Tonight the City Council is scheduled to vote on ordinance 20-103, amending the Morris Canal Redevelopment Plan to create the “Berry Lane North Zone.” The amendment would allow for the construction of a gargantuan 361-unit luxury-housing complex known as “Morris Canal Park Manor” on three acres of land in Bergen-Lafayette formerly occupied by the defunct Steel Technologies facility. If this ordinance passes, it would constitute one of the most shameful developer giveaways in recent memory. The City Council should reject this ordinance and return the plan to City Planning to craft a project that respects the wishes of the community and attempts to honor the longstanding policy of making this land part of Berry Lane Park.
As we laid out in an article on December 15th, the land in question was slated to become part of Berry Lane Park. The “Acquisition Map” of the 1999 Morris Canal Redevelopment Plan shows the parcel as one “To Be Acquired.” As recently as 2018, plans were afoot to buy the property on the city’s behalf. An appraisal valued the land at approximately $3 million. The city applied for grants to buy it. The grants were approved.
What happened? Bergen-Lafayette became the next hot neighborhood, property values soared and the property owner saw an opportunity to make a killing.
Let’s start with just what a valuable property the “Steel Tech” site became. A back of the envelope calculation tells you why the developer wants to build this project rather than sell it to the city through eminent domain. For argument’s sake let’s assume that each of the 361 units is 750 square feet in size. Realtor.com tells us that upscale apartments in the neighborhood sell for $556 per square foot. That means that each apartment will have a value of approximately $417,000. The apartments – not including any retail and office units – will have a total market value of over $150 million. With help from the city and loans from the bank, investors have turned land they could have only gotten $3 million for two years ago into an extraordinarily valuable asset.
There’s nothing wrong with making money in America. The question is to what degree a municipality should relinquish control over land it has the legal right to use for a public good (like a park) to enrich real estate investors? And if it does so, what should it get in return?
Proponents of the project claim that its “community benefits” more than justify rezoning the land to allow for a 17-story luxury monolith in a low-rise neighborhood.
Let’s start with the “benefit” of affordable housing. According to the plan, 5% of the units would qualify as affordable. That’s a paltry 18 units, the bare minimum under the city’s new inclusionary zoning ordinance and an amount that will do almost nothing to alleviate the affordability crisis besetting Jersey City. It imposes an almost inconsequential cost on the developer of such a large apartment building.
Then, proponents argue, the developer must build a 22,000 square foot recreation center/basketball court to be deeded to the city. So far so good. But the project has been sold has offering much more, including a rock-climbing wall, a sauna, dance studios, music studios, and a food concession. However, the developer isn’t required to pay for or operate any of these. When asked who would, Councilman Jermaine Robinson, the council’s primary booster for the project, pledged to “raise money” for it. Not reassuring.
And then what about the 14,000-square foot “Neighborhood Commercial Facility,” 40% of which will become space for ten minority owned businesses at below market rates? Those only last ten years, after which they become market rate.
Finally, the project includes a 20,000 square foot outdoor public space that can be used for farmers markets and other public and private events. Who can criticize a public space for community events?
The problem is that the public will, in the end, have use of less than a third of the 3.3 acre parcel. The rest will go to the developer, land that was originally meant to be part of Berry Lane Park.
In a statement yesterday to the Jersey Journal, administration spokesperson Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione acknowledged that the city received millions in grants to acquire the property. But, she explained, the city couldn’t do so “without hurting taxpayers” since the asking price for the land was several million dollars above what the city had been awarded in grants.
First, the city has yet to account for all the grants. As JCT reported, the city may have already received more than $2 million for this purpose. The council should get this information before taking any action. Second, for the administration to claim that it is concerned here about “hurting taxpayers” when just a few months ago it rushed through a million dollar program to purchase “vertical gardens” to grow organic greens strikes us as a little rich.
Finally, the Bergen-Lafayette community has spoken up loudly against the project. In a section entitled “Community Empowerment,” the 1999 Morris Canal Redevelopment Plan stated “it is recommended that the Redevelopment Area community establish a single community based development coalition for the purpose of community inclusion and the decision making process of the Redevelopment Plan.” The city needs to live up to these words.
At today’s City Council caucus Councilman Rolando Lavarro suggested that a plan to build a 361-unit luxury high-rise in Bergen-Lafayette may violate the terms of a grant received from the state. Lavarro also stated that newly uncovered documents show that the land, known as Steel Technologies, was supposed to be acquired to become part of Berry Lane Park.
A Power Point slide from Ben Delisle’s July 2014 presentation to the City Council. Parcel 11 is the Steel Technologies property.
In addition to the residential apartment building called “Morris Canal Park Manor,” the developer, Skyline Development Group, has promised to build at the same site a 22,000-square-foot, two-story structure, with a gym, a rock climbing wall, a sauna, dance studios, music studios, and a food concession as well as computer labs and classrooms for STEM instruction. Eight “incubator” commercial working spaces for minority business enterprises would also be included. Eighteen of the residential units would qualify as affordable.
The project, championed by Ward F Councilman Jermaine Robinson and apparently supported by most of the council, has been controversial. The Morris Canal Community Development Corporation, a local group that lobbies for affordable housing in the community, and Bergen-Lafayette residents have questioned the project’s community benefits.
In September, Morris Canal CDC Founder and CEO June Jones told a meeting that it would be better to “reinvest” by expanding Berry Lane Park instead of overburdening the neighborhood with a “luxury rental high-rise only offering 5% affordables fronting smack on Communipaw Avenue.” Jones continued, “For the cost of what we’re sacrificing [in potential parkland], there’s not a whole lot we’re getting back. We can find alternate spots for a rec center.”
In a September 29 memorandum to City Council President Joyce Watterman, Jersey City Redevelopment Authority Executive Director, Diana Jeffrey — responding to what she called “mischaracterizations or misunderstandings” — disputed that the property was meant to become part of the park. “The Steel Technologies site was never part of the original plans for Berry Lane Park. It was considered an ‘add on,’ meaning it would be nice if the City could acquire it but not necessary.”
However, Ben Delisle, who was JCRA Director of Development for 14 years and oversaw development of Berry Lane Park, disputed Jeffrey’s statement today. He noted that he had raised over $2 million to acquire the Steel Technologies site. “It was always the intention to include this property in the park.” He described Jeffrey’s characterization as “crazy and disingenuous.”
A Power Point slide from Ben Delisle’s July 2014 presentation to the City Council describing the Steel Technologies property.
Documents bear out Delisle’s account. Jersey City Times has reviewed a Power Point presentation that Delisle gave to the City Council in April 2014. Several of the slides reference the Steel Technologies land as among the properties to be acquired for Berry Lane Park. In March 2017, Delisle obtained an appraisal for the property as a first step in acquiring the land. According to Delisle, there were also discussions centered around building a large indoor recreation facility on part of the land.
The city also received several grants to purchase the property for the park. In 2010, Delisle applied to the Hudson County Open Space Trust Fund. The application references an additional $2,475,500 in matching grants. Then, on September 17, 2018, Mayor Fulop applied for an additional $1 million grant from the state’s Green Acres Program.
In today’s meeting, Lavarro noted that previous discussions surrounding the project had focused on community benefits and affordable housing. It should now be seen through a “different lens” he said. Disputing Jeffrey’s memorandum, he countered that “the Steel Technologies site was always meant to be part of Berry Lane Park. Why are we abandoning that vision?”
Lavarro moved to table an ordinance scheduled for a second reading at Wednesday’s council meeting which would allow for the project to proceed.
Jersey City Times reached out to Councilman Robinson. We have not received a response as of this writing.
The new Berry Lane skate park can trace its origins to the DIY grassroots work of a few intrepid boarders and neighborhood activists. Above is a DIY park that I photographed in July 2011. The concrete is, I can only assume, the floor slab of a demolished industrial building. It is located near one of the remaining fragments of the Morris Canal in Jersey City. The Hudson River is no more than a half mile to the left. Notice the Myspace URL at the bottom of the photo.
DIY parks have been an aspect of skate boarding for a long time. There aren’t enough purpose-built parks to meet the demand. People don’t like skate boarders using public sidewalks, plazas, parks, shopping centers and streets, and skate boarders don’t like be harassed for doing what they love. What to do? Find an out-of-the-way spot and build your own park.
At the time I took that photo I had been about four years into an effort to create a public poured-in-the-ground skate park in Jersey City. That effort finally came to fruition on August 6, 2020.
Fulop Speaks at Opening. Photo by Bill Benzon
At the center of the next photograph we see Jersey City’s mayor, Steve Fulop, speaking at the opening of the park. The man to the left is Steve Leonardo, who owns a local skate shop and who helped the city obtain a grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation to build the park. The man to the right – didn’t get his name, I wasn’t taking notes – represents the Friends of Berry Lane Park, a citizen’s group that keeps an eye on the larger park in which the skate park is located. You’ll see the man behind the mayor in one of the photos later on.
Once upon a time…From a Skate Park to the World
Back in 2006, when I was living in the Hamilton Park neighborhood, I became interested in photographing graffiti in Jersey City. About a half mile from my apartment I happened upon a site nestled up against the Jersey Palisades beneath Christ Hospital.
If you look closely at the wall you’ll see ramps for a skate park. There are other features on the slab itself.
Hoboken Ave. Park by Bill Benzon
One day, sometime in the middle of October 2007, I went by the spot to see if there was any new graffiti and saw that the floor slab had been demolished.
The DIY skate park was no more. A couple weeks later I saw a hand-lettered sign on the fence inviting passers-by to a meeting at city hall to discuss ideas for a new park. While I had no particular interest in skate boarding I was curious: “Who at city hall gives a damn about these kids”? I put on my banker’s suit, dark blue flannel with white pin strips, and showed up.
As I suspected, the meeting had been called by Steve Fulop, then a young reform-minded councilman who represented my neighborhood. As only four skate boarders showed up, Fulop decided to schedule a new meeting for Nov. 19, 2019. I offered to donate an annotated set of site photos to the councilman and to the public library, which I did.
I’d guess there were 30 to 40 people at the next meeting. There were teens, young adults, some older skate boarders and a few parents. Fulop agreed to push for a new park to be built by the city. Where should it go? After some deliberation the skate boarders suggested a site beneath the thruway at Seventh Street and Newark Avenue.
Broken floor slab. Photo by Bill Benzon
Fulop got in touch with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and got a favorable response. Meanwhile I had been thinking and thinking. The spot chosen for the park was only a couple of blocks from the Sixth Street Embankment, an abandoned railway structure six blocks long running East-to-West in downtown Jersey City. A group of citizens had been working hard to acquire the embankment from a developer – a complicated story including heartache and messy details, too much to slip in here – and turn it into an above-ground multi-block-long park – a bit like Manhattan’s High Line, which didn’t exist at the time.
I figured that if we’re going to turn the embankment into a park, it would be easy to extend it over to Bergen Hill, pick up the skate park, go along the hill a quarter mile, and then through the Bergen Arches, a mile-long man-made canyon running through the city. Why not connect it all into a two-and-a-half-mile park extending through Jersey City from the Hudson River to the Meadowlands?
I spit-balled the cost of such a project – a quarter- to a half-billion dollars (big bucks for Jersey City) – and estimated the potential tourist revenue – perhaps $90 million a year – and wrote a report: “Jersey City: From a Skate Park to the World”. I showed the report around, gave a copy to Fulop, and put it online. While I certainly didn’t think it was something the city could or would act on, I didn’t do it as a mere academic exercise. I did it as a way of envisioning a new role for Jersey City in the world.
The Sign. Photo by Bill Benzon
Meanwhile Fulop’s negotiations with the Turnpike Authority had fallen through. The skate park was dead. It was now early in 2008. A couple of years later I moved to Hoboken for a year and a half. Then I moved back to Jersey City in the summer of 2011. This time I moved into the Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood, one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city.
The skate park idea is rekindled
That’s when I discovered the DIY park that opened this piece. A bit later I discovered June Jones and the Morris Canal Community Development Corporation. In April 2012 Jones decided to start a community garden, where I volunteered for two years. At some point I learned she had played a major role in convincing the city to turn a local brownfield into a citywide park, Berry Lane Park. I suggested that they add a skate park to the plan. She was a bit skeptical, but took it under advisement.
At about the same time one of the people involved in the community garden, a local contractor named Musaddiq, introduced me to Greg Edgell, who curated graffiti in a 15,000 square foot loft a quarter of a mile down Pacific Avenue from the community garden. I showed him my report, “Jersey City: From a Skate
Plan for Berry Lane. Rendering by Site Design
Park to the World,” which suggested that graffiti be made legal in certain areas of the city. He thought it was crazy but attractive. We decided to work together on various projects, including a few parties organized by Jones in the community garden and on a whole block of Pacific Avenue.
By this time she had decided that, yes, a skate park in Berry Lane would be a fine thing. She got our councilwoman, Diane Coleman, interested. We were all set.
In 2013 Councilman Steve Fulop was elected mayor over Jerramiah Healy. Fulop ran as a reform candidate while Healy ran with the Democratic establishment. In New Jersey, politics tends to be Democratic machine politics. very old school.
A year later, in April 2014, Site Design held a design charrette (or meeting) in the basement of the Fountain of Salvation Church on Communipaw Avenue, a few blocks from the site of the Berry Lane Park. I’d estimate that there were thirty people seated around a half dozen tables: skate boarders, neighborhood activists, and others. Each group was asked to design their ideal park. Site Design took those suggestions and came up with a design.
Bowl and Silos. Photo by Bill Benzon
Early in 2015 the city – I don’t know who initiated and signed the application – applied to the Tony Hawk Foundation for a grant toward the construction of the skate park. Hawk is a legendary skate boarder; the purpose of his foundation is to fund underserved communities. And, with a population of over a quarter of a million and only one small skate park using portable wooden features (plus, of course, those “don’t look, don’t tell” DIY parks), Jersey City was certainly under served.
On March 4, 2015, the Tony Hawk Foundation announced that it had awarded Jersey City a $25,000 grant. Hooray for the good guys. But it was better than that, for the grant came with a time limit. If the city didn’t build the park by the deadline presented, it would lose the grant. And that would be embarrassing for the city.
Berry Lane Park is opened, then the skate park
On June 6, 2016, Berry Lane Park had its grand opening—without a skate park. The money had yet to be scrounged up.
Guy and Kid. Photo by Bill Benzon
Some time later in 2016, I don’t know just when, there was another meeting, the “bake sale meeting” as Greg Edgell and I like to call it. Ben Delisle, director of development, and Heather Kumer, an environmental attorney, were there from the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency, Steve Leonardo and Mike Yanetta from the skate boarding community, along with me and Greg. The city had come within an inch, one little inch, of funding the construction of the park when, wham, some other project assumed priority, and the funding disappeared. Did we have any ideas? Well, none of us were millionaires, nor did we know any, so no, we don’t have any ideas. Surely you don’t think we’re going to fund this half-million dollar park with a thousand bake sales, do you?
That’s a bit unfair I suppose. It wasn’t their fault, the officials in the room. It certainly wasn’t our fault. Nor do I recall just what was said. I’m only giving a flavor. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. It never is.
Politicians. Kismet.
But four years and who knows how many smoke-filled back-room meetings later, kismet came through. The city found the money. Tsivikos Construction broke ground in October 2019, started pouring concrete in March, 2020, and the park was opened on August 6, 2020.
Amigos. Photo by Bill Benzon
Lessons Learned
First Lesson: Stick with it and be flexible. But it happened. I don’t know what Councilman Fulop had in mind when he called the original meeting in November of 2007, but whatever it was, it didn’t happen. I know that when I came out of the second meeting I was excited about seeing local activism and democracy in action. What a good lesson for the kids, I thought. Whatever they took away from the experience, that lesson wasn’t it.
As for me, sure, I was disappointed. But the library had a record of that original DIY park. And I had that crazy-ass report, “Jersey City: From a Skate Park to the World.” That report gave me a stake in the city of a kind I hadn’t had before. That framed my subsequent experience in the city.
I took notes, kept a record, got people interested, and they did the rest.
Second Lesson: Trust and good will are necessary in the political process. This process revolved around three groups of people: the anarcho-libertarian skate boarders, the community activists and organizations, and regular old politicians.
In the Bowl. Photo by Bill Benzon
Those are very different types. They have very different cultures. Skate board culture is fluid and can survive anywhere, but its capacity for scaling up is limited. You can’t pile water on water. It took a community organization to give the skate boarders a home and to build this desire and hope into something solid enough to attract the attention of professional politicians. And they, they came up with the money in their own sweet time.
At each step of the way people had to trust one another, even if things didn’t work out. It is because trust was there that will was able to find a way.
Project Would be Part of 17-Story Residential High-Rise
Jersey City could get its first municipal recreation center within the next couple of years as part of a deal being offered by nearby real estate developers.
The facility, a 22,000-square-foot, two-story structure, will include a gym, a rock climbing wall, a sauna, dance studios, music studios, and a food concession. For the more studious it will also feature computer labs and classrooms for STEM instruction. Adjacent to the center will be a 14,000-square foot structure accommodating eight “incubator” commercial working spaces for minority business enterprises (MBEs) anchored by two private retail businesses. Parts of the project will be 17 stories high.
The public package is part of a giveback pitch offered by a North Bergen-based developer seeking Jersey City’s approvals for construction of “Morris Canal Park Manor,” a 3.3-acre, 361-unit residential high-rise and parking garage that would border Berry Lane Park at Communipaw Avenue and Woodward Street in Ward F.
No tax abatements are being sought by the developer, and the part of the property dedicated to what has been tentatively called the Frederick Douglass STEM Recreation Center, valued at $900,000, will be deeded to the city.
As for the residential part of the project, the developer, Skyline Development Group, anticipates that 18 units will be designated as “affordable” as defined by federal income standards; the balance will be market rate. Skyline’s most recent project is the Solaia, a 70-unit, 14-story condominium tower off River Road in North Bergen which just “topped off,” real-estate lingo for having had its highest story built.
The proposed Jersey City venture, whose development cost is projected to be $175 million, would displace the sprawling MacElroy Steel Co., a 150-year-old business specializing in fabricating steel parts for marine operations and, according to Skyline CEO Lou Mont, that had made the bolts for the George Washington Bridge.
Part of the business is still functioning, Mont said.
According to Mont, if the project is approved, Skyline would preserve one of the MacElroy structures—a two-story brick building fronting on Communipaw—to use as a temporary construction office and then convert it to a “market retail” business, possibly a bar and eatery.
The proposed garage would have a capacity for 284 spaces, including 40 reserved for members of the public using the center.
Mont said that test samples taken at the site showed no evidence of dangerous toxins but that there had been evidence of “some petroleum hot spots.” For this reason, some soil from the site has been removed and “a number of test wells” are being regularly monitored, Mont said.
“The only remaining issue,” according to Mont, “is that there is a minor amount of asbestos in three of the plant’s contiguous buildings that run along Woodward” that will need to be removed.
Also, to comply with environmental standards, Mont said Skyline will arrange for the project’s site to be capped with two feet of clean fill. With these measures, he added, the project “will easily meet the standards for residential development.”
The Church of God in Christ Temple, at the corner of Communipaw and Woodward, and two adjacent residential buildings would be spared from the wrecking ball if the project goes forward, Mont said.
Skyline’s plans call for a pathway through the middle of the Manor complex, leading from Communipaw to Berry Lane Park, along with a one-acre open space off of Woodward that could support such city-organized activities as farmers’ markets or open-air concerts.
The site is a “federal opportunity zone but is currently zoned for industrial use. Mont said Skyline will ask the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency to consider amending the city’s redevelopment plan for the site to allow for residential and retail use. If the JCRA obliges, the proposed zoning change would go to the city council for ratification, and then the city planning board would be asked to schedule a site plan hearing, Mont said.
“We’re looking to spring or summer of 2021 to secure all our approvals,” he said. “We project this will be a two-year project, so summer 2023 would be the finish date. However, Mont added, once the project starts, “we anticipate the STEM/rec center to be completed ahead of the residential tower and MBE retail center.”
The residential tower features what Mont calls a “step down-tiered” design, calling for portions of the building to rise to varying elevations, from eight to 11 to 17 stories, as a means of being less intrusive on the surrounding neighborhood.
Ward F Councilman Jermaine Robinson said he welcomed the prospect of the city’s getting its first municipal rec complex. “I’ve always said children are our future, and while kids don’t vote, I feel I’m elected to be the voice of the voiceless. The big question is, ‘how do we fund this for the future?’ and the answer is probably going to be grants.”
Robinson said he’s already met with the city’s newly reorganized recreation division, representatives of the JCRA, and the city’s business administrator “to start the ball in motion” identifying grant programs that may be tapped.
As for the types of programs the city will be offering at the center, Robinson said: “The community is going to dictate what goes in there. I’m putting all hands on deck to get input on that.”
Jersey City announced that it begin a phased reopening of five parks on Monday, 4/27 as a first step to safely help residents restore their routines through outdoor exercise and recreational activities while adhering to social distancing measures.
Previously, residents have petitioned for the reopening of county and state parks.
The parks will be open for residents to enjoy the fresh air from dawn to dusk for jogging, walking, and all non-contact activities following the health and safety protocols in place.
On Monday, April 27, the following five parks spanning the city will reopen with restrictions:
Enos Jones Park
Berry Lane Park
Audubon Park
Leonard Gordon Park
Pershing Field
Prior to reopening, city crews will deep clean the parks in an abundance of caution. Starting Monday, city officials will reserve the right to limit entry to the park if overcrowding becomes a concern, and will remove park-goers if improper behavior takes place. The city continues to encourage anyone who feels sick to stay home.
No organized sports will be permitted in an effort to maintain health and safety protocols. Playground equipment, dog runs, basketball hoops, and other active recreation equipment will still remain closed. Restrooms and any indoor facilities will also remain closed to public access. Dog walkers are also asked to keep all dogs on leashes and curb all dogs before entering the park.
Jersey City’s phased reopening of parks will include a second phase in mid-May so that more residents have access to recreational space while adhering to the health and safety mandates in place.
Header: Courtesy Leonard Gordon Park Conservancy’s Facebook page
