Construction Concerns 加

Hello,

I am writing to you as a concerned mom, who is up at 4am along with my kids due to the noise coming from this construction site.

This morning, the crew started either drilling or working at 4am. On top of the drilling noise, there was loud siren noise coming from the site as well. It woke up me and my kids, and all of us started our day at 4am due to this illegal and inconsiderate activity. What's more, when dropping kids at daycare this morning, I ran into fellow parents who also mentioned their kids being up at the same time due to this same noise.

I would very much appreciate if you could help with mitigation here to restore our lives and schedules back to normal.

Thank you again!
Ani

It appears that two Stop work orders have been removed from the front of the building. Work continues on the second-story addition on the back of the building. New siding has gone up recently on the addition.

Any help from the JC Building Department or anyone else in the know would be appreciated. What are the next steps in this situation. Making it public on JC SeeClickFix in case anyone else is or has been through this mess.
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This is regarding the 13 story, 298 unit, 4 retail, with 10 parking spot apartment building which is about to start construction on the lot at 96 – 110 Tonnelle Avenue. (at Broadway and Tonnelle) The owners of the old brick apartment building at 112 Tonnelle Avenue and the owner of the 2 family wood frame house at 160 Van Reipen Avenue received letters in July 2022 (last year) from the owners of 96 – 110 Tonnelle. The letter stated that they want permission to access our properties to do an inspection of what might be needed during their construction to protect properties. To tell you the truth the letter was kind of intimidating. It stated we have 10 days to sign and return the letter or court action to gain access would be taken. The 160 Van Reipen owner took it to the JC Building Department, and they said it is kind of standard procedure but said they never really saw it worded in such a threatening manner. The 160 Van Reipen owner signed it and returned it by mail.
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Flash forward one full year. No one ever came to look at the 160 Van Reipen property. Even after the owner cleaned and moved 3 generations of “stuff” away from all of the interior basement walls. In June 2023 a person did come to 160 Van Reipen to take pictures of the interior basement walls and floor. Said they were before construction pictures in case the construction does any damage.
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Early week of July 2023 received a phone call from the construction company that they are sending shoring plans and an acknowledgement letter. They were received by email on July 10, 2023. The shoring plan consisted of 5 pages of engineering diagrams with detail of how they are going to dig a 8 to 9 foot shoring wall around their property so they can pour their foundation. The acknowledgement letter was addressed to the Jersey City Building Department already filled out with the 160 van Reipen owners name and just needed a signature. Owner was told to quickly give the shoring plans a look and to sign the letter and they will pick it up that day. They said that they can’t get a building permit without adjoining property owners signed acknowledgement letters.
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Hmm owner has half a brain and did look over the 5 pages of plans prepared by an engineering firm. Having ZERO knowledge of architecture or structural engineering he found many blatant errors. Some if implemented from those plans could have possibly caused damage to adjoining properties. Misplaced property lines, shoring right up to property lines, depiction of the 160 Van Reipen house as having the first floor at grade (ground) level and the 7 foot 100 year old fieldstone foundation completely undergrade, and depicted the wood frame house as brick. Owner of 160 Van Reipen sent back an email saying there were errors on the plan and pointed them out.
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On July 17, 2023 a “corrected” version of the plans were received by the owner of 160 Van Reipen along with a revised acknowledgement letter. Again, more or less saying look the plans over and sign the letter and they will pick it up immediately. After receiving the plans owner would get calls asking for the signed letter and when will it be signed. That the owner of 112 Tonnelle already signed theirs. 160 Van Reipen owner AGAIN found obvious errors and sent back an email pointing them out.
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On July 19, 2023 a “corrected” version of the plans was received along with a revised acknowledgement letter. 160 Van Reipen owner yet again found errors and the 160 Van Reipen fieldstone basement not being correctly portrayed. This time owner sent back a letter informing the 96 – 110 Tonnelle owners that he decided to seek out a professional structural engineering firm to see if the shoring plans will protect his 100-year-old fieldstone foundation and also contact the JC Building Department for advice. Told them that because of a tight work schedule and personal family issues he would NOT reply to them until after meeting with a professional structural engineering firm at his own expense.
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Because the 96 – 100 Tonnelle property as well as the side of 160 Van Reipen’s property has a slant in grade the 7 foot foundation of 160 Van Reipen is only 2 feet under grade at the rear and 3 feet under grade at the front. If you are familiar with the area, think about how steep the hill is say from the Blvd to Broadway on Tonnelle. An 8-to-9-foot deep dig 4 feet away from the property line for a wooden shoring wall as displayed in the plans will surely weaken the foundation which back in the day did not require a cement footing and the cellar floor is only ¾ inch thick. Also to hold up the shoring wooden wall (called lagging) tall steel beams will be driven into the ground every few feet and the lagging slotted into it. Hoping the vibration from doing that does not harm the fieldstone foundation.
One more thing the owners of 9, 11, 13, and 15 Bryan Place whose yards adjoin the 96 – 110 Tonnelle property did not receive any shoring plans or acknowledgement letters to sign. Since many have big mature trees on their property line which had their over the property line branches cut off by the construction company they are wondering what will happen when the 8 to 9 foot dig 4 feet away from their property line for the shoring wall is dug will it cut the roots of their mature trees. Will it cause the trees to fall onto their houses? Do they have to worry about their yards collapsing. They want to know why they didn’t get shoring plans and acknowledgement letters.
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Anyone go through this? Can anyone from the JC Building department say what the next step should be? I can’t imagine a long-time elderly JC homeowner knowing what to do in this case. Believe it or not there are still many real old time JC homeowners still hanging in there many not tech savvy, so they need help with situations like this. Especially with the development boom that has finally hit Journal Square.
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There should be an amendment to the Planning Board requirements that the owners requesting approval for their projects inform the owners of adjoining properties what they are in for. And maybe pay for an engineering firm and lawyer that will be needed. The engineering firm and lawyer of the affected property owner’s choice that is. Oh yeah 160 Van Reipen owner was advised to get a lawyer because someone saying “don’t worry, we will fix anything we break” does not cut it. Also, to make sure the construction company has the right kind of insurance.
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If any JC BD inspectors come by theywill see the 96 – 110 Tonnelle construction firm already dug down about a foot maybe 3 feet away from the property line when they were setting up their tent for the ground breaking ceremony a while ago which is causing concerns with all the rain we have been having.
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If the owners of the 96 – 110 Tonnelle Avenue (new address will be 166 Van Reipen Avenue) project start any construction on the shoring process without a signed acknowledgement letter what should they do? Who do they contact? JC Building Department? Non-emergency JCPD number?
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Thank you all

This complaint pertains to west end of Cottage Street past Herbert Place.

1. Indian crooks (who brag being Indian - see sign on gate) illegally erected fence and gate blocking public street. They rent public street as private parking lot. They attempted to obtain a lease a few years back via ordinance, but got spooked off, and backed when exposed. Then erected gate anyway.

2. Crooks also disabled fire hydrant, by fencing it off and making it inaccessible 24/7. A criminal act.

3. I request Fulop fire Mayer for allowing illegal structure to be put on public street.

4. I request Fulop fire James Shea for creating fire hazard by allowing
hydrant be disabled with fence.

5. I request City removes on its own asap the entire fence and gate, and charge costs to individual criminals involved.

6. I request City refer criminals involved to NJ Attorney General for criminal prosecution.

7. I request City refer James Shea and Raymond Mayer to NJ Attorney General for criminal prosecution.

Construction is well above decibel noise law levels inside my apartment. I've measured it on my phone at 72 decibels while the pile driving is taking place. This is all day every day.

Construction going on across from 180 River Drive consistently violates noise ordinance times by starting at 6:45 am on week days and at 7:30am on weekends

Extremely loud generator is running overnight despite no crew on site. Can this be turned off? At weekends at least when no work is permitted?

The party wall between 155 and 153 Grand Street (Brownstones) was compromised by the construction workers of 155 Grand Street. The electric saw penetrated the party wall through the wall of the apartment #1 of the neighboring 153 Grand Street with a blade ending up at the tenant's bed.

According to one of the residents who lives at 47 Hancock Ave., the construction work being done at 53 Hancock Ave. is causing her entire building to shake and vibrate. She doesn't see any permits and wanted it checked out. She's concerned about the shaking and vibrating causing structural damages to her building."

Is this building structurally sound? Every windstorm some pieces of it fly around the area. The building and I use that term loosely is South of the light rail tracks on Marin Blvd. It looks like the whole thing could fall down someday.

They don't respect construction time rule. They pile before 8:30a many times. Yesterday they did 7: 30ish.