A flurry of activity is marking the waning days of the Schundler administration. The council considered myriad proposals Wednesday, including a waterfront development plan, a new animal shelter, a reservoir hiking trail, changes to the way the city deals with companies that dig trenches in roads, and of course, abatements.
Not everything made it into the books, however.
The first to go down was an eight and a half-mile hiking trail planned to open to the public on the city’s 1,300-acre reservoir property in Morris County. The reservoir feeds the city’s water supply and several officials raised questions over possible contamination of the water.
Environmental Commission Chairman Salvador Riggi voiced his concerns in a memo to the city and publicly at the City Council meeting Wednesday. “It’s our only source of water,” he said, “we should be doing everything we can to protect it.” Under the plan, the city would agree to license the property, now fenced off and forbidden to the general public, to the Morris County Parks Commission for $1 annually. Morris County would be responsible for patrolling the area, whereas Jersey City is patrolling it right now. The city could terminate the agreement at any time. Tom Gallagher, Mayor Bret Schundler’s chief of staff, took exception to Riggi’s portrayal of the plan. “If we took Mr. Riggi’s interpretation,” he said, “we’d put a wall around the reservoir and not let anyone in.” The hiking trail would be reserved for pedestrians, but in emergencies would allow for horses and all-terrain rescue vehicles. Other reservoirs around the state, like Spruce Run in Clinton, allow hiking, fishing and even gas-powered boating. Jersey City’s reservoir in Boonton currently allows licensed fishing. The administration withdrew the proposal over questions of liability, but will likely re-introduce a revised version at the next meeting on June 13. Animal house
The council passed 8-1 on a measure that would amend the city’s zoning laws to allow an animal shelter to be built. The city recently entered into an agreement with Liberty Humane Society to run a proposed shelter near Route 440 and the Hudson Mall, on the city’s west side. The city currently contracts with the Assisi Center (formerly the Hudson County SPCA) on Johnston Avenue. A recent state report derided the shelter’s operation and a court case is pending on dogs that were apparently removed from the facility this winter. The lone dissenting vote on the zoning change came from Ward B (West Side) Councilwoman Mary Donnelly, long an opponent of the new shelter. In another development, Wendy Neu, of the Hoboken-based Companion Animal Placement, and whose husband will be contributing $500,000 to the new shelter, admitted to removing a different pair of dogs from a different site after she believed they were being abused. A police report filed in the South District on Jan. 29 noted that Hector Rosario (an Assisi Center employee who works for a security dog service) observed “a male and a female remov[ing] two Rottweiler guard dogs from Shavoney’s (sic) Scrapyard [on Linden Avenue]. One of the females could possibly be the wife of the owner of Shavnoey’s (sic) Scrapyard, her name being Wendy.” Neu said she removed the dogs from the spot because she felt they were being abused. She said the dogs, owned by a guard dog company, are being held in another part of the state, but would not reveal where. Neu said that, however, this has nothing to do with the two dogs that allegedly have disappeared from the Assisi Center. Neu and other animal lovers have complained that those two dogs were not kept at the Center for a long enough period of time before being adopted out. Some have charged that they were given to a shelter employee (Rosario) who works for the guard dog service. The Assisi Center will be in court in West New York on Wednesday regarding the complaint about the two dogs that were removed from the Center. In other business
As expected, amendments to the 80-acre Liberty Harbor North redevelopment plan won unanimous council approval. The “Upper West Side meets Greenwich Village” plan calls for 6,000 apartments, 4 million square feet of office and between 150,000 and 750,000 square feet of retail space. A separate measure that would transfer city-owned property in the redevelopment area to the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency won initial approval. The properties include 273 Grand St. and 10 and 12 Canal St. A measure that would have come down harder on companies that dig trenches in the city’s streets got tabled (deferred for future consideration). As it currently stands, the excavation of streets is a willy-nilly affair, and leads to the deterioration of the city’s roads. A representative from PSE&G speaking at the meeting took exception to a variety of rules that would require utilities to put steel plates on holes and fill in holes within 72 hours of excavation. Two tax abatements were awarded Wednesday. The first was a 12-year abatement to Caven Point Urban Renewal Associates, an industrial/warehouse building at 99 Caven Point Rd. that will pay in-lieu-of-taxes $275,000 annually to the city. The second went to Polar One East Urban Renewal Associates on Industrial Drive. That project, for which there is currently no tenant, will pay-in-lieu-of-taxes $191,933 to the city.