didn't do do well but um yeah I mean that area you know

465
02:22:17.600 --> 02:22:33.040
the hotels downtown are I think you know my understanding is all thriving and we do uh I don't know if you know you do have some boutique hotels where it's not a flag and they they still do well.

466
02:22:33.040 --> 02:22:51.600
>> Thank you. >> Any other comments from the board? Okay, hearing none. Um, >> Madame Chair, I do just want that clarification. I don't want to spend a lot of time on it. I agree with Mr. award, but uh specifically as I

467
02:22:51.600 --> 02:23:09.359
understand it, uh the hotel entrance is elevated externally, meaning the staircase is outside of the building and therefore there is no glass down to the

468
02:23:09.359 --> 02:23:26.880
street level, the residential entrance. the staircase is internal to the building and there is a glass facade down to street level and then the question does become is that permissible under the codes in terms of the flood

469
02:23:26.880 --> 02:23:43.840
elevation and Matt please correct me if I'm I'm wrong on any of that. >> Yeah. No, it's acceptable as long as they they have a flood barrier that they can put in place during an event >> and that is how is proposed.

470
02:23:43.840 --> 02:23:59.439
>> Go ahead, Sansa. >> That that is that is proposed. Every entrance in the building uh that is within the flood plane will be uh floodproofed accordingly. Uh um then it'll be uh parts of it are um passive

471
02:23:59.439 --> 02:24:16.319
in so far as we've we're avoiding flooding on the first floor because we've elevated, but there can be other instances where we have to put plates in front of doors and and storefront areas and uh access utility doors where it basically stops the rain from coming uh you know the water coming in uh in those

472
02:24:16.319 --> 02:24:34.080
events. Um so that that's the rationale behind the way we've approached this. >> Thank you. Commissioner Kaplan, uh, >> could you just elaborate on the ADA access to the hotel and I look, you

473
02:24:34.080 --> 02:24:51.760
know, what that pathway is? >> Yeah. So, for the for the hotel component, it's um off of 14th Street. Um it takes you directly into the hotel lobby um with a kind of hotel retail component here that we anticipate to see

474
02:24:51.760 --> 02:25:08.160
as maybe a cafe or something. So it's it's an it's an experience in through that component that takes you directly to the elevator core. >> Great. So um but that's a hotel use, not a cafe or commercial use. Correct. >> Correct.

475
02:25:08.160 --> 02:25:24.640
>> Thanks, >> Commissioner Conway. Hey, um what's the market rate of the affordable units versus uh you know like the regular units? Is that something that's already determined or is that

476
02:25:24.640 --> 02:25:40.800
kind of up for later on? >> Do you mean the income levels, right? >> Uh well, yes. The income levels of the affordables versus a market rate unit. >> Well, how much does a market rate unit go for and what's the income levels of the affordable units? That's a better

477
02:25:40.800 --> 02:25:55.359
question. Thank you. I I don't have the the you know projected rents here but I can tell you that of the 52 affordable units >> seven will be um 30% or low or lower of

478
02:25:55.359 --> 02:26:12.000
AMI and of those you're going to have one studio one bedroom one onebedroom three twobedrooms and two threebedrooms uh 19 will be between 30 and 50% of AMI and of that you'll have two studios

479
02:26:12.000 --> 02:26:28.399
one one-bedroom, 10 twobedrooms, and six threebedrooms. And then you'll have the moderate income, which is the 50 to 80% of AMI. You'll have two studios, three onebedrooms, 14 twobedrooms, and seven uh threebs. So, it's a mix. It's all

480
02:26:28.399 --> 02:26:44.640
It's all uh consistent with the uh Jersey City's uh inclusionary zoning ordinance, which follows the U-Hack standards. >> Thank you so much, >> Mr. Harrington. Is that agreement already been negotiated with the uh

481
02:26:44.640 --> 02:26:59.840
affordable housing? >> It the these are these are what has been agreed to. So you you get a checklist from the affordable housing division right this is what it is and then right >> the actual agreement gets gets uh

482
02:26:59.840 --> 02:27:15.840
drafted and and finalized as as you progress throughout the development. You need to have that in place before any any CO is issued >> but not prior to the approval is the agreement finish. >> That's correct. Is that >> subject to

483
02:27:15.840 --> 02:27:30.240
>> correct? >> But of course all of this is controlled by the UAC numbers and the affordable housing uh ordinance. >> That's right. >> Okay. >> Commissioner Capers. So, I mean, I know

484
02:27:30.240 --> 02:27:45.200
this may sound um out of the ordinary, but are you anticipating everybody to ride bikes? Because I just want to know if anybody can identify where would be a drop off spot for a Uber or Lift or if somebody's dropping

485
02:27:45.200 --> 02:28:01.280
anybody off, what where would you guys uh could you show me on this site plan where is a safe place to um unload individuals? And that yeah, Christine can speak to it, but that that circles

486
02:28:01.280 --> 02:28:17.920
back to the to the comment letter letter from the Jersey City traffic department. That that's that's what they were recommending. And we we've we are fully uh in agreement to to follow their recommendation to provide for a loading zone or drop off area along Marin. And then 15th

487
02:28:17.920 --> 02:28:38.640
Street is is a much quieter street uh right right at the the uh front of the uh residential lobby as well. Okay. Thank you, >> Commissioner Samada. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, the only question I have is in reference to the

488
02:28:38.640 --> 02:28:56.160
cafe. Is that the only dining in the in this um hotel area? >> We still have a retail component here fronting 14th Street that obviously the hotel could hotel tents can use um coming out of the building. We still don't know what these components would

489
02:28:56.160 --> 02:29:11.600
be. Um they could be FNB, but they could be other services. Um but for what we do know, yes, the hotel would have a small cafe component. Um I would say light cooking, you know, juice bar, um snack kind of pantry

490
02:29:11.600 --> 02:29:26.720
>> with the possibility of having something like a dining area over in this area. Correct. >> Yes. Yes. With all the furnishings. Yes. >> Christina, the um commercial is going to be on the 14th Street. Is there an entrance there?

491
02:29:26.720 --> 02:29:43.960
>> Yes, the these two doors right here. >> So, there's an entrance on 14th Street for the commercial. There's an entrance on 15th Street for the residential. And the entrance for the hotel is on >> Marin. Correct.

492
02:29:49.680 --> 02:30:07.840
>> Any other board comments for Christina? No, Mr. >> Kaplan, >> just very briefly, could you discuss kind of that courtyard per uh it's called out as pvious area, what the uses, what the materials are, what that is intended to be. >> Yes, I I would like Ian to speak more

493
02:30:07.840 --> 02:30:22.560
about this from his team. um because I do know that this has to do with the storm water um retention um but also would allow for um tenant access if need be along the periphery.

494
02:30:22.560 --> 02:30:37.760
>> Uh yeah, so it's um it there's no uh specific um storm water improvements for it. It it just uh kind of covers the the green area. Um so there's I think some depth requirements for for landscaping for it to account for the green area

495
02:30:37.760 --> 02:30:57.040
ratio. Um but so it's um just generally a nice green backyard if you will. >> Who is responsible for maintaining those areas? >> It it's going to have to be the property management team either from the

496
02:30:57.040 --> 02:31:13.840
residential side or the hotel side. But um that would be something that would have to be looked at. Okay, cool. Any other questions for Christina before we move on to

497
02:31:13.840 --> 02:31:30.640
who's your next witness, Mr. um Miss >> uh John Mcdana, our >> John Mcdana. Okay. Any other questions for Christina? Okay. >> Sorry. >> Commissioner, >> very briefly, just the bike parking. Can you talk about the um what is within

498
02:31:30.640 --> 02:31:47.040
that room to tie your bike up to and or is that lockable? >> Yes. the devices. Yeah. >> Yes. I mean, we we have the bike hooks that are installed vertically on the wall that allow for the double kind of tandem parking spaces on the main bike

499
02:31:47.040 --> 02:32:03.200
rooms on the ground floor. And then as Ian previously mentioned, we do show bike storage of across the residential floors that tenants can access as well. They they have security access and um could be designated to residential unit. Um

500
02:32:03.200 --> 02:32:19.680
>> Gotcha. and and the device which the bike is hung or attached to the wall as a way for it to be individually locked to that device. Correct. >> Yes. Correct. Correct. >> Thank you so much. Thanks, Madam Chair. >> Thank you. We will move on to the planner.

501
02:32:19.680 --> 02:32:38.000
>> Okay. Mr. Mcdana, I'll swear you in. Do you swear any testimony you give tonight is going to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? >> Yes, I do. >> And for the record, can you state your name? >> Sure. Hi there, everyone. My name is John Mcdana. That's spelled MC capital D O N O U G H.

502
02:32:38.000 --> 02:32:53.840
>> Thank you. >> Mr. Mcdana, is your license current and good standing? >> Yes, madam chair. It is. >> Thank you. You may proceed. >> Okay, John, take it away. >> Okay. So, um >> Oh, wait. John, do you we let's mark your exhibits before before you start.

503
02:32:53.840 --> 02:33:10.560
>> Okay. Uh, Madam Chair, with your permission, I'm going to put together a three slide exhibit sort of following uh, what Ian did with a three-part exhibit. Um, these are going to be a set of aerial drone photographs that were taken back on a cold day in January.

504
02:33:10.560 --> 02:33:24.560
>> And this would be A4. >> Do we have to mark them into evidence? >> A4. >> A4, for the record, again, is a three-part exhibit. They're just going to show the subject property from three vantage points. um as it looked when we

505
02:33:24.560 --> 02:33:40.720
started the application back in January. Um this is a view of the subject property which as you've heard is a single tax lot I'm sorry 71 7104 lot number three. It's about 31,999

506
02:33:40.720 --> 02:33:57.439
square ft. It's developed as that Exxon gas station with the Tiger Mart under the canopy and then you've got a whole string of U-Haul vehicles that are stored on the property as well. Uh from this particular vantage point, you've got Maron uh in the background and would

507
02:33:57.439 --> 02:34:13.920
be looking due east, I'd say, or somewhat south. Um you've got 15th in the foreground and then 14th, of course, uh in the background. From this particular vantage point, you've got the hotel. Uh envision what Christina had shown you with a a beautiful U-shaped

508
02:34:13.920 --> 02:34:28.720
building here. Uh we're going to come back to the planning rationale. Uh the applicant is asking for additional height here above and beyond what the ordinance would require, but that's all premised on the fact that we're looking for a Ushaped building here with an open

509
02:34:28.720 --> 02:34:45.359
courtyard. Uh in the interest of a better zoning alternative as opposed to a more square building uh where we would enclose that open space, we would have a lower flatter building. Um that additional floor area is made up with a couple of stories. We'll come back to

510
02:34:45.359 --> 02:35:00.800
that as we we go through the the planning rationale. But from a physical integration standpoint, this makes good planning sense and certainly a better zoning alternative than a more square building at at this particular location. Next frame on the

511
02:35:00.800 --> 02:35:16.479
exhibit is just sort of the reverse view. You've got Maron in the background. You've got 15th now off to the left and then 14th uh coming in view in the foreground. Again, given the sense of the surrounding land use context, you've got some big box retail

512
02:35:16.479 --> 02:35:33.439
here with the Best Buy. You've got Home Depot and a series of other gas stations around the area. And then a mix of uses and including the hotel that's immediately adjacent. Finally, last frame takes you on a a view looking outbound and compare this

513
02:35:33.439 --> 02:35:48.720
present view with what you saw in that beautiful illustrative rendering that Christina gave you in terms of the creation of a nice landmark building here as one is uh exiting or or heading outbound, filling this void with a very attractive building. And at the end of

514
02:35:48.720 --> 02:36:03.680
the day, the applicant is asking the board to move on less than 10 ft above what the ordinance allowance would be. uh 160 ft is the maximum allowed height for the building. Uh that building that you saw saw in Christina's rendering is

515
02:36:03.680 --> 02:36:21.200
169.9 ft. So less than that 10% threshold would would trigger a Dvariance and kick us over to another board. So this remains within the purview of the planning board. Likewise, in additional to that additional 9.9 ft, the applicant is

516
02:36:21.200 --> 02:36:38.160
asking the board to move on three additional stories above and beyond what the ordinance would require. Again, that triggers only a 9.9 ft height differential. Um, and I believe a better zoning alternative than a more square or rectangular building at this location.

517
02:36:38.160 --> 02:36:54.319
Opening up that interior, uh, pulling the the building, uh, to out to the sides more and then making up for that lost floor plate by, uh, moving up a couple of, uh, additional stories. Uh the impact is minimal here in the context of of this neighborhood and the

518
02:36:54.319 --> 02:37:10.399
the greater overall uh varied area that we have from a nicely diversified mix of building forms, uses um and and other uh structures in the area as well. The applicant is asking the board to

519
02:37:10.399 --> 02:37:26.160
move on street trees in terms of the number. I think the applicant has done a good job of maxing out in terms of what the street tree capacity is here. We're looking for 15 trees where 20 would be the minimum that's required. There's a practical difficulty when we're

520
02:37:26.160 --> 02:37:42.399
alternating every tree with a decorative light or street light. Uh so we do have separation issues as well. 30 ft is the minimum that's the maximum that's allowed. We're at 60 ft. Uh so there is an element of hardship here. You heard

521
02:37:42.399 --> 02:37:59.520
through Ian's testimony that we will certainly work with the board professionals, see if we can get an extra tree or two somewhere along this facade, uh, along this frontage rather. But you saw through Ian's exhibits here that the applicant is providing a nice soft green edge to the development,

522
02:37:59.520 --> 02:38:16.240
which will bring this building down to a human scale at at the street level and uh, I think provide an an effective solution here that meets the the spirit of the ordinance. Um then lastly, um I think think the council person was talking about the cartwway relief here

523
02:38:16.240 --> 02:38:31.520
and the practical difficulty uh navigating as we start to work our way to the south uh from a bike lane standpoint and the board certainly has opportunity to impose reasonable restrictions in terms of extending that. Um I think the spirit is that the

524
02:38:31.520 --> 02:38:48.800
applicant is willing to work in that regard to the extent relief is needed. The letter of the ordinance says that the cartwway width shall be 49 ft with bicycle infrastructure. The bicycle infrastructure is in place but that cartwway width is less than 49 ft. It's

525
02:38:48.800 --> 02:39:04.880
an existing condition. So again to the extent that uh relief is required the applicant is asking the board to move uh on that as well. So just bringing us back to the letter of the ordinance here. We're in the Jersey Avenue light rail redevelopment plan in the

526
02:39:04.880 --> 02:39:22.720
commercial stripped subd district. The applicant is availing itself of the neighborhood district overlay district which gives us that affordable uh housing bonus bonus B um which would allow for the 14 stories here. Again, we're asking for the 17th 17th story in

527
02:39:22.720 --> 02:39:37.920
the interest of a better zoning alternative. Um, in terms of the justification for the relief, I think the board can certainly give deference to the fact that this is an application that is a substantial conformance with the higher tiers of zoning in your

528
02:39:37.920 --> 02:39:55.120
zoning regulations. The use is permitted here, retail, residential, hotels are are all permitted. Uh to the extent that there was a concern about affordable housing and not being imposed on the hotel component, it's my understanding and I can certainly be corrected that

529
02:39:55.120 --> 02:40:10.560
the non-residential component is subject to the non-residential affordable housing fee as are other non-residential uses uh throughout New Jersey. So uh the board can give difference to that as well. Uh again, in terms of the bulk,

530
02:40:10.560 --> 02:40:26.720
the density complies here. The applicant is not asking the board to move on any relief related to the density related to the floor area. It's just sort of a change of the form of development but not the overall uh massing of the de development from an intensity of use

531
02:40:26.720 --> 02:40:42.640
standpoint. The coverage is going to comply on all sides. The setbacks is going to comply. No relief related to the parking. No relief related to uh streetscape elements as well. In terms of the overall justifications, I think

532
02:40:42.640 --> 02:40:59.680
this is a textbook C2 case where we look at this being a better zoning alternative for the property uh where the benefits of this form of development would substantially outweigh any detriments. On the positive side, it's the applicant's burden to show to the

533
02:40:59.680 --> 02:41:16.960
board that one or more purposes of the land use law are being advanced. There are about 18 or so of them. Sure the board has heard them many times under NJSA45D-2. Um again one has to be met. I find four are actually advanced here including

534
02:41:16.960 --> 02:41:33.359
purpose A the promotion of the general welfare with fully permitted uses that both implicitly and explicit explicitly serve the public good inclus including new housing stock affordable housing and then service uses that that serve the

535
02:41:33.359 --> 02:41:51.040
public at large. That's purpose A. Purpose G, the planning goal to provide for a variety of uses in appropriate locations according to the needs of all New Jersey citizens with that stratified mix of housing types both on an income and on a bedroom mix scale uh goes

536
02:41:51.040 --> 02:42:07.040
towards that goal. and the fact that this is going to be infill development that is compatible with the character of the area and certainly not going to overpower uh this very mixed and diversified uh form of of neighborhood that we have here. I think this building

537
02:42:07.040 --> 02:42:23.680
is again going to provide a beautiful landmark as travelers are going outbound uh from the city and from the tunnel. Purpose I is our planning goal for uh providing a desirable visual environment. Again, an attractive building here and complimentary site

538
02:42:23.680 --> 02:42:39.120
improvements that are certainly going to add value and quality to the aesthetic character of the area. And then finally, purpose M, our planning goal for efficient use of land. That's what redevelopment is. That's why we have a state redevelopment plan as opposed to a

539
02:42:39.120 --> 02:42:56.560
state development plan. Uh we've run out of land. There's no doubt about it. This is a PA1 zone. This is where our population is supposed to be redirected. Uh clearly this will take unproductive land, put it to functional use in accordance with the vision of your redevelopment plan, reverse that

540
02:42:56.560 --> 02:43:14.479
stagnation that's out there now, and uh certainly revitalize the site by pulling people into this area. Um, in terms of the negative criteria, again, for that additional height, that additional 9.9 ft, I believe it's inconsequential when you're dealing with an allowance of60

541
02:43:14.479 --> 02:43:30.319
ft. Um, the additional three stories is a better zoning alternative. and through the testimony of Christina and Ian, I think there's a good record before the board uh that the relief can be granted here uh and the project can work and

542
02:43:30.319 --> 02:43:45.760
function safely, efficiently, and both uh comfortably for the people who will live here and will visit here. Uh the board has done what the board always does is uh have an interactive process, takes a good plan, makes it better with its input, and I think we've uh landed

543
02:43:45.760 --> 02:44:03.040
at a good spot here. Uh lastly, relief can be granted without substantial impairment to the zone plan. Uh because the applicant has certainly demonstrated and respected the zoning ordinance by adhering to uh most of the controls uh but for just a few which I've given you.

544
02:44:03.040 --> 02:44:17.840
In conclusion, the application will continue the positive transformation of the area and the city. The relief here in my view is relatively minor um given the greater context and can be granted here without any substantially adverse impacts. Um, in conclusion, the

545
02:44:17.840 --> 02:44:33.840
statutory criteria for grant of relief are met and approval is warranted. Um, madam chair, that's all I have on direct. >> Thank you, John. Um, I just want to go back to one quick question. I don't know who can answer this question for me. On the rooftop, the amenity area is that

546
02:44:33.840 --> 02:44:49.840
open for the hotel as well or it's just for the residential purpose only. >> It's just for >> Here comes Christina. >> Yeah, just for the residential component. >> Okay. And if you don't mind, I would like to know what is the square footage

547
02:44:49.840 --> 02:45:11.439
for the hotel component, the residential component. I see for the commercial it's 4,270. >> Yes, the residential floor area is 186,695 ft and the hotel area is 172,464

548
02:45:11.439 --> 02:45:28.640
ft. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, I see Vice Chair Wick Commissioner Capers, which one? >> Vice Chair, we we you're uh you're muted.

549
02:45:28.640 --> 02:45:43.040
>> Sorry. Can you hear me? >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Um, just real quick, I don't know who this is for, but um since there is no parking on site, is there like an operations plan for guests that are coming to the hotel that are coming from out of town with the car? like where

550
02:45:43.040 --> 02:45:59.680
would they be directed? >> Very close. >> Just because I know that's already an issue with the neighboring hotel. >> Is it I I don't believe there there is because parking is not required at all

551
02:45:59.680 --> 02:46:18.399
um under the redevelopment plan. But uh >> would there be a plan in place though? I just feel like that's a a barrier. Commissioner, are you talking about wavefinding sign signage for the hotel just to direct uh motorists to the hotel, drop off, pickup, that type thing?

552
02:46:18.399 --> 02:46:34.399
>> No, parking. She mentioned >> Yeah, parking for hotel guests that are driving into this vicinity and staying at the hotel. Um, is there like a plan that the hotel will have to direct them into a place that they can put their

553
02:46:34.399 --> 02:46:50.560
cars nearby? I mean, that's that's something they could certainly look into and provide for because uh uh you know, coming in and allow um inform them of of the public parking garages in the area. >> Yeah. I just think that would be helpful.

554
02:46:50.560 --> 02:47:06.399
>> Yeah. >> Yep. >> Commissioner Conway. >> Yeah. Just to piggy back a little bit off of Vice Chairwick, um it was my question was in reference to the parking. So you have affordable units

555
02:47:06.399 --> 02:47:22.080
which is great. Um some of them are you know family bearing with a two and threebedroom but the fact that you guys don't have parking which is not required it just seems you know the affordable housing is great but is it really um going to be used to its full

556
02:47:22.080 --> 02:47:38.080
potential having a threebedroom with no car or you know not a place to park your car maybe getting charged an additional fee to park it somewhere else. I just feel like that wasn't completely thought out. You know, raising a family, possibly not having a car or having to

557
02:47:38.080 --> 02:47:55.359
pay for your car to be put somewhere else just doesn't pan out to affordable to me. >> Well, yeah. again and I don't I don't want to like try to be redundant, but I know you know the parking isn't required, but then it's the part of the planning process and I um in the in the

558
02:47:55.359 --> 02:48:11.439
uh the zoning whenever you provide for affordable housing through the the ICO or or the affordable housing overlay, the the parking requirement is is uh removed. Um so it's consistent with the the overall planning and zoning throughout Jersey City. I understand

559
02:48:11.439 --> 02:48:27.359
what you're saying. >> Understood. It was more of a statement than a question, but I appreciate. >> Thank you, >> Commissioner Capers. >> I just had a quick question. Which phase is the hotel are these going to be built? Phase which is phase one, the

560
02:48:27.359 --> 02:48:42.399
hotel or the residential side? >> It's it's all it's it's one phase. They're going to be built together. >> They're going to be built together. >> Yep. >> Okay. I guess just to piggy piggy back off of my previous question, I again I don't

561
02:48:42.399 --> 02:49:00.279
this is more of a statement, but um in the hotel, you know, marketing or whatever it is, I think that has to be a very transparent part of it, right? Like that there is no parking and what that cost is associated with staying there.

562
02:49:01.359 --> 02:49:20.080
>> More of a comment than a >> Right. And I I think it's a great comment for for ownership to take back. >> Miss uh Councilwoman Lou, >> thank you. Um this is Mr. Harrington. This is a bit of an off off-topic

563
02:49:20.080 --> 02:49:36.640
question and I you know to be clear I recognize this cannot influence our votes on the planning board but um just being aware that this developer has had uh some other issues with other projects in Jersey City where um you know they've they've had to um they've had some stop

564
02:49:36.640 --> 02:49:52.720
work orders and um there's been some issues with subcontractors and and um issues with back pay and and I was just wondering if um this is something that you've been speaking to the developer with and if there's a plan in place to make sure these same

565
02:49:52.720 --> 02:50:09.279
problems aren't present at this site. >> Yeah, they're fully aware of them. Uh, and they have I mean they probably have like 10 10 projects. I'm just going off the top of my head. Uh, and most of them they did not have any issues with stop work orders. I know within the last year

566
02:50:09.279 --> 02:50:24.800
they had some and um and they did have that that issue that you brought up with back pay was was uh I mean it's ownership but I believe it had to do with the uh the GC uh for for the project. Um and that is something that

567
02:50:24.800 --> 02:50:40.960
that they're very well aware of and they they they have um discussed that with their general contractor uh to to make sure that those those do not happen because he's very conscious of his reputation. um you know he's built a lot in Jersey City and and um you know

568
02:50:40.960 --> 02:50:57.279
without uh any incident um and so he is he's very well aware of that uh to to make sure that everything goes smoothly um going forward. >> Okay. Thank you Mr. Harrington. I'm glad to hear it's on everyone's radar. >> Commissioner

569
02:50:57.279 --> 02:51:18.880
uh yes back to Mr. Harrington have Hey, you're >> you muted yourself. You're >> muted. Okay. Sorry about that again. Okay. Uh, Mr. Harrington, uh, those issues, have they been corrected? Everything's been

570
02:51:18.880 --> 02:51:35.040
>> Yes. >> Right. So, there's no problems going forward. >> No, there's there's Yeah, there's no there's no open issues now. Those are corrected like four or five months ago at least. >> All right. All right. Thank you, >> Commissioner Conway.

571
02:51:35.040 --> 02:51:50.399
>> Yeah. Just so you said that they were corrected. So are they using uh like different people or is it the same general contractor or is the contractor just not using that subcontractor? Um I didn't get the full, you know,

572
02:51:50.399 --> 02:52:06.880
information on the background, but it just you saying it's fixed. I just wanted to know how it got fixed. Well, I know like the it's the same contractor because these those stop work orders were with regard to uh two projects that uh they they resolved those issues and I

573
02:52:06.880 --> 02:52:22.240
think that was resolved back in January. Um and you know it's the same general contract because you're not going to change horses in the middle of the race, right? Um but um the uh the other issue with back pay that I'm not familiar. I

574
02:52:22.240 --> 02:52:39.439
know it's been resolved, but that that that that was something well before that as well. >> And would they be using said contractor with this new development? >> I I don't know for sure. I think I think they are proposing to to use them, but

575
02:52:39.439 --> 02:52:56.479
>> I would caution any the commissioners from any further questions regarding this. um that is not the subject of uh of of >> I was mainly looking out for personal safety as far as you know >> it [clears throat] is not the subject of this this what you're you're looking to

576
02:52:56.479 --> 02:53:13.120
review. So um and I mean [clears throat] you as as the commissioners uh not that you >> one last question then uh for um flooding so being that it's already above the flood line um has any study

577
02:53:13.120 --> 02:53:28.720
been done just to show that you know in event of a big storm or anything like there would be add like the five feet above is that like adequate enough [snorts] or just because that's the minimum or that's the requirement that's just what you guys went with or was there a study

578
02:53:28.720 --> 02:53:44.960
that kind of got you to where that is? >> There was no additional studying or it was designed per the you know the state standards. >> Okay. Thank you so much. No more questions. >> Is there any other questions from the board? >> No. >> Okay.

579
02:53:44.960 --> 02:54:01.040
>> Just um it's really kind of a clarification from Santa. >> Sure. Commissioner Kaplan. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Santa, could you just clarify a little bit what what we're approving here, what we're reviewing, and what are the correct kind of key considerations that we should be thinking about and what we shouldn't be

580
02:54:01.040 --> 02:54:16.880
thinking about on this application. >> So, all of the things we just talked about with respect to the particular uh applicant's past history, we should not be considering. I understand the concern, but it's not this board's

581
02:54:16.880 --> 02:54:33.200
concern. Those are enforcement issues to be dealt by other departments and agencies within the city and the state. The applicant's proposing an application, it's for preliminary and final site plan application. So, I think we're all pretty clear as to what the

582
02:54:33.200 --> 02:54:49.439
guiding standard of that is, how the site functions, safety of the site, ingress and egress to the site. Uh while it is good to question things such as what happens if somebody drives to the

583
02:54:49.439 --> 02:55:06.319
hotel, what do they do with their car? There's no requirement to address that issue under the zoning ordinance. So to question and contemplate an issue in terms of the parking demand when one is

584
02:55:06.319 --> 02:55:22.800
not needed because of the way the zoning is laid out is inappropriate. Uh they have three variances that they're seeking in conjunction with their application. You heard what those variances were. Uh I believe several

585
02:55:22.800 --> 02:55:40.479
shade trees. I believe the height of the building and another dimminimous uh variance based on the design of the building. Uh Mr. Mcdana testified with respect to what the reason for the

586
02:55:40.479 --> 02:55:55.840
increase in height is in terms of well we can make the building shorter but if we make the building shorter we lose the courtyard and we have these other pressing issues that happen. So that talked all towards his justification why

587
02:55:55.840 --> 02:56:11.120
the board would consider that variance, why he believes it's appropriate. We haven't heard from Mr. Ward yet. I am sure Mr. Ward is going to give his testimony with respect to that issue. But when we deal with properties of this

588
02:56:11.120 --> 02:56:27.760
size in nature, applications of this size in nature, uh you know, you're going to have some deviations because we're in a redevelopment plan. You're going to have some deviations from the application.

589
02:56:27.760 --> 02:56:44.560
The question is, is it justified? If the same number of units get built in a slightly shorter building, is that better? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. That's kind of what you're weighing, right? Uh with respect to the affordable housing component, again, that's

590
02:56:44.560 --> 02:57:00.000
mandated to us by the governing body. So the governing body has written this plan and said, "Here's what the affordable housing requirement is. If you do X, Y, and Z, it's this percent of the residential component. The commercial

591
02:57:00.000 --> 02:57:14.880
component is separate in a park." So I understand the redevelopment plan. Mr. Ward will speak to it. The hotel is a required component of this project. It's not as if the applicant decided, I want to build a hotel, so I'm going to

592
02:57:14.880 --> 02:57:33.600
propose a hotel. The redevelopment plan dictated you need a hotel component, you need a residential component. Uh, and the affordable is based on residential, not the hotel component. if they wanted to convert the hotel from hotel rooms to

593
02:57:33.600 --> 02:57:51.040
residential rooms to dormitories to commercial condominiums where there's going to be office space in there. They can't just do that. They'd have to go to all sorts of processes in order to do that and they may not be able to do

594
02:57:51.040 --> 02:58:08.000
that. So with respect to what we're charged with here tonight, it's to look at the site plan and weigh the site plan along with those three variances as proposed and whether or not Mr. McDonald put it forth under what he described as

595
02:58:08.000 --> 02:58:25.120
the C2 flex variance uh detriments and outweighing those detriments. I'm sure Mr. Ward will go through that uh himself and explain that. So, I won't provide that uh analysis to you, but that's kind

596
02:58:25.120 --> 02:58:40.080
of what we're looking at. If you have concerns about safety, safety is always a legitimate concern. But again, it's not to deny the application, but to get the applicant to work with the board in

597
02:58:40.080 --> 02:58:55.600
order to put forth the best possible site uh plan that everybody believes is the safest possible site plan. So things like do we want the bumpouts or do we not want the bumpouts at that particular

598
02:58:55.600 --> 02:59:13.040
intersection? While it may be that it makes the intersection function better, the inverse might be true. Maybe it makes it worse. And if uh infrastructure and traffic are guiding us, of course we always listen to their recommendations

599
02:59:13.040 --> 02:59:28.319
as they know what they're doing up, down, left, right. You can't look at these things in a complete vacuum. You have to be cognizant and conscientious of the rest of what's being developed and the overall plan for the

600
02:59:28.319 --> 02:59:44.640
neighborhood, the area, the city, and then the state. So, if that helps, I'm happy. If it doesn't help and you need further explanation, I will try to provide it. >> Thank you, counselor. >> Thank you, Santo Matt. I just have a

601
02:59:44.640 --> 03:00:02.640
quick question. Um, hypothetically, if this application had came in with residential and commercial space only and no hotel, would that been fall within the um commercial uh strip district neighborhood district overlay?

602
03:00:02.640 --> 03:00:18.080
>> Yeah. Um, so yes, they are in the commercial strip district as well as the neighborhood district overlay. There's a menu of permitted commercial uses within a certain distance of 14th Street. Beyond that is the only area where

603
03:00:18.080 --> 03:00:35.439
residential is permitted on this piece of property. The the overlay doesn't actually require them to do any particular commercial use. They are they are actually choosing to do the hotel use um and proposing it. And it's

604
03:00:35.439 --> 03:00:50.160
obviously a component of this project that's that's been um testified to quite a bit um and some good questions asked and and answered. Uh but it is not necessarily a a required component.

605
03:00:50.160 --> 03:01:07.359
>> So it could have been residential only. >> Yeah. But then they would have also I think they testified to the fact that there's over or near 100,000 square ft of hotel space that that would all disappear from this project. Um so they

606
03:01:07.359 --> 03:01:25.680
would be essentially leaving off a lot of uh bulk um out of the project that they would otherwise be allowed to build. Um now they are asking for some height variances and some uh encroachment variances but they could

607
03:01:25.680 --> 03:01:42.800
propose a conforming project uh you know regardless um but they have chose to to seek relief in this case. >> If I could add that just to clarify that that hotel space could not be used for residential space. >> No.

608
03:01:42.800 --> 03:01:57.760
Yeah. the the the overlay is specific that the residential is only allowed on this particular lot a certain distance from uh 14th Street. >> So the for the Marian side that the hotel is on, what could have been used

609
03:01:57.760 --> 03:02:15.359
there? What could have been there if there was no hotel component? >> Um I don't have the redevelopment plan in front of me. Um but I I assume it is a menu of uses that are compliant with the commercial strip district. Um and

610
03:02:15.359 --> 03:02:32.399
hotel is one of them. >> Yeah, you could if I could add I do have it. You could have office medical offices, medical offices, retails, uh sales of goods, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, um it actually says light industrial and

611
03:02:32.399 --> 03:02:48.399
warehouse as well. Uh daycare centers and a mix of the uses. Okay. Thank you. If there's no other questions from the board, I would like now to open to the public. Any other questions from the board before I go to the public?

612
03:02:48.399 --> 03:03:05.520
>> No. >> At this time, I would like to open to the public. >> If there's no one from the public, I'd like to close the public portion. in that. >> Hey, uh so staff prepared a a memo dated

613
03:03:05.520 --> 03:03:21.600
November 19th, 2025. Um and in that we summarize the application, go over the variances and and have some staff comments to which that they they've addressed. Uh we also have staff recommended conditions in the

614
03:03:21.600 --> 03:03:38.000
but the event that the board makes a motion to approve its application. There are six uh conditions in that uh that memo that we'd ask the the applicants council to to confirm if they they would comply with those. Uh yes, we would and

615
03:03:38.000 --> 03:03:53.439
we would also comply with with uh the representations during the during the presentation with regard to the green infrastructure in the uh in the bumpouts uh on the corner >> uh and to um coord coordinate efforts to

616
03:03:53.439 --> 03:04:10.080
extend the bike lane from 12 to 14th street with with the city and and the port authority. >> And >> yeah, I think that there was also um some back and forth and I just want to highlight it. Um, and when I talk about that, there was also uh some discussion

617
03:04:10.080 --> 03:04:25.680
about working on the final design along Marin Boulevard to one include those bumpouts or or potentially include those bumpouts with um with landscaping or bioell um as well as accommodate uh loading and drop off.

618
03:04:25.680 --> 03:04:42.319
>> Um I I believe it's best for those to that design to be done ahead of uh signature plans being released. Is that something that the the that you can agree to? >> Yes. Yes. And we would agree to coordinate that final design with the uh Department of Infrastructure and Jersey

619
03:04:42.319 --> 03:04:59.600
City Traffic Engineering. >> Right. Okay. As aligned in their memo. Okay. Um regarding >> the um Commissioner Barnaby had mentioned about the street. >> Yeah. will work with the staff to add trees um if possible um given given the

620
03:04:59.600 --> 03:05:14.640
spacing requirements um and utilities as well as other trees on on on those certain uh street furniturees um and you'll look at I think you already said it Mr. Harington, but uh we'll look to add bike lanes south to 12

621
03:05:14.640 --> 03:05:32.240
Street if possible and or uh work with the port authority uh to to hopefully get those incorporated or built. >> Correct. Um, regarding the variances, these are

622
03:05:32.240 --> 03:05:48.560
similar to other projects we've had along this corridor with regards to the maximum height and even encroachments um and and number of stories. Uh we agree with the the testimony that their professional planner put on the

623
03:05:48.560 --> 03:06:06.479
record. Uh we do believe that this meets the C type 2 criteria uh for granting a variance. Um and staff recommends approval. >> Matt, Madame Chair. >> Yeah. >> U Matt, uh just one other thing. I think it was it was a minor point, but

624
03:06:06.479 --> 03:06:22.479
discussed uh the applicant uh said they'd work with the MUA regarding inlet locations along the curb lines. Is that correct? >> Yeah, they'll if there's bumpouts to be done, they're going to have to move cash basins. >> Perfect. Thank you,

625
03:06:22.479 --> 03:06:40.000
>> Mr. Harrington. Are you okay with the conditions? >> Yes, we we we are. >> Okay. At this time, I'd like to entertain a motion. >> I would like to make a motion to approve case P2025-0068 as presented to the board with this

626
03:06:40.000 --> 03:06:54.560
evening with all stated conditions from the plan. >> Second, >> Vice Chair Wick. Um, yeah, I'm I was honestly torn with this one just because of all the

627
03:06:54.560 --> 03:07:11.359
variances included. Um, but after kind of redirecting myself with what our job is on the planning board, um, and everything that was included in the testimony this evening, I will vote yes.

628
03:07:11.359 --> 03:07:27.760
>> Commissioner Barnaby, >> I. Commissioner Kaplan. >> Hi. >> Commissioner Conway. >> No. >> Commissioner Patel. >> Hi.

629
03:07:27.760 --> 03:07:45.760
>> Commissioner Capers. >> Uh, you might have been muted. I'm sorry. I wasn't. >> Um, and Matt, could you just uh re go over the variances again that they they're going to >> the there's a variance for heightened stories. Uh there's a variance for a

630
03:07:45.760 --> 03:08:01.680
height and feet uh number of street trees although they are going to be complying with the uh contribution to the to to fund those trees planted somewhere else. uh maximum street tree distance,

631
03:08:01.680 --> 03:08:17.920
a front yard setback, and the bicycle circulation and lane width, although I believe they could technically be meeting that um uh potentially after working with staff.

632
03:08:17.920 --> 03:08:35.760
>> Okay. So, based on hearing that, um I mean, I do have some safety concerns, but it's outside of our parameters, so I'm going go Commissioner Stamato >> I. >> Councilwoman Little

633
03:08:35.760 --> 03:08:51.600
>> I. >> Madam Chair Genadan. >> Yeah, this was a tough one. Um, having considered all the variances and um having dug down into what could be the use of the um Marin Boulevard side of it

634
03:08:51.600 --> 03:09:07.359
and um it's clear to me that a hotel would be the better use at this time. Um, I would have loved to see more affordable housing units in this building because of the location. It's an ideal location. Um,

635
03:09:07.359 --> 03:09:24.240
but I'm going to vote I >> motion carries on a motion to approve with conditions uh 84 and one against. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Mike, you do you want to take a five?

636
03:09:24.240 --> 03:09:41.720
Um, if we could just go a little more, maybe do the next application and then I feel like one break can hopefully bring us to the end. >> Okay. All right. This is not a this is not a tough one. So, let's go. >> Miss last words, Mike.

637
03:09:42.319 --> 03:10:09.040
>> I'll call case P205-000099, preliminary final major site plan, 53 Beacon Avenue. Mr. wine. >> Good evening, Madame Chair, commissioners. Um, can everybody hear me? All right. >> Yes.

638
03:10:09.040 --> 03:10:24.319
>> Good to see everybody as always. Uh, for the record, Benjamin Wine of Prime Vala Miselli on behalf of the applicants Neil and Avani Patel. Uh this is a notice case and uh we actually provided several notices over the course of the last uh few months. Most recently because we

639
03:10:24.319 --> 03:10:42.080
moved to the Zoom setting, we did provide a notice for the believe it was the uh the June the 2nd June meeting which was subsequently adjourned here this evening. So I'll defer to council on our notice. >> Thank you Mr. Wine. I am in receiving your academic publication proof mailing

640
03:10:42.080 --> 03:10:59.520
with respect to the application at 53 Beacon here in the city. had the opportunity to review it. It does appear to be in order and the market is A1 for the record. >> Thank you, council. So, as I said, um the owners of the property are Neil and Avani Patel and the subject property is

641
03:10:59.520 --> 03:11:14.880
located at 53 Beacon Avenue. And for the record, that's block 5905, lot 14 in the R1 zone. Uh this is kind of a unique one in that uh ordinarily this application would be viewed as a minor site plan if it was a groundup

642
03:11:14.880 --> 03:11:30.640
construction as we are at approximately 5200 square ft of gross floor area. But uh because your ordinance does say if you're adding more than 2500 square ft to an existing building, you trigger major site plan approval. So, it's a little bit of a nuance, but at the end

643
03:11:30.640 --> 03:11:47.760
of the day, what we are proposing is a 2-unit addition to an existing single family residence that would bring the total uh unit count on the property to three units and approximately 5200 square ft of gross floor area. Um, as per your or your R1 zoning requirements

644
03:11:47.760 --> 03:12:04.080
as well, since we are adding a third unit to a 2500 square foot lot, we will be making that uh fractional payment to the affordable housing trust fund in order to accommodate that third unit on site. Uh, as part of the application, we are not creating any variances at all.

645
03:12:04.080 --> 03:12:19.520
In fact, we're eliminating a couple of variances and bettering a couple of conditions along the way, including removing non-conforming curb cut and park and front yard parking from the property, as well as the ability to actually provide force street trees on this standard size lot due to the fact

646
03:12:19.520 --> 03:12:35.279
that we are a corner and can wrap the property. Um, as I said, uh there are no variances associated with the application. uh there is an existing uh coverage condition that is going to remain while like I said we are able to remove a number of other variances

647
03:12:35.279 --> 03:12:52.160
including the parking the curb cut we have a fence that's presently uh within the public right ofway that will be removed and as I said we will be uh adding four street trees to the property so with that I have one witness that I intend to call this evening our project architect Jeff Lewis

648
03:12:52.160 --> 03:13:06.880
>> thank you Mr. I I do see Jeff. >> Hey, Mike. >> Hi, Jeff. I'll swear again. You swear any testimony you get tonight's going to be the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. >> Yes, I do. >> And for the record, can you spell your name?

649
03:13:06.880 --> 03:13:23.359
>> Jeffrey Lewis. J E F R E Y L E W I S. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Lewis, is your license current and in good standing? >> Yes, it is. >> Okay, you may proceed. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you. I'm gonna start by bringing up my

650
03:13:23.359 --> 03:13:39.040
screen. Thank you. Just tell me when it comes up. >> I will. Yes. Uh, now I see me. Now I see the plans. And just to confirm for the record, Jeff, the plans you're going to share this evening are in fact the plans that have been uh with the board uh more

651
03:13:39.040 --> 03:13:55.040
than 10 days in advance of tonight's meeting. Is that correct? >> That is correct. Yes. >> Okay. So, Madam Chair, we have no need to mark any exhibits. >> Thank you. >> Can you guys zoom in on that, please? Thank you. You want me to zoom in on

652
03:13:55.040 --> 03:14:10.560
>> Yeah. on your plan? >> Okay. I mean, I'm pretty I would like to have these two up at the same time. And this is as big as I could get it for now. I can zoom in if anyone needs it. >> Very good. Perfect. >> Okay. Great. Okay. >> So, 53%

653
03:14:10.560 --> 03:14:25.359
>> to just zoom in for everybody when you're talking about different areas. >> Sure, I can do that. Okay. So, uh, 53 Beacon, as was mentioned, we're located at the corner of Beacon Avenue and Baldwin Avenue.

654
03:14:25.359 --> 03:14:42.560
It's a 50x50 lot. So, we have that 2500 square ft, but it is in a regular shape. Um, there's an existing two-story one family building that you can see right here, which will be remaining on the uh, you can see it to the left here on the existing uh, site plan. And then you can

655
03:14:42.560 --> 03:14:58.080
see that we're adding a new three-story two-unit addition which will be attached to that existing building located at the corner of the property which you could see down here on the proposed site plan. Um so in order to do this I want to start with some of the site condition site conditions that we'll be improving.

656
03:14:58.080 --> 03:15:17.760
Uh so if I could I'll just slide over and get a little closer. Uh so we are proposing all new concrete curbs which will remove um a non-conforming curb cut. We're doing all new sidewalks. We're proposing four new street trees as was mentioned. Um there

657
03:15:17.760 --> 03:15:33.520
are existing fences. Um let me go back to the existing on the left here. You can see there's an existing fence on uh Baldwin Street which is actually about 1.8 ft into the right of way. And then there's this existing fence on

658
03:15:33.520 --> 03:15:51.359
uh Beacon Avenue which is five about 5.3 feet into the existing right ofway. So both of these fences will be removed and as you can see the space where those fences were will be replaced with concrete sidewalks. So the sidewalk will be widened. The space will be uh returned to the public uh right of way.

659
03:15:51.359 --> 03:16:08.319
Um we do also have two staircases, one here going up and then a smaller one going down. These uh also intrude into the public right ofway and those are going to remain. Uh however, I think what you can see um a little bit here, here's our neighbors property. You can

660
03:16:08.319 --> 03:16:23.680
see their fence actually extends out to about the same uh distance that our stair does and continues down the street. And actually, this is a very common condition along Beacon Avenue here. uh you'll see many houses that have that both that um fence out there

661
03:16:23.680 --> 03:16:40.640
as well as their um stairs out into the public rightway. So, we don't think this is going to be a huge problem for the neighborhood. Um looking at the new addition, it is built up to the property line at the corner uh that matches our building

662
03:16:40.640 --> 03:16:55.279
along uh Beacon Avenue and then matches our neighbor to the left on Baldwin Avenue. Uh we are providing a 3-foot walkway uh between that neighbor and our building and we're using that space to uh provide our meters and utilities as

663
03:16:55.279 --> 03:17:11.920
well as access to the backyard. Uh we do have a few different landscape areas and they're spread out throughout the site. We have one larger one in the backyard here. Uh one lawn area to the sideyard here of the existing building. And then underneath the front can lever we have

664
03:17:11.920 --> 03:17:27.840
um another planted area at the corner of the property here. Um as was mentioned there are uh some existing non-conformities here. We are not making any of them worse. I do want to just go over them briefly just so you understand them. Uh the first would be the front yard setback of the existing building

665
03:17:27.840 --> 03:17:44.880
which is zero feet. Uh however, we do want to in this uh as part of this program keep the existing building. Uh we think that the building fits in with the neighborhood. We think um that it's a benefit both environmentally and uh to the neighborhood itself to not have to

666
03:17:44.880 --> 03:18:01.279
deal with all that demolition, all that debris. Uh so we think uh that it's uh valuable to keep the building here. And it's the same with the rear yard setback where we would as a corner lot need that rear corner that would be 15 ft and 15 ft. And you could see the existing

667
03:18:01.279 --> 03:18:17.600
building only has an 11t setback. However, we are compensating uh in a way for that uh with a 29 foot7 setback here where 15 ft would be required. So, the rear yard itself is more square footage than would be required, but just the dimensions are a little off. Uh the

668
03:18:17.600 --> 03:18:33.120
third is lot coverage where uh on the existing property, we had a lot of concrete and and a large shed in the backyard which will be removed and replaced with this uh new addition which would be the same size as what we're removing. So, we're keeping uh the square footage of lot coverage exactly

669
03:18:33.120 --> 03:18:48.319
the same. And I would argue we're improving this a little bit uh by on the rooftop adding over 500 square f feet of green roof trays. Uh and then lastly, it's parking where we did have front yard parking and a um non-conforming

670
03:18:48.319 --> 03:19:04.800
curb cut. Uh both of which would be removed as part of this plan. Okay. So, with that, I'm going to move on to the floor plans and walk through them briefly. Uh we're going to start with the first floor and I think it makes sense to walk through these one unit at a time and I'm going to start with the existing

671
03:19:04.800 --> 03:19:21.760
building which is the top of the drawing. It's this section here. Uh there's very little that's being done to this building itself. Um it is a three-bedroom uh three bath unit. It's 2512 ft in total. Uh the main entry is

672
03:19:21.760 --> 03:19:37.359
that stair that leads to the front porch here uh where they have their main entry on the ground floor. This is all living space. So, it's living room, dining room, kitchen, as well as one full bedroom and stairs up and down. Um, moving to the down first.

673
03:19:37.359 --> 03:19:54.720
This is the existing basement of the existing building. Uh, we're not making any changes. Everything that we're showing here is existing. Uh, so that includes uh the family room, an office, a bathroom, and then all the utilities for the building, which uh include the HBAC as well as a washerryer. The only

674
03:19:54.720 --> 03:20:10.479
thing that we're changing down here is we're putting in some new windows and doors. They're not new. They're actually being replaced. Uh so we're replacing old windows with new windows. An old door with a new door. Uh and then lastly, I'm going to go up to what is the existing second floor of that

675
03:20:10.479 --> 03:20:25.359
existing building, which you can see here. And here we have three bedrooms and one bathroom. Nothing. Uh so after this I want to move on to

676
03:20:25.359 --> 03:20:41.920
the first the apartment number one. This is a one-bedroom one and a half bath apartment. Total of 1,515 square ft. On the first floor it's living, dining, kitchen, one and a half bathrooms as well as a bedroom in the bath. There's also a stair down to the basement. This

677
03:20:41.920 --> 03:20:56.880
is just finished storage space. So there's no bathroom down here. Uh we have our utilities for the apartment. uh our washerd dryer for the apartment as well as a sprinkler closet for the whole building as the building will be fully sprinklered. Uh we also have in the back here some

678
03:20:56.880 --> 03:21:12.720
sliding doors and a stair out to that backyard area. And then lastly, we have apartment number two. This is located on the second and third floor of the new addition. It's a four bedroomedroom, three bath apartment, 1,955 square feet in total. On the second

679
03:21:12.720 --> 03:21:29.520
floor here, we have living, dining, kitchen, washer, dryer, one bath, and one bedroom. Up on the third floor, we have three additional bedrooms, two additional bathrooms, as well as a small office space located here. And then on the new rooftop, we have a

680
03:21:29.520 --> 03:21:47.040
roof deck. The roof deck is set back 10 ft from each of the street frontages. Uh we end up with a total of 223 square feet of roof deck area and then 518 square feet of green roof trays. in front of that. So here we're moving on to the

681
03:21:47.040 --> 03:22:03.520
elevations. This is the Beacon Avenue elevation with the existing building here on the right and the proposed building here on the left or the post edition, excuse me, on the left. So the main finish of this addition is an off-white brick. Uh we're using that on all three floors of the main building.

682
03:22:03.520 --> 03:22:20.080
Uh we're using that to refinish the peers of the porch on the front of the new building. I mean the existing building, excuse me, as well as the basement level of the existing building will be that same off-white brick. Uh everything else, the two upper floors are currently vinyl siding. They will be

683
03:22:20.080 --> 03:22:35.520
replaced with new off-white vinyl siding. Uh the front columns are going to be rewrapped in Azac. We have um some new cornes that we're adding. That includes um a dark gray metal wrapped cornice at the porch level as well as a

684
03:22:35.520 --> 03:22:52.160
three- foot high metal wrapped cornises at both the roof level of the existing building as well as the roof of the proposed addition. Uh there's a new metal staircase which goes up to the new building entry. Uh this entry has uh some modern uh doors and actually has

685
03:22:52.160 --> 03:23:09.040
three entries, one for each of the apartments. Um, after that, I would say the last thing here is that we do have all new black frame windows and black doors. And we do have a black panel infill here

686
03:23:09.040 --> 03:23:24.319
just to keep the uh window pattern working, but there's a bathroom here. So, we wanted to have just a transom window as opposed to a full window there. Here we're moving on to the Bulbin Avenue elevation. These are the same finishes. So almost all of this is that

687
03:23:24.319 --> 03:23:39.840
off-white brick with the same corners at the top. Uh the only thing here I think you can notice is that we do have a 5ft can lever at the corner which helps open up the corner at grade a little bit and give us a little more uh planting area.

688
03:23:39.840 --> 03:23:56.000
Here we're looking at the rear elevation. Uh and what you see is the existing building on the left, the proposed building on the right. Uh this entire finish will be um vinyl siding, the same off-white vinyl siding that the main building is finished with with a smooth

689
03:23:56.000 --> 03:24:11.760
stuckle finish below. And again, we do have new basement windows and doors as I mentioned down here. Uh lastly, we have the side elevation. Uh this is showing the existing building in silhouette. And here is what we see

690
03:24:11.760 --> 03:24:28.319
of the addition beyond that building. And we'll have the same finishes as we had on the rear with the stucco at the base. and off-white vinyl siding above and then the same black frame windows and doors that we're showing on the front of the building. Uh that concludes my presentation. Uh is

691
03:24:28.319 --> 03:24:44.160
there anything else you want me to address, Ben, before I wrap that up? >> Jeeoff. Jeff, I just want to confirm. I know that it's been a hot button issue lately in the city regard with uh with PSEG knowing that the meters sometimes have to be on a front facade. If you could just confirm that given kind of our unique orientation with that

692
03:24:44.160 --> 03:25:00.560
additional setback in the rear that we are actually comfortably able to place those utilities back there. >> We do have the clearances that the SNG would require to put the utilities in the back. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. I have nothing further for Mr. Lewis. >> Thank you, Mr. Lewis. Uh based upon your

693
03:25:00.560 --> 03:25:16.640
drawing there that I'm looking at, um a fire is a firewall required by any chance if it's attached? So it's not exactly a firewall, but there would be a fire rated wall between the two the units as there are between any units. So there would be a firewall

694
03:25:16.640 --> 03:25:32.560
between them. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> But it wouldn't it wouldn't be like the legal definition. It would be what's required but not the legal definition of a firewall. It's a little different. >> Thank you. Is there any other comments from the board? >> Oh >> no.

695
03:25:32.560 --> 03:25:47.359
>> If there's no comments from the board, I would like to open to the public. Is there anyone from the public? If there's no one from the public, I'd like to close the public portion. >> Second. >> Public is closed. Our planner Ben.

696
03:25:47.359 --> 03:26:04.239
>> Uh yes, upon reviewing the application, I can confirm what uh Mr. Wine said. There are no variances associated with this application. Uh and it does advance the goals of the R1 zone by providing compatible infill and preserving on street parking. Um so with that all being said, staff supports the project

697
03:26:04.239 --> 03:26:21.279
and recommends approval. >> Thank you, Mr. Are you in? >> Yes. And I'll just add to that. We we agree to the conditions outlined in your report, Ben. >> Thank you. I forgot to mention that. Yeah. >> Okay. >> I got you. >> Um Ben, I didn't see a staff memo on um

698
03:26:21.279 --> 03:26:38.239
the website. So, if you can do send us a copy of it if you don't mind, please. >> Uh yeah, I can um send you a copy of the staff memo. It is available in the the portal. >> Thank you. Um, I would like to introd

699
03:26:38.239 --> 03:26:53.279
Little >> I'm so sorry. I just have a quick question that's um really procedural in nature. I don't have any issues with the design. Um, but I saw that temporary waivers were requested um for affidavit of service and publication and in the

700
03:26:53.279 --> 03:27:09.200
waiver it stated that they will be completed once the public hearing has been scheduled and notice has been sent. I couldn't find those in the portal. Were they Were they provided and I just wasn't able to locate them? >> Yes. So, council person, I did send them over to uh to Mr. Black and I believe

701
03:27:09.200 --> 03:27:25.359
Mr. Lampy marked them into evidence at the beginning of the meeting. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> And sometimes for whatever reason, so just so you understand, council person, [clears throat] they don't come in 10 days in advance because it's 10day notice. A lot of the

702
03:27:25.359 --> 03:27:40.960
time they don't make their way onto the portal when we were in person. you were handing them in and obviously with the Zoom it's being emailed to uh both Cameron and myself. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. At this time I'd like to entertain a motion.

703
03:27:40.960 --> 03:27:58.479
>> I'm so sorry. Just to clarify one thing. Um is the vinyl siding used as the primary cladding for the facade of the building or just the sides? >> Jeff, you're muted. >> Yes, that's off. Uh yeah, vinyl siding is the only siding that we're proposing.

704
03:27:58.479 --> 03:28:14.439
So it's mostly brick and vinyl siding would be the secondary material. >> Brick where? >> The entire new addition on both front facades is brick. >> Okay, I got you. Okay, thank you.

705
03:28:14.479 --> 03:28:32.479
>> Any other questions before I ask for a motion? >> Okay, I'll entertain a motion. I'd like to make a motion to approve case P2025-000099 as presented to the board this evening. >> I second it. >> Uh, Commissioner Wick,

706
03:28:32.479 --> 03:28:48.720
>> I. >> Commissioner Barnaby, >> hi. >> Commissioner Patel, >> I. >> Commissioner Kaplan, >> I, >> Commissioner Stamato. >> I, >> Council Person Little. >> Hi, >> Commissioner Capers. Hi,

707
03:28:48.720 --> 03:29:04.479
>> uh, Commissioner Conway. Uh, >> and Madam Chair Ganga. >> Yeah, I like the design of the building, the addition. So, I'll vote I. >> All right. Motion carries. All in favor. >> Thank you everybody. >> Thank you. Um, >> thank you. >> We'll take a break, but uh, when we come

708
03:29:04.479 --> 03:29:22.200
back, we will be calling both cases 11 and 12, P2025-184 and P2205-0185 together. Um, we'll take a break and we'll be back at 9:15. Thanks everyone.

709
03:42:09.760 --> 03:44:05.920
What are you doing? Oh, Miss Cam back. >> Yeah. Yeah, with the echo. >> Hannah, are you there? >> Yeah, I' I've been back.

710
03:44:05.920 --> 03:44:22.960
>> Okay, so we are going to call these two cases which will run us um over 10:00 probably. It would probably take us into the late um after 10. So, what I would like to do is to call on the other cases, the

711
03:44:22.960 --> 03:44:52.239
attorneys to see if they were carried. >> Gene O' Connell's been promoted. >> Hey, Cam. >> Hi, Jean. How are you? >> Good, Madam Chairperson. Very well. How are you tonight? >> Good. That was an interesting case the one you just had. Very interesting. Uh

712
03:44:52.239 --> 03:45:09.000
so uh yeah I can you carry me to the 25th cam >> we can. >> Which case is that? Cam >> that's item agenda item 17. >> 17. >> Case P2025-018

713
03:45:10.000 --> 03:45:26.439
130 Central Avenue. That matter is being carried to the August 8 uh 25th meeting. No further notice required. >> Thank you, Santa. Appreciate it. >> Thank you everybody. Have a good night. >> Thank you.

714
03:45:28.239 --> 03:45:58.319
>> Promoting James McCann. >> Good evening, Miss McCann. Good evening, Madame Chair. Good evening. Good evening, board members, council, and staff. Um, Jim McCann from the law firm of Connell Foley appearing on behalf of the applicant of 100 Water

715
03:45:58.319 --> 03:46:17.680
Street phase 2 LLC in case number P20260025. It's item 16 on the agenda. um giving my consent to carry this application hopefully also to August 25th. >> Amber, are we okay with that?

716
03:46:17.680 --> 03:46:33.120
>> Yes. >> Okay. So, case P206-000025 100 Water Street, 129 Yale Avenue, Yale Avenue, and 165 Yale Avenue will be carried to August 25th.

717
03:46:33.120 --> 03:46:48.399
>> No further notice required. If you're here on that application, this is your notice August 25th. No further notice will be sent to you. >> Thank you, Mr. McCann. Do you have anything else? >> No. Thank you very much. Appreciate your

718
03:46:48.399 --> 03:47:02.080
time as always, everybody, and have a good night. >> Thank you, Mr. Le21. I have a number uh of matters uh that I would request be carried with preservation of notice to August 25th

719
03:47:02.080 --> 03:47:22.000
starting with case uh P20260047 that's item 13 100 Kellogg Street. >> Okay. >> Uh I have matters 19 and 20 which are related cases. Case P 20225 0239

720
03:47:22.000 --> 03:47:40.560
and P 20225240 which are 197 and 199 Webster Avenue. >> Give me those case numbers please. >> Sure. Uh those were >> the numbers the way they were numbers. >> Oh 19 and 20. >> Thank you. >> No it's 2021.

721
03:47:40.560 --> 03:48:07.199
>> Oh I'm sorry. I might be looking at it older. So, case P202502397 Webster Avenue. Case P2025-0240 199 Webster Avenue. Both of those matters are being carried to the August 25th hearing. No further notice

722
03:48:07.199 --> 03:48:23.680
required. If you're here on those matters, August 25th, you will not receive further notice. Uh moving on to uh case [clears throat] P2024 0106

723
03:48:23.680 --> 03:48:43.680
which is 120 Theodore Conrad Drive. I would also request that be carried. It's number 24 on the agenda. Case P2024-01061 120 Theodore Conrad Drive is being carried to August 25th with preservation

724
03:48:43.680 --> 03:49:01.840
of the notice. If you're here on that matter, there will be no further notice. This is your notice August 25th. >> Item 25, which is case P 2025 0160 89 ocean.

725
03:49:01.840 --> 03:49:17.199
Also ask that that be carried with preservation of notice >> August 25th. Cam, >> we're just going to put everything on this agenda. Yeah, there were there were four items carried, smaller cases. So, we're just going to put all of the items that aren't getting heard tonight on

726
03:49:17.199 --> 03:49:35.279
August 25th. >> Okay, >> very good. So, case P2025-016089 Ocean Avenues being carried to August 25th >> with preservation of notice. There'll be no further notice if you're here on that matter. August 25th, no further notice.

727
03:49:35.279 --> 03:49:52.479
>> One final one, item 30, case P2. Uh, excuse me. Case P2024198 300 Central Avenue. >> It's case 29 on the agenda. It is >> P2024198

728
03:49:52.479 --> 03:50:09.279
300 Central Avenue. It is being carried to August 25th with preservation of notice. There will be no further notice. This is the notice August 25th. Uh, Mr. Lean, are you not on 146 Academy Street?

729
03:50:09.279 --> 03:50:26.680
It's case number 28. >> Um, that >> is listed as the attorney. >> Uh, I am not the attorney on that. No. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Mr. Lee. >> Thank you,

730
03:50:28.000 --> 03:50:46.479
>> Mr. Joseph. >> Council, [sighs and gasps] um, I'm here on case 15. This is P2024-000099. Um, I will just say I'm I'm sure everyone notices this is a P 2024 case

731
03:50:46.479 --> 03:51:02.160
number. So, it was actually originally on an agenda in in June of last year and for just various reasons fell through the cracks, got got carried, got bombed, canceled meetings, whatever it is. So, um, I would just

732
03:51:02.160 --> 03:51:21.279
>> Can we move this one up on the agenda? We we can uh >> got to go after 555 summit. >> Okay, we're talking about 565 community Paul. >> Correct. Since it's a 2024 case.

733
03:51:21.279 --> 03:51:40.239
>> Really appreciate that. Thank you. >> I think I know it's been clogging the agenda for about two years. >> I council I recognize the uh the irony in in uh what I'm saying. [laughter] The case B2024-000099565 Commut Avenue. It's going to be carried

734
03:51:40.239 --> 03:51:57.319
to August 25th with preservation of notice. There will be no further notice. This is that notice. If you're here on that matter, we will see you on August 25th. >> Thank you. Greatly appreciate your time. >> 19 is yours as well.

735
03:51:57.359 --> 03:52:16.080
>> 292 Van Horn, Mr. Joseph. >> Yes. 292 Van Horn. Thank you. Uh 292 Van Horn. Uh that is also mine. We would request that get carried uh as as well. It's >> P20250138 292 Van Horn. That matter is being

736
03:52:16.080 --> 03:52:31.199
carried to August 25th with preservation of notice. If you are here on that application will not be heard this evening. It will be heard on August 25th. This is your notice. >> Thank you. And my other cases I believe were

737
03:52:31.199 --> 03:52:56.399
already carried at the start of the uh >> correct. >> Correct. >> Case number 28 P2025-0161. Is anybody appearing on that matter? >> No. Veronica >> Council um Veronica Chamille

738
03:52:56.399 --> 03:53:17.120
um corresponded with the secretary and I um before the meeting intending to carry. >> Okay. >> All right. So, case P2025-016146 Academy Street is being carried to the August 25th meeting with preservation of notice. If you are here on that

739
03:53:17.120 --> 03:53:36.239
application, it will be heard on August 25th. There'll be no further notice. This is your notice. We will see you on August 25th. And out of an abundance of caution, case P2025-0169. It's case number 30. It's 506 Summit A.

740
03:53:36.239 --> 03:53:51.920
That is also being carried to August 25th uh with preservation of notice. So, if you are here on that application, we'll be on the August 25th hearing and there will be no further notice for that application as well.

741
03:53:51.920 --> 03:54:08.239
Madame Chair, I think that brings us back to uh case >> I think there's one more uh number 14 Matt >> that that item's being carried to the next meeting August 11th. That's the Rossi. >> Okay. So

742
03:54:08.239 --> 03:54:24.399
>> 2026-0180 has been carried to August 25th. >> No, no, August 11th. >> 11th. Okay. >> That's the real discussion of the amendments to chapter 239 of the municipal code. >> Okay. All right. Back to our business. I would

743
03:54:24.399 --> 03:54:44.160
like to call KP2026-0184 preliminary and final major subdivision. Address is 23516 Street. And I would like to call case uh number 12 case P2025-0185 preliminary and final major site plan

744
03:54:44.160 --> 03:55:01.120
23516 street. >> Good evening madame chair commissioners for the record Benjamin Wine of Prime Val and Miss Meelli on behalf of the applicant Holland Gardens LLC. Uh so this application um I just want to start by first and foremost taking the

745
03:55:01.120 --> 03:55:18.319
opportunity to thank uh Miss Pereira, Mr. award, Miss Marion, and quite honestly all the divisions within the city. Um, as this is an application, as you'll see here this evening, that is incredibly nuanced with a lot of unique features, a lot of major benefits to the public, and an overall good sense of uh

746
03:55:18.319 --> 03:55:32.880
of bringing to life the redevelopment plan that it seeks to emulate. Um, so I want to take that opportunity to thank them. This has has taken quite some time to get here, and we're very proud of what we're going to present tonight. So without further ado, the application before you is for the property located

747
03:55:32.880 --> 03:55:48.800
at 23516th Street and that's block 7101 lot 1 located within the Jersey Avenue light rail redevelopment plan in the neighborhood district and specifically the Holland Gardens overlay bonus. So this is a very large piece of property.

748
03:55:48.800 --> 03:56:05.199
It's approximately 3.3 acres bounded by Jersey Avenue, Erie Street, Sixth Street, 16th Street, and an alleyway that was formerly the vacated 15th Street, which we are seeking to bring back to life as part of our subdivision and site plan application. As I'm sure

749
03:56:05.199 --> 03:56:21.359
everybody on this board is familiar, the property is currently improved with several garden apartment buildings representing the Holl Holland Gardens residences owned and operated by the Jersey City Housing Authority. They have partnered with my client um with Wind Development to bring this property to

750
03:56:21.359 --> 03:56:38.319
life. And as we hope you'll agree when you go through the presentation here this evening, um this is going to be quite the statement piece uh from a from an aesthetic and a functional perspective as well as I'm proud to say and I've never worked on an application like this that [clears throat] provides 40% affordable housing within the

751
03:56:38.319 --> 03:56:53.840
development. So it's quite significant. Um and you'll hear about that more in greater detail as we go through. So, as I indicated, and I apologize for the lengthy background, but I think it is relevant. So, we are going to demolish the existing site improvements and subdivide the property into two new

752
03:56:53.840 --> 03:57:10.160
lots. Uh, one lot will measure approximately 80,000 square ft and the second would be approximately 40,000 square ft. If you did the math, we're about 24,000 22,000, I'm sorry, square feet short of what it is now, 24,000. And that's actually going to be what

753
03:57:10.160 --> 03:57:25.600
we're proposing to vacate in favor of the city to bring that 15th Street extension back to life and dedicate that to the city with significant improvement. Within what we'll call the north lot, we are proposing a new 24story mixeduse building that will

754
03:57:25.600 --> 03:57:42.640
consist of 621 residential dwelling units, 24,000 square feet of commercial space, and 385 parking spaces. On the south lot, we're proposing three new buildings that will be connected. There will be a library building that will measure five stories. There will be a

755
03:57:42.640 --> 03:57:59.359
senior building that will measure eight stories and then a family residential building that will measure another eight stories. The senior building will consist of 102 senior housing residences and the family building will consist of 30 residential dwelling units and of course the library building will consist of the library as

756
03:57:59.359 --> 03:58:15.760
well as a community center. So overall for those keeping score, that's a total of 753 new residential dwelling units incorporating the senior housing and the uh and the and the residential, 24,000 ft of commercial space, 385 parking

757
03:58:15.760 --> 03:58:31.840
spaces, and 22,000 square ft of library and community center space. Moreover, I I just want to add as well that given that the project is being driven by the housing authority and as I mentioned 40% of the housing overall is intended to be affordable housing which

758
03:58:31.840 --> 03:58:47.680
you'll hear about in detail. We've had a wonderful opportunity to partner with the housing authority and as you'll hear this entire experience was driven by the current residents of the Holland Gardens facility. So, it's not that a developer came in and said, "I'd like to build a

759
03:58:47.680 --> 03:59:02.319
large building um that doesn't exist today." This was actually driven by the residents who said, "We're looking for new infrastructure, an upgrade to our current living facilities." And again, as you'll hear from uh the housing authority itself momentarily, um I it's

760
03:59:02.319 --> 03:59:19.520
really being driven by those residents. Over the course of time, there have been approximately 20 meetings with the residents, and that's not an exaggeration. 20 meetings with the residents of Holland Gardens, several of which were actually open to the greater public as well. And what's ultimately being proposed here tonight is the

761
03:59:19.520 --> 03:59:34.720
construction equivalent of what I would call a custommade suit or a tailor-made dress specifically curated to the desires of the housing authority residents with each component carefully curated to meet the goals of the redevelopment plan and the Holland Gardens residents. We do have some

762
03:59:34.720 --> 03:59:51.359
relief uh for you here this evening which will for which we'll provide testimony. On paper, it looks like several deviations, but in reality, this is the culmination of a redevelopment plan that was developed without even a concept in front of in front of city planning. And so, I give a lot of credit

763
03:59:51.359 --> 04:00:07.040
to city planning and to our project team to have come up with a project that brings that to life with truly minor deviations from the actual specific standards. You'll hear from our planner um how those deviations can be granted. But just to put them into the record

764
04:00:07.040 --> 04:00:22.080
right from the outset, we have the building height for the north building is 263.42 ft where 254.71 ft is permitted. We have the tower height itself on that north building of 210.08

765
04:00:22.080 --> 04:00:39.920
ft where 204.71 ft is permitted. This is what's primarily driving that. We have the number of stories. 24 are proposed where 23 are permitted. We also have on the tower itself 19 of those stories instead of 18 that are permitted. We have a 1%

766
04:00:39.920 --> 04:00:56.080
increase on and this is quite an unusual one but the length of frontage exceeding the permitted building height is 1% over 61% proposed where 60% is permitted. We have a building step back from Eerie Street V deviation. Five feet is

767
04:00:56.080 --> 04:01:11.439
required and we are at the property line there at zero feet. We have a roof of pertinent setback in one location where 13 feet is required and we have 7.92 feet. We also have a loading space depth of 32 feet where 40 ft's required. We

768
04:01:11.439 --> 04:01:28.319
have an interior lot setback of 2.56 ft where 10 ft's required. We actually have a curb cut that's slightly greater than what's permitted. 20 ft is permitted and we have 26 ft. Also at the property lines, our lighting intensity in certain spaces does exceed that 0.5 foot candle

769
04:01:28.319 --> 04:01:44.479
regulation. And then the landscape buffer in those areas as well is is compliant for the majority of the project, but in certain spaces uh is not compliant. So we did seek that uh that relief as well. So while we are going to present the entirety of the project here this evening, um you are also going to

770
04:01:44.479 --> 04:01:59.439
hear from our civil engineer how we intend to phase the development. So I do want you to keep that mind that in mind as we go through. So, without further ado, I have four witnesses I intend to call this evening and a fifth who's waiting in the wings. Um, our traffic engineer, who again will be available if

771
04:01:59.439 --> 04:02:14.880
there are any questions or comments, but I'd like to go in order uh in the following order. So, Steven Seia, who is council to the Jersey City Housing Authority, is going to present momentarily. Jesper Ryberg from PSNS is going to speak to the architecture, and I would tell you he is probably the bulk

772
04:02:14.880 --> 04:02:30.239
of our testimony here this evening. Mark Sephlli, also of PSNS, is our civil engineer to touch on the actual site improvements being proposed. And finally, Kate Keller is our professional planner who will take us home on those variances and deviations that I just listed. So, I know that was a mouthful,

773
04:02:30.239 --> 04:02:45.359
but Madam Chair, um, unless you have any questions of me, I'm happy to proceed with Mr. CIA. >> M, you did the presentation right there. >> Madam Chair, we're going to move the notice when we get a moment. >> Uh, yes. Council Wine, can you ask your

774
04:02:45.359 --> 04:03:02.479
professional Jess to raise their hand because there's nobody in the audience named Jess? >> Uh, I don't think I said Oh, Jesper. I'm sorry. >> Jesper. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Um, do not see Jesper either. >> Jesper Ryberg. Um, we'll try to sort

775
04:03:02.479 --> 04:03:18.640
that out. I'll text them, but in the meantime, we can certainly get >> Oh, I see JR Berg. I'm assuming >> Okay, >> that'll be him. And I do see Stephen, Kate, and Mark elevated. And as I said, um I just got a text from our traffic engineer, Gary Dean, that he got knocked

776
04:03:18.640 --> 04:03:34.720
out of power in the storm and is having trouble. So again, he is around if we need him. We'll sort that out when we get there. So without further ado, um council, if you'd like to mark our notices. >> I do would like I would like to mark the notice. So madam chair and receive the

777
04:03:34.720 --> 04:03:53.279
affidavit of publication proof of mailing with respect to case [clears throat] P2025 0184 and P20250185. It is a combined notice. They appear to be in order and we're going to mark them as A1 for purposes there.

778
04:03:53.279 --> 04:04:12.080
>> Thank you Santa. >> Thank you. All right. So with that, so I do see Stephen CIA who's the executive director of the housing authority. So, Steve, if you can go ahead and unmute and uh and Mike will get you sworn in. >> Hi, Stephen. I see you. I'll swear you

779
04:04:12.080 --> 04:04:26.080
in if you could raise your right hand. Do you swear any testimony you give tonight is going to be the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? >> Yes. >> And for the record, can you state spell your name? >> Yes. Stephen Sea. That's spelled s P hen. Last name Ca.

780
04:04:26.080 --> 04:04:44.560
>> Thank you. David, are you um testifying as a license witness? >> Uh no, Madam Chair. I am testifying as the executive director. I'm going to give a little perspective as to how we got here. >> Sure. >> But uh I am a lawyer by trade, but I am

781
04:04:44.560 --> 04:05:01.439
the executive director. So that that that is my position. >> Stephen, you know that saying you're a lawyer cuts against you. So >> I know I know. >> Thank you. You may proceed. >> Thank you. All right. So, Stephen, um what I'm going to ask you to do, we are going to bring up I think Jesper is

782
04:05:01.439 --> 04:05:17.120
going to bring up the uh the plan package. And what this is going to be, council, we should mark this uh it's one presentation package that all of my witnesses are going to use here this evening. It is a slide deck composed of plans that came from the plans that uh

783
04:05:17.120 --> 04:05:32.319
that were submitted ahead of time, as well as some additional renderings and exhibits. So, if it's okay with you, council, I'd like to have the entire 61page package marked as exhibit A2. >> Very good. 61 slides. Does it have I see

784
04:05:32.319 --> 04:05:49.120
the Holland Gardens revitalization as the title. Does it have a date on it, council? >> Uh, I do believe there's a date of today. Yes, I see it. >> Very good. A2. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, Steve, go right ahead and walk us through some of the background

785
04:05:49.120 --> 04:06:05.680
of this application and how we got from point A to point B here this evening. >> Sure. Thanks, Ben. Uh, good evening, Madam Chair and commissioners. Um, it is my privilege as the executive director of the Jersey City Housing Authority to provide the opening uh testimony to this presentation.

786
04:06:05.680 --> 04:06:22.160
I can tell you in my 35 years of HUD and public housing experience, this revitalization plan is unprecedented. Nowhere in the country, no municipality, no state has ever had this type of a

787
04:06:22.160 --> 04:06:38.399
plan. As Ben had indicated, um he knew what I was going to testify to. Um this this development is garnering national attention. I go to Washington DC and I have people from Los Angeles and and

788
04:06:38.399 --> 04:06:53.840
Chicago and other housing authorities wanting to know how this is getting done. um in Washington DC the department of HUD is interested. It it it is it is going to be the paradigm for the way you

789
04:06:53.840 --> 04:07:10.640
redevelop public housing in the future. I think that people will study this in college. So, um, point of reference, um, when you are leaving, pulling out of the Holland Tunnel, uh, into entering into Jersey City, if you look to the right,

790
04:07:10.640 --> 04:07:27.920
just before the New York Bay Extension on-ramp, those three-story garden apartments with the inoperable solar panels, that is Holland Gardens. Everybody knows it as soon as you see, oh yeah, the ones with the with the solar panels. Uh it was designed in 1939

791
04:07:27.920 --> 04:07:46.239
and construction was completed in 1952 uh 1942. As a result, the design in the structure is obsolete and it prompted the residents um to demand revitalization. Uh it happened about five years ago and

792
04:07:46.239 --> 04:08:03.040
the the housing authority at that time uh we took the position that uh we were going to treat it as a blank canvas and we were going to give the residents cart blanch to paint a vision and the vision is magnificent. Um there was no

793
04:08:03.040 --> 04:08:19.520
pre-chosen developer. There was no preconceived design and there was very limited input from the housing authority. was a six-month uh resident shar process. You could see there the sessions one, two, three, four, five, and six. Um and the vision was

794
04:08:19.520 --> 04:08:34.560
completely conceived. Uh and the residents through engagement and participation told us this is what we want. The residents are very happy with what they what they did and quite frankly I think it's it's just unbelievable.

795
04:08:34.560 --> 04:08:51.279
So in that in that uh way that is the first reason why this is unprecedented but that is not the only thing. Um after the vision was created the housing authority with the residents and the city collaborated to decide who is going

796
04:08:51.279 --> 04:09:07.520
to be the development partner. Traditionally, at least in Jersey City, uh when you select a development partner, it's done exclusively through the housing authority with housing authority employees as the voting

797
04:09:07.520 --> 04:09:23.040
members of that committee. In this situation, we actually had a resident representative from Holland Gardens with voting rights on that committee. In addition, we had a city official um with an expertise with voting rights

798
04:09:23.040 --> 04:09:39.279
as well. So, it was a it was a complete collaboration never done in Jersey City before with the housing authority. And quite frankly, it's a policy we're going to adopt going forward based on the uh commitment to adhere to this vision

799
04:09:39.279 --> 04:09:54.880
and the selection of worldclass professionals um and promises made to the housing authority. Wind development was selected uh to be the development partner. Subsequent to the selection, as Bennett had indicated, there's been 20

800
04:09:54.880 --> 04:10:12.239
uh resident meetings, updates as the vision was being fleshed out and created into the actual development plan. The residents were informed all the time. They are aware of exactly what's in this presentation. They've seen it as it

801
04:10:12.239 --> 04:10:30.160
evolved. um and and it's it's just it's it's gamechanging as far as they're concerned. At the same time, um, simultaneous with with those meetings, we negotiated a 200, uh, page developers agreement that

802
04:10:30.160 --> 04:10:47.439
meets the needs and the requirements of the housing authority and the city, including a project labor agreement that that promises prevailing wages and union labor along with a significant financial return for the housing authority.

803
04:10:47.439 --> 04:11:02.560
That is the second reason why this is unprecedented. The third reason the housing authority did not stop there. We adopted national tenant advocacy best practices to create the most robust rightofto return policy to which all

804
04:11:02.560 --> 04:11:18.720
residents are expected to return all residents. So how does the policy work? First of all, it contemplated and considered the actual um family composition of all of my existing families. How many need a three-bedroom?

805
04:11:18.720 --> 04:11:34.960
How many need a fourbedroom? How many need a onebedroom? How many need a twobedroom? How many um have disabilities? How many are seniors? We incorporated all that in contemplation of making sure that the residents that are returning are going to be right

806
04:11:34.960 --> 04:11:51.199
sized. What that means is the development that you're seeing, the plan you're seeing is tenant driven and not financed driven, not grant driven. That is unprecedented.

807
04:11:51.199 --> 04:12:08.720
That same policy when we when we negotiated the uh agreement, we made it clear that we were going to remove any credit checks for returning families. That's never done. So those families that that have left, when they come back, we're not checking their credit to

808
04:12:08.720 --> 04:12:24.800
become a resident. They are coming back. And then lastly, um, pursuant to the Code of Federal Regulations, I I am responsible to make sure that the people that come back are in good standing. Well, we got HUD

809
04:12:24.800 --> 04:12:41.680
because of COVID. I have a lot of families that are back on their rent to the tune some from 20 $30,000. They would not usually be considered good standing. I had HUD give us the opportunity to allow them to be considered good standing provided they

810
04:12:41.680 --> 04:12:59.840
sign an agreement to promise to pay that back rent back over an extended period of time. All that being said means that these residents are expected to return So what's being presented part of this

811
04:12:59.840 --> 04:13:16.080
transaction? Currently there's 192 public housing units at the site. There will be one forone replacement of those subsidized rental units. In addition to the replacement of those exact 192 units, there's an additional 88

812
04:13:16.080 --> 04:13:32.239
affordable subsidized senior units. So we're expanding the number of affordable units at the site. And as far as rental units, and everybody talks about how many affordable units, this is real affordability. This is the tenant pays a

813
04:13:32.239 --> 04:13:49.359
portion of what is already an affordable rent based on their income. That is the type of affordability that this city needs. In addition to the rental units, we have 30 affordable condominiums

814
04:13:49.359 --> 04:14:05.760
where you own them. The people who get them are going to own them outright in fe simple. Of the 30, 10 of them come with subsidy. So that my lowincome residents who I want to give, you know, meet certain

815
04:14:05.760 --> 04:14:21.600
criteria who would never be able to afford a house, I'm going to help them pay their mortgage at the site with subsidy. The other 20 remaining are also affordable in terms of workforce housing. that will include some um units

816
04:14:21.600 --> 04:14:38.720
being uh preserved for um disabled vets and municipal employees. So that firemen, uh uh police, sanitation, teachers, and

817
04:14:38.720 --> 04:14:54.479
municipal administrative employees have an opportunity to buy these really subsidized units. It's unheard of. So alto together that comprises 40% of the overall

818
04:14:54.479 --> 04:15:10.479
residential deal. That's true affordability. As Ben mentioned, there's going to be a public library which we going to hear about, uh, resident council offices, a community center, commercial space, and

819
04:15:10.479 --> 04:15:26.880
housing authority offices as well, so that the authority uh, remains committed to and close by its residents. You will see that and and importantly it's not just this 4060 deal. The affordable and the market rate units are

820
04:15:26.880 --> 04:15:43.920
equal in design, size, cost, and quality. There is no difference in the units and they are scattered throughout the entire development. It is important to reiterate as you hear from the professionals that the Jersey City Housing Authority

821
04:15:43.920 --> 04:15:58.720
remains the owner of the land. We never gave up the land. It provides a ground lease to the developer win to build and operate the property to provide affordable housing that goes beyond the standard HUD requirements of decent, safe, sanitary

822
04:15:58.720 --> 04:16:14.560
housing. This is vibrant mixed income, mixed finance community with 40% real affordable units. A place where our residents and more residents can call home. I'm very proud of what you're going to hear tonight and

823
04:16:14.560 --> 04:16:35.439
I really hope you guys are excited as we are. Thank you. >> Thank you, Steve. >> Madam Chair, you are muted. >> Sorry, Steve. That was a great presentation. >> Thank you. >> Um, if I have a follow-up question on

824
04:16:35.439 --> 04:16:52.399
your presentation, should I just ask you just that follow-up question? >> Sure, please. Okay. So you um mention about the um back rent. >> Mhm. >> What factor will be used to calculate the back rent in addition to the current

825
04:16:52.399 --> 04:17:07.600
rent? >> So the way it it's it depends on how much is owed and what the residents can actually afford. Uh we have not I I have the tenant receivables at Holland Gardens like all of my sites are

826
04:17:07.600 --> 04:17:23.760
extensive. HUD does not allow you traditionally to allow tenants to come back that owe back rent, but what we did was we got because of COVID, that's that's where this all came from. Um, and it's and it's not the tenants you

827
04:17:23.760 --> 04:17:39.840
would think. The really really low income tenants do not owe any money because their rent is so low that they had they could afford to pay it. It's more of my tenants that are are in the 50, 60, and 80% AMI that could not

828
04:17:39.840 --> 04:17:55.760
afford to pay the rent. So, those numbers went up quickly, right? I have some tenants that pay $50 a month, which they'll pay at at Holland Gardens, the new Holland Gardens, and then I have some tenants that are really close to the market, which might be 2500. Those

829
04:17:55.760 --> 04:18:12.159
are the tenants. I'm I'm talking about two-bedroom and threebedroom. Those are the tenants that owe us money. Some of those tenants owe us between 20 and $30,000. So, >> it's a huge amount. >> Yeah, it is. It's it's it's significant.

830
04:18:12.159 --> 04:18:29.120
>> Um, what we do is we go to court and um it's not with the understanding that we want to kick anybody out. I'm not in the business of kicking tenants out. I'm in the business of housing people, but I have to follow the rules of HUD, right?

831
04:18:29.120 --> 04:18:44.640
So HUD is very specific. You pay 30% overall of your income to live in housing. That's your portion of the rent. So what we do is we take we we figure out what your rent is and what

832
04:18:44.640 --> 04:19:01.120
the back rent is and we come out with a program to kind of prorrate it over anywhere from three to eight years to pay that money back. And then we just divide it by that formula. And then you pay your rent and you pay back um what

833
04:19:01.120 --> 04:19:18.239
you owe us. The more you owe us, the longer we extend it. The longer we extend it. And and listen, even in some of those transactions, tenants have fallen behind on their [laughter] back payment. We still work

834
04:19:18.239 --> 04:19:36.560
with them. We want everybody back. >> So, thank you. Um, that is basically how we get that determination. >> Very well. Commissioner Barnaby, >> I'm curious about how you guys do the

835
04:19:36.560 --> 04:19:53.439
calculation for the affordable condos. Um, I get the 30 50 80% of AMI for the rental, but I'm just curious how that is uh that number is calculated. >> So, on the the the simple ones are the the ones where I have the subsidy. I

836
04:19:53.439 --> 04:20:08.640
have 10 vouchers for home ownership. Those vouchers operate exactly like rental um units. There is a determination as to what the amount of the mortgage payment would be and th those tenants pay 30% of

837
04:20:08.640 --> 04:20:25.520
their income. We pay the difference. So those 10 are easy. On the workforce housing side, we haven't really calculated how we were going to get to the affordability. Um, but traditionally in public housing like we we have uh a

838
04:20:25.520 --> 04:20:41.600
home ownership program called Dwight Street. It was basically 25% of the fair market uh fair market value with a 10-year um requirement that you remain there and then unlike the 955 deals, you own it.

839
04:20:41.600 --> 04:20:58.239
You get to sell it for whatever you want. here because the value is so significant. It's probably going to be a 15-year um a 15-year program. Stay there for 15 years and then sell it at at value so that you build equity. What those numbers are yet, we're not sure. It's

840
04:20:58.239 --> 04:21:15.120
going to be based on um you know, I know what the fair market value of a two-bedroom down there is probably in the 1.2 to 1.3 $ 1.4 million range. Yep. >> Um I'm thinking more in terms of and and please don't hold me to this, but I'm

841
04:21:15.120 --> 04:21:30.640
thinking more in terms of 300 to $400,000 on those other units. >> Very interesting. Thank you, >> Misha Patel. >> Yeah. Why Why can't I go you go more higher, you know, to raise the height of

842
04:21:30.640 --> 04:21:46.560
the building? >> Oh, I'd love to hear that, sir. [laughter] You tell me to go higher and I'm going. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean I mean you know there are a lot of other high-rise building out down there. Why not this one? >> Yeah. I mean the short the short answer to that is uh obviously as you know

843
04:21:46.560 --> 04:22:02.880
since this is a redevelopment plan we cannot ask for a de height variance. So we are limited to the to 10 ft above um the permitted height uh and to ask for relief for that. And that's effectively what we're doing to add an additional story. We would have to get a

844
04:22:02.880 --> 04:22:18.800
redevelopment plan amendment otherwise which I it it it just wasn't part of the uh part of the appetite at the time. >> Mr. Samato. >> Yes. [clears throat] Mike, I got it. I got it. I mean, Stephen, I'm sorry. I uh I'm

845
04:22:18.800 --> 04:22:34.640
very impressed >> so far. Very impressed. I feel um >> proud of all your accomplishments and your endeavor on this project. >> Thank I know I'm jumping a little bit, but I can't wait to hear the rest of it. >> But I and I will say, um, Commissioner

846
04:22:34.640 --> 04:22:49.920
Stamato, in that vein, there's an awful lot. I have a very big team of architects and engineers and and and development also and PSNS has been wonderful. So, I take all the credit even though I don't deserve it. [laughter] >> I don't I don't blame you. I don't blame

847
04:22:49.920 --> 04:23:05.600
you at all. You lead the nation. Keep it up. >> Thank you. >> So, Stephen, I just have a follow-up question. >> Sure. Um you mentioned that um there is no credit check. So what is the process of selecting the um tenants?

848
04:23:05.600 --> 04:23:22.000
>> So the credit check is with regard to and I I'm apologize if it was a little confusing. I have 190 families that have to come back. They're not getting credit checks. new families that come in. There's

849
04:23:22.000 --> 04:23:39.840
obviously um and and Wyn who has been in this business a very long time. They're they are I I believe they're the largest affordable um management company in the country at this point. What they do in terms of credit checks is not like everybody else. But I'm what

850
04:23:39.840 --> 04:23:56.800
but but my 192 I have families that have terrible credit. They're coming back. So anybody that's there as a public housing resident, they are there and they are coming back no matter what their credit looks like. >> So for the new ones new ones coming in,

851
04:23:56.800 --> 04:24:13.040
they may have a credit check. Then >> there is a credit check background check because you you know we we do as public housing and and these are going to be you know they're part of our portfolio. They stay in our portfolio. Um you know there's there's criminal background

852
04:24:13.040 --> 04:24:30.159
checks. we're obligated uh even though those rules are loosening up over the last 20 years, but we we have to abide by those criminal background checks. And there there is some degree of um credit check, but it's it's not as you know

853
04:24:30.159 --> 04:24:45.920
what happens is on a really low income resident, their their portion is $50. on a regular resident um that's you know a family that's making in in Jersey City a family of four making $80,000 can get

854
04:24:45.920 --> 04:25:01.040
in that situation that their rent is higher right because it's they pay their portion they have to have credit it's just one of those things >> okay thank you but I did but I did get a

855
04:25:01.040 --> 04:25:17.760
waiver for everybody that's already here >> that was once upon a name. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mr. Wayne. Is your name? >> Yes, sure. So, my next witness is our project architect, Jesper Ryberg.

856
04:25:17.760 --> 04:25:33.199
>> Jesper. >> Hi, Jesper. I'll spray in if you could raise your right hand. Do you swear any testimony you give tonight is going to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? >> Yes, sir. >> And for the record, can you state and spell your name? >> Uh, so my name is Jesper Ryberg. Uh, J E

857
04:25:33.199 --> 04:25:50.239
S P E R R Y B E R G. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Mr. Chesburg. Um, have we qualified you in the past? >> Pardon me. >> Have we qualified you in the past? >> No. >> You want to give us a brief um background of yourself?

858
04:25:50.239 --> 04:26:07.760
>> I would love to. And thank you again, Madam Chair and my madame vice chair and the commissioners for taking the time this evening. Um, as I said, my name is Jesper Ryberg, licensed architect in New Jersey with the license in good standing. I have uh I'm educated at

859
04:26:07.760 --> 04:26:24.319
Southern California Institute of Architecture and I've been practicing architecture the last 23 years. >> Okay, you're qualified. >> Thank you. >> And go right ahead. >> I can hear me. >> I just said go right ahead.

860
04:26:24.319 --> 04:26:40.479
>> Okay. Yeah, I'm just see if I can uh uh pick up some speed here so we can stay awake. Uh so appreciate everybody's time again. Um first I want to start with some uh objectives of the project. What this will do uh this project will

861
04:26:40.479 --> 04:26:56.080
replace obsolete public housing with a mixed income and mixeduse community serving a range of household types. It will provide multiple affordability labels. senior housing, affordable for sale condos, affordable and market rate rentals. It will activate the ground

862
04:26:56.080 --> 04:27:11.600
floor with retail and publicly accessible library and community centers. Um the architecture respects the neighborhood's historic brick character while introducing a contemporary 21st building look. Uh it will reconnect the

863
04:27:11.600 --> 04:27:28.960
15th uh street to restore the historic grid and improve pedestrian connectivity between all our neighbors. Um the pro the project advances uh Jersey City's housing authorities mission and the city's redevelopment goals for the site.

864
04:27:28.960 --> 04:27:44.960
This design incorporates the Holland Garden residents input from the previous vision sessions and surveys. Um uh the project as stated before will have 753 units varying from studios to

865
04:27:44.960 --> 04:28:01.920
fourbedroom configurations. The project will include affordable senior and market rate. It will also include affordable condominiums for sale units in addition to a public library community building as well as supporting retail and commercial use. The overall

866
04:28:01.920 --> 04:28:18.319
project is approximately 1,223,000 square feet. Um our sustainability goals for the project are energy star and lead ND neighborhood development depending on which building we're discussing. The project will adhere to the latest

867
04:28:18.319 --> 04:28:33.199
applicable codes including full ADA access throughout this required. Um I just want to get some um uh labels of our site how we

868
04:28:33.199 --> 04:28:51.520
looked at it. Um this site as described previously is divided into two uh major parts of the north and the south parcel with the reconnecting of the 15th street. Um we're surrounded by Jersey Avenue, 16th street area and the access

869
04:28:51.520 --> 04:29:07.520
alley in the back. Uh we're reintroducing the 15th street as I mentioned where all the major uh entrances to all the buildings will be located. This is where the heartbeat of this project will be. Um,

870
04:29:07.520 --> 04:29:23.600
I should also mention that we have a west tower on top of our podium on the north parcel. We have a link and then we have our east tower. And the north parcel project size is about 1,30,000 square feet.

871
04:29:23.600 --> 04:29:40.159
The south parcel u consists of the senior building um which is about 111,000 square feet and in the center we have a library and community building that is about 2,000 square ft and then lastly we have the condominium building

872
04:29:40.159 --> 04:29:57.040
at 60,000 square feet. The parking garage located in the center of this uh parcel um will host 385 uh parking spaces and is accessed off air street uh since airy street is a oneway and the

873
04:29:57.040 --> 04:30:14.080
least traffic. Um the alley access behind this uh south parcel will provide access to back of house support for uh all the buildings on the south parcels. Um the building

874
04:30:14.080 --> 04:30:29.840
heights varies between as little as five stories for a library and up to 24 stories for the west towers. Um, and this project massing is in line with the u uh Avenue light rail

875
04:30:29.840 --> 04:30:45.920
redevelopment plan with a couple of minor variances that Mr. Wine brought up before. The unit types uh variance from studios all the way to four bedroomedroom units. The north the north parcel will have 443 market

876
04:30:45.920 --> 04:31:02.800
rate and 178 affordable rental units for a total of 621 units. The south building will have 30 for sale condominiums and 102 affordable senior units. The

877
04:31:02.800 --> 04:31:18.960
total project again is u 753 units. Um, I should I should also mention that there are 380 indoor biking spots as well as uh randomly placed uh

878
04:31:18.960 --> 04:31:38.880
uh parking space u bicycle uh parking on the sidewalks at uh good locations for the retail and but that will be further in testimony. I'm showing this just to give you an uh

879
04:31:38.880 --> 04:31:57.120
image of what's on grade at sidewalk level basically. Um I will discuss the full first floor plan uh in my next slide but I think this represent uh how much is raised off the grade.

880
04:31:57.120 --> 04:32:11.520
So this plan here will show the same program but in in in one view. So this is our first floor plan where our first floor plan is uh essentially

881
04:32:11.520 --> 04:32:26.479
raised 4 and a half uh uh feet off the sidewalk level depending on where you're measuring. Um it's surrounding the north parcel. We have a retail in yellow and commercial uh as well in yellow. We see

882
04:32:26.479 --> 04:32:46.319
a couple of uh proposed um coffee shops, small restaurants, and then additional retails on the corners to take advantage. >> Can you zoom in a little bit, please? >> Thank you. Bring that to my attention. Um the main entrance is off uh 15th

883
04:32:46.319 --> 04:33:02.080
Street and uh it's local located located at grade. So we have a very uh developed um flood uh plan that's been approved by uh D already. Um so we have active flood

884
04:33:02.080 --> 04:33:20.000
mitigations at the retail to uh accommodate and and promote uh activity at street level but yet providing safety for the building. Um the orange area here is our parking

885
04:33:20.000 --> 04:33:38.320
structure. It's five stories and you enter it off the air street and um you hang a left here for the public and you hang a right into uh with gate control up for the residents.

886
04:33:38.320 --> 04:33:55.439
uh the typical floor or the the first floor is also hosting typical cores uh vertical circulations, mail room, package rooms, typical necessities for a building of this capacity. Um other key

887
04:33:55.439 --> 04:34:12.000
functions that are not so fun to discuss but um they're important is the refues. We have a vertical refuge uh port um column for the west tower on this side

888
04:34:12.000 --> 04:34:28.639
and then we have one here for the east side which is the consolidation area as well. So with what happens is the trash comes down in two uh in a dual trash shoot, one for uh recycling and one for trash and then it gets transported over

889
04:34:28.639 --> 04:34:44.400
electric uh dolly into the uh staging area where it gets packed out uh either off a um loaded onto uh directly off the loading dock or with duck dock leveler

890
04:34:44.400 --> 04:35:01.520
rolled out for pickup at the curb. The retail have their own uh compactor room that is also wheeled over to pickup area. And then the commercial restaurant stuff, they have a separate uh refuge

891
04:35:01.520 --> 04:35:23.520
area to separate the different types of trash and recycling. >> Is this city pickup? Is this um private pickup? I uh I I don't have the answer to that at this point. I would assume that the the city will pick up the resident

892
04:35:23.520 --> 04:35:41.199
because it's separated and that the uh commercial is picked up uh by private holder. >> When you when you said loading off the dot, are you um putting in a self-contained unit, a

893
04:35:41.199 --> 04:35:55.920
compactor container box? Yes, sir. >> Okay. So, basically, you're looking at what? Two or what? [clears throat] In what location? >> We have We have one compactor in uh each area. >> Okay.

894
04:35:55.920 --> 04:36:12.000
>> And then we have uh three yard bins and supporting recycling bins that will be then wheeled over and located here and brought out at pickup day. And either we have two scenarios depending on which

895
04:36:12.000 --> 04:36:31.039
hauler we're going with. So we either have a dock lever for pickup on the street or um uh the truck pulls into the loading dock and picks directly off the loading up. >> All right. >> Okay. Um the other gray areas here are

896
04:36:31.039 --> 04:36:48.199
typical utility spaces. We do have a couple of large uh apartments uh on the north side. Again, remind everybody that this is 5 ft above the sidewalk level, so they have privacy and such.

897
04:36:48.879 --> 04:37:06.480
See if I can make this bigger. Uh and again, a reminder on the right here is the senior building with entry at street level. And then as you move in, you either have ADA ramps or steps up. and um elevator core

898
04:37:06.480 --> 04:37:24.320
support spaces back here again with a uh loading area uh trash compactor that feeds right out. We have generators and utility space. And this is all supported with some uh minor typical amenities uh

899
04:37:24.320 --> 04:37:40.879
with lounge areas um music office and leasing fitness playrooms for grandkids and then indoor uh bike storage. Um you can also notice that all means of

900
04:37:40.879 --> 04:37:58.400
egress is above the flood elevation so you always will have access out of the building. Um the library first floor is also raised so either steps up or ramp. Uh you have a

901
04:37:58.400 --> 04:38:16.639
little bit of a uh lobby reception. Um, we have some art galleries and then some popup stores uh with a small lounge. I also want to point out that there's a separate entrance to the community center on the top floor

902
04:38:16.639 --> 04:38:33.920
and then this uh back of house area here is uh typical for all the floors on the condominium building. Uh the first floor is mainly taken up by utilities and uh support spaces. We have

903
04:38:33.920 --> 04:38:54.320
some small uh amenity areas in green and indoor bike storage. And with that I like to move up in the building. And a lot of these elements in these floor

904
04:38:54.320 --> 04:39:09.760
plans are repetitive. So, I'm not going to bore you with going over everything um repetitively, but I'll point out the differences. Um so, on the second floor, um we're now up in the parking

905
04:39:09.760 --> 04:39:28.561
structure. We have um uh allocated bike storage for either east and west towers. We have a uh amenity front of house for co-working areas. um uh leasing uh amenity areas of

906
04:39:28.561 --> 04:39:46.638
different types and we're surrounding the parking structure with apartment unit. So the parking structure is not visual uh you can't see it from any direction. On the uh senior building, we have a

907
04:39:46.638 --> 04:40:05.760
typical floor plan um with uh majority one-bedroom units. Uh there's three uh two-bedroom units, but again, this is a typical stacked floor plate with a a small laundry for each uh

908
04:40:05.760 --> 04:40:23.600
on each floor for convenience. And then typical uh dual uh trash shoots and building support on the library. Uh we have some open shelving with the typical u uh

909
04:40:23.600 --> 04:40:38.160
categories that you would have in library. We're currently working with uh the free library uh uh to create the best library that we can within the means that and with their

910
04:40:38.160 --> 04:40:53.440
collaboration and support for the uh condominium. Uh we have uh five bedroom five two-bedroom units on each floor and this is a total of uh seven stories uh six residential floors

911
04:40:53.440 --> 04:41:19.320
and then the first floor support. Uh similarly [snorts] here the the big difference here is we have some more commercial areas uh facing the 15th street to create more life. The rest of this is uh repetitive

912
04:41:19.760 --> 04:41:44.958
senior floor is repetitive. The library uh have more of enclosed tip uh spaces, more of classroom styles, storage and back of house. And on the fourth floor, we have some small office types and uh amenity spaces

913
04:41:44.958 --> 04:42:02.560
for the tenants. and uh the last bike storage on this level. We're also starting to um cut the building back to give the main entry towers and presence but also to open up

914
04:42:02.560 --> 04:42:20.798
the 15th street from not having a canyon effect and um get as much as uh light and airiness into the street as possible. Um there's no floor plan of the

915
04:42:20.798 --> 04:42:40.240
library here because it's on the next floor, but it's got a different floor to floor height. So that's how the plans are laid out. Uh the the resident the residential buildings here are typical. And the fifth floor and the last floor

916
04:42:40.240 --> 04:42:57.560
of the parking comes to a dead end with a turnaround. And uh we have some equipment rooms to support the amenities above. And lastly, some small commercial areas for the uh entry tower.

917
04:43:00.638 --> 04:43:15.120
The resident residential buildings again are typical. And uh the top floor of the uh library and community building has now the community floor where you enter your um

918
04:43:15.120 --> 04:43:31.440
own elevator and it's predominant taken up by the large community room for community meetings supported with a small outdoor terrace. And then we have some office space, uh, councils, social service rooms, and a

919
04:43:31.440 --> 04:43:53.040
little warming cafe to, uh, support the events, uh, throughout. Uh, the sixth floor is, uh, one of my favorite floors. This is where the tower starts to separate themselves. We're

920
04:43:53.040 --> 04:44:11.440
pushing the building back in from the uh property lines and we have what we call a transitional floor between the podium and the top of the towers. We have some amenity spaces that are typical for a project of this scale where you can uh

921
04:44:11.440 --> 04:44:27.520
imagining um video rooms, uh gathering areas, um pet spas, commercial laundry, um uh playgrounds indoor and outdoors. Um

922
04:44:27.520 --> 04:44:43.840
and then uh on the outdoor deck, amenity deck, we also have playgrounds, uh outdoor living rooms open to above. Uh we have a tiered u stadium seating

923
04:44:43.840 --> 04:45:01.280
for the pool. Uh there's a community barbecue areas and then a green lawn, some pet relief areas, and a garden. Um while this is all looking out over 15 streets, this also is starting to develop the

924
04:45:01.280 --> 04:45:21.600
typical core between um the um six floors that goes all the way up to the 14th floor. This is also where we have the required setback on Erie Street for the senior building. And then so this floor has a little bit

925
04:45:21.600 --> 04:45:39.040
of a difference in it. Uh so these units have a little bit different configuration but the floors above this will be uh typical. Again the seventh floor is much like the sixth floors but we now a floor up with some

926
04:45:39.040 --> 04:46:00.000
additional uh amenities uh bigger gathering rooms um restrooms and large fitness center. And I will show some renderings of this in a in a minute. Uh eighth floor.

927
04:46:00.000 --> 04:46:17.200
Again, not much to show you that you haven't seen. Uh this is the last uh residential floor of the senior building. Um the ninth floor I want to point out that we have an amenity room for the seniors. uh you know direct

928
04:46:17.200 --> 04:46:33.760
access with a bathroom upstairs, some garden area, some race gardens, uh and places to gather, play small game boards and stuff like that. This is an area of one of our variances. Uh this the aperture of the stair tower

929
04:46:33.760 --> 04:46:50.080
and um we need to uh have we have a maximum eight feet here but we providing 13 um or we need we're providing 8 feet and we have we have to provide 13 ft for the

930
04:46:50.080 --> 04:47:07.040
height of this. We have since then relooked at this and I think we're fairly confident that we can get this down to uh below the uh required height. Uh but this is the way it was submitted. Um

931
04:47:07.040 --> 04:47:25.440
this is a typical floor. Again I have the floor plates uh aligned in the section here for clarity. Um, so I will continue running through this. On the 15th floor, we topping out the uh

932
04:47:25.440 --> 04:47:43.120
link building uh with access to the roof from the east tower. Um the towers have a a great variety in the facade uh as you can see between the both balconies and push and pulls to

933
04:47:43.120 --> 04:47:59.920
create a lot of depth in the elevations and bring down the scale of the building. Um this is the u uh 19th floor where the uh two upper floors of the tower of the

934
04:47:59.920 --> 04:48:17.120
east tower is stepped back again to meet the sky in a little bit more gentle fashion. And that's that's a repetitive feature for the um uh west tower as well. Um

935
04:48:17.120 --> 04:48:32.080
all the roof apertures are screened um with metal screening and stepped away from the uh roof perimeter um at the appropriate heights and

936
04:48:32.080 --> 04:48:49.280
setbacks or stepbacks I should say. Similarly here we have that narrower you portion of the building at the top floors of the west tower and again very much a repetitive roof plan on the west

937
04:48:49.280 --> 04:49:09.600
tower as the east tower with just a centralized penthouse uh supporting units. Right? zoom out to this a little bit and I will go in a little more in detail. Um

938
04:49:09.600 --> 04:49:27.280
I will speak in a little bit more in length about this elevation. Uh it covers most of the elevation features uh throughout and again I will bring up the differences in the different elevations after this one.

939
04:49:27.280 --> 04:49:42.320
Um and again in blue here I have introdu uh identified one of our variants where we requesting an additional floor to make the project liable due to aspire credits that the project is based on. We

940
04:49:42.320 --> 04:49:58.638
also have an elevation feature on the airy side uh which into the five foot stepback uh or a portion of it. Um the

941
04:49:58.638 --> 04:50:15.760
podium level here has a very strong uh tie to the buildings in the neighborhood. And these five stories are topped off with a a strong band as well as the base of that podium is uh very significant.

942
04:50:15.760 --> 04:50:31.280
Um and there are high attributes in this elevation to make it very special. uh get life in the um u streetscape um but also give a comfort at sidewalk

943
04:50:31.280 --> 04:50:48.160
level that you don't have these towering buildings falling over you. So there's a presence and a scale for the walkability on the site. Then we have this twostory six and seven floor that I call the

944
04:50:48.160 --> 04:51:05.040
transitional floor that separates that typical podium architecture from the towers. Uh the towers have a a brick vertical elements that is uh have uh bands every three or four

945
04:51:05.040 --> 04:51:21.280
floors again to bring the verticality down um and bring scale and proportions to the the project itself. The link is a little bit different both in materials as well as design to separate

946
04:51:21.280 --> 04:51:36.638
the two traditional uh towers uh and create variety and the elevation throughout. At the main entrance we have a a building overhang like a romantic uh

947
04:51:36.638 --> 04:51:54.798
cinema. Uh we have arched windows with high details to bring back in some of that old-fashioned 100-year-old architecture. There's a lot of different uh rhythms in these elevations to create variety and bring

948
04:51:54.798 --> 04:52:10.240
down the scale. And then we have the prominent um uh main entry towers with supporting uh uh I call them the children towers. So these are stair towers that coming out

949
04:52:10.240 --> 04:52:25.280
but carrying the same attributes and design features. Uh some of the uh back of house spaces will be uh treated in similar similar fashion to blend in with the the the

950
04:52:25.280 --> 04:52:43.360
facade uh and to enhance the pedestrian um experience. I think that's and and here are the little stepbacks that I mentioned before that uh steps backs on the upper two

951
04:52:43.360 --> 04:52:59.120
floors to just get a gentle uh how the bent get the building to meet the sky in a gentler fashion. Um there are some light fixtures throughout the facades with um uh wall

952
04:52:59.120 --> 04:53:17.120
sconces uh highlight highlighted uh perimeter lighting in archways. Some down lights that are u cutoff for the um fly beams in the setbacks and uh then we

953
04:53:17.120 --> 04:53:32.798
have some ground mounted uh deck lights in the amenity roof. just to create some ambiance. Some of the major uh materials are um the the majority of the project is a

954
04:53:32.798 --> 04:53:49.200
traditional dark red brick veneer with darker uh accents throughout. And then we have an a a variety of different types of panel system whether they're fiber cement panels or metal panel

955
04:53:49.200 --> 04:54:03.920
systems depending on uh where it's appropriate. Um and I will point these out throughout the elevations when we get to the colored renderings. So, Jasper, I was going to ask you actually. I think uh if what we can do just in the interest of time is if we

956
04:54:03.920 --> 04:54:20.638
can jump to page 30 and uh and kind of look through the renderings as it puts these elevations into perspective. >> Thank you. Um I think we just went over this in fairly detail. So, here's a uh aerial

957
04:54:20.638 --> 04:54:37.360
shot of uh the proposed main entry tower. uh playgrounds, living rooms, the tiered seating for uh pool areas, and then this step down that's

958
04:54:37.360 --> 04:54:52.560
cut back to get more airiness into the 15th Street. Uh we got the podium articulation and the separation between the podium and the uh upper towers.

959
04:54:52.560 --> 04:55:19.440
And again um lot of rain gardens uh at the uh street texture uh outdoor seating or just create a lot of life. uh street trees. >> Here's another uh view of the north or

960
04:55:19.440 --> 04:55:39.280
south sides. They're the same uh for the east and west towers and then the link is a little bit in a different character to create some separation. Uh uh here is the the extent of that elevation feature that we seek we have

961
04:55:39.280 --> 04:55:54.320
variance for. And here you can see how this is broken down the corners. We have very a lot of translucency in the corners again to get the corners to meet the sky in a in a much softer way than a

962
04:55:54.320 --> 04:56:12.160
big bulky building. Um the the bands the DATMSS are tied in between the south parcel and the north parcel both at the fifth uh or the sixth floor and the second floor.

963
04:56:12.160 --> 04:56:30.878
Here's a couple of samples of our um loading docks uh for back of house loading dock for the residents and the um uh bum. Oh, sorry, my apologies. This is

964
04:56:30.878 --> 04:56:53.600
the garage entry. This is the loading dock. And this is the uh resident uh move in, move out. and a repeat of the different variety of these different materials throughout to break this whole neighborhood down into

965
04:56:53.600 --> 04:57:15.120
smaller portions for just scale and comfort. Um we got a sample of some screening. Um as indicated on drawings before the south parcel uh a little bit more rhythmic, a little bit more organized

966
04:57:15.120 --> 04:57:32.798
and sorted to respect the residential use and the more repetitive units uh repetitive unit size and types. um and stay true to that old warehouse district that used to be

967
04:57:32.798 --> 04:57:53.520
here back in the day. Um and it's a little bit of a yin-yang pattern going on where we had a little bit more brick on the bottom and a little bit more panels on top, but the two materials are married uh together. U the library is a little bit different

968
04:57:53.520 --> 04:58:11.040
for the reasons they're obvious that the its function and its use. Um a lot of um uh open uh glazing on the north side. Very comfortable light. Uh it's not disruptive light, not destructive light

969
04:58:11.040 --> 04:58:26.798
either. And we have a little bit of the um outdoor terrace. Again, brick is the main portion of it, but we have a little bit more of a black panels to give it a little bit more of a presence and um uh

970
04:58:26.798 --> 04:58:43.680
a weight of the importance in the community. Um and then we have green roofs throughout uh the buildings. And again, here's a covered areas for comfort to wait for a

971
04:58:43.680 --> 04:59:03.040
pickup or um get dropped off at the drop off zone. And that is the conclusion of my testimony and I will take any kinds of questions if you have any.

972
04:59:03.040 --> 04:59:20.480
>> Thank you, Jasper. Commission. >> Uh, yes. Question I have. Um, I pointed out elevators. Um, I saw on the floors that they go up basically up to the rooftop or you have

973
04:59:20.480 --> 04:59:40.878
to go upstairs. >> Uh, oh, for the amenity roof. >> Yes. >> Uh, we have two elevators. So, you have elevator access to the the roofs. So all the floors basically in this project are elevators and stairs combination.

974
04:59:40.878 --> 04:59:58.560
>> Yes, they all uh uh uh elevators and stairs both of them. >> And my final question is uh why did you come up with the two shoots versus let's say one shoot? Well, >> because I don't believe in the fact that

975
04:59:58.560 --> 05:00:14.080
people uh will put the stuff where they belong. So, if you have one for recycling and one for trash, it just um increases our chances. How's that? >> Very good.

976
05:00:14.080 --> 05:00:30.080
>> Hello, just curious. >> And I also want to point out we have balconies and our balcony railings are less than 2 in above the surface of the balconies. >> What about that? Answers question right there. [laughter]

977
05:00:30.080 --> 05:00:46.160
Madam Chair, >> I was gonna touch on that one. I couldn't let that one go, but >> I'll prep them if you couldn't tell. >> What about my research? >> How are you doing on backup? Yeah, good. Very good. Very impressed. Um, balcony drains. What are you doing about that?

978
05:00:46.160 --> 05:01:01.440
Water any type of water buildup on the balconies. >> Uh, they're drain off the balconies. They'll >> drain off, in other words, go right off the balcony. >> Yep. Commissioner Kaplan,

979
05:01:01.440 --> 05:01:17.120
>> I mean, first of all, tremendous presentation, tremendous building. Um, you know, definitely not cookie cutter. A lot of thought went into it and it shows. So, thank you for that. Um, a couple questions and please, uh, councelor uh, Wine, if if it's not appropriate for the architect, please

980
05:01:17.120 --> 05:01:32.160
redirect me to to the I'll hold the question, but regarding um, 15th Street, um, it was mentioned that's kind of going to be dedicated to the city. Um is that going to be uh under the maintenance responsibilities of the city

981
05:01:32.160 --> 05:01:48.878
or is that going to be uh maintained uh kept clean, plowed, etc. by >> Yeah, I'll >> I'll address that commissioner. So, that is going to be a full public rightway. It's going to belong to the city and be part of their maintenance plan. This has been cleared already with the division of traffic uh division of

982
05:01:48.878 --> 05:02:03.920
transportation, I'm sorry. Um we did speak to them about it. You will see there are improvements being made like to pedestrian infrastructure and whatnot. That is likely going to be maintained in some capacity by uh by the by building [clears throat] maintenance just organically because it it really a

983
05:02:03.920 --> 05:02:20.320
lot of it services the building but it will be a public right of way. So snow removal um plowing things of that nature will be the responsibility of the city. >> Great. Um has that this application been discussed with the department of public works for that maintenance?

984
05:02:20.320 --> 05:02:36.718
Yeah, I believe they sat in on one of the initial uh conversations. Don't quote me on that because it's it's I I can't remember if it was DPW or just Division of Transportation. Um but if not, it will of course be coordinated. Yeah, I I think we should definitely, you know, I believe I don't believe it

985
05:02:36.718 --> 05:02:52.560
it to me it's a concern about moving this application forward, but just a followup to tonight's conversation to to speak to the DPW about materials or exact things to ensure the the maintenance ability um is baked into the design, >> of course.

986
05:02:52.560 --> 05:03:08.080
Um and and then I guess the the other question is kind of may maybe I should have asked this during the site plan. So apologies, but just going through the transportation memo, there was another a couple of you know comments about uh curb ramp design, you know, sidewalk with things like that. I just can you

987
05:03:08.080 --> 05:03:24.958
confirm if all those comments and things in those memos were addressed? >> I can and if you're more comfortable, our next witness can confirm it as well. >> Okay, I'll be very excited for that. Thank you. >> Ben, I have a question I just want to ask you. you've gone over this with MUA as far as utilities and everything else.

988
05:03:24.958 --> 05:03:41.600
>> Uh we've been in discussions with uh MUA as well as PSENG and we've been getting guidance from them and uh obviously it's a it's a moving target but uh right now we've we we have provided utility rooms and

989
05:03:41.600 --> 05:04:00.320
locations where they guided us to. >> All right. Good. Okay. Thank you. Any other board comments? >> No. >> Before we move on to >> No. Okay. >> Okay. Can we move on to our next witness?

990
05:04:00.320 --> 05:04:15.440
>> Sure. So, he's going to be quick. Our civil engineer, Mark Celli. >> Good evening. >> Hi, Mark. I'll swear you in. If you can raise your right hand testimony you get tonight is going to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. >> I do. >> And for the record, can you state and spell your name?

991
05:04:15.440 --> 05:04:32.958
>> Sure. It's Markelli. M A R K C I F as in Frank E L L I. Thank you. >> Mrs. Kelly, is your license current and in good standing? >> Yes, it's uh I'm licensed in New Jersey. It is active and in good standing. >> Okay, you may proceed.

992
05:04:32.958 --> 05:04:47.120
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. So Mark, I'd like you to hit on the uh the subdivision plan, the vac the street vacation as well as the phasing plan and also confirm obviously your your plans were um pretty comprehensive that were submitted but

993
05:04:47.120 --> 05:05:03.360
confirm that um that the utilities uh are going to function as they should as well as the uh landscaping, lighting and storm water management. >> Sure. >> Uh so the first screen here I do have an existing aerial view. Uh this this does show the existing five buildings and

994
05:05:03.360 --> 05:05:19.760
there's about 34 parking spaces on the property. So significantly less than we will propose. Uh you see all the surrounding streets uh and the vacated rightway which was vacated prior to the current Holland Gardens. Uh we provided a subdivision plan. This is to create

995
05:05:19.760 --> 05:05:34.878
the three separate lots which is two development lots and one 60 foot wide right ofway um to break up the the property which is currently about 3.3 acres. Uh creating in creating these lots there are no deviations so they're all in accordance

996
05:05:34.878 --> 05:05:58.000
with the redevelopment plan. Um and that's about it for the subdivision. And next slide here I have a rendered version of the site plan improvements. Uh so Jper covered the building. The building is majority of the development lots. Uh so sitewise most of my

997
05:05:58.000 --> 05:06:16.160
improvements are essentially public improvements. So where we're placing all the sidewalks um creating or bumpouts that were coordinated with the traffic division. And the big thing is we're recreating 15th Street. So, it's going to be a uh east to west oneway street

998
05:06:16.160 --> 05:06:31.680
through the center of the property. Uh that gives us access to the the proposed entrances to the buildings. Uh it's been designed in a way that was per the guidance of the the division of transportation uh to to minimize potential traffic speeds. So, we've kept it to minimal

999
05:06:31.680 --> 05:06:48.958
widths. Uh we have the center of the the roadway is raised which gives us some some loading and drop off areas for the the fronts of the buildings. Um we've incorporated green infrastructure throughout the roadway. So we have a series of small fire retention basins

1000
05:06:48.958 --> 05:07:04.160
which gives a um a benefit to storm water management as well as just aesthetic appeal to the to the frontage. Uh we do have a right only exit onto Jersey Avenue. Uh and that was also per direction of the the traffic division.

1001
05:07:04.160 --> 05:07:20.160
Uh we're maintaining the existing alleyway that runs on the south side of the property. Uh that'll remain one way also from east to west. Uh that's the same way it currently runs. There is one deviation uh required

1002
05:07:20.160 --> 05:07:37.120
with this alleyway. Uh we're maintaining the existing position which is less than 10 ft from the property line. So, we're not able to provide a a 10-ft landscape buffer as required. Uh, so that's one of the deviations we are asking for. Uh, another deviation we have would be

1003
05:07:37.120 --> 05:07:52.798
for the uh, main entrance to the parking garage, which Jasper mentioned is off of Erie Street, uh, which is one way from south to north. U, the curb cut to that driveway is 26 feet wide, where 20 feet wide is permitted, uh, which is a

1004
05:07:52.798 --> 05:08:09.280
deviation. Uh, typically a a two-way access road is is more like 24 feet. 26 gives some some area to move and make turning movements into the into the garage. Uh, which is why we asked for that deviation. And then the last one in

1005
05:08:09.280 --> 05:08:26.400
that area is the the size of the loading space. Uh, the ordinance requires 40 by 10 where we have 32 by 12. So slightly wider but a little bit shorter. Uh the the loading dock would serve for moveins which are anticipated to be small uh

1006
05:08:26.400 --> 05:08:43.600
small moving trucks that would be coordinated with with the uh building managers for moveins. Uh we'd have street trees proposed throughout. Uh we are short on the number of trees. So the ordinance requires one for 25 ft of frontage. Uh

1007
05:08:43.600 --> 05:08:59.840
which would be a total of 72 trees. Um we are proposing 41. uh that's a little bit limited based on existing utilities. So the frontage does have overhead electric on three sides that limits the

1008
05:08:59.840 --> 05:09:16.240
size and number of trees. And then we have obviously our utility connections and our our loading spaces that we can't have trees. Uh so we would be um proposing to make a payment to the tree funds to to fund the difference of the the balance of uh trees.

1009
05:09:16.240 --> 05:09:32.000
Uh lighting is being proposed throughout. It's all LED uh downward facing lighting. We have matched the fixtures that are across the street on the lofts uh for a kind of uniform look throughout this area. Uh we do have a

1010
05:09:32.000 --> 05:09:48.798
variance or actually a design waiver associated with the lighting here. Uh the ordinance only allows 0.5 foot candles to protect beyond the property line. Uh being that our building is essentially at the property line and we need to light the public sidewalks,

1011
05:09:48.798 --> 05:10:04.798
we're proposing a a foot candle of three uh which is important for safety and security of residents and the public in the area. So we feel that's a very much justified waiver. Uh in terms of grading and storm water

1012
05:10:04.798 --> 05:10:22.400
management, we do have full D approval uh from the flood hazard area division. So we are completely in a flood zone elevation 11. Our residential spaces are primarily at elevation 12 which is uh as approved by DP

1013
05:10:22.400 --> 05:10:38.240
and any of the spaces associated with them at the ground level have been wet flood proofed. Uh so they have flood vents that allow water to to flow in and out. That's per D requirements. The retail commercial spaces are all dry floodp proofed so they are completely

1014
05:10:38.240 --> 05:10:54.320
watertight. uh also as as required and approved by D. Uh D also reviewed our full storm water management design here. So we have a number of um green infrastructure improvements. So we have as you can see in green here, these are

1015
05:10:54.320 --> 05:11:11.280
all green roofs. So we have a significant area of green roofing here that serves towards storm water management. Uh it's approximately 19,000 square feet. We also have porous pavement along the the alleyway. So that will uh treat the water uh before it

1016
05:11:11.280 --> 05:11:26.638
discharges. And then we have an underground infiltration basin uh below the parking level that will recharge and infiltrate storm water um from the rooftop. In terms of utilities,

1017
05:11:26.638 --> 05:11:43.120
all the typical stuff here. So obviously we have sewer, water, gas, and electric. uh sewer per coordination with the JCMUA is all going to be tying into to Jersey Avenue which is a combined sewer. They preferred it to tie into to there so that in the future if the sewer was to

1018
05:11:43.120 --> 05:11:58.320
be separated it makes that much easier and efficient. Uh water gas primarily all tying into Jersey Avenue. Uh we do have some storm water discharge to 16th Street but the bulk of it goes to Jersey and that's to m maintain existing

1019
05:11:58.320 --> 05:12:15.200
drainage patterns. Uh there are some proposed improvements to the water infrastructure that we're working with the uh MUA on and uh PS&G will be handling the the proposed electric to the building and any infrastructure improvements with that.

1020
05:12:15.200 --> 05:12:30.000
U as we mentioned earlier we are proposing to phase the project here uh construction phasing. So we're proposing three phases um four if you count demolition which would be done at the onset of construction.

1021
05:12:30.000 --> 05:12:45.920
Phase one would be construction of two of the buildings on the south parcel. So it would be the the senior building and the library structure. Um as well as many of the the site infrastructure improvements. So, we would have all of our utilities that would serve the south

1022
05:12:45.920 --> 05:13:01.840
building, uh, sidewalk infrastructure, the alleyway, and the some level 15th Street. Um, it would probably be base pavement until the north tower is done. Um, but the infrastructure that serves the south building would be primarily built in

1023
05:13:01.840 --> 05:13:18.000
phase one. Phase two would be the remainder of the south parcel, which is the condominium building. Uh, and then phase three would be the north tower or the north building. Uh so we have all the the remaining final touches on

1024
05:13:18.000 --> 05:13:34.000
the the site improvements would be obviously phase three uh once the once the building is closed up and it can safely be uh constructed. So I think I hit on all the site related deviations in my

1025
05:13:34.000 --> 05:13:53.280
testimony. We do have a a planner that will discuss the deviations in more detail. Um, that's >> it for my direct testimony if there's any questions. >> Thank you, Mark. >> Commissioner Kepler. >> Um, yeah, thank you for the testimony.

1026
05:13:53.280 --> 05:14:08.080
Mark, can you just respond to the transportation memo? I think you generally they're reviewing earlier iterations of the plan, but just confirm that all those comments were incorporated uh into the design. >> Yes. And any and we would continue to coordinate with them. We do have to incorporate a few additional bumpouts

1027
05:14:08.080 --> 05:14:24.878
that they requested. So, at either side of 16th Street, uh they also did want testimony on there was one sign detail on our plan. I think it was a no trespassing sign. So, the alleyway is to remain private. So, that would have just a sign uh to prevent public from from

1028
05:14:24.878 --> 05:14:41.600
utilizing that that roadway. But, uh as we mentioned, 15th Street is completely public roadway with full pedestrian and ve vehicular access as well as bicycle parking exterior to the building. Thank you. So, just to just to confirm

1029
05:14:41.600 --> 05:14:56.798
my understanding, you you've accommodated a majority of the comments and anything that isn't, you're open to as a condition, you'll work through it. >> Correct. Yes, definitely. We'll continue to work with them. >> Great. Thank you. >> You're welcome.

1030
05:14:56.798 --> 05:15:12.958
>> Any other board comments? >> No. >> Okay. Can we move on to the planner? >> Sure. So, assuming I'm not going to try to find my traffic engineer in the storm, um I will turn it over to Kate Keller, our professional planner. >> Sure. Thank you, Ben.

1031
05:15:12.958 --> 05:15:29.120
>> I'll swear you in. >> Okay. >> Raise your right hand. Do you swear any testimony you give tonight? It's going to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. >> I do. >> And for the record, can you state and spell your name? >> Sure. My name is Kate Keller. K L L E R is my last name. >> Thank you. >> Keller, have you in the past?

1032
05:15:29.120 --> 05:15:45.040
>> Um, not this year. I think the last time would have been I think last October, but yes, several times in the past. >> Is your license current and in good standing? >> Yes, it is. >> Okay, let me proceed. >> Okay, great. So, yes, thank you. Um, >> hey Kate, did you want to take the screen or you want me to? >> Yeah, I thank you, Mark. I can I can

1033
05:15:45.040 --> 05:16:00.958
share with my own screen and you know, I'm just going to uh I know we've heard a lot of testimony tonight and it's a we're getting late, but I just want to, you know, make sure that we cover um a lot of, you know, everything that we need to cover tonight. So, thanks again. I hope everyone can see this. Um, so you

1034
05:16:00.958 --> 05:16:16.240
know, good evening, Madame Chair, commissioners, professionals. Um, I'm here tonight. I'm a professional planner uh with the firm of Phillips Price Greg Laney Keller LLC based in Hoboken, New Jersey. I'm a principal with the firm, so I've already been qualified, so I won't go too into my [laughter] credentials. Um, but I am a licensed

1035
05:16:16.240 --> 05:16:32.160
professional planner. Um, and so, you know, tonight I am here to really review the planning aspects of this proposal. You've heard from our prior witnesses that we're here seeking preliminary final major subdivision and major site plan approval with a few deviations and variances. So tonight I'm going to focus

1036
05:16:32.160 --> 05:16:48.638
on how the proposal implements the planning objectives of the redevelopment plan in which it is located and also why our requested deviations satisfy the statutory criteria for approval. Um so I did prepare a presentation. I'm going to move through it fairly quickly just given the late hour and all the testimony you've heard tonight. But as

1037
05:16:48.638 --> 05:17:05.120
you are aware, we are here tonight concerning the transformation of the existing 1940s era Holland Gardens public housing complex. Um, this is all going to be in accordance with the resident driven vision for mixed income, mixeduse inclusionary neighborhood developed in partnership with the housing authority. Um, as you can see in

1038
05:17:05.120 --> 05:17:20.240
these exhibits, the neighborhood has experienced a lot of reinvestment over the last two decades. And as Commissioner Patel duly noted earlier, this site is now one of the few remaining underutilized sites in the area. And so, you know, the time has come between the all of the changes that have been happening and all of the

1039
05:17:20.240 --> 05:17:36.878
residents needs to really bring this site up to make it really not even just comparative to the rest of the neighborhood, but really make it the best that we we think the best. [laughter] Um, so, you know, just to give one more of the context of the public private partnership. Um, this is the culmination

1040
05:17:36.878 --> 05:17:52.480
of that multi-year planning process began in 2019 2020 by the housing authority. Um then they the redevelopment plan the Jersey City light rail uh station redevelopment plan was amended in 2021. Then the RFQ and RFP were put out and then when companies was

1041
05:17:52.480 --> 05:18:08.400
selected in 2023. And I mentioned this um you know not just to go through the history again but because we are requesting a number of deviations and variances that in my opinion are minor in nature in comparison to the overall goals of the plan and particularly when you consider that the ordinance predates

1042
05:18:08.400 --> 05:18:23.200
you know wind's involvement with the site by several years. So the vision was truly just conceptual in nature at the time of that redevelopment plan um amendment. Um and so just to speak qu quickly about this consistency with the Jersey Avenue light rail redevelopment plan and more particularly the Holland

1043
05:18:23.200 --> 05:18:40.400
Gardens overlay bonus. Um in addition to aligning with the resident vision, this project you have before you tonight improves the site design and circulation, enhances the public realm, makes huge improvements to the pedestrian environment like along 15th Street as you heard by reconnecting the street grid. um facilitates mixeduse

1044
05:18:40.400 --> 05:18:56.798
development and particularly affordable and mixed income housing opportunities. So again um you know I'm just I'm not going to go through the details of the proposed development but you have before you approximately 750 units 40% of which is affordable which is a really really great ratio. You know I see a lot of

1045
05:18:56.798 --> 05:19:12.160
projects I just see very few in Jersey City or anywhere in the state that have these kind of affordability numbers. So that's really exciting. Um, you've heard from Jesper and our prior witnesses all about the residential and retail components and we have our pretty pictures and our layouts. So, I will

1046
05:19:12.160 --> 05:19:27.120
just continue to go through my slides here. Um, we are requesting subdivision approval. Again, this is really just ne necessary to dedicate the restored 15th Street right ofway to reestablish that historic street grid in conjunction with the how it's envisioned in the

1047
05:19:27.120 --> 05:19:42.560
redevelopment plan. So to get to the crux of my presentation tonight, we are requesting some deviations. Um it looks like maybe a lot when you see them on the screen, but I think that you can agree that um they are all relatively minor in nature considering the overall

1048
05:19:42.560 --> 05:19:59.680
scale of this project. Um, in per section uh X.3 of the redevelopment plan, this board, as you are aware, may grant deviations from the plan when the purposes are advanced, the benefits outweigh the detriments, and the applicant can demonstrate that there's no substantial detriment to the public good, and there's no substantial impairment or to the intent and purpose

1049
05:19:59.680 --> 05:20:16.080
of the redevelopment plan. And the same also goes for the several deviations we have from your land development ordinance. Um, but just sub in uh land development ordinance for redevelopment plan. So just briefly um you know we are requesting maximum building height for the north parcel for all of the the the

1050
05:20:16.080 --> 05:20:30.878
three separate components on the north parcel as well as the percentage of the building height that is above the statutory limit. Um and so as you've heard, you know, this is basically one floor over for each of the west tower, the east tower, and the link. Um going

1051
05:20:30.878 --> 05:20:48.320
from 23 to 24, 18 to 19 um feet or and um but requesting also an increase in height and feet by about 5 1/2 to 9 ft. So all of that is under the statutory threshold for a Dvariance of course. So we are requesting bulk C variance relief here. Um and in my opinion you know this

1052
05:20:48.320 --> 05:21:05.200
is can be granted under the C2 criteria each of these height variances for both the number of stories and and feet essentially you know this is a large scale huge project um you've heard all the thought that went into it all the details and in addition to the typical city land use requirements we also had

1053
05:21:05.200 --> 05:21:20.878
to consider um you know the community benefits agreement that's involved and then um additional regulation and review by both HUD state agencies and also you know just just a lot of coordination with a lot of different agencies. here. So because of that, this design process has been through a lot of iterations

1054
05:21:20.878 --> 05:21:36.480
since the initial vision plan and the initial the additional story on the north parcel and the additional height associated with it are really intended, you know, to skip through, you know, really the the nitty-gritty of it. This allows the project to maintain the overall residential program, maintain

1055
05:21:36.480 --> 05:21:52.638
all the community de benefits, including those for sale condos, the library, senior housing, you know, new new new um replacement of all the um the one for one public housing units while also satisfying all of the varying agency and financial requirements associated with

1056
05:21:52.638 --> 05:22:08.160
the project. So, in my opinion, you know, this is an overall net benefit. It's not out of character with the surrounding area. No changes to the building footprint. um no changes to the parking supply were really required and we you know we we don't we don't need a variance from that and so you know I

1057
05:22:08.160 --> 05:22:24.718
think it's comparable as I said to existing and approved development and I think that effectuating the redevelopment plan means that the benefits here substantially outweigh the detriments um similarly as you heard from our architectural testimony we also need a variance for this minor step back on Eerie Street for not continuing the five

1058
05:22:24.718 --> 05:22:41.200
feet above the entire facade as you can see here it's sort of that uh light gray white image in the middle of the screen and so this is really only a limited kind of elevation feature. It's a limited architectural projection and I think this represents a better planning alternative here. Um it it introduces

1059
05:22:41.200 --> 05:22:57.600
facade articulation. It has a little bit of usable living area and maintains the overall intent of the streetscape design without having any um you know my opinion negative visual impacts that would otherwise be associated with lack of a step back. Um but we also have a very excuse me a

1060
05:22:57.600 --> 05:23:13.200
deviation from the redevelopment plan as Mr. As Fel mentioned for the rear landscape buffer, this is kind of a unique situation because we do have that alley as you can see zoomed in on the screen here. Um the existing alley is being retained. So we can't provide the landscape strip here. Uh landscaping

1061
05:23:13.200 --> 05:23:29.840
would otherwise compromise the usability of this area because it does directly abut the the commercial properties on 14th Street here. So you know we've and in lie of that we provided comprehensive landscaping throughout the remainder of the site and have significant improvements to the public realm. And I think that those um you know really

1062
05:23:29.840 --> 05:23:45.040
outweigh any of the potential detriments and don't have any impact on the master plan or the the goals of the redevelopment plan. And then in terms of a few of the variances we need from the land development ordinance we are oh I'm sorry garage is actually still from the

1063
05:23:45.040 --> 05:24:01.680
uh redevelopment plan. My bad. Um but here just really quickly deviation to permit a 26 ft curb cut at one point where 20 ft is the maximum permitted. The idea here is that it can safely accommodate two-way vehicles while avoiding the need for a second driveway. And you know, in our opinion, the visual difference is negligible, especially

1064
05:24:01.680 --> 05:24:18.160
given that the actual, you know, opening is only going to be 22 ft. And the overall scheme here will improve circulation patterns throughout the site. And then going to the LDO, um, minimal dimensions for off- streetet loading. We are requesting a variance there where 40 ft is required. We're

1065
05:24:18.160 --> 05:24:35.360
proposing I think 32 ft. And I think this is appropriate size for this urban mixeduse context. This is building will be very thoroughly managed by its operators and there will not be um you know any it will it will be able to accommodate appropriate loading where safe safely and conveniently. Um next is

1066
05:24:35.360 --> 05:24:50.560
the minimum setback for that rooftop of pertinance the stair tower on the senior building. It's really dictated by the by the interior configuration. I think it's dimminimous given the building context. And sorry again this is just one of those things where you know there was no way of really figuring this out four

1067
05:24:50.560 --> 05:25:07.280
years ago 5 years ago and so we are seeking a variance but we do think it's minor in nature. Um and then finally as Mr. Selli also mentioned we are do need a variance for the maximum lighting intensity at the property lines. Proposed streetscape lighting will exceed that.5 ft candles. And again I

1068
05:25:07.280 --> 05:25:22.560
think this is appropriate in for these limited locations where we exceed it. Um it's an active urban streetscape. It will enhance safety and security. will not have an adverse impact on neighboring properties due to the nature of the surrounding development. So in conclusion, you know, my planning

1069
05:25:22.560 --> 05:25:38.080
opinion as a professional planner is that under the redevelopment plan and the land development ordinance, these deviations will not cause substantial detriment to the public good nor substantial impairment to the intent and purpose of either of those documents. And I think that all of the above can be granted in accordance with those

1070
05:25:38.080 --> 05:25:54.560
applicable standards. This proposal, there's a lot of text here, but I'll sum it up. [laughter] This proposal implements the long-standing vision for the site that was established by the residents and um JCHA um and all through that public planning process. It replaces obsolete public

1071
05:25:54.560 --> 05:26:10.958
housing with a modern mixed income community, reconnects the street network and improves pedestrian circulation and most importantly expands affordable housing and integrates the project with the surrounding neighborhood. So, in conclusion, I think that all of the deviations and the approvals requested

1072
05:26:10.958 --> 05:26:26.718
tonight can be granted and that the application should be approved. Um, that marks the end of my testimony. Happy to take any questions if needed. >> Thank you, Kate. >> Thank you, Kate. >> Is there any board comments? >> No.

1073
05:26:26.718 --> 05:26:42.080
>> Wow, that presentation was pretty good. >> Very good. >> Um, [laughter] at this time, can you stop sharing your screen, please? >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, >> it's okay. At this time, I would like to um open to the public. Is there anyone from the public who would like to

1074
05:26:42.080 --> 05:26:59.120
comment on this project? >> If we stop sharing the screen, >> I'm sorry, that's Mark. You're still sharing your screen as well. >> Oh, really? Okay, I'll close it. >> And if there's no one from the public, I'd like to close the public portion.

1075
05:26:59.120 --> 05:27:16.680
>> Second, >> we have a second. >> Second it. >> Okay. Public is closed. This is Sophia. >> Hi everyone. Sharing the screen. >> Yeah. Mark. Mark, you got

1076
05:27:17.040 --> 05:27:37.760
>> should just be the X on the top or something. >> That is it on the screen. Maybe >> at the bottom of the Zoom call there should be that arrow that says share. If you click on that and then

1077
05:27:37.760 --> 05:28:09.920
>> Yeah. So I did that settings to it. >> I mean I'll call back. I'll call back. Sorry about that. >> Good evening everyone. Uh I will keep it

1078
05:28:09.920 --> 05:28:26.798
short. Staff agrees with the applicant's testimony and I don't have many additional comments. It was a pleasure to review this project and see how the site will transform into a development substantially more beneficial for the

1079
05:28:26.798 --> 05:28:43.760
residents of Holland Garden and also the city as a whole. I appreciated the attention to detail throughout the review process and the preservation of the existing affordable units, the addition of more affordable

1080
05:28:43.760 --> 05:29:00.160
units and senior affordable units, design of community space and incorporation of commercial spaces and more all contribute to furthering the goals of the redevelopment plan and the master plan. wanted concerns the

1081
05:29:00.160 --> 05:29:16.878
variances associated with this development. It's clear that they allow the project to make it happen when it concerns funding and also allows the project to be more welldesigned and meet the needs of the future residents for

1082
05:29:16.878 --> 05:29:33.760
this development. I will ask that the applicant agree to the conditions of approval in the memo dated June 28, 2026, which also includes incorporating uh Jersey City's review agent comments. I

1083
05:29:33.760 --> 05:29:48.878
know that was a concern mentioned earlier. >> Yes. And we take no exception to any of those conditions. >> Okay. And with that, staff recommends approval. >> Thank you. I'd like to entertain a motion. Um,

1084
05:29:48.878 --> 05:30:06.240
>> we'll take a motion to uh for case uh 11. >> Yep. >> Case B206-0184. >> I'd like to make a motion to approve case P2025-0184 as presented to the board tonight. >> Second it.

1085
05:30:06.240 --> 05:30:22.878
>> So, Vice Chair Commissioner Wick I. >> Commissioner Stamato. >> Yes. Most definitely. I love making history. Yes. Commissioner >> Patel. >> Hi, >> Commissioner Barnaby.

1086
05:30:22.878 --> 05:30:38.958
>> They had me at 40% affordable housing. Yes. Yes. >> Commissioner Capers. >> I. >> Commissioner Conaway. >> I You guys did a great job on redefining what affordability could really look

1087
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like. >> Commissioner Kaplan. Yeah, tremendous project overall from the process, the engagement to the design, um, to the affordability. I know this is a subdivision, but for a strong eye,

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>> Commissioner, Council Person Little, >> this is an amazing project. Um, I'm so excited to see it get built and I just want to thank everyone who worked on it. Um, I proudly vote I. >> And Care Gang I.

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>> Motion carries. All in favor? I'd like to entertain a motion for case B2025-0185. >> I'd like to make a motion to approve case P2025-0185 as presented to the board this evening with staff recommendations and conditions.

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>> Second, >> Vice Chair, Commissioner Wick. Yeah, I mean, uh, kind of going off of what everyone else said, um, this is a beautiful building for an even be more beautiful use. Um, I think it's just

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like outstanding and I wish every application was like this. So, I vote I, >> Commissioner Stamato. I I don't know what what I can say except that this uh was done by a number

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of people, but mostly not mostly, but I'm very impressed that Jersey City residents that live there had something to say about it, too. So, definitely I vote Iowa. >> Commissioner Patel. >> Yeah, it is one of the best projects so

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far I've seen since joining the planning commission. I would I >> Commissioner Barnaby. I >> Commissioner Capers >> I >> Commissioner Conaway >> I

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>> Commissioner Kaplan >> without a single hesitation or reservation a strong I >> Commissioner Council person Little >> I >> and Chair Gangadan >> I want to thank each and every one of you for um this detailed presentation

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that in my opinion this project is really a master class a masterpiece that represent modern urban planning 40% um affordable housing is unheard of I must also say brilliant execution on blending

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the community needs safety and well-being as well uh with library community center senior living condo living other amenities never heard of I can't wait to see the completion of this

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project. I think the variance requested um is minimal and doesn't does not cause any detriment to the public well-being. So, my vote is a big eye. Congratulations. >> Motion carries. All in favor?

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>> Thank you everybody. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um now I'd like to move on to resolutions. >> Yes. Let me just put them up here real

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quick. Alrighty. Okay. Applicant Michael and Claudia, can you hear me? Okay, good. Um, applicant Michael and Claudia Case for preliminary and final major site plan amendment with C variances 87 Bright Street, Jersey

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City, New Jersey, block 13905, lot 12, case number P2024-000088. The original case number was P18-120 decided on June 30th, 2026, memorialized July 28th, 2026.

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Um, applicant Newport Associates Development Company for extension of interim use approval 770 Washington Boulevard, Jersey City, New Jersey, block 7302, lots 3.17 and 3.20, 20 formally lots

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3.11 case number P2026-000062. Um, applicant 141-143 Oxford AB LLC for subdivision approval 141-143 Oxford Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey 07304, block 1 9301-

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lot 4, case number P2025-000087. Applicants Liberty 411 LLC and 413 Liberty LLC for subdivision approval. 411 and 413 Liberty Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey 07308, block 25503-laps

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40 and 41. That's case number P2025-0269. Applicant Newport Associates Development Company for one-year extension of preliminary major site plan approval. 770 Washington Boulevard, formerly 150 River Drive, Jersey City, New Jersey,

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block 7302. Lots 3.05, 3.16, 3.17, 3.19, 3.20, and 3.21. Formally, lots, 3.12, 3.16, 3.18, and 3.05. And that's case number P2026-000094.

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Applicant PY Homes of New Jersey Limited Partnership for amended Port Liberte master plan approval block 27503 lot 1520 Chapel Avenue which was case 2024-0229. Applicant PY Homes of New Jersey limited

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partnership for preliminary preliminary and final major site plan approval and interim use approval block 27503 lot 15 200 Chapel Avenue case P2024-0182. >> Can I get a second? >> Okay.

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>> Roll call, please. On >> a motion to approve. Commissioner Barnaby. Just got to unmute. >> Commissioner Barnaby, >> I think she must be on a another call. >> My my person, sorry. I

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>> Commissioner Kaplan, >> I. >> Council person Elena Little. >> Hi, >> Commissioner Conway. >> I >> Commissioner Patel. >> Hi, >> Commissioner Capers. >> I >> Commissioner Stamato. I

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>> Commissioner uh Vice Chair Wick >> I >> and uh Madame Chair Gangaden >> I >> Okay, motion carries. All in favor to memorialize resolutions. >> Thank you. Thank you all for staying up this late. >> Thank you.

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>> Any executive session? >> Think we're good. >> Think we're good. Okay. Can I get motion then? >> I make the motion that we >> second. Okay. Good night everyone. >> Everybody good night.

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Good job. Good job. Yeah. Good night.