HOBOKEN — The city of Hoboken won’t be seeing any new development on its piers anytime soon. An amendment has been passed to exempt Hoboken from a new bill that would allow most waterfront towns to circumvent municipal regulations and permit construction on piers in an effort to boost economic recovery along the Hudson County coastline.
On Thursday, Assemblymen Vincent Prieto (D–Secaucus) proposed an amendment to the bill that would exempt the city at the request of Mayor Dawn Zimmer, a staunch opponent of further development along Hoboken’s coastline. The amendment passed, thus allowing local zoning regulations, which make development on piers difficult, to stand in Hoboken.
A similar bill in the state Senate, sponsored by state Sen. Nicholas Sacco, will include a similar amendment.
“A huge thank you to Senator Sacco and Assemblyman Prieto for listening to my concerns and working with me to craft an amendment that will help protect Hoboken’s waterfront,” Zimmer said in a statement on Friday.
Zimmer said that her opposition to the legislation was three-fold, based on Hoboken’s past difficulties with waterfront development, the already-existent interest of developers looking to build in Hoboken (and not only on the waterfront, she noted), and the city’s propensity to flood.
“We know firsthand that federal policies do not at this time support urban areas,” she said. “For example, this legislation will potentially result in unwary buyers purchasing property only to find out that the flood insurance they were required to purchase does not cover their buildings and they cannot get other assistance.”
A vote on the assembly bill is expected to be held in Trenton next week.
Hoboken exempt from pier development bill as vote in Trenton approaches
