City Council endorsed an application for a Flood Hazard Area (FHA) permit waiver by developers of a proposed 174-unit apartment complex across the river from downtown.
The governing body approved a resolution (AR-52-18) at its Feb. 7 regular meeting supporting the Bridgeview redevelopment project and its application for a FHA individual permit-hardship exception. The mayor and city clerk will sign the permit application as co-applicant.
The proposed Bridgeview redevelopment project is located in the CBD-3 Subdistrict of the Central Business District (CBD) Redevelopment Area. Tesla Redevelopment, LLC, presented a concept plan for 174 units to the Redevelopment Agency at its May 2017 meeting and was conditionally designated as redeveloper.
The development is contingent on the permit — residential development cannot happen without it — and Tesla Redevelopment is applying to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the waiver. The DEP could agree to a waiver for construction in the flood zone or determine certain conditions, such as requiring that the ground floor be built higher.
UPDATE: The permit application was submitted to the DEP in March, according to an update from Deputy Redevelopment Director and City Administrator Cherron Rountree to the Redevelopment Agency at its April 4 meeting. Permit applications typically are under review by DEP for four to six months after submission.
The two-building would encompass five existing lots occupying about half of the block surrounded by Clarkson Place, Essex, Monroe and Bridge streets on the east side of the Rahway River, adjacent to a PSE&G substation.
The city “finds this approval, construction and operation of the project, as proposed, is consistent with the city’s and agency’s goals and policies for redevelopment of the CBD-3 Subdistrict,” according to the resolution. “The project includes various off-tract improvements within public right-of-way areas to create on-street parking and pedestrian-oriented streets adjacent to and in the area of the project.”
FHA rules regulate certain types of construction and other development within flood hazard areas. FHAs include “any land, and any space above that land, which lies below the flood hazard area design flood elevation, which is equal to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) 100-year floodplain in coastal areas and at least one foot higher than FEMA’s floodplain in non-coastal) areas.” Structures, fill, and vegetation that are situated on land that lies below the flood hazard area design flood elevation are described as being “in” or “within” the flood hazard area.
Here’s some more information about FHA rules.
