By MICHAEL NUNES
Staff Writer
SOUTH RIVER — After two open public workshops on what lower Main Street should look like, it is now up to the town’s planners to come up with a plan.
“The whole idea of this is to get a conversation going and get people thinking about what we can do to improve the area, what can we do to try to make it better for businesses that are there and for future businesses to come in,” Mayor John Krenzel said at the April 23 public workshop held at South River Middle School.
The meeting was the last of two planned public workshops on the Lower Main Street Redevelopment Area. The first took place on April 14.
According to Borough Planner Todd Bletcher, of Bignell Planning Consultants Inc., his firm will prepare the text of a plan, which would have to be approved by both the borough’s Planning Board and council. Both bodies will have the ability to make any changes to the draft of the plan if they so choose.
Some residents at the workshop stated that they would like to see the borough become more business-friendly with a focus on livable spaces and public areas.
“I think the biggest thing is to find that balance between livability and to create an open, friendly and inviting place for businesses to come in, preserve the existing businesses and improve the business climate in South River,” resident John Costello said.
According to Krenzel, an idea was floated at the April 14 workshop session by a business owner to close down Klausers Lane, located off of Ferry Street, and turn the road into a public space.
Among the main concerns for residents was to maintain the borough’s family-owned restaurants, which many claimed to made the town unique.
“I want to go buy my hardware at [Trygar’s Hardware and Locksmith on Ferry Street] and I want to go eat some Thai food at River Thai. I don’t want to go to a ‘big box’ store, I want to keep it local and keep that relationship we have in South River,” resident John Costello said.
Many at the workshop agreed that the borough should not sacrifice its small-town appeal.
“We do not want to create a New Brunswick here. We want to keep it a small town,” said Michael Beck, chairman of the borough’s planning board. He continued that the borough should be looking into public transportation in order to bring in more business.
“We need a transportation hub here in order to really get going,” he said.
According to Councilman Michael Trenga, the borough is looking into using a lot that is currently occupied by a vacant Bank of America building on lower Main Street.
“Right now we are reaching out to Bank of America to ask if they will donate the building to us, and what I want to do is, I want to turn that into a park-and-ride for the commuters into New York and the surrounding areas, too,” he said. “Remember, we have a bus line here, so let’s take advantage of it.”
Some residents expressed concern over a lack of public participation at the meeting.
“The one part that is a little scary is we might have the future economic direction of South River based on a small handful of people in a two-hour meeting. If [the borough] was serious about confronting the problems, they would not just do it with 15 people at a two-hour meeting,” said Ed Trygar, who owns Trygar’s Hardware and Locksmith.
According to Trygar, the borough did not need to undergo a redevelopment plan but rather change the zoning to make the area more conducive to businesses.
A lack of public participation also worried Beck.
“I wish there more turnout, obviously. We had maybe 50 people total between the two meetings and some of them were the same. That is a very small representation of the town,” he said.
According to Beck, there will be additional opportunities for the public to have their say at Planning Board and Borough Council meetings.
Contact Michael Nunes at [email protected].