To the Editor:
A redevelopment plan has passed the planning board and is slated to be voted on by the city council on July 22 for the corner of Broadway and 46th Street.
The plan, if passed, supersedes the city’s master plan and changes what can be built there drastically. Zoning will be changed from four stories to 120 feet, the equivalent of a 12-story building.
Four houses on 46th Street are to be torn down and replaced with a parking deck.
If this plan is passed it will not go to the zoning board for further consideration.
Although redevelopment guidelines from the state say it should keep the character of the neighborhood, the building the plan allows for will completely change not only the neighborhood, but the profile of the entire city. It will either stick out like a sore thumb or will set a precedent for other buildings this size, completely changing Bayonne.
The process of approving this has been very, very fast.
There is an assumption in the plan that the builder will circumvent open space requirements by offering to “take care of” an already existing city park. In other words, they expect the city to give away the open space requirements. As it is already in the redevelopment plan, this will be hard or impossible to contest later.
A building this size will increase density, heat, noise, and water runoff, exacerbating flooding, pollution, and traffic with an increase in air pollution, and they seem to have no solid requirements in this plan to mitigate any of this considerable environmental and quality-of-life impact.
If the council even begins to consider the tax abatements that will surely be asked for, the idea of gaining tax revenue for the city is pure nonsense.
Please come to the council meeting on Wednesday July 22 at 7 p.m. to voice your opinion or contact the council members at City Hall prior to July 22.
JILL PUSTORINO