HOBOKEN–Members of the public will have one last chance to provide input before the Hoboken City Council votes on adopting the Hoboken Yards Redevelopment Plan at its regular meeting tonight, Dec. 16, at 7 p.m.
The Hoboken Yards plan will allow New Jersey Transit to build 2.3 million square feet of new mixed-use development on land it owns south of Observer Highway and adjacent to the Hoboken train terminal.
The plan would allow two office buildings rising 277 feet and a third at 330 feet, but only if the structures achieve LEED Gold certification and display architectural creativity. The tallest current building in Hoboken, the W Hotel, is 281 feet.
Up to 25 percent of the new development would be residential, amounting to 583 units that would bring an estimated 950 more residents to Hoboken, according to Community Development Director Brandy Forbes.
Residents and advocacy groups like the Fund for a Better Waterfront and the Hoboken Quality of Life Coalition have expressed a number of concerns about the effects of the plan on flooding, traffic, and Hoboken’s low-rise residential character.
Still, the Planning Board ruled Dec. 2 that the Hoboken Yards plan was “substantially consistent” with the city’s master plan, and city council members stressed last week that the density of the proposed development could not be decreased without opening up the city to potential legal challenges from NJ Transit.