Bayonne, DEP partner up to improve access to waterfront

BAYONNE -- The Peninsula City has entered a partnership with the state Department of Environmental Protection that aims to improve access to the city's waterfront and help tackle environmental remediation.

Bayonne will join the likes of Camden, Perth Amboy and Trenton in a partnership with the NJDEP's Community Collaborative Initiative (CCI) to facilitate projects within the city. 

"This announcement is a proud day for both Bayonne and the state Department of Environmental Protection because it will help set the stage for the ongoing rebound of this great port city," DEP Commissioner Bob Martin said in a release. "For the three cities already in the program, we have a long list of environmental successes which will translate into stronger, more diverse, and better urban areas for residents and visitors. We anticipate the same results for Bayonne."

As part of the partnership, an employee with the DEP will keep an office in City Hall and will work with city officials on a slate of ongoing and new projects with the city.

The partnership has neither a time frame nor a contract, the DEP said. The official will remain employed with the DEP and will not receive a city salary.

"To me it's a home run for the city," Mayor Jimmy Davis told The Jersey Journal. "Now instead of an application going down to the state DEP and sitting on someone's desk who has umpteen applications in front of him, he's able to walk through it with us."

In an interview, the mayor said he envisions lengthening the Hackensack River Walkway on the city's west coast -- connecting a number of parks via waterfront walkways.

"A lot of it is being able to get more (waterfront) access to the city," he said. "We're surrounded by water yet we're one of the few cities that have never really used its waterfront for recreation and that is one of the biggest things I want to do."

That involves some remediation of sites on the city's coast, some of which may be contaminated chromium sites from old Honeywell pipelines.

"But now we have somebody here to help work us through it instead of going down there to have a meeting or sending paperwork. ... Now you have somebody who's sitting right here saying 'OK, here's what we need to do,'" he said.

CCI was established in 2013, building upon a similar partnership in Camden that advanced some of the city's redevelopment goals.

The initiative's three other partnered cities announced major projects in 2017: a $7.1 million remediation project in Perth Amboy, an $8 million project with Trenton and a $25 million project with Camden.