We may be entering a slow news time. It's three weeks to the next City Council meeting (April 6, 7:30 p.m., 325 Watchung Ave.) I'm sure I am not the only one who wants to forget about news and just go work in the yard or garden.
There are two meetings this week, though they overlap. As luck would have it, the March PMUA meeting was postponed due to inclement weather and will now take place at 6 p.m. Thursday. Also on Thursday, at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall Library, there will be a Planning Board hearing on the Crown Real Estate Holdings application to construct a four-story apartment building with 153 residential units and 155 parking spaces, 110 of which are proposed for underground parking. A legal notice for the meeting says the developer is seeking a variance for insufficient parking spaces, as 306 spaces are required.
The developer also wants approval for some undersized units. A one-bedroom unit requires 750 square feet and some 700 square foot units are proposed. Similarly, 1000 square feet is required for a two-bedroom unit and some range between 917 and 980 square feet.
The property is in the East Third and Richmond Redevelopment Area, where developer George Capodagli had proposed an even larger development in 2006. It was rushed through several steps, then nothing happened for a while and in 2008 Capodagli was excused.
Plans may be seen in the Planning Office during regular business hours and the public will have an opportunity to speak on the application at Thursday's meeting.
If anyone wants to go to the PMUA meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, here is the agenda.
--Bernice
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Parking in this town is getting bad. I live in the Crescent Historic Disctrict and parking is the pits on the street, because large homes now have four or five apartments and not enough off street parking. The Planning Board must insist that there is adequate parking for any new buildings proposed for the city. If not, we are looking at the same problem they have in Hudson County where you can drive around for an hour looking for a parking space. If inadequate parking permits keep being approved, then the quality of life in this city will be greatly reduced. I hope the administration and Planning Board get it right and stop pandering to the builders.
ReplyDeleteOne look at PMUA's agenda and I get the sense it will be business as usual, beginning with no opportunity for public comment before the commissioners take official action. On the list are the appointments of General Counsel and Financial Consultant. There is little doubt these will once again be McManimon & Scotland, and Lerch, Vinci, & Higgins. Principals from both firms made prohibited contributions in contravention of Plainfield's Pay-to-Play ordinance during the 2013 mayoral primary. Both firms lead the fraudsters who subverted the financial obligations pertaining to Solid Waste detailed in the Inter Local Agreement, which has never been amended, or material changes publicly discussed and voted upon. And the longevity of both firms with PMUA exceeds that of even the longest tenured employee, and is key to the Authority's historically renegade attitude towards the pocketbooks of all city residents. If the 'new' Board of Commissioners truly wishes to make changes that put the people of this city first, it can start by finding new blood to fill these positions. Beyond their fees, these two firms have cost us millions. It is high-time for PMUA get to the business of garbage and sewage exclusively, and out of the business of unaccountable high-cost bureaucracy.
ReplyDeleteI accidentally deleted this comment:
ReplyDeleteThey couldn't fill the monarch. But they are going to build all these new units ? The real deal is money and at the end of the day PLFD one big low income project!!!
I wouldn't mind the parking circus if everyone played by the same rules. Without properly painted lines/kerbs illegal parking is all over West Front St by King's Daughters.
ReplyDeleteJust look all around town where rental properties are and you will find people parking on the streets. We need new businesses in town creating jobs not more low income rentals. Teppers and monarch were both advertised as luxury units and what you have in Teppers is low income and rentals in the monarch. Look at the new units on south ave, they are parking on the street and during the snow storm it was hard to drive around on south ave. Richmond is a flood zone. Just how are they going to have underground parking? Where are the tenants guest going to park? We need to stop greedy developers who donate to politicians from destroying our community.We do not need to be known as the Queen City of section 8 and Queen City of rental units and no place to park.
ReplyDeleteto 421...would you live in the Monarch?? Look where it is at and how much they were trying to get as sales units. Big mistake from the start. Parking is always an issue. Look at Front or 7th. The apts were built with parking included. Now the greedy landlords are allowed to charge for the privilege of parking on the property where they live. The city needs to step in and disband the practice. Rentals are all Plainfield is going to get for the foreseeable future. They are new and have higher end finishes. This makes them attractive to some of the dumps already in town. The sales market is in the toilet. Too many foreclosures offsetting the prices.
ReplyDeleteParking will never be addressed by the City Council. There are a million legal ways to accomplish a parking ordinance that doesn't allow landlords to charge for parking. Here's the difference, will Billy Bob lawyer who works for XYZ law firm doing business with the city who is also the law firm for some of the powers that be as well as a bunch of real estate slum lords actually do it ?? NOPE.
ReplyDeleteWill a law firm with zero connections and zero interest in anything but the money that comes from a job well done get it done?? Absolutely, every time.
The city has more power than it cares to exercise to the benefit of the people of the city and goes out of it's way at times to go to far in matters that don't concern it one iota.
It takes a set...quite simple... if most of the city council lived anywhere near the downtown area there would be a solution to the parking rip-off that these buildings and landlords pull on their tenants monthly.
Try this one... you charge a surcharge for parking to your tenants... ?? Take that amount, mulitply it by 5 and that's one you owe the city of Plainfield for monthly parking in the streets by your tenants.
Slam dunk... will it happen.. no, not when you live to be elected as opposed to living to serve your constituents.
Bernice,
ReplyDeleteThese meetings look to be very bad signs for Plainfield’s future.
First, the Third and Richmond Street builder is looking variances to only build about half of the required parking spaces and to build under sized apartments. If the Planning Board agrees the apartments will be less desirable and command a lower rent than full size apartments and the excess cars will end up on the streets because they will have to be parked someplace.
Second, The new PMUA Board of Commissioners, with a voting majority of Mayor Mapp’s nominees, appears to be ready to carry on the tradition of past boards’ complicity in the waste, abuse, and corruption of the PMUA. All the signs are there. First, they insist on holding their public meetings at 6:00 PM, which is seems to ensure the least amount of participation by the public because it conflicts with both the schedule of working people and the dinner hour. That latter item has never been a concern of the Board because they have dinner catered in at rate-payers’ expense. Next, they structure the meeting agenda by transacting all their business, with no discussion, and they allowing public comment after everything is completed, which is as valuable as closing the barn door after the horse is gone. Lastly, and most injuriously, they appear ready to rehire Leslie London of McManimon & Scotland as General Counsel. Ms. London has consistently given the Board legal cover for their illicit dealings. For instance, she issued a legal opinion stating that the medical benefits being received by board members is not compensation, even though the IRS has held medical benefits from before the inception of the PMUA. The Plainfield City Council limited PMUA Board Commissioner compensation to $4,500/year. PMUA Commissioners are not PMUA employees and thereby not entitled to employee benefits. The PMUA Board is supposed to provide independent oversight of the authority to protect the public’s interest in the PMUA both as mandated ratepayers and because the Plainfield taxpayers are ultimately responsible for PMUA bond debt. With Commissioners illegally receiving medical benefits for both themselves and their family members of as much as $22,000./year, they have been complicit in the waste, abuse and corruption perpetrated by the PMUA on the public rather than providing the oversight necessary to make the PMUA deliver trash and sewer services at market rates, instead of the 2X to 3X higher than market rates they are today. Hopefully the new board will represent the interests of the public, but as of now it looks very doubtful.
It is possible for people to attend both meetings because the PMUA Board meetings are structured in such a way to provide as little information as possible in conducting their required public meetings. As such, they are usually over fairly quickly.
Tom Kaercher