With development always at the forefront of the issues facing our community, I pledge to continue our efforts to ensure responsible development in Hoboken that does not place an undue burden on our current population.
Working toward balanced development means ensuring that an appropriate mix of commercial, retail and residential development is incorporated into the planning of redevelopment and rehabilitation areas. Finding the right mix of uses is critical to controlling population growth and preventing overdevelopment, while ensuring that development does not create a greater tax burden on residents as a whole. It also means encouraging and, when possible, requiring developers to construct family friendly housing, such as three-bedroom units with minimum square footage requirements. This policy objective is intended to ensure Hoboken has a housing stock sufficient to allow residents the option of raising their families in Hoboken.
Balanced development also means encouraging developers and architects to construct projects that fit into the existing character of our great city. As new buildings rise, our commitment to maintaining the charming character of this city will not fall.
North End Rehabilitation Area
We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to properly plan plan for the rehabilitation of approximately 30 acres of land in North Hoboken, to make it a destination of which residents are proud and one that visitors can enjoy. I believe we must place a focus on commercial and retail development over continuing the creeping trend in the area where developers would rather build out-of-scale residential buildings. That type of development create a greater tax burden on our residents, and it places additional physical burdens on our infrastructure that comes with an increase in the population in our City.
We need to ensure that any plan for what is to be developed in the North End complement the urban fabric of our community. That starts with limiting buildings to a reasonable height, as opposed to allowing high-rise office buildings. I believe that we have a great opportunity to aspire, as a City, to be a hub of smaller start-up businesses, as is occurring elsewhere in the City at the Monroe Center and, we hope, at Neumann Leathers. Urban manufacturing, rather than traditional commercial office space, should be a priority to supplement existing manufacturing already thriving in Hoboken, like Pan American Coffee.
But, we also need to ensure that with this commercial growth, transportation options are prioritized and expanded. I’m the only mayoral candidate that has pushed for a train stop in northern Hoboken as a part of the Hudson Tunnel Project, an at-grade pedestrian crossing into the “Shades” area for Hoboken residents who live there and access to that train stop, and an additional 126 bus route on the western side of town. These all would work hand and hand with an additional light rail station that, I believe, should be sited on the western end of 15th Street, well situated for those desiring to access the North End, whether for work or play, via mass transit.