In a letter to the Hoboken City Council, former Mayor Dawn Zimmer asserts that Jersey City’s Rebuild by Design easements are being blocked to protect the financial interests of a private developer.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“If my understanding of the facts is correct, and I believe it is, BA [Jason] Freeman also misled the City Council when he claimed Mayor Fulop was withholding the easements seeking additional benefit for the residents of Jersey City (beyond the flood protection clearly established by the RBD modeling),” she said regarding a resolution approved last month urging state action on the flood resiliency project.
“Rather, it appears Mayor Fulop is blocking this vital regional resiliency project to protect the financial interests of Lincoln Equities, a private developer with a 2021 approval to build ‘Holland Park’ an 800 residential unit development project along the light rail tracks that would include a new light rail station.”
The easements would be located on the Jersey City-Hoboken border along Grove Street, Marin Boulevard, and Jersey Avenue, and Zimmer states that the appraised value is $2.1 million, which was determined after the DEP exercised eminent domain.
“It appears that Jersey City is withholding the public easements to strong-arm the DEP into paying Lincoln Equities a higher price for the private easements, rather than to negotiate a fair price for the public easements on behalf of Jersey City residents and taxpayers,” she wrote.
“Unlike with the private easements, the DEP has for unknown reasons, not commenced eminent domain proceedings to obtain the public easements, without which the Southern alignment of RBD cannot be completed.”
She added that a Jersey City spokeswoman’s comments to HCV last month that claimed the easements “derails the long- established light rail commitment” they have is not accurate since Rebuild by Design predates the Holland Park proposal by around five years.
“In my opinion, the Bhalla Administration ought to have been aware of the Holland Park project and weighed in during the planning process, to ensure that Jersey City incorporated the RBD resist structure into the Redevelopment Plan. Unfortunately, it does not appear that it did so,” Zimmer also wrote.
Additionally, she included a July 19th letter from DEP Division of Resilience Engineering and Construction Director Dennis Reinknecht to Jersey City Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce Director Annisia Cialone discussing the situation.
“If Jersey City’s easements are granted in a timely manner, the DEP will comply with Holland Park’s request to have the Resist Structure completed within 400 calendar days of contract award, allowing the developer and NJT to advance their project,” he wrote.
“Both DEP and NJT look forward to continued collaboration and consultation with Jersey City and Holland Park to achieve this historic combination of infrastructure projects in Jersey City.”
About a month ago, Zimmer told HCV that Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop is holding the Rebuild by Design project “hostage” with her successor, Ravi Bhalla, being complicit due an expected run for higher office, referring to a possible congressional run in the 8th District.
Since then, she asked for the aforementioned resolution that was unanimously approved, where she was evidently not happy with Freeman’s characterization of events.
Zimmer indicated that the notion that the state and Hoboken are demanding Jersey City hand over property “is palpable nonsense,” continuing that Bhalla “instructed Mr. Freeman to deliver a public service announcement on behalf of Mayor Fulop and Jersey City.”
Furthermore, she said that Bhalla failed to advocate on the issue or even inform the council for two years, and likely would not have without her advocacy, as well as reporting from HCV, the Jersey Journal, and the New York Times.
“I urge the Council to request a full briefing from Dennis Reinknecht, DEP Director, Division of Resilience Engineering and Construction. It is clearly necessary for the Council to obtain complete and accurate information so that it can fill the vacuum and directly advocate for Hoboken,” Zimmer also said.
“Two years have slipped by, and time is of the essence to make sure the remaining Jersey City easements are expeditiously obtained so this vital project can move forward without impediments.”
A Jersey City spokeswoman did not return an email seeking comment, while Hoboken spokeswoman Marilyn Baer said Rebuild by Design remains a priority for Bhalla and his administration.
“Mayor Bhalla and the city continue to advocate for the completion of the multi-jurisdictional Rebuild by Design project so that residents in Hoboken, Jersey City, and Weehawken can be better protected from storm surge,” she said.
On Friday morning, DEP spokesman Larry Hajna said the agency is committed to seeing this project to completion, noting that they are working through a few unexpected delays recently.
“DEP is committed to working through any remaining issues, including Jersey City property needs, while continuing to complete the project on schedule. We have already obtained many property easements for the project,” he said in an email.
“The Commissioners hearing was not held in October as planned. The meeting had been rescheduled for Nov 20, 2023 but the Commissioners have requested to reschedule. No rescheduled date has been set at this time.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Friday morning with a comment from DEP spokesman Larry Hajna.
Mayor Bhalla needs Mayor Fulop to try to advance his own political career and he and his Administration and City Council Team are NEVER going to do anything that might upset Fulop and his real estate deals.
Bhalla’s people recently bent over backwards and quietly to advance Fulop’s wife’s cannabis in a privates residential building in Hoboken.
Kudos to Former Mayor Dawn Zimmer for speaking out for the best interests of the residents of Hoboken.
This rings true to me. The mayor was slow to embrace the whole resiliency project, and Jersey City personnel were not involved in the Hoboken project. It took a long time to roll out, and many of our construction requirements in the zoning plan are not enforced, or are not based on much scientific debate. The mayor did not want to hear anything about a wall getting anywhere near Newport. I have always felt this reluctance to grapple with flooding issues over the long term was part of not wanting to seem too environmentally oriented in the eyes of big contributors.
All these cities need to be concerned more about their existing residents and what’s best for them, and not about (greedy developers). If we’re talking about an easement to prevent flooding doesn’t make sense to build another High Rise residential building.
But, but, but, developers seeking favors to make many millions of dollars more with their properties tend to give politicians especially those who want to be Governor hefty contributions.