A 70-story residential tower will be built along the Jersey City waterfront under a plan that was recently approved by the city’s planning board.

The 721-foot-tall building, which would be the city’s fifth-tallest skyscraper, is planned for the front portion of the Avalon Cove residential complex along Washington Boulevard. The tower will bring an additional 950 residential units to the community, which currently has 498 apartments between a pair of five-story buildings that will remain in place.

It’s unclear when construction will begin. Jon Vogel, senior vice president of development for Avalon Bay, did no return messages seeking comment on the plan.

The tower will include a six-level parking garage with 572 spaces, as well as 17,000 square feet of retail space and a health club on the ground floor.

Under the development plan, which was approved by the Jersey City Planning Board on Sept. 10, the tower will have 505 studio apartments, 265 one-bedroom units, and 160 two-bedroom apartments. The remaining 20 units will have three bedrooms each.

How much rent will be in the new tower also remains unclear. The plan does not include an affordable housing component.

In the current Avalon Cove apartment buildings, rents for one-bedroom units range between $2,820 and $3,310, according to Apartments.com. Two-bedroom apartments cost between $3,560 and $4,135, while three-bedroom units can run up to $5,175 per month.

If built, the tower would be the fifth tallest in the city, smaller only than 99 Hudson, which is under construction; the Goldman Sachs Tower; the planned 30 Journal Square project; and the second Journal Squared tower, which is also currently under construction.

But don’t count Ward E Councilman James Solomon as a supporter of the ambitious plan.

“The zoning that was approved decades ago by a previous City Council said you are allowed to build this project with unlimited height,” Solomon said.

Solomon said because the zoning for the Avalon Cove complex does not need to be changed, the plan does not need council approval, although he added that he wished the council had a say.

“My commitment is to basically review all these old zoning laws and determine which ones needed to be amended so that all future developments provide the appropriate infrastructure to handle all the new people they are adding to the city.

“To me the tower is a perfect example of how city planning in Jersey City has gotten big things wrong and needs to change,” said Solomon. "This is why we need to create reform quickly."