Revitalization crew backs off from earlier redevelopment plans
By:Eric Schwarz
The borough’s revitalization plan will focus more on bigger concepts and less on unpopular particulars like razing the Rustic Mall or placing townhouses there, a Somerset County planner said Friday.
The plan, meant to revitalize the South Main Street business district, is being completed by a team of consultants and financed by the state from a grant approved in January.
Suggestions include three distinct districts, known as Town Center (the Rustic Mall site); South Main or Mid-Main for professional offices and Royce Park, an open space area at the far south part of the street.
Laurette Kratina, Somerset County principal planner, reported on the planners’ change in philosophy after a Sept. 6 meeting of the steering committee.
Representatives from primary consultant group Brown and Keener and environmental consultants Excel Environmental attended the meeting, along with about 15 of the 21 steering committee members.
The most significant changes to the concept plan involve emphasizing open space and expanding the Royce Park area, Ms. Kratina said.
That area eventually could be used for flood control, she said.
"It would be impractical to do significant development in areas where flood control would go," she said.
The committee also supports mixed use for the site, such as a combination of retail and housing, Ms. Kratina said.
Developers looking at the former GAF industrial site slated for redevelopment in South Bound Brook also are looking at mixed uses, including housing, she noted.
"The Rustic Mall site isn’t a whole lot different, nor is the town," Ms. Kratina said.
The South Bound Brook Borough Council on Tuesday chose a developer and redevelopment manager for the 12-acre property.
The proposed project would include a mid-rise hotel and conference center, 150 condominiums, open-air dining and shops.
The steering committee agreed that any housing at the Rustic Mall site should be owner-occupied to minimize dependence on community services and to avoid raising taxes.
The committee wants to make housing more attractive to households without children, Ms. Kratina said.
Ms. Kratina said some committee members questioned whether the town square proposed for the Rustic Mall site and the current gazebo would be redundant central places to hold events.
"I think basically we’ve stepped back from details to generalities," said Dick McCurdy, a steering committee member. "The reality of anything happening in Rustic Mall before five years from now is probably nil."
Most of the plan hasn’t changed, Mr. McCurdy said. "We want to get the plan in place, get the mayor and council to look at it."
Both Mr. McCurdy and Mayor Angelo Corradino predicted the next revision to the revitalization study will be received well by borough residents, in comparison to the first mid-course correction meeting Aug. 16.
At that time, the proposals met with criticism from several people among a crowd of 70. The strongest comments from the public were that revitalization is useless unless flood mitigation happens first, that townhouses are not wanted, and that current stores are popular and shouldn’t be replaced.
"I think the strong opinions are we shouldn’t get caught up in the details," Mr. McCurdy said. "Five years from now, a developer (at Rustic Mall) will build what will drive the market."
Mayor Corradino said the public should understand that redevelopment and flood mitigation are separate projects, and that mitigation would cost "hundreds of millions of dollars, way out of our realm of possibility."
Some residents on Aug. 16 objected to the revitalization proposal because it included no plans explicitly for flood mitigation.
But Mark Keener, one of the lead consultants on the project, said a proposal to put more park land in the south part of town would help prevent residential flooding.
That benefit has not been clearly communicated, he said.
Potential homes at the Rustic Mall site are only a "tiny component of the plan" and had been inherited from a previous plan presented in May by the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, Mr. Keener said.
A site for a proposed senior citizens housing project is still being sought, Mr. Keener said.