From the Jersey Journal:
Planning division aims to save century-old homes
The Jersey City Planning Division wants to carve out new residential zones in the Greenville and West Side sections of the city in the hopes of saving older Victorian-style homes from demolition.
The city is proposing a zoning change that would increase the required minimum lot sizes from 2,500 to 4,000 square feet, making it more difficult – if not impossible – to tear down the homes on these oversized lots to make room for two smaller houses. A report issued this month re-examining the city’s master plan recommended the changes, noting that while the housing boom has brought new construction and new investment into many of Jersey City’s neighborhoods, it has also “exposed some failings” in the land development ordinance.
“Pressure to build more residential units has moved to tearing down larger homes on large lots to be subdivided,” the report said. “The Planning Division now regularly receives requests to subdivide and tear down older one- and two- family homes with excellent architectural character to make way for two two-family homes on a standard or even sub-standard lots.”