The City Council unanimously introduced an ordinance Wednesday night that would allow an extension on construction deadlines for the new Jersey City Medical Center.
According to an attorney for the city, Joanne Monahan, the ordinance was drafted in order to straighten out the scheduling dates for the construction and settle a minor property dispute the city had with the board of trustees of the medical center.
“The schedules have been done for the financing. Now we are waiting for the ordinance to pass so we can build the new hospital,” Monahan said.
The ordinance is expected to pass at the next council meeting with no problems, Monahan said. After that happens, the hospital must file its plans and get approval from the Building Department.
According to the chairman of the medical center’s board of trustees, James McGaughlin, if the ordinance passes, construction crews should be able to begin work at the site as early as October. The project is expected to be completed by February 2004 if everything goes well, McGaughlin said.
According to an amended construction timetable given the Reporter by Monahan, the first phase of construction can end as late as July of 2004, and the second phase can end in December of 2009.
The new hospital, to be built at the corner of Jersey Avenue and Grand Street, will house 326 beds and include parking for 250 cars. The old hospital, on Baldwin Avenue, will close when the new one is built.
In other news
Also at the council meeting, Napoleon Mendoza, president of a group called Jersey City Lesbian and Gay Outreach, spoke in front of the council to ask them for their help in getting proper permits, waivers of fees and other financial assistance for a festival they want to hold Aug. 25.
Mendoza read out loud a letter addressed to outgoing Mayor Bret Schundler and the council. In the letter, he said, “We know the city has given grants to other festivals during the summer months. We hope the city would allow the same consideration with our festival.”
Members of the council told Mendoza they will try to allocate funds for the festival.
A week earlier, the group had asked the office of the mayor for financial support for the festival. A spokesperson for the mayor told the group that the city’s recreation and cultural affairs budget had run out of money for the year, so they could not give money to the group. The group decided to seek different avenues for support.
The festival would be held on Greene Street from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. For the first two hours of the festival, there would be speakers representing different lesbian and gay organizations in New Jersey, and for the remaining three hours there would be comedians, dancers, and singers performing on a small stage.
Also at the meeting, attorneys for utility and telecommunications companies were on hand to discuss the language of a yet-to-be-approved ordinance that would make it harder for companies to dig trenches in the streets.
An attorney for PSE&G addressed the council and asked them to reconsider the fees in the ordinance that will be imposed on the companies. The council moved to go into a closed session as part of their attorney-client privileges.
The ordinance is expected to be discussed at the next council meeting on June 27.