The Planning Board approved preliminary site plans for Commerce Plaza, a four-building complex that will be located adjacent to Lincoln Park, at a meeting Tuesday.
Bordered by Clendenny Avenue and Communipaw Avenue, the shopping plaza will consist of three 16,000 square feet buildings, one 4,000 square foot building, and 287 parking spaces. No tenants have signed up at the plaza yet.
Before approving the plans, the board reviewed various concerns about the area that included traffic, drainage, and signage.
The Communipaw Avenue entrance, also known as Route 1/9, sees a large amount of daily traffic, prompting Councilwoman Mary Donnelly to remark that exiting the plaza would be "suicidal." Traffic Engineer Nicholas Setteducato presented analyses conducted by the state Department of Transportation that deemed the entrances and exits to the plaza feasible. According to Setteducato, by adjusting a few of the stoplights along Route 1/9, the flow of traffic could be altered.
"By adjusting the lights, we will be able to increase the efficiencies of movement in the entire section," Setteducato said. In addition, he said, small gaps would naturally be created during rush hour traffic, allowing cars to exit the plaza safely.
However, the developer was denied permission to expand the size of the signs on the buildings until it prepares a "signage package" for the board to review. The store signs are now limited to 20 square feet, and the developers have requested a variance permitting them to be 48 square feet. Different areas in Jersey City have different guidelines that state how the buildings must comply.
Charles Harrington III, the company’s lawyer, asked that the size of the signs meet the same standards as the nearby Highway Commercial Development District instead of the rules set forth for the Waterfront Planned Development area that it technically belongs.
While many of the standards in the Waterfront Planned Development refer to the Highway Commercial Development District, City Planner Michele Alonso said that not including signage as a uniform standard was an oversight. However, other areas in the vicinity have been designated for residential use, making large signs an undesirable neighborhood feature.
Commerce Plaza said it will comply with suggestions made by the Municipal Utilities Authority to install a netting chamber around the plaza. "They are huge catch basins to collect debris and they are being strategically placed throughout the city," Harrington said.
Sept. 11 ramifications
In other business, the Planning Board approved amendments to the Liberty Harbor North Redevelopment Plan, a sprawling mixed use development proposed for the waterfront. The amendments would allow more office space and commercial use for lots in the area. Essentially, this cuts back on residential units to make room for office units.
"We’re reassessing the demand for office space, and the redistribution of that office space along the waterfront," said Maryann Bucci-Carter, supervising planner.
In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, one million square feet of vacant office space in Jersey City has become occupied. The obvious demand for office space at this time has caused the city’s agencies to reconsider many of the redevelopment plans on the waterfront that have used the capacity of office space allotted to it.
"It will serve to improve the plan and reflect the current situation that exists," said Planning Board Member Gerald Sheehan, "and make the plan more viable."
The Newport Redevelopment Plan is expected to undergo similar changes at the next Planning Board meeting.
Also at the meeting, TCR-JCI Urban Renewal failed to receive final site plan approval when it attempted to get a last-minute variance for the Alexan Liberty House, a four-story brick residential building at Paulus Hook.
They did get a variance to change plans for a special roof divider, but failed to get clearance to place electrical transformers on top. That discussion was postponed to a later meeting.
The complex wraps around two separate blocks and intersects the Light Rail. Residents have already moved into the buildings that consists of 324 units, predominantly one and two bedrooms.
The requested variance asked the city to withdraw the demand for a special roof divider that was for aesthetic purposes. "The roof divider was supposed to give it the look that it’s separate units," said Ricardo Ramos, an architect. "They built them without the dividers because of problems with drainage."
Planning Director Bob Cotter suggested using multi-colored shingles to get the same effect. He said the developers should have raised this point before completing the project, but conceded that it was a minor detail.
Before receiving unanimous approval for the roof-divider variance, Gerry Bakirtjy, vice president of the Historic Paulus Hook Association, complained that the garage exhaust fans in the building are too loud. The developers promised they were "addressing it."