This post on the Teaneck Voices’ website will continue to seek to locate – and provide our readers with – the published minutes of the Council’s various subcommittees.
First, what are Council Subcommittees?
BACKGROUND: Council’s various Subcommittees meet and function in very different ways – the general rules for which have never been codified in the Town Code. They do, however, have two common characteristics:
- Their meetings are closed to the public and may be attended by no more than 3 Council members – since if a 4th attended, that would mean a Council quorum existed . There are very strict rules (primarily found in the state’s Open Public Meetings Act) about public access and participation, required pre-meeting agenda publication, and the timing (“promptly”) of meeting minutes.
- Subcommittees do not, of course, have the power to make any decision reserved for the Council and are thus supposed ONLY to make recommendations to the full Council. It is clear that some subcommittees do, in fact, make decisions which get implemented without ever being taken to the whole Council for action. For example, it is widely believed that most of the decisions to have planners investigate or start redevelopment plans preparation for redevelopment AINRs (Areas in Need of Redevelopment) have been made secretly by the Zoning Subcommittee acting on its own.
Voices has just recently published its concerns about the work and procedures of Teaneck Council subcommittees – and most particularly its Zoning Subcommittee (Click Here and check the article “The ‘Secret’ of Where Teaneck’s Development and Redevelopment Ideas Come From”).
Under intense public pressure, several Council subcommittees have begun “publishing” some of their meeting minutes. Thye do so sporadically sliding subcommittee meeting minutes on to the Town website in diverse locations. As noted, such minutes are a relatively new phenomenon in Teaneck municipal governance. To Voices’ knowledge, NO Council subcommittee minutes existed until the Zoning Subcommittee (ZSC) began the practice of publishing minutes embedded somewhere in the Agenda Packet of Council meetings – but it does not do so until 24 hours or less before the Council meeting which followed a subcommittee meeting.
Voices has just recently published its concerns about the work and procedures of Teaneck Council subcommittees – and most particularly its Zoning Subcommittee (Click Here and again check the article “The ‘Secret’ of Where Teaneck’s Development and Redevelopment Ideas Come From”)
Accessible Subcommittee Minutes: An Interim First Step toward Transparency
Given the significant role secretly played by these Council Subcommittees, Voices believes its readership should at the very least be able to go to a place where they can track what subcommittees themselves now say they are doing in published and accessible Council subcommittee meeting minutes.
Therefore, Voices bean seeking out and extracting from Council agendas Council subcommittee minutes – and pacing them – in reverse chronological order – on tis post. At the moment there are minutes for just two subcommittees – the cannabis and zoning subcommittee – and we will in subsequent editions seek to expand our search for additional subcommittee minutes.
Finally, in October 2022 a website location where subcommittee minutes for those two subcommittees was established. Its reliability has not been stellar, to put it mildly. Most recently, the ZSC portal went blank for more than a month and was only partly “rehabilitated” late on Tuesday afternoon March 19, 2024. To get to it on the current Town website Click Here and then click on “meeting groups” found on the left-hand side of that page. Unbelievably, the other four sets of minutes previously posted there had disappeared!
To provide the public with the complete set of ZSC minutes, we are providing all of them here them here!
Zoning Subcommittee Minutes (ZSC) – beginning with the most recent meeting of 3/1/2024.
Unfortunately, the ZSC scribe (Council member Schwartz) has provided us with no indication of who were the participants in the March 1 meeting.
Zoning Subcommittee Minutes 3/1/24 9AM
1- Corner lot fences / retaining walls- due to zoning officer absence pushed off until the next
meeting
2- Municipal parking lot by station 4- no action needed nor taken here
3- various project presentations:
A. 827 Teaneck Road- former Reginas Steakhouse property sold (deed confirmed).
While new steakhouse is opening up shortly and liquor license is being transferred, owner
presented a long term proposal of a residential multi family building, was presented with initial
schematics. First floor parking. ZSC reviewed and made initial comments. ZSC to further review
next steps post Master Plan approval. Future meetings to be scheduled to circle back for this site
B. 100 State Street- ZSC reviewed the latest version of a self-storage site designed to
blend with the character of State Street. Developer agreed to the prior request have a mural
painted on part of the façade. Community input and design to be sought. First floor retail with
parking. Next steps- Town redevelopment attorney and ownership attorney to begin preparing a
development agreement for full council review and approvals. Future meetings to review details.
While this is part of a previous redevelopment process, it no pilot was asked for to build.
C. American Legion Drive-revised lower scale plans presented, including a farmers
market location, and open space, and consistent with parking requirements of settlement
agreement. CW Goldberg suggested a future meeting after Spring Holidays to be able to discuss
other community incentives, however, meeting was scheduled for 3/27 730pm Rodda center gym
meeting to present to the public for further input. Attorney and Planner suggested a website as
well for additional input, and will return back at next meeting. It was agreed by all that the new
plan took the feedback from the community members who gave input.
4- Master plan update- MP to be completed by Planner mid-March and sent to committee, then
submitted to PB for their review and vote over the 4/11-5/9-5/23-6/6 meetings
Next meeting not yet scheduled
Minutes of the January 12, 2024 ZSC meeting published ONLY in the agenda packet in the pm of 1/23/2024 prior to the 1/23 (same day!) Council mtg. (Note: incomplete list of attendees)
Minutes of the sub zoning committee meeting 1/12/24 830am
In attendance from Council- Mayor Pagan, CM Goldberg, CM Schwartz
1. Electric Vehicle Charing Stations- Zoning official detailed changes to state law and Teaneck will
be following the state making it easier to install, rather than changing our ordinances to keep
the current harder process. All were in favor to follow the new state law
2. Corner lot fences- there was a resident who requested changes to the code for this subset of
properties rather than follow the variance process. Building department indicated that this
would be unsafe and recommend any denials be appealed to the Board of Adjustment. All were
in favor
3. Planner- Spach and Paul from Phillips Priess are stepping in as our Teaneck representatives from
the firm in lieu of Keenan Hughes
4. Master Plan re-examination update- Planner gave an update- 1/25 presentation to
subcommittee, then finalization in February and presentation and review to Planning Board in
March and April with anticipated vote by May. Planner to hold one more public session with the
draft intro
5. 100 State Street redevelopment proposal- new owners propose a self-storage space with first
floor retail if council prefers. Committee requested that the building be designed to appear
residential multifamily in accordance with the area so as to blend in. No impact on schools or
traffic and little demand on infrastructure. As this is an AINR already the developer will return
with a more comprehensive redevelopment plan for ZSC to review and refer to full council for
vote inclusive of retail.
6. American Legion Drive update- Developer returned with density decrease designs based on the
public meetings, with significant reductions and setback for Beverly and a decreased floor for
American Legion. More green space and no charge for public parking throughout. Additional
design tweaks to be presented back to ZSC at next meeting
7. Escrow fee ordinance amendment- changes to be made to add escrow features to Edmonds for
a smoother and more transparent process
Next meeting not yet set, looking at end of February based on above plans being ready for review
Minutes of the December 1, 2023 ZSC meeting published ONLY in the agenda packet in the pm of 1/12/2023 Council meeting – one day prior to the 1/12/2023 Council mtg.
December 1, 2023 – Zoning Subcommittee
1. American Legion Drive- reviewed the last meeting, both pros (designs steps, breakout
groups) and cons (location). Concern about target audience not diverse enough and
working on a survey and adding to website. CW Goldberg agreed with the feedback from
residents the room was too small and we should take that into account going forward.
2. PSEG RS Zone by Rodda Center- PSE&G is leasing space from us for the repairs due to
fire and needs variances for the work being done. ZSC charged planner with drafting
suggested zoning changes as a single family zone is adjoining the highway, Rodda and
power plant. Also discussed the review of sale of land to PSEG. CM Schwartz inquired
on the rear of Dewey Place land that also abuts RT 4 on south side to see if ours or can
sell to neighbors who encroach regardless. Same for Glenn Court. Manager to review
with assessor
3. December 5th Cedar Lane meeting- prep was discussed, for a meeting planned 7 months
ago, and a discussion as to whether the meeting is needed at all. CM Schwartz wanted
public conversation by all council members. CM Belcher said meeting would be a waste
of time and discussion should be held amongst ourselves. CM Schwartz and Goldberg
said that OPMA doesn’t allow us to discuss with the greater council among ourselves and
it is an open session discussion. CW Goldberg wanted meeting to continue so it was in
public and that it was not a town hall but an open session council meeting, Attorney Ash
also explained why the meeting needed to be in open session. Attorney Ash was going to
present on several topics include past examples of downtown redevelopment, workforce
housing, agency etc. CM Belcher wants us to look into EDC. Need action for who will
handle. It was explained that there is little money for EDC and not enough to incentivize
the owners.
4. Master Plan- Planner Hughes indicated this will be winding down around March time.
5. Adjourn- no date set for next meeting
Minutes of the August 25, 2023 ZSC published in the pm of 9/5/2023 prior to the 9/5 Council mtg.
August 25, 2023 Zoning Subcommittee
Attendance: Dan Melfi, Mark Boccino, Denise Belcher, Mark Schwartz, Hillary Goldberg, Keenan
Hughes, Mike Ash, Scott Salmon, Dean Kazinci
Cedar Lane Rezoning from Queen Anne Road to Sterling: Keenan provided the subcommittee
with a memo dated August 9th explaining the existing zoning is B1-B2 which permits multi family
conditional use which is really restricting. It is recommend rezoning in particular to address multifamily use requirements to reduce minimum lot size to .5 acre, 4 story, increasing lot size for
parking requirements on site. Abutting SFZ setbacks and buffering on rear. None of this in the
current MP, including the retail that is currently there as well. Retail on Cedar lane is also a
conditional use, so the rezoning should be looking at all of the uses on Cedar lane and want to wait
for master plan. The options are to address in new MP or do a one-off re-examination report which
could allow for the above changes. Serious look in our MP changes for cedar lane to have mixed
used retail on the bottom and 3 stories of apartments on top.
The ZSC unanimously agrees to wait for the Master Plan.
Master Plan- There has been stakeholder outreach over Summer, more is scheduled over the fall.
Only 300 ish people have taken the survey to date. The Planner has spoken to real estate brokers.
They are trying to schedule a meeting with FDU, the senior citizen advisory board (needs some
assistance from the council liaison), need to schedule next community wide meeting to specific
issues. Can then report on findings from survey. October timeframe? October 11 or 25, 8 pm at
MP1. No zoom capabilities there.
Affordable Housing- Teaneck has done everything we said were going to do, everything new is
above and beyond. Will find out how many units have been for Teaneck residents. Planner
provided subcommittee with report of number of units we have, and will post numbers on website
and be sure to include the number for Teaneck residents. Our older buildings that are included will
age out of these numbers in 10 years, some will age out less. What does the state expect
municipalities to do? We cannot build our way out of this. We can make a deal with old buildings
for set aside as new units become available, if we give them something in return. Affordable
Housing Subcommittee will need to meet. Subcommittee is CW Belcher, CM Schwartz, Mayor
Pagan.
139-149 Cedar Lane- Doron Goldschmidt- Max Fluss. Property has contamination issues from the
cleaners. The amount of the impact is unclear. They are asking for 12 Apartments, parking, 2 floors
apartments. Parking would be over the contamination. No mixed use in the current plans. CM
reminded that there would be a requirement of 2 affordable units. ZSC stressed they want to keep
mixed use retail in there, which would eliminate some of the parking spots, but mixed use is
Attachment: August 25, 2023 Zoning Subcommittee (8026 : Zoning Subcommittee Update)
important, especially on cedar lane. Current tenants are month to month. Current zoning allows 3
stories. Cleanup costs are concerning. Applicant will be coming back with updated plans, and
contamination costs. This is NOT an AINR.
54 West Englewood- Matt Cappizzi. 3 floors of units, 1 floor of parking, 35 units with 1 recreation
room with amenity space. 1:1 ratio of parking. Asked for 40 units previously, now he is here with
35 units. The Board of Adjustment turned them down for 24 units. In the current proposal cars are
hidden on the first floor, to “try” to keep it in residential character. Sloped roof and gables to try
to keep it in characteristics of the neighborhood. Building across the street is 5 stories. This lot is
all currently single family residents, 25 ft, then having a structure that are 45 feet. The plan is for
the corner property and middle lot. This is part of the Block 4905 West Englewood/Teaneck Road
Area in Need of Redevelopment passed by the prior council. This proposal has reduced parking
and more affordable housing. They tried reaching out to the foreclosures in the area but, no
response. Fire truck access issue brought up by the BOA would be addressed. We are including a
design ordinance component to the MP and we should be cognizant of the design elements of the
existing neighborhood. HG mentioned that the lot coverage ask is extreme. DB asked about
additional lots, which could potentially make this more palatable for the neighborhood, but
upzoning could increase the price. Applicant would need a redevelopment plan before determining
the acquisition cost. HG would not support any Pilot here, or moving forward on a redevelopment
plan, and the history of the site matters. Lower and Wider if the acquisition of the lot would work
potentially DB. Height would be 35 ft. Melfi pointed out that the owner would be spending more
money on land acquisition, and without pilot it wouldn’t work. New design could potentially work
more like a garden style apartment. If that third site could not be acquired, how could this worksloped roof attic unit maybe- 4-5 units. It would give the appearance of 3 story building. In a
business district, a flat roof, block building is less of a concern, but in a residential district
surrounded by single family houses, design matters and should hold for the MP. Will come back
with more designs and options.
Cannabis- Potentially Degraw for retail, scattered sites for cultivation manufacturing, if at all. The
municipal lot by Degraw should be sufficient for parking for this. Cannabis meeting on 8/31. See
what Mondello thinks about timing, but ZSC unanimously supports Degraw for retail, cultivation
manufacturing is questionable. Moving forward putting on agenda either 9/5 or 9/19.
Minutes of the ZSC July 11, 2023 which were published on the day of Council Meeting 8/8/2023
Attendance: CM Schwartz, CW Goldberg (Zoom), CW Belcher (Zoom), Dan Melfi, Mark Boccino, Michael
Ash, Dean Kazinci, Keenan Hughes,
Guests- Jason Tuvel (140 State Street)
State Street Master Development- (HG) Make State Street a cohesive redevelopment plan to connect
Teaneck Road and the Plaza. CM Schwartz said we can get more affordable housing units. We own some
of the land and designated it AINR. Not just apartments- especially on municipal owned land. Potentially
a pocket park could go there. A public gathering space and open space as a central point. Incentivize
redevelopment and achieve the goals. Other community-oriented use to put into place. Parking could be
a problem. Zoning Subcommittee will be walking the area August 9th
.
140 State Street (MS)- Jason presented a new concept including 66 units, 97 parking spaces, including
2500 square feet of retail. No spaces are for the public, just the 97 for the residents. Remediation issues
prevented prior development. Potential 6 story building, will be asking for a pilot. Redevelopment plan
was already approved by the prior council.
Cedar Lane Rezoning- (MS)- Potential rezoning of Cedar Lane from Queen Anne Road to 7-11. Asking the
planner to come back with ideas to re-zone the area. Would this be considered with the Master Plan
currently on the books? Do we need to do a quick Master Plan Amendment? Keenan will review. We will
have a cohesive plan for the area. HG stated she would not consider AINR for Cedar Lane.
54 West Englewood Ave- Could not attend.
Design Ordinance- (HG)- Saw a post online and heard from residents regarding why don’t we have a design ordinance. We should implement a design ordinance, similar to Englewood or Ridgewood to bring
cohesiveness to the aesthetic of the town. This would be important to the residents and the town. The
Master Plan process is potentially the way to go about this per Planner. It would be rolled into the Master
Plan. Anticipate some sessions showing people architectural designs. Planner recommends waiting for
master Plan for this.
189 The Plaza and Financial Agreement- (Ash) Most of the issues in the redevelopment and financial
agreement are done. Some substantial issues- debating how to handle the public parking component of
the project. It is a significant and material benefit to the township, 22 off street parking spaces. The
developer is going to be making those spaces available to the public separately and apart from the parking required for the project itself. The redevelopment agreement was silent on how the nuts and bolts of the parking would operate. The developer wants to leave the issue open ended and deal with this at the Planning Board during site plan and make the parking condition of approval at the planning board. Ash recommends having more control and outline how this should be memorialized in the redevelopment agreement so its not open to interpretation. CM Schwartz, CW Belcher, and CW Goldberg in agreement with Mr. Ash that this will be memorialized with the agreement and not subject to the Planning Board.
Include the material terms of the parking, how it will be used, how it will be available, and any limitations
should be memorialized within the agreement. This project will have private trash removal and
maintenance, redeveloper looking for language in agreement that would give them a credit for trash
removal, but we don’t offer that, so no. Recycling though should be pulled in, the municipal services act
is not applicable to this project because they are receiving a pilot, so legally they aren’t applicable. Trust
funds- parking, public improvements, emergency services. Mr. Ash’s conclusion is that this project would
be required to pay into the trust funds, the redeveloper pushing back saying they are providing 22 parking spaces so they should be exempt. CM Schwartz said when the ordinance was made it was not meant to include pilots. Mr. Ash says they would be required to pay into it, 7 cents per foot roughly. CW Belcher said why are we giving a pilot and then negotiating concessions, CM Schwartz and CW Goldberg agreed.
American Legion Drive Community Meeting- Monday July 31, Ash, Tuvel, and crossroads rep to present
the concept of the project. Crossroads would present the concept plan that is appended to the settlement.
We are tied to elements of the concept plan, but the concept plan itself is broad, with some flexibility.
Based on feedback from the stakeholders and public there is a way to develop to make everyone happy.
There are significant public assets that is being contributed by Teaneck to the project, making us partners
with crossroads. There is a lot at stake, and there needs to be public benefits. CW Belcher- can we look at
design? Any public benefits. CW Goldberg- Maybe 55 +? Are we tied to crossroads? Other than municipal
lots Crossroads owns the rest of the land, and set to represent anything else, including stop and shop. We
need to get feedback, and will need follow up meetings. Crossroads will need to refine the concepts and
add more details. They will need to listen to the public and make changes accordingly.
Minutes of 6/2 Zoning Subcommittee placed 6/13 on the Agenda Packet for 6/13 Council mtg.
ZONING SUBCOMMITTEE MINUTES
JUNE 2nd, 2023 @ 8:30 AM
1. Introduction of Redevelopment Attorney Michael Ash
2. Introduction of Township Attorney Scott Salmon and Rafiq Moorman
3. Shepard Avenue Woods – townhome project- continuing conversation with potential Architect/ Developer Kirk Mitchell post feedback from two community meetings. Planner feels this will qualify for an AINR under Criteria C- vacant municipal owned land CW Goldberg against any new AINR. CW Belcher in favor where designated land isn’t privately owned. CM Schwartz in favor of project. Other council members had indicated their opposition. Potential linkage to a workforce housing, i.e. moderate income project at Teaneck Rd and West Englewood suggested by CM Schwartz. CW Belcher indicated that can be discussed if it doesn’t rise more than 3 stories, with retail and doesn’t go deep into the West Englewood block. CM Schwartz will speak to others but agreed with a rectangle project. CM Goldberg still opposed to a new AINR. CM Schwartz asked if town does an open auction for the Shepard Woods and nobody bids will this be acceptable. No compromise yet. Talks will be ongoing including at future ZSC meetings.
4. American Legion Drive – Community Meeting- developer gave his presentation to the new ZSC (same as settlement presentation to prior) – Community meeting set for 6/28 7pm in the library with zoom options.
5. Housing Authority – CW Belcher indicated that surrounding towns have an authority and if Teaneck can pursue same if that can be the tool to allocate the ongoing newly developed affordable housing to current residents. Attorneys and Planner will review but indicated informally, that they believe this would only be applicable to affordable units above and beyond our COAH requirements. ZSC asked our Planner to see where the township stands on its fulfillment of its settlement obligations with Fair Share to determine if there is a Housing Authority benefit should the legal opinions allow for it.
6. Chase Bank – Applicant detailed her plan of apartments that was submitted to the BOA. CM Schwartz indicated that prior ZSC wanted to rezone that area of Cedar for multifamily which sits on multiple transit lines of Cedar and Queen Anne. Applicant preferred BOA and submitted for variances. During BOA hearing, the neighbor behind, a zoning attorney, objected over months of meetings, many of them with him spent objecting to acceptance of expert witnesses and their resumes and not the project itself. Several months of attempts by both developer and council members to meet with the neighbor were met with no reply. In furtherance, additional neighbors have refused to meet as well. ZSC was in favor of discussing rezoning, which would be an open multi-meeting transparent process before the Council and the PB with public input, good and welfare etc. To be discussed at 6/13 Council meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark Schwartz
Council Member
Minutes of 4/28 Zoning Subcommittee placed 5/13 on the Agenda Packet for 5/13 Council mtg.
ZONING SUBCOMMITTEE MINUTES
APRIL 28th, 2023 @ 8:30 AM
Note, order of agenda can be modified based on arrival of attorney/ presenter(s)/developer(s).
Breakfast to be provided.
1. Conditional Use Zoning – HG- this is being punted to be discussed under the new Master
Plan (under way)
2. Bischoff’s – DK- Bischoff owners presented and stated their intentions are to open a pop up
from Memorial Day until Labor Day with just a few quick modifications such as a paint job.
Should it be successful they will then close for the winter, sign a long term lease and renovate.
They detailed some items needing town consent such as awnings, service windows, outdoor
dining and others, which will be reviewed upon their formal request.
3. Gil Rivera – River Commons New Bridge Road- wanted Council to change the site’s zoning
to allow for first floor medical. He also stated he has a pending application before the BOA in
June. ZSC advised him to advise Council after they make their determination and if further
action is still needed we can circle back then.
4. East Restaurant – DK- operator of the restaurant is looking for space to re-open. Very limited
space available in town.
5. Accessible dwelling units- Will be discussed at next meeting and/or punted to the Master
Plan.
6. 54 West Englewood – MS- applicant met with us and presented plans for a 5 story building.
Planner suggested less parking and CM Schwartz suggested to move down some units to
ground floor to change the building to a 4 story. Applicant requested three weeks to fine tune
and circle back. Part of the application is for the builder to widen the town street at his expense
and with his land.
7. American Legion Drive community meeting- developer to porcine dates at which he can
present to the community his renderings.
7. Cedar Lane business owners’ breakfast (9:30 AM)- no owners showed. Subsequent email
from CM Schwartz to hold a council retreat to discuss the future of Cedar Lane. DM Belcher
stated we should provide incentivization to ownership to either develop or sell etc.
8. Chase Cedar Lane meeting- meeting to be set with ownership.
NEXT MEETING FRIDAY JUNE 2ND 830AM
Respectfully submitted,
Mark J Schwartz
Council member
Minutes of 3/24 Zoning Subcommittee placed 4/4 on the Agenda Packet for 4/4 Council mtg.
ZSC meeting minutes 3/24/23
From: Mark Schwartz
<mschwartz@teanecknj.gov>
To: clerk <clerk@teanecknj.gov>Cc: Denise Belcher <dbelcher@teanecknj.gov>, Hillary Goldberg <hgoldberg@teanecknj.gov>, Dean Kazinci <dkazinci@teanecknj.gov>Date: 4/4/2023 5:01 AM
Mr. Clerk Below please find the afore referenced
1- Discussion on recent NJ Supreme Court opinion (Malanga vs West Orange) regarding use of criteria “D” of the LRHL. Planner reviewed the future viability of using “D” in the future, mainly regarding the obsolescence of the areas in question alone cannot be one of the criteria. Planner and attorney believe any already designated areas are grandfathered in.
ZSC will recommend a pause in any efforts to move forward with new AINRs including but not limited to the Degraw/ Queen Anne area and instead focus more (later in the year) on community outreach.
2- 189 The Plaza PILOT review – NW Financial presented their detailed report, which in short confirms the need for the PILOT and the benefits to the town. Various scenarios where discussed, and the cost per resident was increased upon consultation with CW Goldberg before the presentation, but the report still showed the viability of same. NW recommended the tax revenue be increase to 10%/11%/12% over the thirty-year period from 10/10/10.
CW Belcher will also touch base with the developer Debra Tantkliff which CM Schwartz will setup. This is set to be reviewed in a May closed session followed by a vote in open session during May as well.
3- Kirk Mitchell – Shepard Woods- alternate methods in lieu of AINR were briefly discussed and will be discussed in the future by and amongst individual councilmembers, both in light of the West Orange case and members hesitancy of future use of AINR. CW Goldberg was against the use of AINR for the purpose of choosing the developer, while CWBelcher was against the use of AINR when neighbors land is involved, but in light of this being solely public land she is in favor. CM Schwartz is in favor of AINR
4- Master Plan- discussed newer way municipalities like Princeton and South Orange have handled Master Plan. As part of the kickoff process, a post holiday zoom will be held with the ZSC, Planner and Planning Board Chair Bodner to discuss the process.
5- Alfred Avenue business owners- ZSC met with owners and representatives both in person and on zoom. Attendance and their comments are as follows:
1.329 Alfred- current construction site- not present nor invited
2. 359 Alfred- approved construction site- not present nor invited
3. 411 Alfred Ave- not present though was invited
4. 414 Alfred- Richard Schwartz, owner asked us to fix up the area between the highway and Alfred. Thanked us for the street. Would love more parking. Might be interested in cannabis and other uses and will meet with committee
5. 455 Alfred- not present, currently approved for cannabis
6. 465/475 Alfred- owners rep, NAI Hanson, attended. Due to pension ownership, cannot participate in Cannabis. Fully leased, very content, would love more parking
7. 478 Alfred- not present though invited
8. 480 Alfred- Swede Farms- maxxed out on space, would love more parking, not interested in alternate uses as fully utilizing all areas. Also thanked the town for the paving
6- New business- discussed future use of ADU- accessory dwelling units. Punted to be included into master plan conversations.
7- CW Goldberg & Belcher to tour 1500 Teaneck Road and Avalon.
8- Next meeting 4/28, 830am start, 930am breakfast with Cedar Lane owners
9- Future agenda items: rezone of commercial space at River Commons- New Bridge and River Road
Respectfully submitted Councilmember Mark J Schwartz Chair Zoning sub committee
Mark J Schwartz Councilmember Township of Teaneck mschwartz@teanecknj.gov (201) 837-1600, Ext. 1028
Cannabis Subcommittee Minutes
Minutes of Meeting – no date – published with Agenda Packet for 9/5/2023 Council Mtg
Cannabis Subcommittee- Sep. 5, 2023 Update
Councilwoman Goldberg, Councilwoman Belcher, Mayor Pagan
The cannabis subcommittee met with Mr. Mondello and Mr. Hughes to discuss next steps. Mr. Mondello
is working on an application and an application process that he aims to have ready by next meeting or
the following. Additionally, the letters will be sent to all of the license holders that have received letters
of support by the prior council regarding next steps and a public meeting date for the subcommittee and
public to hear what they have done. Once that date and letter is sent out, the clerk will post the date on
the website for the public as well, and it will be an open meeting.
Mr. Mondello will also be working to fix the ordinance- he will include language regarding host
agreements, application fees, annual fees, zoning, site plan. We as a council need to discuss process as
far as the application hearings- do we want the subcommittee to hear the applications, and then make a
recommendation to council for approval, similar to what the prior council did except the applications
would be heard completely open to the public, or have the entire council hear all the applications at
council meetings. Either way the council needs to be the deciding body for who gets the letters of
support. Mr. Mondello expects us to probably have to hear 25 applications minimum.
The other thing we need to decide is how many license holders we will allow in town? What will our cap
be ?
Mr. Mondello expects to have an ordinance for us to review by September 19th.
