An exercise in citizen consensus for the undeveloped Belle Mead Node
By: Jake Uitti
MONTGOMERY Residents gathered in the Municipal Building early Saturday to try to decide, with the help of township officials and two nonprofit planning organizations, what to do with the undeveloped area known as the Belle Mead Node.
This was the first public workshop for the site, located in the northern part of the township. The biggest challenge, Mayor Louise Wilson said, was to establish development in the area that would be viable with or without public transportation.
The area, which is not well served by bus services, has a section of the former West Trenton rail line running directly through it. NJ Transit is studying restoring service to that line. The area to the west of the rail line has to be considered, as well, Mayor Wilson said, along with a 154-acre, triangular-shaped parcel on Route 206 at Pike Run Road.
Rob Lane, a representative of the Regional Plan Association, an organization involved in planning in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, said he is responsible for consolidating the results of Saturday’s meeting into "one or two plans that help capture the spirit of what the residents came up with." That consolidated plan will be available in about a month, he said.
Approximately 60 residents attended the meeting. They were randomly divided into eight group and, after working for about four hours in the morning, the groups came to the loose consensus that they were interested in "walkable, village-scale shops," Mr. Lane said.
Elena Madison of the Project for Public Spaces, an organization dedicated to creating and sustaining public spaces, gave a presentation on the possible uses of the site. She explained the benefits of trees and gardens for aesthetics, the need for linkages and access routes for pedestrians and cyclists, and movable seating and benches for people who might gather around the area with perhaps even sections made available for concerts and fruit markets near the train station. "The goal is to have space that can be used," Ms. Madison said.
Other considerations that arose during the hands-on workshop were open spaces, age-restricted housing projects, commercial development that would positively affect the community, giving the Belle Mead Node a "distinct identity," and possible increases in traffic circulation. The area should also be easily accessible from existing nearby baseball fields, the Pike Run neighborhood and Route 206, Mayor Wilson said.
Both Mr. Lane and Mayor Wilson said they were quite pleased with the outcome and the energy of the day’s meeting which lasted seven hours.
"All parties," Mayor Wilson said, "did a terrific job of digesting a lot of information and acting creatively with the possibilities for the area. We have to juggle traffic and the student population, while also considering needs of the town. I was really happy with what RPA and PPS did with their presentations. When people left the meeting there was, overall, very positive feedback given to us. It was a great learning exercise."
Planning Board officials hope the planning process will unfold over the next few months. Changes and amendments to the Master Plan and zoning ordinances will follow.
The project will be funded through grants. Montgomery has received $14,700 from Somerset County to begin work, and the township is slated to receive a $65,000 Smart Growth Planning Grant from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, as well as a possible $40,000 matching grant from the state Transfer of Development Rights Bank Board.

