Hoboken residents gathered at Maxwell Park Friday evening to protest plans by New York Waterway to build a maintenance yard and refueling center on a patch of land in the city.

The city and the ferry agency have been fighting over Union Dry Dock for months and locals say that they want Gov. Phil Murphy to intervene.

“Gov. Murphy, we are here to tell you that the New York Waterway Union Dry Dock is not a viable option,” says activist Tina Hahn.

Hoboken residents say the fact that the dry dock sits next to a park that families use every day after school means that it is not a good option for a maintenance yard. The location is also next to a cove often used by kayakers.

“I don’t want my children to be playing a park that’s spitting distance from a diesel fuel facility,” says Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla.

Hoboken officials offered to pay $11 million for the property, but New York Waterway never took the offer. The city also threatened to take the land through eminent domain, but that threat was eventually pulled.

Mayor Bhalla says that he knows that Bayonne, South Amboy and Carteret are all interested in ferry service, so he says he is New York Waterway moves their plans to one of those towns.

New York Waterway did not wish to comment on the situation.