The facts about Union Dry Dock & the ferry depot

FBW | May 28, 2019

HOBOKEN’S WATERFRONT

In 1990, FBW proposed a contiguous, public waterfront park for Hoboken’s mile and a half of riverfront, and hundreds of citizens and civic leaders have been publicly working toward that goal ever since. Today, after tens of millions of dollars in public and private investment, this waterfront park has been largely built with new residential and commercial development on upland blocks. Hoboken’s riverfront, once lined with maritime industries, has been transformed. Putting the ferry depot in the middle of the much beloved waterfront park would upend decades of progress.

2017 SCHEME BY NJ TRANSIT & NY WATERWAY

In 2017, without consulting with Hoboken’s elected officials or its residents, NJ Transit and the privately-operated NY Waterway devised plans to acquire Union Dry Dock for a diesel ferry maintenance and refueling depot. In November 2017, NY Waterway stunned Hoboken with the news that it had purchased this site for $11.5 million.

GOV. MURPHY’S POSITION

In early 2018, NY Waterway and its lobbyists applied intense pressure on the newly elected Gov. Murphy to purchase the Union Dry Dock property. By April, Murphy caved to this pressure and NJ Transit announced it would acquire the land. Hoboken and its elected officials protested vociferously. In response, the governor promised a study for siting the ferry facility. Since then, Gov. Murphy has made no public statement about this issue.

OVERWHELMING OPPOSITION

On March 9, 2019, nearly 500 people marched up Hoboken’s waterfront to protest the ferry depot proposal.
In May of 2018, over 400 people showed up for a public hearing to oppose the NY Waterway application for an ACOE permit.
Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, the entire Hoboken City Council, State Senators Brain Stack & Nicholas Sacco, Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop are unanimously opposed to siting the facility at Union Dry Dock.
In addition, the Hoboken Cove Community Boathouse, Resilience Paddle Sports, the Hudson River Fishermen Association, Bike Hoboken, the Ke Aloha Outrigger Canoe Club, the Friends of Liberty State Park, NJ Sierra Club, the Climate Mobilization and the Fund for a Better Waterfront are opposed.

MANY PREFERRED ALTERNATIVES EXIST

In 2009, NJ Transit completed a rigorous study entitled Ferry Berthing and Maintenance Facility – Alternative Site Analysis identifying five sites as more suitable than Union Dry Dock including two in Weehawken, one in Jersey City and another in Bayonne. Last November, the City of Hoboken released a study that came to a similar conclusion. Both studies identify the Hoboken Terminal as the optimal choice. NJ Transit owns the 80-acre Hoboken Terminal site, a major multi-modal transportation hub, thus saving the $12 million required to acquire Union Dry Dock.

THE HOBOKEN COVE, AN UNIQUE ECOLOGICAL & RECREATIONAL RESOURCE

Abutting the Union Dry Dock property is the only natural sand beach along the Hudson River south of George Washington Bridge. Over 6,000 kayakers launch from this spot each year. The Hoboken Cove is also an ecologically sensitive, intertidal zone where horseshoe crabs lay their eggs, diamondback terrapins can be found and scores of migratory fish have been identified. Directly to the south is a very popular skateboard park, one of the few in the region and a public fishing pier.

NY WATERWAY FALSELY CLAIMS THE FERRY FACILITY IS A CONTINUATION OF PRIOR USE

Union Dry Dock’s two slips were used for barge repair, not refueling, and generated minimal traffic over the Hudson River. A small crew of employees worked 8-hour shifts, 5 days a week. By contrast, NY Waterway plans to operate 18 hours a day, 7 days per week, making an estimated 80 ferry trips daily to and from the depot. Most of these ferries operate with Tier 1 diesel engines, the most polluting class of marine engines. This ferry traffic and the diesel fumes emitted would put an end to the kayaking, fishing and skateboarding at Hoboken Cove plus the children’s playgrounds nearby. In addition, the City estimates that ferry crews commuting to work will be making 240 vehicular trips through Hoboken streets to and from this site–in a city already congested with traffic.

THE MARINE LIFE IN THE RIVER

The ferry depot would be very harmful to marine life at this unique ecological, intertidal zone. A fleet of 34 ferries would be refueled, repaired, cleaned and pumped empty of sanitary wastewater, leading to inevitable spills. In fact, in January of 2018, NY Waterway spilled over 300 gallons of diesel fuel, one-third of which flowed into the Hudson River at its Weehawken refueling site. This habitat will be further disturbed by the wakes and turbulence generated by the high speed ferries.