2026-10-05 - Planning Board

00:00October 5, 2026 with a start time of 6/15. Can we all stand for the Pledge of the Allegiance?

00:07I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands,

00:16one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

00:25Ben Sunshine Announcements.

00:32Good evening everyone. Today is Monday, October 5, 2026.

00:36This is a very special Jersey City Planning Board meeting with a scheduled start time of 5.30 p.m.

00:42In accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, notice of this meeting has been posted with the city clerk on the city bulletin

00:49and city website on Thursday, October 1, 2026.

00:54This meeting was also posted on the Jersey City Division of City Planning webpage,

00:59and all distribution materials made available to the board were published and available to the public.

01:05Thank you. Can we have the roll call, please?

01:09Sure. Vice Chair Wick?

01:12Here.

01:13Commissioner Kaplan?

01:14Present.

01:17Commissioner Stomato?

01:18Present.

01:19Commissioner Patel?

01:20And Madam Chair Gangadon?

01:22Here.

01:23We have five commissioners in attendance. We have a quorum.

01:27Thank you. Can we swear into staff?

01:29Sherry, right? Sherry?

01:31Yes.

01:32Thank you. Any correspondence?

01:40We do not have any correspondence.

01:44Okay, great.

01:45Can we mark the notices?

01:47Yeah, can we mark the notices as B1?

01:50Yes, please.

01:51All right.

01:52Thank you.

01:53Thanks, Ben.

01:57So the special meeting for this evening is on case B2025-0244,

02:03which is a preliminary and final major site plan.

02:06We'd see variances.

02:08Address is 3000 Kennedy Boulevard.

02:10Our attorney, Charles Harrington.

02:13Yes.

02:17Good evening.

02:17Good evening.

02:18Thank you for organizing this special meeting for tonight.

02:21For the record, Charles Harrington of Connell Foley on behalf of the applicant.

02:27This application for you tonight did require public notices.

02:30I'd ask, I'll give those to counsel, ask that they be reviewed

02:33and marked into the record.

02:47Thank you, counsel.

02:49Madam Chair, I'm going to receive the affidavit of publication,

02:53proof of mailing with respect to the application at 3000K Boulevard.

02:57All does appear to be in order.

03:13We're going to mark it as A1 for purpose of the record.

03:15Thank you.

03:16Okay. I'll jump right in, I'll give us, I think a summary of the property

03:27and how we got here is probably relevant to tonight's presentation.

03:33The property is in the journal square 2060 redevelopment plan area.

03:38It's in what's called zone three.

03:41It is proposing to utilize the commercial space bonus,

03:48which provides for two additional floors.

03:51On those, those floors were proposing to have residential units as,

03:55as opposed to hotel units.

03:57That's, that's a part of the ordinance that permits that,

03:59that was adopted within the last year by the city council.

04:03And that one of the reasons behind that is to promote affordable housing.

04:07It would also is providing for the 20 additional stories that is an

04:13accommodation for the 10% affordable units within this project.

04:18And there was also a parking bonus that provides.

04:22And it up to an additional four stories.

04:26If you provide at least 150 parking spaces,

04:29public parking spaces within the building.

04:32And that's, that's kind of where the story kind of began here where this

04:36property used to be in, in a separate redevelopment plan.

04:39And a few years ago, there, well,

04:44everybody's familiar with the county courthouse that was built, right.

04:47That county courthouse has under parked.

04:50So that created a parking shortage.

04:52What, what happened is we, you know, you used,

04:57if you went to the county courthouse,

04:59there were a lot of surface parking lots throughout the area.

05:02They went away as a result of all the development in the area.

05:06And as this board knows,

05:07there's no requirement for parking within these new developments in the

05:10journal square.

05:11So that was something that wasn't taken into consideration when they built

05:15the new courthouse.

05:17They also then the garage as, you know,

05:20as, as is evident from, from the ultimate construction.

05:25It's, it's undersized.

05:27I think the count is that the county was about 700 spaces low on,

05:32on overall what they would need for, for the lawyers, the judges,

05:37the staff, the jurors take that.

05:41And you also have the low steer coming back online.

05:46And then you have the commercial up in the area on, on Newark Avenue and,

05:51and, and JFK in the immediate area.

05:55And I, I point that out because a number of years ago,

05:59I got a call from representatives in the county and in the city saying,

06:04you know, Mr. Arrington, you do a lot of work in,

06:06in the journal square area.

06:08Do any of your clients have property or,

06:10or would they want to look at property to create public parking?

06:14Because we think there's a need for that.

06:17So this is one of the properties that, that we looked at.

06:21And my client is under contract for, and,

06:24and that's what initiated the zoning change to create.

06:29Now there's this parcel and then there's a few other within the journal

06:32square plan that's parking bonus E that provides for these bonuses.

06:37And the intent is to create commercial public parking within the area.

06:42So that's at one point,

06:46like it was about a little over a year ago, the, um, well,

06:49this board and then the city council, uh,

06:52moved this property into the journal square redevelopment plan as,

06:57as his own three property.

06:59And that, that kind of results in the 51 stories that's being proposed

07:02tonight.

07:03So that the, the, um, the pros proposal is a 51 story, um,

07:10residential tower.

07:12Uh, you'll have, it's actually two towers, uh, next to each other.

07:16Uh, 1,454 residential units,

07:20of which 10% or 146 of those units will be affordable, uh, units.

07:26Um, it is proposing for the,

07:30to have the public parking that would come off of Brooks place place.

07:34We'll show you that it's Euron, uh, uh,

07:37turns the corner and goes into a Brooks place,

07:40which then Brooks place is a one way going west that,

07:43that comes out to a traffic light on JFK Boulevard.

07:48Um, so all the,

07:50the in and out will be off that side street because you cannot have,

07:53you could not have a, um,

07:55a parking driveway off of Newark Avenue or Kennedy Boulevard because this,

08:00this property is, it's located at the corner of Newark and JFK.

08:04Um, it has the dollar store there.

08:07And years ago, I think it was the Hudson news was there.

08:10Um, so, uh, it's a three story building.

08:13So you'll, you'll see, um, during the presentation, but, um,

08:18so we are, um, we are asking for some relief on, on deviations that are

08:23related to the tower on base, uh, uh, regulations, which is typical of,

08:28of, uh, uh, lots that are not the size of journaled square or one journal.

08:34Um, so we have, um, tonight, uh, a number of witnesses, uh,

08:40I want to walk you through, we'll have our civil engineer walk you through

08:43the site. Um, then we have, uh, our architect.

08:48And then I have a valet, um, operator, uh, witness who will explain to the

08:53board how the valet is going to work because the garage is two stories and

08:57it's going to be a valet operation, uh, 24 seven. So typical of, you know,

09:02if you park your car in the city, uh, in Manhattan, you drop your car off,

09:06they take it into the back, you park it and you pick it up.

09:09So we'll explain how that's going to work. Uh,

09:12and then I have a John McDonough as our planner, uh,

09:15to, uh, address the requested variances.

09:18And we also have our traffic engineer here too, that, uh, in the event,

09:21there's, there's any questions, uh, uh, from the board in that regard.

09:24So with that said, I'm going to, um, uh, start off with Mr.

09:31Bird, our civil engineer, Mr. Harrington.

09:33Can you just tell the board the number of parking spaces and the breakdown

09:39between what's a bonus and the residential versus commercial parking, if any.

09:47So, um, you, the bonus, the bonus is staggered. Um,

09:51so in order to qualify for the bonus, uh, if you have 20 to 49 spaces,

10:07you're allowed one additional story and 12 additional feet,

10:1150 to 99 spaces, uh, provides for two stories and 24 feet,

10:17uh, 100 to 149 spaces provides for three stories and 36 feet.

10:22And then, um, the one 50 to 200 provides for four stories and 46 feet.

10:28Um, so that's where we're seeking. We have 100,

10:32at least 151 valet spaces, uh, you know,

10:36our valet operator believes that they can provide more than that,

10:39but we have 51 shown on the plan.

10:41So we're proposing the additional four stories and, uh, uh, 46 feet.

10:49And what are the total number of spaces or that is the total number?

10:52It's a minimum of 151.

10:54Okay. So actually 151 stripe spaces.

10:59Well, it's, it's.

11:00And however many can be.

11:01It's not, you'll see during the presentation,

11:03they're not striped spaces because it's a valet, uh, system.

11:08So you'll have the operator, uh, there's some spaces that are striped.

11:12I thought I saw some.

11:13Yes.

11:14Yeah. So that, that's not the 151 number.

11:17Cause you'll, you'll see there's just parking. There'll be private within,

11:20within the aisles with the valet and a valet operators are the ones that go

11:24back there and move the cars around. So the total number of spaces,

11:29one 51 as presented in the plans with the understanding that the valets

11:35based on how they operate the space may be able to get more than 151 cars.

11:40Is that fair? That's fair. Yeah.

11:44And then is there any requirement for the residential component?

11:48It's not a requirement for any residential.

11:50So all of the parking is really part of this commercial bonus portion of the,

11:58the zoning criteria. Right.

12:00The intent here is to provide commercial public spaces.

12:04So you'll service the courthouse demand, you'll surface, uh, serve, uh, the,

12:09the, uh, commercial activity within, within the immediate journal square area,

12:14you know, alone, norke avenue and otherwise for the Lowe's theater and,

12:18or other things going to target. Well,

12:21I know that the building where target is has its own parking garage as well

12:23now, but, um, but that is the purpose is to provide public parking.

12:29And is it fair to say that if you did not provide that 151 parking spaces,

12:33the building would be four stories lower? Yes, that,

12:36that would be the only difference. Um, yeah, actually you could have,

12:41you could have this as a, uh, a 47 story building. Um, the difference would be,

12:45you would not, you're not required to be designated by the redevelopment

12:48agency. And I, I forgot to mention that my client and the project,

12:52hey, has been designated by the Jersey city redevelopment agency as a

12:56designated redeveloper. Uh,

12:58we are waiting for the draft of the redevelopment agreement. Uh,

13:01the plan provides that that can be, uh, a, uh, condition of approval of,

13:06of any approval that it'd be executed and recorded. Um,

13:09so that's in the process now, but you're correct.

13:11And that you could have this building at 47 stories,

13:14still 10% component of affordable and no parking whatsoever.

13:18And Mr. Harrington,

13:19the parking is free to the public or there is a parking fee.

13:23There will be a fee. Yeah, because there,

13:25there is a cost in operating it, you know, the valet system. So they'll,

13:28just like, uh, in any, any parking garage, um,

13:32any public parking garage there, there would be a fee.

13:34Any privately owned, privately owned garage. Okay.

13:54I will do a Burton B U R T O N.

14:13Mr Burton is your license current and in good standing.

14:16It is. Okay. You're qualified. You may proceed.

14:19Mr bird, before you proceed is what we're looking at now.

14:22Do we need to mark this as an exhibit or is this part of your submission

14:25package? Well, it's a market as an exhibit. It's a four slides, uh,

14:28dated June 30th, 2026, uh,

14:31entitled 3000 Kennedy Boulevard. A two, Mr Harrington. Thank you. Yeah.

14:40So a quick recap of the site, uh, looking at the first slide,

14:44the site is known as block 6502 lot 13.02.

14:48And it's located at the intersection of J K J F K Boulevard,

14:52which is to the west, uh, Newark, uh, avenue to the south and, uh,

14:57Brooks and or Huron to the north, uh, in the center of the screen.

15:02Uh, the site is, uh, consists of 0.69 acres.

15:06It's located within zone three of the commercial center, uh,

15:09district, uh, the journal square 2020 2060 redevelopment plan,

15:13utilizing the commercial use bonus, the affordable house bunnings,

15:16and the corner bonus e well with public parking. Uh,

15:21it's generally south, southwest of a route 139 on the right of the

15:25screen and north of journal square path station,

15:28which is just at the bottom, uh, center of the screen cut off.

15:31Yeah. The existing site is a three story mixed use brick building, um,

15:35with a, uh, running the three sites.

15:38And it has a kind of pedestrian walkway between Newark Ave and Brooks Ave,

15:42um, behind the site or to the east. Um, J F K Boulevard is a north,

15:47south bound two way, 100 foot right of way road with five travel lanes,

15:52uh, and one southbound left turning lane onto Newark Ave.

15:56It has no on street parking while Newark Ave is an east westbound two way,

16:00six, uh, 65 foot right of way road with two travel lanes and a left turning

16:05lane onto JFK south, uh, with on street parking on both sides while, uh,

16:11Brooks Place or Huron, uh, we kind of use it interchangeably because it

16:15changes names at the bend. Um, is a 60 foot right of way, uh, one way, uh,

16:20westbound with turning lanes, uh, in both the, uh,

16:23north and south onto JFK Boulevard.

16:26And both these intersections are controlled by a traffic light switching to the

16:33next slide. Uh, this shows the general first floor footprint and the tower,

16:38uh, tower line is the thicker dash line. Uh,

16:43so the site proposes a, it's a 51 story building with 1,454 apartments,

16:4810% of which are affordable and just over 6,000 square feet of retail on the

16:52ground floor with the second and third floor being the parking garage,

16:56uh, not shown here, um, with 151 spaces. Uh,

17:00the site functions as two separate towers, the north tower and the south tower.

17:05Uh, the site has a number of bulk variances, uh,

17:07where ceiling height requirement is 20 feet,

17:09but the first floor has an 18 foot on proposed ceiling height, uh,

17:13tower on base setback where the frontline from Newark Ave is required to be 15

17:17feet. And we have a 10 foot setback from the tower, um,

17:20along south tower frontline setback on Kennedy is a 15 feet required where we

17:24have 5.95 feet and the tower frontline setback on Brooks Ave where 15 feet is

17:30required. And we have 3.76 feet. Um,

17:33the max diagonal dimension for a residential tower is, uh,

17:37required to be 180 feet and we have 252. I should note that's across the whole

17:42site, not necessarily just one tower and the, uh,

17:46side setback tower to a lower density is required to be 30 feet where we have 10

17:51feet. And that's, uh, this area in the rear where we have the pedestrian walkway.

17:55Um, we also have a deviation where the building, uh,

18:00base dimension, uh, for consecutive frontage area is supposed to be 30 feet.

18:05Uh, we have 52 feet, um, the tower design requirements or for minimum

18:10separation, uh, sorry,

18:12the two tower separation is required to be 50 feet and we have zero feet here

18:16right next to each other. Uh,

18:19we have a loading maneuver where it's required to be head in, head out.

18:22And we have a back in head out scenario with our,

18:25our one loading bay off of Huron and a street trees where the separation is

18:30a 30 feet required. And we have 145 feet.

18:33And that's kind of around this corner on JFK and Newark and the number of street

18:37trees where 16 are required.

18:38And we have nine proposed for the number of utilities within the sidewalks,

18:42uh, getting into the building a little bit, uh, the residential,

18:47we don't, since it's functions as kind of two towers,

18:50we have two residential doors, uh, on JFK Boulevard and the retail entrances

18:55also along the center of the building in JFK Boulevard, you know, our garage,

19:00uh, you know, valet parking has access off of Huron and just, uh,

19:04west of that is our loading bay. Uh, same, same area,

19:08the same long curb cut, uh, that, uh, loading bay is a back in,

19:12a head out loading scenario, um, per traffic's coordinate,

19:18you know, coordination with the traffic department.

19:20We've relocated the curb line along our frontage of Huron to bump it out to

19:24the north and reducing the two lane, uh,

19:28scenario on Huron or Brooks Ave for two turning lanes until one lane,

19:33uh, turning in both directions. Um, and then our main,

19:38the ground floor bike access is in the rear of the site or the east and

19:43pedestrians can access it through this pedestrian plaza for the,

19:47the storage on the ground floor. Um,

19:51the trash room is located in the center of the building and there's a corridor

19:54to bring it out to our, our loading bay off of Huron.

19:57Um, what the, uh, the architects discussed that a little bit further. Um,

20:03and, um, uh, as I stated,

20:05there's 151 valet parking stalls on the second and third floor,

20:09uh, with access off of, uh, Huron, the, the ramp going up. Um,

20:15this includes a number of ADA, EV, EV, ADA,

20:19standard and compact spaces all intended to be valet. Uh, the site,

20:23or the building has 813, um,

20:26bike storage spots where 731 are required between the two towers.

20:31Uh, switching a little bit to the topography, uh, the site sits at elevation,

20:36uh, 90 on JFK and goes up to a 96 on Huron or 93 on Newark.

20:41It's not located within the FEMA flood zone and we're generally

20:45maintaining the same, uh, topography and curb line around the building.

20:50Uh, it is a major development for stormwater management in terms of Jersey

20:53City's rules. So we're meeting the reductions for quantity control and

20:58green infrastructure with an underground storage tank and porous

21:01pavement in the rear discharging to Newark have, um, as two towers,

21:05we've worked with the, uh, MUA to coordinate our utility connections.

21:09And there's two connections for each tower, um,

21:12eight inches of, uh, combined domestic fire service off of JFK or Huron,

21:17uh, 12 inch PVC sanitary connection off of, uh, Huron and Newark.

21:22Um, we'll coordinate with the local electric and telephone company, uh,

21:26and gas has a connections off of JFK for both towers.

21:30Um, as stated before, we have nine trees around the site, uh,

21:37street trees, and then we have a number of, uh, combination of lighting

21:41for the 13 street lights and then a number of wall mounted lights

21:46and ceiling mounted lights in the rear and front to illuminate the, uh, the area.

21:50Um, as I alluded to before, we've already, uh, emailed and had calls

21:56with the MUA earlier this year to ensure that our, our utility connections

22:00are adequate and we've had a number of calls and meetings with traffic.

22:04Uh, most recently, uh, on the 23rd of September from their traffic

22:08letter in August to go over a few things, um, kind of running through that quickly.

22:13Uh, you know, we've revised the curb cut for both our loading and, um,

22:18vehicular garage to make sure that the turning templates,

22:23the models that we have shown, uh, don't, uh, drive over a full curb.

22:27Uh, we've adjusted the model to make sure that any of the maneuvering

22:31in and out do not, uh, hit, you know, the parallel parking cars on, uh,

22:35Brooks Ave, you know, we added this, uh, short-term parking loading stall

22:41with our curb, uh, realignment.

22:43So for, you know, your, your Uber pickups, um,

22:47and then we've shown the model and clarified that is, uh, this scenario

22:51will be a backend scenario and a head out from the loading area.

22:56Um, I'll, I'll let the rest of my teams kind of go into a little more detail

22:59on the garage and valet, but I'll add that we've relocated the bus shelter

23:03to maximize the sidewalk width for pedestrian access and, uh,

23:08made some adjustments to bike parking internally to make sure that there's

23:11enough space, uh, per their comment.

23:13That kind of concludes my presentation.

23:18And just to go back to the review letter dated August 28th, 2026.

23:23Is it, is it fair to say that, uh, in addition to addressing the comments

23:27in the letter you incorporated the comments from the traffic department

23:31from that recent call?

23:33Yes. So I think not, not in that letter, but, uh, I alluded to, right.

23:36We've adjusted the curb line, um, uh, accordingly and, you know,

23:40looked at some, some of the changes in the garage and valet area.

23:44I think we're, some of the topics were two topics we talked about that

23:47are not covered in the letter.

23:48So the proposed site plan that we're looking at now is,

23:51is essentially a result of that discussion and their recommendations.

23:56Correct.

24:00I have nothing further for Mr. Burton.

24:03Thank you. Any board comments at this time?

24:05So I'm sorry.

24:06So what's presented is different than what was in the portal,

24:09incorporating those comments.

24:11Uh, the, no, the, the curb cut was the,

24:14in the latest set of plans that were uploaded.

24:16Gotcha.

24:18The curb, the adjusted curb in the loading area.

24:20Were there any drainage required or inlets additional?

24:22Due to the kind of that, that curb cut in that, that bump out space.

24:25Do not believe we adjusted any, um, any storm for that.

24:31No.

24:32Did you investigate like just based on the grades if that was needed or, or.

24:36Oh, I was just, I was just, I was just thinking about relocating inlets.

24:39Um, gotcha.

24:40I would not anticipate having to add any based off of the, you know,

24:44bumping out the curb or, you know,

24:46we're keeping the general slopes and everything the same, like a lot.

24:50They're cut our line.

24:51Okay. I, I don't, not familiar with the grade of this site, but I do know in

24:55general and bump outs are created depending on if the water is draining to

24:59the curb and then goes around the curb to the inlet.

25:01Um, the bump out may impede that flow and require a new inlet added, but.

25:05You know, I think I can defer to a future analysis.

25:08I don't think that should impede approval, but I,

25:10I would appreciate just confirming that.

25:12And if an inlets needed,

25:13we can definitely get to that and add it as necessary.

25:16Perfect. Thank you.

25:18So Mr. Harrington, we can make that in a condition.

25:20If the board were to vote favorably that we would study the issue of

25:24inlets and make it up to the apartment of infrastructure,

25:27if additional inlets as a result of the bump out or.

25:30Absolutely.

25:32Or, or the MUA. Yeah, I think that way.

25:35Or the MUA.

25:36Yeah. So the review agents.

25:37Thank you.

25:40Thank you.

25:41Mr. Harrington, does anybody want to talk about those changes in terms

25:44of the turning templates and the internal changes?

25:49Could you show those? Do you want to show those?

25:51Yeah. Would you like to talk to the turning template?

25:54Yeah, I can. Yeah.

25:58So I'm sorry.

26:02I'm on the screen right now with the plans that are on the portal.

26:04So on this sheet,

26:17it shows the a box truck and a trash truck coming into the loading bay.

26:22So in this previous iterations,

26:25we were showing it driving head in and backing out.

26:28And based off of the comments from traffic,

26:30we've made sure that, you know,

26:32the approximate dash line here is the edge of the cars for parallel

26:35parking. So the maneuver now, and, you know,

26:38again, per their request and discussion,

26:40we're showing the back end and head out.

26:43So this is the back end scenario where we drive past the loading,

26:46kind of utilizing the loading, temporary loading that, you know,

26:50the traffic requested and backing into the loading stall.

26:54And so we've adjusted the length of this lowered curb.

27:00So when a truck backs in it, you know,

27:02it's not popping over, you know, full length curb or anything.

27:05So these are the two, the box truck and trash truck.

27:08So that angle where it's turning over the hash loading zone,

27:14that's a depressed curb at that point?

27:16Correct.

27:17This, you see my pointer in this point,

27:20it's still a depressed curb.

27:22And if there's somebody in that loading zone,

27:29then they'd have to, I guess,

27:31coordinate or loop back around or run a different model,

27:35probably more of a cate turn,

27:37if you will, to get in as opposed to one smooth swoop.

27:40And was this submitted to traffic?

27:45And did they have any further comment on it?

27:47Or my understanding is this was based on the conversation.

27:50Correct.

27:51These changes were made in, based off of that conversation,

27:54we emailed to them.

27:56We have yet to hear comments back.

27:58Okay.

28:00What the loading zone, the etch space,

28:02what other uses was that like what it will be used for what otherwise?

28:06Most likely, you know, Uber pickups.

28:09I have to, you know, we anticipate the quick Amazon drop offs.

28:13Got it.

28:15So, but it could be a situation where both are simultaneously occurring.

28:20Yeah, I guess I can't eliminate that possibility.

28:23Right.

28:24I think that we'll go into trash more and that'll probably happen.

28:27Right.

28:29I think it designated early hours and the box truck is anticipated for,

28:33I guess either the retail loading or new residents move in,

28:37which I think would be coordinated and not necessarily at a peak time

28:40where I would assume Amazon or Ubers are coming.

28:43But yeah, there's always the possibility that someone gets picked up early.

28:47Is this the only loading dock you have?

28:53I guess these two.

28:55For both hours?

28:56For both hours, yes.

28:57So whatever gets dropped off on this loading dock,

29:01how do we get to the other tower?

29:03I'll let the architects kind of talk about the internals of the building.

29:08Madam Chair.

29:10Sure.

29:11So I appreciate the conversations with the transportation department.

29:14I'm just kind of referencing their letter on the portal.

29:16As you noted,

29:17it was dated August 28th and under the loading section they have F.

29:21That's what five, three, six comments.

29:24And it seems that you've addressed a lot of the kind of specific ones.

29:28But item E and I'll just read the record.

29:31The divisions have serious concerns based on the turning template regarding

29:34truck turning into the loading bay.

29:35Smaller vehicles,

29:36including vans and passenger vehicles should be able to make the turn.

29:39So I guess were you able to get affirmative confirmation that addressing

29:43the earlier comments does the,

29:45does that department still have those serious concerns or.

29:49I, I guess I don't, we don't have,

29:51we haven't heard back since this resubmission,

29:53but during our conversations kind of clarified what we had previously shown

29:56and versus what we're showing now.

29:58And there was,

29:59I think some confusion on how before this curb bump out was shown,

30:05how a truck was getting in and out.

30:07So in that, in that phone call, we discussed it.

30:09I think it was clarified that it was how the backing in backing out.

30:13And then right relocating it because before we were showing, you know,

30:17taking full advantage of the wide road.

30:19And so we've limited it with the parallel parking spaces.

30:24So I think we've alleviated their major concerns.

30:26And in this,

30:27this is a result of those discussions and their recommendations,

30:30but we don't know if this is satisfied them.

30:32Well, they did not get back to us, but we, yeah, so we don't know.

30:38Right. I guess just to clarify,

30:41you've addressed some of the concerns you've clarified their questions,

30:45which I'm sure is very much appreciated, but it's unclear to me,

30:49at least whether that clarification fully addressed all of their concerns

30:53or not.

30:54Is that an accurate assessment of where we are because they haven't gotten

30:57back to you? Correct.

30:58Okay. Right.

30:59We did follow up a few times asking for that clarification and

31:03anticipation of tonight and that being brought up, but they're very busy.

31:08I understand.

31:11I mean, Matt, I certainly have some concerns.

31:18I would defer to the professional staff as opposed to myself,

31:21but it definitely seems like a atypical operation for a loading

31:26dock and requiring use of a short term pull off space in order to back up.

31:30And certainly from my perspective, the vehicle,

31:33once it completes its forward motion,

31:36when it enters into reverse would need significant space behind it from any

31:40vehicle behind it in order to make the full maneuver based on what's shown.

31:43So, you know,

31:44I don't know if there's any concepts of a flagger or someone from within

31:47the building to support this maneuver, but it's definitely,

31:50from my perspective as an individual, a bit atypical.

31:54I agree.

31:59I agree.

32:04Excuse me.

32:05Excuse me.

32:10My fellow commissioner just brought up another point also about a

32:13school being.

32:14There's a school right next to it.

32:15And during the drop off and pickup, it's very active.

32:20There's a huge lot of cars going in and coming out of that.

32:24Here on Avenue to the Brook Street.

32:27So it's a very busy street.

32:30Yeah.

32:34Sorry.

32:35I wasn't sure if there was a specific question,

32:36but I'm sure we can coordinate with owners to make sure that.

32:39Ownership that the, you know, the trash at the very least in the,

32:42you know, any resident move in or retail drop, you know,

32:45retail loading is coordinated.

32:48So it's not during school time.

32:49Yeah.

32:53I think there may be questions for the traffic expert on that topic.

32:55I think, I think as we hear from the other experts,

32:58um, this evening, then we can.

33:01Okay.

33:02Commissioner just forward.

33:03You said you believe that this is not typical commissioner Kaplan.

33:07Uh, to my knowledge that the pulling into a like loading zone or a

33:10temporary pull off in order to make a reverse maneuver is not something

33:14that I've experienced on my short tenure on this board.

33:17Um, I, I'm, I'm open to be proven wrong.

33:20I'm, I'm certainly not as familiar with a long history of plans and

33:23whatnot as others.

33:24And I would of course defer to the staff.

33:26That's more in depth on the review.

33:28Okay.

33:29And again, it was, these are a result of, of those discussions.

33:32And we would defer to the recommendations ultimately of, of the Jersey

33:36city traffic and review agents.

33:38That's, that's always a requirement in any condition of approval.

33:42And that's, that's something that would have to be continued, uh,

33:46after leaving a planning board, regardless.

33:48Mr.

33:49Herring, were there any other turning templates modeled?

33:53Obviously there was a earlier turning template that was provided

34:00that the division of traffic looked at raised the concerns that the

34:05commissioner read from the report.

34:07And now they've been substituted with the revised turning template.

34:15If I'm following the testimony, were there any other templates modeled?

34:20And obviously there's been no response yet from traffic transportation.

34:28I guess for in regards to the 20 of the August 28th letter section one

34:33for loading, these were the two scenarios modeled in there in the response.

34:37And we're at the second section of parking, there were additional sheets

34:42for showing cars moving within the garage, but for kind of this,

34:46this part of discussion about the loading bay, these were the only two.

34:49Um, previously, and I could dig up the old plans that were on the portal

34:52from earlier in the summer, we had shown scenarios of the trucks pulling

34:56into the loading and then backing out.

34:58Um, and that was, it was the same, uh, box truck and, um, garbage truck.

35:05Now there were comments about internal turning templates raised,

35:15and those have also been modified to address those comments.

35:20Right. So I guess the second, I can, I was going to, uh, yeah,

35:25I guess it's so we're tag teaming between who wants to discuss the,

35:28the parking garage in depth, but did you do the turning templates?

35:31Yes.

35:32Then you're the guy to do it.

35:33Perfect.

35:34Uh, so, uh, these are the plans that were, um, uploaded on the portal.

35:39Um, so it shows, uh, we have two different vehicles, uh, shown on the

35:45second and third floor.

35:47So these are the same passenger vehicles driving around.

35:50This is showing the circulation throughout the, the, the two levels.

35:54And then the, uh, the next page is as an SUV going around, which has a,

35:58can you please go back to where you enter?

36:00Where do you enter?

36:01Oh, so also that's not super clear on this, uh, but here right here,

36:07it's just page south of the loading bay is the parking garage entrance.

36:12So if you come in to make your left turn into the building and then I don't

36:17know exactly how far deep into it, but it ramps up.

36:20And so it's not shown here, but you ramp up.

36:23You show us that sheet.

36:24Yeah, I was going to get to the way that I have it shown because I don't

36:29have, I'm not showing you the ramp because that's in between floors.

36:33So this is the ground floor where you enter.

36:35And then on the next sheet, it's, it is the second floor.

36:38So where this, uh, line is indicates, you know, beneath it, belief where

36:43these cars are shown is your ramp on her first floor.

36:45This is the second floor.

36:47So you're driving in from here's your, your driveway, you're driving in

36:50underneath this second floor on your first floor and up the ramp here.

36:54So this is where does the valley parking starts from where the valley

36:58parking valley podium is right here.

37:00So they'll enter in and then drop their car off, uh, right here.

37:06Would you be the person to explain to us a little bit how the ballet

37:10operation will go?

37:12Oh, I am not.

37:13Okay.

37:14We have, we have another witness to address that.

37:16Can you go back to the ground floor?

37:19I can.

37:21So while we cannot see, do you have a sheet that shows the ground floor?

37:30This is the ground floor.

37:36Yes.

37:37So here's your driveway entrance for, uh, the, the parking garage.

37:41So you'll come in here and you're on the ground floor.

37:45And as you proceed into the building, it will ramp up.

37:48Can you zoom in?

37:49Yes.

38:05So where it says garage entry, where does it start to bend and ramp?

38:12Uh, I guess I'll somewhat defer that to the architects to clarify,

38:19but within this area is when.

38:23I think the architectural plans probably show that a little bit better.

38:26And is there any connection?

38:31I didn't see it in the drawings.

38:33That's why I'm asking the questions.

38:34Is there any connection or is that a separated area?

38:40In other words, is there a wall in between that egress corridor and the

38:46garage entry area?

38:49I believe the answer is yes.

38:51So this is a dedicated lane.

38:54Correct.

38:55Completely blocked off from pedestrians into the garage.

39:00Okay.

39:03And then all parking starts actually on that second floor.

39:06Correct.

39:07Yeah.

39:08At the top of the ramp.

39:09Right.

39:10The garage entries from which side of the, it's on the Kennedy or it's on the.

39:15It's the one way street.

39:17And you'll also have across the street parking, not you,

39:23but there'll be other cars on that street.

39:27On the street parking.

39:28Yes.

39:29Yeah.

39:30Good place.

39:31Yeah.

39:32So there's a zooming out.

39:34So there's parking on the north side of, of.

39:36Yep.

39:37There's parking there.

39:38There's no parking on the hour side.

39:41Yeah.

39:42So a truck is basically going to go from the southern,

39:45the northern end and back across where those slanted lines are into the

39:51loading area.

39:52And he's got to be concerned, not only backing in,

39:56going over the slanted area,

39:59but also watch the cars that are on his right as he's backing up.

40:04Right.

40:05So one of the traffic comments was our original model had it,

40:09you know, a very wide turn.

40:10So we revised the model to shrink the turning radius of the truck.

40:13And it shows that the,

40:14the truck wouldn't need it.

40:16This would be a full size when I say a full size at 31,

40:1932 yard tandem garbage truck, right?

40:22Triaxle.

40:23Yeah.

40:24Free axles.

40:25Two miles shown on the bottom screens.

40:29The box truck was the one on the.

40:31Okay.

40:32I see.

40:33So that's an SU 30, which is a smaller box truck.

40:36And what's, what's.

40:3731 cubic yard.

40:56Okay.

40:58And he's going to back in and pick up both garbage and recycling.

41:01Correct.

41:02You're going to do both.

41:03I'll defer that to.

41:05Okay.

41:06All right.

41:08But he's going to swing this truck from the north right into that

41:12area.

41:15Like it's shown in the picture.

41:16Commissioner.

41:17I could stand up over here, right?

41:18I can put it just want to get a better understanding.

41:21And over here,

41:22we have a wall on this side and also over here, correct?

41:25Correct.

41:26That's right.

41:27All right.

41:28So he's going to swing around.

41:30What are we going to do here?

41:31Cut that out.

41:32So that's a, we have that as a right.

41:33The press curb.

41:34Okay.

41:35Swing around.

41:36And then back in.

41:37And they have a loading dock, correct?

41:40Correct.

41:41Right.

41:42That's you're now within the building.

41:43In that loading room.

41:44All right.

41:45And we don't know anything.

41:46We don't read right now.

41:47We have nothing to look at as far as where this ramp starts going up

41:51to the second floor.

41:52Correct.

41:53Not on the civil plan.

41:54The architectural plans will show that better.

41:55Okay.

41:56Good.

41:58And the next person going up is going to give us a little more detail on

42:00this.

42:01Curbs and everything else.

42:02Pack it up.

42:03Within the garage.

42:04Okay, good.

42:05Good.

42:06Thank you.

42:07Madam chair.

42:08On a couple other topics here.

42:09If you could just go to the second floor plan.

42:11I believe I see there's a chart, like a table.

42:16You zoom into that.

42:18I just want to make sure I'm reading it correctly.

42:25That that's showing the total number of parking places, right?

42:30To avoid confusion.

42:31Correct.

42:32All right.

42:33So the, the standard spots are striped parking stalls or standard or

42:38compact are striped areas within the garage.

42:42The ADA are, are striped areas.

42:45And then the valet are depicted with these curb car symbols.

42:49So just to make sure I understand, because I might've gotten a little

42:52bit confused in the earlier testimony from the counselor.

42:54It's this table showing 151 total inclusive of those valet places.

42:59Correct.

43:00That's correct.

43:01Gotcha.

43:02I'm sorry if I wasn't clear on that.

43:03No problem.

43:05I just wanted to make sure.

43:06So the total number of spaces excluding those valet would be whatever

43:09the math is 76 or something like that.

43:12It looks like 75 are for valet, which are non-stall.

43:18Non-stall.

43:19Gotcha.

43:20Spaces.

43:21I have a question.

43:22So if I pull in with my Escalade or my, I don't own an Escalade, but if I

43:27pull in with my Chevy, my Chevy suburban, if I, well, what the Chevy is,

43:33but anyway, bottom line, something large, like a suburban or an Escalade,

43:37which I do not own.

43:38I'll be able to have this guy, whoever he is, this valet, Parker, take my

43:44vehicle and park it securely.

43:46That's the intent.

43:47Yes.

43:48Let him defer the experience with larger vehicles in garages, but yes.

43:52Yeah.

43:53All right.

43:54I'm not trying to, I'm just trying to get a better understanding because I'm

43:56still confused with the garbage truck driving around, backing in and doing

44:00that.

44:01That's where I'm at.

44:02But anyway, I just want to get a better understanding.

44:05Commissioner, I'm sorry if I, you know, I'm just trying to get a better handle

44:09on this.

44:10It makes sense.

44:11I just need something to let me know where that ramp starts and how steep

44:14it's going to be and doing all that.

44:16Could you go to the third floor plan kindly?

44:19Am I going to be parking my car in the third floor or the first floor?

44:26To the valet.

44:28Can you just, I have just a question here and I don't know the plans, but I

44:32think it's here.

44:33Are you showing wheel stops, those black lines or am I?

44:36Those are wheel stops.

44:37I believe those work comment from traffic in the earlier iterations, though

44:45obviously we.

44:46I believe you're right.

44:48Incorrectly showing them on the tandem spots.

44:50Gotcha.

44:51I think they might need a little tweaking, but however that resolution

44:55makes sense.

44:56I think you showed them on some parallel spots as well, which might be a

45:00little wonky, but.

45:01That's a good point.

45:03Yeah.

45:04Okay.

45:05Outside of the parking garage, just a couple quick questions.

45:07On the street trees?

45:09Yes.

45:13If you could go back to the.

45:15The rendering probably.

45:16Yeah.

45:18Beautiful.

45:19There's a pretty significant gap around that corner.

45:21Could you just speak to why additional trees couldn't be fit into that

45:26space at all?

45:27I'm actually going to switch back to the site plan and show you the

45:30utilities.

45:31There are a number of water, electric, and storm lines.

45:38You can kind of see them.

45:39Let me zoom in a little bit in that area.

45:42So we've got water, electric, and the combined storm all kind of running

45:48along the frontage there.

45:49Gotcha.

45:51So this was not the space to add one in.

45:53And you're not looking to relocate any of those.

45:55Those are mains or?

45:56Correct, yeah.

45:57Got it.

45:58So are you able to provide any sort of rain garden or some other

46:02treatment to provide some sort of green landscaping, even if it's not a

46:06full street tree in this direction?

46:08We can look into it.

46:09We do have the poorest pavement in the rear, which is the green

46:12infrastructure rules or intent.

46:16Is there any opportunity, I know they're not considered street trees,

46:19but to provide some sort of landscaping or trees in that rear yard

46:22area as a mitigation to the.

46:24It's not a legal mitigation, but just kind of.

46:26I'm sure we can look into it.

46:28I'm not a landscape architect, but we're between two buildings.

46:32So the lighting probably wouldn't be the best for abundant growth.

46:40Makes sense.

46:41On Kennedy Boulevard, we can look into like bioswales.

46:44I know down the street or to the south, the old Pep Boy site,

46:51we have bioswales there because it's a county road.

46:54So ultimately, you know, the county planning board and county has

46:58jurisdiction over it, and that's what was done there.

47:01So we can certainly look into that as a possible treatment here.

47:05Amazing.

47:06Thank you.

47:07And I'd ask if your client would be willing to maintain those if they

47:09are so possibly included.

47:12Yeah.

47:13Yeah.

47:14Anytime a project puts in bioswales, it's going to be on the owner to

47:16maintain them.

47:17Great.

47:18Can you speak?

47:20I'm sorry.

47:21I'm sorry.

47:22Do you have a topic?

47:23Finish up.

47:24Do you have a topic?

47:25Can you speak to the street lighting?

47:26Similarly, there's kind of large gaps in between around that corner.

47:29And again, tell me if it's an architect question.

47:32But I'll ask on street lighting.

47:34That one's on me.

47:36So right.

47:38I think we even kind of try to space out our street lights.

47:42So there's a slight gap, but I don't have the zoom in on the model.

47:46But between the two poles that we do have and some building mounted

47:50lights, it should be well illuminated.

47:54We're at four foot candles in this corner.

47:59So at the lowest points kind of in between what's kind of the

48:02lowest.

48:06This is 1.7.

48:08This is a one foot counter contour.

48:10So nothing is below one foot candle.

48:13And forgive me.

48:14I'm not a lighting type of person.

48:15Is that considered standard for an urban environment or sufficient

48:20for pedestrian level lighting?

48:21I guess I don't know the exact cut off of my head.

48:23But usually parking lots, for instance, are usually eliminated

48:27to half a foot candle.

48:29So one foot candle would assume would be sufficient.

48:33And that can be confirmed afterwards.

48:34Yeah, I can definitely check the redevelopment plan in the city

48:38ordinance.

48:39I'm pretty sure that our 1.7 to four or five foot candles are

48:44sufficient.

48:45Thank you.

48:46And then one last question.

48:47I don't know if you can show it here.

48:48But the width between the curb and then on this plan the top left

48:52corner of the building where it's narrow because it looks like the

48:56roadway curve kind of comes in.

48:59What is that width?

49:00That's actually, we have that dimension actually.

49:11It's about 10 feet on the pinch point.

49:14Gotcha.

49:16Have you done any sort of analysis to look at the pedestrian

49:19flow through this area?

49:20Especially, I mean, we're adding a lot of, you know, units.

49:23And I understand not parking, but not four of those units per

49:26se, which to me would imply a high level of biking and walking

49:31and access to transit.

49:33The pass station's right down there.

49:34That all makes sense.

49:35But is that width sufficient to support both the passage and then

49:39the queuing waiting for that signal of the pedestrian flow?

49:42I have not done pedestrian analysis.

49:46It looks like the existing conditions is comparable to what we have.

49:50Yeah.

49:52But I haven't done any separate analysis about it.

49:54Existing conditions is right to the physical structure, right?

49:57Correct.

49:58We're obviously adding more people and units.

50:00Right, yes.

50:01Yeah, of course.

50:04I think that's a good point, Andy.

50:05I mean, that seems like a low pinch point for that sidewalk

50:12with the increase of volume that we're bringing to the area.

50:18Right?

50:21At the corner or along Newark Avenue?

50:23The corner?

50:24The corner.

50:25That corner area.

50:27Yeah, I know that there is a methodology in which it can be

50:33counted and analyzed.

50:34So I don't want to usurp a potential analysis and say it's insufficient.

50:38I don't know that to be fact, but it would be of interest to see

50:41if that's done.

50:42And, you know, I know in other comparable site plans, perhaps, you

50:46know, additional sidewalk with could be added by setting back the

50:49first floor or something.

50:51But it would be helpful to kind of understand if that width is

50:55sufficient as shown or not for pedestrian flows.

50:58Council, are we not making the corner on the other side of the site

51:03larger?

51:04We are on, yeah, on the north, the northwestern corner is being

51:11made larger.

51:12Right.

51:14On both Newark and Kennedy or county roads?

51:18Well, Kennedy is a county road, Newark isn't.

51:20But obviously, you've got Kennedy there, so it would be a county

51:24jurisdictional issue as to whether they would want that larger or

51:28not.

51:29I see, you know, it goes on a little bit of an angle there.

51:31Right.

51:32Whether there's a purpose for that, I don't know.

51:34That's how they did it back in the 1900s.

51:38Well, what is the requirement?

51:41Of the sidewalks?

51:42Yes.

51:44And are we meeting the requirements?

51:47I do not have a proposed deviation.

51:49I do not know the requirements specifically off the top of my head.

51:51That's a county road.

51:55Kennedy Boulevard, yes.

51:57But not Newark, so you can bump it out to Kennedy.

52:05Well, based on that aerial, it appears that the edge line of the

52:09traveled way is adjacent to the curb at that point.

52:12Yeah, it does.

52:14The map within the redevelopment plan does not have this property

52:23on the sidewalk with map across the street on Newark Avenue.

52:28It's a 15 foot minimum sidewalk with.

52:31And on the other side, along the White Castle site would be a 20 foot

52:36minimum sidewalk with, but there, there's no regulation for this

52:41property.

52:42And we're at a 10.

52:43I'm sorry.

52:44We're at 10 city required is 15 and 20, but we're at 10.

52:49That's a rather large discrepancy from what is probably intended for

52:55the property.

52:56Just so I understand council, I think you mentioned this earlier, but

53:01was this, this site was added to that redevelopment plan.

53:03I don't know if it was a St. John's redevelopment plan,

53:05but it was part of a prior redevelopment plan.

53:08And then this, then the property got moved into the journal square

53:132060 redevelopment plan.

53:15And so the journal square 2060 does outline sidewalk with

53:18requirements for other properties,

53:19but those requirements were not applied to this site when it was

53:22added in.

53:23Is that a correct?

53:24The map was not updated to show the requirements for this property.

53:28Got it.

53:29So it's unclear if there was an intention or an oversight or what the

53:35desire would have been from the redevelopment plan for this site

53:38because it wasn't on the map.

53:39Right.

53:40Thank you.

53:41Harrington.

53:42There are two other items that have not been testified to to my

53:48recollection driveway aisle with,

53:51and I haven't seen how the pedestrians after they leave their car

53:57with the valet get to the street.

54:00Okay. Do you want to address that? Yeah. Do you want the architect to,

54:04I guess I would drive I'll with, I believe you can.

54:07Yes.

54:08So required provided.

54:11And it is.

54:12Speak to this too.

54:16We had an another project too, where when you have a valet,

54:20you have the drive aisle with what a typical garage, right?

54:23Parking garage.

54:24But in a valley situation, it doesn't,

54:26it doesn't apply because you don't have Joe public going in and out of

54:29the garage.

54:30It's a, you have the valley operators operating exclusively within

54:34there.

54:35I don't know that I agree that it doesn't apply.

54:37Well, there's a tiny, it's not over there.

54:39This, we got a letter to that effect on a separate project.

54:42That's, that's why I'm bringing it up.

54:45That the drive aisle with is inapplicable.

54:49If we're valid, we're asking for relief,

54:52but that is a subsequent letter that we.

54:56That came from transportation.

54:57That came from transportation.

54:59That came from Tanya on another project.

55:02Is Tanya here?

55:03She stepped out, but we can add,

55:06I'm sure she'll be back before we conclude this case.

55:08Absolutely.

55:09So, but let's say we can speak to it.

55:11Okay.

55:12So I guess the requirement I believe is 22 feet in the,

55:18I don't know if it's a redevelopment plan for two way.

55:20I think our, our minimum.

55:22We're at just over 15 for the valet circulation.

55:30That's taking into account, right?

55:34This is in this area over here on the North side of the second story.

55:40So there's no other valet cars in, you know, in that area.

55:46Can you, can you show us when, okay, drive up to the valley,

55:52get out of my car.

55:53What happens after that?

55:55So briefly, right?

55:57So this is the second floor on the screen.

55:59So you come up from the center, the bottom.

56:02You make a left-hand turn and here's our valet podium.

56:05Drop off your keys.

56:06And there are two stairwells they bring out to the first floor or this

56:10elevator to the right.

56:11So then you have to walk back.

56:13Yeah.

56:14Down, down this way, down to the right or from the valet podium.

56:20When you leave your car, yes.

56:21You'll walk along this drive aisle to the right,

56:24to the elevator or to these two stairwells.

56:26So it seems like it's going to be kind of tight.

56:28And the elevator alert when other cars are coming up there.

56:33And wild business.

56:38While someone is walking back to the elevators.

56:42I'll defer that one to a architect in the valet operations on,

56:48on mechanisms for within the building.

56:50Can I ask on the subject?

56:52Can you show, I guess back to the first,

56:54the second floor with parking.

56:57What you show the width of the drive aisle.

56:59Can you show what that width would be less parked car?

57:02So that would be the width of the space for valet operations and

57:05pedestrian flow.

57:06That makes sense.

57:12Yeah.

57:13Whatever that number is.

57:14And then less those vehicles.

57:17Proximate.

57:18Wrong scale.

57:20That's about 12 feet for width.

57:29If it's fully parked valet parking on the, on the side.

57:52So if it's fully parked,

57:53there'd be 12 feet of width for both the pedestrians and the valet

57:57vehicle flow.

57:58Correct.

57:59Correct.

58:00That's seems narrow.

58:05Appreciate that information.

58:06The other thing I want to ask you a question about is what about exhaust

58:12fans and stuff like that.

58:13Do you have that planned in the parking?

58:15Exhaust is definitely not my area of expertise.

58:17No problem.

58:18I have the LDO citation for the valley parking aisle width

58:23requirements.

58:24If you'd like me to read that into the record valley parking lots were

58:28approved by the planning board or the zoning board of adjustments.

58:33They have reduced stall and aisle sizes.

58:36The project applicant is responsible for demonstrating to the board that

58:40the lot can function and accommodate vehicles as proposed.

58:44Okay.

58:45May.

58:46May.

58:48Yes.

58:50Sounds like the requirements don't count.

58:56Well, it sounds to me like it's,

58:58it's up to the review of the planning board.

59:02I wouldn't do that.

59:03I mean, just to.

59:06Excuse me, please.

59:07I didn't mean to say that.

59:12Well, just to break down.

59:13You're showing the 12 feet, right?

59:15What would a typical minimum width be of like a pedestrian walkway?

59:19Not, not length, but kind of width.

59:22If let's say we're to stripe a pedestrian space.

59:24Four feet, three or four feet depending on the scenario.

59:27So if we were to, and I'm not saying you have to,

59:29but just play it out.

59:30If we were to create pedestrian space,

59:33how much would that leave for the vehicle operation?

59:36Like the math isn't mapping.

59:39Is that sufficient in your opinion?

59:41No.

59:42I'm asking, I'm asking that.

59:45We're giving our opinion.

59:47No.

59:49Yeah, no.

59:50Not sufficient.

59:51We're trying to speak this along.

59:53No, I did not believe eight feet is a sufficient width for a car to

59:57drive.

59:58So that's the question.

59:59Thank you.

1:00:00Yeah.

1:00:01Okay.

1:00:02I think we move on to.

1:00:04No, that's not proposed.

1:00:07Okay. Just one more.

1:00:08Sure.

1:00:13I'll make a quick and we're going out of this garage.

1:00:15I promise.

1:00:16The walkway.

1:00:18Sorry, I'm corrected.

1:00:19This is inside the building.

1:00:21I just want to defer it.

1:00:22So it's 14 feet width in that area.

1:00:26My, my PDF.

1:00:28Dimension was not a hundred percent accurate.

1:00:30Unless that's a suburban parked up against that wall.

1:00:35That I don't own yet.

1:00:38Okay. I promise out of this garage.

1:00:40One question on that rear walkway area.

1:00:42Could you just speak to the lighting and the security?

1:00:45I don't know if cameras, whatever,

1:00:46or how that intends to be operated and how it's kind of set up.

1:00:49So it's not just like a derelict alleyway, I assume it's not,

1:00:53but just kind of talk to that a little bit.

1:00:55Yeah. So I guess I'll briefly talk about there is an existing alleyway

1:00:58there that we are intending or not alleyway.

1:01:00There's existing pedestrian path there that we're trying to preserve.

1:01:04And I am really having trouble with my fingers.

1:01:07So that's kind of this brick shading area.

1:01:11Partially, right. The area between the existing building

1:01:14and the property line is an existing pedestrian path.

1:01:17And, you know, it's relatively flat.

1:01:20And then it ramps up in this back area between the two,

1:01:25the property to the east, which has a slight retaining wall.

1:01:29And the property to the, or the parking garage, the existing parking,

1:01:32sorry, the existing loading bay here has a wall.

1:01:35So you're ramping up to Huron.

1:01:38So we're kind of maintaining that same design.

1:01:42It was a wide area here while the existing has the building overhang,

1:01:47you know, where it's a little bit more open.

1:01:49And so it's the wide area and we have a five foot pedestrian path.

1:01:53And this is not a ramp. This is a gradual slope up to Huron.

1:01:58So there is a light building, building lights and some ceiling,

1:02:02I believe lights along this, underneath this tower section that illuminate it.

1:02:07And I believe it's still within a one foot candle, but I'll check.

1:02:12Thank you, Mr. Harenson. Thank you, Mr. Burton.

1:02:22Okay. Thank you.

1:02:28You okay? You need a break? You're good.

1:02:31Okay. Mr. Harenson, you're next with us.

1:02:34Okay, then we're going to proceed with architecture.

1:02:37And this is similar to when we had the Zoom meetings.

1:02:41Mr. Freitas is going to be sworn in as the licensed architect.

1:02:46And Christina Haria is going to do the presentation.

1:02:50Christina is the project that works on these on a day-to-day basis

1:02:57with Mr. Freitas in his office.

1:02:59I do.

1:03:06I-T-A-T-T-I-Y-E-H.

1:03:11Freitas, F-R-E-I-T-A-S.

1:03:15Mr. Freitas, your license current and in good standing?

1:03:18Yes, it is.

1:03:19Okay. And Christina will be...

1:03:21Yeah, she's the project lead and she'll be able to walk you through the whole project.

1:03:25Okay.

1:03:26I'll be here in support.

1:03:27Thank you.

1:03:28You may proceed, Christina.

1:03:29Good evening, commissioners.

1:03:31I'm here to present the architectural portion of 3000 Kennedy.

1:03:35Going up on the screen.

1:03:42There we go.

1:03:44Mr. Harrington, do we have to mark any of this?

1:03:46This is from the Tyler submission, correct?

1:03:49Yeah.

1:03:50So the answer is no. Thank you.

1:03:53Again, this is a proposed 51-story tower, 559 feet tall with 1,454 units.

1:04:02A total of a million, 63,266 gross square foot is proposed between both towers.

1:04:1010% affordable will be designated for these two towers together

1:04:15with a total of 146 units spread out throughout the tower,

1:04:19ranging in mix from studios to ones to twos to threes.

1:04:23151 parking spaces are designated in order to achieve the four-story bonus that we are requesting.

1:04:32Along with 6,578 square feet of retail at the ground floor level.

1:04:38This is a proposed two-phase development.

1:04:41The north side being phase one and the south side being phase two.

1:04:47This is a proposed quick phasing in construction only a few months apart.

1:04:53So no structure will be left exposed.

1:04:55It's just done for a management and leasing phasing strategy.

1:05:01But construction would be consecutive and the envelope would be completed at the same time for both towers.

1:05:08Moving over to the ground floor plan.

1:05:13So following up on the corner at Newark and JFK, yes, totally agree of the pinch point.

1:05:22And from an architectural standpoint, we can set back what is the south tower residential lobby

1:05:28to create the 15-foot continuous sidewalk along JFK.

1:05:33The ground floor is 20 feet high.

1:05:35So then the garage above could cantilever above that and create relief.

1:05:39And I do definitely think that would be a great asset for the development and for the public realm.

1:05:46I believe the sidewalk along Newark is already 15.

1:05:49I think it just at that pinch point started getting to 10 and then opening back up.

1:05:54But we will make sure that the ground floor building envelope sets back accordingly to allow for that pedestrian relief.

1:06:03So looking at the ground floor right now, north is on the right, south tower is on the left.

1:06:09On the right side, you see the residential lobby at the corner of JFK and Huron, along with the retail fronting JFK.

1:06:18And then another residential lobby, sorry, along the corner of Newark and JFK for the south tower.

1:06:25We are proposing one loading zone that connects to both buildings via a backup house corridor

1:06:32that connects to both cores and connects to both trash rooms.

1:06:36So both towers will utilize this loading zone.

1:06:39The curb to enter the garage is being proposed along Huron.

1:06:45This is a two-way curb cut up, but depending on valet use, how they will be using this.

1:06:53But technically, potential clients and parking will come up through this ramp.

1:07:01And then I don't know if you could tell in the architectural plan, there's a thin dashed gray line.

1:07:05And that's the extent of the ramp to the floor above.

1:07:08So they are going 20 feet high.

1:07:10So it is a long ramp at the 12% maximum.

1:07:14So going to the next page, you'll start to see how the cars start coming in.

1:07:23They'll come in from below, and then they'll start queuing along the second floor ramp.

1:07:28And this is where they'll queue behind each other, and I'll have the parking operator talk more about the operations.

1:07:35But they queue along the first to second floor ramp, and then the valet operator starts getting to them in a sequence.

1:07:42And then, yes, they're going to have to go through a pedestrian path between these two spaces,

1:07:48which I had just double checked as 14 feet to get to the designated elevator that's separate from the residential core down to grade.

1:07:59Agreed.

1:08:00We should definitely show designated pedestrian path hatched out and safe maybe with bollards and security.

1:08:09And we'll see where it fits best when we discuss it with our parking operator.

1:08:15So going over briefly, this is our 151 space proposed garage on the second and third floor.

1:08:22I'll have the parking operator discuss more on operations.

1:08:27But yes, again, the garage is on the second and third floor of the building.

1:08:31And later, when we start reviewing elevations, we'll see how the facade of this garage functions.

1:08:37But going back to the question of exhaust, this is being proposed as a naturally ventilated garage.

1:08:42So no MEP ducting. It is designed with perforated panels, which allow for natural ventilation in and out.

1:08:50The only mechanical you will see in this are fire sprinklers and lighting that also will be shielded.

1:08:59We can discuss that further in the elevations.

1:09:02Kristina, on the valley, the cars will be coming in, coming in, then they have to go second and third.

1:09:13Then the valley, it would take it from there?

1:09:18Just on the second. Yeah, just the second.

1:09:21The valley takes the car on the second floor. How does it get to the third floor?

1:09:25Can you show what your cursor?

1:09:27Okay, they'll go around if you're following me and then go back up the ramp overlays on the second, the third floor.

1:09:33But this is only for the valley operator to go to the third floor.

1:09:36If there is a backup when they're coming in on that second floor, where does those car hangs out onto what JFK?

1:09:46The curb?

1:09:47Yeah, there should be no queuing onto the street. But again, I'll let the operator discuss the speed of the operations to avoid from that happening.

1:09:57Okay, so just on this picture on the second floor, could you just kind of point out?

1:10:05If you can use the microphone, please.

1:10:07You can turn that on.

1:10:12Yeah, I mean, from the first floor, if you just look at the cars on approaching the ramp, you've probably got about at least 10 cars before you'd have any kind of backup onto the street.

1:10:22Thank you.

1:10:27Could you just point on, and again, please tell me if this should go to the valley operator.

1:10:33But where would someone entering the garage, would they stop their vehicle and exchange the keys with the valet?

1:10:38Where would their vehicle be?

1:10:39Yeah, there's definitely in the operations a queue on how many cars they retrieve at a time.

1:10:44But I would say, let's say we're counting four or five, where my cursor would be somewhere here at the ramp, I would say is where pickup starts.

1:10:51But again, it might be more than that.

1:10:53I'd let the operator.

1:10:55So you'd be asked to stop your vehicle that far back on the ramp.

1:10:59It could be if I think on dense nights coming in and trying to keep cars off of the street, that might be the case.

1:11:05But if it's, you know, pretty.

1:11:08Commissioner, perhaps we should wait for the operator to sign in.

1:11:13All right, Councillor.

1:11:14And so where's the regular parking spots?

1:11:17Not the valley, but the other parking spots.

1:11:20So the way the patient of those spots.

1:11:22Yeah, so it is valley operates.

1:11:24So whether some there is no self park here, the only self park would be the ADA spots since they control the maneuverability of their car.

1:11:31And those are designated on the plan.

1:11:33You can see there's no car blocking them.

1:11:36Other than that, if it is a self park, it all has to go through a valley.

1:11:44And the striped out spaces are permanent spaces.

1:11:48The VL monogram on the car are floating valleys throughout the parking structure.

1:11:56The striped is the gap for ADA maneuverability.

1:12:00So that's an empty area.

1:12:02There's no space.

1:12:03You have striped parking spaces.

1:12:08Fixed parking spaces, and then you have, for lack of a better term, just floating cars.

1:12:14Floating cars.

1:12:15Yes.

1:12:18All of which are valid.

1:12:20Correct.

1:12:24And the ramping is only in the north tower.

1:12:26Correct.

1:12:28So if they go to the left, you're stuck on floor two.

1:12:32Same thing up on the third floor.

1:12:34Yeah, you got to turn around and get to the ramp again.

1:12:36Yes.

1:12:43The venting?

1:12:46Yeah, again, not a mechanical.

1:12:47All sides of the garage?

1:12:49Three.

1:12:51We'll study it further, but it requires 50% opening to be a naturally ventilated garage.

1:12:56So I believe in our calculations, the three sides on Newark, JFK, and Huron are sufficient

1:13:01with perforated metal panel to achieve the 50%.

1:13:05And we're starting 20 feet up.

1:13:07Correct.

1:13:09Floors two and three.

1:13:16I didn't mean to interrupt.

1:13:17You can continue.

1:13:18I'm sorry.

1:13:20Why did you let me do that?

1:13:22You're putting me back in line, Santo.

1:13:25Again, these panels are perforated panels?

1:13:29Okay, good.

1:13:30Correct.

1:13:33Okay, Kristina.

1:13:34Okay.

1:13:35So moving up to the residential floors, we're on floor four here.

1:13:37This is our partial amenity floor and partial residential floor with an amenity deck access,

1:13:44which will be landscaped and programmed for all tenants for affordable units and for market

1:13:51rate units have access to this area here.

1:13:55All the units are highly efficient, equipped with top tier stainless steel appliances,

1:14:01washer dryer in units, floor to ceiling glass, and air conditioning and heating within the

1:14:08unit as well.

1:14:11You'll see the bike storage also carries up throughout the tower, so those can be designated

1:14:14to the units on their floor and any surplus can be designated to units on other floors.

1:14:21Moving up to the typical tower footprint, this is where you start to see the setbacks.

1:14:26We have 20 feet here right next to our lower density neighbor and then 10 feet towards

1:14:33the corner of Huron.

1:14:36We have 10 foot along Newark and then since the property line kind of slopes and chamfers,

1:14:42we start with about 12 feet here and then oh, 17 feet and then it goes back down to

1:14:48I believe the three foot that Ian mentioned on the zoning table.

1:14:54Again, highly efficient units ranging from studios to ones to twos to threes, all equipped

1:15:01with stainless steel appliances, washer dryer in unit, closet space, and just healthy floor

1:15:06to ceiling glass that maximizes views and transparency in and out of the building.

1:15:12Again, it's a two phase tower, so each one has their individual core and individual egress

1:15:18staircases that meet life safety requirements individually for fire separation.

1:15:25Just moving up the tower, different floor plans, and then once we get to the last floor,

1:15:32we also have an amenity roof deck there shared for the full building to gain those skyline

1:15:37views and distant views of Jersey and beyond that will be amenities with game rooms, gyms,

1:15:44yoga rooms, wellness areas.

1:15:49Looking at the roof plan, we're proposing a roof lounge that's an additional amenity

1:15:54up there and then screening all the required mechanical equipment required to make this

1:16:0051 story building function and breathe.

1:16:07I believe we already discussed the lighting plan with civil and the foot candles that

1:16:12are required to get to that same for the garage floor plans and the foot candles required.

1:16:22And moving over now to the elevations, let me rotate this.

1:16:26So again, a 51 story tower, the design intent for this was to accentuate the verticality

1:16:34of this site using bronze, ACM, aluminum, metal, bond panels, all the way up the tower

1:16:43with horizontals creating a sequence and a rhythm as they go up vertically.

1:16:51The two towers are separated by a 20 foot recess that breaks the mass and the bulk

1:16:57of the building.

1:16:58You can see that here in the white area and then you'll see it visually more in the renderings.

1:17:04The floors that do have the amenity program were accented to be a full glass to gain

1:17:10views inside and out and illuminate this box showing all the fun programming going

1:17:15inside.

1:17:17And then the garage floors here, which is the perforated panel that you see, which I'm

1:17:21zooming in on, which are these four foot by eight foot metal panels.

1:17:26They hang on Z-clips, they come perforated already with the opening area required to

1:17:32make this a naturally ventilated garage.

1:17:35And those would be seen on the second and third floor.

1:17:39On the ground floor, we've dedicated all to clear glazing within the 10% clear exterior

1:17:49reflectivity, maximizing the public realm experience to the retail, to the lobby, inviting

1:17:55people in, creating that transparency along the pedestrian walkway for tenants and for

1:18:02retail and for the public along with exterior lighting.

1:18:06It's just for the record, I would like to have the record reflect Councilwoman Little

1:18:10just came into the meeting.

1:18:13Santel, would you want to comment on that?

1:18:18Obviously the Councilwoman is not going to be able to vote on the application since

1:18:21the application is underway.

1:18:29Thank you.

1:18:30And I apologize.

1:18:31We had caucus this afternoon.

1:18:33I got here as soon as I could.

1:18:35I'm still about to ask questions though.

1:18:37I just will have to abstain from the vote, right?

1:18:39Correct.

1:18:40Thank you so much.

1:18:41Christina, you can proceed.

1:18:44Moving on to other elevations quickly rotating this the same aesthetic moves along to the

1:18:51Newark Avenue and the JFK Avenue facades and the same preparation of panels as discussed

1:18:57to achieve the natural ventilated facade with the wrapping of retail glass on the

1:19:04corners and the use of metal panel facade along the garage area and transformers zooming

1:19:17in on to the large elevations here you'll get a sample of what these perforated panels

1:19:22look like in the same bronze color we're proposing their punctured openings that allow

1:19:27the area to naturally ventilate the garage outside and they will come in a mix of colors

1:19:34to create some vibrancy and not a monolithic monotone look to this solid facade create

1:19:41some dynamic movement there.

1:19:48Here are some other enlarged elevations using the same materiality.

1:19:51This is just our typical curtain wall detail.

1:19:56It's a highly efficient double glazing unit maximizes light in and out for tenants and

1:20:04creates transparency for the city and for the tenants themselves with operable windows

1:20:11for natural ventilation for every unit and again another another sample of the bronze

1:20:16material up the tower.

1:20:18This is a solid panel not a perforated panel of the tower again just a couple enlarged

1:20:27elevations bulkhead drawing showing ecm up the bulkhead and all the screening no mechanical

1:20:33equipment will be seen at the roof level they will all be screened and fenced with

1:20:38the appropriate height panels our typical bicycle details that are wall hung lockable

1:20:45stacked for tenants to use and have access to along with our parapet details and screening

1:20:52details of mechanical equipment and louvered fencing where needed moving on to our shadow

1:21:00study looking at a close look the shadow footprint is contained within its neighboring

1:21:12environment and does not spread out beyond its its immediate environment given the architecture

1:21:19layout of the U shape of the tower in itself and if you take a closer look at high peaks

1:21:25and summer at 12pm it's it's quite contained onto itself and just onto the street not disturbing

1:21:31neighbors and those high summer solace days throughout the afternoon at 2pm it's somewhat

1:21:40controlled in the afternoon it starts spreading out a bit further and at 4pm you could see

1:21:45the spread out but throughout the morning 12pm to 2pm it is it is contained to its

1:21:53own neighboring areas and you could see it's a dynamic shadow so it's not you know impulsing

1:22:02it putting all its pressure onto one building it's spread out throughout as it moves around

1:22:11just some parking signage showing you know limits on height fonts and materiality for

1:22:17these signages especially for parking and inviting the public in and just gonna finish

1:22:23it off with a couple renderings um chuck i'm not sure if these have been uploaded

1:22:28if these are exhibit yeah let's mark these okay so a3 i believe and if you could describe

1:22:34it for the record that's correct mr harington is it just one looks like one of one or two

1:22:41there's a zoomed in one and then a zoomed out so a3 is two renderings can you just tell

1:22:46us the view which direction i guess yes this is coming you're looking from jfk at

1:22:51a zoomed out view looking west and then um on the ground floor you're looking southwest

1:23:01this is the corner of newark and jfk the other one is looking west you said yeah and

1:23:10then this is the hiron's elevation so the mix of jfk and hiron um so just sorry that

1:23:23facing east this is west and north so north is here on here and then the front facade

1:23:30is west the west elevation of the building facing east yes okay i see in the audience

1:23:39um councilman tom zoopa welcome to our meeting christina i just have a question if you can

1:23:48go back to the um where the two tower side by side are there windows on both sides no

1:24:04when the buildings above each other there are no windows there's a solid wall separation

1:24:09the fire rate at separation so there's no sunlight coming in on either side no going

1:24:17back to the plans you would see all the sunlight happens at the inner courtyard which is here

1:24:23for these units going up the tower but then the budding line between the phasing is this

1:24:28solid line here and that's just units side by side so it's an interior wall essentially

1:24:34so it reads as one building when it's finished that's right but all the units have exterior

1:24:41windows for light air and open space the um units that's are the affordable which is

1:24:4810 affordable what floor are those units located and if it's all the same materials are being

1:24:54used as the other units yes the finishes will match the market rate units top tier

1:25:00appliances um top tier lvt flooring porcelain and bathrooms and shower walls um the studios

1:25:09and ones are spread out throughout the tower all the way up to the 57th floor we still

1:25:14haven't designated them exactly with the department of affordable housing but they run vertically

1:25:19through the tower um same for the two bedrooms and the three bedrooms they stock above each

1:25:24other but we have yet to designate the exact units how many three bedrooms two bedrooms

1:25:29and one bedroom and studios okay let's say there'd be the checklist from the division

1:25:42of affordable housing provides there'd be two of the of the affordable units two studios

1:25:4726 one bedrooms 88 two bedrooms and 33 bedrooms did they give you the income ranges yet yeah

1:26:01the income ranges you'd have 20 would be very low units of those you'd have one studio

1:26:08two one bedrooms 12 two bedrooms and five three bedrooms of the low income which is

1:26:15a 30 to 50 uh range as no studios 11 one bedrooms 39 two bedrooms and 13 three bedrooms

1:26:24and in the moderate income which is the 50 to 80 one studio 13 one bedrooms 37 two bedrooms

1:26:32and 12 three bedrooms and did we go over the size of the units based on their bedroom count

1:26:39and we are able to meet all of those requirements yeah those those have all been addressed as

1:26:44part of the uh plans we just had amendment have to come back because that wasn't that's

1:26:48why i'm asking wasn't a harrington application i can assure you that that was the best of

1:26:57us christine i have a question for you on the on the residential floors you're going

1:27:04to have shoots for both the garbage and the recycling coming down to the loading area

1:27:08correct correct there are two shoots per tower and as far as the recycling and the

1:27:14trash pickup will that be done like early in the morning what have you because of traffic

1:27:19situation yes um trash has been scheduled at 4am in the morning and that's when the

1:27:25barrels will be wheeled out through the backup house corridor as you can see here these

1:27:30are the two yard two cubic yard bins they get wheeled out through this backup house

1:27:35corridor and make their way to the loading room by maintenance staff okay on my final

1:27:41thing which i didn't get to ask when we were dealing with sidewalks if there's any room

1:27:45on the sidewalk where you could put in some type of flower boxes or what have you i'd

1:27:51like to see that me too good and if you get it to sort of like match the building structure

1:27:58as far as the way you have you design i think that'll be perfect yeah i agree christina

1:28:04so looking at the boat towers i really have a question regarding the minimum setback and

1:28:16i know the real redevelopment plans is where the tower base abuts a lower density zone

1:28:23the base of the tower shall be set back from the side lot a minimum of five feet and the

1:28:29lower and the tower shall be set back a minimum of 30 feet so the requirement is 30 feet

1:28:35this is setting back 10 feet can you please touch on that yes um just to clarify on one

1:28:42side towards the south it is setting back 20 feet all the way up that's something we

1:28:47could work closely with our planner to achieve given the neighboring building and their use

1:28:52of the plaza below that we are also you know going to enhance with pedestrian pavers lighting

1:29:00and retail so the 20 foot is right here and yes there's a 10 foot proposal to the tower

1:29:06on the north end here facing what i believe is a parking right now and then the 10 foot

1:29:13request along the avenues as well on which avenue will be the 10 newark on norke avenue

1:29:22will be 10 feet yes and then again on her on it it kind of spreads between 17 to three

1:29:28so maybe a median number there and kennedy uh the boulevard setback i'm sorry so i couldn't

1:29:38hear that what was the setback uh along kennedy boulevard i think i believe it's one foot

1:29:43six let me check 0.90 feet no okay um i guess depends from which corner and from which

1:29:57um so sometimes you have these extruded metal ediments yeah let's i think we could measure

1:30:03it from um the tower mr harrington let's go back through the requirements there's a

1:30:10base requirement there's a tower requirement yeah we have one foot eight so what's required

1:30:17and what's provided and where on the plane is that measurement from so it's clear please

1:30:22do we have it yeah eon has that uh counselor just real quick uh go ahead uh what is the

1:30:38date on the plans that you are looking at uh september 23rd okay on sheet uh a 101 on

1:30:53the plans in the portal uh it shows that there is no connection between the service

1:30:58corridor and the loading room um and these plans show there to be a doorway so i believe

1:31:06this would need to be marked into evidence it might have been added okay slow down let's

1:31:13start again so i believe she can show it with her cursor on the plans in the portal that

1:31:20doorway does not exist this is a different plan than what's on the portal correct i

1:31:27don't know the extent of the changes sure harrington can you speak to that please christina

1:31:36do you are you aware of any other changes i don't think so when and when was this change

1:31:41made if you know i i would say it was only picked up that there was no direct access

1:31:47and it was i think it was missed because there's a sheer i think on your drawings there's

1:31:50a sheer wall right so there's a concrete so sometimes in revett you don't see the

1:31:55openings through a sheer wall so i think we picked that up after as a graphic um error

1:32:01but well we can put this in as an exhibit but other than that i think that was the

1:32:05only graphic misrepresentation so can you make the representation that other than that

1:32:11uh door that everything else is accurate yes yeah i think so let's mark this sheet

1:32:19is a4 give us the name of the sheet and the i guess that was september 23rd was the date

1:32:29a 101 yes correct first floor plan dated september 23rd 2026 correct yeah a4 so mr

1:32:53harrington we were going to go through the requirement and the variance for basin tower

1:33:03setbacks yeah mr burton's gonna bring that up so i have uh tower on base i have three

1:33:34front line front yard setbacks front line setbacks so newark kennedy and brooks they

1:33:40all require 15 feet from the tower uh to the property line uh newark av has a 10 foot

1:33:47tower setback which is shown here so this thick line is 10 feet from the property line

1:33:53along newark av the uh kennedy we have at 5.95 feet from uh jfk boulevard and then brooks

1:34:04av or huron av we have 3.76 feet uh we also had there's some uh um clarifications on the

1:34:11oscillation that's what we have listed our zone table that's on the portal um but there

1:34:15were other dimensions that we had shown so uh on brooks av from the ground floor to the

1:34:21property line is 1.59 feet uh from the ground floor to the property line on jfk is uh less

1:34:30than a foot right in these bump outs and then uh newark to the first floor uh is 1.3 feet

1:34:39and what are the requirements i i believe the only requirements were specifically for

1:34:43the tower on base so that the tower part base has no setback requirement i do not

1:34:48have any listed on our zone table and then how about on that west so that's uh it was

1:34:56uh right the 30 foot um 34 requirement to a lower density and from the tower which we

1:35:03have 10 feet 10 feet and 20 feet sorry yes 10 feet and 20 feet so 10 feet is the tower front

1:35:13setback that's the the we call it the rear the abutting the lower density the tower setback to

1:35:19the neighboring property that's the east side of the building right where that pathway goes there's

1:35:25a pathway now that cuts through from from norke avenue through to brooks place that's the east

1:35:31side that that's essentially the rear of the building here we have two front three fronts

1:35:36really and one rear or one side but if you could maybe scroll up there see that's that area there

1:35:45that's that's where we have a 10 foot and a 20 foot where 30 is required correct that that's

1:35:52exactly what was my point what is required 30 30 feet from the tower to the neighboring property

1:35:59okay um i have a question not related to setbacks is is that all right or are we continuing on

1:36:14setbacks that was all i had to add so you've answered the question i don't know was there a

1:36:20question for the architect regarding maybe a wide chairwoman i don't know so my my next

1:36:29question was for the architect in regards to the maximum consecutive frontage for other

1:36:34uses i know the required is 30 what is proposed is 52 can you um touch on that please

1:36:49yeah and that's due to the pscng transformers they're 25 feet wide and we need two per tower

1:36:58so that that's bringing us to the 50 52 feet of metal facade versus

1:37:04why don't we show that it's a lot easier being pictures worth a thousand words

1:37:14as easy as cam makes it look i know it just disconnected again could you unplug it and plug

1:37:57it back in one more time do i blow probably not here we go so yes here you could see the two

1:38:13transformers with their double doors lining up along new work and then we have the same

1:38:18situation along here on for the tower one um and that's where you're getting your 52

1:38:25fee of non-glazed ground floor retail facade and that's is it accurate to say that that's common

1:38:35for any tall building where you need two transformer rooms because they're 25 feet

1:38:40wide each yes and we're actually in discussions with pscng on how to maybe reduce this from four

1:38:46to three transformer rooms so then we can see which side um is for is um desire to be reduced

1:38:53maybe um either along here on or new work we may be able to eliminate one um and we can have a

1:38:59discussion discussion with planning on which one would be preferred and depending on utilities as

1:39:03well okay councilman thank you so much um i apologize if you covered this before i arrived

1:39:14um could you identify which of the ground floor retail spaces um is is going to be designated

1:39:21for hudson pride center um chuck maybe you could yeah none of them um there the uh as part of the

1:39:29redevelopment designation and the redevelopment agreement that it's not yet been provided that

1:39:36the the applicant is has agreed to relocate hudson pride to another location in one of their

1:39:42buildings along the homestead place extension so that they're closer to the path um so that

1:39:49they have a location already chosen and and there's there's a lease being negotiated there

1:39:56but they're not going to stay in this location they're going to be moved closer to uh journal

1:39:59square path okay um and thank you yeah i was i was under the understanding that um you know

1:40:07providing a replacement location for them was was a requirement of the the jcra agreement for this

1:40:14project um would would you be comfortable agreeing to that as a as a condition of approval that

1:40:22that a space will be provided for hudson pride center and they will not be displaced in in the

1:40:29location that we've already chosen in the location that's already been identified in a different

1:40:33building absolutely because that's going to be part of the redevelopment agreement as well

1:40:37okay thank you council i still want some testimony regarding the architectural or the

1:40:51reason regarding the setback if the architect has one so um on the podium i believe there are no

1:41:03requirements and and that we we maximized our podium um for the garage and for the turning

1:41:09radiuses so the podium shape is basically a um result of having these spaces sorry the podium

1:41:26shape is basically a result of providing these spaces um along the periphery with enough drive

1:41:35out space in between sorry don't know why it's doing that um that's for the garage you know

1:41:40having enough drive out space for valley to maneuver around and parking spaces along the edge

1:41:44and periphery with the perforated screen facade for the tower portion um the understanding and

1:41:51you know that the reasoning behind it was we felt that jfk was a wide enough boulevard that

1:41:56could handle the 51 story tower being along the property line given the just the width of that

1:42:02avenue given the neighboring properties nearby um along newark and heron the ask is 15 and we are

1:42:09giving 10 um honestly it is as much as it has a density to it it is a tight site so the minute

1:42:16you take another five feet off of each side you you basically lose a double-sided tower corridor

1:42:23and you you with the required areas needed for the affordable units and for minimum unit sizes

1:42:29based on jersey city building code we would have ended up with a single-sided um residential

1:42:36building with a corridor and then the back the back courtyard instead of glazing would have all

1:42:42been a solid maybe stuccoed wall because it would have been lost to corridor space um so with these

1:42:48asks and variances for the setbacks we were able to get a fully um glazed tower with residential

1:42:56units facing both sides offering transparency um vertically throughout the tower i hope that

1:43:05answers the question so madam chair if i may just just so i understand right as it is not quite a

1:43:14real planner um what is typically the reason for a tower setback is that i think you mentioned like

1:43:19light air i don't know yeah i mean um right now when you're facing your property line towards

1:43:25the streets you don't have for light and air that's not a requirement um for tower setbacks

1:43:30you know always architecturally setting back from your base creates a contextual um um

1:43:37kind of condition where you're not a continuous massing all the way up um which is still being

1:43:42provided here so looking at the renderings you still kind of see the slender tower sitting on

1:43:48a thicker heavier contextual base which was provided but with a five-foot variance um less

1:43:55obviously you know the more setback you give you give more light and air to your neighbors

1:44:00um but we still believe with 10 foot that we are being um you know um providing a healthy

1:44:07amount to the streets for adjoining and to the boulevard thank you in this rendering it looks

1:44:13like there's something green at the top of the the base could you kind of elaborate on that

1:44:18yeah i mean you know once we put these metal panels in it gave it a very grungy look so we

1:44:22kind of wanted to soften the garage um especially at the podium level that's still you know

1:44:27pedestrian eye level there by bringing along the periphery a nice grass planter boxes and

1:44:33shrubs that maybe overflow along the parking um and just soften up you know this public realm

1:44:40experience and you could see it more here at um the ground floor level so is that mitigating

1:44:46the tower setback the separation between the base and the tower by having those kind of plantings

1:44:51you could say you know visually um it's important to really break again as an architect to break the

1:44:56contextual leave from a you know solid um contextual brick or metal heavy plate with a more

1:45:02slender glass tower and creating a you know introducing a new material in the middle uh

1:45:07that setback helps do so thank you christina can you speak to the um minimum tower separation

1:45:17where 50 feet is required and zeros proposed yes i get i believe that's for two towers on a base

1:45:25um but i believe we're proposing it's a still a single tower it's just phased and um divided

1:45:34with an interior wall but it is still considered one single tower um in terms of its massing and

1:45:42volume okay maybe i'm confused then presenting here is two towers two towers i would believe

1:45:53in terms of maybe addresses and you know maybe christina if you could speak to why why was um

1:46:01decided to to provide for two towers as opposed to one yeah yeah so again you know at the end of

1:46:07the day they're they read the same they are visually um aligning together um it's just that

1:46:13in the development world it's um a lot for security where tenants don't feel comfortable

1:46:18living in towers that have a thousand you know 50 units it feels like vegas it feels like you

1:46:23don't know who's coming into your lobby all these like delivery men so separating that

1:46:28units into i believe 740 and um 700 something else um creates a healthier community neighborhood

1:46:35feel to your building feel safer you know your neighbors more you see familiar faces in your

1:46:40common areas um so it was decided to just have that wall in between um but technically that wall

1:46:46could go away if needed is it two tower or it's one tower it's one tower so technically

1:46:53will be permitted as one tower but presenting here is two tower it's two towers on a base it's not

1:47:04one tower so you again maybe architecturally is different term than maybe um city planning

1:47:09or zoning would identify it so but our our plans specifically state minimum tower separation is 50

1:47:17feet you are proposing zero feet and that's why i'm asking the question how do you want to handle

1:47:25that variance please don't call out from the public sir yeah and i think the reasoning behind

1:47:32that that request is we are profile it is two towers um and there's separation the two and as

1:47:37christina said there's a number of reasons that things like that are proposed it helps in

1:47:43financing as well because you can do tower one tower two but there is a deviation because

1:47:48you know you could you could build it as one tower right um and uh you'd have the same look

1:47:54but because they're being built separately and you do have the demising wall between the two towers

1:47:59there is zero separation so under the zoning ordinance there is a 50 foot requirement for

1:48:05because we're separating into two but if we had one you could have one one tower here as a you

1:48:11know a rectangle that that there would be no separation because it's one tower there's no

1:48:16longer that wall in between that's that's really what triggers the the request for the deviation

1:48:21there if you you take out the the wall separation then that that goes away that that's uh there is

1:48:29no requirement does that make sense or maybe it makes sense for the architect but doesn't make

1:48:36sense for me okay thank you it seems like presenting it as two towers is in benefit to

1:48:45the developer but not to what actually needs to be approved by this board is the way i'm

1:48:56interpreting it i guess and uh you can i don't know so i think we'll get to we'll get to whether

1:49:04or not right there's no question it's beneficial to the developer and the developer's mind to the

1:49:11project uh whether or not they can justify the granting of that variance remains to be seen and

1:49:22i'm sure we're going to hear testimony about it as well as from planning as well as whether or not

1:49:27a similar building of bulk mass etc could have been presented as a single tower in which case

1:49:38how that interplays with the requirements of the proofs for the variances thank you senator

1:49:46any other board comments for christina madam chair i have a question um regarding a maximum

1:49:52diagonal dimension let's get really fun um what is that you're requesting a variance on it can

1:49:57you just kind of point that out explain it and provide testimony to it please yes it would have

1:50:02been maybe more clearly shown all the civil plans i'm sorry we lost the screen here let me try again

1:50:47so i don't have a dimension on this rendering but uh the 252 is from corner to diagonal corner

1:50:54so it's uh 252 is you know the essentially the span of the of the property where i believe what

1:50:59was it 150 was required so if we did it per uh tower we would be compliant but we you know

1:51:07we took the dimension conservatively across the whole project site again we we're gonna go back

1:51:12to is it one tower or two towers it's two towers okay so if you do the math based upon two towers

1:51:20what is required uh well so it's um i believe it's two towers the diagonal is compliant indeed

1:51:28correct is that your question i'm i'm learning here so that the diagonal is within each building

1:51:36whatever that's defined to be the diagonal dimension of the structure is that the tower

1:51:40or the base i believe that the requirement is for the the diagonal the diagonal of the tower itself

1:51:46can can we planning staff you guys probably know this is that the tower okay and so that our 252

1:51:53was a dimension of the whole building from corner to corner diagonally gotcha so so is it is there

1:52:02a reason why you're seeking that variance as opposed to one structure versus the two towers

1:52:08just being conservative do not have to come back and visit us or i would always love to visit you

1:52:13but oh yes they just say that now but it was a yes a belt and suspenders scenario where we were

1:52:30measuring the whole building instead of just one tower it is two towers so it seems like you're

1:52:35seeking one variance as if it were one thing and another variance if it were two things just make

1:52:41sure you're covered right everything is again worst case scenario most constricting you know

1:52:46conservative dimension like something a lawyer would do yeah it's a little yeah it's a little

1:52:51circular because yeah on their own the two towers comply with the 180 diagonal requirement but as

1:52:58you know we're presenting to the board it reads as one tower from the outside so we put that in

1:53:05to it is a belt and suspenders uh ask for for the relief makes sense thank you thank you madam chair

1:53:12thank you any other board comments no okay we'll take a 15 minutes break we'll be back at 8 30

1:53:20thank you thank you we've all learned very much from pat about carpet all right i've learned

1:54:11so much we're still learning right no idea i understand what curb cuts are i guess i was

1:54:18leading i wanted to learn more fan okay i'd like to call the meeting back to order

1:55:09at this time i would like to have a motion to memorize resolutions are we going to do that

1:55:16yeah let's do it okay resolution resolution city of jersey city planning board case number

1:55:22p2025-0127 applicant waverly homes llc address 30-32 waverly street jersey city new jersey

1:55:30block 5802 lap 41 decided on tuesday july 14th 2026 memorialized on october 5th 2026

1:55:37application for minor site plan approval with sea variances the resolution of the planning

1:55:42road city of jersey city authorizing the issuance of requests for qualifications for professional

1:55:47services to the board for the separate positions for professional services planning board attorney

1:55:53planning board court stenographer resolution of the planning board of the city of jersey city

1:55:59approving administrative amendment to final major site plan approval applicant neq 8 a llc for

1:56:08administrative amendment to final major site plan approval property 20 long slip two long slip

1:56:14washington boulevard and river dry block 7302 lots 3.19 3.20 3.21 3.16 and 3.05 case number

1:56:25is p2026-0023 can i get a second roll call please vice chair wick aye commissioner caplin

1:56:35aye council person little um i miss the last meeting so abstain okay uh commissioner stomato

1:56:44aye commissioner patel and madam chair conga aye motion carries to approve the memorialization

1:56:51of the four resolutions thank you at this time i would like to ask uh ward c councilman uh tom

1:56:57zupa to give give us his presentation in regards to um case p2025-0244 address is 3000 kennedy

1:57:11boulevard good evening madam chair thank you for the accommodation tom zupa zupa jersey award c

1:57:17councilman last time i was here i was not a councilman so it's nice to see so many of you again here

1:57:22in my different role uh last time i saw you and spoke here it was in favor of the redevelopment

1:57:26plan amendments that this board passed that encourages the type of density that this project

1:57:31is utilizing but with the focus on mandatory affordable housing so i'll get to that in a

1:57:35minute but um i i am happy that the meeting went a little long your meeting i know i know you'd

1:57:40rather be home and doing other things this late but we had council caucus tonight um and i know

1:57:45councilwoman little and and uh uh was with me at the caucus meeting um i i do want to say you

1:57:52know special meetings are important i would say they're reserved for projects that are equally

1:57:56special and bring something above and beyond to the community this project is mostly as a

1:58:01as a right with the limited variances it's asking for uh and again it's benefiting from the

1:58:05the density bonuses it gets by providing mandatory affordable housing uh to me holding a special

1:58:12meeting means that all the questions that we have are answered my questions as a councilman but also

1:58:16from the community so that would mean that the developer has already executed the lease with

1:58:20hudson pride which you heard is not the case yet i appreciate my council colleagues ensuring that

1:58:24that's a condition of approval uh many many months have gone by where this has been a prerequisite

1:58:30both in front of the jcra and this board hudson pride is very special to me it's very special

1:58:34jersey city and for me to keep it in the heart of jersey city and journal square so that lease

1:58:39should be executed before any approvals are are are made it should also mean that the transportation

1:58:45traffic planning issues are resolved on a daily basis especially with school uh back now i hear

1:58:53about the traffic that the golden door charter school uh causes i don't i don't mean that

1:58:59negatively to the school and they're working on trying to resolve it best they can but there's

1:59:03backup on the kennedy boulevard if this developer does not solve that problem or have answers to you

1:59:10make sure you get those answers before approvals are given uh we have our senior building right

1:59:15there we have some applause there and we have um just make sure the parking plan is resolved

1:59:22before any approvals are given uh you know what what does disturb me though is this is not a

1:59:28project that's going out of its way to build affordable housing and i love the 146 units

1:59:34there's a reason though that the affordable housing requirements are two bedroom three bedroom

1:59:39and very limited studios to have this project uh with over a thousand studio apartments while

1:59:45asking this board for variances misuses the the purpose that we're going for in the city

1:59:53i appreciate all of your role i appreciate your service to the city i know you you give hours

1:59:57and hours of your time for for very little appreciation so i'm telling you now you're

2:00:01appreciated and i appreciate you but i see your role as giving a vision for our city and our

2:00:05vision needs to be affordability for working families of jersey city having a thousand studio

2:00:10apartments in journal square which is already accused properly accused of being too transient

2:00:15and not building community is a shame and i appreciate mr harrington i wore my gray suit

2:00:20for mr harrington today we'd match i appreciate mr harrington's comments i had before i spoke

2:00:25about working on some of these issues and and doing better than putting in a thousand studio

2:00:31apartments uh because i believe the ratio is 70 or 75 percent of the total uh that's not building

2:00:39for the affordable families of the working families of jersey city now it's not this board's job it's

2:00:44not our city's job to help the developer make money he's going to make boatloads of money on

2:00:49this project and so many others in ward c in journal square uh there's a reason why they get

2:00:55the extra density it's 20 extra floors because of the 10 mandatory affordable housing don't make

2:01:00it any easier to double profit by allowing so many studio apartments especially with the

2:01:04variances that he's asking for uh we certainly need more housing you'll always hear me advocate

2:01:09that jersey city needs to do its part to fight the regional housing prices we're in

2:01:14journal square is doing its part but let's build for our families thank you thank you thank you

2:01:19kenselman mr harrington yes uh thank you so yes councilman um super alluded to we did have a

2:01:31short conversation before he came up uh with his comments and i also spoke with our team uh

2:01:37during the break which i think was helpful um and i think at this point we've heard a lot

2:01:41of the comments a lot of good questions a good comments from the board and i think there's

2:01:45there's some um some work to be done on our part to to take a look at this uh and and try

2:01:51to address those i agree we uh we should probably then we're going to circle back with with traffic

2:01:58make sure that they are good with what is being proposed um and maybe it's more of a tweak you

2:02:04know that that we can work so that it's you know when we're before you we we have you know we're

2:02:08we're rolling in the same direction with the the traffic department and some of the other comments

2:02:13that that you brought up the sidewalk issue on the corner of kennedy boulevard i think that is uh

2:02:19an appropriate uh change and we'll look into that and we'll look into you know the the other

2:02:24you know requested deviations that that uh there were comments on um you know as you heard from

2:02:30our architect and our team you know we we have our reasons why we think they work and some of the

2:02:36issues that when they're not but that being said uh we we have to look at it closer um and come

2:02:43back here uh to the board so with that that being said i i'd ask if i could carry this to um the

2:02:51november meeting i think there's one meeting um if that's possible because at the end of the

2:02:57month doesn't make sense because that's not enough time um agreed i think it's november 10th

2:03:04and there's one meeting in november right because of the league yes okay and one in december okay

2:03:14yeah i was i was i was actually thinking too when i said november 10th is probably not enough time

2:03:22it's only 10 days 10 or 11 days past the other one so if we could move it to the december meeting

2:03:28that december 8th thanks madam chair sure um i guess i'll defer to the applicant but it may

2:03:37be beneficial to i know i had some questions that we were holding excitedly um for the valet

2:03:42i don't know if it'd be beneficial to have that conversation to incorporate that feedback into

2:03:47the revised plan as opposed to receiving additional feedback at that meeting and having to come back

2:03:52again but that's for but just one thought i think that's a great question and comment that's

2:03:57i kind of wrestled with that um whether to go forward with the the valet operator to to give

2:04:03the board the benefit of how it all works so i would defer to the board because it might be

2:04:07helpful to us too to say and the board to see how this this proposed um operation works so

2:04:14commissioner i don't know what general concerns you have or not but council i don't know if

2:04:20you're gonna or we're planning on looking and possibly changing it where i don't know that we

2:04:26need to go through the full presentation and then there there be a change so are there specific

2:04:34things that you just were disturbed by or there are a few weren't clear yeah there are a few

2:04:42questions i had regarding some of the the valley parking spaces how it would operate um we spoke

2:04:49about some of the layout with the civil engineer which was helpful but i think we deferred some

2:04:54questions i think uh counselor you requested i defer some to the appropriate expert appropriately

2:04:59so so again we can we can so i think those questions as i understood commissioner had to

2:05:06do with distance between aisle with stop bars yep whether or not there's pedestrian uh walkways

2:05:14within so yes we did discuss those i think some of the questions i would have was about

2:05:19how it operates with vehicles entering i know there are some vehicles parked on the entryway

2:05:24ramp how the location of the ensuring vehicles would work the cue backs we spoke about vehicles

2:05:31entering exiting and parked on that ramp um just question marks to me i mean and i i i agree i

2:05:37think it might be helpful if we go through the general operations uh we still may you know look

2:05:43at it if you're going to change it i don't know right other than if you're queuing 10 cars

2:05:48that may not work so is this an opportunity to actually get back in in the room with the

2:05:56transportation team i think so right and this way i mean part of the issue is that they haven't

2:06:02gotten the feedback yet that they need and so you there's more of a back and forth and then there's

2:06:07a complete conversation that they can present to you all yeah sure if you're okay with that no

2:06:13that is that is the way to go okay so we are carried carrying on december december 8th

2:06:24no further notice required so those are there are in the audience for the public we are carrying

2:06:31pace case speed to 0 2 5 0 2 4 4 addresses 3000 kennedy boulevard to december 8th no further

2:06:40notices will be sent out thank you thank you thank you miss arand any other board business

2:06:54this was the public hearing they're carrying there's no public comment at this point

2:07:00it's carried to december 8th sir any other board comments no man any closed sessions needed

2:07:15i don't think so motion to adjourn so moved i'll second it we're adjourned thank you thank you all

2:07:28for coming out this evening lis thank you so much for making it here congratulations to councilwoman

2:07:38little on her um being newlywed thank you thank you for coming in thanks