BAYONNE – Not yet ready to make a commitment, the Bayonne City Council stalled for time, delaying a public hearing and ultimate decision on a proposed rent control ordinance until next week.
Using an alternative law to push the city’s new rent control regulations to a public vote, advocates of rent control in Bayonne have successfully collected enough petition signatures to qualify for a ballot referendum this November.
The rent control advocates are hoping that city residents vote against a new law that gradually phases out rent control by eliminating it from each unit once a current tenant moves out.
Instead of setting a date for a hearing at the regular City Council meeting on Aug. 15, the City Council agreed to stall until next week, before having to make up its mind whether to rescind the ordinance it passed last November or allow it to go to voters.
The activists want to maintain the old rent control law.
City Law Director Charles D’Amico said he still needed to review the petitions before he could advise the council on what action to take, and that a special meeting would have to be called next week in order to set a date for a hearing and an eventual council decision. The council has 20 days from Aug. 15 to decide or else the proposed ordinance goes to the voters in November anyway.