Jersey City Approves 11-Story Academic Tower in Journal Square for Hudson Community College

Hudson County Community College Tower 1
Image courtesy of NK Architects via Hudson County Community College.

By Chris Fry, Jersey Digs – February 23, 2023

The Journal Square, Jersey City neighborhood seems poised to welcome yet another sky-high project when the weather warms as the path has been cleared to turn a current parking lot into a modern educational facility.

During their February 21 meeting, Jersey City’s planning board unanimously recommended a proposal for 14 Enos Place from Hudson County Community College (HCCC). The parcel, situated between one of the college’s buildings and the Plaza Apartments, is sandwiched between Enos Place and Jones Street just off Summit Avenue.

Hudson County Community College Tower 6
Image courtesy of NK Architects via Hudson County Community College.

Designed by NK Architects, the plans call for an 11-story tower plus a “mechanical penthouse” that rises 180 feet. The facility is slated to include 24 state-of-the-art classrooms, expanded spaces for student services, and centralized offices for Continuing Education and Workforce Development.

Other portions of the building will feature a black box theater, a full-size NCAA regulation gymnasium and fitness center, a University Center for sister colleges, a new healthcare lab, new student common areas, and administrative offices for the college.

Hudson County Community College Tower 7
Image courtesy of NK Architects via Hudson County Community College.

“Urban college campuses such as ours require special considerations for students and neighbors in the surrounding community,” stated (HCCC) Board of Trustees Chair William J. Netchert. “This new tower will substantially accommodate those needs.”

Hudson County Community College Tower 3
Image courtesy of NK Architects via Hudson County Community College.

Hudson County announced late last year that they have committed $35 million in funding towards the project and the tower also snagged a $2.2 million grant from the federal government. HCCC began accepting bids for the tower’s construction back in November, but the winner of that contract has not yet been disclosed.

Hudson County Community College Tower 4
Image courtesy of NK Architects via Hudson County Community College.

While a groundbreaking date for the academic tower has not been announced, the project’s construction will add to a busy landscape around the Journal Square PATH station. Kushner’s One Journal Square, a 26-story tower at 425 Summit Avenue, and a smaller high-rise at 413 Summit Avenue are all currently under construction within three blocks of 14 Enos Place.

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New York to get $256,106,000 for Clean Water Infrastructure Upgrades

From an EPA news release

New York (February 24, 2023) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced over $256,106,000 to New York from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure through this year’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF). The funding will support New York communities in upgrading essential water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure that protects public health and treasured water bodies. Nearly half of this funding will be available as grants or principal forgiveness loans helping underserved communities across America invest in water infrastructure while creating good-paying jobs.

“President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is delivering an unprecedented investment in America that will revitalize essential water and wastewater infrastructure across the country,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Not only will these funds expand access to clean water and safeguard the environment, but more underserved communities that have been left behind for far too long will be able to access them.”

“This major investment, awarded through the groundbreaking Bipartisan Infrastructure Law translates into replacing or repairing aging wastewater infrastructure, implementing water reuse and recycling, addressing stormwater, and addressing the risks from emerging contaminants,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “ EPA is committed to getting these critical water resources to underserved and disadvantaged communities.”

One example in New York involves modifications and improvements to the City of Newburgh’s combined sewer overflow system, which will allow Newburgh to address the untreated sewage that gets discharged into the Hudson every time it rains. This project received more than $6.1 million in federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds in November 2022. This phase of the work involves the construction of 8,500 feet of new interceptor sewer ranging in size between 18 and 48 inches in diameter. 

Today’s announcement is part of the $2.4 billion announced as part of the second wave of funding made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and builds on the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to invest in America. In May 2022, EPA announced the initial allotment of $1.9 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to states, Tribes, and territories through the CWSRF. That money is supporting hundreds of critical water infrastructure projects around the country.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law makes over $50 billion available for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements across the country between FY2022 and FY2026. EPA is committed to ensuring every community has access to this historic investment and has centralized increasing investment in disadvantaged communities within its implementation. This investment in water infrastructure is creating jobs while addressing key challenges, including climate change and emerging contaminants like per and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law calls for strong collaboration, and EPA continues to work in partnership with states, Tribes, and territories to ensure that communities see the full benefits of this investment.

In addition to today’s announcement, the 2023 Drinking Water State Revolving Fund allocations and program updates are forthcoming, pending the release of the seventh Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment. EPA anticipates releasing the information in the coming weeks.

The CWSRFs have been the foundation of water infrastructure investments for more than 30 years, providing low-cost financing for local projects across America. For more information, including state-by-state allocation of 2023 funding, and a breakdown of EPA CWSRF funding available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/cwsrf .

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Biden is putting more money into it. So what exactly is ‘community solar’?

The Inflation Reduction Act includes money to help develop subscription-based solar programs.

The Fairbault Community Solar project, located just east of Faribault, Minnesota. Credit: Cooperative Energy Futures
The Faribault Community Solar project in Minnesota.

By Dan Gearino, Inside Climate News

On a farm field east of Faribault, Minnesota, a 1.3-megawatt solar array provides electricity to serve about 180 subscribers.

The project, which occupies about six acres, is an example of community solar—also called “shared solar” or “solar gardens”—a kind of development in which subscribers receive credits on their monthly utility bills for the solar electricity produced.

Community solar is poised to become much more common thanks to a new $7 billion fund tied to the Inflation Reduction Act. The EPA began the process of setting up the fund last week.

I’ve found that one of the biggest challenges in writing about community solar is explaining what it is, so I turned to Maria McCoy, a researcher for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a nonprofit that closely tracks the programs.

“Community solar is meant to be an option for folks who can’t put solar on their own roofs, whether they don’t own a home or have the financial ability to put solar up there or have a lot of shady trees,” she said.

Related:
Community Solar: The Basics
New law aims to increase DE’s lagging number of community solar installations
EDP Renewables awarded 13th New York community solar project
250 Homes In Bergen, Hudson County, NJ To Be Powered By Community Solar

The large majority of subscribers and projects are in six states: Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York. About 20 states have active programs and many of the rest have rules that limit the ability of developers to do subscription-based projects.

Community solar has its origins in ideas about democratizing access to clean energy, which has translated into laws mostly in blue states.

Read the full story here

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Tree huggers come together on many (but not all) recommendations for keeping NJ forests green and growing. Presenters at hearing split over tree cutting

By EnviroPolitics Editor Frank Brill

NJ Spotlight was all over a joint legislative hearing in Trenton yesterday where a task force of some 50 environmental organizations, deputized by Senate Environment and Energy Chairman Bob Smith, presented 16 key recommendations from their 270-page report on forest stewardship.

If you think that environmental groups all think alike, you’d be wrong. Although the report shows a consensus on many points, like putting deer and invasive species in the crosshairs, the group’s unanimity came asunder over tree-cutting’s role in proper forest maintenance.

Watch Spotlight’s video reporter Ted Goldberg cover the hearing in the clip above.

Print reporter Tom Johnson gives us: Task force delivers tome on best-practices forest management

Watch it? Read it? I prefer to do both. How about you?

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Adirondacks man is counting on solar to keep his dairy farm going. Neighbors not so sure

Jon Close, a farmer from Mayfield with a long beard and wearing a purple sweatshirt, stands outside the Mayfield Fire House.
Jon Close, owner of the Close Brothers Farm in the Town of Mayfield on Great Sacandaga Lake, stands outside the town fire house on Feb. 15 where a public informational meeting on a proposed solar facility on his property took place. Photo by Gwendolyn Craig

By Gwendolyn Craig, Adirondack Explorer

Nearly 100 people attended an open house Wednesday night about a proposed 40-megawatt solar array in the town of Mayfield in Fulton County. If built, it will become the largest solar project in the Adirondack Park to date. The facility plans are an example, too, of some of the park’s remaining dairy farmers looking for a new cash crop to make ends meet.

Solar developer Boralex Inc. is looking to place 200 acres of panels on the Close brothers’ family dairy farm. Fifth-generation farmer Jon Close, 64, said the family owns about 800 acres total, including a bucolic hillside on Great Sacandaga Lake that he will leave undeveloped so as not to ruin the view.

It has been a struggle to keep the farm, Close said, between the stagnant price of milk and trouble finding employees.

“This opportunity came along, so we’re going to take advantage of it,” Close said. “The money that we’ll receive for the panels will keep things going and down the road, it’s our hope that it will be returned to farming, whereas if it goes into homes, golf courses, condos or whatever, it will be gone forever.”

The solar farm is more than double the size of the largest project approved in the Adirondack Park so far. Gov. Kathy Hochul first announced the facility in June, part of a round-up of 22 large-scale renewable energy projects.

Read the full story here

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