EDISON — In an effort to attract millennials to Edison, township officials will begin to discuss the potential for a transit village concept at the New Jersey Transit train station on Plainfield Avenue.
“[Millennials] are leaving areas such as Edison at a very fast rate and there’s very little that Edison has right now to attract them,” Councilman Sam Joshi, who is a millennial, said at a Township Council meeting on March 26.
Joshi said he has spoken to his fellow council members and Mayor Thomas Lankey on the move to investigate the train station area as an area in need of redevelopment.
“I think the Edison train station area has the greatest potential [to attract millennials],” he said. “[The area is] probably one of the most underutilized assets that is used in the township and I think that’s an area we can use to attract a new generation to say ‘Hey, I want to live in Edison.’”
Joshi said Edison is just one train stop away from New Brunswick, which Gov. Phil Murphy recently announced as a tech hub.
“That’s enormous,” he said. “Murphy said during his speech it’s an area they want to try to build in the next year-and-a-half and I think now is a perfect time to move and follow in their footsteps.”
Council President Ajay Patil said there are several areas that are in desperate need of redevelopment, which include the Edison train station and the property close to Wood Avenue.
“Through the chair of the redevelopment agency, soon they will meet to go all over and discuss possible sites for 2018,” he said.
Sendelsky, who chairs the redevelopment agency, said members will set up another meeting. He said the Edison train station area and the property near Wood Avenue were on the original list that went to the mayor.
“This is a transit village concept where people can be close to major train transportation and they don’t need cars,” he said. “They can use the rail and similar to our Clara Barton area where [residents] have the Metuchen train station and it’s close enough to use it.”
Sendelsky said young people may be making $50,000 a year, and the transit village concept allows millennials to remain in the township.
“That is our goal, that’s what we will work on. We will schedule a meeting of the redevelopment committee as quickly as possible again,” he said.
Contact Kathy Chang at kchang@newspapermediagroup.com.
