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Residents urge Planning Board scrutiny of Iberia 2 project over contamination, affordability and infrastructure
Summary
Homes for All Newark and residents urged the Planning Board to scrutinize the Iberia 2 development, citing possible soil contamination from a former PSE&G coal-gasification plant, lack of remediation plans, need for family-sized affordable units, voucher acceptance, local hiring, green space and traffic/infrastructure mitigation.
John Goldstein, speaking for Homes for All Newark and partners at the Dec. 3 council meeting, urged residents to participate in an upcoming Planning Board hearing and pressed for stronger protections on the proposed Iberia 2 redevelopment.
Goldstein said the riverfront site, assembled by developers at a reported $40 million, sits on land that formerly housed a PSE&G coal gasification plant and that the existing asphalt cap over contaminated material is likely to be disturbed by construction. He said there has been no public plan for remediation and called for a full cleanup and a public-health assessment.
Goldstein and community partners asked the developer and city to require more family-sized affordable units (two, three and four bedrooms), accept housing vouchers, increase the share of deeply affordable units to 30%, include green space and community amenities, guarantee local hiring and workforce-development commitments, and address sewage and traffic impacts given narrow streets and known congestion in the Ironbound. He urged residents to attend the Planning Board virtual hearing on the project the following Monday at 6 p.m.
Council members thanked Goldstein for the outreach and the clerk and others noted the upcoming Planning Board schedule; no council action on the development was recorded in the city-council meeting transcript.
