Committee introduces requirements for ‘gateway zones’
By:Charlie Olsen
The Township Committee has taken the first of a series of steps to begin making the Master Plan changes approved last year become reality by introducing an ordinance designating new "gateway" zones.
The ordinance, introduced May 9, would amend the zoning map to include two new districts that would provide both a commercial and visual transition into the Town Center. Public hearing on the ordinance will be held June 13.
Under the proposal, Gateway A (GA) districts would lie directly adjacent to the town center along Route 206 and along Amwell Road from the town center to Auten Boulevard. The Gateway B (GB) district would lie just outside of the Gateway A districts north and south along Route 206.
"It’s a better defined entrance way," Committeeman Paul Drake said. "As you’re coming north or south, we’ve designed it so you’ll know that you’ve arrived by the quality of the architecture and the site design."
Both zones require that all future development in the zones share a unified look that would tie the zones together with the town center, including facade and signage.
Because the town center hinges on the plans for a Route 206 bypass to alleviate traffic, it is being designed to be more pedestrian friendly, including 6-foot wide bike lanes on both sides of roads, and 15-foot wide sidewalks with trees and a landscaped median.
"With gas prices up near $3 a gallon, people will want to walk and it’s good exercise," Mr. Drake said. "We want to change people’s image and perception of 206 by reorienting it to be focused on people, not cars."
The purpose of the GB district is to establish "a linear entry zone set in a heavily street-treed, medianed boulevard." GA is a transition to the Town Center, but GB is a transition from the residential areas to GA.
If the ordinance is passed, any existing residential space in GB areas must maintain the appearance of a residence even if a property is purchased for nonresidential uses.
The uses that are permitted in the GB district include single-family housing, offices, recreation (excluding bowling), financial institutions, business services, home occupation, child-care centers, public spaces such as parks, bed-and-breakfasts and restaurants.
The GA district allows for more commercial uses such as theaters, bowling alleys, retail and mixed-use development where it directly abuts the town center. The mixed-use development would act as a buffer between existing residential areas and commercial development and would allow a density of no more than four dwelling units per acre.
"A lot of the businesses already in the zones can continue as is," Mr. Drake said. "It’s a change in zoning, not a change in uses, and in some cases provides more uses."
The zoning for the GA district limits building to 60 percent of the lot area, with a maximum height of two and a half stories or 35 feet. The GB district allows for 50 percent coverage on a 2-acre lot.
"The key thing is that design is more important than density; density does not determine value," said Mr. Drake. "If density determined value, apartments in midtown Manhattan would not sell for $1 million."
The Township Committee has also secured a $50,000 Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Smart Future Grant to help it analyze the benefits and feasibility of using transfer of development rights (TDR) to encourage both open space in outlying areas and development near the town center.
The grant will help fund a study to evaluate how developers with building rights in other parts of town can sell their rights as credit to developers seeking to build in the town center.
In a press release, Mayor Carl Suraci said the introduction of the ordinance, a starting point for future town center ordinances, "serves to demonstrate to the New Jersey Department of Transportation and the New Jersey Office of Smart Growth that the township continues to be committed to the town center plan which, in turn, supports the need for the Route 206 bypass."
A notice of zoning change will be mailed to all those who will be affected by the zoning change by the township clerk’s office.