All has not gone smoothly in Stevens Institute of Technology’s attempt to build the six-story Babbio Center for Technology Management at the corner of Sixth and River streets. The site is already in controversy over levels of airborne asbestos produced by the blasting of green veined-serpentine rock (see sidebar), and now the Planning Board has also taken aim at the project.
At Tuesday night’s Planning Board meeting, several board members expressed apprehension that portions of the 40-foot excavation, as undertaken, were not part of the approved plans. The school has the proper permits to build the Babbio Center, the foundation for the center, and a 105-car surface parking lot. The university also has plans to build a 725-car garage on that site, but does not currently have the approvals to build that structure.
Several Planning Board members and the board’s lawyer said Tuesday that the blasting and large-scale excavation might not be necessary to build a surface parking lot.
“There are concerns that [Stevens] is going beyond the board’s approval,” said Planning Board attorney Doug Bern Tuesday. “One would think that 40-foot excavation is inconsistent with a surface parking lot.”
Planning Board Commissioner Hank Forrest expressed similar worries. “It’s disappointing that it has gotten as far as it has [before it has come to our attention],” said Forrest about the excavation.
Over the past several months, the Planning Board has become increasingly frustrated with developers who gain approval for a project but then change the design or materials of the building during construction.
Some of the board members said Tuesday that Stevens might be trying to do just that. “I suspect that modifications [to the plan] were made along the way,” said Commissioner Cassandra Wilday.
The Hoboken Planning Board is a policy-making board, not an enforcement board. It is up to the construction and zoning officers to make sure that developers follow the plans that were approved.
At the meeting Tuesday, the board instructed its attorney to write a letter to city Zoning Officer Joel Mestre and Construction Officer Al Arezzo to investigate the site to see if the project is in compliance with the permits and approvals that were granted.
Officials from Stevens said Wednesday that the school has the applicable permits for the excavation.
“We have a construction permit for the Babbio building and a foundation,” said Stevens Director of Community Relation Cass Bruton-Ward in a written statement Wednesday. “The foundation, which requires no other zoning or permitting, is four stories high. Its construction is independent of our plans for a 725-car garage in the sense that if we don’t get site plan and construction approval for the 725-car edifice, the foundation can never be used for anything except a foundation.”
Bruton-Ward added that Stevens President Harold Raveche has written a letter to the city absolving the city from and liability arising from the eventuality that the 725-car garage is denied.
The university also contends that in no way does it intend to stealthily build a multiple story parking garage in place of a ground level surface parking lot.
“The configuration of the excavation goes to the heart of accusations that we are, de facto, building the 725-car garage without a permit,” said Bruton-Ward in the statement. “Given that we are willing to assume all the [legally obtained] risk of building a four-level foundation, our excavation makes sense. The cost, difficulty and danger profile of attempting to dig such a foundation without a staging and access area at the level of the bottom of the structure would be too great to warrant such a project. There is a connection between the 725-car garage and the foundation, but there’s not an illegal or hidden agenda.”
Fund writes board
The topic of the Stevens project first came up Tuesday when the board was reviewing a letter from Ron Hine, the executive director of the Fund for a Better Waterfront, a local non-for-profit community action group.
Hine and the Fund for a Better Waterfront were also the first ones to publicly confront Stevens over the asbestos issue.
In his letter to the Planning Board, Hine contended that the university should not be undertaking such aggressive digging.
“The foundation that they are currently excavating for is about 40 feet deep and in no way could be construed as a foundation for the Babbio Center, which does have Planning Board approval,” said Hine in the letter. “In bypassing the approval process, Stevens Institute has avoided a timely disclosure of the asbestos hazard that exists in blasting the serpentine rock at the site.”
Even before the asbestos issue came to light, Hine voiced strong opposition to the project on the grounds that having a large parking garage facing Sinatra Drive and the waterfront is not the best utilization of such prime waterfront real estate.
But it is true that the Fund for a Better Waterfront had a vested interest in a different site, causing them to be at odds with Stevens.
A bit further north, at the Maxwell House development site, the Fund supports a plan that includes 982 residential units (including townhouses, duplexes and apartments), 1,647 parking spaces, and a four-acre waterfront park. During the second half of last year, Hoboken Brownstone Company, the developer of the site, agreed in principle to donate the property along the waterfront to a land trust open space conservancy for the purpose of creating and maintaining a permanent public park at no cost to the Hoboken taxpayer.
Under their plan, the Fund for a Better Waterfront would be the conservancy that would oversee the design and maintenance of the park. Hine has often been quoted as saying that the park would be the “crown jewel of the Hoboken waterfront.”
Since that time, the city and Stevens has formed the Hoboken Steven Partnership for Public Education (HSPPE). The charter of the partnership is to build an 800-student technology middle/high school, possibly by buying the Maxwell House site. According to city officials, talks are ongoing with the Stevens developers to buy the site.
“The deal has fallen through,” said Hine Wednesday about an arrangement between the Hoboken Brownstone Company and the Fund for a Better Waterfront. “We have no agreement with the developer.”
Hine’s opposition to HSPPE’s plan to use the Maxwell House site has led some politicos to question his motivation. City Council President Tony Soares has contacted one of the Fund’s major grant providers, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.
“I have reached out the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation to inquire if they are aware of the situation here in Hoboken,” said Soares Tuesday.
“They are trying to cut us off at the knees,” said Hine about the attempts to contact the Fund’s grant providers. “They are trying to intimidate us and get us to back down.”
Hine added that the Fund’s “whistle blowing” at the Babbio site has nothing to do with other projects in town. “We’re not making anything up,” he said. “We’re a civic-minded group and we are not going to back down because we have other bones to pick with Stevens.” Construction company told to stop dumping rock
There is some level of naturally occurring asbestos in the historic green-veined serpentine rock that the Stevens Institute of Technology is excavating at the site at the corner of Sixth and River streets. The university has stated that it believes the level of ambient asbestos does not cause a significant health risk.
The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission does not agree. Terminal Construction, the firm hired by Stevens to complete the excavation, has been dumping the rock at a site in Carlstadt. The same family that owns the dumping site in Carlstadt owns Terminal Construction.
On April 24, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission ordered the construction company to stop dumping the rocks at the Carlstadt site.
According to the EPA, asbestos is commonly found in ultramafic rock, including serpentine, and near fault zones. The amount of asbestos that is typically present in these rocks ranges from less than 1 percent to about 25 percent, and sometimes more. Asbestos is released from ultramafic and serpentine rock when it is broken or crushed. This can happen when land is graded for building purposes, or at quarrying operations.
The order, written by Monica Mianecki, the chief engineer for the Meadowlands Commission, tells Terminal Construction to stop dumping and remove any material that contains asbestos.
“Please be advised that the fill containing asbestos fiber is not considered acceptable fill material and constitutes a violation,” says the order. “You are hereby ordered to cease and desist the current fill operation and to remove the fill with asbestos fiber from this property and dispose of it in an acceptable landfill facility. The removal and transportation of asbestos fill must be conducted in accordance with NJDEP regulations and supervised by a licensed professional.”
Terminal Construction has appealed the Meadowlands Commission’s decision and is not commenting until that litigation is resolved. Because they are no longer allowed to dump the rocks in Carlstadt, large piles of debris has built up at the site at Sixth and River streets. – Tom Jennemann