New Newark Law Paves Way For Ironbound High Rises

NEWARK — A local law that nearly triples the height allowed on land slated for a new high-rise development in the Ironbound got City Council’s approval on Thursday following a bevy of public comments.

The council’s unanimous approval of the law allows for 30 stories to be built where previously only 12 stories were permitted on the Iberia site — about 2.5 acres of land at 31-39 Jefferson St. and 450-466 Market St., next to the Passaic River. The project that the new zoning paves the way for calls for two 26-story and two 30-story buildings totaling 1,400 apartments.

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East Ward Councilman Michael Silva said the development will generate significant tax revenue and allow the city to pay for millions in infrastructure improvements, including to combat flooding.

“It’s going to allow the city to invest in public safety, the city to invest in infrastructure, the city to invest and make people’s lives better,” said Silva, who sponsored the measure. “Development pays for things like this.”

Shavani Hurry, the housing justice policy lead and a program manager at Ironbound Community Corporation, however, told the council there has not been enough engagement with the community on the proposal. The changes, she said, are “spot zoning,” a reference to the sometimes-illegal practice of creating special zoning for properties that differs from the zoning of properties around them.

“Our community deserves a seat at the table for development that will change and impact the entire city, not just the Ironbound where it will be located,” Hurry said. “I am not against development, personally, however, I am against a process that invites newcomers in while pushing the community out.”

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The project calls for 280 affordable units. But whom they will be affordable to is a concern. What is considered “affordable” under the city’s inclusionary zoning regulation is not an accurate reflection of affordability in the community, Hurry said.

The local law, Hurry said, uses the area median income for the “Newark, HUD Metro Fair Market Rent Area,” which includes all of Essex County, in addition to Morris, Sussex and Union counties. It puts the area median income at $115,000, while the city’s median household income is $37,476.

“Apartments such as Iberia, if it is created, should be reflective of the community’s true income and not reflective of surrounding areas of people who do not look like us or share our same experiences,” Hurry said.

In addition to changing the zoning for the Iberia properties, the ordinance places properties at 12-18 and 15-17 Jersey Street into a mixed-use commercial district and says they, “will be acquired by the city as a component of Newark’s Riverfront Park.”

Ironbound resident John Goldstein fears for the future of the lands, which were once dedicated for open space only.

“We fought for decades to reserve that land for the completion of riverfront park,” Goldstein told the council. “The city’s convoluted justification for that change omits one important thing: there is no guarantee those parcels are going to end up as the park we’ve been promised for decades.”

Silva, however, said the space in question at the riverfront is a “small privately owned piece of land” and its rezoning would not impact the future of the park.

Vince Baglivo, executive director of the Ironbound Business Improvement District, focused on the economic benefits of the development  the zoning will allow for.

“The location within Newark’s MX-3 development zone is just blocks from Newark Penn Station, one of the busiest intermodal mass transportation sites in the northeast and a significant economic generator for the city,” Baglivo said.

“The project will create much needed market rate and affordable housing. It will increase commercial capacity for the creation of construction and retail jobs and will generate millions in additional tax revenues for the city to expand public safety initiatives as well as critical infrastructure repairs and enhancement.”

Previous Coverage

• Green Space Added to Ironbound High Rises to Address Concern
• New Zoning to Allow Ironbound High Rises Heads to Newark City Council

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