Sure, they can do it and cities do do it sometimes, but downzoning a large chunk of DTJC would almost certainly result in lawsuits.

That's not to say that the city is powerless, they could certainly do more or even change zoning, but it's not necessarily a simple, smooth or fast process.

https://www.google.com/search?q=downzoning+lawsuit

Quote: Actually, it's done all the time with the existing structures grandfathered in. Most of residential JC is now R-1, where new construction needs to be unattached, 2 family, <35' high. So if you have an 4 floor, 8 unit building in the R-1 and it burns down, you can only replace it with a 35' 2 family unless you win a variance.

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Cities can't just rezone entire areas in whatever way they like. The property owners would freak and anyone who has put in a decent amount of work planning for a project based on the old zoning could be owed a lot of money.

so any flooding from last night's rainfall?

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I have a better proposal. Here it is: people who do not want to deal with water and flooding will (on their own accord) not rent those places. And those who are ok with that, - may continue.

My idea is novel, practical, and can be immediately put to use.
For free.

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Umm... isn't there something called "zoning"?

IMO basement apt dtjc and Hoboken should be illegal. When I lived down there, I was dealing with water and flooding constantly.

I like how so many people from DTJC belittle my part of the city but is kind of hilarious that during any rainstorm their swimming in their own....

that article hits the nail on the head. Until the laws are changed around new construction, this problem will only get worse.

It's amazing that the wealthiest area in JC is the one that has the worst sewer backup issues.

When the antiquated JC system fails it's going to be a serious mess. But no one wants to tackle the issue proactively due to massive cost/scale/etc...

Downtown residents in the Paulus Hook neighborhood are asking for a moratorium on new development in the area until the city has completed mitigation work designed to alleviate major flooding in the community.

However, city officials claim they have no authority to block new development, even though it may negatively impact existing homes.

Several fed-up residents who live in the community confronted city engineers, planners, and City Business Administrator Jack Kelly during an April 4 meeting of Historic Paulus Hook Association.

Ostensibly, the meeting was supposed to cover what plans the city has in store to protect Paulus Hook, Van Vorst, Newport, Harsimus Cove, and other communities in the event of future hurricanes like Irene and Sandy. But it quickly turned into a heated discussion of ongoing flooding problems residents say they have even during normal rainstorms.

The residents believe that new development in the area is partially to blame for their woes, since the current sewer and drainage system in these low-lying neighborhoods is old and cannot handle the hundreds of new residential units that have been built and added to the system in recent years. City officials acknowledge that state building standards only look at whether a sewer system can handle new development during dry weather ? not wet weather events like rainstorms, nor?easters, or hurricanes.


Read more: Hudson Reporter - When it rains it floods Forget Irene and Sandy now even average showers wreak havoc in the historic districts