The City of Union City and Mayor Brian Stack are suing the City of Hoboken, the city council, and Mayor Ravi Bhalla over the partial settlements in the Western Edge case the governing body approved last month.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
The three-count lawsuit, filed in Hudson County Superior Court on Wednesday, alleges that the resolution approving settlements for Just Block 106 and Just Block 112 at the council’s September 4th meeting are “arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable,” and therefore, null in void.
“Neither of the Settlement Agreements include copies of the design plans for the proposed redevelopment projects. Rather, the Settlement Agreements provide that ‘concept plans for the Amended Project[s] shall be prepared by the Redeveloper and presented to Hoboken’ on some later undisclosed date, and that such plans shall be approved,” the lawsuit says.
“Thus, the Settlement Agreements blindly mandate the approval of both the Block 112 and Block 106 amended projects without depicting the details of how the projects will appear. This, despite the fact the HWE (Hoboken Western Edge) Settlement Agreement drastically changes the existing footprint for the Block 106 Project by allowing the construction of an additional 300 residential units, an additional five stories, and an additional 50 feet of height, beyond what was originally contemplated in the Block 106 Project.”
The court filing, where the plaintiffs are represented by Chasan Lamparello Mallon & Cappuzzo, PC Partners Steven Menaker and Michel L. DeLuca, also contends that the settlement seeking to relegate the planning board’s function to serve as simply a rubber stamp.
In April of last year, Hudson County Superior Court Judge Joseph Turula remanded the project back to the Hoboken Planning Board, who then approved it in May (they had previously voted that the project was inconsistent with the Master Plan).
The lawsuit also points out that Bhalla came out against the terms of the project in July 2021 and that Union City filed a third-party agreement in February 2022.
That’s just a couple of examples of how the situation has evolved since Pegasus Partners sued the city three years ago, alleging that Hoboken allowed Union City to ultimately interfere and harm the project.
Furthermore, the suit asserts that that the settlements both go against state law and fail to defend the city against Pegasus’ interests.
“The HWE Settlement Agreement requires Hoboken to immediately authorize and execute an Amended Redevelopment Agreement (i) permitting an additional five stories, and an increase in height of 50 feet, on each building over the heights set forth in the prior version of the Block 106 Project; (ii) permitting construction of up to 1,001 units on the Block 106 property (300 more units than originally contemplated in the Block 106 Project), allocation of which between and among the buildings will be within the sole discretion of the Redeveloper,” the lawsuit notes.
“The Settlement Agreements do not dismiss or modify Union City’s third- party claims, which claims remain pending and in which Hoboken and the individually named City Councilmembers, are required to fully participate notwithstanding the partial Settlement Agreements with the Redevelopers.”
Furthermore, through counsel, Union City argues that notes that the community benefits Pegasus would be on the hook for with these agreements are $5 million less than what was originally agreed upon ($4 million versus $9 million).
“Over the past three years, Hoboken denied Redevelopers’ applications, litigated against Redevelopers, and diligently defended against Redevelopers’ claims. Now, more than three years into the litigation, Hoboken has abruptly reversed course without any explanation, and has delivered to Redevelopers everything they wanted,” Union City’s attorneys wrote.
“In executing the Settlement Agreements, Mayor Bhalla inexplicably reneged on his assurances to Mayor Stack, abandoned his previous position that the proposed development is adverse to Hoboken’s interests and. for a reason yet to be articulated, gave away his constituents’ and his neighboring municipalities’ interests.”
Alleging that Hoboken participated in arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable government action and impermissible contract zoning, Union City is seeking Bhalla to remove his signature from the settlement agreements, which they want vacated.
They are also asking for “enjoining defendants from issuing any permits or development
approvals under the prescripts of the Settlement Agreements,” attorneys’ fees and costs of suit, as well as any relief the court deems just and equitable.
The new lawsuit, which comes as Union City is suing to stop the development at 914-930 Monroe St., doesn’t come as a surprise, as counsel for the city made it clear that they would continue fighting the Western Edge project at the September 4th council meeting.
A spokeswoman for Hoboken did not immediately return an inquiry seeking comment, though the city typically does not comment on pending litigation.