After Village Green reported that a decade-long effort to negotiate with New Jersey Transit to build a transit-oriented commercial and residential development at the South Orange Train Station parking lot appeared stalled, South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum responded to comments about the story on the Village Green News & Views Facebook group.
The report on the NJ Transit lot was part of a larger story about the State of New Jersey accepting South Orange’s fourth round affordable and fair share housing plan.
Read Collum’s post here:
“Hi Neighbors, the plan we’ve been working on would absolutely provide replacement public parking. However, it would also provide much-needed housing and affordable housing units consistent with the Fair Housing Act and our newly adopted Housing Element and Fair Share Plan. I’m incredibly proud that over the past 10 years, we’ve course-corrected our commitment to equitable transit-oriented development. These developments have improved pre-existing conditions of contaminated and underperforming land, allowed us to welcome new neighbors and businesses, and provided desperately needed revenue to advance renovations and maintenance of essential facilities such as the Baird and Library. This is smart and equitable growth in action.
“Specifically related to the NJ Transit Lot, we’ve also been working on the incorporation of municipal offices in the building at no cost to our taxpayers, activation of the ground floor and a plaza, and a critical advancement of the River Greenway connecting where it currently stops at South Orange Avenue to New Waterlands (also known as Phase 3), which will be a game changer for mobility to have a pedestrian and bicycle path from West Montrose all the way through Maplewood.
“As for some other comments:
– The overcrowding argument is always strange to me. Fifty years ago, we had 17,000 residents; today, we have 18,500. We’re in Planning Area 1 in the State Plan; we’re a growth area. Our community is designed to be a transit hub where people, transportation, and job opportunities connect. The alternative is sprawl.
-Traffic is a very limited byproduct of housing itself. As you can see from our Master Plan, only 1% of traffic is internal, whereas 70% is pass-through traffic reflecting regional growth and economic development occurring in our surrounding communities.
– City and Village don’t necessarily describe population size or character the way people might assume—they are legal forms of municipal government under New Jersey law. Newark could call itself Newark Village if it wanted to.
– Parking is not scarce except for the occasional Friday and Saturday nights.
– And no, we don’t own “lots of surface parking lots more important than NJ Transit,” and we’ve already shown success with Taylor Vose, which was also a public-private partnership involving a municipal lot and received a Smart Growth Award.
“Lastly, as also mentioned in the article, because we have been so proactive on affordable housing credits, I’m excited about the opportunities to provide more workforce housing. It would mean the world to me to get more housing opportunities for municipal employees and school teachers, particularly at the 60–80% area median income. We open lots of choices for ourselves and the community when we take our obligations seriously and don’t kick the can.
“Unlike many towns, we will not be embarking on a costly legal battle to fight our obligations, and I’m pretty confident the vast majority of our residents share this sentiment.
“Hope some of this information is helpful, and feel free to reach out and call me anytime if you want to discuss more.”
