(October 2005)
In June 2005, the New Jersey Appellate Court upheld a challenge by the Township of North Brunswick to multiple variances for height, density and use granted by its own Zoning Board for a luxury apartment complex. The Court reversed the Zoning Board approvals stating, “The Board’s action . . . blatantly rejected the Township’s zoning plan and improperly arrogated to itself the power to substitute its idea of an appropriate zone plan.”
In a remarkably similar case, the Fund for a Better Waterfront’s (FBW) challenge to the Hoboken Zoning Board approval of a massive waterfront parking garage will also be heard by the Appellate Court. On August 24, 2004, the Board granted to Stevens Institute of Technology some 18 variances that grossly exceeded use, height and bulk standards of the Hoboken Zoning Ordinance. Just ten days ago, on September 26, FBW attorney Michael Garofalo of Laddey Clark & Ryan submitted a brief to the Court that relies heavily on the North Brunswick case Township v. Zoning Bd. of Adj. 378 N.J. Super. 485 (App. Div. 2005). On June 13, just ten days prior to the Township decision, Superior Court Judge Hector Velazquez upheld the Hoboken Zoning Board’s wholesale granting of these variances.
Stevens’ plans for parking garage superimposed on photographic image of the site. The Babbio Center, still under construction, is above right, McLean Hall on left. The view is looking west from the soccer field at Sinatra Park.
In its 5 to 2 vote, the Hoboken Zoning Board granted variances for lot depth, lot coverage, front yard setbacks, setbacks from residential zone, building separation, building length, open space, facade treatments, number of buildings per lot, ownership type, retail use requirements and building height. Attorneys representing Stevens made the argument to the Zoning Board and the lower Court that the garage site comprised a small portion of the R-1(E) zoning subdistrict and this zoning district comprises a small portion of the municipality. But in the Township case, the Court rejected the argument that “no usurpation of municipal authority had occurred because the property at issue did not comprise a significant portion of the R-2 zone or of the Township as a whole . . .” The Court concluded, “Such action, even in a relatively small portion of the district, takes on the appearance of de facto rezoning.” The Court held that the grant of a variance for a building that grossly exceeds the limitations in a given zone significantly alters the municipality’s zone plan.
Elsewhere on the Hoboken waterfront, parking garages must be enclosed behind retail or residential uses, thus ensuring a quality waterfront. Stevens’ proposed 725-car parking garage extends nearly a full city block, 386 feet from Fifth Street to Sixth along Sinatra Drive, directly across from Sinatra Park. Since the garage was first proposed, FBW has contended that it would degrade what potentially could be a world class waterfront. Stevens has already constructed a portion of the garage below the Babbio Center despite the lack of any Planning Board authority to do so.
FBW attorney Michael Garofalo has also contended that a conflict issue has fatally tainted the hearings. In a January 30th news 2004 story, George Crimmins told the Jersey Journal that his year-long consulting job with Stevens Institute included work on the university’s 725-car waterfront parking garage. George Crimmins, the former Business Administrator for the City of Hoboken, is the brother of Zoning Board Chair Joe Crimmins.
Joe Crimmins presided over the first three hearings on this garage application. Prior to the case being heard before Judge Valazquez, George Crimmins repeatedly eluded attempts to serve him with a subpoena so that he could avoid being deposed in this case. George Crimmins recently went back to work for the City of Hoboken as a consultant on budget issues.
Stevens Institute and FBW are also before the Appellate Court on another matter. In January of 2003, Stevens Institute filed a defamation lawsuit against FBW, its Executive Director and Board President for statements made about naturally-occurring asbestos being released into the air during the excavation of some 35,000 cubic yards of serpentine rock to make way for the parking garage. Superior Court Judge Camille Kenny threw out the defamation count in July 2004, and in February 2005, Judge Theemling dismissed the final count of last resort, a prima facie tort. Stevens has taken the case to the Appellate level despite consistent rulings by New Jersey’s Appellate and Supreme Courts decided in favor of defendants in defamation cases. Since lawyers representing FBW contend this nearly 3-year old case was frivolous from the start, they are seeking close to $1 million in legal fees.