Local residents recently got to hear about the next possible step in the development of the Meadowlands, a vision so vast that the whole landscape of Southern Secaucus could change.
Although the official unveiling of the New Jersey Transit Village Study on Sept. 17 was touted as an opportunity to meet the standards of Gov. Jim McGreevey’s “smart growth” initiative, the plan actually evolved out of a 1989 plan called “Circle of Mobility” first proposed by Gov. Tom Kean and endorsed by every governor since.
The recently opened Secaucus Transfer rail station near the New Jersey Turnpike, and the expansion of the nearby Croxton Freight Yards in Jersey City, are at the center of a web of changes linking passenger rail lines while increasing the capacity of local facilities to handle freight.
Bob Ceberio, executive director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC), said the construction of the train station has led to pressures to develop the area around the station.
He said that in fact, the NJMC has already had several other proposals for development. “But we put them aside to made certain that we have a plan for development for that area,” he said. “A year ago, we decided to allow a Transit Village study so as to take into consideration the fiscal and quality of life impact on the area.”
A week ago Wednesday, the “Transit Village” study, a proposal for development around the train station, was presented to the public at a meeting. Instead of dictating what will be built, Ceberio said, the commission is seeking to get a consensus of the project.
Although there may or may not be a push from a federal level to develop the property, “We’re not going to move forward unless the mayor and council want this project,” Ceberio said. “Susan Bass Levin [Chairwoman of the NJMC] has told us, we are not going to push this project down people’s throats.”
Although the final authority for approving the development rests with the NJMC, local officials have options. Mayor Dennis Elwell, as chairman of the Hackensack Meadowlands Mayors Committee, has the ability to veto the project. The HMMC is a body comprised of the mayors of 14 towns within the Meadowlands district. A veto from this body would have to be overridden by a majority vote from the NJMC members. Last year, Elwell vetoed improvements to the Croxton Yards until the state and federal governments came up with money go build a new traffic bridge in the area.
Before that, Mayor Anthony Just vetoed the Transfer Station project until the veto was overridden by the Meadowlands Commission.
But Ceberio said the Commission would be diligent in addressing local concerns and would keep an open ear to the needs and desires of the community. He also predicted that public hearings would take place as development moved forward, giving the public increasing opportunities to raise their concerns.
Just a start
The new vision for Secaucus, as presented by NJ Transit and the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, could create $750 million worth of new development the southernmost section of Secaucus. If implemented as proposed, the plan would make properties in the area among the most valuable property in Secaucus and some of the most densely populated.
“We came here to provide public information,” Ceberio said. “This is a proposal, a concept. It is not written in any ordinance.” He said any of the concepts could change depending on public input. People can comment on the project in writing until Oct. 1.
“After that, we will put everything together to see what we have,” he said.
The study area includes the entire southern section of Secaucus but is designed to center around the new train station to allow easy access to Manhattan for residents of the new development.
“Everything is designed within a five- to ten-minute walk of the train station,” said John Clark, one of the study’s planners.
Clark said the design proposal sought to take advantage of two notable features of the property: the view of Manhattan and its riverfront views.
As presented, the study would provide two main development areas totaling 241 acres, one that would provide a cityscape setting of two- to five-story buildings that include ground floor retail stores residential units above (similar to Washington Street in Hoboken), while the other would be focused on development of townhouses and other residential units in a Harmon Cove-like setting.
“We would like to create a pleasing streetscape, said lleana Kafrouni of NJMC.
1,850 units
The study presented to the public on Sept. 17 calls for 1,850 new residential units. Of the 1,850, 1,600 will be part of a townhouse development, with the rest scattered through the district intermingled with retail elements.
More than 1,000 of the proposed units will be rental units. Also, 800 of the total 1,850 will be designated as senior housing, meaning that one resident must be over 55 years old and have no children under 18 living at the site.
Although billed as a means to reduce traffic because the station will be within easy walk, one of the more significant changes will be the construction of a new roadway called Aqueduct Drive, which will include a pedestrian walkway as well and green landscaping over the divided roadway that will enhance open space. The construction of this section would open up existing landlocked properties to development, making nearly worthless property extremely valuable. It will be built around a water pipe to Jersey City.
The fiscal impact analysis of the project, conducted by David Listokin and William Dolphin of Rutgers University’s Center for Urban Policy Research, showed a net increase in taxes going to the town.
But there will also be more crowding in town. Secaucus will see a 20 percent increase in its residential population with the addition of more than 3,000 residents.
The guiding issue, Ceberio said, was to consider the project in relation to the town, noting that Secaucus had a permanent resident population of about 16,000 people that swells to about 60,000 with daily shoppers and employees to various firms.
He said the Commission wanted to find something that would coordinate old Secaucus with new. In the past, development was always put at the outer ring of the city. The study also sought to determine the financial impact on existing taxpayers – in other words, which additional municipal services [schools, fire, ambulance and police] would be needed if the project was to move ahead.
Conscious of its role in maintaining existing open space and preserving the remaining wetlands, such a plan would also need a significant quotient of park or undisturbed wetlands.
An original proposal submitted earlier in the process would have looked at a 580-acre site and proposed 5,500 units of housing, but Ceberio said this was too large. So the study area was reduced to 386 acres, with 145 acres for buildings and 241 acres dedicated to open space – including the proposed Secaucus riverfront walkway.
Similar but not exact to Starwood Heller proposal
The housing proposed for the site is similar to a project Starwood-Heller constructed along the waterfront in Edgewater, leading some people to believe that the company may already have a full-blown proposal waiting in the wings.
Ceberio admitted during a telephone interview that Starwood Heller had the option on the Gallo tract – a large section of the area being proposed for the development.
“That gives Heller control of the property,” Ceberio said, but noted significant differences between the NJ Transit Study and the proposal that Starwood Heller originally designed for the property.
The Heller proposal would have put 1,850 units on the Gallo tract as opposed to the 1,600 the Transit Village study recommends. Heller’s proposal would also have had more rental units than this proposal calls for, and would have laid out the community with streets ending in cul-de-sacs rather than the grid street pattern the NJ Transit study is recommending.
The Transit Study proposal looks something like the Starwood-Heller project in Edgewater because both are based on the concept of New Urbanism, a recycled idea for having housing occupying upper floors of an area where retail operates at ground level. Edgewater is one example of that kind of development, but Clark Caton apparently used a community in Reston, Va. as a model.
Other unanswered questions include the proposed redevelopment of Castle Road. The town and property owners recently came to an agreement to bond for a multimillion dollar reconstruction of the road with the idea that the town would take over maintenance upon completion, and property owners would be assessed the cost over the next decade. But under this proposal, a lot of that property could be condemned for redevelopment, leaving the question as to who will pay the cost of roadway repairs there.
During a telephone interview, Ceberio said the debt for the roadway repairs is attached to the deed of the property so that the new owner would pay it off. He noted that because the new development could take up to 20 or even 25 years to fully implement, the Commission could well wait for existing businesses to move out before condemning the property for redevelopment.
Some residents raise concerns
“I’m not here to say this is a good or a bad project,” Riverkeeper Bill Sheehan told the Reporter at the meeting. “But I do know the Meadowlands Commission is much more open than it was 10 years ago. And that’s positive.”
During the meeting, Lois Ferber of Harmon Cove asked the commissioners about affordable housing laws and how they applied to the project. NJMC officials said the town of Secaucus’ Affordable Housing Board would oversee compliance with state law. The proposal will have to include some affordable housing, but it’s up to the town to determine how to enforce this.
Tony Gazzolo of Fifth Street feared the development would require the town to move from the current volunteer fire department to a professional staff, thus voiding the cost predictions made by the study. Frank MacCormack said he was amazed at the scope of the project and predicted future opposition to the project’s size.
“This is a huge project,” he said. “This is much bigger than I expected, and it is going to have an impact on the whole of Secaucus including the center of town – not to mention what we’re going to have to do to provide sewerage treatment.”
MacCormack later agreed with Gazzolo about the increased need for services, both in the fire department and police patrols. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we have to put a sub police station down there,” he said.
Although NJ Transit had proposed a sub station for the transfer station itself, those officers will not be patrolling the streets of Secaucus.
New fields?
Sam Maffei asked about new parks and ballfields, and whether or not future developers would be required to provide some of these amenities.
Ceberio said these were not considered because of the proximity of the county park, which has ballfields and walking paths.
Maffei, however, said he was concerned about the larger impact of this in conjunction with other projects in the Meadowlands, such as the Xanadu Mall slated for the Continental Airlines Arena site in East Rutherford.
“They want to build Jersey City in Secaucus,” said Virginia Boomer of Harmon Cove, who was also upset by the proposal to construct more rental units than condominiums. “This would bother me less if you were selling the units. But if we’re talking about renting. We’re talking about bringing people in who aren’t going to care as much for keeping up the area than if they owned the units.”