After a first meeting with Council President Lavarro we present our case at the MCCDC at their monthly meeting. We are trying to go fast because time is NOT on our side, still we are learning and getting ever day more prepared. Yesterday we sent an update to Council President Lavarro with much more information. Here is copy of the letter: --------- Dear Mr. Lavarro, I’m writing to urge you about stopping a new development on block 17102 lot 17 at 23 Cornelison Avenue, Jersey City. We are the residents of Bergen Hill historical district and we have found out (having not notified by any agency or developers) that JCRA has designated Tovaste Inc. as the developer for the lot 17. Supposedly a community meeting has been held at some point, but conveniently none of the homeowners that are adjacent to the lot were ever notified. This lot in question is the continuation of the Bergen Hill Park described in the Morris Canal redevelopment plan as Summit-Cornelison Park. I contacted Morris Canal and the Jersey City planning department and they have very little information in response to details on this development. You may know that the property along Cornelison Avenue was once part of the lots facing Summit Avenue. That was the case when the houses from 62 to 68 Summit were built by Garrett Van Horne about 1889 and was still true when the apartment building at 70 Summit was built in 1924. For all these buildings the sewer line had to be put in the back, running down to the sewer on Cornelison Avenue because there was no sewer on Summit Avenue. When the properties were cut in half and the back part sold off the sellers, Van Horne and his descendants, kept a reservation in the deed allowing them, or their successors, the right to enter on and maintain the sewers that run through the land down to Cornelison. You will find this reservation noted as a restriction in the deeds to the Cornelison property which are on record at the county courthouse. The city now owns the land along Cornelison but the owners of the old Van Horne Houses own the sewers that run through it and have a right to use and maintain them. Specifically the deed dated 1907 says: "..The party of the first party hereby reserves the right to use the present sewer now crossing the above described property and connecting the four brick houses on the south, owned by the part of the first party with the sewer in Cornelison Avenue, until such time as a sewer shall have been built in front of the said houses in Summit Avenue with which a connection may be made." For many years the land was used for car parking and has been unused and overgrown for about the last 50 years. In all that time there was no trouble getting to the sewer line, if necessary. However, if an apartment building is built on top of them it will be a big problem. Before 1999 there was a major break in the sewer behind that building and the public works department had to bring in back hoe machines and dig a great trench down the hill in order to rip out and replace the line. Some neighbors remember all the sewage was pouring down through the trees and out onto the street which had to be blocked off. You can see where that work was done because there is a big patch in the stone wall where they cut through it. Something like that could happen again. In consideration of such legal and practical issues we ask to consider to stop the sale of the lot and allow residents to create a proper Non Profit Corporation to develop the Park including the lot 17 creating what could be a Van Horne Park with the intent of preserving Green Space for the city and to preserve part of the history of Jersey City and what it should be the Bergen Hill historical District (https://jerseydigs.com/historic-houses-of-bergen-hill-jersey-city/) . Such utilization of the land would be in line with the purpose of the Morris Canal Development Plan as it says in page 7 for Parks and Greenspace Objectives (.. In addition, land should be made available for community gardens along Cornelison Avenue..). It would be an important act of preservation of about 100 trees fully developed that contribute to city green canopy, contribute to improve stormwater management and have so much improvement to the help of our community and Jersey City to be a sustainable city. I would like to also note that such piece of land (the lot 17) was already included on the map of Bergen Hill Historical District dated 1986 and designed by the same Jersey City Office of Urban Research and Design ( http://www.cityofjerseycity.org/docs/bergbig.shtml ) For such a reason we already started a petition to stop such a sale (https://www.change.org/p/rolando-r-lavarro-stop-jersey-city-sale-of-public-land-to-developers-promote-a-green-city-for-our-kids/w?source_location=petition_show ) We already presented a plan and proposal on April 5th at the monthly meeting of the Morris Canal CDC where we were offered support for the initiative and we will be at the Jersey City Park Coalition on April 13th. In conclusion we urge again to stop the sale of block 17102 lot 17 at 23 Cornelison Avenue, Jersey City, we ask a moratorium on sale of such land for the time necessary to organize, both logistically and financially, a Van Horne Park Coalition able to improve the Park and make it a real green space for the community that includes the triangle of land at Summit, Cornelison and the above mentioned lot as a real asset of a new flourishing Bergen Hill Historical District. Sincerely, Irina Shalaeva ------- Again numbers makes a difference. We are asking everyone to spread the petition and to be if possible at the event o April 13. Every help is welcome as well as suggestions. Remember we are working people, so we do this at night after our daughter go to sleep. ...but it needs to be done. Thank you to all of you . Irina and Giulio