The Morris Canal Community Development Corporation has proposed a compromise to the Jersey City Planning Board on the Morris Canal Manor project, which would effectively settle the lawsuit they filed in May.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“We believe that the attached plan Amendments represent a fair compromise that satisfies the community’s desires regarding height and scale while satisfying the redeveloper’s desired density,” MCCDC Executive Director June Jones wrote in a letter to the planning board on Friday.
“Specifically the Amendments are written to permit 8-story development on a large with wedding cake floor tiers on the upper floors.”
The 17-story, 420-unit Skyline Development Group proposal for 417 Communipaw Ave., which also includes a rec center and basketball court, has been in the pipeline for years but has gained more notoriety in the past year or so.
In August 2021, a Hudson County Superior Court judge remanded the project back to the planning board, which they then approved in December.
The city council then tabled the second reading of the amendments in February before voting in favor of them the following month.
The proposal from Jones suggests either 368 units with .5 parking spaces per unit, which would be about half the previously adopted building height while maintaining 88 percent of the previous residential density.
She also notes that 319 units would have a parking space per unit, with either option still seeking 10 percent affordable housing, preserving the proposed recreation center, a public easement of Manning Avenue to provide driveway and pedestrian access from Communipaw Avenue to Berry Lane Park.
The 10 percent affordable housing would make the project compliant with the city’s new inclusionary zoning ordinance.
The pending four-count lawsuit seeks to repeal the ordinance and reinstitute the property’s industrial zoning, prohibit the defendants from amending the plan, and awarding plaintiffs the costs of legal fees, along with any relief the court deems just and equitable.
The next planning board hearing is scheduled for August 23rd at 5:30 p.m.
