Is Stevens unauthorized construction unstoppable?

(February 2003)

On March 11, 2002, Stevens Institute of Technology began excavating over 35,000 tons of serpentine rock at Castle Point to make way for a 725-car parking garage. Five weeks later, Ron Hine of the Fund for a Better Waterfront wrote to the Chairman of the Hoboken Planning Board pointing out that the Board had never approved this garage or the excavation. As Stevens continued the blasting and removal of rock through August and then began pouring concrete for the parking decks, ramps and garage walls, Planning Board members and civic leaders voiced their dismay. Finally, on December 31, 2002, the Zoning Officer, Joel Mestre, revoked his First Certificate of Zoning Compliance for this project. Later that day, the Hoboken Building Officer, Alfred Arezzo, issued a Stop Construction Order.

Stevens Institute immediately appealed the revocation. On January 2, attorneys representing the university went into Superior Court and were granted a “stay” of the Stop Construction Order. On February 12th at 7 p.m., the Zoning Board of Adjustment will hold a special hearing to consider Stevens’ appeal. At 4:00 p.m. prior to the February 12th hearing, the Zoning Board commissioners will tour the construction site.

On August 13, 2001, Hoboken Zoning Officer Joel Mestre issued the First Certificate of Zoning Compliance for the Babbio Center, a six story building with 105 surface parking spaces. This project was approved by the Planning Board in February of 2001. Stevens officials then pressured Mestre to allow an excavation forty feet below the ground floor of the Babbio Center along with partial construction of the unapproved parking structure. To convince the Construction Code Official to issue a permit for this, Mestre, assisted by Hoboken’s city planner, Elizabeth Vandor, wrote him a memo on October 5 stating that the area below the Babbio Center “is neither a ‘basement’ nor a ‘cellar’ as defined by the Hoboken Zoning Ordinance. Such structure fully below grade and below the level of the cellar is the building’s foundation and, as such, is neither defined nor regulated by the Zoning Ordinance.” On November 20, 2001, the Construction Code Official, Alfred Arezzo, issued the permit to “install/construct foundation and parking garage as per planning and zoning approval.”

As work proceeded, the Hoboken Planning Board expressed anger that their authority had been undermined. On July 16, 2002, Planning Board attorney Douglas Bern wrote to the Mayor and Council requesting that they investigate this matter. The City failed to respond to this letter. When construction began in August, it became obvious that a garage, not just a foundation, was being built. In a September meeting sponsored by the Quality of Life Coalition, Hoboken residents confronted the Mayor of Hoboken about this unauthorized work. Subsequently, the Mayor asked the new Planning Board attorney, Michael Pane, a noted authority on municipal law, to provide a memo outlining what action the City could take on this matter. At the September 12th Planning Board meeting, Mr. Pane opined that Joel Mestre’s October 5 memo was in direct conflict with the State’s Municipal Land Use Law.

By November, the Mayor announced that Stevens had voluntarily agreed to stop work on the project. But the next day, a Saturday, and every weekday thereafter, contractors continued to work. This then led the City to take stronger action on the final day of 2002 with the revocation of the Certificate of Zoning Compliance and issuance of the Stop Construction Order.

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