| Transit-oriented development (TOD)
projects often make major impacts on the overall character
of a community due to their holistic, mixed-use nature.
By triggering fundamental change in the residential,
commercial, and civic character of a municipality, TOD
projects affect a range of stakeholder groups, including
existing residents, business owners, public officials
and developers. In this context, it is vital to understand
the needs and desires of these groups in order to build
consensus among all involved parties.
NJ
TRANSIT recognized the importance of consensus building
early on, implementing the Transit-Friendly Communities
for New Jersey Pilot Program in 1999. The team for this
program consisted of a consortium of non-profit consultants,
including the
Regional Plan Association (RPA), Project
for Public Spaces (PPS), New
Jersey Future, and the Alan
M. Voorhees Transportation Center of Rutgers University.
The goal was to help competitively selected municipalities
develop community-based visions for transit-friendly
development. From 1999–2002, the program aided
11 municipalities in their visioning and consensus-building
processes, including two designated Transit Villages:
Matawan and Rutherford. The program has been recognized
by Downtown New Jersey and the New Jersey Chapter of
the APA for its successful efforts.
Also in 1999, NJ TRANSIT implemented
the Transit-Friendly Planning Assistance program, which
provides communities technical assistance to improve
the transportation-land use connections in their station
areas. “On-call” consultants are provided
to municipalities to help them create transit-friendly
vision plans to guide future development around existing
or proposed transit facilities. The consultants help
municipalities build local consensus behind the plans.
Among the communities that have received technical assistance
are South Orange, Riverside, Morristown, and Netcong.
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The Netcong TOD project was a
recent consensus-building effort assisted by the
NJ TRANSIT program. RPA, a non-profit planning,
urban design and advocacy organization, was engaged
in June 2003 to help lead the community planning
and design process. The first step was recognizing
the borough’s main strengths: a traditional
neighborhood development pattern organized around
an existing transit station, an attractive Main
Street, a supportive local government and residents,
and a large amount of underutilized industrial
land surrounding the station. Netcong also has
a broad range of downtown commercial activity,
including several cultural institutions and local
restaurants which attract visitors. Finally, the
commercial corridor is adjacent to Lake Musconetcong,
which provides many recreational opportunities
for residents and tourists alike.
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Borough administrators and community
leaders expressed their strong desire to accentuate
these positive qualities and maintain the character
of the borough, while taking advantage of the town’s
underutilized potential. Throughout the planning and
design efforts, Netcong conducted several community
design workshops (facilitated by RPA) with local stakeholders
to build consensus around a particular community-based
redevelopment vision. At its core, this vision calls
for the creation of a new neighborhood around the train
station that is completely integrated with the existing
Main Street corridor and the natural resources in the
area. The visioning plan calls for a design approach
that would minimally impact existing uses surrounding
the station, while creating a new street and block network
on the area occupied by vacant dirt lots and abandoned
factories.
In Netcong, RPA applied its standard
approach to consensus building. Rob Lane, RPA's director
of regional design programs, led the visioning process,
bringing his experience in leading similar design workshops
in the tri-state area, including Stamford, CT, Hastings-on-Hudson
and East Harlem, NY, and Galloway Township and Somerville
in New Jersey. The organization’s philosophy calls
for broad-based inclusion of all members of the business
and residential community who have a stake in the future
development or redevelopment of an area.
In a recent interview, Lane described
his approach to building consensus. One of the most
important steps, he said, is to first determine the
goals and objectives of the community, then work back
to the site and see how these goals can materialize.
Lane underscores the importance of transparency and
openness in the planning process. Sharing all research,
technical reports, market analyses and other studies
with the community engages them in the process. He also
noted the importance of providing information in several
ways to stakeholders (e.g. photos, models, technical
reports), because different individuals often communicate
and comprehend facts and figures in very different ways.
To this end, Lane advocates the creation
of several “tiers” of participation: decision-makers
(mayors, council members); community leaders (business
community, academics, neighborhood advocates); and the
general public. The consensus building process is iterative,
he noted, as stakeholders should clearly understand
how various schemes or visions meet both community objectives
and market demands. Finally, Lane emphasizes how the
process is neither fast nor problem-free. Indeed, many
consensus building efforts in which he has been involved
have taken over a year to reach a conclusion.
The Netcong experience shows how consensus
building can succeed — the borough recently designated
Woodmont Properties to develop 201 residential units
and 20,000 square feet of retail and office space, along
with a community center and a central park, near the
redesigned station plaza area. Read more about Netcong
in the "Transit
Village Update" section of this issue.
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