1 COUNTY OF HUDSON PLANNING BOARD 2 _________________________ 3 : TRANSCRIPT MEETING OF THE COUNTY OF : OF 4 HUDSON PLANNING BOARD : PROCEEDINGS _________________________ 5 6:30 p.m. 6 Wednesday, December 17, 2008 567 Pavonia Avenue 7 Jersey City, New Jersey 8 B E F O R E: 9 JUDE FITZGIBBONS, Chairperson DEMETRIO ARENCIBIA, Commissioner 10 MARY E. AVAGLIANO, Commissioner RENEE BETTINGER, Commissioner 11 DOREEN DiDOMENICO, Commissioner MICHAEL HOLLOWAY, COMMISSIONER 12 13 A L S O P R E S E N T: 14 THOMAS P. CALVANICO, ESQ. Board Attorney 15 STEPHEN MARKS, PP, AICP 16 Planning Director 17 MARIO TRIDENTE, Development and Zoning 18 Compliance Official 19 20 21 PROUT & CAMMAROTA, L.L.C. CERTIFIED SHORTHAND REPORTERS 22 147 COLUMBIA TURNPIKE FLORHAM PARK, NJ 07932 23 TEL: (973) 660-0600 FAX: (973) 660-1966 24 25 2 1 CERTIFICATE OF OFFICER 2 I, CAREY ANN SHAFTAN, a Certified 3 Shorthand Reporter and a Notary Public of the 4 State of New Jersey, do hereby certify that the 5 following is a true and accurate transcript of 6 the testimony as taken stenographically by me and 7 before me at the date, time and place 8 aforementioned. 9 I DO FURTHER CERTIFY that I am neither a 10 relative nor employee, nor attorney or counsel to 11 any parties involved; that I am neither related 12 to nor employed by any such attorney or counsel, 13 and that I am not financially interested in the 14 action. 15 16 _________________________________________ 17 A NOTARY PUBLIC OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY 18 My Commission Expires 19 May 1, 2011 20 Notary No. 2016121 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: I would 2 like to call to order the meeting of the 3 Hudson County Planning Board. 4 Has this meeting been duly 5 publicized? 6 MR. CALVANICO: Yes, Mr. 7 Chairman, the meeting has been properly 8 advertised in accordance with the New Jersey 9 open public meetings act. The advertisement 10 was placed in the Jersey Journal and it has 11 been posted on both the bulletin boards of the 12 Board of Chosen Freeholders and the board at 13 the County Clerk's. 14 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Roll call 15 of Commissioners. 16 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 17 Arencibia? 18 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Here. 19 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 20 Avagliano? 21 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Here. 22 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 23 Bettinger? 24 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Here. 25 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 4 1 Choffo is not present. 2 Commissioner DiDomenico is not 3 present. 4 Commissioner Holloway? 5 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Here. 6 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 7 Mehta is not present. 8 Commissioner Munoz is not 9 present. 10 Commissioner Ng is not present. 11 Chairman Fitzgibbons? 12 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Here. 13 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 14 we have a quorum. 15 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Will 16 everyone rise please to salute the Flag. 17 (All rise to salute the Flag.) 18 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: We 19 would like to move for the adoption of the 20 minutes. 21 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Motion 22 to accept. 23 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: We 24 have the motion. I have to have a motion 25 first for the adoption of the minutes. 5 1 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: I make 2 a motion to accept. 3 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: I 4 second. 5 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 6 on a motion to accept the minutes from 7 November 17, 2008 made by Commissioner 8 Avagliano seconded by Commissioner Holloway. 9 Commissioner Arencibia? 10 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye. 11 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 12 Avagliano? 13 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 14 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 15 Bettinger? 16 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 17 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 18 Holloway? 19 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Aye. 20 DIRECTOR MARKS: Chairman 21 Fitzgibbons? 22 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 23 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 24 the motion passed. 25 Mr. Chairman, it should be 5-A 6 1 on the agenda, Memorialization of Resolutions 2 Approved, Conditionally Approved, or Dismissed 3 -- Denied at the last meeting. 4 Beginning with application 5 2008-053-SP/SD, MPTCR Hoboken, LLC, located at 6 300 Observer Highway which is Blocks 2 and 7 2.01, Lots 12 through 23, 24 through 26, 1 8 through 4, 9 and 10 respectively in the City 9 of Hoboken. That's to conditionally approve. 10 To conditionally approve 11 application 2008-127-SP, 1107 Willow Avenue, 12 LLC, located at 1107 Willow Avenue which is 13 Block 173, Lot 5 in the City of Hoboken. 14 Next is to conditionally approve 15 application 2008-133-SP, St. Mary Diagnostic 16 Center, located at 2300 Kennedy Boulevard 17 which is Block 1796, Lots A, B, C, D, E, F and 18 7-S located in Jersey City. 19 Next is to conditionally approve 20 application 2008-137-SP, Ashland Chemical, 21 located at 1106 Harrison Avenue which is Block 22 283, Lot 4, in the Town of Kearny. 23 Next is to dismiss application 24 2004-104-SP, Ashland Chemical, located at 1106 25 Harrison Avenue, Lot 283, Block 4, in the Town 7 1 of Kearny. 2 Next is to dismiss application 3 2008-009-SP, Port Imperial South, LLC, located 4 on Port Imperial Boulevard which is Block 5 64.01, Lot 1.03 in the Township of Weehawken. 6 Next is to dismiss 2008-010-SP, 7 Port Imperial South, LLC, located on Port 8 Imperial Boulevard which is Block 64.01, Lot 9 3.02 in the Township of Weehawken. 10 Next is to dismiss application 11 2008-018-SP, Lennar Port Imperial South 12 Building 12, LLC, located at the Avenue at 13 Port Imperial Boulevard Road F and Road D 14 which is Block 64.01, Lot 1.11 in the Township 15 of Weehawken. 16 Next is to dismiss application 17 2008-019-SP, Lennar Port Imperial Boulevard, 18 located at Avenue at Port Imperial Boulevard 19 Road F and Road D which is Block 64.01, Lot 20 1.11 in the Township of Weehawken. 21 Finally, to dismiss application 22 2008-047-SP, Riverwalk G Urban Renewal, LLC, 23 which is Building G, Block 168.0, Lot 7.10 in 24 the Town of West New York. 25 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Do we 8 1 have a motion? 2 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I will 3 make a motion to approve. 4 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Second. 5 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 6 on a motion made by Commissioner Bettinger, 7 seconded by Commissioner Avagliano, 8 Commissioner Arencibia? 9 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye. 10 COURT CLERK: Commissioner 11 Avagliano? 12 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 13 COURT CLERK: Commissioner 14 Bettinger? 15 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 16 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 17 Holloway? 18 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Aye. 19 DIRECTOR MARKS: Chairman 20 Fitzgibbons? 21 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Make 22 it a point that Commissioner DiDomenico has 23 entered the chamber. 24 COMMISSIONER DiDOMENICO: Aye. 25 DIRECTOR MARKS: And Chairman 9 1 Fitzgibbons? 2 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 3 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 4 the motion passed. 5 Mr. Chairman, the next action 6 item is 5-B, Applications to be Declared 7 Exempt. 8 Beginning with application 9 2008-131-SP, Omnipoint Communications, Inc., 10 located at 447 Central Avenue which is Block 11 817, Lot 446.A in the City of Jersey City. 12 Next is application 2008-140-SP, 13 Omnipoint Communications, Inc., located at 187 14 Duncan Avenue which is Block 1662.5, Lot 32, 15 in the City of Jersey City. 16 And finally application 17 2008-141-SP, Metro PCS New York LLC, located 18 at 734-736 Kearny Avenue which is Block 152, 19 Lot 1 in the Town of Kearny. 20 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Do we 21 have a motion? 22 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Motion 23 to accept. 24 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: I 25 second. 10 1 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 2 on a motion made by Commissioner Avagliano, 3 seconded by Commissioner Holloway, 4 Commissioner Arencibia? 5 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye. 6 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 7 Avagliano? 8 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 9 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 10 Bettinger? 11 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 12 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 13 DiDomenico? 14 COMMISSIONER DiDOMENICO: Aye. 15 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 16 Holloway? 17 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Aye. 18 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 19 Fitzgibbons? 20 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 21 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 22 the motion passed. 23 Mr. Chairman, the next section 24 is 5-C on the agenda, the Site Plans, 25 Subdivisions and other Matters Scheduled for 11 1 Planning Board Hearing. 2 Beginning with application 3 MSMP-07, the City of Jersey City is the 4 applicant. 5 It is for the Jersey City 6 municipal storm water management plan for 7 Jersey City. 8 MR. PRAKASH: Good evening. My 9 name is Rajiv Prakash and I am with the Jersey 10 City MUA. I am a staff engineer there. 11 We received a conditional 12 approval from the Board back in September 2007 13 for the Jersey City storm water management 14 plan and control ordinance. 15 Just to give you a brief 16 summary -- 17 MR. CALVANICO: Excuse me, 18 Before you begin, I just want to swear you in 19 for your testimony. 20 (Rajiv Prakash, was duly sworn.) 21 MR. PRAKASH: Just to repeat 22 myself, we received conditional approval from 23 the Board back in September 2007 for the 24 Jersey City municipal storm water management 25 plan and for the control ordinance and we are 12 1 back here today to get final approval from the 2 Board. 3 Just to give you a quick summary 4 of the management plan, basically the main 5 goals for the management plan are to minimize 6 storm water runoff and flood damage in Jersey 7 City and also to prevent nonpoint source 8 pollution in the city. 9 The plan covers the different 10 water sheds in Jersey City and also the health 11 of surrounding water bodies in Jersey City 12 including the Hackensack and the Hudson River. 13 It also includes design and 14 performance standards for a major development. 15 A major development is defined as any 16 development that disturbs one acre or more of 17 land or increases impervious coverage by a 18 quarter acre or more. 19 It also gets into the, describes 20 the mitigation options that are available to 21 developers. 22 If they cannot build a storm 23 water management facility on-site, they can, 24 they have other options that they can use to 25 comply with the regulations. And finally, the 13 1 ordinance is a mechanism to enforce the storm 2 water management plan. 3 Briefly, just to describe the 4 changes that we made, based on the comments 5 that we got from T & M Associates, they were 6 hired by the planning department, County 7 Planning Department, and some of the changes 8 that we made were to put some restrictions on 9 some of the mitigation options that are 10 available to developers, restrictions on 11 pollution trading, for example, which is not 12 that well developed. 13 We also included more 14 information on the health bodies -- sorry, the 15 health water bodies around Jersey City. We 16 replaced the maps and now all these changes 17 have been adopted by the Jersey City council 18 and also the Jersey City Planning Board. 19 So, again, I am here to request 20 that the Board formally approves the storm 21 water management plan and the control 22 ordinance. 23 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 24 we have Rose Santos from T & M who did the 25 review of Jersey City's municipal storm water 14 1 management plan. 2 MS. SANTOS: Good evening. My 3 name is Rose Santos. I am from T & M 4 Associates. 5 As Mr. Berkoff says, we have 6 been assisting the Planning Board with review 7 of the municipal storm water management plans 8 as they have been received and we concur that 9 the comments that we -- that we requested on 10 both the storm water management plan and the 11 storm water control ordinance have been 12 addressed and therefore we recommend that the 13 Board approve Jersey City's storm water 14 management plan and control ordinance. 15 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 16 just to give the Board a little bit of 17 background because it's been some time since 18 we've seen one of these, the New Jersey 19 Department of Environmental Protection passed 20 storm water management regulations in I 21 believe 2004. It is under NJAC 7:8 and the 22 DEP essentially deputized each County to 23 review an approve municipal storm water plans. 24 And it requested or directed each municipality 25 in the state of New Jersey -- there is tier 15 1 one municipalities or Tier A -- 2 MR. BERKOFF: Tier A and Tier B. 3 DIRECTOR MARKS: The Tier A 4 municipalities are your urbanized 5 municipalities with storm water management 6 systems to prepare plans. 7 The Tier B, I believe, are 8 municipalities that don't have. 9 MS. SANTOS: Correct, very 10 limited storm water systems, yeah. 11 DIRECTOR MARKS: They are more 12 rural, agricultural municipalities. 13 So we had reviewed, the Board 14 had reviewed and conditionally approved Jersey 15 City's last year, and Jersey City made the 16 recommended changes and they are back now 17 which would warrant not a conditional 18 approval, but a full approval. 19 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: I got 20 a question. 21 The studies interject the future 22 development of Jersey City as far as -- 23 MS. SANTOS: As far as the DEP 24 requirements were, each municipality had to do 25 a built-out analysis only if they had more 16 1 acre of developable land and I believe Jersey 2 City did not meet that requirement for the 3 build-out. 4 MR. PRAKASH: The build-out? 5 MS. SANTOS: They didn't meet 6 any of the requirements that we require them 7 to do, additional analysis based on build-out. 8 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: 9 Anything? 10 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: I would 11 rely on the T & M Associates' recommendation 12 to approve the plan. 13 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Do 14 you Commissioners have any other questions? 15 Can we have a motion to approve 16 it. 17 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: I make a 18 motion to approve. 19 COMMISSIONER DiDOMENICO: I will 20 second. 21 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 22 on a motion made by Commissioner Holloway and 23 seconded by Commissioner DiDomenico to approve 24 the Jersey City municipal storm water 25 management plan, Commissioner Avagliano? 17 1 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 2 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 3 Arencibia? 4 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye. 5 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 6 Bettinger? 7 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 8 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 9 DiDomenico? 10 COMMISSIONER DiDOMENICO: Aye. 11 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 12 Holloway? 13 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Aye. 14 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 15 Fitzgibbons? 16 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 17 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 18 the motion passed. 19 Mr. Chairman, the next 20 application scheduled for a public hearing is 21 2008-054-SP/SD, Mario J. Ferrao, applicant, 22 located at 1622 and 1624 Paterson Plank Road 23 in the Town of Secaucus. 24 MR. NEW: Good evening, Mr. 25 Chairman. My name is David New and I 18 1 represent the applicant. 2 The proper name of the 3 applicant, Mr. Chairman, is Secaucus Commons, 4 LLC. Mr. Ferrao is a principal of the 5 company. 6 We are here on an application 7 for site plan and subdivision. I have with me 8 tonight Mr. David Beesley from Macdel 9 Engineering who is familiar with this 10 property. 11 I understand Mr. Beesley has 12 been qualified as an expert before the Board 13 and I ask that he be accepted as an expert. 14 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Yes. 15 MR. NEW: Can I have him sworn 16 in? 17 MR. CALVANICO: Yes. 18 (David Beesley, was duly 19 sworn.) 20 MR. BEESLEY: Just for the 21 record, my name is David Beesley, 22 B-E-E-S-L-E-Y. I am president of Macdel 23 Engineering, and we did prepare site plan and 24 subdivision plan and all the engineering 25 background to develop the property. 19 1 We have a little over an acre of 2 property. It was subdivided into five 3 developable residential lot. Each lot 4 complies with the local ordinance. 5 This falls under the Secaucus 6 ordinance and not the Meadowlands district 7 ordinance. 8 Each of the lots is 5,000 square 9 feet and would have a duplication or 10 two-family house on each of the lot for a 11 total of ten residential units. Each has two 12 parking spaces for a total of twenty parking 13 spaces. 14 There was some slight mixup of 15 figures in one of the review letters I think 16 from Mr. Marks, but the fact is, that there is 17 ten units, twenty parking spaces and we 18 complied. This also complies with the RSIS. 19 What is of particular note to 20 the County is the impact on County roads and 21 the impact on County drainage. 22 This design actually reduces the 23 drainage area that goes to the County facility 24 and therefore has a reduction of the storm 25 water that impacts the County drainage system. 20 1 We do make direct connections 2 from the two buildings that front on Paterson 3 Plank Road and those are connected to the, to 4 an existing county storm pipe on Paterson 5 Plank Road and there are two curb cuts, one 6 for each unit. One for each building, rather, 7 right on Paterson Plank Road. 8 It is designed in normal RSIS 9 requirements and meets also the local 10 requirements. 11 One comment in the review letter 12 was to widen the sidewalk and I had 13 recommended to the applicant, he has accepted 14 my recommendation to go with the five-foot 15 sidewalk. 16 It apparently is a new policy 17 that the barrier free is coming up with, so we 18 agreed to do that. 19 I believe everything else we 20 have satisfied the requirements. I did note 21 that there was a comment about providing 22 bicycle racks and, although this is 23 appropriate in other settings, I don't believe 24 it is appropriate given the nature of a 25 two-family house. It is most appropriate if 21 1 you have large build, town houses, a whole row 2 of duplexes, things like that, but not 3 appropriate here. And that is really it. 4 We have designed this to meet 5 the requirements and it has minimal impact on 6 the County facilities. 7 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 8 in your packets this evening is a letter from 9 Secaucus endorsing the project. I want to 10 bring that to your attention, but I do not, 11 since the mayor is not here in person to be 12 sworn in, I don't think it is admissible, but 13 I just want to bring it to your attention. 14 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Mr. 15 Chairman, I have a question, if I may. 16 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Yes. 17 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Was 18 there a stop order issued in July of 2008 for 19 this project? 20 MR. BEESLEY: I believe there 21 was, yes. 22 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: The 23 reason for that was? 24 MR. BEESLEY: We had not 25 appeared before this Board. We were not aware 22 1 at the time given the number of units that it 2 needed to come before this Board. Looking at 3 just the two units that face Paterson Plank 4 Road. 5 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Was that 6 one building already built or -- 7 MR. BEESLEY: I know it was 8 under construction, I am not certain if it was 9 completed. I wasn't involved in the actual 10 construction of it. 11 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Who 12 issued the stop work order? 13 MR. BEESLEY: If I am not 14 mistaken, it came from Hudson County through 15 the building department in Secaucus. 16 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: 17 Mario, who -- 18 MR. TRIDENTE: At that time 19 there was two buildings already, one at 20 another location and I was the one that issued 21 the stop work order to, through the local 22 authorities to stop work on the projects. 23 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: You 24 issued the local authorities to -- 25 MR. TRIDENTE: I asked them to 23 1 issue a stop work order because they did not 2 receive prior approval from the County. 3 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: So 4 once again a local authority agency that is 5 supposed to know that anything built on a 6 County Road, they didn't notify the people 7 that they have to come to the County first? 8 MR. TRIDENTE: I am a little 9 surprised that the people that filled out the 10 application weren't aware of it, but if Mr. 11 Beesley filled out the application I am sure 12 he would have known -- he would have known he 13 would need prior approvals from the County. 14 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: He 15 would know, but what is getting me is that we 16 have been running into this constantly where 17 these municipalities are not notifying the 18 County about work being done on County roads. 19 I have been here I guess as the 20 longest sitting member and this has been going 21 on since I first started and I know we 22 notified each municipality and I think we will 23 have to send them a letter, each municipality 24 again, that anything that affects the County 25 road before they build or do anything, they 24 1 have to get permission from the County 2 Planning Board. 3 Can we do that? 4 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I 5 will send proper notice to each municipality 6 building inspector and construction code 7 official. 8 I should bring this the Board's 9 attention that the County land development 10 regulations that were approved by the 11 Freeholder Board on October 23rd, do authorize 12 the Planning Board to issue fines of one 13 hundred dollars per day where stop work orders 14 have been issued and where work continues. I 15 don't necessarily advocate that for this 16 application because this application, a stop 17 order came in before the regulations were duly 18 adopted, but from this point forward I will be 19 advocating that it be strictly enforced. 20 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Mr. 22 Chairman, in terms of the construction that is 23 done, what is the status of the work that 24 needs to get finished? 25 MR. BEESLEY: To go forward? 25 1 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Yes. 2 MR. BEESLEY: The one building 3 might be complete, the second building on 4 Paterson Plank Road I believe only has some 5 foundation work completed. The piles had been 6 driven early for all the buildings. 7 DIRECTOR MARKS: So there is 8 quite a bit of site work and utility work that 9 needs to be completed for all the buildings. 10 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: With 11 respect to road openings, curbs and sidewalks, 12 has any of that work been done? 13 MR. BEESLEY: No, that still 14 needs to occur. 15 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Okay. 16 Pending this Board's approval you will get a 17 road opening permit from the County. 18 MR. BEESLEY: That's correct. 19 MR. TRIDENTE: Mr. Chairman, 20 just to bring Mr. Beesley up to date, as of 21 December 9th, the second portion, second phase 22 of the second building, probably by now the 23 first floor has already been completed. 24 Masonry work. You will also find that 25 photograph in your folder. 26 1 MR. BEESLEY: Thank you. I was 2 relying on information I received before 3 tonight, so I -- and I did not have an 4 opportunity to go past the property. Probably 5 since a month and a half or more. 6 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Mr. 7 Chairman, also I believe Medina Consultants 8 were reviewing the plans for the Board, is 9 that correct? 10 DIRECTOR MARKS: Yes, Mr. 11 Chairman, Medina did issue I believe a comment 12 letter I think from July 3rd, and I believe 13 Mr. Beesley had furnished -- as of a week or 14 two ago had furnished I think a letter dated 15 -- from either yourself or Macdel 16 Engineering -- 17 MR. BEESLEY: Yes. 18 DIRECTOR MARKS: -- had 19 furnished the information, but that is only 20 after -- it took August, September, October, 21 November, December -- after five months where 22 the foundations were already erected, five 23 months to get the information. It puts the 24 applicant in jeopardy if the application is 25 not approved. 27 1 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: 2 Anybody have anything to say? 3 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Well, 4 Mr. Beesley, could you just explain the site 5 in relation to Paterson Plank Road? I don't 6 think we got an explanation how traffic would 7 be coming in and out. 8 MR. BEESLEY: This is very close 9 to the end of Paterson Plank Road. It is just 10 past Farm Road. 11 There is a, an ongoing 12 construction across the other side of Paterson 13 Plank Road referred to as Jacob's Landing. 14 There is also another residential town house 15 project right along Paterson Plank Road, and I 16 don't know the name of that, kind of a wedge 17 shaped piece of property, and beyond that is 18 some businesses and some more single-family 19 houses. 20 But I am going to guess it is 21 maybe only a block or so from the end of 22 Paterson Plank Road. It is really quite close 23 to the end of it. 24 In terms of overall traffic, 25 yes, you do have some traffic, you have some 28 1 trucks that still access the plant at the end, 2 but there are lots of similar driveway cuts up 3 and down Paterson Plank Road and again as you 4 get closer to the end of it, the impact of 5 traffic where the driveway is less and less. 6 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: This is 7 an existing curb cut you will be utilizing or 8 brand new driveway? 9 MR. BEESLEY: There were curb 10 cuts here. I would really have to go back and 11 look at the plans, but they are proposing one. 12 There were at least two if not one before. 13 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Now you 14 are proposing one up past Paterson Plank Road? 15 MR. BEESLEY: No. It is one for 16 each of the dwellings, so there are actually 17 going to be four on Paterson Plank Road. One 18 for each of the dwellings. 19 You have a driveway and a 20 garage, a little piece, a driveway and a 21 garage for each of those two units and a space 22 between that and the next building. 23 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Each 24 driveway is about -- 25 MR. BEESLEY: Ten feet, 29 1 something like that. 2 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: The 3 other units are behind? 4 MR. BEESLEY: Yes. Meadow Lane 5 is in the back here and we have three 6 buildings to go in the back here. 7 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: And 8 they will be accessed off that? 9 MR. BEESLEY: Yes. And then 10 there is an area in the back that is becoming 11 a municipal parking lot to serve the whole 12 neighborhood for anybody who needs an extra 13 parking space. 14 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 15 how many parking spaces are in the municipal 16 parking lot? 17 MR. BEESLEY: Ten. 18 It actually acts more like a cul 19 de sac it is quite large. We put a turning 20 templet on there. The normal turning templet 21 is sixty feet and it fits inside this area 22 here. It actually acts like a cul de sac and 23 with the parking at the back end of it. 24 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: That is 25 all the questions I have, Mr. Chairman. 30 1 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I am 2 just questioning the location. Is this closer 3 to Home Depot or in the opposite direction? 4 MR. BEESLEY: No, no, the river 5 is just a little bit beyond this. 6 MR. CALVANICO: Past Route 3, 7 all the way down past the school, right before 8 the river. 9 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: I make a 11 motion to approve. 12 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Second? 13 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I will 14 second the motion. 15 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 16 on a motion to approve application 17 2008-054-SP/SD made by Commissioner Holloway 18 and seconded by Commissioner Bettinger, 19 Commissioner Arencibia? 20 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye. 21 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 22 Avagliano? 23 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 24 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 25 Bettinger? 31 1 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 2 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 3 DiDomenico? 4 COMMISSIONER DiDOMENICO: Aye. 5 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 6 Holloway? 7 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Aye. 8 DIRECTOR MARKS: Chairman 9 Fitzgibbons? 10 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 11 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 12 the motion passed. 13 MR. BEESLEY: Thank you all for 14 your time. Good night. 15 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Mr. 16 Chairman, excuse me. This next application -- 17 I am familiar with this application. I am 18 going to excuse myself. The next application. 19 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Do we 20 have a quorum now? 21 MR. CALVANICO: We do now that 22 Commissioner DiDomenico is here. 23 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman 24 next is 2008-142-ISP/SD, Peter Aceti, 25 applicant, located at 1629 Kennedy Boulevard 32 1 which is Block 1257.A, Lot M and L.3 in the 2 City of Jersey City. 3 MR. CAMPISANO: Good evening, 4 Mr. Chairman, my name is Richard Campisano and 5 I represent Mr. Aceti. 6 This is an application for a 7 property located between Bartholdi Avenue and 8 Winfield Avenue in the City of Jersey City. 9 The applicant has owned the 10 property for a number of years. The property 11 originally started out as two lots, eventually 12 merged as a result of being in common 13 ownership and that was the reason why Mr. 14 Aceti was forced to seek a subdivision because 15 it was his intention to build a two-family 16 house on the remainder lot. 17 The existing lot with the house 18 on it would remain as is. It would two 19 two-family homes located on this property. 20 I have reviewed the comments 21 from the planning department with my client 22 and with my architect and my client can agree 23 to all the items contained therein. 24 I have present with me Mr. Aceti 25 as well as the architect Mr. Sanga, if the 33 1 Board has any questions. 2 As to the driveway, the parking 3 issue, on the street, the driveway is on the 4 lot to be built so there would be no 5 additional curb cut as a result of this 6 development. 7 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: You are 8 only in just for the subdivision? 9 DIRECTOR MARKS: It is a 10 subdivision and site plan. Site plan for a 11 two-family. 12 MR. CAMPISANO: The rules, it 13 was exempt from site plan approval but it did 14 need C variances when it was originally before 15 the City of Jersey City. 16 DIRECTOR MARKS: But it is for 17 municipal approval, but for County approval it 18 is still a site plan then it is a site plan 19 and subdivision both. 20 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: All 21 right, so could you please just explain the, 22 again, the purpose of the subdivision and what 23 you plan to do with the new lot. 24 MR. CAMPISANO: The new lot, the 25 purpose of the subdivision is to create two 34 1 lots. The existing lot where the house is 2 would remain as it presently constituted and 3 the new lot would create one two-family home 4 with parking for two cars. It would be two 5 three-bedroom apartments contained in the 6 newly created home. 7 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: For the 8 new home you propose building a driveway for a 9 garage? 10 MR. CAMPISANO: There would be a 11 driveway and there would be a garage, but the 12 curb cut already exists so we wouldn't be 13 seeking another curb cut on the Boulevard. 14 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Are you 15 proposing to replace the curb and the sidewalk 16 in front of the new lot? 17 MR. CAMPISANO: Yes. 18 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: So you 19 will need a road opening permit from the 20 County Engineer's office before you proceed 21 with the curb. 22 Are there any other utility 23 openings for gas, water service, new services 24 that have to be provided for the new building? 25 MR. CAMPISANO: I think my 35 1 architect would be better able to answer those 2 questions. 3 If you would like to have Mr. 4 Sanga sworn. 5 MR. SANGA: My name is Michio, 6 M-I-C-H-I-O, last name Sanga, S-A-N-G-A. 7 (Michio Saying, was duly sworn.) 8 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Proceed. 9 MR. SANGA: Yes. This for new 10 two-family building will have four-inch sewer, 11 four-inch storm, and one-inch water. We are 12 going to have new sewer sanitary lining, storm 13 line and water line. 14 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: The 15 storm line is for the roof drains or on-site 16 drainage? 17 MR. SANGA: Yes, it is. 18 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: And you 19 already have permits to connect to the Jersey 20 City system? 21 MR. SANGA: We haven't applied. 22 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: I 23 didn't understand. 24 MR. SANGA: We haven't applied 25 for that. 36 1 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: You 2 haven't applied for it yet? 3 MR. SANGA: Right. 4 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: As a 5 condition for the road opening, I presume they 6 will be in the street, at least some of them, 7 you will need a road opening permit from the 8 County engineer. As a condition you will need 9 to provide those approvals for the permit. 10 MR. SANGA: Yes, okay. 11 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: So it 12 is two-family. How big is the garage? 13 MR. SANGA: Forty-four feet 14 long. 15 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: 16 Forty-four? 17 MR. SANGA: Yes. 18 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: How 19 wide is the driveway going to be? 20 MR. SANGA: Ten feet wide. 21 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: And the 22 driveway will have for one car or -- 23 MR. SANGA: There are no 24 driveways, a garage. So a car will be stored 25 inside the house. 37 1 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: So 2 there is a one-car garage? 3 MR. SANGA: Two-car garage. 4 Tandem, yes. 5 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: And you 6 have the plan with you? 7 MR. SANGA: Yes. 8 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Can we 9 take a quick look at it. 10 MR. SANGA: You mean garage 11 part? 12 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: The 13 site plan that shows the driveway. 14 I see one ten-foot wide 15 driveway. And you are not doing any work in 16 front of the existing building? 17 MR. SANGA: No. 18 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: This is 19 going to be it. And it looks like all of the 20 connections for the utilities are in the 21 street, so you will definitely need to get a 22 road opening permit from the County Engineer. 23 Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER DiDOMENICO: Mr. 25 Chairman? 38 1 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Yes. 2 COMMISSIONER DiDOMINICO: I just 3 have a question. 4 From some of the pictures I am 5 looking at, it looks like there is an 6 extension from the existing house that is 7 north of the lot that runs across the back of 8 the lot we are talking about. 9 Is that part of that? 10 MR. TRIDENTE: That has been 11 taken down already. That overhang is not 12 there. 13 If you look at the next series 14 of photos, those photographs that you are 15 looking at now is from May 30th and if you 16 look at the photographs of December 9th you 17 will see that that overhang has been taken 18 down. 19 COMMISSIONER DiDOMENICO: Thank 20 you. 21 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman? 22 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Yes. 23 DIRECTOR MARKS: I just want to 24 emphasize one point. 25 On Item 11 in the review letter 39 1 for the shade tree, I just want to make sure 2 the applicant is aware that the site plan 3 should be revised to reflect the County's land 4 development regulations in terms of the shade 5 tree detail. It should reflect the County's 6 regulations no less than three and a half inch 7 caliper tree, the shade tree pit should not be 8 less than four foot by four foot. 9 MR. CAMPISANO: Mr. Marks, I 10 have spoken to my client as well as the 11 architect with regard to that and they are 12 both aware. 13 DIRECTOR MARKS: Do they accept 14 it? 15 MR. CAMPISANO: And they both 16 accepted it? 17 DIRECTOR MARKS: Okay. 18 MR. TRIDENTE: Mr. Chairman, I 19 just have one question. 20 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Yes. 21 MR. TRIDENTE: The building line 22 would be, would it be in line with the 23 existing home or would it be set back further, 24 and if there is a car parked in front of the 25 driveway will it exceed the fence line of the 40 1 existing fence. 2 MR. SANGA: Yes. The front 3 phase of the building will be right now 4 pointing against the house. That is twelve 5 feet -- 12.6 feet inside the property line. 6 MR. TRIDENTE: If a car parks in 7 front of the driveway, will the vehicle exceed 8 the fence line? Will it go beyond the fence 9 line? 10 MR. SANGA: Yes. 11 MR. TRIDENTE: How much? If you 12 are taking a normal size car. 13 MR. SANGA: 12.6 feet long. 14 MR. TRIDENTE: Just to let the 15 Board know that. Thank you. 16 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: 17 Anything else? 18 Do we have a motion? 19 COMMISSIONER DiDOMENICO: Motion 20 to approve. 21 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I will 22 second the motion. 23 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 24 on a motion to approve application 25 2008-142-ISP/SD made by Commissioner 41 1 DiDomenico and seconded by Commissioner 2 Bettinger, Commissioner Arencibia? 3 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye. 4 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 5 Avagliano? 6 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. I 7 am familiar with the area and that is going to 8 be an improvement to the area. I vote aye. 9 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 10 Bettinger? 11 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 12 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 13 DiDomenico? 14 COMMISSIONER DiDOMENICO: Aye. 15 DIRECTOR MARKS: Chairman 16 Fitzgibbons? 17 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 18 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 19 the motion passes. 20 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Do we 21 have any old business? 22 DIRECTOR MARKS: I don't have 23 old business, but Mr. Tridente and I have new 24 business. 25 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Any 42 1 new business? 2 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman -- 3 Mr. Tridente, would you like to go first? 4 MR. TRIDENTE: Yes. Mr. 5 Chairman, we have two issues pending in the 6 office. We have Fraternity Meadows which is a 7 previously approved application. We received 8 numerous phone calls and complaints that the 9 sidewalks along the New County Road extension 10 have not been installed as of yet causing 11 people to walk out into the street. 12 We have had contact with Mr. 13 O'Connor which is a representative from, which 14 is a representative for Fraternity Meadows and 15 I asked him basically to supply us with a 16 pedestrian traffic modification plan or at 17 least address the issue of the people walking 18 out in the street, and in your packets you 19 will see that they will make every effort 20 possible to address those issues, that they 21 are going to put up proper signage and the 22 difference, the inconvenience factor would be 23 an additional two hundred feet from nine 24 hundred, as opposed eleven hundred feet where 25 if the sidewalks were installed they would 43 1 only be walking nine hundred feet, but being 2 they are not installed yet they are saying it 3 is approximately eleven hundred feet. 4 So they basically satisfied my 5 concerns, they have spoken with the 6 construction manager in seeing if they could 7 alternate their construction schedule to see 8 if they could take care of that safety issue. 9 That is number one. 10 And No. 2, 7301 River Road in 11 North Bergen, on December 5th a notice of 12 violation was issued and a stop work order 13 followed shortly after to the applicant 14 through the construction official of North 15 Bergen. 16 Basically they have started some 17 preliminary site work and my opinion they have 18 disturbed the Palisade. Not only the 19 Palisade, but the site work also involves some 20 building of a new road, access road to an 21 elevation maybe exceeding eighty-five feet for 22 them to do soil boring tests. 23 Well, I explained to Joseph 24 Laureni that that constitutes disturbance of 25 the Palisade, the steep slope, and they are in 44 1 violation of the County land regulation and I 2 have a meeting with him on Friday, 9:30 to go 3 over some of these issues. 4 If you look at the photos, I 5 mean -- 6 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: I see 7 them. 8 MR. TRIDENTE: He is saying he 9 hasn't disturbed the Palisade. He has not 10 disturbed the cliff rock or anything like 11 that, and I -- 12 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: I got a 13 question. 14 The local official, construction 15 official, didn't they see what was going on? 16 MR. TRIDENTE: They were 17 notified and respected our request and put the 18 stop work order. So our request was adhered 19 to. 20 They immediately put the stop 21 work order in. 22 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: I asked 23 you a question. You are going to meet with 24 these people, right? 25 MR. TRIDENTE: Yeah. 45 1 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Don't 2 they have to come before us? 3 MR. TRIDENTE: Yes. 4 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: So 5 they would have to supply us with an 6 application and come before us? 7 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 8 the applicant did file an application with us. 9 It's been incomplete for some time and the -- 10 we spoke with the engineer and I believe they 11 are planning to come out to the next Site Plan 12 Subdivision Committee meeting on January 7th 13 to resolve whatever issues come. 14 However, the Hudson County 15 master plan update discourages development or 16 disturbance of the Palisade cliff as a natural 17 resource ecological feature and the land 18 development regulations prohibit, the Hudson 19 County Land Development Regulations prohibit 20 the development or disturbance on steep 21 slopes. 22 We followed a direction, policy 23 direction of the New Jersey Department of 24 Environmental Protection when they issued the 25 State's water quality regulations a year and a 46 1 half ago, and the DEP also, through its water 2 quality regulations, prohibit development or 3 disturbance on steep slopes. 4 The development and disturbance 5 of steep slopes has a very negative and 6 adverse effect on water quality especially in 7 terms of soil erosion and sediment control, so 8 we had taken the DEP's own language from the 9 water quality regulations and inserted it into 10 the land development regulations which were, 11 which were recommended by this Board and 12 accepted by the Freeholder Board. 13 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: I notice 14 there is work being done on the Palisade in 15 Union City, Jersey City, Union City, going 16 towards 17th Street. 17 MR. TRIDENTE: Mr. Chairman, 18 that has been approved. 19 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: And 20 there is also work being done in Weehawken as 21 you come by the police, the city hall/police 22 station there is a slope, you go down there. 23 On your right I see all these, I 24 don't know what part, but I see all these 25 boulders there, these rocks. 47 1 DIRECTOR MARKS: By Town Hall? 2 The Town Hall? 3 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: I don't 4 know. 5 DIRECTOR MARKS: It may not be. 6 MR. TRIDENTE: It may not fall 7 under our jurisdiction. 8 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: It is 9 part of the palisades. 10 DIRECTOR MARKS: As far as the 11 County jurisdiction over drainage facilities, 12 I don't believe that portion of Park Avenue is 13 a County road. Park Avenue further south 14 beginning at 19th Street, Demetrio? 15 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Yes. 16 DIRECTOR MARKS: In Weehawken 17 Park Avenue is a County road south of 19th 18 Street. 19 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: If you go 20 out of Hoboken over the bridge and go straight 21 up, I -- 22 DIRECTOR MARKS: Right there is 23 no longer a County road and I don't believe 24 the County has drainage facilities going north 25 on Park Avenue. 48 1 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Isn't 2 that part of the Palisades? 3 DIRECTOR MARKS: The County 4 Planning Board only has jurisdiction over 5 those developments that impact County roads 6 and drainage facilities, that affect them, so 7 if a portion of the Palisades or steep slopes 8 don't affect County roads or drainage 9 facilities, then this Board really doesn't 10 have jurisdiction to hear the application. 11 This other application on River 12 Road in North Bergen is sandwiched, literally 13 sandwiched between River Road to the east and 14 Boulevard East to the west. 15 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: I know. 16 DIRECTOR MARKS: So it is on 17 either side. Immediately on either side are 18 two County roads, so the county has double 19 jurisdiction. 20 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: So if 21 they did this work then that fine could come 22 into effect, right? 23 DIRECTOR MARKS: The stop work 24 order has been issued and I am not sure if the 25 work is continuing. 49 1 The applicant in this case is 2 requesting that any loose boulders or loose 3 rock material be removed which I don't -- and 4 the letter that Mr. Tridente references, the 5 cover is Mr. Tridente's December 2nd letter to 6 the Township of North Bergen, the second page 7 is the notice of violation, the third page is 8 the notice of violation, and the fourth and 9 fifth pages are a letter from Bertin 10 Engineering Associates re: AVAK Properties, 11 LLC. 12 On the second page from Burtin 13 Engineering, the top, there are three items 14 that Burtin Engineering is requesting. Number 15 one is to remove loose boulders from higher 16 elevations where they present a safety hazard. 17 No. 2 is to crush the boulders 18 and stockpile the crushed stone for soil 19 stabilization and wheel cleaning pads as 20 required by Soil Conservation Permit. 21 And No. 3 is to bolt, pin, and 22 take other measures required to stabilize the 23 Palisades Cliffs. 24 Now that the -- now that the 25 vegetation has died away, several areas of the 50 1 cliff can be observed that require attention 2 as soon as possible. 3 With regard to Mr. Laureni's 4 letter, I personally don't object. I would 5 recommend the Board approving No. 1 in terms 6 of mitigating any hazardous conditions that 7 exist, but items two and three I would object 8 to. 9 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: My 10 problem is they had an incomplete application 11 how long now? 12 DIRECTOR MARKS: Several months. 13 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Several 14 months. So they knew they had an incomplete 15 application and they went on and did the work? 16 DIRECTOR MARKS: Yes. 17 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: So 18 what they was doing is rubbing our nose. 19 DIRECTOR MARKS: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: So 21 now when he gets caught he is uh-humming, 22 uh-humming, uh-humming, as Ralph Kramden used 23 to say. 24 I don't know -- sit down with 25 them tell, them they are going to get fined if 51 1 they keep it up. 2 MR. TRIDENTE: Mr. Chairman, I 3 would like to bring it to your attention in 4 the letter that there are some misstatements 5 that they received permits from the County and 6 after speaking to Andrew Graybush from the 7 Hudson Essex Soil Conservation District, that 8 permit they are speaking of is from that 9 department and not from Hudson County per se, 10 whether it be the division of planning or the 11 engineering department, so he is trying to say 12 that he has received approval and permits from 13 Hudson County, but in essence it is not from 14 either one of our entities, it is from the 15 Hudson Essex Soil Conservation. 16 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Can I 17 suggest something? Sit down with them, find 18 out where they are going with this and then 19 get in touch with Steve. 20 Steve, e-mail me what happened 21 here. 22 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, I 23 have talked to Burtin who is the engineer for 24 the applicant and invited him to the January 25 7th Site Plan Committee meeting and I would 52 1 also like to extend an invitation to you since 2 you are retired now. If you are so interested 3 and inclined you are more than welcome to come 4 out. 10:00 January 7. 5 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: I will 6 try to make every effort to be there. All 7 right? 8 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: We look 9 forward to seeing you, Mr. Chairman. 10 DIRECTOR MARKS: Anything else? 11 Mr. Tridente, are you done? 12 MR. TRIDENTE: Yes, sir. 13 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 14 included in your packets this evening is a 15 proposed -- at the top it says Hudson County 16 Planning Board Public Notice. It is on a 17 legal sized sheet of paper for Hudson County 18 Planning Board scheduled meetings for 2009. 19 Per the open public meetings act 20 we are supposed to publish in advance a list 21 of dates and places for our meetings. 22 Since the Board only reorganizes 23 January 21, I would request that the Board 24 introduce this now. 25 I would like to move back -- we 53 1 have been meeting at 11:00 for the Site Plan 2 Subdivision Committee meeting, I would like to 3 move it back to 10:00 o'clock. 4 And I have a question for the 5 Commissioners. Is 6:30 still a good time for 6 the evening meetings? 7 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: 6:00. 8 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: 6:30. 9 DIRECTOR MARKS: 6:30 is still 10 fine with everybody? 11 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Yes. 12 DIRECTOR MARKS: I think it 13 would be appropriate to introduce this and we 14 will put it officially into the, to be 15 memorialized at the January 21 meeting. 16 COMMISSIONER FITZGIBBONS: Do we 17 have anyone who wants to introduce it? 18 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I will 19 make a motion to introduce the schedule for 20 the Hudson County Planning Board for the 21 meetings for 2009. 22 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Second. 23 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 24 on a motion made by Commissioner Bettinger, 25 seconded by Commissioner Avagliano, 54 1 Commissioner Arencibia? 2 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye. 3 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 4 Avagliano? 5 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 6 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 7 Bettinger? 8 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 9 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 10 DiDomenico? 11 COMMISSIONER DiDOMENICO: Aye. 12 DIRECTOR MARKS: And 13 Commissioner Holloway? 14 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Aye. 15 DIRECTOR MARKS: And Chairman 16 Fitzgibbons? 17 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 18 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 19 that motion passed. 20 Mr. Chairman, also in your 21 packets this evening is a copy, it says at the 22 top right-hand corner Hudson County Planning 23 Board bylaws, approved by resolution January 24 21, 2008. Table of contents. It would be, 25 since the Board is reorganizing on January 21, 55 1 2009, I would just like to have this 2 introduced and then it can be memorialized at 3 the January 21 meeting. 4 The only changes that I am 5 proposing within the bylaws are to change the 6 reference to the open public meetings law, to 7 the open public meetings act, and inserted the 8 statutory designation of the open public 9 meetings act and then, secondly, since the 10 secretary's position is a staff function 11 rather than a commissioner function, I am 12 proposing to eliminate the secretary's title 13 from the executive board of the Planning 14 Board, make it the Planning Director or his 15 designee, and the selected executive officers 16 would be the Chair and the Vice-chair. 17 If the board feels compelled to 18 have a third executive board member, the 19 Freeholder Board has a Chair pro tem that sits 20 as Chair in case the Chairman and the 21 Vice-chair are absent, but I don't think we 22 have in the four and a half years I have dealt 23 with the Board I don't think the secretary 24 ever sat as the acting chair. 25 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: I did 56 1 once. 2 DIRECTOR MARKS: Did you? So 3 maybe it would be appropriate to include a 4 provision for a Chair pro tem. 5 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Chair pro 6 tem, yes. 7 One time we just made a quorum 8 and I was the secretary which was -- and being 9 I was the secretary they made me chair the 10 meeting. 11 DIRECTOR MARKS: So I would 12 recommend that the, with the proviso inserting 13 a Chair pro tem as the third chair, to be 14 inserted that, that the bylaws be introduced 15 this evening pending that change. 16 We will have the change for 17 January 21 and it can be duly adopted on 18 January 21. 19 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: That's 20 good. 21 Do we have a motion? 22 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: I will 23 make a motion to introduce. 24 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: I 25 second. 57 1 DIRECTOR MARKS: Mr. Chairman, 2 on a motion to introduce the Hudson County 3 Planning Board bylaws made by Commissioner 4 Bettinger, seconded by Commissioner Holloway, 5 Commissioner Arencibia? 6 COMMISSIONER ARENCIBIA: Aye. 7 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 8 Avagliano? 9 COMMISSIONER AVAGLIANO: Aye. 10 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 11 Bettinger? 12 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Aye. 13 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 14 DiDomenico? 15 COMMISSIONER DiDOMENICO: Aye. 16 DIRECTOR MARKS: Commissioner 17 Holloway? 18 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Aye. 19 DIRECTOR MARKS: Chairman 20 Fitzgibbons? 21 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Aye. 22 DIRECTOR MARKS: Thank you. 23 Mr. Chairman, one final thing. 24 Included in your packets -- Mr. Chairman, 25 included in your packets is a, it is a report, 58 1 it is called the Hudson County Planning Board 2 2008 year-end development and community 3 indicator record. It has a nice color picture 4 of the Statue of Liberty on it. 5 In the bylaws it says that the 6 Planning Board should furnish a report of the 7 applications which have been approved for the 8 year previous. 9 We just haven't had the staff 10 resources or wherewithal to do this before. 11 This is only a draft. This isn't a final 12 document. 13 It is not a document that needs 14 Planning Board approval, but we have been 15 working on what's called a community indicator 16 report which follows several dozen indicators 17 about the quality of life in Hudson County. 18 It is things that the Board has 19 jurisdiction over like traffic fatalities and 20 transportation issues, and even tangential 21 community indicators like air quality, from 22 transportation that the Board has jurisdiction 23 over but there are many other quality of life 24 indicators that are just factual, that the 25 Board -- it is neither here nor there, things 59 1 like the employment, the number of people 2 employed, unemployed, the unemployment rate -- 3 the employment rates and unemployment rates, 4 numbers of certificates of occupancy issued in 5 the County not just under the Board's 6 jurisdiction but County-wide, as well as other 7 environmental indicators; air quality, air 8 quality so on and so forth of the Bruntlin 9 Commission which was an international 10 commission that recommended the planning 11 boards or planning commissions internationally 12 start developing community indicator reports. 13 Take a look at the quality of 14 life issues within their jurisdictions. That 15 is what this approach is to do. 16 This is all data that could be 17 culled through the internet. Anybody through 18 a Google search could find out the crime rate 19 or the high school graduation rate or high 20 school dropout rate or the number of general 21 assistance in town for Medicare. 22 CHAIRMAN FITZGIBBONS: Poverty 23 rate. 24 DIRECTOR MARKS: Poverty rate, 25 number of free lunches. And it is not just a 60 1 single year as a snapshot, it is longitudinal 2 data, could be five, ten, twenty years. 3 So it really gives the reader an 4 indication of whether the quality of life is 5 better today in Hudson County than it was ten, 6 twenty years ago or worse. 7 I am happy to report that the 8 only -- some of the indicators were mixed, but 9 the only community indicator benchmark where 10 we found a declining indicator was in water 11 quality and that was not just surface water 12 quality like the Hudson River or Passaic 13 River, that is actually drinking water. And 14 what that is a function of is all the 15 encroaching development around the reservation 16 where Hudson County draws its drinking water 17 like Split Rock Reservoir, Jersey City 18 Reservoir up in Parsippany and other places, 19 and what that is, is all the development that 20 is now encroaching on those reservoirs has an 21 effect. 22 All the lawns that are now 23 fertilized, all those things are now making 24 their way into our water supply. 25 Anyway, Mr. Chairman, what I 61 1 would like to do is as far as the community 2 indicators, we are still trying to resolve 3 some of the Hudson County Planning Board 4 application figures. 5 We would like to show some of 6 the number of applications for the last, at 7 least since 2000, but what I would like is for 8 everybody to take a look at in your leisure -- 9 over the holidays when you have some down time 10 and, Mr. Chairman, I would welcome any 11 feedback. 12 But we will between now and 13 January 21, we will fill in some of the blanks 14 in terms of the applications that have come 15 before you. 16 COMMISSIONER HOLLOWAY: Mr. 17 Chairman, one question for the Director, if I 18 could. 19 How are we doing with the 20 backlog of applications that -- 21 DIRECTOR MARKS: In terms of the 22 applications that weren't complete, the Board 23 dismissed everything, so we are basically up 24 to date with all the applications that were 25 pending. 62 1 In terms of the escrows, the 2 backlog of escrows, Mr. Tridente has all but 3 one of the hundreds of backlogged escrow 4 accounts. There is one application that he 5 has to look into, so Mr. Tridente has done a 6 great job in whittling that down. 7 I give Daniela a lot of credit. 8 A lot of effort has gone into this. 9 Mr. Chairman, Merry Christmas, 10 Happy Chanukah, all the best to you over the 11 holidays. 12 COMMISSIONER BETTINGER: Motion 13 to adjourn. 14 COMMISSIONER DiDOMENICO: 15 Second. 16 (Round of Ayes.) 17 (Time noted: 7:45 p.m.) 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25