Both Hoboken and the former owner of the property slated to become a new southwest park have appealed an assessment of the property value by a panel of county commissioners, setting the stage for a full trial to determine its final price in September, according to Mayor Dawn Zimmer.
The trial could bring an end to a legal battle that has dragged on since Hoboken first filed to take the property through eminent domain in 2012. Zimmer is committed to turning a parking lot of a little less than an acre in size into the first leg of a new park for the city’s southwest corner.
A panel of three condemnation commissioners appointed by the Hudson County Superior Court assessed the value of the property, known as Block 12, at $5.4 million late last year. The city had offered $2.9 million for the land, while its former owner Ponte Equities assessed its value at just under $8 million.
This past Thursday, Zimmer declined to specify why the city had decided to appeal the commissioners’ ruling. However, in a Jan. 7 memo to the City Council, she suggested that the county’s assessment had not been accurate.
“We are disappointed with this decision,” wrote Zimmer in her letter, “which we believe overvalues the property based on the Commissioners [sic] apparent decision to simply split the difference between the two competing offers.”
The $5.4 million assessment will not be admissible as evidence in the September trial, according to Zimmer.
The legal proceedings will not hold up the park’s construction, which is slated to begin in July, because the city has already secured the full title to the land. However, they could mean more city money in lawyer’s fees.
Hoboken extended its contract with its outside counsel for eminent domain, Ed Buzak, with no monetary increase on Jan. 18, but it had not yet decided to go to trial over Block 12 at the time.
In order for construction of the park to begin, the City Council must still approve an application for a low-interest loan from the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust (NJEIT), which Zimmer said would be presented to the City Council this Wednesday.
For a green infrastructure project like the Southwest Park, which will include a 200,000-gallon underground water retention chamber, Hoboken would only have to pay back 31 percent of the first $2 million of an NJEIT loan.
At its Feb. 18 meeting, the City Council approved a $15,000 increase in the not-to-exceed amount of its contract with Starr Whitehouse for the final design, permitting and engineering of the Southwest Park, bringing the contract’s total value to $373,551.
Parking rules clarified
The installation of new meters on the visitor parking side of all Hoboken streets will not begin until approximately late May or June 2015 at the earliest, and the system’s roll-out will be gradual, with only two to four meters being installed per day, according to statements made by Transportation & Parking Director John Morgan at the Feb. 18 City Council meeting.
In response to insistent questions from Council President Ravinder Bhalla, Morgan said he would not know exactly when the delivery of electronic pay stations would begin until he had received a delivery schedule from the city’s appointed vendor.
Once deliveries begin, said Morgan, the pay stations will typically arrive in batches of 48 to 50. Between two to four will be installed per day, he added, depending on whether they are being mounted on plates or placed in holes drilled into the concrete.
Bhalla asked that Morgan’s office “prepare some sort of phasing or roll-out plan so that the public knows which neighborhood is going to see these meters at what time in the last half of 2015.” Morgan promised to do so once his sense of the project’s timing becomes more clear.
Morgan also clarified that visitor parking permits will not automatically be eliminated as meters gradually blanket the visitor parking side of streets citywide. “I don’t have the power to do that on my own,” said Morgan on Feb. 18. “That would have to be presented to the council.”
In an interview after the Feb. 3 council meeting, Morgan had said that visitor hang-tags would be phased out as the meters are installed.
The hang-tags, which allow out-of-town drivers to park on the visitor side of streets for one day, are just one type of visitor parking permit that residents can purchase for their friends and relatives. Seven-day placards are also available, and every resident senior citizen can procure two free year-long visitor permits every year.
Smaller sessions, bigger contract
On Feb. 18, the City Council voted to extend Affirmative Action Officer Nita Raval’s term of service from June through December 2015, increasing the not-to-exceed amount of her contract by $50,000. The boost amounts to a 43 percent increase in her retainer, when calculated on a per-month basis (the first full year of her contract had a not-to-exceed limit of $35,000).
Creeping contracts with outside lawyers are a common target of criticism among Zimmer’s opponents on the City Council, who say they are tired of seeing the city set low contract limits only to exceed them when projects inevitably change or grow.
Councilwomen Beth Mason and Theresa Castellano voted against Raval’s contract, though they did not pull the resolution for discussion or comment. Councilmen Russo and Occhipinti were absent, and the rest of the council voted in favor.
City spokesman Juan Melli said the increase in Raval’s contract corresponded to an increase in the amount of work for which she is responsible. While Raval has led civil rights and sexual harassment training with city employees for the duration of her employment, Melli said she is now doing it with smaller groups, which requires more sessions.
Raval, a managing partner at local powerhouse law firm Florio & Kenny, has served in the past as a commissioner, vice chair, and chair of the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights.
Interestingly, just over $12,000 remains unspent from Raval’s original contract allotment as of Feb. 12, according to the resolution approved Feb. 18.
Public safety contracts made official
Two weeks ago, the city also took several steps to make its agreements with local police and fire unions official. One City Council resolution approved by unanimous vote authorized Mayor Dawn Zimmer to execute a collective bargaining agreement with Hoboken’s uniformed firefighter and fire officer unions covering 2007 through 2013. Councilmen Russo and Occhipinti were absent.
The agreement is already in place, but it had never been explicitly approved by the City Council. All it needs now is a signature from Zimmer.
The resolution also ratified two agreements with the city’s fire unions from the early 2000s. In the process of reviewing all of the agreements and memorandums between the city and fire unions to ensure that their conditions were reflected in the 2007-2013 agreement, Corporation Counsel Mellissa Longo said she could not find two documents authorizing the deals covering 2000 through 2004.
On Feb. 18, the City Council also passed an ordinance updating the city’s Alphabetical List of Titles to reflect the current salaries for police and firemen nailed out through union negotiations in 2012. Business Administrator Quentin Wiest characterized the bill as “a bit of housekeeping” that needed to be done, rather than an actual change to the pay structure for any city employees.
The ordinance was passed unanimously, with Councilmen Russo and Occhipinti absent.
The now official table of organization codifies salary ranges of $39,905 to $93,299 for police officers, $95,299 to $108,227 from police sergeants, $110,227 to $123,154 for police lieutenants, and $125,154 to $149,278 for police captains.
In the Fire Department, salaries range from $44,070 to $97,136 for firefighters, $124,334 to $128, 219 for fire captains, $143,605 to $148,734 for fire marshals, and $151,532 to $155,417 for battalion chiefs.
Carlo Davis may be reached at cdavis@hudsonreporter.com.