The Hoboken Planning Board heard a presentation on a new $241 million high school plan that features a variety of unique classrooms during last night’s meeting.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
No vote or public comment was taken on the plan since it was merely a courtesy review, though There will be time allotted for public comment at Tuesday’s board of education meeting.
The BOE has said a new high school is needed to maintain pace with school enrollment combined with the fact that many Hoboken school buildings are very old, coming out in support of the January 25th referendum for the project.
The current high school, located at 800 Clinton St. and built in 1962, is the newest school building in the Mile Square City.
The proposed new Hoboken High School would be built on the site of the high school’s John F. Kennedy Stadium at 1000 Jefferson St.
Prepared by Erik Wood of Mount Vernon Group Architects, its construction is estimated to cost $241 million.
The project would be four stories tall and approximately 374,700 square feet with a 110 car spot garage underneath the school that will allow the first floor of the school to be elevated to comply with FEMA regulations.
The proposed Hoboken High School would have 27 general classrooms, 11 specialized learning rooms, and six self-contained special education rooms.
Additionally, there would be eight science labs with associated prep rooms including a biomedical science lab, an engineering sciences lab, a hydroponics lab, science on a sphere classroom, a print media classroom, and an IT lab.
In terms of the arts, there will be three music rooms with practice and ensemble rooms, two art rooms, a theater arts classroom, a set design shop, an 800 seat auditorium, a 295-seat blackbox theater, a culinary arts classroom with an associated bistro, a collaborative learning and activity center, a learning commons area, a cafeteria, and a full-service kitchen.
The high school would also contain a gymnasium, an auxiliary gym, a weight room, a wellness studio, an occupational therapy and physical therapy room, and associated administration and support facilities.
Furthermore, an ice rink, an indoor swimming pool, two tennis courts, a six-lane track along the multi-purpose turf/football field on the roof will be built with the necessary locker rooms and concession stands.
A community room within the new high school will be accessible to community groups after school to enable neighborhood integration and conserve space in Hoboken.
The facility will also include highly efficient lighting and HVAC systems to reduce energy consumption, a solar panel system producing on-site renewable energy, and highly efficient plumbing fixtures that will reduce annual water consumption. In addition, a percentage of recycled materials will be used in the construction.
A stormwater system to cope with flooding beneath the building was included to make the building environmentally friendly.
A transportation impact study was done which found that there would not be “a significant degradation of overall intersections” and “would not result in significant impact to traffic flow on the streets and intersections surrounding the proposed high school,” according to documents presented by the planning board.
It also found the garage proposed would help address parking concerns.
Construction of the new high school would enable the Hoboken Board of Education to move the middle school from the Demarest School into the existing high school on Clinton Street.
That would free up classroom space at the Demarest School for Pre-K and Elementary School programs.
Wood presented a 3D video of the layout of the design of the school and all its unique features including spacious hallways the specialized classrooms, and the proposed unique facilities.
According to New Jersey Department of Education statistics from October 2020, the district had 2,667 full-time students, and 381 full-time special education students for a total of 3,048 students.
There will be at least one more meeting on the proposed new high school before the referendum next month, according to BOE President Sharyn Angley.
Why is this referendum being held in late January? It’s as if they want to sneak this in the back door and planned the vote on it’s own in the depths of January when no one is paying attention and voter turnout will be extreme low.
What’s the rush? Hold the meeting, allow a few months for public review and input, make revisions to the plan to make it the best it can be and then put it on the ballot in November.
I might very well think a new HS is a good idea. However, because of the shady January referendum, I will vote against it — and urge everyone else to do the same — on principle alone.
Agreed. VOTE NO IN JANUARY
What is Tiffany Fisher’s position?
Do the taxpayers of Hoboken really need to pay for a quarter billion dollar boondoggle ?
This is a boondoggle for unions and the Superintendents ego, not to mention her dear friend Tim
Do you mean Tim Calligy of Russo fame?
Oh God how is the Super of Schools affiliated with him other than being his direct report/boss?
This is frightening. Every renter will see a $40 a month increase ( except HHA and Church Towers)
Every owner will see taxes sky rocket about $400 per 600,000 of assessed value.
All this for 25 classrooms?
In a city where the residents get input in a tree planting, this is sickening and corrupt
This is a one block East of lake ShopRite. The existing huge open field absorbs massive amounts of rain water, Putting a 100% lot coverage building with an artificial turf football field on top of that property will push all that water into areas that already routinely floods.
The higher taxes needed to build and fund this massive new High School project and revamp the old High School building the will add to an already high tax burden on Hoboken residents making it less likely for even upper middle class families will stay in the City further increasing the the social cultural divide between the subsidized poor and high income earners who actually pay the bills.
Dr Johnson lives in Bergen County, Tim Calligy lives in affordable housing, this dynamic duo are the only ones to benefit here for her legacy and his job as School Facilities Director
The building in not what keeps new parents away….