When the Palisade Avenue Redevelopment Study was made public last month, a small army of Heights residents folded their arms across their chests and declared that no one was going to knock down their houses. It was thought that the city would be razing portions of Palisade Avenue to make way for high-rise apartments. This was not the case, according to city officials. At an informational assembly held on Wednesday at P.S. 8, Franklin Street and Hancock Avenue, planning officials took an audience of almost 400 concerned citizens through the study, piece by piece. In attendance were Bob Cotter, Jersey City planning director, City Council President Thomas DeGise, Mayor Bret Schundler, and council members William Gaughan (who represents the Heights section), Arnold Bettinger and Rev. Fernando Colon. It was concluded, according to Cotter, that the Palisade Avenue area does not merit a full-scale redevelopment. “Does the Palisade study area, as a whole, meet the statutory criteria to be declared an area in need of redevelopment?” Cotter said. “In a word, no.” Instead, Cotter said that Palisade Avenue has been recommended for rehabilitation. Cotter explained that the City Council authorizes the Planning Board to conduct an analysis of an area to determine if it qualifies for redevelopment. If it does, then a redevelopment plan is written. If not, which is the case of the Palisade Avenue area, no action is required. In his 20-minute Planning Board tutorial, Cotter explained that the difference between redevelopment and rehabilitation comes down to the fact that redeveloping comes with legal status, while rehabilitation does not. In detail, redeveloping carries with it 30 years of tax incentives, clearance of titles and eminent domain, or condemnation of private property. Areas of blight or massive deterioration qualify for redevelopment and are infamous in politics and real estate for having been bulldozed in favor of high-rise apartments or strip malls. Residents were told on Wednesday that they are in no danger of losing their homes, and at no point in time ever were. By a show of hands, roughly a quarter of the 500 residents in attendance believed their houses were going to be taken from them. “There is no way that the area meets the conditions for blight,” Schundler said to the audience. “So those of you who have come thinking that the area will be blighted have just been under some serious misinformation.” Small sub-areas of the study may qualify for redevelopment, such as sections included in the Webster Avenue Redevelopment Plan of 1979. According to Cotter, abandoned buildings beyond repair, conducive to “unwholesome living” and without titles, qualify for redevelopment as well. Land that has been vacant for 10 years and “adverse to public welfare” is also included. “Our goal is to do what you want us to do,” Schundler said at the community meeting. “We have no interest whatsoever in doing things that you don’t want us to do. We’re in the service business.” In the presentation, Cotter also updated the status of the research, stressed the importance of additional study, and outlined the eventual implementation of the process. Photographs of each property (over 250) within the study area have been taken, helping to put together building condition maps, which Cotter showed the people on Wednesday. On those maps, it was shown that over 90-percent of the buildings in the Palisade study area are in good or fair condition. “There is a lot of fair,” Cotter pointed out, “but not a lot of good.” Taking requests from the residents of the Heights will be the next step now that the study is complete. While the planning staff reviewed the area from a professional perspective, local politicians are calling on the residents of the area to put in their two cents as to how the Palisade Avenue area can be improved. “This meeting is for you to tell us what you want to do with the area,” Schundler said. “There are city services that are lacking in our community,” Margi Daly, vice president of the Heights Hope Neighborhood Association, said after the three-hour meeting. Residents used a question-and-answer period to address some of their concerns. In the past, residents said that they have been promised new sidewalks, streets, increased police officers and firefighters in the Heights. Mountain Road, presently under construction, has also been a thorn in their side. “What you’re seeing and hearing tonight is a vicious outcry by the residents of Palisade Avenue to have some of these problems fixed,” Heights resident David Crowder said. “Talk is cheap. Actions speak ten times louder than words.” DeGise said that a new firehouse and a mini-police precinct have already been slated for the Heights, as well as new sidewalks. “I truly think they’re concerned with the neighborhood,” Daly said. “They are concerned for the constituents. Maybe the way it was approached was the wrong way.” The idea of a steering committee was introduced at Wednesday’s meeting, which officials said will open their eyes to the broad and more specific goals of the community. The committee will consist of volunteers from the neighborhood’s resident and merchant groups, City Council members, and planning and economic staff members. “The purpose of this committee would be to facilitate communication throughout the planning process, and [to] maintain the focus on Palisade Avenue and that neighborhood,” Cotter said. “We are asking for a committee of neighborhood people that will not only tell us what they want, but also what they don’t want,” DeGise said. “The City Council is not dumb. You elect us, and we will do what we think the neighborhood wants.”