Dozens Turn Out for Downtown Visioning Meeting

Dozens of city officials, business owners and concerned residents turned out Wednesday night for a downtown visioning meeting at the Elks Lodge.

City Administrator Chris Cotter began the meeting by helping to define what vision means and by giving a brief overview of the history of Summit's Central Retail Business District.

"This is going to be an evolution," Cotter said. "It's important to get a sense of our past to see where we may be in the future."

Cotter also expressed a sense of urgency to begin this process of re-visioning the downtown.

"It's the heart of this community both literally and figuratively," he said. "It's time to act now."

Cotter outlined the current makeup of the CRBD which includes: 150 storefronts of which 40 our restaurants, 21 hair or nail salons, 19 home decor shops, 11 women's apparel stores, nine gifts and book stores, seven banks, five drug stores, five jewelry stores, four men's apparel shops and 19 vacant store fronts in addition to photo stores, florists, cigar shops, and other speciality shops.

Before breaking into small discussion groups, Mayor Jordan Glatt advised the groups to not dwell on parking.

"There are a lot of issues in the downtown that need to be addressed," he said. "Put parking in the proper context."

Many of the groups reported similar findings after the breakout sessions. For strengths, several groups mentioned the small-town atmosphere, the accessibility to downtown with the train station and other transit options, and the friendly, customer-driven experience.

Challenges mentioned included a lack of diversity of categories of retail stores and varying price points, the proximity to the Short Hills Mall limiting what retailers can set up shop in town and and the need for later and weekend store hours.

But the groups also identified opportunities for the downtown, including having more events, such as last week's Girls Night Out, recruiting retailers downtown, better marketing for downtown and making the downtown more pedestrian friendly.

Cotter explained downtown Summit has evolved greatly over the last several decades from a more residential area with religious institutions and raised railroad tracks and said the changes must have been difficult for the people at those times to adjust to.

"There is only one constant thing in life," Cotter said, "and that is change."

The next meeting is being scheduled for mid-November. An exact date and location are to be announced. Check back here for those details.