The last phase of a master-planned redevelopment along the Jersey City Waterfront is the subject of new litigation, as a pair of condo boards have gone to court to stop 19 townhome buildings from rising.
Back in June, Jersey City’s Planning Board approved a development from Pulte Homes called Liberty Watch. The green light followed months of hearings and significant pushback from nearby condominium associations.
The plan calls for 168 townhomes throughout four-story buildings, 336 resident parking spaces, outdoor amenity areas, and other site improvements. During the hearings, lawyers for Port Liberté Condo Association argued against the project on several grounds, claiming that Pulte Homes lacked the necessary easements to build their proposed project and that a redevelopment plan for the area had expired.
The condo board also objected to the new development not contributing to a fund that maintains the nearby waterfront walkway connecting the neighborhood to Liberty State Park.
Many of those same objections were raised and expanded on in the pair of lawsuits, both filed in Hudson County Court on September 11. The Port Liberté Homeowners Association filed the first, and Port Liberté Condominium Association III Inc. filed the second.
Both complaints name Jersey City’s Planning Board, Pulte Homes, and New Liberty Residential Urban Renewal Company LLC as defendants. The case filed by Port Liberté Condominium Association III adds the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) as a defendant.
The complaints seek to have the approvals thrown out on several grounds. The first claim alleges the Planning Board lacked jurisdiction to approve the applications, citing the Caven Point Redevelopment Plan, which the Jersey City Council adopted in November 1984.
The complaint claims that language in the original documents specifically states that the provisions of the plan “shall be in effect for a period of 40 years from the date of approval.” That would mean the plan expired in November 2024, but the case says Pulte Homes filed its development application on December 11, 2024.
The cases additionally claim that Pulte’s applications failed to satisfy the requirements of the Municipal Land Use Law and the Jersey City Land Development Ordinances. The lawsuits say that “the failure to analyze the impact of tidal flooding on the storm water discharge from rainfall calculations is a failure to demonstrate appropriate storm water discharge as required.”
The case from the Port Liberte Condominium Association III expands on this point with regard to the DEP, as that case claims that the Planning Board failed to require Pulte to pay a proportionate share of costs for a netting chamber around an existing pump station that manages flooding in the area.
The cases also claim that the Planning Board “improperly disregarded substantial expert testimony and evidence offered by the Association and other objectors” and “relied upon unsupported conclusions concerning flooding, stormwater management, infrastructure impacts, and compliance with governmental approvals.”
The condo boards additionally claim in their filings, which combine to span over 150 pages, that Pulte Homes lacks the required easements to build Liberty Watch as approved by the Planning Board.
Jersey Digs has reached out to Pulte Homes regarding the lawsuit; we will update our reporting with any comment we receive.
Port Liberté, situated south of the Liberty State Park and featuring several canal-like waterways, currently consists of about 800 townhomes and a recently completed 401-unit complex. Pulte’s final phase of the master-planned community would redevelop about 10 acres of vacant land along Caven Point Road.
