The Planning Board gave approval Tuesday for a 50-foot-tall Home Depot near the Holland Tunnel, a project that originally was rejected in September after residents expressed traffic concerns.
The store will be situated on a 3.3-acre site surrounded by 12th Street, 14th Street, Manila Avenue, and Marin Boulevard.
When the application was rejected by the board this past fall, it was despite the fact that the store conformed to the Holland Tunnel Redevelopment Plan in which it is located.
This led Home Depot to file an appeal in the state Superior Court.
A Superior Court judge sent the application back to the board, saying it would have to vote only on the basis of whether the store conformed to the redevelopment plan.
The board had no choice but to vote in favor of the project last week.
Back in 2003, the store had originally been proposed for a site near Jersey Avenue, but those plans never panned out due to similar opposition from nearby residents.Seeing red over the orange
The attorney representing Home Depot, Thomas O’ Connor, along with an architect and engineer, made a presentation Tuesday of revised plans for the store. These included having trucks enter on 12th Street and exit on 14th Street, and avoiding deliveries during peak traffic times, 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
That was to allay traffic concerns, especially because there will be a $225 million restoration over the next four years of the 12th and 14th Street Viaducts, the roads leading into and out of the Holland Tunnel.
It was a near-majority vote by the eight board members, with the exception of Jeni Branum, who abstained. Branum, who resided near the Holland Tunnel for over 20 years, was still not sold on the Home Depot being built in such a busy area.
Branum pointed out that the redevelopment plan was created in 1958, and there were very few changes made to the plan in the next 48 years.
O’Connor said the store will start construction in the spring. There will also be 471 parking spaces at the site.
Resident Janice Monson said at Tuesday’s meeting that she is still concerned about traffic.
“I have not seen Home Depot do anything that would mitigate traffic in our neighborhood,” she said. “I don’t give a damn how many trees you put on that parking garage, because it’s the amount of cars going through our neighborhood that affects us.”
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.