Dear Editor: Sandy Weiss, one of the many investors in the 1600 Park Avenue project wrote in this letters column that his building will have little impact on the quality of life and in fact will improve upon it. Years ago the state required each municipality to draft a master plan and adopt zoning and planning ordinances to keep development in check. The residents of Hoboken are all too familiar with the traffic, pollution and strain that development has created. No Sandy Weiss wants the city to put aside its master plan and zoning ordinances meant to protect us. The public should be aware that the developer will need at least five very important variances from the zoning board: 1. A Use Variance. The area is zoned for manufacturing, office and research lab use. The developer wants to place residential units in a neighborhood not designed for them. 2. Lot Coverage. Mr. Weiss and his Manhattan Building Co. seek to cover 74% of the lot with the building. The zoning ordinance allows no more than 65% building coverage of the lot. There will be no open or green space. 3. Yard Dimensions. The developer is proposing that the building is not to be set back from Willow Avenue whatsoever. The minimum setback is 10 feet for all buildings. This project will sit on the curb of Willow Avenue. 4. Building Height. The developer proposes a building that is 18 stories and 184 feet high. The zoning ordinance allows for eight stories and 80 feet in height. This building will set a new standard for other future uptown development. 5. Facade and Masonry Coverage. The developer is proposing that the northern and southern facades be only 55% masonry material. The zoning ordinance requires 75% coverage. The building’s facade will not be characteristic of Hoboken at all. This project would in fact be rewriting all of the city’s present zoning and planning ordinances for a parcel of land that size in that neighborhood. Mr. Weiss and his partners are trying to stuff 10 pounds of potatoes into a five-pound sack and doing it in a neighborhood that isn’t even zoned for potato stuffing. Our zoning ordinances are designed to protect the people of this city from such a massive project and should not be disregarded. Mr. Weiss and his partners do not have any right to variances just because they speculated on land. This parcel was never meant to generate the type of tax dollars Mr. Weiss brags about in his advertisement. Mayor Russo himself said that the additional tax dollars generated by such new projects do not make up for the strain on city services. I encourage everyone to attend the developer=s meeting on January 10 at 8 p.m. at 702 Washington Street and the Zoning Board meeting on January 18 at 7 p.m . John Branciforte