EDISON MASTER PLAN INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction This Master Plan has been prepared in accordance with the requirements set forth in New Jersey Statutes Annotated 40:55D and under the direction of the Master Plan Advisory Committee. It is intended to provide a careful assessment of the existing use of land and serve as a guide for future growth and development in Edison. Edison last adopted a comprehensive Master Plan in 1989. A municipal master plan provides a vision for the future growth of a community. It analyzes statistical trends, problems and opportunities, and provides a methodology and offers recommendations to address those issues and opportunities. The Master Plan strives to examine the rate and nature of past and present development, the future development potential under existing zoning parameters and environmental constraints, and the capacity of existing infrastructure to serve projected growth. A Land Use Plan balancing Edison’s growth potential with its growth capacity through recommended changes to Land Use and Zoning Ordinance as well as a Future Land Use map has been provided. The Future Land Use plan specifically calls for anti-sprawl initiatives based on the design principles of New Urbanism. Numerous public meetings were held to elicit public comment and address public concern relative to land planning in Edison. The Master Plan Advisory Committee, Open Space Advisory Committee and Board of Education met on many separate occasions to discuss each individual Master Plan Element and enriched the planning process with their input. The professionals retained to prepare the Master Plan utilized this input to guide and develop the Plan. 1 EDISON MASTER PLAN 2.0 Regional Context dison, located in Middlesex County, 2.2 DESCRIPTION OF PLANNING E encompasses a land area of 30.17 square miles. DISTRICTS Several major road networks including the NJ Turnpike and US Routes 1, 27, and 287 traverse Planning District 1 Edison, providing the municipality with excellent This PD includes the northern portion of Edison regional highway access. Edison is bordered on the bounded to the west by South Plainfield (Woodland north by Scotch Plains Township and Clark Avenue); to the north by Scotch Plains and Clark; Township, on the west by Piscataway Township to the south by Oak Tree Road; and, to the east by and the Borough of South Plainfield, on the Woodbridge. southwest by the Borough of Highland Park, on the south by the Raritan River, and exclusively on the Planning District 2 east by Woodbridge Township. The Borough of This PD includes the eastern portion of Edison Metuchen is located in the center. bounded by Oak Tree Road to the north; the Lehigh Valley (Conrail) Railroad to the south; Metuchen to For the purposes of this Master Plan, Edison has the west; and, Woodbridge to the east. been divided into five Planning Districts (PD’s), which are described below and depicted graphically Planning District 3 on the following map. It should be noted that these This PD includes the western portion of Edison districts have been determined for purposes of south of Oak Tree Road from Grove Avenue to the presentation in this report and are not intended to South Plainfield border and extending south to the serve as criteria for basing zoning district Northeast Corridor transit rail line. modifications. The PD’s herein have been created due to the size and scale of Edison and the desire Planning District 4 to provide manageable graphics easily interpreted This PD includes the south-central portion of by the average reader. Each PD was created Edison, bounded by the Northeast Corridor transit utilizing three basic parameters: rail line to the north; Route 1 to the south; Highland Park to the west; and, Metuchen to the east. 2.1 CRITERIA FOR PLANNING DISTRICTS Planning District 5 This PD includes the southern portion of Edison 1. Configuration of Census Tracts for ease of from the Raritan River waterfront north to the census data manipulation; Lehigh Valley (Conrail) Railroad. PD five, which 2. A balance of population and/or land area is bisected by the NJ Turnpike, is bound by Route 1 among the districts; and, and Metuchen to the west. The municipal 3. Recognition of prominent physical boundary of Woodbridge Township forms the boundaries such as railroad rights-of-way eastern border of this PD. and major roadways. 2 EDISON MASTER PLAN REGIONAL CONTEXT The following table identifies the Census Tract designations associated with each PD. TABLE 2.1-1 Census Tracts By Planning District PLANNING CENSUS TRACTS ( 2000) DISTRICT One 14.09 14.10 14.11 14.12 14.13 Two 14.16 14.17 19.01 19.02 19.03 Three 14.14 14.15 15.03 15.04 Four 15.02 16.00 17.01 17.02 Five 18.03 18.04 18.05 18.06 3 EDISON MASTER PLAN REGIONAL CONTEXT Planning District Boundaries Map 4 EDISON MASTER PLAN 3.0 Goals & Objectives COMMUNITY VISION centers including but not limited to Amboy Avenue, the Revlon Property, the Ford The following goals and objectives have been Property, the Jackson Avenue identified to guide future growth, development and Redevelopment Area, and the Seaport redevelopment and create a vision for Edison. The Village. goals and objectives have been prepared under the assumption that they will have a positive influence LAND USE on the future direction of Edison and shape policies guiding land use decisions and development Encourage Edison to develop as an urban/suburban practices. The individual elements of this municipality with a balanced mix of institutional, comprehensive Master Plan will provide a careful commercial and industrial land uses and housing and in-depth analysis of land use issues and the types predicated on the design principles of New furtherance of the herein stated goals and Urbanism along with ample community facilities objectives. Said elements have been enriched and and recreational amenities while preserving the validated by public comment and review by the riverfront landscape and other natural resources of Planning Board. Edison. ♦ Encourage the preservation of distinct, ♦ Provide for future growth and development cohesive neighborhoods. of Edison’s ratable base, including but not limited to the Raritan Center Industrial ♦ Encourage well designed, anti-sprawl land Park, Heller Industrial Park, Jackson development that is consistent with Avenue Redevelopment Area, Ford established neighborhoods and land use Property, Revlon Property, Route 1 and patterns while preserving the community’s Route 27 corridors and the Seaport Village. suburban and urban landscapes which make Edison a unique and desirable place to both ♦ Analyze existing land use patterns and live and work. underlying zoning and make recommendations for changes where ♦ Consistent with recommendations in the incongruous land uses directly abut one State Development and Redevelopment another. Plan for Metropolitan Planning Areas, capitalize on opportunities for ♦ Continue efforts to develop Clara Barton’s redevelopment. downtown by developing a relationship between the downtown to the Clara Barton ♦ Encourage new development consistent neighborhood and encouraging small with the scale of established land uses while business development and streetscape and preserving the character and developed façade improvement programs along nature of existing neighborhoods and Amboy Avenue. proximate land uses at densities which consider available vacant land. ♦ Develop a mixed-use civic center central to Edison. ♦ Encourage the continued development of existing and potential business corridors and 5 EDISON MASTER PLAN GOALS & OBJECTIVES conforming land uses and variance requests ♦ In accordance with State Plan policies and and to encourage residents and taxpayers to procedures, encourage future development make improvements to their dwellings. to occur at appropriate locations and intensity in accordance with transportation CIRCULATION and environmental capacities and anti- sprawl initiatives. ♦ Develop a safe and efficient circulation system capitalizing on Edison’s excellent ♦ Discourage deviations from established land regional highway access and multi-modal use patterns that would permit incompatible transportation system. and/or conflicting land uses being developed adjacent to one another; where ♦ Improve on Edison’s existing transit appropriate amend zoning to prohibit systems to develop an enhanced multi- incongruous land uses. modal system capitalizing on intra- municipal transit including Edison Light ♦ Where new development is proposed on Transit, passenger and freight ferry service, raw, undeveloped land, an effort should be the ongoing Transit Study, and Bicycle made to preserve mature specimen trees and Master Plan. other significant on-site vegetation through ordinance amendments targeted at tree ♦ Review problem and congested preservation. intersections and make specific recommendations in the Circulation ♦ Through Ordinance amendments, encourage Element of the Edison Comprehensive co-location of wireless communication Master Plan for signal timing changes as facilities in order to reduce both the number well as new signal installation in of Use Variance requests and the number of conjunction with County and State plans. new wireless carrier structures. When new towers are constructed, every effort should ♦ Synchronize traffic signals throughout be made to camouflage the proposed Edison in order to facilitate traffic flow and structure. reduce pollution from stop and start traffic. ♦ Maintain and continually update a list of ♦ As industrial park development continues