The Jersey City Independent "

Photos: Steve Gold

At this week’s brisk City Council meeting, the plans for Marion Greenway Park moved forward, despite apparent problems with one contract; four ordinances were introduced, three were voted into law and one was held up; and, as always, dozens of resolutions were approved. All in less than an hour!

Marion Greenway Park Plans Move Along

Through a combination of resolutions and ordinances, the City Council moved forward with its plans to transform a former toxic site that sits in the shadow of the famed Pulaski Skyway into a park.

The most important action taken by the council was to approve the appraisal of the 32.5 acres of land that was formerly home to the PJP landfill for $12.4 million, and to authorize the city to purchase the land at that price.

The city isn’t the only entity ponying up; the Port Authority has already pledged to chip in $4 million, and the county $1 million, towards that $12.4 million purchase price. The city says it will aim to pick up grants to fund more of the purchase, but nonetheless has approved a $8.7 million bond issue to pick up the remainder of the tab.

The area, which is a federal Superfund site, is contaminated by a variety of toxic substances, and much of it is covered with landfill. The remediation plan for the site, to be carried out by Waste Management of New Jersey and CWM Chemical Services, calls for capping the landfill, planting over it, and — obviously — monitoring it in the future for any problems.

The first phase of the park could be completed within a year, but the entire park will not likely be ready for at least five years.

As part of the park’s development, the city introduced an ordinance to create a “conservation restriction,” which would give the Hackensack Riverkeeper group the power to make sure the park stays a park. (The Port Authority’s $4 million is contingent on this designation.) The ordinance was unanimously introduced and will be up for a final vote on Tuesday, Nov. 24.

Contract Hits a Snag

Another resolution related to the Greenway didn’t have such an easy time getting through the meeting. It seemed innocuous enough — a $125,000 contract to the Middletown-based engineering firm T&M Associates in connection with the design and constrction of the Hackensack River Waterfront Park Project. But as council regular John Seborowski, Sr. pointed out, a state Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) report filed by At-Large councilman Mariano Vega* shows two donations from T&M, which would make the contract’s approval a violation of the city’s pay to play law.

T&M disputes the ELEC report, but the ordinance was withdrawn. More importantly, as we reported yesterday, the issue with the contract highlights the larger problem of how to enforce the pay to play law.

Parking Authority Purchase a No-Go

A second-read ordinance that was introduced at the Oct. 14 council meeting was unanimously tabled this week after Ward E councilman Steven Fulop raised questions about the bill’s details.

The legislation called for the city to finance a $4.6 million purchase by the Parking Authority of the property it rents at 392-394 Central Ave. in the Heights, and to float a $4.38 bond issue to pay for it.

But Fulop noted that the land appraisal was done in April 2008, and that the property values had almost certainly decreased since then. He urged the city to conduct two more appraisals of the property, with the hopes of bringing in a lower purchase price, even while questioning whether the city should even be buying real estate at all. Nonetheless, he conceded that was an issue to tackle another day, and motioned to table the ordinance. Ward A councilman Michael Sottolano seconded the motion, and the council unanimously voted to put the deal aside for now.

Budget Watch

As the city’s budget crisis continues and the administration revs up its furlough plan for city workers, the council approved yet another “emergency temporary appropriation” to keep city government functioning. This week’s appropriation brings the Fiscal Year 2010 total to a touch more than $298 million.

The city’s practice of issuing these temporary appropriations in lieu of actual budgets has been criticized year after year. By the time the city usually gets around to passing the budget (Fiscal Year 2009′s was passed more than 10 months late), the majority of the money in the document has already been spent, making it difficult to get costs under control.

At the last council meeting, Business Administrator Brian O’Reilly said that he planned to submit a budget to be approved by the council by the end of November.

Other Second Reads

The three second-read ordinances that were voted into law were largely procedural. One creates 14 new reserved parking spaces for disabled residents around the city; another repeals a No Parking provision on the west side of Sullivan Drive between Lembeck and Bartholdi Avenues; and the last simply creates a new title for an existing position in the Fire Department (Technical Assistant 3!) to bring the city into line with state personnel law. You can check out all the second reads here.

Other First Reads

Other than the bill creating the “conservation restriction” for the Marion Greenway Park, three ordinances were unanimously introduced with little discussion. (Read them in their full-text glory here.)

* Ord. 09-116 amends two small items in the city’s land development ordinance — it adds a definition of “stilted buildings” (“a structure buil above the surface of the grade with the first floor resting on or supported by posts and the grade level exposed”), then prohibits them, and it creates a minimum building height of four stories in any central business district.

* Ord. 09-117 officially designates a land parcel at the corner of Cambridge and North Streets right on Washington Park in the Heights as “an area in need of rehabilitation,” and adopts the Cambridge and North Redevelopment Plan, which calls for a new mixed-income residential building to be built with “a variety of green building standards,” and will guide the parcel’s development.

* Ord. 09-119 changes the honorary name of the section of Marin Boulevard between Columbus Drive and Montgomery Street to reflect the name change of the residential building from Gregory Park to Metropolis Towers.

Odds & Ends

* During the public hearing portion of the meeting, Lisa Perkins and Ibelice Smith from Hudson County REBEL, a youth group for teens that want to break the hold of tobacco, both spoke to the council on tobacco control efforts. They are pushing for local ordinances to help limit tobacco use, noting that educational efforts could be undertaken — as could a ban on smoking in public parks, as cities are allowed to do that under state law.

* Back to speak before the council was Abdul Manzoor, who was been waging a tireless battle to change the city’s food truck ordinance. He was back to see what kind of progress had been made on the changes; city clerk Robert Byrne told him it will take a while, since the council is taking an in-depth look at the law. As we reported two weeks ago, a subcommittee has been formed to look into the issue and recommend the best way to move forward in revising the ordinance; council president Peter Brennan, Ward D councilman Bill Gaughan and Fulop are leading that effort.

* The city approved a resolution supporting Hudson County’s application for a Green Acres grant of $1.65 million to fund the acquisition of the former Hudson Motor Lodge site on Route 440 as part of its efforts to expand the Lincoln Park area and provide parkland along the Hackensack Riverfront. The land has been appraised at $3 million.

* Eighteen attorneys were approved to be public defenders for a year in Jersey City Municipal Court. The public defenders, who will serve on a rotating basis, will be paid $200 per session and an additional $75 per session for trials that extend beyond one session.

* The state Department of Law and Public Safety has awarded the JCPD $14,104.58 under the Drunk Driving Enforcement Fund. The money will be used to provide overtime patrols to combat DWIs, including checkpoints and roving patrols; and to purchase flares and traffic cones to be used at said checkpoints.

* The city contracted with two firms, Midpoint and Progressive, for provide nursing staff and services to administer the swine flu vaccines that are being distributed by the federal government. The total estimate of the contract is $300,000.

What else are we buying?
The council approved the following purchases on Tuesday:

• A contract with the engineering firm CMX Inc. for renovation work at Bayside Park was extended by $95,700. This marks the second time the contract, initially approved in 2006, was extended. The total contract price is now $466,143 (it was initially $264,500).
• $62,100 for two-month contract extensions with three companies to provide janitorial services for various city buildings.
• $53,818.04 for a Dell Equal Logic PS6000E San for email archiving, document digitization and the like.

Steve Gold contributed to this report.

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