Council Approves Street Closure for Storing Vehicles

City Council passed a resolution 7-2 during Wednesday night's meeting, to close Clinton Street between 15th and 16th Street, but not before amending it to make sure the local dialysis clinic will not suffer any consequences.

Although some council members said there are more available streets in the uptown area of Hoboken, Director of Transportation and Parking Ian Sacs said that an unofficial study showed that this is the best option. 

It's still unclear for how long the vehicles will be parked on Clinton Street as part of the temporary measure, which could be as short as 3 months or as long as five years. The resolution on the matter states that closing the street should not exceed 180 days. 

But, said First Ward Councilwoman Theresa Castellano, "Temporary is never temporary."

"Other options need to be explored," said Third Ward Councilman Michael Russo, who added that Grand Street would be a better place for the vehicles. 

The street will be used for vehicles that are currently stored in the city's municipal garage on Observer Highway, which the city has to vacate before Aug. 13 in order to hold up its end of an agreement with developer S. Hekemian Group. The city plans on outsourcing the maintenance that is currently being done by city employees in the garage. 

Business Administrator Arch Liston said during the meeting that none of the workers will be laid off. He said also that he expects the cost of the maintenance to be around $10,000 a month. Parking the vehicles on Clinton Street is of no cost to the city. 

Before vacating the municipal garage, the city needs to obtain a letter of "no further action," from the Department of Environmental Protection. Director of Environmental Services Jennifer Maier said that the city is still on track and should be able to leave the Observer Highway location before the deadline. She would not give a specific date on which the letter from the DEP would come, or when she expects to move out of the garage. 

One of the entrances of Burlington Coat Factory—located on 15th Street and Willow Avenue for the past 25 years—is on the block the city wants to close off. Drew Darata, who's in charge of regional operations for Burlington Coat Factory, and his attorney John Curley spoke up against the resolution on Wednesday night. 

Curley called the city's plan "unwise and unfair." Public streets, he added, should be used for the public's best interest, and not for the city's proprietary functions. 

"We've known about this proposed solution for a few weeks," said Fifth Ward Councilman Peter Cunningham. "Burlington does have access from Willow."

Donald Pellicano attended the meeting on behalf of the FMC Hoboken Dialysis Center, which is located on 1600 Willow Ave., pleading to the council not to park the city's trucks next to the clinic. 

Most council members seemed unaware of the fact that closing the street would impact the dialysis center. 

"I am appalled that this resolution doesn't have any acknowledgement of this," said Fourth Ward Councilman Michael Lenz. The resolution was amended to acknowledge that measures should be taken to make sure that closing of that portion of Clinton Street will have no medical implications on the patients of the dialysis clinic. 

Sixth Ward Councilman Nino Giacchi called the arguments he heard from Curley and Pellicano "pretty compelling," and said that further examination of other options needs to be done.

But time is running out, and Sacs said he would not have enough time to complete an in-depth study on the matter before the city has to vacate the garage. 

"There are way too many problems here," Giacchi said.