Bye bye, bumpy roads

With new ordinance, council targets companies that dig up city streets

In an effort to get companies that dig up city streets for water, sewer, or utility service to coordinate their work with municipal repaving, the City Council adopted an ordinance on Jan. 28 that requires those companies to repave a street curb-to-curb if it is dug up within 10 years after the city has resurfaced it.
The ordinance, introduced by Ward E Councilwoman Candice Osborne, is modeled after one in the Union City road-resurfacing program. It prohibits the digging of streets resurfaced in the last five years at all except for emergency repairs.
The new measure comes at a time when PSE&G is planning nearly $1.2 billion in upgrades to underground utilities throughout Jersey City, which is about to pour millions into its own street resurfacing program. The ordinance would also affect new home owners hooking up to utilities under the street and water companies doing underground work.
Osborne said the ordinance is not meant to be punitive. The aim is to force contractors to better communicate with the city so their work can be done before the city resurfaces streets, and not after.
“Sometimes, we repave a street and a contractor comes and digs it up days later,” Osborne said. “If we’re going to spend millions of dollars repaving streets, then contractors will have to let us know before we do it or make the street whole later.”
Companies are required to repair streets they dig up, but often lay down asphalt patches that don’t restore the street to its previous condition.

Resurfacing ahead

The council just approved $8 million for resurfacing streets throughout Jersey City. Some of it will be paid for by state and federal grants, but a large portion will be paid for by city taxpayers, Osborne said.
“What we’re looking for is more coordination,” Osborne said. “This is what happened when Union City passed its ordinance. The utility started planning with the city better, so doesn’t have to repave curb to curb.”
The city engineering department said the ordinance is designed to make sure that newly-paved streets remain intact. With only two inspectors, the city has not been able to check on each and every patch in the past to make sure that repairs were up to Jersey City’s engineering standards. This means that often the repaired area sinks, and while a big utility like PSE&G would send a repair crew back to rectify the problem, other contractors would not. Just as often, the city was not able to catch the problem because of a lack of inspectors.

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This is a quality of life issue. It affects safety and cars.” – Stephanie Daniels
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The ordinance does not provide funding to hire additional inspectors. But the requirement to restore the street fully may make it easier for the city to monitor repairs.
Last year, contractors cut more than 1,600 street openings throughout the city with only two inspectors to keep track of them.
“This ordinance will go a long way to ensure the positive investments we are making into our city are preserved,” said Mayor Steven Fulop in a release.
The ordinance also sets new rules for repairs on those streets where full curb-to-curb repaving is not required. It requires contractors to use infrared technology to make for more adequate patches. A contractor would also have to set up a $25,000 security bond to cover city oversight of the repair process.

Most residents support the ordinance

Residents during the public portion protested and applauded the new rules. Yvonne Balcer said the additional fees amount to a new tax on property owners.
“The homeowner didn’t make the problem on the street; it comes from heavy snow and truck traffic,” she said. “Yet the burden is falling on the homeowner.”
Balcer said city inspectors should be making certain the contractors are doing a good job, rather than increasing penalties that ultimately get passed along to homeowners.
While emergency repairs would be exempt from the curb-to-curb repair requirement, Jeremy Farrell, corporation counsel for the city, said the ordinance is not aimed at the single family or even multi-family homes under 10 units.
“This is really aimed at landlords and businesses, and companies like PSE&G,” he said.
Lavern Washington, however, said the ordinance is needed. “The city needs something with more teeth,” she said.
Matt Shapiro called this “a common sense ordinance” that would require companies to put the street back in the same condition they found it.
Jayson Burg said he was glad the city is finally doing something
Stephanie Daniels called it “an awesome ordinance.”
“We’re paying for the repaving of the streets,” she said. “This is a quality-of-life issue. It affects safety and cars.”
Councilman Michael Yun said when utilities and water companies have to open the street the additional cost would get passed to the homeowner. His point was amplified by Joe Valente, a representative of PSE&G, who said his company isn’t the only one digging up streets in Jersey City.
“We try to do right thing,” he said, asking that the ordinance be tabled so that company representatives can discuss the issues. “We want to work with the city. If you pass this, the customer will be the one who pays for it.”
While he and the attorney for PSE&G said the city had some valid points, there would be unintended consequences that could affect some of the work already planned for the city.
Nia Davis of the Hudson County Chamber of Commerce said she understood the logic behind the ordinance. But she felt that it could discourage large companies such as Verizon from making important upgrades to infrastructure in the city.
“These upgrades are critical,” she said. “The city should not put obstacles in place and the cost might get passed on to ratepayers,”
Jerry Jacobson said the ordinance was pretty straightforward.
“The roads belong to the public,” he said. “These companies should put them back the way they found them.”

Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.

SIDE BAR BELOW

Cops honored in murder investigation

Members of the Jersey City Police Department were commended by the City Council on Jan. 28 for solving the 2012 murder of a retired police officer, and for not giving up on the case until the alleged perpetrator was caught.
Frank Goggan, who retired from the department in the 1990s, was found dead in his Seaview Avenue home in March 2012, prompting a two year investigation that eventually led to the arrest of a suspect in Waynesboro, Ga. in July 2014.
Goggan, 68 at the time of his death, had been beaten and strangled in what was assumed to have been a burglary turned violent.
Neighbors, who had not seen Goggan for a while, called police. They found the front door of his home open and his body face down in the living room.
The JCPD, led by retired Police Chief Thomas Comey and retired Deputy Chief Kilduff along with Captain Michael Kelly, worked with the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office to put together a team of investigators to solve the case
The team originally included Police Sgt. Scott McNulty, Mark Inzinna, and Brian Rabbitt.
When Sgt. McNulty retired in late 2013, Public Safety Director James Shea and then Deputy Chief Phillip Zacchi assigned St. Mark Conroy to the case along with Detective Paul Jensen.
Using forensic and other evidence, they came up with a person of interest in the case.
“The investigation took the officers to various states where they enlisted the help of many law enforcement agencies,” the resolution said.
The investigation grew in intensity as the investigators did interviews and finally – following the forensic evidence – they found a suspect in Waynesboro, Ga.
Local law enforcement in Georgia assisted by Hudson County Prosecutors Sgt. Javier Toro, Detective Scott Jeffery, Conroy and Jensen made the arrest after 876 days of investigation.
“They did a great job,” said Councilman Richard Boggiano, who is also a retired police officer.
“We don’t do this enough,” said Councilman Frank Gajewski, also a retired Jersey City police officer, who served as police chief before retiring. “We need to honor police officers who do outstanding work like this.” – Al Sullivan

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