Jersey City residents living near where Saint Peter's University plans to build a residential tower are still voicing their concerns months after the city passed an ordinance allowing it to be built up to 21 stories tall.

"The people around here don't want it," Assunta "Sue" Folcarelli, 54, of Mercer Street told The Jersey Journal last week. "This is a residential area. The highest story building here is three stories high."

The tower, which Saint Peter's University is planning to build on top of its Montgomery Street parking lot between Tuers and Jordan avenues, is part of the McGinley Square East Redevelopment Plan. That plan was drafted in 2011 after the city's division of planning carried out a study that concluded the area was "in need of rehabilitation" and "in need of redevelopment."

In April, the Jersey City Planning Board recommended amending the plan to allow Saint Peter's University to add 100 feet to the building, increasing the max height from 175 feet or 17 stories to 275 feet or 21 stories. In May, city council members, with the exception of At-large Councilman Daniel Rivera, approved those amendments, and the ordinance was adopted.

City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said the university and the Maryland-based developer it hired for the job, Sora Development, filed an application for the tower in April. They are scheduled to appear before the board on Aug. 12, she said.

Michael Fazio, vice president for advancement and external affairs at the university, told The Jersey Journal yesterday that Sora Development is currently revising the architectural design of the building.

Originally, large, digital screens were planned for the outside of the residential tower, but the university yielded to local opposition against the screens, and the developer is now redesigning the tower without them, Fazio said.

He said the revised design has either already been submitted to the city's planning board, or will be submitted to the board soon. If the board approves of the university's updated application on Aug. 12, the construction on the tower will begin as early as the end of this year, he said, adding that it is more likely to start in the spring of 2015.

The university has previously said that construction on the building will begin in 2015 and finish in late 2016.

At-large Councilman Daniel Rivera did not respond for comment when asked why he voted against allowing an increase in the max height of the proposed building.

"All these people's lives are going to change," said Donna Cabell, head of the Mercer Block Association, also known as the Mercer Street Newsletter Group. "The traffic is already a mess there, this is going to make it worse."

Cabell said that she has collected 200 names on a petition against the university's project, but that many members of the community are afraid to speak out against the project.

At street level, the proposed building will have 45,000 square feet of retail space including an "organic" supermarket, a bank and a fast food restaurant and other stores, Saint Peter's officials have previously said.

The first floor will also contain a grand lobby for a 13-screen cinema on the second floor, while the floors above will include apartments and a dorm area. On the 20th floor will be two penthouse restaurants with 20-foot glass windows facing Manhattan. The building will also have a rooftop swimming pool.

Folcarelli and Cabell insisted that McGinley Square needed neither a movie theater nor a swimming pool. Besides traffic, other concerns they cited about the planned building included: large trucks during construction posing safety risks to small children, the apartments in the building being too expensive for local residents to afford, potential pollution caused by construction, the blocking of sunlight and views of the streets and the length of time it will take construction to finish.

They added that the base of the proposed building will be allowed to be built just five feet away from their homes, which do not exceed three stories in height.

Morrill said the base of the building being built five feet away from the homes fit the "typical setback requirement" throughout the city, noting that "there are many tall buildings built adjacent to smaller ones all over town." She also said a traffic study has been prepared to measure how the tower will affect traffic in the area.

On Friday, Tuers Avenue resident Leonie Johnson-Sean, 49, complained that she and other members of the neighborhood hadn't been properly notified and informed about the McGinley Square development.

Edgar Hoyos, 49, a worker at an auto repair shop on Mercer Street, and Maria Panza, 75, of Jordan Avenue, echoed concerns about the potential increase in traffic and having their view blocked by the proposed building.

"Once construction begins and once it ends, we're going to be really affected. Lots of people will park on Tuers. There's going to be a lot of noise during construction. It will be a very high building," said Cesar Desanandres, 76, who said he has lived on Tuers Avenue since 1987. "What can we do? We are fighting it."'

When asked about these residents' continued opposition to the plan, Fazio was apologetic but said building the tower was ultimately worth it.

"It's going to create some noise and some inconveniences for our neighbors, but we really feel that the benefits outweigh the potential downsides," he said. "When you talk about the tax revenue that will be infused in the area, the entertainment, the restaurants...It will make McGinley Square a destination again."

Folcarelli said someone once suggested to her that she move away if the development in the area was really bothering her.

"Why would I want to move...when I live here?" she said. "I don't know why they're trying to push us out of Jersey City."

Journal staff reporter Michaelangelo Conte contributed to this report.