December 1999

Community Plan for Weehawken

Architect Craig Whitaker and resident Susannah Shepherd discuss the Weehawken Community Plan

North Bergen. Edgewater. West New York. Town by town, our precious Hudson River Waterfront is rapidly being decimated by the hodgepodge construction of private enclaves and high-rise towers. Alarmed by a similar threat to our own town by Roseland Properties' development proposals, we residents of Weehawken have banded together as Friends of the Weehawken Waterfront (FWW) to create a viable alternative.

Quite simply, this alternate plan seeks to preserve the Hudson River views currently enjoyed by Weehawken residents and visitors alike; to create a truly public-friendly waterfront for the township; and to establish an urban environment whose buildings are designed on a human scale and echo the character of those already existing in the town.

Working with noted New York City architect, Craig Whitaker, an urban planner known for his sensitivity to the unique aesthetic and environmental needs of waterfront land like ours, FWW has embarked on a wide-ranging community planning process-including a series of public meetings to encourage input from the community at large.

At one such meeting in December of 1998, Mr. Whitaker provided a slide presentation on "Planning Successful Waterfronts" showing both good and bad examples of waterfront land use in other towns. During succeeding months, he also conducted intensive seminars with FWW leaders in order to teach them the basic principles of urban planning. These invaluable training sessions have enabled us to better understand the problems inherent in Roseland's plan as well as our options for addressing them.

Among other issues, we're presently dealing with two of the major flaws encountered in the developer's proposal (and already evident in waterfront development elsewhere along the Hudson River) -- namely, the loss of river views and the lack of public access:

1. PRESERVING THE VIEW Roseland Properties' current plan for Weehawken features a number of 10- and 12-story towers which, when seen from Boulevard East, would segment our panoramic view into a series of sight-limiting "corridors". Obviously, this is unacceptable. So FWW is planning to conduct a 3-D computer analysis to assess the impact of various building heights on our waterfront views. The results will determine future designs in our own plan.

2. PUBLIC ACCESS Despite state requirements for a public walkway along the Hudson River, much of the new waterfront construction has resulted in the creation of private enclaves that discourage or prevent the public's use of the waterfront. In Weehawken, with the Planning Board's approval of Roseland's plans for the townhouses and Banana Building in Phase I, this denial of public access may well be repeated. To prevent this, the FWW plan has a continuous street that clearly delineates the private development from a public waterfront park. The Community Plan will realize the full potential for establishing a continuous, public waterfront park at this 142 acre parcel along Weehawken's shoreline.

In addition to these issues, an alternative street and block system at the waterfront have been drawn for the Community Plan. The details for block and lot coverage, densities, traffic, parking, building design guidelines, and other factors are in the works.

Over the past few months, FWW leaders and consultants have engaged in a number of meetings with Mayor Richard F. Turner and developer Carl Goldberg of Roseland Properties in order to discuss our objections to Mr. Goldberg's development plan and present our suggested alternatives to it.

The creation of our plan is an ongoing process. And while input from the community continues to grow, we urge you to participate in FWW's upcoming public meetings to ensure that your concerns are considered. We've tried to be thorough in our mailings, but if for some reason, you haven't received notice of meetings in the past and would like to get on our mailing list, just call FWW at (201) 223-1378; write to us at P.O. Box 5167, Weehawken, NJ 07087; or contact our web site on: www.weehawkenwaterfront.com