Accord on towers at tunnel
10-year legal battle over in WeehawkenA decade-old dispute between an environmental group and the developer of a proposed real estate project at Weehawken's Lincoln Harbor appears to have been settled to the satisfaction of both parties.
The settlement, mediated by the state Department of Environmental Protection, orders Hartz Mountain Industries, a Secaucus-based developer, to alter its plans to build two new office towers at Lincoln Harbor, near the helix approach to the Lincoln Tunnel in Weehawken.
The development project, approved by the town of Weehawken in 1989, was challenged by the American Littoral Society, a national nonprofit environmental group, which claimed the buildings would obstruct motorists' views of Lower Manhattan and New York Harbor.
The nearly 12-year opposition the Littoral Society led against the project culminated in Administrative Law Judge Richard McGill's ruling last year that the Hartz Mountain project did in fact violate state laws protecting ocean views.
Rather than face more protracted legal proceedings, Hartz Mountain and the Littoral Society agreed to have the matter settled by the DEP Office of Dispute Resolution.
The DEP decision, handed down earlier this month, said the buildings would have to be built further west - away from the water - than initially planned.
"All settlements like this are compromises," said Dery Bennett, executive director fo the Littoral Society. "We were primarily interested in the preservation of the view from the helix."
Bennett said his organization is happy with the decision.
"We think it was a good settlement. It preserved the view."
Exactly how much of that view was preserved, however, remains a matter of debate. Although it is certain that the project will be moved west, neither Hart Mountain nor the DEP could come up with a precise distance.
Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner had not been told exactly how the project was going to change, either.
"We have to see exactly what they're doing to see what needs to be done," Turner said, referring to the new plan.
Turner added that the town would have to look at the revised plans in detail before determining whether or not it would require Hartz Mountain to re-submit a formal application.
"When we finally get all the supporting documents, we're going to turn them over to our professionals, our attorneys and our planners, and then we will determine what they (Hartz Mountain) have to file."
If the new site plan is significantly different from the one the town approved 10 years ago, Hartz Mountain may need to seek re-approval.
Bennett suggested that the settlement required Hartz Mountain to move its buildings approximately 100 feet west from where they were originally planned.
Turner said such a plan is "a significant change" from what the town initially approved. That figure could not be confirmed.
The lack of information concerning the specifics of the new site plan has frustrated Turner, and, he added, the whole process "was a little too secretive for my taste."
"They kept us informed all the way through until this process (the final negotiations) started," Turner said.
"Even after they settled, nobody picked up the phone," he said.
Hartz Mountain would prefer a speedy approval process no matter which administrative channels its application must go through.
The company indicated high real estate prices are an incentive to begin construction as soon as possible.
"The market for development on the New Jersey Gold Coast has never been stronger," the company said in a prepared statement, referring to New Jersey's Hudson River waterfront property.
Lincoln Harbor is already home to 1.2 million square feet of commercial and office space.