Members of a group who want defunct Reservoir No. 3 to be used for a 13.5-acre nature preserve were planning to rally this weekend against the fact that they failed to receive permission from the city two weeks ago to host tours and a three-hour cleanup.
The Jersey City Reservoir Preservation Alliance would like the city-owned defunct reservoir to become a place where visitors can study birds and plants and also catch some fish.
However, another group calling themselves the Jersey City Recreation Foundation is looking to transform the reservoir into both ball fields and passive space.
Both groups have their backers in City Hall.
The first group, led by Heights resident Steve Latham, has received political support from City Council President Mariano Vega.
The second group is led by Joe Napolitano Jr., president of the Pershing Field Babe Ruth League, and has received political support from Ward C City Councilman Steve Lipski and most recently from Mayor Jerramiah Healy.
The reservoir is bounded by Summit, Jefferson and Central avenues.At a City Council meeting on April 26, the council withdrew a resolution that would have allowed the Alliance to clean up the reservoir on April 29 and conduct a tour that would have taken place this weekend.
The cleanup would have admitted 30 trained volunteers under the supervision of the city’s Public Works Department, while the tour conducted by the Alliance would be for only three hours and no more than 50 people could occupy the reservoir at any time.
But the council’s resolution included a number of restrictive and strange conditions that the Alliance and some on the City Council took exception to. They were added due to the city’s legal concerns, and included visitors signing agreements about liability, the city’s right to cancel the events with little notice, and no picture-taking by the press or any other members of the public without permission from the mayor’s office.
City Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis said by e-mail last week, “The heightened focus on the reservoir revealed safety issues to the Department of Public Works and the City’s Risk Assessor. In light of the Preservation Alliance’s insurance, the administration was willing to allow the first two requested events as of the last council meeting and to take the other events under further consideration, but the council did not approve that access.”
The discussion on the resolution at the council meeting took nearly an hour, prompting all parties to consider the future of the property.
“We want playing fields in that reservoir,” said Healy last week, mulling a compromise. “I want our youngsters to be able to use that resource for playing baseball, soccer and the like. And at the same time, we could preserve a little piece of the water that’s there…I think it would be a win for all concerned.”
At the meeting, Lipski said that although the JCRPA has great deal of community support, the Recreation Foundation has garnered a great deal of support as well.
Lipski showed off one of two pictures that contractor T&M Associates had rendered of the site, allowing for playing fields as well as a fishing dock and picnic areas. Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com