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City of Jersey City Municipal Land Use Ordinance
On Wednesday evening, April 11th, the new Municipal Land Use Ordinance (MLUO) came before the City Council in its second and final reading. Essentially, the Council would be voting on whether to authorize and put into law a complete restatement of the zoning regulations that would cover approximately 45% of the City. Those sections of the City not covered by the MLUO are those sections of the City covered by one of fifty plus Redevelopment Plans (i.e.: MLK, Morris Canal, Newport, etc.) Coming closer to home and of concern to our community; the MLUO also included a section identified as ARTICLE VI: the PALISADES PRESERVATION OVERLAY DISTRICT (PPOD). The purpose of this section of the MLUO was to provide protection for the Palisades Cliffs in our City from the Union City boarder, South to Montgomery Avenue. The intention of the PPOD is to prevent over-development along the top of the cliff in the form of buildings similar to the Doric. At the same time, it is intended that the PPOD would eliminate the possibility of a wall of buildings at the base of the Cliffs and thus blocking the view of the Palisades from below. As a community, we can be proud that a few dedicated individuals from our neighborhood took the initiative about a year ago to push for a "Steep Slope Ordinance". The concept of a Steep Slope Ordinance had been around for many years. Previous efforts were initiated in the past after both Union City and Weehawken adopted similar arrangements. The Steep Slope Project was reinitiated during the Millennium Towers debacle last Spring. The logic was to be prepared for the next "millennium". Without proper protection, it was envisioned a wall of high-rise buildings would eventually fill the north section of the Jersey Avenue Redevelopment Zone from the base of the cliffs to the Hudson River. Last summer, an independent Public Planner was retained using funds donated by the community. With the direction of the community, the planner set out to draft an ordinance that was submitted to the City’s Planning Department in September. It was hoped, that with minor modification, the proposed ordinance would have been submitted to the Planning Board and eventually the City Council for its approval. Unknown to our community (and all of Jersey City for that matter), the City’s Planning Department had been working with outside Consultants to re-write the City’s entire Zoning and Land Use Ordinance. A draft of the MLUO first surfaced in late February and included in that document was the "Steep Slopes" Article. It was generally agreed, that the City’s initial version of the steep slope section was weak and required some revisions. During early March, Robert Cotter, Chief Planner for the City met with our group to review the proposed document and consider some change. While we did not get everything we wanted, some revisions were made to the final draft. It was apparent to all, that the City intended to "fast track" the approval of the MLUO and it was agreed that having the current sitting City Council consider the document was better than having no protection considering the current development pressure at our cliffs. During the public hearing portion of the Ordinance reading, numerous citizens stood in line to share their thoughts on the MLUO. Of the approximately 150 individuals in the audience, the majority was there to share its support for the WALDO overlay district. The WALDO district is the old warehouse section downtown that had been previously set-aside as a Loft District for artist studios. Under the revised WALDO overlay district, habitation will be allowed in the buildings that had previously been designated as "work only". The owners of some of the WALDO buildings and their legal counsel voiced the only objections during the evening. When the final vote was taken, all nine members of the City Council supported the MLUO. As a community, we should be very grateful for the hard work our neighbors put into this effort; especially Clif Steinbring and Doris Conrad Brown who led the effort. In the interim, this group intends to continue to work with the City’s Planning Department to amend deficiencies in the ordinance. In particular, we are hoping to expand the ordinance with respect to the PPOD to include the following:
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