City Vehicles To Be Moved to Willow and 17th St

After heralding the closure of Clinton between 15th and 16th Streets as an "innovative" solution at no cost to the city to store municipal vehicles, the administration has changed its mind.  

Mayor Dawn Zimmer announced Monday afternoon that the city will enter a shared services agreement with Weehawken for $15,000 a month, and will move its vehicles to 1714 Willow Ave.

Clinton Street between 15th and 16th will not be closed to car traffic. 

On Thursday afternoon city officials maintained that they would go ahead with the closing of Clinton Street, but were looking into other options. "It's probably going to be Clinton Street," Zimmer said on Thursday. 

City Council approved the closure of the portion of Clinton Street during the last council meeting, even though advocates for the nearby Burlington Coat Factory and a Dialysis Center urged the council to deny the plan. Burlington's attorney John Curley told the council that the city wasn't allowed to close a public street if it doesn't serve the entire community. Zimmer would not respond on Thursday afternoon if that was the reason not to go ahead with the street closure. 

On Friday, the city entered an agreement with Willow Avenue Enterprises, LLC for vehicle and parts storage services at 1714 Willow Ave., according to a press release sent out by City Spokesman Juan Melli. Melli said the city will be moving out of the garage on Observer highway later in the week. The move will take about two weeks, he added. The city needs to be out of the current garage by Aug. 13.

The agreement is for 60 days, but could be extended by two 180 day periods by the two municipalities, Melli said. This means the agreement could last about a year.  

"Hoboken and Weehawken will use this (60 day) period to determine whether extending this arrangement for a longer term is in the interests of both municipalities," Melli wrote in the statement. 

The location includes both an interior garage and parts storage space and an exterior parking area for both municipality's vehicles and salt storage, Melli said. 

Finding a temporary location for the municipal garage has been a difficult process for the city, with quite some bumps in the road. When the Pino site was leaked as a possible location, the community came out to protest the move of the garage to any residential neighborhood. When the city wanted to enter an agreement with a Jersey City landlord, Jersey City Mayor Jerramaiah Healy and Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop opposed the plan. 

Melli said that the city started negotiating the deal with Weehawken immediately after city council passed the resolution to close Clinton Street.