The City of Bayonne Planning Board on Dec. 1 advanced a suite of redevelopment plans and area-in-need studies covering several neighborhoods across the city, reflecting a pattern of denser multifamily zoning near transit nodes and a push to assemble and remediate underutilized or contaminated parcels.

Consultant Lindsay Knight presented redevelopment plans for parcels at 508–514 Avenue A and 134–136 West 22nd Street, proposing a single multifamily structure up to 70 feet (six stories plus bulkhead), minimum lot-area increases, unit-size and mix requirements, and parking ratios of 1 space per studio/1BR and 1.25 per 2BR. "Redevelopment is a legal process...we are kind of at step 2 right now," Knight said, describing the three-step state process and stress on master-plan consistency.

Ronald Reinertsen (appearing as the consultant on multiple plans) presented several redevelopment plans and study-area updates across the city — including Avenue E, several West 22nd/West 55th Street parcels and Broadway sites — and discussed programmatic edits adopted during review. Reinertsen and other consultants noted a common set of design tools used across plans: minimum studio sizes raised to 500 square feet, green-roof requirements (commonly 15–30% of roof area depending on plan), EV and bicycle parking requirements, design and streetscape standards, and allowances for mechanical (stacked) parking to increase capacity on tight lots.

The board also approved several non-condemnation area-in-need studies. For a study along John F. Kennedy Boulevard (1201–1205 JFK Boulevard), Reinertsen recommended designation under statutory criteria D (dilapidation/obsolescence/excessive impervious cover), H (smart growth), and a section-3 catchall allowing inclusion of parcels that are not individually blighted but necessary for effective redevelopment of an adjacent designated area; he noted historical groundwater contamination tied to a former gas station. Reinertsen read the statutory standard for criterion D into the record when explaining the findings.

Other study approvals included the Hudson Plaza Motel site (190 W. 63rd St.), where consultant Slough cited obsolete site layout, poor access, floodplain and stormwater deficiencies and aging utilities as reasons to recommend inclusion in an area-in-need designation; and the Broadway/E.50th–51st 'Bella Sorelle' study area where consultants cited vacant storefronts, unimproved lots causing erosion and dust, and Urban Enterprise Zone frontage as grounds for designation and future assemblage.

Commissioners asked recurring questions about unit counts, affordability controls, parking impacts, and consistency with Bayonne's 2017 master-plan reexamination. Several commissioners flagged the need to coordinate affordable-housing controls with the board's affordable-housing consultant before finalizing plan language. "We will refer the affordability language to Mr. Slough," one commissioner noted during review.

Votes at a glance (items announced and recorded on the Dec. 1 record): PDash25-027 (300–302 Constitution Ave — Harbor Point): approved (non-condemnation area need); PDash25038 (HCIA pantry at 685–689 Broadway): approved; PDash24-019 (508–514 Avenue A / 134–136 W. 22nd): approved; PDash24-020 (653–657 Avenue E): approved; PDash24-004 (19–45 W. 55th St.): approved; PDash24-027 (85–87 W. 22nd St.): approved (one abstention recorded for Commissioner Locke on a related item); multiple additional redevelopment plans and area-study recommendations were presented and approved, and the board adopted resolutions formalizing those recommendations for Council referral.

What this means: The approvals signal continued municipal embrace of denser, transit-oriented housing and redevelopment along key corridors in Bayonne, with an emphasis on design controls (articulation, materials, green roofs), parking strategies adapted to tight urban lots (including mechanical parking), and coordination with county and state policies. Several approvals also clear the way for remediation and redevelopment of former industrial or brownfield sites through designations that make assemblage and incentive tools available.

Follow-up: Redevelopment plans and area-study recommendations approved by the planning board typically proceed to City Council for final action and to the site-plan stage; affordable-housing language and parking/street-access details will require further review on several applications.