Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan Township of Woodbridge
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Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan Township of Woodbridge Prepared by Heyer, Gruel & Associates August 2015 Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan Township of Woodbridge Acknowledgments Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan Woodbridge Township John E. McCormac, Mayor Robert M. Landolfi, Business Administrator Caroline Ehrlich, Chief of Staff John Hagerty, Communications Director Marta Lefsky, Planning & Development Director Patrick Kenny, Office of Emergency Management Director Stacy Hoffman, Grant Manager Heyer, Gruel & Associates Susan S. Gruel, PP, Principal Fred Heyer, PP/AICP, LEED AP-ND, CNUa, Principal McKinley Mertz, Associate Planner Elena Gable, Assistant Planner/ GIS Specialist ii 2015 Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan Township of Woodbridge Table of Contents Introduction 1 Blue Acres Program 5 Township Characteristics 9 Historic Flooding Impacts & Superstorm Sandy 10 Community Profile: Watson Crampton Neighborhood 12 Related Planning Documents 27 Neighborhood Plan 33 Goals & Objectives 34 Neighborhood Boundaries 35 Design Standards 40 Concept Plan 43 Implementation Plan 55 Appendix 61 2015 iii Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan Township of Woodbridge iv 2015 Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan Township of Woodbridge Introduction Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan 2015 1 Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan Township of Woodbridge Introduction In October 2012, Superstorm Sandy devastated The Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan has been numerous communities and neighborhoods prepared under the Post Sandy Planning Assistance throughout New Jersey. Woodbridge Township’s Grant Program administered by the New Jersey Watson Crampton neighborhood was one such Department of Community Affairs, Office of Local place where flood waters inundated homes and cut Planning Services. The neighborhood planning off access to the neighborhood’s flood prone areas. process was recommended to be conducted by the Woodbridge is taking proactive approaches to help Woodbridge Strategic Recovery Planning Report, its residents whose lives and homes were affected by which was the first step required by the Post Sandy Superstorm Sandy. One measure is the preparation Planning Assistance Grant Program. The overall goal of The Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan. The of the Post Sandy Planning Assistance Grant is to Watson Crampton neighborhood is shown in the support long range planning for redevelopment in Aerial Map. communities and counties that sustained damage during Superstorm Sandy. The grant program is The Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan is intended intended to provide local municipalities with planning to serve as a guide for future planning related projects support services to develop community recovery within the neighborhood. This document identifies plans that strategically address the issues confronting issues and opportunities within the neighborhood them. The program’s mission also includes providing and recommends strategies to implement resiliency local governments with tools needed to efficiently tactics that will ensure Watson Crampton’s protection manage municipal operations, supplementing the from the next devastating flood event. This Plan ongoing efforts of the storm-impacted local and includes: county governments to rebuild and revitalize. • Discussion of the Blue Acres Program and identification of the Watson Crampton properties In conjunction with the grant program, Woodbridge that have taken advantage of the program is participating in the NJDEP Blue Acres Program, • Identification of the neighborhood’s an acquisition program that targets the buyout of characteristics including its vulnerabilities and flood prone structures and the preservation of the opportunities floodplain. The Blue Acres Program is a subset of the • Recommendations for strategies intended to Green Acres State Land Acquisition (SLA) Program. preserve and reinforce the existing core residential The buy-out process began in Woodbridge Township characteristics while ensuring the residents’ in 2014 and is on-going. The Watson Crampton health, safety, and general welfare Neighborhood Plan addresses broader Township • A proposed concept plan implementing several issues but focuses mainly on the Watson Crampton of the recommendations neighborhood and the immediately adjacent areas. • A time management table with recommendations of implementation strategies 2 2015 o o d B r o o k g e w e d SCHODER AV W RINGDALE AV WEDGEWOOD AV 6TH AV CARROL AV LEWIS ST LEONE ST TRINITY LN MIDDLESEX COUNTY 604 / PORT READING AV FREEMAN ST W RIDGEWOOD AV o o d b r ROUTE 514/RAHWAY AV i d g VON VETCHEN AV e ELLIS PL R i MARTIN TERR v e r ALDEN AV WATSON AV OLIVE PL GARDEN AV ALICE PL BAMFORD AV CRAMPTON AV E GROVE AV HEIDLEBERG AV ALMON AV NIELSON ST BROOKFIELD AV VESPER AV PEARL AV CLAIRE AVE MELBOURNE CT I-95, N.J. TURNPIKE E GREEN ST H e a r d s B r o o k I-95, N.J. TURNPIKE EXPRESS MOORE AV HARRIOT ST HENLEY ST ELEANOR ST BERRY ST MIDDLESEX COUNTY 652 / WOODBRIDGE AV SCOTT PL I-95, N.J. TURNPIKE GORDON ST AUSTIN ST 0 250 500 Feet µ HEYER GRUEL & ASSOCIATES 2012 Aerial June 2015 Source: NJOGIS, NJDEP, NJDOT 3 Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan Township of Woodbridge 4 2015 Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan Township of Woodbridge Blue Acres Program Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan 2015 5 Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan Township of Woodbridge Blue Acres Program According to the New Jersey Department of or reject the offer. If a homeowner decides to reject Environmental Protection, the Blue Acres Program the State’s offer, no further State or federal assistance is part of New Jersey’s Green Acres Program, which will be offered to that property or homeowner. If allows for the purchase of flood-prone properties by a homeowner decides to accept the offer, the the State. Through the New Jersey Department of homeowner must vacate the property once the sale Environmental Protection’s Superstorm Sandy Blue has closed. The structure will then be demolished and Acres Buyout Program, the State of New Jersey has the parcel readied for open space recreational use. allocated $300 million in federal disaster recovery funds to give homeowners the option to sell Sandy- In the Watson Crampton neighborhood there are 195 damaged homes at pre-storm value in flood-prone eligible properties. As of May 29, 2015, 121 properties areas. The program is designed to give homeowners applied for the buy-out. Of the 121 properties, 72 the ability to choose the best option for their individual have accepted the state’s offer and closed on their situation. property while nine have rejected the state’s offer, and 68 remain eligible with no action taken. There are Throughout New Jersey, and in Woodbridge five properties that have not applied but the State specifically, the State has begun to homes that has secured funding for them should they change were flooded during Superstorm Sandy and previous their minds. One property has been accepted under storms events. These homes are in the process of the Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and being demolished, and the land will be permanently Mitigation (RREM) program. The Watson Crampton preserved as public open space, for recreation or properties eligible under Blue Acres as are shown on conservation. The preserved land will serve as a the Blue Acres Map. natural buffer against future storms and floods. The goal of the Blue Acres Program is to reduce the risk of future catastrophic flood damage, and to help families move out of harm’s way. Woodbridge Township was designated a community in need of Blue Acres Program assistance in 2013 and has identified 436 parcels within the Township had experienced repetitive flood damage due to both Superstorm Sandy and other past storm events. Of these 436 eligible properties, 175 applied for a buy- out under the Blue Acres Program. During fall 2014 and winter 2015, the State began to make offers to the applicant homeowners, who in turn can accept 6 2015 o o d B r o o k g e w e d SCHODER AV W RINGDALE AV WEDGEWOOD AV 6TH AV CARROL AV LEWIS ST LEONE ST TRINITY LN MIDDLESEX COUNTY 604 / PORT READING AV FREEMAN ST W RIDGEWOOD AV o o d b r ROUTE 514/RAHWAY AV i d g VON VETCHEN AV e ELLIS PL R i MARTIN TERR v e r ALDEN AV WATSON AV OLIVE PL GARDEN AV ALICE PL BAMFORD AV CRAMPTON AV E GROVE AV HEIDLEBERG AV ALMON AV NIELSON ST BROOKFIELD AV VESPER AV PEARL AV CLAIRE AVE MELBOURNE CT I-95, N.J. TURNPIKE E GREEN ST H e a r d s B r o o k Blue Acres Properties I-95, N.J. TURNPIKE EXPRESS Accepted and Closed Applied MOORE AV Eligible- No funding available HARRIOT ST HENLEY ST Eligible- Funding ELEANOR ST available BERRY ST MIDDLESEX COUNTY 652 / WOODBRIDGE AV SCOTT PL I-95, N.J. TURNPIKE RREM GORDON ST Rejected AUSTIN ST 0 250 500 Feet µ HEYER GRUEL & ASSOCIATES Blue Acres Properties June 2015 Source: NJOGIS, NJDEP, NJDOT, Woodbridge 6/11/2015 Blue Acres Data 7 Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan Township of Woodbridge 8 2015 Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan Township of Woodbridge Township Characteristics Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan 2015 9 Watson Crampton Neighborhood Plan Township of Woodbridge Township Characteristics Woodbridge Township is a flourishing community both the Raritan River and Arthur Kill heightens the whose roots go back to the earliest parts of New Jersey’s potential for flooding and the impacts the Township’s history. Founded in 1664, Woodbridge Township is the residents endure. The Township has a history of oldest original Township in New Jersey and is named flooding in several areas along the Raritan River after the Reverend John W. Woodbridge. Many of the in the Keasbey section of the Township, along the roads that exist today in Woodbridge Township were Woodbridge River in the Woodbridge Proper section, forged in colonial times. As illustrated in the Context and along the Arthur Kill in both the Sewaren and Port Map, Woodbridge Township is located in the northeast Reading sections.