February 2000

NJDEP Negotiates Away Hard Fought Court Victories That Preserved Views of Hudson River

View from top of Palisades looking over Lincoln Harbor

Hartz Mountain Industries reached a negotiated settlement with the New Jersey State Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) on January 6 that effectively reverses two dramatic court victories that protected views to the Hudson River and New York City skyline. On November 13, 1990, the Appellate Division of New Jersey Superior Court rescinded a waterfront permit granted by NJDEP to Hartz that would have allowed the construction of two 16-story towers at Lincoln Harbor in Weehawken. Referring to the river and skyline views the court opinion stated, "Its panoramic beauty will be substantially lost -- except to commercial tenants of the two towers." After a challenge by Hartz, an administrative law judge, in March of 1999, upheld the earlier court decision as well as the NJDEP regulations upon which it was based. It was widely anticipated that NJDEP Commissioner Robert Shinn would approve the March ruling, making it official policy of the department.

But instead of upholding the court rulings, the NJDEP struck a deal with Hartz. According to the agreement, Hartz will be allowed to build the two 16-story towers which are 160 feet high. The only requirement is that the towers be moved back from the river an additional 100 feet and that a corner of one of the towers be removed to preserve most of the view from the Lincoln Tunnel helix. This agreement ignored a design alternative, cited in the court decision of 1990, that would have reduced the building heights to 65 feet, thus preserving most of the views from the top of the Palisades. Leaders of community groups in the area were stunned by the agreement. A number of groups are currently fighting proposals by developers to erect high-rise towers along the Hudson River waterfront. The Friends of the Weehawken Waterfront are battling a plan by Roseland Properties to build a 3.9 million square foot development further north on the waterfront which would include a series of 10 and 12 story towers. Residents for Responsible Development of 1600 Park Avenue, based in Hoboken, is organizing opposition to an 18-story, luxury rental building proposed at the Weehawken Cove, just a few blocks south of Lincoln Harbor.

"This maneuver may prove very damaging to our cause," Claire Burke of the Friends of the Weehawken Waterfront stated. "The views we have enjoyed from the top of the Palisades for generations are priceless. When local officials cannot appreciate the importance of this, we depend on the state's regulations which protect views to the river. This agreement, however, ignores these regulations as well as the court rulings."

During the negotiations, none of the local groups were consulted by the NJDEP, Hartz or the Littoral Society, which brought the original lawsuit in the late 1980’s and was also a party to this settlement. This dispute, however, could be far from over since Hartz will now most likely have to resubmit their application to the Weehawken Planning Board. Local residents, after experiencing the results of an intensely developed waterfront over the past ten years, now view these projects with a far more critical eye.

During its protracted legal battle, Hartz Mountain Industries lost Paine Webber, its anchor tenant at Lincoln Harbor. Paine Webber stated that it was forced to move its 266,000 square feet of office space to Jersey City’s waterfront because Hartz did not have any new space under construction and was thus unable to accommodate its growth.