Township considers gateway projects

By: Cara Latham
   WASHINGTON — As the recently revised Master Plan heads to the Township Council, the Planning Board, has begun the first step in determining whether to redevelop the Gateway South portion of the township.
   The Gateway South area, one of three gateways designated in the Planning Board’s re-examined Master Plan, consists of 15 parcels of land along Robbinsville-Allentown Road and Route 130 — near the boundary of Hamilton Township. The board had designated the area as a highway commercial zone in its revised Master Plan.
   Township Planner Abbe Kooper told the board at the March 21 meeting that it should consider redeveloping the area — which is about 40 acres — because the Route 130 commercial corridor is underutilized. The township would be able to consolidate the 15 small parcels into several larger pieces of land, making them more marketable for future developers, she said.
   She also said that declaring the area as a redevelopment area would allow township officials to "primarily dictate what type of development they want, what the development should look like, different types of design standards, architectural standards, as well as use."
   The township is looking to encourage retail and office-type uses in this area. The Master Plan — which is being sent to the council — calls for a highway commercial zone. The area is currently zoned as Town Center.
   The state’s redevelopment process allows redevelopment to begin and end with the governing body, Ms. Kooper said. First, the Township Council would authorize the Planning Board to study a certain area. Then a preliminary investigation for the area is prepared, and the Planning Board would declare the area in need of redevelopment and make that recommendation to council.
   The Township Council would then make a formal redevelopment area declaration and create a redevelopment plan, she said.
   In order for the Planning Board to make the recommendation, it has to look at the 15 parcels and see whether the area meets criteria set forth by the state. The 15 parcels have various owners, including the Tammaro brothers, who own three. Properties include Rusert’s Deli on the corner of Route 130 and Robbinsville-Allentown Road. The abandoned Municipal Building is not included in the study area.
   Showing pictures to the Planning Board members, which included the properties owned by the Tammaro brothers and businesses such as the Shrimp King restaurant and Colonial Motors on Route 130, she said that conditions in the area met the state criteria. Some of the structures on the properties were in disrepair, severely deteriorated or showed a threat to public safety, she said.
   On one parcel belonging to the Tammaros, there was outdoor storage of debris, no traffic circulation patterns, no demarcation of parking areas, and landscaping was poorly maintained, she said. It appeared that the Colonial Motors lot had no buffer between where the cars were parked and where Route 130 began, and some cars were parked on the lawn, she said.
   On the Shrimp King property, there was no screening of trash cans from public view, she said.One lot — the site of a single family residence where a business was located in the back of the property — had been issued a code violation for stock piling soil, storing a trailer, and for storing construction materials, trash and debris outside. Other properties, like the site of a former utility substation on Route 130, were economically underutilized and were not in keeping with the township’s land use goals, she said.
   "Because of the way the lots are configured and because (they) are impacted by wetlands or environmental constraints, reconfiguring the lots and assembling them to be bigger parcels will make them more marketable for development along Route 130," she said.
   Using the criteria, "we would recommend designating the entire study area to be an area in need of redevelopment," Ms. Kooper told Planning Board members.
   If the Planning Board decides to make the designation, business owners would get the chance to work with the Township Council on a redevelopment plan, Township Administrator Mary Caffrey said.
   The planner would go out and talk to all property owners, and "very often, existing businesses within the development areas work to be part of the plan to blend in with everything else that’s going on around (them)," she said.
   Attorney Frederick Niemann, special counsel to the Planning Board, said that a redevelopment plan would be like a very comprehensive zoning ordinance.
   "The governing body will look at all of these lots, would take an assessment of what they would like to see there at some point in time, and they’ll design redevelopment plan," he said. "They’ll identify uses that will be allowed, not allowed," and other criteria.
   Features in the plan will allow for property owners to continue to remain in their present locations provided they comply with the plan, he said. Or, it could allow for the use of eminent domain for those who do not, he said.
   "But by and large, the process is consensual," he said.
   Ms. Caffrey said there might even be other options for business owners who want to be part of the process, such as allowing them to take some or all of their property tax payments and apply it instead toward the cost of improving their properties.
   Business owners from the Shrimp King and Colonial Motors said they were worried about the future of their businesses and that they might be forced out of the township by a redevelopment plan.
   "All I know is you put 40 years of your life and sweat into what you have, you’re going to be concerned about what you get," said Jim Basso, owner of Colonial Motors. Still, "you drive down (Route) 130, and I understand what you mean. It does need some help … I hope you all can do something a little better for all of us."
   The board voted to continue the public hearing until April 18. They asked Planning Board Attorney Jerry Dasti to draft a resolution listing all of the redevelopment criteria each property meets.