Hoboken Council Greenlights Eminent Domain For Dry Dock

HOBOKEN, NJ — Even though the Hoboken City Council has approved the use of eminent domain to force the selling of the Union Dry Dock, it may not mean that the city will try to seize the property. But it sure doesn’t hurt the city’s bargaining position with the new owner, officials say.

On Monday night, the council approved an ordinance on second reading to authorize the use of eminent domain for the acquisition of the Union Dry Dock site at 901 Sinatra Drive to use as "open space."

The ability to wield eminent domain – which allows government entities to force the sale of land at a “fair price” for the public good – may prove important for the city now that the property has a new owner: NY Waterway.

Hoboken city officials issued the following statement about the sale of the Union Dry Dock last week:

“The city was just advised by NY Waterway that a subsidiary of NY Waterway had acquired Union Dry Dock for $11.5 million with the intention of using the property as a repair facility for its ferry fleet. NJ Transit advised the city that it will be entering into an agreement with NY Waterway for the option to purchase the property.”

• See related article: Should Taxpayers Subsidize Ferry Rides Across The Hudson River?

NJ Transit expressed interested in purchasing the Union Dry Dock in 2012, but then announced that it was “no longer exploring the acquisition” of the property and “did not anticipate doing so in the future.”

• See related article: NJ Transit Will Not Buy Union Dry Dock Property

Monday’s authorization of eminent domain “provides Hoboken city officials with the necessary tools to facilitate negotiations,” but does not mean that eminent domain will be implemented, municipal administrators stated in a news release.

“Now more than ever, the city needs all the tools available to be in the strongest position to negotiate in the best interest of our residents,” Mayor Dawn Zimmer said.

Zimmer asked the council to authorize the use of eminent domain during its public meeting on Oct. 4.

• See related article: Should Hoboken Authorize Eminent Domain For Union Dry Dock? (Zimmer Thinks So)

WHY BUY THE DRY DOCK?

According to a 2016 post from the Fund For A Better Waterfront:

"Acquiring the land for a park would connect Castle Point Park to Maxwell Place Park and would be the largest parcel of open space added to Hoboken's waterfront since the Fund for a Better Waterfront, in cooperation with the initial developers of Maxwell Place, established Maxwell Place Park in 2001."

The Fund continues:

"Union Dry Dock is in the Waterfront Zoning Subdistrict W(N) (Sec. 196-20) which limits building heights to two stories or 35 feet. Lot coverage is limited to 30% for principal buildings. Residential is not a permitted or conditional use. Permitted uses are limited to educational, public recreational, and marina facilities. Most of the site falls within FEMA's Coastal High Hazard Zone where the state's Coastal Zone Management regulations prohibit multi-family residential, motels and hotels. Thus, the development potential for this site is severely limited."

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NEW PROPERTY OWNER: "IRREGULAR AND UNFAIR'

On Thursday, NY Waterway Chairman of the Board Armand Pohan released the following statement about the Hoboken City Council’s eminent domain vote:

“We carry more than 30,000 passengers a day across the Hudson River on a fleet of 33 ferryboats. Approximately 2,000 of those passengers are Hoboken residents who use our terminal facilities at the Hoboken train station and at 14th Street. And when the public systems fail, we are the go-to option, cross-honoring PATH and NJ Transit tickets when requested under agreements with those agencies.

“For the past 30 years, we have maintained our fleet of ferryboats in Weehawken. This has been possible because undeveloped upland has been available for our use. The last undeveloped piece of upland, however, is about to be developed by its owner, Lennar Properties, and has created for us an urgent need to find a new location. When you look at a map of the ferry system, the most logical central location for a marine maintenance facility is that which already exists at the Union Dry Dock property. What could be better than a waterfront property that has existed as a shipyard for at least 130 years? The Union Dry Dock marine facility is now the last piece of “working waterfront” in Hoboken - the last vestige of the important part of this city’s storied maritime history.

“On November 3, after lengthy contract negotiations, we acquired the Union Dry Dock property as a permanent site for our maintenance operations. Now, through a most irregular process, there is a proposed ordinance to initiate steps to condemn this property. I say ‘most irregular’ because neither the 2004 Master Plan nor the 2010 Reexamination Report identify this property as part of city’s Open Space Plan, because in July of this year, this council referred the question of including this property in the Open Space Plan to the Planning Board, and because now, without any orderly review by the Planning Board as part of the 2018 Master Plan Reexamination, there is a short-circuiting of the established process and a rush to judgment. I cannot believe that this council, which prides itself on process and transparency, would choose to resort to such old-style Hudson County methods. It is irregular. It is unfair. It is of questionable legality.

“The power of condemnation is a formidable tool. It gives you the right to tell a property owner, ‘Get out.’ For this, however, you must pay. We have acquired this property for $11.5 million in an arms-length transaction. But that is just the beginning of the bill. You are not talking about relocating a pizzeria. You are talking about a unique piece of property and use which, incidentally, must be located on the water. Now you must identify another site for us to relocate and pay the costs of that relocation. Good luck to you, because after looking for the past 10 years, I can safely say that there is no other suitable deep-water site anywhere between Fort Lee and lower Jersey City. Any possible site would involve millions of dollars in dredging costs; the building of piers and structures similar to those which already exist on the Union Dry Dock property; and unknown environmental cleanup costs. Even more important than these capital costs are the additional costs arising from bringing boats to and from a remote location instead of a central location - more labor costs, more fuel costs, more waste of human time and more burning of fossil fuels in an area already struggling to meet clean air standards.

“All of these costs, which are in the tens of millions of dollars, will be borne by your taxpayers in a condemnation award, and if not, then by your constituent ferry riders in the form of higher fares. In either event, Hoboken residents lose - and all for the acquisition of some of the least accessible land in the city, a tract which far fewer than the 2000 daily Hoboken ferry riders are likely to access in a week. I respectfully submit that when 2000 persons signed the petition last July, there was no discussion of those costs and consequences, or of the long and storied history of this marine facility.

“It may be that some people are of the mind that you should use the threat of condemnation to maximize waterfront access on this site. As we have already told the mayor, we are willing to open a dialogue concerning waterfront access and widening of the walkway. We have worked harmoniously with numerous public agencies over the years, including the Hudson River Park Trust on such issues. But to initiate such a dialogue by hauling out the club of condemnation is hardly the way to initiate a productive, non-adversarial dialogue.

“We did not buy this property to build residential housing, or office buildings, or a shopping mall - all of which should come as a relief I would think. We bought this property, which has been a vessel repair site for over 130 years, to provide the most centrally located and cost-effective maintenance facility for your residents and for a ferry system which has become integral to the region’s transportation infrastructure.

“This ordinance would seek to frustrate that objective. This ordinance will, I assure you, put the city on a path of protracted litigation at tremendous cost - all of it unnecessary if you would follow your own procedures, await the consideration of the Planning Board, and work collaboratively with us to design and discuss prospective plans for public access. Please give us a chance to work on these issues. And in the meantime, please leave us in peace.”

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Photo: City of Hoboken