Mayor David Roberts announced Friday that attorneys from the Stevens Institute of Technology have agreed to stop work on a controversial project that many in the community, including the mayor and his lawyers, believe is being built without Planning Board approval. Construction began in March for the Babbio Center of Technology Management at the corner of Sixth and River streets, but some believe the project has overstepped its bounds.
The university has gotten approval for construction of a six-story building to accommodate classrooms, lecture halls, administrative and faculty offices, a restaurant, and a cafeteria. They also have gotten approval for a 105-car surface parking lot. But as construction began, including the 40-foot excavation of rock from Castle Point, concern appeared from some Planning Board members, community activists, residents and politicos, who started to notice that what was being built did not seem to match up with what was approved.
To many people it looked like the school was building a portion of a multi-level parking garage on the site. Stevens has never hidden the fact the school has the desire to build a 725-car multi-level garage that would be partially located under the Babbio Center, but they also have not yet gotten the approvals to build it.
On Oct. 5, 2001 Stevens President Harold Raveche submitted a letter to Hoboken Zoning officer Joel Mestre. In that letter Raveche acknowledges that the Planning Board approved the management building with a 105-space “garage structure” below the building.
Also in that letter, Raveche announced the school’s intentions to dig deeper. “Presently [Oct. 5, 2001], we are hoping to construct a deep foundation to the garage structure, with an overall depth of approximately 40 feet,” said Raveche. “Stevens takes this action at its own risk. We hope in the future to include this foundation area as part of a soon-to-be adjacent garage, which will be the subject of a new application.”
Raveche added that, “If Stevens does not receive approval for the new garage structure, then the foundation will be nothing more than a foundation, with no access or entry points.”
Normally such a large excavation or amendment to a site plan would require approval from the board. But in this instance, that was not the case.
Roberts said Friday that it was unacceptable that the school began building the garage without proper Planning Board approvals.
“To every average citizen it is obvious that this is more than a foundation,” said Roberts Friday. “That is why I have asked their lawyers to voluntarily stop work until [the school] has received the proper zoning [approvals].”
It is important to note that Stevens, according to Roberts, is stopping work voluntarily. This is not a legal order from the zoning or construction officer, but rather a deal brokered by the mayor and Stevens lawyers.
Calls to Stevens President Dr. Harold Raveche’s office were not immediately returned Friday.
Roberts said that he supports Stevens’ plans to build the garage at that site but that “we have to make sure that the rules are applied evenly to everybody.”
Roberts based his decision on a report by Planning Board attorney Michael Pane. “It was clear from the report that there is a lack of zoning approvals for the garage,” said Roberts. Pane’s report has not yet been released to the public.
As of Friday, workers were still on the site, but Roberts said that Stevens’ lawyers were making arrangements to stop work. According to the mayor’s spokesperson, Bill Campbell, as of Friday afternoon, it was unclear whether the stop work agreement would only include the area where the “garage” is or whether the entire construction site would be included.
The university must now submit an application before the Planning Board to seek approvals, a process that can take months. And if the Sept. 12 meeting of the Planning Board is any indication, Stevens could be in for a tough fight. At that meeting the school presented conceptual plans for its private 725-car garage.
Ron Hine, the executive director of the Fund for a Better Waterfront, has already hired an attorney to fight the application. “There is no way that [the Planning Board] should ever approve this,” Hine said Friday.
Hine pointed to the large number of variances that this project is going to need. Stevens’ lawyers said they may seek 10 or more variances, some of which could be considered major.
Originally, Stevens intended to build a garage near Hudson Street, but an activist group forced them to reconsider.