FORT LEE, N.J. (AP) - Several conservation groups filed legal briefs on Monday in an ongoing fight over the planned expansion of an electronics company along the Palisades by the Hudson River.
The New Jersey Conservation Foundation said about a dozen environmental and conservation groups filed “friend of the court” briefs on Monday in an appeal of a Superior Court judge’s decision upholding a variance granted to LG Electronics to erect a 143-foot tower at its Englewood Cliffs location.
The New Jersey group said it was joined by the Palisades Park Conservancy, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Regional Plan Association, the New Jersey Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and five other park and preservation organizations in filing the briefs Monday in New Jersey Appellate Court.
The group said separate legal papers in opposition to the tower height were also filed by four New Jersey mayors and several key New York elected officials, including Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
The Palisades Interstate Park Commission had previously voted to ask LG to reduce the height, although its action is non-binding.
Opponents say the new height poses a threat to the scenic beauty to the area north of the George Washington Bridge, compromises the view from the Hudson River and Manhattan, and will open the door for more high-rise buildings along the Palisades.
The opponents are appealing a New Jersey Superior Court judge’s decision to uphold the height variance.
John Taylor, a spokesman for LG Electronics USA, said the project was approved after extensive public hearings. Taylor said the company had made changes to its plan based on feedback from those hearings. Taylor added that the new building, which many local officials have supported, will generate thousands of jobs both in its construction and in enabling the company to expand in northern New Jersey.
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