Jersey City officials took steps this week to prevent the troubled Heights University Hospital from being turned into senior housing, citing concerns about the city’s dwindling hospital services.

The city council voted 8-0 Wednesday night, with one councilperson abstaining, to adopt an ordinance that prevents senior housing and assisted living residences from being built in the city’s medical zone. Officials said they were motivated to pass the ordinance after the owners of Heights Hospital, formerly Christ Hospital, announced preliminary plans for a residential development on the land.

Urgency to pass the ordinance intensified in November when the hospital’s owner, Hudson Regional Health, announced that the facility would be closing after more than 150 years. The hospital will conti

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