Many Hoboken residents gathered Tuesday night to give their opinions on the proposed future developments for Hoboken’s largest property owner, Stevens Institute of Technology.
On Jan 13, the private university presented its five-year master plan for development of the campus before the City’s Planning Board. After the school’s presentation, the Planning Board assured the public that it would have time to discuss Stevens’ plans the following Tuesday night. About a dozen people spoke on the issue.
At the meeting on Jan. 13, school officials stated that the university intends to start seven construction projects in the next five years. The campus master plan is not a document that needs to be voted on by the board, but a suggestion on where the buildings might go in the future. The Planning Board requested that the school present the plan because several members said it was difficult to approve any single project without knowing what the school was planning for the rest of the campus.
The school’s proposed projects include building the Babbio Center for Technology Management, a six-story 95,000 square-foot building, used for executive training and technology management programs.
The second proposed project is the Fifth Street Parking Garage, a 725-car garage located adjacent to and partially underneath the Babbio center. According to the presented master plan, the school currently has a total of 550 on-campus parking spaces for its full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. According to school officials, the school’s parking problems have been aggravated in recent years by the loss of over 400 spaces due to various construction projects. This 725-car garage would be built to offset those losses, and accommodate university growth over the next several years. This is a controversial project and is scheduled to go before the Zoning Board on Wednesday [see sidebar].
The third project is the Center for Maritime Systems, slated to be built on the waterfront. It would replace the 228-car parking lot and the physical plant between Castle Point and Sinatra parks. The Center for Maritime Systems would be a long, clear, visibly transparent building and would house a tank to be used by the school and the Department of Environmental Protection to test tidal conditions. Also, the Army Corps of Engineers would use it to test ships and civil engineering projects, such as bridges. Approximately one third of the land the center is to be built on will be used as a waterfront walkway and a publicly accessible park.
Slightly north of that property is Union Dry Dock, Hoboken’s last site of an active maritime industry. While Stevens does not own the property, the school would like to build a NCAA-sized track with a regulation soccer/lacrosse field. Between the field and the Hudson River there would be a waterfront walkway.
The other propped projects are one sorority house on an empty lot on Castle Point Terrace, a café, a police headquarters project, and an undergraduate housing building.
Parking issues
As it is with every development project in Hoboken parking is always an issue, so the parking aspects of the school’s master plan were a focal point of discussion. The school has insisted that it needs the 725-car to make up for the spaces lost due to campus-wide construction.
Some, like resident Bill Tobias, said that a new garage will only generate more traffic. "More parking garages will only attract more traffic," said Tobias.
But resident and Stevens graduate student Scott Kerns said the garage will only help the traffic situation. "These cars already exist," said Kerns. He argued that the students are coming to Hoboken if the garage is built or not. If it’s not built, he said, they will have to find spaces on the city’s streets. "Then you’re not only hurting Stevens but you’re hurting the residents of Hoboken also," he said.
In the loop
One of the consistent themes of the evening was the public’s desire to be kept in the loop when it comes to future development projects on the campus. Elizabeth Markevitch, who announced that she will be running for the Third Ward Council seat in May, thanked the Planning Board for asking Stevens to present an overall plan for the campus, because than the public is informed about future projects. "Large organizations and groups should have to work with the Planning Board like this," she said.
She also asked Stevens officials if the school would host more meetings in the future to keep the public informed. "We really need to keep this dialogue going," said Markevitch.
Responding to her question, Dr. Henry Dobbelaar, a Stevens professor and the university’s representative Tuesday night, said the school will be happy to attend future community meetings.
Zoning Board to discuss foundation for Babbio Center
In other Stevens development news, the university is scheduled to go before the city’s Zoning Board on Wednesday Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. for a public hearing on the university’s appeal of the revocation of the first certificate of zoning compliance for the foundation of the Babbio Center for Technology Management on the corner of Sixth and River streets.
On Dec. 31, Hoboken Mayor David Roberts, through the city’s construction officer, revoked the first certificate of zoning compliance and issued a stop construction order against Stevens.
Construction had begun in March on the Babbio Center, but some concerned residents and politicians said it looked like the private university was working on a 725-car garage that had not been approved yet. The university has gotten approval only for construction of a six-story building to accommodate classrooms, lecture halls, administrative and faculty offices, a restaurant, classrooms, and a parking lot.
An investigation by the Planning Board’s attorney determined that Stevens was building beyond what they had received approval for, and they were asked in November of 2002 by Roberts to stop work on the garage portion of the site, but were allowed to continue work on the Babbio Center’s foundation.
After some members of the public weren’t sure if Stevens was still working on the garage or only the Babbio Center, and pressure from the Planning Board members and local residents was placed on Roberts, the mayor decided to issue an official stop work order on Dec. 31.
That decision had lawyers from the university rushing into the courtroom of New Jersey Superior Court Judge Mark J. Nelson to argue that the mayor’s order was premature and unwarranted and that issuing a stop work order causes "immediate and irreparable injury to the school."
According to the judge’s ruling, the city is "temporarily enjoined and restrained" from enforcing or taking any other actions regarding the stop construction order."
Nelson also said that while the school could continue the work, it would do so at its own risk and must still obtain zoning permits from the Zoning Board of Adjustment for the foundation.
On Feb. 12, at 4 p.m. the members of the Zoning Board will be touring the site to ascertain if the site is in compliance with the approval the school has already obtained.
After their tour, there will be a public hearing where the board will on whether to grant the school its certificate of compliance.