City Enhancement Team Explores Alternative Development, Growth Ideas

The third in a series of meetings meant to explore alternative growth and development ideas for the City took place Saturday.

The enhancement team, made up of City staff and a group of city and regional planning students, were met with an empassioned audience of Newark residents who turned out to voice their opinions on the growth and development of their city.

The findings presented by the panel on Saturday were based on information the group has gathered since the previous meeting, held Feb. 4.

Strategies discussed included clustered growth, dynamic growth and traditional suburban growth.

Clustered Growth

“Clustered growth features a greater amount of residential and commercial uses in Old Town and NewPark Mall, creating vibrant town centers,” members of the enhancement team said in a statement.

According to the team, clustered growth would include new medium- and high-density housing of two to three stories to accommodate expected population growth, and more mixed-use buildings to bring housing and residents closer to jobs, services and amenities. 

NewPark mall would be kept, but underutilized parking areas would be converted into “opportunities for housing and commercial uses,” the statement indicated.

The clustered growth model also suggested the construction of parking garages in Old Town and NewPark Mall to accommodate more customers, visitors and residents.

Dynamic Growth

 This model would focus development within Areas 2, 3 and 4.  

Area 2 is the location of the planned Dumbarton Transit-Oriented Development.

“The project would provide a broad range of new housing, retail and business opportunities in western Newark,” the City’s website states.  “The Dumbarton Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is to be located next to a proposed commuter rail station near the corner of Willow Street and Enterprise Drive.”

Areas 3 and 4 encompass about 856 acres of land in the southwestern portion of Newark.  “The areas are bounded by Mowry Avenue to the north, Cherry Street to the east and Stevenson Boulevard to the south,” the enhancement plan’s website states.

The area is zoned to include up to 1,260 single-family, detached homes, open spaces, recreational areas, and a school site.

Development focus would be on transit connections at gateways including Four Corners, NewPark Mall, Thornton Avenue and Cherry Street.

The plan would maximize the use of underutilized vacant lots and create a landmark civic center adjacent to the Newark Community Center.

Traditional Suburban Growth

Low-density, single-family homes; low-density commercial areas; expansion into open spaces; and an auto-oriented transportation infrastructure would dominate if Newark were to follow this strategy.

However, the city would also continue to “lack a downtown core and city identity,” according to literature distributed by the enhancement team at Saturday's meeting.

Community concerns

Unlike in previous meetings, not all residents were able to stay calm Saturday.

Some residents got fired up that the student group failed to addressed sea-level rise and seismic safety.

Despite the concerns, community development director Terrence Grindall assured residents that sea-level rise and seismic safety were, in fact, incorporated into the plan recommendations. 

Grindall encouraged the community to write in about any further concerns the team may have left unaddressed.

“There is no reason the community should feel 'dictated to,'” Grindall said. 

The team reminded attendees that growth strategies and findings from the meetings did not mean it would become City policy, and that the enhancement team is just developing a plan to recommend for City officials and investors to follow, once developments begin.

“At the end of the day, we don’t make the decisions,” said Meaghan Mroz-Barrett, a member of tthe team of students who facilitated Saturday's meeting  “We can make as many recommendations as we want, but ultimately, it's up to the developers and also the City,” she said.