Jersey City rent control ordinance text strikes permanent exemptions for redevelopment-area towers and converted hotels

JERSEY CITY — The ordinance the Jersey City Council takes up tonight would delete two permanent exemptions from the city’s rent control law, according to the text posted in the council’s agenda packet Tuesday afternoon.

Ordinance 26-089 is listed as a “Late Item” for first reading. Its fact sheet names Jake Ephros, “Council person for Ward D,” as project manager. The text strikes two items from the list of buildings exempt from Chapter 260, the rent control chapter:

• “Newly constructed dwellings with 25 or more dwelling units located within a redevelopment area” covered by a council-approved redevelopment plan; and
• “All buildings or structures, hotels, motels, or guesthouses which are converted from any previous use as a nonpermanent dwelling to use as a dwelling on or after October 1st, 1983.”

It adds a new subsection to Section 260-6 saying converted hotels, motels and guesthouses are exempt only “for a period of time not to exceed the period of amortization of any initial mortgage loan obtained for the dwelling, or for 30 years following completion of construction, whichever is less.” That is the limit in New Jersey’s Newly Constructed Multiple Dwelling Law, N.J.S.A. 2A:42-84.1.

The fact sheet’s statement of purpose reads: “This ordinance repeals the permanent exemption from rent control for dwellings with 25 or more units in a redevelopment area and the permanent exemption from rent control for non-permanent dwelling buildings or structures converted into permanent dwellings (e.g. hotels and motels converted into rental housing). A previous city ordinance aiming to repeal the exemption, City Ord. 19-128, was introduced but never adopted.”

The council’s findings say “a permanent exemption from rent control is an active detriment to the long-term needs of the city for more affordable rental housing.” They say the council does not intend to apply the change “retroactively to any rents already collected” after the initial exemption period, only to future rents, and that new buildings in redevelopment areas “shall be entitled to the standard thirty-year exemption outlined by state law, provided that all applicable procedures are followed.”

The ordinance would take effect 20 days after enactment. The fact sheet lists attorney Jeremy Jacobsen’s approval on Oct. 19; the assistant business administrator and the business administrator are listed as “Pending.”

At Monday’s caucus, Ephros and Council member Eleana Little presented the proposal, Hudson County View reported.

The council meets tonight, Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 280 Grove St. The agenda lists the next regular council meeting as Thursday, Nov. 12.

Hudson TV asks: Should big new buildings in Jersey City’s redevelopment areas stay exempt from rent control forever? Reply A: Yes, keep the exemption. Reply B: No, cap it at 30 years.
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