The Hudson County Sierra Club opposes the taking of land that was slated to be green space in Jersey City -- adjacent to the wonderful new Berry Lane Park -- to build a high-rise apartment building. In December, the executive committee of the local group voted unanimously to oppose the controversial development scheme recently approved by the Jersey City Planning Board.
This is a matter of environmental justice. The area was polluted with chromium for years before it was cleaned up. Now it’s time to benefit the local community.
The current plan calls for a 17-story apartment building, with 361 units, in a neighborhood of mostly one-and two-family homes. Only 5% of the units will be affordable!
The proposed development is located adjacent to the site of a former chromium manufacturing facility that has been undergoing intense remediation for years. Part of the remediation is completed and is now Berry Lane Park; in fact, the city’s Master Plan as well as successful grant applications to both the Hudson County Open Space trust fund and the Green Acres program called for the land to be green space.
Efforts by Jersey City to purchase the land did not succeed. Should these developers be rewarded with a huge zoning variance which is so at odds with the character and needs of the neighborhood?
Hudson County Sierra Club stands in support of local activists -- led by the Morris Canal Community Development Corp. -- who want the city to reconsider this proposal.
Voters in Bergen-Lafayette, where the site is located, recently elected a community leader to City Council who opposes this project. The City Council already passed an ordinance that doubles the amount of affordable housing required for projects like this.
So many things about this plan violate basic principles of fairness and democracy. This neighborhood deserves better.
Read the letter online at the Jersey Journal.