More than 100 people gathered Tuesday night at the Thomas G. Connors Primary School to brainstorm and discuss the city's community resources as they relate to the creation of the city's upcoming master plan for development. The topics covered were open space, recreation, utilities, sewers, emergency services, and the condition of the library.
A master plan is a document that will detail guidelines for development, growth, redevelopment, and enhancement of a community. A master plan usually contains three general components: What a community is, what it wants to be, and how it will become what it wants to be.
It has been 16 years since Hoboken's last master plan was written.
A need for open space
John Shapiro and Paul Grygiel of Abeles, Phillips, Preiss & Shapiro hosted the meeting, which consisted of an open flow of ideas and information between them and those in attendance. In the spring, the urban planning firm signed a $270,000 contract to guide the city through the daunting process of overhauling Hoboken's master plan. One of the reasons that they were awarded that contract is because they promised to get the community involved in the planning process.
The meeting drew a diverse group including developers, business owners, the mayor, city councilpersons, landlords, development activists, waterfront activists, community religious leaders, officials, Zoning Board members, Planning Board members, educators and senior citizens.
The topic that consumed the most time was a discussion about open space - how much the town has and how much more it needs.
According to statistics provided by Grygiel and Shapiro, Hoboken currently has 35 total acres of open space for a total of .9 acres of open space per 1,000 residents, which according to him is woefully below the national average.
For example, Shapiro said, even New York City, one of the country's most densely populated cities, has 2.5 acres of open space per 1,000 residents. "Even by New York City standards we have only half of the park and open space that is need," said Shapiro.
He added that in the past five years the amount of open space has increased but is still not where near what is considered adequate. In 1998, Hoboken had 21.6 acres of open space. Since then the city has added 14 acres.
According to him, there are an additional 10 to 15 acres pending or proposed, but even if all of those projects are completed the city would only have 1.3 acres per 1,000 people.
Everyone in the room seemed to be in agreement that the city needs more parks and open space, both active and passive. Shapiro then posed the question of how much.
"To what extent will people be willing to pay taxes for parks and open space?" he asked. "How deep does the passion go?"
Most of the responses from the crowd said the creating open space should be a priority.
Hoboken resident Kim Trevisan is raising a young daughter in Hoboken. She said that many families leave Hoboken because the city doesn't offer nearly as many places to play as in the suburbs. "Keeping families in Hoboken would stabilize our community," she said.
Another mother, a resident of the Hoboken Housing Authority, said that there is also a need for more parks near the city's low income housing, the part of town where the most children live.
The lack of parks on the city's west side was a sore topic for many in the audience. Planning Board member and west side resident Hank Forrest said that while the waterfront parks are nice, he would like to see more green space on the west side of town.
"I always kind of resented the fact that [most of the city's] open space is along the waterfront," he said. "The area around the Palisades is a real opportunity to circle the city with parks and provide the residents of the west side with open space."
Another woman in the audience said that there are not enough parks and recreational options for adults either. "The parks we have aren't really suitable for biking and Rollerblading," she said.
To this point, Shapiro agreed and said that Hoboken is an anomaly because the majority of its population is in its 20s and 30s, and recreational options for adults should be considered in the creation of the Master Plan.
Another sore topic for many was lack of fields and active opens space for children, especially girls. City Councilman Michael Cricco said that because of the city's lack of a playing fields, girls are often left without a place to play. He said that this leaves the city in violation of Title IX, the federal mandate that there must be equal athletic opportunities for both boys and girls.
Most everyone in attendance agreed that opens space is lacking in Hoboken, but the solutions are harder to come by.
Options
Shapiro gave a couple of options that could be considered in the Master Plan. The first was for large-scale improvements, either building a park that circles the city or possibly one large park in somewhere in the Northwest Redevelopment area. But Shapiro warned that to make either of those options happen, the city would have to dig deep into its pockets.
"You are going to have to be very proactive and creative, because much of that land is privately owned," he said.
Shapiro said another possible option to create park space was through creating giveback agreements with developers, where as part of their approval they would be required to contribute or a park fund or build a publicly accessible park on a portion of their property. He said this route would create several small parks scattered throughout the city, but would make it difficult to have a single large scale park anywhere.
Talking utilities
The two biggest areas of concerns about the city's utilities infrastructure were about overhead wires and the condition of the city's sewers. Several residents said that the overhead wires are an eyesore and detract from the attractiveness of the city.
While the cost for burying the wires is substantial, many in attendance said that it would be a good idea. Several even suggested that the city would not have to do it all at once but could defer the cost by burying the wires one block at a time.
Another issue was the conditions on the sewers. While the capacity of the city's sewage treatment plant is fairly new and has plenty of capacity, the lines that lead to the plant are often antiquated, and many are from the turn of the century.
Shapiro said that there is a need to provide for infrastructure improvements in the master plan.
"What it sounds like is that [Hoboken] has 19th century infrastructure with 21st needs," he said. "There is a need to plan proactively in the future."
Upcoming master plan meetings
Topical Workshops (all meetings start at 7 p.m.):
Thursday Nov. 7 Buildings and design (density, historic preservation, zoning, etc.)
Wednesday, Dec. 11 Circulation (pedestrians, parking, traffic, and transit)
*Meeting locations for the last three workshops will be announced in the Hoboken Reporter shortly.
Geographic Workshops (all meetings start at 7 p.m.)
Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2003 Center city/Washington Street
Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2003 Central/northern waterfront
Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2003 West side (light rail, northwest area etc.)
Wednesday, March 26, 2003 Southern waterfront/terminal area
* Meetings will be held in the area being covered - locations will be assigned at a later date.
Senior Citizen Meetings (both meetings start at noon)
Wednesday, Nov. 7 Fox Hill Apartments
Thursday, Nov. 8 Multi-Service Center