PPOD
Palisades Preservation Overlay District
a.k.a. Steep Slope Ordinance

Saving the Palisades Cliff

In response to the pending Blight Survey and the fact that developers are eager to build on the property below the cliff, four Heights neighborhood associations recently stepped up their pressure on the city to include a Steep Slope Article in its revamped Municipal Land Use Ordinance. This same coalition began its campaign last fall by submitting to the city a comprehensive draft that would prevent development from defacing or obstructing the cliff. On March 1, the city responded with its own version, an incomplete plan whose restrictions on population density, building height and building distance from the cliff were seen by the coalition as seriously inadequate. However, after numerous meetings between the Planning Department and Heights residents, the city modified its version. Though the Article has yet to be fully fleshed out and is officially labeled an "interim measure," its inclusion in the Ordinance, passed by the City Council on April 11, is a qualified victory for Heights residents.

The Jersey Journal
Friday, September 8, 2000
Move ahead with
Palisades cliff protection

"When the Millennium Towers highrise development was proposed for a location near Jersey City's border with Hoboken, one effect of the controversial proposal was to stir public concern about the effect of massive development near the Palisades cliffs. Would future projects not far from there soar so high they would block the views from the top of the Palisades in Jersey City of Manhattan and the harbor? Would there be no limit on how far development could encroach on the cliffs?

Jersey City officials said they would respond to this concern. And the September issue of the Riverview Neighborhood Association newsletter notes that a group known as the Palisade Avenue Steering Committee, with members from the Riverview association and other neighborhood groups, is reviewing a city draft of a proposed steep slope ordinance that will eventually be submitted to the Jersey City Planning Board and Jersey City City Council…

The goals of the ordinance, as outlined by the association, are impressive: to protect the Palisades cliffs as a natural resource, to prevent any overdevelopment on, above and below the cliffs, and to protect the views from the cliffs.

City officials deserve credit for working with neighborhood activists to get their reactions and advice concerning this proposal.

Incorporating neighborhood concerns where feasible, the city should forge reasonable limits on future development that will adequately protect the Palisades."

Osprey and Other Wildlife

Map of Blight Survey