SOUTH RIVER -Aiming to revitalize South River’s business district, the Borough Council is working on a conceptual Downtown Streetscape Plan.
The plan is designed to rejuvenate the borough’s business district by creating a stronger community, increasing property values and making South River a friendlier place to live, do business and raise a family, according to information packets provided by the council during a June 12 meeting.
“We’ve been discussing revitalizing our streetscape for quite a while. It was the 1990s, the last time we invested in our downtown and we can’t continue to discuss ideas without taking action. The difference with this plan is that it lays out a specific action plan with three distinct focuses. First, we’re focusing on bringing out South River’s personality to create a welcoming business district. Second, we’ve laid out ideas that better manage our parking to provide more useful and plentiful parking opportunities. Third, we’re serious about getting rid of impediments that make doing business and opening up shop downtown difficult. We want to make it easy for business. Our vision outlines these items in much greater detail,” Councilman Ryan Jones said.
However, Councilman John Sapata said that the borough already has a redevelopment plan that focuses on the same area.
“Last year, South River identified areas in need of redevelopment and created a redevelopment plan. Jones and Council President Shawn Haussermann were critical of the entire process which is controlled by state law. As part of the redevelopment process, the planning board, professional planners, businesses and the residents were asked for input on what type of changes they would like to see for our main street. With this collaboration a plan was created and put into place. The revitalization plan presented by Jones is redundant and addresses issues already in place in the approved redevelopment plan,” Sapata said.
The idea of improving the look of the downtown has been kicked around for years, according to Mayor John Krenzel.
“There is a redevelopment plan; [however], Jones says that this plan is different. I think that the difference is that the streetscape plan is to make the downtown look nicer – nothing wrong with that. The question becomes, how does that drive more people to open up businesses in the downtown area?” Krenzel said.
“Instead of focusing on the look of the garbage cans, as addressed in Jones’s plan, I believe that we should devoting our efforts to lowering electric demand charges for businesses. Lowering the demand charge will put money back in the pocket of our business owners, where it belongs and can be used to reinvest, expand and improve their businesses. That alone will revitalize Main Street more than any planter or garbage can ever will,” Sapata said.
The information packet highlights the plan’s overall goals which includes providing more public parking spaces in the downtown area, creating a more cohesive look with borough logos and signs, adding greenery to make the downtown area greener, establishing a sense of place, supporting arts and culture, and creating gateways to usher in residents and visitors.
“We will utilize about $100,000 of state funding that has been sitting unused for the past few years that will be used for improving our downtown. We are in the process of improving our existing convoluted permitting process, making efforts to reduce our expensive utility costs and implementing measures to save funds,” Borough Administrator Jack Layne said.
The council’s plan was developed through discussions, concepts and brainstorming over the course of five months in a variety of borough committees, commissions and boards. The Public Safety Committee, Finance Committee, Green Team, Communications Committee and Environmental/ Shade Tree Commission participated.
Currently, there are no public hearings scheduled to further discuss the council’s conceptual plan.
For more information, visit www.southrivernj.org/TC-agendas-minutes/2017/6-12-17-business-agenda.pdf or www.southrivernj.org/revitalization.
Contact Vashti Harris at vharris@newspapermediagroup.com.
