A quick explanation of the Redevelopment Process:

Redevelopment in NJ is a powerful law/process that gives city councils the ability to make zoning changes to an area of land without the typical zoning board process. Other advantages of a Redevelopment area is the ability for the city to collection PILOT payments and use eminent domain to take land.

The redevelopment process starts with an area being selected and studied by a planner to determine if it’s an area that’s “in need of redevelopment.” An area is determined in need of redevelopment if the planner finds that area is “blighted”.  A report is presented to the city council, which then must approve the area as a redevelopment zone to go to the next step.

Once an area is approved as a redevelopment zone, public hearings are held to get feedback from the public.

The planner uses these hearings to develop a Redevelopment Plan. A Redevelopment Plan goes into as much detail as possible about land usage and what the community expects from the development.

In Hoboken, once a Redevelopment Plan is finished, it’s goes in front of the council as an ordinance. The first vote introduces the ordinance. Once it’s introduced, a resolution is voted on to send it to the planning board for review. Once it returns from the planning board, it goes up for second and final vote. If at any point in this process major changes are made, the ordinance process starts from the beginning.

Once the Redevelopment Plan is approved, the city posts a Request for Proposal to gather proposals from developers.

The city then picks the best developer and engages in negotiations with the developer to come up with a Redevelopment Agreement. The stronger the Redevelopment Plan, the easier the negotiations are for the city.