Preservation
Coalition
The Newsletter of the Embankment Preservation Coalition
Newsletter #2
August 9, 2007
Aug. 9. In a big win for the City of Jersey City and the Embankment Preservation Coalition, the federal Surface Transportation Board ruled today that Conrail needs authorization to abandon the 6th Street Embankment. Conrail sold the property to an investor, SLH Properties, in July 2005, without requesting authorization from the Board. Click Here to read the STB Decision
See Full Story Below.
Though the Surface Transportation Board ruling noted above should take precedence over local land use applications, the developer may move ahead in the hopes that the STB ruling will be overturned on appeal.
For this reason, we are asking supporters to speak out at two hearings scheduled in the next ten days:
Tuesday, August 14, 5:30 pm, Jersey City Planning Board, City Hall, 280 Grove St. The developer has applied for Final Major Site Plan approval for four Embankment blocks, 6th Street, from Erie to Brunswick. The hearing begins with Item 6 on the agenda.
Monday, August 20, 6:30 pm, Jersey City Historic Preservation Commission, City Hall, 280 Grove St. The developer has applied for demolition permits for the massive Embankment structures and, if denied approval, will ask for a hardship exemption
To prepare for these meetings, see our letter to property owners along the Embankment and the flyer "What To Do Now."
Click here for a chronology of events and actions concerning the Embankment.
Information about the composition and duties of the boards can be found here. Select the links Jersey City Municipal Code and then Chapter 245, for descriptions of the land use boards.
Federal Board Rules for City and Embankment Preservation Coalition
Washington, D.C., Aug. 9. In a big win for the City of Jersey City and the Embankment Preservation Coalition, the federal Surface Transportation Board ruled today that Conrail needs authorization to abandon the 6th Street Embankment. Conrail sold the property to an investor, SLH Properties, in July 2005, without requesting authorization from the Board.
"This is a huge win," said Jennifer Meyer, Coalition president. "It opens many opportunities now for the City to work with willing County and State partners to secure the property for public use. It also looks as if the sale to the developer is void. Until we understand the ramifications of the decision, however, the community must maintain its vigilance. The developer has applications for Major Site Plan Review and demolition permits before the Planning Board and Historic Preservation Commission in the next ten days. For all we know, he may press on with his local land use applications in the hope that the STB decision will be overturned on appeal. We are therefore asking Embankment supporters to attend the Planning Board meeting August 14 and the Historic Preservation Commission meeting August 20 and speak out for preservation."
The City of Jersey City, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, the Embankment Preservation Coalition, and Assemblyman Louis Manzo filed the STB petition in January 2006. As the Coalition awaited the decision, it identified acquisition funding and secured recognitions making the site eligible for special funding.
Charles Montange, attorney for the City and the Coalition, said that "STB's decision today follows the law to the letter. The Harsimus Embankment was clearly a line of railroad, it was conveyed to Conrail as a line of railroad, it was used by Conrail as a line of railroad, and it can only be abandoned and sold to a developer if Conrail first obtains abandonment authority from STB, which of course Conrail clearly did not. This is a great victory for Jersey City, the historic preservation community, Rails to Trails Conservancy, and supporters of the East Coast Greenway."