Hoboken finally funds study for crumbling Castle Point Terrace

Jenny Rossini has watched the street in front of her home get worse for years. “Our street has not been touched in 100 years,” she told the city council this week. “It is collapsing with trenches, pits, holes, and uneven curbing that have already injured residents.”

She isn’t exaggerating. Castle Point Terrace, a narrow road winding along the cliffs in Hoboken’s 6th Ward, is more than a century old. And for the people who live there, every step is a risk. Roseanne Versaci, another resident, said her tenant “face planted and injured herself.” Councilwoman Diane Imus, who represents the ward, described walking behind her elderly parents, “ready to catch when we’re walking on the street.”

After years of promises and delays, the Hoboken City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to spend $200,000 on a contract with Montclair-based Arterial LLC. The money will pay for concept development and preliminary design engineering services for the road’s rehabilitation. It’s a step forward — but residents have heard that before.

The council meeting, covered by Hudson County View, showed just how frustrated neighbors have become. The road is “buckling,” Versaci said. Stones are missing. Patches of asphalt sit where the original pavement once was. “Not only is it an eyesore, it’s so dangerous,” she added.

The history here is long. Councilwoman Imus said the city has been talking about fixing the road for nearly a decade. Public meetings were held in 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023. Funding was approved, then pulled. The road just kept sinking.

Part of the problem is that Castle Point Terrace isn’t a simple pothole job. Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher explained that the roadbed has to be “fully rebuilt.” And that costs. Councilman Joe Quintero said the sticker shock was real — estimates suggest it could take $4 million to fix two blocks, when a typical block costs around $150,000. “This is an example of when you don’t maintain your infrastructure on a regular basis, the costs pile up,” he said.

So what does this mean for Hoboken residents who don’t live on Castle Point Terrace? For one, it’s a reminder that the city’s aging infrastructure doesn’t fix itself. Councilman Phil Cohen reminded his colleagues that the $200,000 is “money we can’t spend anywhere else in the budget.” That matters in a year when the city is “pressed financially,” as he put it. He also said the city may need to find grant money to cover the full cost of the rebuild.

Council members were careful to note that the study is just the beginning. Once they know what’s needed, they’ll have to decide how to pay for it. “We’re going to have a hard decision to make at some point in the future,” Cohen said.

Still, there was a sense of relief that the project is finally moving again. Councilman Paul Presinzano said previous delays were “due to some politics of the last administration.” 3rd Ward Councilman Mike Russo urged the council to “get the bare minimum tackled right away.” Council President Ruben Ramos agreed. “The road needs to be done,” he said simply.

Councilwoman Fisher, who has worked on this since 2017, said the difference this time is “a different Administration, different politics, and really a commitment to look at things through a more rational lens.”

The council also postponed votes on two other ordinances: one requiring bird-safe glass in new construction, and another overhauling the city’s cannabis and hemp laws. Both will be taken up at the August 12th council meeting. The bird-safe ordinance remains on second reading; the cannabis ordinance will go back to first reading after what Ramos described as “significant revisions.”

For now, residents of Castle Point Terrace can take a small breath. The study is funded. The design work can begin. But they’ve been here before. “Since 2018,” Versaci said, “we have had multiple meetings, Zoom, conversations with council people, and we’re still at an impasse.”

The street, she said, is just getting worse.