North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco will fund an independent environmental impact study on the much-talked about commercial development project alongside the Palisade cliffs, after Hudson County Planning Department documents stated that the land should not be built upon.
The developer, AVAK LLC, plans to remove 700,000 cubic feet of soil and rock from the location to make way for a Walgreens, Bank of America, and Starbucks. The Hudson County Planning Board was scheduled to vote on the matter a week ago, but AVAK’s attorney, Dennis Oury, was granted an adjournment and thus prevented a vote at the meeting.
Township Administrator Christopher Pianese said that the township was finalizing a contract with an environmental engineering firm to look into the impact, which would take about two weeks to complete. The township would like the development project to be completed.
The North Bergen Law Department also filed an Open Public Records Act order with the county Planning Department for documents behind the county’s own “controversial report” saying the land should not be built upon. Hudson County documents stated that the land in question is 71 percent steep slope, which, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the county’s master plan, should prevent the land from being developed because of the danger to water quality, the preservation of the cliffs, and the stability of J.F.K. Boulevard East.
Pianese said that the township engineer disagreed with these findings and that the township wants to “understand the scientific basis behind them.” Township officials pointed out that before, a 15,000 square foot warehouse stood where the proposed commercial spaces would be now.
“The purpose of this independent analysis is to determine the validity of some very controversial claims made by a Hudson County Planning Department report that directly contradict evidence provided to our own Planning Board,” said Sacco. “The Township will not support any project that negatively impacts the structural integrity of the Palisades. I want to get to the bottom of this and find out exactly what is going on.” – Tricia Tirella