Spare us, neighbors beg the city
Council backs condos plan for Duncan Ave. off Bergen

Friday, August 08, 2008
By PAUL KOEPP
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

To Jersey City officials, the plan to squeeze a five-story, 24-unit condominium building onto two Duncan Avenue lots near Bergen Avenue is a way to keep middle-income workers in the city.

To residents of the street, however, it's an invitation for a developer to run roughshod over their neighborhood's character and to erase a reminder of the life of an architect who designed many of the city's most iconic buildings.

The City Council unanimously moved the plan forward Wednesday by declaring the deep, narrow lots - currently a vacant parcel owned by the Jersey City Parking Authority and one with a house - a redevelopment area, over the objections of about 10 residents.

The house, which would be demolished, once belonged to the family of architect John T. Rowland, who designed the old Jersey City Medical Center, Dickinson and Lincoln high schools, and both the current and former Jersey Journal buildings.

Bob Antonicello, executive director of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency, said in an interview that the development targets people earning between 50 and 120 percent of the area's median income, such as city and county workers.

The redevelopment area designation is based on a July 16 council resolution that declared the lots "blighted," which the residents have 45 days to appeal. They have hired Jersey City attorney Cynthia Hadjiyannis, who declined to say if a challenge is forthcoming.

She told the City Council Wednesday that the Planning Board was "derelict" in recommending the plan, proposed by Paul DeBellis of the West Paterson-based Franklin Development Group.

The JCRA will designate Franklin as the developer next month, Antonicello said, and a site plan will then be brought before the Planning Board.

In addition to historical concerns and questions about traffic and parking, the residents complained that the project would ruin the spacious "boulevard" feel of their block, notable for the large setbacks and shaded yards of the buildings on the south side of the street.

"We're disappointed because we're not asking for much except respect for the neighborhood and how it's designed," said resident Charlene Burke.

Residents said they would be satisfied with a scaled-back building with greater setbacks; officials said that would not be economically feasible for the developer.