EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Township of Mahwah is situated in the northwest section of Bergen County bordering New York State. Three major highways run through Mahwah, Interstate 287, Route 17, and Route 202. Mahwah encompasses 26.7 square miles about 8 square miles of which is State, County and Municipal public open space and parks. A large portion of Mahwah is inside the New Jersey Highlands Preservation Area which requires Mahwah to conform to the Highlands Regional Master Plan. In association with Highlands regional planning efforts, Mahwah was awarded a grant from the New Jersey Highlands Council to complete a Sustainable Economic Development Plan (SEDP). An SEDP is a plan that seeks to maintain and expand the existing job and economic base while promoting sustainable development ensuring that future generations will have the necessary resources in the Township. This plan identifies efforts and ideas that will increase the local tax base, provide new employment opportunities and improve the economic and social sustainability in the community. The study initially evaluated the existing conditions of the Township in terms of demographics, economics, land use, zoning and market potential. Next, two outreach surveys, one for businesses and one for consumers, were posted on Mahwah’s website. The surveys were available for fifty-seven days and a total 218 responses were received, 195 customer surveys and 23 business surveys. In the business survey respondents were asked to name three advantages or strengths they associate with doing business in Mahwah. The top responses included: • Convenience/location • Concentration of businesses • Concentration of people/customers • Affluent area • Low taxes • Clean community Business named challenges associated with doing business ibn Mahwah as follows: • Taxes • Sign ordinance • Congestion • Township not business-friendly • Physically disconnected municipality • Lack of parking In the customer survey when asked the advantages of shopping in Mahwah, 27% of respondents stated it is the convenient location and 23% indicated the advantage is supporting local businesses. Only 5% of consumers indicated that the advantage was fair prices. When asked what the disadvantages are to shopping in Mahwah, 29% of respondents indicated that the poor selection of goods and/or services was a major disadvantage. Limited hours were the second ranked disadvantage with 17% of total EXECUTIVE SUMMARY responses, while high prices ranked third with 15% of consumers listing it as a disadvantage. Chapter: Chapter: 3 When consumers were asked what entertainment they would patronize if it existed in Mahwah, the top three answers were movies with 27%, music concerts with 17%, and better/more restaurants with 13%. A question about little known assets that Mahwah has to offer brought the following responses: • Parks/open space • Ramapo College/Berrie Center • Recreational opportunities • Natural beauty • Historic sites The study also examined Mahwah’s assets, challenges and opportunities as an economic hub. The Township’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT Analysis) were analyzed in a public workshop on October 11, 2012. The meeting had over 30 participants including major business owners, members of Mahwah’s Chamber of Commerce, Township representatives, and representatives from Ramapo College, nine New Jersey Municipalities and six New York Municipalities. At the public workshop the abundance of parks and open space, historic sites, hotels and power grid were listed as opportunities. Other assets identified were high tech infrastructure, Ramapo College, highway access, mass transit, parks, major corporations, preserved farmland and the New York/ New Jersey Tax difference. The challenges identified were traffic issues, lack of local transportation, lack of a pedestrian downtown, businesses encroaching on residential areas, no sidewalks/ bike paths and lack of a center. The survey and public workshop provided the opportunity to focus on the Franklin Turnpike and Route 17 retail corridors. The survey and public workshop revealed that residents see the Franklin Turnpike corridor as unattractive, a hodgepodge of land uses and architectural styles and as a nondescript place. Despite this, residents say that the Franklin Turnpike is the closet place Mahwah has to a downtown or center. Furthermore, Franklin Turnpike ranks higher than Route 17 for walkability, bikeability and cleanliness. Meanwhile, the top phrases to describe Route 17 were congested/traffic, car dealerships, dangerous and dirty/unattractive. A study of Mahwah’s Retail Market Potential (RMP) was conducted by reviewing data from The Nielsen Company’s RMP Opportunity Gap analysis which compares consumer expenditures versus retail sales in a given area. An “opportunity gap” is identified where there is a more demand for a product for a given area than retail sales for the same product in the same area. The RMP was conducted for three different radii, 3.5 miles, 5 miles and 7 miles, centered on MacArthur Boulevard in Mahwah. The 3.5 mile radius contains all of Mahwah, except a small part of the north and southwest corners of the Township, all of Ramsey Borough, and parts of Allendale Borough, Upper Saddle River Borough, Franklin Lakes Borough, Oakland Borough, Wyckoff Township, and some of Hillburn, Suffern, and Airmont in New York State. There are 60,928 persons living in 22,994 households within this area. The top five categories with the largest retail sales deficit in the area are Other General Merchandise, (which includes warehouse clubs like Costco, Sam’s Club, Target Greatland, and Super Walmart) with $66 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY million being spent outside of the 3.5 mile radius. Building materials/supplies with $52 million spent Chapter: Chapter: 4 outside of the area is second, followed by grocery stores with $46 million, limited-service restaurants with $22 million, and finally $20 million clothing dollars spent outside of the area. Moving forward five main goals were established to support economic development: 1. Build upon the Township’s success in attracting large corporations to support existing businesses and attract new, complementary businesses. 2. Diversify Mahwah’s economy by utilizing its existing parks and historic features to transform the Township into a destination for culture/heritage tourism and outdoor recreation. 3. Encourage public and private actions and expenditures to consider sustainable strategies that will enhance residents ‘quality of life and advance “Sustainable Mahwah”. 4. Transform the Franklin Turnpike into a walkable, cohesive and attractive place that residents can be proud of. 5. Improve the aesthetics and safety of the Route 17 corridor. The strategies were then narrowed down to action items and a matrix was developed of all action items with responsibilities and timeframe for completion of each. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Chapter: Chapter: 5 I. INTRODUCTION The Township of Mahwah is located in the northwest corner of Bergen County along the New York State line and contains 26.7 square miles. Mahwah has excellent highway access as I-287, Route 17 and Route 202 pass through the Township. Mahwah is bordered by the Borough of Upper Saddle River, Borough of Ramsey, Borough of Allendale, Township of Wyckoff, Borough of Franklin Lakes and Borough of Oakland in Bergen County. The Township’s western boundary abuts the Borough of Ringwood in Passaic County. Finally, Mahwah’s northern border is adjacent to the Village of Suffern, Village of Hillburn, Village of Airmont and Town of Ramapo in Rockland County, New York. GRANT The Township of Mahwah was awarded a $28,500 grant from the New Jersey Highlands Council to complete a Sustainable Economic Development Plan Element (SEDP). An Economic Development Plan is one of the optional elements within a Master Plan and can be broadly described as a plan that identifies efforts and activities aimed at increasing the local tax base, providing new employment opportunities and improving the overall economic and social sustainability of a community. The Highlands Council grant suggested that the municipality investigate smart growth, low impact development techniques, infill development and areas for redevelopment. The grant involved an analysis of not only the municipality, but how Mahwah functions as a regional economic hub to the surrounding communities. Finally, conceptual planning for potential economic development nodes along the Route 17 and Franklin Turnpike corridors was undertaken, which analyzed existing land uses, zoning, assessed value and future planning. WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT? Sustainable economic development is described by the New Jersey Highlands Council as maintaining and expanding the existing job and economic base by promoting appropriate, sustainable and environmentally compatible economic development. According to the Highlands Council’s Regional Master Plan the objective of a Sustainable Economic Development Plan (SEDP) is to ensure long-term, sustainable economic viability, not short-term economic activity. Thus economic growth must be accommodated in a manner that takes careful advantage of the unique and valuable built and natural resources of the Township. This is an important concept in a municipality with more than 7,600 acres of County and State parkland, 20 historical homes and structures, three archeological/prehistoric sites and two historic districts. The challenge is finding the balance between capitalizing upon and protecting these