Main Street in Spotswood is one of the few places in our immediate area where it is possible to be a pedestrian. On Main Street, a person can walk to the post office, stores and other establishments without feeling as if the world is designed entirely for motor vehicles rather than for people.
This is in part because the street is not lined with parking lots; instead, pedestrians can walk from the sidewalk directly to the front door of buildings (such as the post office) without having to cross a sea of metal and asphalt. Parking lots are to the side or rear of buildings instead of in front. It’s possible to drive to places on Main Street, but pedestrians and cars are on a more equal footing than they are on Route 18, for example.
A pedestrian along Route 18 — even where there are sidewalks — is surrounded by cars and asphalt, with the road on one side and endless rows of parking lots on the other. As a result, conditions for pedestrians are so unappealing along Route 18 that very few people walk there, even in those spots where sidewalks are present.
Now the pedestrian-friendly character of Spotswood’s Main Street is imperiled. The Renaissance development, proposed for Main Street between the post office and Summerhill Road, would feature Route 18-style strip malls with a parking lot adjacent to the sidewalk. In other words, the development, as currently proposed, would go a long way toward turning Spotswood’s Main Street into a little slice of Route 18.
I am not opposed to the concept of development along Main Street; rather, I believe that development along Main Street would only enhance Spotswood, as long as this development is done in a thoughtful way. But a Route 18-style development, which presents only an automobile-friendly face to the street, is not appropriate for Main Street. Main Street’s sidewalk could be a place where you feel comfortable letting your children ride their bicycles to the store — but it won’t be such a place if it is surrounded by asphalt and devoid of pedestrians.
The Renaissance proposal should be redesigned to keep Main Street a place where pedestrians are as comfortable as motorists. We should be building our landscape for people, not just for cars.
Spotswood’s Zoning Board is currently hearing the Renaissance application. It should not be approved in its current format. If you want to let the board know that it shouldn’t approve a development that will transform Main Street into a miniature Route 18, then please attend the next Zoning Board meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 20, at 8 p.m. at borough hall on Summerhill Road and let the board know how you feel.
Russel Like
Spotswood