New Hearing on Steve Hyman’s Applications to Tear Down the Embankment Set for Wednesday

By • Aug 30th, 2010 • Category: Blog, News

In June, Superior Court Judge Maurice Gallipoli ruled that developer Steve Hyman was entitled to a new hearing before the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) regarding his petition to tear down the 6th Street Embankment. The ZBA has scheduled a special meeting to hear the case Wednesday evening.

Hyman’s initial applications for Certificates of Appropriateness and Certificates of Economic Hardship related to his application to demolish the elevated former rail line were denied by the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) last spring. Hyman appealed those decisions to the city’s ZBA, which denied his appeals last August. Hyman then filed suit, arguing that he deserved a fresh hearing on his applications, and that he should have been allowed to present his evidence and state his case before the ZBA — an argument Gallipoli agreed with.

“The ZBA was required to determine the case ‘completely anew’ and, while giving due deference to the findings and conclusions of the HPC, it was not necessarily to be controlled by them,” Gallipoli wrote.

This week’s hearing comes as Hyman maintains he has no interest in selling the Embankment properties to the city, despite the City Council’s July vote approving about $7.6 million in bonds to acquire the contested land.

THE DETAILS
Special meeting of the Jersey City Zoning Board of Adjustment; Wednesday, September 1 at 6 pm; City Hall’s Council Chambers, 280 Grove St. (2nd Floor).

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is the founding editor of the Jersey City Independent; he now works for a public-policy nonprofit in Trenton.
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  • Jayson

    I’m curious. Why hasn’t anyone brought up eminent domain yet?

  • http://www.jerseycityindependent.com Jon Whiten
  • http://onejerseycity.org Dan Levin

    I believe city council authorized / approved the use of eminent domain to acquire the Embankment back in 2006 (or beginning of 2007). will try to find a news story on it.

  • Shaun

    I don’t understand this clown. First he buys land, far too cheaply to pass the sniff test in an illegal manor from conrail. Now he wants approval to knock the embankment down and build on it in the middle of a terrible economy. This fool should take the quick more than doubling of his money and go away. The costs to build there after all is said and done with fighting with the city will not be supported in this economy nor will the financing. This guys only option is working with the city. If I were the city I’d want the question answered, who’d this guy bribe to buy this for 3.5 million dollars because under no circumstance is that reasonable, one block zoned single family would be worth that even today not in 2005 when this was purchased.