Comment EI-17151
Received or sent (printed as 4/7/2009)
I want a full and fact-based Environmental Impact Study of the entire Harsimus Branch. Although I no longer live in the neighborhood, I am tied to the Historic Downtown area by my work as a historically oriented registerd architect. My practice has focused on the Historic Downtown Districts of Jersey City. I presently have 7 projects within a 4 block radius of the 6th Street Embankment, but over the past 10 years I have completed at least 15 others. Therefore, I feel that I can speak with confidence to the great damage to the neighborhood that removing the embankment would bring. Removing the embankment and replacing it with housing would interfere with the neighborhood structure by introducing an enormous increase in housing that the current fragile infrastructure of city services, parking and transportation corridors. The historic neighborhood buildings around the embankment are mostly in a fragile state and as people are moving into these old rowhouses and renovating them, they must spend a great deal of money to first stablize them - as most of the buildings were built in the 1870's. A large intrusive construction project of this nature would surely have an impact upon the stability of the buildings at many levels, first the destruction of a large historic landmark and then the construction of too many homes, which will most likely require extensive invasive footings because of the poor soils in the area. The proposed construction of so many more residential units in this neighborhood would drastically affect the fabric and neighborhood feel of the area - it would not be the same neighborhood". Beyond that - the embankment is a historic structure which reminds us of our past. We would like to see further environmental study of the embankment - we feel that it would be detremental for it to be removed from environmental, historic and at a human level. Please feel free to contact me to discuss further. Thank you Debra David (architect)"
Submitted by: Debra David · Debra David RA
The Board publishes this comment in its environmental-comment table for this proceeding. It is quoted here as printed; nothing is inferred from it, and it states the commenter's own position in their own words, not this record's.
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/AB-167/sub/1189X/comment/EI-17151 · back to the docket sheet