Snow may have delayed Tuesday’s zoning board meeting slated to determine the fate of a proposed 18-story “C”-shaped residential development at 1600 Park Ave., but it did not cool the feelings of the residents who oppose the project. The meeting has not yet been rescheduled, but even when it is, it will probably take longer than one meeting to come to a conclusion. Residents who feel the project is too big and will increase traffic tie-ups have hired Jon Drill, a zoning board attorney, to plead their case. Kim Fox, an uptown resident who is leading the charge against the development, did not seem to feel the battle will take too long. “Our goal is to have this resolved in three or four meetings,” she said. If the past is any indicator of what the future may hold, this goal may be difficult to achieve. The Shipyard, a development of luxury condos built on the waterfront, between 13th and 14th streets, was approved by the board a few years ago after its 36th Planning Board hearing. In Weehawken, the Planning Board has been holding meetings practically every week regarding a residential waterfront project there. No matter how long it takes, Fox seems to be confident that the coalition she is spearheading can raise the funds necessary to pay Drill’s legal fees. “We’re in it for the long haul, and that is why we are going to continue to raise funds,” she said, pointing out that her group would hold its second fundraiser this weekend. Is that your final answer? The proposed building will contain 340 apartments and three stories of parking. Sanford Weiss, the Hoboken-based developer who hopes to build the project, has not presented a final version of his plans to the board yet. After holding an open forum with residents earlier in the month, Weiss indicated that he would consider making changes to the proposed structure. If he does, it would not be the first time. When he first proposed building on the site, he hoped to erect a 21-story building. He has since downgraded that proposal to an 18-story structure. Fox and other residents worry that Weiss is engaged in an effort to manipulate perceptions of the proposed project. They fear that he will ultimately propose a structure that appears modest given where he started, but still is not good enough. “We are concerned that the intent here is to propose more than they thought they could get so that they could end up with what they wanted in the first place,” Fox said. “I think they are going to come back with a few minor changes down the road,” said long time city activist Michael Lenz. “But it doesn’t become a good project because they asked for something incredibly stupid and then tinkered with it to make it something that is just very stupid.” The board ultimately could grant the variances but put conditions on them, forcing Weiss to present new plans to the board that meet their requests. When asked to comment on what he planned to present to the board, Weiss said that he did not have time to respond, but that his lawyer John O’Donnell might. O’Donnell did not return several phone calls. No matter what Weiss and his team of developers present to the board in the future, it is likely to generate a great deal of interest among the general public. More than 200 people packed City Hall for a zoning board meeting where the project was slated to come up a few weeks ago, but it did not come up for lack of time. Since then, flyers with a slightly-altered cover of the Jan. 31 issue of the New Yorker featuring a large building have appeared all over town urging people to oppose the project, while the developer has countered by printing up big round buttons that proclaim, “I support 1600 Park.” Lenz says that the project has captured the public’s attention in part because it could set the tone for how the board handles variance requests from other developers in the near future. “This is only the latest battle,” Lenz said. “There are bigger projects on the horizon that could create even larger problems.”
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