Bushburg sues Jersey City for rejecting megaproject

Bushburg is taking Jersey City’s planning board to court after its application for a massive mixed-use development on the city’s West Side was denied.

The Brooklyn-based developer, through a subsidiary, filed a lawsuit last month claiming the board’s denial was not based on “adequate findings or conclusions as required by law,” the Jersey Journal reported. 

Bushburg’s project, dubbed Westview, calls for four towers ranging from 30 to 55 stories on a site at 80 Water Street, near Route 440 on the city’s Hackensack River waterfront. The development would include 3,079 luxury apartments and 250,000 square feet of retail.

But those plans hit a snag in January, when the planning board voted to deny the application because Bushburg lacked a formal agreement with NJ Transit regarding right-of-way dedications for an expansion of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail service that would cut through Bushburg’s 9-acre site.

Bushburg claims this was no reason to deny the application, because it complies with existing ordinances and the project’s final approval would have been conditioned on those right-of-way agreements anyway.

The developer further accused the planning board of overstepping its legal authority by piling additional requirements onto the project, which has already faced some community resistance for its high density and lack of affordable housing. Bushburg wants the court to overturn the denial and approve the first phase of the project.

If approved, the project would be a significant one for Bushburg, more than doubling its existing residential portfolio of about 1,500 units, mostly concentrated in Brooklyn.

It would also be consequential for Jersey City’s West Side. While much of Jersey City is being transformed by large developments and projects, the West Side has seen far less activity because of its lack of easy access to Manhattan — something an extension to the light rail system would help addre

— Holden Walter-Warner