The Bayonne City Council successfully executed an override on Mayor Jimmy Davis’ veto on a 10-story project with a recreation center on West 25th Street.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
The governing body approved the 182-project, which included a rec center with no affordably housing, one month ago, as HCV first reported, and Davis vetoed the project shortly thereafter.
“The potential building height of eight to 10 stories is too high for this neighborhood. The maximum building height should not exceed six stories,” the mayor wrote in his veto statement.
During last night’s vote on the veto override, one of the later items on the agenda, Councilmen-at-Large Juan Perez and Loyad Booker both indicated that the positives of the project far outweigh the negatives and that a rec center in the is long overdue.
2nd Ward Councilwoman Jacqueline Weimmer admitted the project isn’t perfect, but said that most of her concerns had been adequately addressed.
“I was satisfied with the traffic study that [said] there would not be an increase in traffic. And I’m very satisfied that the donation to the city will far outweigh the negativity of a larger building,” she said prior to voting yes.
“There is ample traffic in the area in the immediate vicinity, within two blocks, there is already another building that was already approved at the corner of Broadway and 26th Street of a similar size and a number of units. And I do think this is part of the initiative, it does help to move Bayonne forward in the right direction …”
Council President Gary La Pelusa, first elected as a member of Davis’ ticket in 2014, said it has been a campaign pledge to bring a rec center to the middle of the city and he’s not willing to wait another decade to see what happens.
“To me I look at this and I go ‘12,000 square feet for use, for recreation. That’s the home run of all home runs.’ We’ve been waiting 10 years, we made campaign promises in the 2014 election to provide a rec center somewhere in the heart of Bayonne, close to the city’s center,” he recalled.
“I don’t think we can get any closer to the city’s center than where we are now. Besides this, there will be 30-plus [parking] spots that are currently leased that are gonna come back to the city.”
1st Ward Councilman Neil Carroll, who voted against the project in July, stuck to his guns, stating that the concerns he had were not properly addressed and that the city can and should do better.
“It’s a moot point now, but the idea that it’s somehow disingenuous to tell a group of builders that their project is [insufficient] … as opposed to the people who live there was mind boggling to me,” he stated.
“And going forward, I raised some issues before: Should have reopened the Master Plan, traffic concerns … very few of them were addressed, they were glanced over. The traffic study says less trips. We were also told, when they build these building, ‘everyone’s gonna park inside, they’re gonna get visitors, we’re not gonna have to worry, they’re not gonna be on the street.'”
He continued that he’s knocked on doors in the 1st Ward for five weeks, “from bay to bay,” and home owners are complaining about new residents and their visitors parking on the street.
Ultimately, the veto override was approved 4-1, with Carroll again voting no, marking the first one to occur during the Davis administration.