HOBOKEN – The first stage of a planned Southwest Park could be ready for construction in July and completed by December, according to the landscape architecture firm contracted by Hoboken to produce a final design.
Last September, Starr Whitehouse won a $358,000 city contract to design, engineer, and oversee construction for the park. On Wednesday, the City Council approved the firm’s conceptual designs for Block 12, a city-owned parking lot bordered by Harrison Street, Observer Highway, Jackson Street and Paterson Avenue, that has been pursued as potential open space for the past nine years.
Growing green space in southwest Hoboken was the issue that first brought Mayor Dawn Zimmer into city politics, and council members on both sides of the political divide were excited to see the Block 12 project so close to fruition.
“This is a park in a ward that’s been a long time coming,” said Councilman Tim Occhipinti, whose 4th Ward includes Block 12. “I think it meets the needs of the neighborhood. There currently isn’t much passive space in the Fourth Ward that you can go and sit and read a book.”
Passive recreation, flood mitigation
Encompassing a little less than an acre, the Block 12 property will not be able to accommodate team sports. Its main proposed features are a dog run, movable tables and chairs, event space, and sculptural play features for children.
But while the park’s uses will be primarily passive, its role in protecting southwest Hoboken against flooding is quite active. The park will be built over an underground water retention chamber that can hold up to 200,000 gallons, equal to a five-inch rain event. Specially designed rain gardens, bioswales, and permeable pavers on the surface will allow water to reach the basin.
Such features are a welcome addition in Hoboken’s low-lying southwest, which sat under up to seven feet of water after Superstorm Sandy and routinely floods during heavy rainstorms.
For more on this story and other Hoboken news, read this weekend’s Hoboken Reporter. – Carlo Davis