City of Hoboken Looks to Acquire Six Acres for Park Space and Flood Mitigation

Ok… so it’s not as big as the picture above—but the move to acquire six acres of park land in the northwest portion of town could bring Hoboken as close as it has been to the idyllic Elysian Fields of yore since the the town’s industrial heyday.

More than just playgrounds, the currently undeveloped property would also incorporate municipal parking and vital floodwater mitigation, as part of the city’s Rebuild By Design resiliency plan.

“This six-acre property is the City’s last remaining option for acquiring such a large amount of contiguous land for open space, and it would provide Hoboken with a unique opportunity to address three of our most pressing challenges—flooding, open space, and parking,” said Mayor Dawn Zimmer, in a statement released by the City. “Creating Hoboken’s largest park—the same size as Pier A—would provide much-needed open space in western Hoboken, take pressure off our other overcrowded parks, and complement our flood resiliency strategy by being designed to hold at least 1 million gallons of stormwater runoff. It would also add parking capacity by creating Hoboken’s first municipal garage in northwest Hoboken.”

Last November, the Hoboken City Council voted 7-1 to authorize the use of eminent domain in acquiring the property, currently owned by BASF, while approving the City’s application for low-interest funding from the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust (NJEIT) for acquisition of the property.

This Wednesday, September 2nd, the Hoboken City Council will vote to:

• authorize the use of eminent domain to acquire the northern parcel of the property for a parking garage
• authorize a $1.6 million Hoboken Parking Utility bond for land acquisition and engineering costs for detailed design of a parking structure
• authorize a $16.7 million bond ordinance to acquire the larger portion of the BASF property for open space, park design and engineering costs, and for construction costs of the Southwest Park. NJEIT would purchase the bond to provide the low-interest loan to the City.

Meanwhile, construction of Hoboken’s Southwest Park, which is also designed to hold over 200,000 gallons of stormwater runoff, is scheduled to begin this fall.

Furthermore, community is invited to a public meeting TONIGHT—hosted by the City Council Community Development Subcomittee—to discuss a proposed finalized redevelopment project at 7th Street and Jackson Street adjacent to the Monroe Center as part of the Northwest Redevelopment Area.