‘Big box’ growth drives traffic fears

Second in a two-part series examining large-scale retail development along Route 130.

By: Mark Moffa
   There is little debate that large-scale retail developments bring increased traffic to an area. However, there is no consensus whether such growth adversely affects that region.

   The Hamilton Marketplace, for example, will bring stores such as Wal-Mart, Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse, BJ’s Wholesale Club, and Kohl’s department store into a 270-acre center on Route 130 near Washington Township.
   East Windsor also is seeing an influx of large-scale retail development, with the addition of Target, Genuardi’s and a future Home Depot.
   Washington Township Committeeman Jack Mozloom expressed dismay last year at the headaches he thought the Hamilton Marketplace could cause for Washington. One of his main concerns was traffic congestion.
   Llyod Jacobs, Hamilton Township’s director of planning, said the Marketplace was all part of the township’s Master Plan. He agreed traffic was the most important issue, but said there should be no problems.
   The development, he said, is on a four-lane divided state highway — Route 130 — and near an interchange for Route 195. Accessibility, he said, is "excellent."
   Mr. Jacobs noted that more than half of the Marketplace site will remain open space, and that the developer, JDN Development, has been generous in providing necessary upgrades in services related to the project. He said Hamilton officials look for developers who will help with needed complementary tasks such as installing traffic lights or providing security. He said JDN was supplying such necessities.
   He said the municipality needed to examine whether the businesses would bring in more tax revenue than they would cost Hamilton in services that would need to be provided.
   For example, according to the Hamilton tax assessor’s office, the Home Depot on Route 130 South — which is located across the highway from the Marketplace site — paid $299,427 in property taxes last year. The property is assessed at $9.5 million.
   "We look at the demands (for services) that will be coming in and balance that with the added ratables," he said.
   With JDN’s project, Hamilton believes it will do well. Mr. Jacobs said the developer agreed to install a new water line for residents along Edgebrook Road. Residents, therefore, who previously had only well water, are now receiving public water.
   "That was an expensive proposition," Mr. Jacobs said. He also said the Groveville Fire Department will benefit from the installation of a high-tech fire warning system for the shopping complex.
   Last year, however, Mary Penny of the Central Jersey Sierra Club was critical of the township’s planning.
   "The fact of the matter is it’s going to affect the whole region, all that traffic will still go onto Yardville-Hamilton Square Road," Ms. Penny told the Hamilton Township Council last February before the project received final approval. "It will still go up on (Route) 33, it’s going to go all over the region and people will be using the whole area to drive through and the noise, the traffic, the air pollution.
   "You have little towns like Crosswicks, Yardville, Allentown, Mercerville, Hamilton Square, I mean they’re all little towns and that’s why people moved here. Now what we’re seeing is just people cutting through these little towns and these little areas and I don’t think that’s what we want."
   Mr. Jacobs said critics who condemn the retail giants sometimes forget that businesses only build the types of stores consumers want.
   "The customers are really the benefactors of competition," he said.
   Mr. Jacobs noted that development in Washington has an effect on Hamilton as well.
   "Washington Township has a huge residential development right on our border," he said, referring to the Washington Town Center, which currently under construction. Town Center is seeking to combine residential and commercial uses in an area primarily bordered by Route 33, Route 130, Hutchinson Road and Washington Boulevard.
   Washington Planner Bob Melvin agreed with Mr. Jacobs that traffic is the foremost Marketplace issue. He said the latest state traffic projections were made with the knowledge that Hamilton and East Windsor townships would be experiencing the introduction of big box retail stores.
   "But traffic studies are often imperfect," he added. "The true impacts are only going to be borne over time."
   He said Route 130 and Route 195 will need to operated at a very efficient level so that people do not try to find shortcuts through Washington. Allentown residents have expressed similar concerns.
   When asked if he were worried the Marketplace would affect the success of the Town Center’s business sector, Mr. Melvin said no.
   "To a large extent the type of retail that is going to be in Town Center is not the same type of retail," he said. "The types of retailers who will locate in a Town Center, if we look at what’s happening in Main streets nationally, the closer comparison is the regional malls."
   He noted Town Center businesses do not exist yet and will locate knowing the big boxes already exist. Mr. Melvin also said the downtown atmosphere he hopes will develop in Town Center — one that already exists in Allentown — has significant advantages over big box shopping complexes.
   "It’s more of a total event than perhaps the big boxes are," he said. "People will travel quite a distance to go to New Hope or Lambertville." Mr. Melvin suggested people do not travel long distances to go to a big box retail store, which is why there are so many of them.
   Mr. Melvin is confident Town Center will develop a viable commercial sector. He said big boxes are good for "necessity shopping" but that downtowns and town centers offer, "recreational shopping."
   "You’re not going to go to a 60,000-square-foot supermarket all the time for a gallon of milk or a newspaper," he said.
   Town Center’s business district likely will include properties such as clothing stores, bagel shops, coffee shops, shoe shoes, specialty food stores, and flower shops. Specific stores may include Gap, Victoria’s Secret, Talbot, and Banana Republic.
   Carol Kaufman-Scarborough, associate professor of marketing at the Rutgers School of Business at Camden, agreed downtowns provide unique shopping experience.
   "Downtowns provide a slower pace," she said. "It provides more choice."
   But big boxes, Dr. Kaufman-Scarborough said, are trying their best to compete with and eliminate smaller retailers.
   "So many of these stores have trained personnel," she said. Service and expertise have been thought of as one advantage the small retailer has over the big box retailer. But, Dr. Kaufman-Scarborough said, companies such as Home Depot are providing customers with employees trained in every aspect of the industry.
   "Plus, a lot of businesses are beginning to advertise as the community bank or the community store," she added, calling it "relationship marketing."
   Dr. Kaufman-Scarborough said small retailers in order to compete with the big boxes need to find a niche to exploit, such as service or specialty products. But, she added, "It’s almost impossible to be efficient. They just can’t compete."
To comment on this story send e-mail to [email protected]