Stevens 19 variances to be appealed
09
February
2/9/2010 Update:
Meeting canceled; moved to February 25th
Because our upcoming crippling snow storm will cause healthy adults to be unable to walk – the appeal meeting for tomorrow night has been canceled. New date is February 25th at 7pm.
2/8/2010 Update:
Provided no big snow storm postpones this meeting on Wednesday night, Fund for A Better Waterfront’s President Jim Vance delves more into why they’re appealing the variances…
Appeal of 19 variances grated to Stevens…
“For the following reasons Fund For a Better Waterfront (FBW) opposes the variances given to Stevens Institute of Technology for its garage and adjacent sites. FBW is appealing the Zoning Board of Adjustment’s decision to the Hoboken City Council on Wednesday evening, February 10th at 7pm at City Hall. Please join us.”
- The Stevens zoning variance will widen Frank Sinatra Drive increasing vehicular speed and capacity.
- Hoboken should be planning to make Sinatra Drive more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.
- For too long developers have made a mockery of the Hoboken Zoning Code by using the Zoning Board of Adjustment to give out variances like candy regardless of whether there is benefit to the city or not.
- Stevens is requesting 19 variances in all.
- The hearing was a mockery before the Zoning Board. Fund For a Better Waterfront was not allowed to review submissions made before the hearing, nor was it allowed to present its own witnesses.
- We want the City Council to take back its rightful powers as the body responsible for zoning.
- Let’s finish a public waterfront park stretching from one end of Hoboken to the other. We’re 80% done now.
9/23/2009 Update:
Zoning Board Approves 15 Variances
Shortly after one o’clock this morning the Hoboken Zoning Board of Adjustment voted 6 to 1 in favor of Stevens’ plan for two new buildings connected to the Babbio Center. The meeting started at 7pm with a full house. The crowd conveniently dwindled before the board approached the time for “Public Comments” around midnight. An attorney hired by the Fund for a Better Waterfront asked the board to adjourn before closing the hearing at the late hour so that it could be picked up with more expert testimony at a later date, but the request fell on deaf ears.
In exchange for all the variances -which FBW’s Ron Hine characterized as “Tossing out the zoning code” – the board included the stipulations ranging from allowing public access to the roof of the parking garage to offering (very) limited free parking for soccer and baseball parents in Stevens lots. The top of the building will be built to accommodate a seasonal ice skating rink, but the city will have to foot the bill for it. Stevens will not contribute toward construction of the public rink. The Fifth Street stone wall will also be repaired as part of the re-routing of the street for Stevens’ convenience.
Members of the Zoning Board were seen huddling over the wording of the conditions with Stevens’ attorneys, which led to some grumbling (inset).
There are real questions about when and if any of this will be built because Stevens’ financial situation and the State Attorney General’s lawsuit seeking to remove the school’s President and Board Chairman.
SEE ORIGINAL STORY AFTER THE JUMP…
9/22/2009 Reminder:
If you want to find out more about this plan for Sinatra Drive – then head down to City Hall tonight at 7pm.
9/18/2009:
When it rains, it pours in Hoboken. This “news weather front” is named Stevens Institute…
Stevens wants to re-shape Sinatra Drive
Ron Hine, from the Fund for a Better Waterfront – is concerned about variances that Stevens Institute of Technology is seeking for that “stuck in the mud” parking garage area that has been lingering along Sinatra Drive…
“Stevens Institute’s latest waterfront garage proposal is fraught with problems. They are proposing to reroute a public street through their property so that it leads to the entrance of their parking garage. They are adding turning lanes and preserving an overly wide Sinatra Drive thus ensuring that it remains a high-speed thoroughfare rather than a pedestrian/bicycle-friendly street at our precious waterfront. The 15 variances requested by Stevens will set a dangerous precedent on the waterfront, opening the door for a new proposal at Union Dry Dock for four 12-story towers to be approved without regard to the city’s zoning laws.”
The Next Zoning Board Hearing is Tuesday, September 22 @7pm at Hoboken City Hall.
February 10th 2010 - 09:17:51 |
FBW
You still did not answer either of my questions. If the goal is to make a waterfront walkway that parallels sinatra drive, then why does the road need to be so pedestrian friendly/changed? Wouldn’t the walkway be pedestrian friendly? Isn’t that the whole point that people could use the walkway instead of walking up sinatra drive???
If 5th street is routed directly to sinatra drive I guarantee, G U A R A N T E E, that more cars would use that road to cut through to sinatra drive.
It always looks like you are fighting for the sake of fighting. Thanks alot for letting nothing get done once again.
In response to FBW who said:
Stevens’ treatment of the streets leaves much to be desired. The rerouting Fifth, doglegging it behind a lot that will eventually have a building on it is no way to treat a respectable city street. Instead it should invite people to the river by running directly to Sinatra Drive as, by design, do our other cross streets. Stevens says” it can’t be done.” We have planners and engineers who say it can.
As for Sinatra Drive, FBW believes it should also be made into a respectable city street, safe for pedestrians and bicyclist, young and old alike, and for those driving cars as well. How? You can find the answers on http://www.completestreets.org/. Let’s seize this opportunity to work together to do it right. Why settle for less?
James Vance
President, FBW
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February 10th 2010 - 09:20:11 |
“Stevens also wants to widen Sinatra Drive, increasing vehicular traffic for those using the waterfront as a by-pass road.” – Ron Hine
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February 10th 2010 - 10:11:51 |
Yes our planning board is disingenuous, as evidenced by the multitude of plans for new construction they have approved for “luxury condos” without any concern for the struggling working class in Hoboken.
Yes FBW has been part of some good accomplishments.
However, Mr. Hine would bring more to his side if the FBW focused on legal arguments rather than posting a list that is nothing more than a diatribe that includes unsubstantiated claims and derogatory comments.
The FBW has turned into PETA, good intentions, but totally wing nutty PR.
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February 10th 2010 - 10:25:43 |
IN RESPONSE TO POST #58.
Two excessively wide lanes with parking removed become three lanes. That’s not winding?
As for FBW’s participation “when all of Sinatra was reconstructed,” highway engineers were put in charge and the public was completely shut out. You see the results.
Now we have a chance to begin turning the Drive into a city street (see post #60), but again the public is shut out. Highway engineers are controlling the process as before.
Stevens is on records saying it will not have funding to begin construction for at least three years, which gives ample time for open, public participation. Why are we making the same mistakes? What’s the rush?
James Vance
President, Fund for a Better Waterfront
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February 10th 2010 - 12:00:13 |
I don’t like looking at that ugly hole in the ground and the interior of an unfinished parking garage. I also don’t like the attitude of many Stevens boosters who think their school’s poop don’t stink and they should be allowed to do whatever they want whenever they want. That’s what caused this issue in the first place. The arrogance at the top of that school also led to the embarrassing revelations outlined in the State Attorney General’s lawsuit. Stevens tried to skirt the public process and got caught. That’s why the garage hasn’t been built. FBW’s concerns today may seem picky but if not for them this project would have been a pure monstrosity. FBW has done far more for Hoboken than Hal Raveche and his crew of cash-pocketing, secret business dealing cronies will ever do.
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February 10th 2010 - 12:30:38 |
I’m not part of the FBW but a narrower Sinatra drive would free up additional space for public use and discourage speeding traffic which acts as a barrier between the city and our waterfront. The walkway is just one part of a better waterfront.
In response to PressureTreatdLumber who said:
You still did not answer either of my questions. If the goal is to make a waterfront walkway that parallels sinatra drive, then why does the road need to be so pedestrian friendly/changed? Wouldn’t the walkway be pedestrian friendly? Isn’t that the whole point that people could use the walkway instead of walking up sinatra drive???
If 5th street is routed directly to sinatra drive I guarantee, G U A R A N T E E, that more cars would use that road to cut through to sinatra drive.
It always looks like you are fighting for the sake of fighting. Thanks alot for letting nothing get done once again.
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February 10th 2010 - 13:47:15 |
We can all thank Beth Mason for the garage being proposed for that spot in the first place. In 1999 the school tried to get approval to located the garage underground, under the athletic field, behind the Davidson laboratory. maps.google.com/maps?q=40.744426,+-...01894,0.004128&z=19&iwloc=A
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February 10th 2010 - 14:40:03 |
(silly joke about local heroes)
How dare you blame Saint Beth for something that is so clearly the fault of Dawn Zimmer?
(serious)
Hard to blame Ms. Mason for opposing the Hudson St garage… nearly every neighborhood resident was up in arms against it.
What did Stevens learn from that exercise? Don’t propose anything, just go ahead and build 1/2 of it… which is what they did on Sinatra.
In response to homeworld who said:
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