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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Newbie
 
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2015/6/16 9:45 Last Login : 2015/6/16 10:23 From Jersey City, NJ
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I think the building is excellent addition to The Village. As development is coming, it sets a creative tone for architects to follow here in the neighborhood and brings the kind of density that supports the small businesses we do have here (and maybe even attracts more.)
I see the downtown as a misshapen circle (waterfront and highways as the boundaries) with The Village sitting as far from the center as a community possibly can. In a natural distribution, people would populate across the circle, but still with a propensity toward the center point (so they could easily reach the rest of the downtown.) To shift away from that natural distribution and draw more local revenue, neighborhoods have to create housing and business magnets to attract people to the community (temporarily and permanently.) Unfortunately, the other side of the circle from The Village happens to be the waterfront, which naturally draws people away from the center...and away from The Village. Therefore, in order to draw people to the neighborhood, more housing and more dense housing must be constructed. Of course, one can argue we don't want more people in the neighborhood. That's a completely valid argument and a matter of opinion. But, if one wants small businesses to open and remain here because they are able to thrive, we need more people living here...because they are naturally drawn away from our outer bounds, adjacent to the highway neighborhood and toward the waterfront...or, if they hop off at the Grove stop, certainly not all the way up Newark Avenue when they have so many options before they get to our tiny Village on the outskirts. I want thriving, sustainable small businesses, so bring on the height and density variances.
Posted on: 2015/6/16 10:23
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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Home away from home
 
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Posted on: 2015/6/16 2:15
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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Home away from home
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And I'm not making it up, the developer himself has said he can't make money on the project unless he gets a variance. And he seems to be making a habit of these bad investments that he can't make money on. hero69 puts it perfectly: Quote:
Posted on: 2015/6/16 2:13
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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Home away from home
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Posted on: 2015/6/16 1:45
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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Newbie
Joined:
2015/4/15 21:55 Last Login : 2017/10/22 19:17 From The Village
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My understanding is that variances are granted when there are real physical problems with the development, so I think a variance for providing 50 parking spaces on that triangular piece of land is probably legitimate. Though I have to wonder where everyone is going to park, and there will be dozens of people moving into this building who will have cars.
But you can't ask for a variance just because you want to make more money. And I don't think that the city should be in the business of giving out extra floors just for because the building looks nice. It might have looked even nicer at 12 stories!
Posted on: 2015/6/15 22:54
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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Home away from home
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Inability to make money often hinges on the price of the underlying land. If you overpay expecting to get variances, too bad on you
Posted on: 2015/6/15 20:52
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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Just can't stay away
 
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2009/6/11 13:44 Last Login : 2017/4/10 23:12 From Henderson Yards
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That's a pretty big open corner for the Village, and on a main thoroughfare. I have no problem with a larger/big impact building there.
Posted on: 2015/6/15 20:21
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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Home away from home
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Lots of assumptions being made about how easy it is to develop property in New Jersey. The way I see it, the developer could very well be telling the truth. If a viable project can be developed within existing zoning on the site, it would have been done already! There is case law going back a century showing how a community can intentionally or unintentionally zone a property, making it not feasible for development. It's not as simple as building within zoning, hence why this and other properties in hot areas of town remains vacant.
Posted on: 2015/6/15 19:26
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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Home away from home
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Posted on: 2015/6/15 19:12
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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Home away from home
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I'm not wild about the design, it seems out of place. At first I was opposed to this whole project for being too large, but after walking around Manhattan a bit and looking at buildings, I'm not really opposed to some larger buildings in the area, so long as they aren't excessive. A 7 or 8 story building melds reasonably well with brownstones there, so why not here?
My main problem is that I've heard the developer has complained that the reason he needs the variance on this project (and every other project he's working on) is because otherwise he can't make money on the project. Which is stupid reasoning. If you can't make money on a project unless you get a variance that exceeds the current zoning restrictions, then maybe you shouldn't have bought the property? Or should re-work your plans to play by the rules? Or maybe push to get the area re-zoned instead of going through constant variance fights? I don't see how his inability to make money within the current zoning regulations is anybody's problem except his own. The lot also just got a large banner on the fence featuring a bunch of local businesses, which makes it seem that they either support the project, or that his development company had something to do with them, which is odd. If I were one of those business owners I'd feel a bit annoyed at having someone trying to advertise their own business using my business's name without ever asking my permission.
Posted on: 2015/6/15 18:59
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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Home away from home
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Why not? From the rendering, it looks like it will blend into the neighborhood well. You know it's possible that a boring ugly box of a building, conforming to zoning requirements at a height of 5 storys, could be built right now. Is that really preferential? Rather than blending into the neighborhood, it becomes a carbuncle on the streetscape, but hey at least it conforms to zoning and is therefore good. Why is there always a knee-jerk reaction that height is bad, but conform to zoning, regardless of the merits of the proposal, is good. There are plenty of areas in town that conform to zoning, and become an ugly, ugly mess. I wish JCList would evolve and focus more on the design of the building, especially how it interacts with the street, rather than preaching zoning and height limits denouncing anything that doesn't comply, like this fine building.
Posted on: 2015/6/15 18:57
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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Newbie
Joined:
2015/4/15 21:55 Last Login : 2017/10/22 19:17 From The Village
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I like the architecture of the Chrysler Building, but I wouldn't want it in the Village. But if they want to build it on the waterfront, I'm all for that.
I'm okay with this design of the building, but I don't think something that is twice as tall as the buildings around it will blend in with the rest of the Village.
Posted on: 2015/6/15 18:41
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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Home away from home
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I hope you show up at the planning board to support this good architecture. Otherwise, if this is killed, developers will go back to the usual same old $hit.
Posted on: 2015/6/15 15:28
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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Home away from home
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I had the same reaction: it looks like an interesting building. Certainly an ambitious design. I think it would fit well in that area of the neighborhood.
Posted on: 2015/6/15 15:21
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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Not too shy to talk
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Good looking building.
I like it - it would be good for the neighborhood in that area.
Posted on: 2015/6/15 15:14
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Re: the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Home away from home
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Finally some architecture that isn't just a concrete and glass box.
Posted on: 2015/6/15 15:08
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the game of escalating variances in The Village
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Not too shy to talk
Joined:
2014/11/24 21:43 Last Login : 2016/5/2 18:18 From The Village
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Another month, another call to fight a developer who wants more stories than he has by right in The Village. I know we're all getting tired of this, but until we cease zoning via variance, here we go again.
For the last several months our concern was a proposed 7-story building on 5th Street on a lot zoned for 3 stories - we fought that one, so far successfully, and the project has been withdrawn. Now behind that building (on Newark and Brunswick) is another proposed project - this time it is in an NC (Neighborhood Commercial) zone, which is allowed 5 stories. The original proposal was for 8 stories, it has been slightly scaled back to 7 official stories, but since there is a 1000 sq foot enclosed structure on the roof which is as tall as an 8th story (and then an elevator tower above that, which will put the total height of this building at more than 90'), it still looks almost identical to the behemoth originally proposed. BGT, the developer, is proposing 50 apartments - all 1-bedroom, except for the top floor, which will have two 3-bedrooms and three 2-bedrooms. The ground floor will be commercial space, including garage space for 3 Zip cars. Here is the rendering of the original proposal - http://villagewestgallery.com/temp/zoning/galleon.jpg - the glass level on the top in this case is actually the 7th and 8th floors together, in the new plan (no color rendering available to me, BGT's website also still has the old one) the 8th floor has a recessed structure surrounded by a large roof deck. Ben Torrei, the developer at BGT, has told me that I am the only one in the neighborhood who is against this project, and I hear from several sources that he is recruiting numerous people to come to the meeting on Thursday and put their endorsements of the project on the record. The Village is developing quickly, you can see construction underway all over the neighborhood. But the vast majority of these projects conform to the current zoning. ***** If the community wants to change from being an R1 neighborhood (3-story) with a strip of NC (5-story) down Newark Avenue (and I don't know that we do) - then let's do it the right way, with consensus and a change to zoning codes, not by having individual developers play the game of escalating variances. **** I hope Ben Torrei is wrong and that I'm not the only one who wants this to be a 5 story building - if you agree, I hope you'll join me at the Board of Adjustment meeting this Thursday, June 18, at 6:30 p.m., in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 280 Grove Street. Further discussion of attempts by developers to get variances for tall buildings in the low-zoned Village neighborhood is on this JC List thread - "fighting to keep existing height and density zoning in The Village": http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=34038
Posted on: 2015/6/15 15:01
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