As someone who works in cannabis planning, this is going to court if the dispensary's lawyer is worth anything.

2 reasons cited for denial: offensive sign imagery and proximity to a church.

The applicant clarified the images were illustrative and not proposed, and that no such illicit images would be used.

The city has the ability to include a buffer from sensitive uses (e.g. churches) for cannabis uses. The fact that this was at the Planning Board and not the Zoning Board indicates that there is no buffer / they comply with it.

Therefore, the cited reasons for denial are not based in variances from the zoning code, so there is no basis for the denial.

That can still be considered walking distance.

You could also look at buildings directly across the bridge in Harrison

Yup, white people in the US will not dare step foot on a bus, let alone live without their creature comforts. East Orange is getting a lot of development now...but it's all for New Yorkers. The brochure I got in the mail features a train at Secaucus Junction and a view of the NYC skyline.

Yeah the phrasing is confusing...it describes a very specific development yield and height, but then advertises the lack of a height limit.

I don't remember seeing an approval for this either.

Yeah we're talking about the commuter-oriented downtown with various vacant buildings. Of course it affects the market, but there is no direct displacement going on, and the city needs the population and property taxes to support the city as a whole.

Certainly the market is ready to tumble, and that will hopefully stabilize this obscene surge.

A luxury building in Newark is attractive to professionals who work in NJ but want access to the benefits of Jersey City and NYC. I work in towns throughout NJ, and I can get to most of them by train or bus while still being 25 minutes from the city. A similar building in JC by Hoboken Terminal is gonna fetch even more given it's adjacent to NYC with views of it and retains access to the NJT train network.

The development market in NYC and JC are very saturated (JC beating out Manhattan recently for thr most expensive rental market in the country), so the capital is flocking to new grounds, even Newark's immediate suburbs are getting a lot of activity now.

Sounds like a developer got the approval and us trying to seek the land with it

That's JC/Hoboken price points 2-3 years ago. Would probably go for $3,500 for a 1 br there now, will it would be $5k+ in Manhattan or Brooklyn.

Yeah developers can do more as a gesture of good faith, as part of financing / grant schemes, or to off-set variances.

The inclusionary zoning Ordinance is a 20% affordable set aside.

This place appears to have a liquor licensed bar inside.

And ABC licenses are as much a state issue as a local one

55 Union also recently launched their website: https://55unionnewark.com/

I've been in and out of penn between midnight and 5am. It's fine. Only thing to note is they close all but the eastern entrance for security late at night, as they turn the main hall into a temporary homeless shelter overnight. So if you're fine with that, you're fine living there. The homeless don't bother you. Worst I heard of was one yelling toward my roommate on their way into NYC on their morning commute.

Being car free as well, Newark is the best location in NJ if you have any desire or need to go anywhere beyond Hudson County and NYC. Buses and trains in every cardinal direction. You can get 10 or so bus lines within that square to quickly get to Broad Street Station to go back to Summit.

I grew up in Short Hills and have lived within that box for 18 months. You'll be fine.

$25/month/person. So we pay 50 for 2 of us.

There are no common outdoor spaces...so you'd have to find one of the few renters with a terrace.

The $10 / floor is added to your rent. So being on the 25th floor, you pay $200/month more than the same unit on the 5th floor.

Resident of Eleven80 for 18 months.

The quality of the units is great. Historic art deco building, the 2nd tallest building in Newark, and - as a former office building - the ceiling heights are great (~15 feet). Location is wonderful. Right next to Military Park, NJPAC, and Prudential Center. Compared to anything east, the price is a fraction less but on the uppermost end of what you'll find in Newark. I live car free with 2 train stations within walking distance and dozens more bus routes, allowing me to easily get anywhere in Newark and move in any cardinal direction for cheap. The Military Park light rail station is directly below the building with 3-5 minute intervals during rush hour, taking you quickly to Branch Brook Park and Newark Penn Station.

The amenities are also very good and are a mandatory $25 / person / month fee. Full gym, locker room, saunas, lounge with pool table bar TV and poker table, game room, (rarely working) bowling alley, and quarter-court basketball court

If you start seriously looking, they charge $10 / floor, so you can save $$ living on the 5th vs $25 floor.

There are a bunch of threads to search for "moving to newark" that can clue you in on specific neighborhoods. Short answer is you're fine, and whatever connotation you have is outdated.

I'm a 5' 8", 220 lbs white guy living in downtown and I've never had a problem. The most my friends have had is someone screaming at them by Penn Station or panhandling.

I just came back from a bike ride meandering throughout all of downtown and part of the ironbound, dressed in my office clothes and wearing a fancy helmet with built in lights. No one ever bothers me. That includes the 5am walks home from the bar or with friends.

Of course you got neighborhoods to be mindful of. Once you ID a certain area we can get you more details.

As someone who works in cannabis land use planning, it's an equity concern to provide spaces where people can smoke legally. Only homeowners really have a legal space, as rental units, parks, and most sidewalk areas formally prohibit it (of course enforcement is a different story). It also provides a more private and comfortable space to smoke vs the sidewalk, as well as a space for newcomers to experience weed in a supervised space.

The interesting peculiarities in NJ are that there is an incredibly strict delineation between food/drink and cannabis. Edibles can't look like food (child safety), and consumption lounges can't be on the same premises as a place serving food and drink (probably child safety too, but I imagine that's more so the liquor-license lobby at play).

That said, just buy some pre-rolls for a few bucks and enjoy the lounge.

Interesting about Hochul, I'll need to read up more. A similar law died in committee in NJ that would allow 50%+vacant office and commercial complexes to be converted to multifamily. Nevertheless, NY is decades late to the party.

I'm certainly a fan of Fulop and he's done great work over there. My understanding is that much of the development has been via redevelopment (i.e. through the Local Housing and Redevelopment Law), which is a distinct statute from the Municipal Land Use Law that typical zoning operates under. The redevelopment law gives the City much more power over what is developed in areas deemed "in need of redevelopment," and can include an affordable-housing set-aside.

That said, JC was late to the main component through which all NJ towns require affordable housing: adopting a city-wide set-aside ordinance where any new development with 5+ residential units must set aside a portion as deed-restricted affordable (often 15% or 20%). I was at an industry event 2 summers ago, and the hosts work closely with Elliot Spitzer (infamous former NYC mayor and real estate developer). He gave the key-note address and explicitly said he prefers working in JC over NYC because JC doesn't require him to allocate for affordable housing.

Regarding the pricing, it's an imperfect indicator that shows both good and bad outcomes. The blend of pandemic migrations, changing preferences, taxes and fees, construction costs, and the intended market for the housing stock all have an effect, among many other things.

The Planning Board really does not have a legal basis on which to deny the application, especially if the applicant can deal with the variances for street trees and sidewalk lighting. That said, I'm not as versed in historic preservation law, so I don't know if / how the HPC denial impacts the PB review. I assume Newark's HPC is a "regulatory" HPC, not just advisory, and therefore would likely have the power to block or delay the approval, depending on local ordinance.