Tag Archives: Zoning Board

Zoning Board rejects apartments for store

The Zoning Board of Adjustment narrowly rejected a proposal to convert a West Scott Avenue convenience store into three residential apartments.

After about two hours of testimony at its Feb. 27 meeting, the application for 497-503 W. Scott Ave. (Block 239, Lot 52) was not approved by the board, 4-3. Assessed at $189,000, the site had property taxes of almost $11,000 last year.

The Scott Ave. Grocery and Deli, formerly J&J Food Mart, is located at the corner of Oliver Street and West Scott Avenue, and is an existing, nonconforming commercial use in a single-family zone. The original plan called for two three-bedroom apartments of more than 900 square feet and one two-bedroom apartment of 800 to 822 square feet, which was eventually was changed to three two-bedroom units.

Several neighbors testified for and against the application. Those against the application worried that more tenants would bring more problems with loitering and exacerbate parking issues, considering a six-unit apartment complex across the street. Those in favor of the application preferred a residential use to alleviate existing issues of traffic and parking related to the single-story store, including customers using their driveway to turn around, as well as concerns about crime. The owners testified they had been robbed three times, twice around 1998 and once in 2008.

Board members expressed concerns about recreational space for potential tenants’ children as well as flooding issues. The property was flooded with about a foot of water during Hurricane Irene last summer and the application included plans to raise the existing three-bedroom apartment several feet as well as move utilities to the roof. Board members also feared the property would likely end up looking like a converted convenience store regardless of aesthetic renovations.

Owners of the property, who had owned the store between 1991 and 1998, testified that business is down since reacquiring the store in 2009. Witnesses for the applicant testified that ideally, someone would acquire the property, demolish the building and construct a single-family home for a better fit in the neighborhood. That’s not economically feasible, however, and presented this application as the best they could do with the site.

The three board members who voted in favor of the application were Egon Behrmann, Joseph Gibilisco and Ray Lopez. The four who voted against were Paula Braxton, James Pellettiere, James Heim and Adrian Zapotocky.

Council rejects pair of mayoral re-appointments

The City Council tonight unanimously rejected two re-appointments proposed by Mayor Rick Proctor amid several others that were approved, while also dismissing a local “pay-to-play” ordinance.

Rejected were the re-appointments of George Wagenhoffer, a Republican, to a three-year term on the Alcohol Beverage Control Board and Josh Donovan to a four-year term on the Zoning Board of Adjustment. However, two other re-appointments to the Zoning Board — William Hering (term through 2015) and Paula Braxton (alternate, 2013) — were approved. In a separate resolution, Ray Lopez was approved to fill a vacancy on the Zoning Board through 2012.

City Council members had no comment, not even any comments unrelated to business on the agenda, which they sometimes offer in their end-of-meeting reports. Council President Samson Steinman, who pulled the affected resolutions from the consent agenda, declined to comment on the failed re-appointments following Monday night’s meeting. (The consent agenda allows the governing body to combine routine resolutions into one vote but a council member can pull them out to be voted on separately, as was the case with several tonight).

Among the appointments that gained approval were two to the Parking Authority (James Walker, 2015, and Eric Kabel, 2016), one to the Planning Board (City Councilman Sal Mione, through 2012), and another to the Redevelopment Agency (Matt Dobrowolski, unexpired term through 2014).

When Ordinance O-3-12 (“Pay-to-Play”) came up on the agenda, 3rd Ward Councilman Jerry Scaturo and 4th Ward Councilman David Brown both pulled their sponsorship of the measure, which was set at last week’s pre-meeting conference. Neither addressed the move publicly. A copy of the four-page ordinance can be found in this Google Document file. The mayor had mentioned pay-to-play in his State of the City message last week (another Google Doc).

The mayor and City Council, all Democrats, have been at odds over the last half year or so, over a number of items, including reducing his salary and other staff appointments in the mayor’s office.

Zoning Board chairman claims ‘second guessing’

While updating Zoning Board members at the end of last Monday night’s meeting about issues coming before the Planning Board, Chairman William Hering (who also serves as vice chairman of the Planning Board) questioned why the City Council earlier this month tabled an ordinance for the Meridia Water’s Edge project despite approval by the Planning Board in August.

Continue reading Zoning Board chairman claims ‘second guessing’

Zoning Board OKs Bachmann’s modification

Readers who’ve long been asking “When’s Bachmann’s reopening?” finally have their answer. The Zoning Board of Adjustment on Monday night gave unanimous approval of minor changes to an application that was adopted several years ago.

Continue reading Zoning Board OKs Bachmann’s modification

Zoning Board approves senior housing

With virtually the same application presented in January that raised concerns about neighborhood parking, a senior housing facility was approved by the Zoning Board of Adjustment last month.

Continue reading Zoning Board approves senior housing

Zoning Board to take up St. Mary’s senior housing

The Zoning Board of Adjustment is expected to take up an application for a 51-unit senior housing development at its meeting Monday night. The four-story structure would be built on the St. Mary’s Church (now Divine Mercy Parish) complex, where the former convent building on Esterbrook Avenue was razed last year.

After three hours of testimony, questions from board members, and some public comment at its Jan. 28 meeting, the Zoning Board instructed the applicant, Domus Corporation, to come back with more feasible parking options. Domus is the development arm for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark, building similar affordable senior housing in other New Jersey towns, with funding from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including rent subsidies.

At issue is whether the project will provide enough parking. The current plan eliminates eight of the 86 existing spaces from St. Mary’s parking lot while adding 27 specifically designated for senior housing, leaving a total 105 spaces. The applicant seeks several variances in addition to preliminary and final site plan approval.

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A good read from NJ Monthly about two brothers who have helped to redevelop Jersey City over the past 30 years, and in particular their current project, a former hospital in the Hamilton Park neighborhood.

Parking concerns for Zoning Board


Serious concerns about overflow street parking in the neighborhood prompted the Zoning Board of Adjustment to push back a vote on a senior affordable housing development proposed for the St. Mary’s Church property on Esterbrook Avenue.

Representatives for Domus Corporation, the development arm of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark, testified for three hours Monday night and were asked to return to the Feb. 28 meeting with more parking options. They seek preliminary and final site plan approval, along with several variances for a four-story, 51-unit senior housing facility. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is providing more than $11.2 million to build the project, in addition to subsidizing part of the rent for qualified residents.

The project would eliminate eight spaces from the current 86-space parking lot while adding 27 specifically designated for senior housing (for a total 105 spaces). Residents of the senior facility would have specifically designated spaces also be able to use the church lot for overflow parking, but the church could not use the seniors’ space.

“There is overflow onto the streets but not to the point of saturation,” traffic engineer Joe Staigar testified, adding that he doesn’t believe there would be additional overflow from this project, judging from similar senior housing projects in Garwood, Linden and Westfield. During a site visit on Sunday, Dec. 5, he said there were about 50 to 60 vacant spaces on surrounding blocks while during a visit on Friday, Dec. 10, about 30 to 35 vacant spaces were found in the area.

A typical development would require 1.8 spaces per 1-bedroom unit and 2.3 per 2-bedroom unit but given the demographics of a senior facility, 0.5 parking spaces should suffice, said Staigar. During his site visits to Clifford Case Apartments on West Milton Avenue, about 20 of the 28 spaces for 40 units were filled, while at the 196-unit Golden Age Towers on East Milton, generally 75 to 85 of the 104 spaces were filled.

Father Dennis Kaelin of Divine Mercy Parish (the combined St. Mary’s and St. Mark’s parishes) testified that the parking lot at St. Mary’s is generally about 80 percent occupied. Rahway Alternative High School operates out of the St. Mary’s school building and has about 25 spaces designated for staff during school days. A Thursday night prayer group accounts for some 20 spaces but the lot is full for Friday’s prayer group, he said.

Board members seemed unconvinced by testimony that suggested the demographics of a low-income senior housing facility would bring few car owners. Several members expressed serious concerns about exacerbating parking issues in the neighborhood, given the almost half a dozen churches within two blocks; Veterans Field, which hosts high school football games on Saturdays or Friday nights in the fall; the Union County Performing Arts Center less than two blocks away, and an amphitheater and black box theater planned around the corner on Hamilton Street. “They (residents) put up for years with people going to church, and not enough parking. The only concern is parking,” said board member Egon Behrmann, suggesting that if 10 of the units have a couple who each have a car, that leaves only seven spaces for the remaining 41 units.

Representatives for Domus said the parking complaints from other churches is an existing parking issue, but that the senior facility can accommodate its own parking. “Churches in the area are not going to change, what’s going to is the 51 units and losing eight spaces,” said Staigar. If the church needs more parking, he said it could use nearby St. Mark’s, if necessary.

Board member Josh Donovan suggested the applicant review the actual parking and if there’s a shortage, not make it up by street parking but perhaps lease spaces from the Parking Authority if it falls short. He also asked whether any attempt was made to acquire adjacent property for parking and the possibility of creating underground or first-floor parking. Underground or first-floor parking would be cost-prohibitive given HUD requirements and impractical for a senior facility the demographics, said architect Steven Cohen, adding that the building’s small footprint might only yield six spaces.

Lawrence Street resident Renee Thrash is a member of Ebenezer A.M.E. Church, located across the street from St. Mary’s. She told the board that said parking is a big issue in the neighborhood given the number of churches nearby while patrons of the arts center park along Central Avenue for blocks on the night of events.

Diane Bettinger of Campbell Street said sometimes she can’t go out of her house on Sundays, and waits until after church services. “We don’t go anywhere when there’s an event” at the arts center, she said, adding that they also got residential parking permits because commuters were using street parking.

Board Chairman William Hering implored the applicant to come back with a plan that has more parking to lessen the impact on the neighborhood. “It’s a tight fit,” he said, suggesting that they acquire more property or reduce the number of units, something the applicant’s attorney said is not economically feasible. “Come back with creative plans that make us all feel comfortable; I don’t think 51 into 27 will fit,” Hering said.

City Planner Paul Phillips suggested it would be helpful if the application provided documentation to bring board members to comfort level on parking variance, examining comparable projects at the same income levels and look at the parking offered there.

Senior housing application to Zoning Board

More than three years after the project initially was presented to City Council, a 51-unit senior housing development on the St. Mary’s Church complex is scheduled to come before the Zoning Board of Adjustment Monday night.

Continue reading Senior housing application to Zoning Board