The City Council voted at a special meeting on Dec. 6 to allow the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority to oversee the redevelopment of a 30-acre site slated for a big-box store mall.
The property lies in the industrial section along Route 440, starting at East 22nd Street in the south and New Hook Road in the north. It is expected to provide Bayonne with large retail stores like Target for the first time. Cameron Group Bayonne has already been named as the redeveloper for the site, and will present its preliminary development plans before the Planning Board on Dec. 12.
City Planner John Fussa said the move for the BLRA to oversee the redevelopment was a logical one.
“Because it is a redevelopment zone, the city would have to have named a redevelopment authority,” he said. “The BLRA has the expertise and experience, and already oversees the largest redevelopment projects in the city: Texaco site and the former Military Ocean Terminal. This move makes sense.”
The move comes at the same time that the council votes on amendments to the redevelopment plan – changes already approved by the Planning Board – and moves the project ahead.
BLRA accepts it
The BLRA, at its Dec. 7 meeting, voted to accept the redevelopment designation.
Joe Baumann, serving as counsel to the BLRA, said the negotiation involving the cleanup and development was “complex,” but estimated that the mall would generate millions of dollars in Urban Enterprise Zone revenue and provide about 800 jobs.
Bond downsized
At the same special meeting, the council proposed a $1.8 million bond for city projects, which it had previously presented to the state. But because the council failed to meet the state timeline, the bond had to be reintroduced.
Last month, Councilmen Anthony Chiappone, Gary LaPelusa and Ted Connolly managed to get the amount of the bond reduced, meaning the council will owe less money.
One of the items cut from the bond was a proposal to have paths paved in Halecky Park.
Councilman John Halecky – after whom the park was named – said neighbors reported that kids were throwing stones from the gravel path.
Chiappone and LaPelusa said this was a law-enforcement issue and that if kids are causing a disturbance, neighborhoods should call the police.
However, Halecky said he would continue to push to have the park paved.
“When we set up the park, we wanted to make it look natural,” Halecky said. “But we find that the kids are throwing the stones at the lights and through windows. One window cost $3,000 to replace. They throw stones at cars.”
Halecky said he sought to find other solutions first.
“People in the neighborhood are looking for answers,” he said. “I believe the paths need to be paved, even though we will have a problem with skateboards as a result. I’m hoping we can find the money in the future to do this.”
Connolly said light boxes coordinating traffic lights on Avenue A could be excluded from the bond. The bond originally called for the purchase of new vehicles for the Department of Public Works. Chiappone said that while the aging fleet of work vehicles needed to be replaced since many of them are relics of the 1980s and pose a safety concern, he did not believe new vehicles were needed for the supervisors. Instead, he recommended that the DPW purchase vehicles from a police auction that sells off confiscated vehicles at an extremely reduced price.
“While the police department usually gets first pick, I said maybe this year the DPW might be allowed to get the better vehicles,” Chiappone said.
LaPelusa also had a list of other public-works items that could be put off or not purchased.
Chiappone believes the cuts came about because the last election gave him and other council members more clout.
“You need four out of five council votes to pass a bond,” Chiappone said. “Since Gary and I are on the board, we have the power to request and get cuts.”
Chiappone said bonds like this have an impact on the city budget, since the repayments must come out of the annual municipal budget.