After several months on the back burner, the proposed $14 million City Hall Annex for Martin Luther King Drive will likely be approved by the City Council at the Dec. 17 meeting, over the objections of Councilman Michael Yun.
The council is expected to authorize a 25-year agreement with a developer who will build the new annex. The city will rent the facility with an option to buy it for a nominal price at the end of the 25 years.
The annex, in the neighborhood popularly known as The Hub, would be leased to the city in a lease-purchase agreement. Yun, however, said he wants the city to construct the building, and not authorize a lease agreement that would significantly increase the cost over the 25-year period.
Mayor Steven Fulop presented the proposed agreement to the City Council on Aug. 18.
An annex has been planned for years, but the previous administration had proposed a site nearer to the center of the city. By locating the annex on MLK Drive, city officials hope to boost the local economy as well as provide a greater degree of public safety.
“I’ve been sprayed twice in the last year.” – Richard Boggiano, on skunks
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Unlike some city offices, the annex will be located next to the Martin Luther King Drive Light Rail Station and mass transportation, which makes it easier for residents to access city services. Ample parking will also be available.
Council agrees to modify redevelopment plan
The council is expected to vote on Nov. 25 to approve an ordinance that would modify the Danforth Transit Village Redeployment Plan to allow a long-established company to continue and even expand operations in that area.
The plan when originally proposed in 2008 was designed to redevelop an industrial area for residential use. But a number of the companies in the area were still in operation and the city decided to modify the plan to accommodate those businesses, among which is Eastern Mill Works, which had considered a move to Bayonne.
Eastern Millwork Inc. plans to expand its technologically-advanced operations to allow the company to compete worldwide and still manufacture in America.
The company uses a system of woodworking so efficient that it can produce high quality products in a nearly sterile environment and it has provided products for performance spaces at Lincoln Center, woodwork for the entire New York Times building in Manhattan, and products for a variety of corporate headquarters, including work for Goldman Sachs in Jersey City.
In 2011 the company received a state grant to upgrade the skills of its workforce, a program to which it contributed its own funds. The company has developed a system of automation technology and lean manufacturing to allow fewer workers to oversee complex operations.
A change in the redevelopment designation would allow the company to remain in Jersey City, while still enabling residential development around the Danforth station of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail.
“Given the dramatic loss of industrially-zoned properties, the City of Jersey City no longer believes that the entire redevelopment area should be designated for residential uses,” the ordinance said. “It is now felt that an industrial redevelopment of the subject properties would now be the most appropriate use of the properties.
The trouble with skunks
After being sprayed twice by skunks in a short period of time, Councilman Richard Boggiano asked the city Animal Control office for help, only to find that the city does not regulate wild animals unless they pose a threat to people or property.
Skunks are apparently proliferating in a number of areas of the city, but Animal Control personnel, who often deal with domestic animals and even feral cats, are limited in what they can do.
“I’ve been spayed twice in the last year,” Boggiano said. “We have to be able to do something.”
Administration officials said the city can face stiff fines from the state if they begin to trap wild animals. Sometimes animals can be relocated, but not when they are nursing infants.
The problem isn’t exclusive to the Hill Top section or even Jersey City Heights, but appears to also affect sections of ward E, B and F.
If a wild animal causes property damage, Animal Control can trap and relocate them, although Boggiano said this often isn’t far enough from the original location and the animals come back.
Animal Control officers can help property owners by supplying and setting up live traps, and can even pick up the traps later. But the city cannot be involved with the trapping itself.
Councilwoman Diane Coleman said the city has to petition state legislators to alter current law to allow the city a freer hand.
The council also agreed to sell two used buses to Liberty Humane for a nominal fee in order to enhance their operations within the city. Earlier this year, the city renewed and in some cases expanded services supplied by Liberty Humane to handle strays and other domestic animals. These buses, city officials said, would enhance many of the population control efforts through trap, neuter and release programs.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.