City Holds Second Round of Western Edge Redevelopment Meetings

What would you like to see built on the Northwestern side of town? 

That was the question asked—and in some cases answered in the form of sticky notes—on Thursday night in a back room of the third floor of the Hoboken Public Library. 

Community Development Director Brandy Forbes hosted the second round of public meetings this week, about the Western Edge redevelopment. The approximately 11 acres will be redeveloped and a combination of commercial, retail, residential and open space will be built there. 

But there's still a long way to go. 

First, the city will go out for proposals to conduct a market analysis to see how the area is best used. After that analysis is completed, the public will have another chance to look at it, the City Council has to approve it and send it to the Planning Board. Once that plan is adopted, the city can go start negotiating with developers who are interested in building the plan and talk about the details of the plan. 

Forbes called the current plan, which includes a community center, an "excellent stepping point."

Michael Sciarra, a developer at Ursa Development Group, didn't necessarily agree, saying that the current plan includes too much office space. 

"There's no space for office space," Sciarra said, adding that the plan needs more open space. "It calls for parks," he said. Ursa, which owns about 60 percent of the Western Edge, according to Sciarra, has developed its own plan that includes more open space and residential buildings. 

Councilman Peter Cunningham disagreed, but said he'd be open to talking with Ursa to see how parts of their plan could be incorporated. 

"We can't rely solely on residential," said Cunningham, "no way."

The city's plan includes so-called "incubater space," which means that new businesses will rent space, with the hopes of growing and renting more space in that location in the long run. Especially this appeals to Cunningham. "We don't have one in the area," he said. He added it would create jobs in the area.

The city also still wants to acquire the Henkel site, which is the lot adjacent to the Western Edge. This lot is owned by chemical company Cognis, which has recently been sold to German Chemical Company BASF. This development means that the Henkel site won't be sold to the city in time to be included in the planning of the Western Edge, Cunningham explained.  The city has long wanted to turn the Henkel site into a park. 

As far as the public was concerned, planner Michael Pessolano said that most people want to see more open space, enough parking and flood prevention.