HPHA Membership Meeting

Thursday, January 5, 2017

HPHA Membership Meeting

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Meeting called to order by Diane Kaese at 7:36 PM in the basement of Saint Peter and Paul Orthodox Church, 109 Grand Street.

1. HPHA Board Member Attendance

B. Officer Reports

1. President, Diane Kaese opened the meeting.
2. December Meeting Minutes were approved with the addition of preliminary plans to 84 Essex Street under Committee DOC and adopted.
3. Treasury Report -- Jennifer Wagner - Absent

1. Total Cash Basis Net Loss for the Month of October = $-23,096.20 the “loss” includes a payment to the park architects.

1. President Report given by Diane Kaese

1. There is a new gate to Liberty Park and the Korean Memorial at the corner of Washington and Dudley. * Gate has subsequently been taken down as per request of the Korean Veterans. 

C. Committee Reports

1. Development Oversight Committee - Diane Kaese
   1. 99 Hudson (Plaza Construction):
      1. The foundation is currently being worked on with an anticipated completion date of March 6th
      2. Superstructure mobilizes on January 17th
      3. Targeted date of January 26th to begin erection of the tower crane. Grand Street is the staging zone The crane is a Potain with a luffing boom of 193 feet long.
      4. Concrete work duration is 20 months to the top of the house.
   2. Field Development continuing construction as scheduled. A new city wide water main is going to be installed at Morris and Van Vorst within the next two months. 
2. Police Committee - Vincent Jacaruso
   1. Burglaries are up primarily due to bicycle theft from personal property. There was one “break and enter” with the family at home on Bright Street.
   2. In lieu of the regular East District Captain’s meeting this month a Coffee with a Cop has been scheduled for Wednesday, January 25, 2017, from 7:00 - 9:00 PM, at Indiegrove, 121 Newark Avenue, 5th Floor.
3. Events Committee - Riza Hunger
   1. The All You Can Eat Pancake Breakfast is being planned for the end of April.
   2. Jersey City Great American Clean Up is being schedule at the end of April to co-inside with National Earth Day.
   3. Preliminary plans for events in Liberty Park include a bike safety class with the local police and exercise classes either Boot Camp or Zumba Class with local trainers.
4. Parks Committee - Stephanie Daniels
   1. The architectural drawings are 100% completed.
   2. We are reviewing the plans to find areas where we can save money going forward.

1. Technology Committee - Emmanuel

1. Is in the process of updating the mailing list.
2. Looking into new methods of maintaining our membership list.

D. Feature Presentations: Bike JC and Silverman Building

 First Presenter: Kevin Bing and Patrick Colon from Bike JC:

Proposed bike lane the entire span of Grand Street. Their Grand Street Vision is a road diet which means to convert the current four lane road into a three lane road. Two of the lanes (one in each direction) would be for through traffic and the third lane would be a turning lane for either direction. The fourth lane would then become a bike lane the length of Grand Street.

In addition to adding a bike lane on Grand Street, Bike JC offered to help us with bike parking and a bike safety workshop. They will also be working with Citi-Ride.

Concerns:

• There was considerable concern over home owners losing parking along Grand Street.
• Many people felt Grand Street in the Paulus Hook area of Jersey City is a very busy street and wouldn’t be the safest choice for a bike lane. 

Bike JC representatives explained it is currently a vision and are open to looking into other ideas. 

Second Presenter: Eric Silverman/Silverman Building and Rob Caufield/Fields Construction:

The OLC School is proposing a two-part project. The first part is an expansion to the existing OLC school including twelve classrooms, an athletic facility, and a roof top playground.  The second part is to build a two-building 275 to 300-unit apartment complex on a Z shaped piece of property located between Grand Street; Sussex Street; Marin Blvd; and Van Vorst Street. The proceeds from the apartment complex would be used to pay for the expansion of the school. Currently, they are not requesting an abatement but may ask for a short term abatement in the future. The planned parking is one half space per unit.

In order to build this, they are asking for a zoning change from the current redevelopment plan zoning for townhouses and open space to zoning for two apartment towers.

Concerns:

• The added stress on our services that residents of 275 to 300 units will add to the community.
• Additional parking needs if more students attend the school by parents and faculty especial for school events.
• The idea that they are presenting this as a package deal instead of two separate construction projects.
• OLC is a private school most of the students are not from the local community, people felt there was no real benefits to the Jersey City community.
• There wasn’t a lot of thought put into making the new school facility ascetically pleasing or having it fit in with the rest of the community.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:20.