ASBURY PARK MAIN STREET REDEVELOPMENT PLAN Adopted September 2008 PLANNING BOARD Chairman Daniel DiBenedetto prepared by Vice Chairman Herb Fehrenbach Urban Partners Sara Anne Towery 829 Spruce Street, Suite 204 Councilman John Loffredo Philadelphia, PA 19107 Terence J. Reidy, City Manager Rev. David Parreott, Jr. Brown & Keener Mathew Berman 1315 Walnut Street, Suite 900 Steve Troy Philadelphia, PA 19107 Vernice McGriff Jack A. Serpico, Board Attorney Charles Carmalt, Transportation Planner Brian St. C. Grant, Board Engineer 74 Birchwood Knoll Heyer Gruel and Associates, Board Planners Lawrenceville, NJ 08648 The original of this report was signed and sealed in accordance with N.J.S.A. MAYOR & COUNCIL 45:14A-12. Kevin G. Sanders, Mayor James Bruno, Deputy Mayor John Loffredo Donald B. Sammet, PP/AICP Ed Johnson Professional Planner License Number 5758 James Keady Mark Keener, PP/AICP Professional Planner License Number 5511 2 ASBURY PARK MAIN STREET REDEVELOPMENT PLAN TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 4 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE REDEVELOPMENT AREA 6 3. REDEVELOPMENT GOALS & OBJECTIVES 10 4. RELATIONSHIP TO LOCAL OBJECTIVES & MUNICIPAL 17 DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS 5. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PLANS 22 6. REDEVELOPMENT AREA TRANSPORTATION & 28 CIRCULATION PLAN 7. REDEVELOPMENT PLAN & STRATEGIES 37 8. REQUIRED IMPROVEMENTS TO THE PUBLIC REALM 55 9. IMPLEMENTATION 63 ASBURY PARK MAIN STREET REDEVELOPMENT PLAN 3 1. INTRODUCTION Statutory Requirements This redevelopment plan been prepared under the direction of the City of Main Street serves many important functions for Asbury Park residents and Asbury Park Department of Planning and Redevelopment in cooperation visitors. It is a gateway into the City and the waterfront, a transportation hub, with the City of Asbury Park Planning Board in accordance with section a focal point for government and civic activity, and a neighborhood shopping 7 of the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law, which provides that “no district. Geographically, Main Street runs through the approximate center of redevelopment project shall be undertaken or carried out except in accordance Asbury Park. It represents the spine of the City—a spine that hosts several with a redevelopment plan adopted by ordinance of the municipal governing nodes of activity and a spine from which people make decisions about how to body.” spend their time in Asbury Park. Pursuant to the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law, N.J.S.A. 40:12A-7, the The revitalization of Main Street is a critical piece of the overall effort to Redevelopment Plan shall include an outline for the planning, development, revitalize the City of Asbury Park. With redevelopment plans in place for redevelopment or rehabilitation of the project area sufficient to indicate: Springwood Avenue, the Central Business District, and the Waterfront, the Main Street area is one of the last major sections of the City to undergo a 1. Its relationship to definitive local objectives as to appropriate land uses, comprehensive planning process. density of population and improved traffic and public transportation, public utilities, recreational and community facilities and other public The planning process that led to the creation of this Main Street Redevelopment improvements; Plan was an opportunity to think strategically about how the development, use, design, and siting of buildings and landscape elements on and along Main 2. Proposed land uses and building requirements in the area; Street—in addition to the design of the roadway itself—can enhance Asbury 3. Adequate provision for the temporary and permanent relocation as Park’s sense of place, complement efforts to redevelop the waterfront and other necessary of residents in the project area including an estimate of the areas of town, provide a more memorable and informative experience for extent which decent, safe and sanitary dwelling units affordable to visitors, attract additional investment, add more amenities for residents, and displaced residents will be available to them in the existing local housing enhance civic life. market; This redevelopment plan manifests the City’s visions and aspirations for the 4. An identification of any property within the Redevelopment Area which is future of this important section of Asbury Park. It presents specific land use and design parameters for development activity within the Main Street proposed to be acquired in accordance with the Redevelopment Plan; Redevelopment Area and broad guidance on investments in the public 5. Any significant relationship of the Redevelopment Plan to: infrastructure of the redevelopment area. a. The Master Plans of contiguous municipalities; Investment from both public and private property-owners will be required to achieve the visions and aspirations for the Main Street Redevelopment Area. b. The Master Plan of the County in which the municipality is located; and Together, this investment will raise confidence in the economic potential of the c. The State Development and Redevelopment Plan adopted pursuant to area, thereby encouraging further investment by both existing private property- owners and redevelopers that will be contracted to implement parts of this plan. 4 ASBURY PARK MAIN STREET REDEVELOPMENT PLAN the “State Planning Act” PL 1985, C398 (C52:18A-196 et al.) Statement of Purpose & Policies The purpose of the Redevelopment plan is to serve as the principal tool to The Main Street Redevelopment Plan has been designed to meet these guide the revitalization of the Main Street Redevelopment Area. Successful requirements as described in the following sections. implementation will require outreach to commercial property-owners along Background with the sensitive use of redevelopment powers and financial incentives by The Asbury Park City Council authorized the Planning Board to conduct the City to facilitate site-specific redevelopment projects. Present owners a preliminary investigation of Main Street, Asbury Park in September of of property in the Main Street Redevelopment Area will be encouraged to 2003. The Main Street Redevelopment Study was prepared by Heyer Gruel participate in the redevelopment process through the redevelopment or & Associates, the Planning Board’s professional planning consultant. The rehabilitation of their properties in accordance with the land uses, building, and investigation concluded that the Main Street Study Area meets the criteria design requirements of this plan. Incentives to participate may include long- or necessary in order to be declared a redevelopment area. short-term property tax abatements or payments in lieu of taxes. The City Council reviewed the Planning Board’s recommendations starting on March 17, 2004. The City Council concurred with the Planning Board’s findings that the properties identified in the study met the statutory criteria necessary to be declared an Area in Need of Redevelopment. However, the Council also found that certain properties within the study area contain exclusively residential structures (no commercial uses in the structures). The City Council determined that these exclusively residential properties should be removed from consideration as part of a Main Street Redevelopment Area as Main Street is primarily commercial in nature, that the exclusively residential properties identified in the study do not have an adverse effect on the Main Street corridor, and that their exclusion from the Main Street Redevelopment Area would not jeopardize the effective redevelopment of the Main Street corridor. On April 7, 2004, the City Council adopted a Resolution declaring the Main Street Study Area an Area in Need of Redevelopment, minus the exclusively residential properties. The City Council also directed the City Redevelopment Director along with other appropriate City staff to prepare a redevelopment plan for the Main Street Redevelopment Area. The City hired the firms of Urban Partners, Brown & Keener, and Charles Carmalt Transportation Planner to undertake the redevelopment planning process. ASBURY PARK MAIN STREET REDEVELOPMENT PLAN 5 The designation of an area in need of rehabilitation may cover a neighborhood, Rehabilitation Designation, Criteria and Purpose other delineated area or, at times, an entire municipality. The City of Asbury Block 2503, Lots 2-6 are part of an area of rehabilitation and are included in Park has had a city wide designation as an area in need of rehabilitation for over this redevelopment plan as such. 40 years. Unlike the procedures for designating an Area in Need of Rehabilitation is commonly recognized as a process governed by the Local Redevelopment, no public hearing is necessary for a rehabilitation designation. Redevelopment and Housing Law (N.J.S.A. 40A-12A-1 et seq.)("the Law") Similarly, eminent domain is not allowed for properties in an area designated as that is undertaken in accordance with a rehabilitation plan adopted by the in need of rehabilitation. Once an Area in Need of Rehabilitation is designated, municipality. The law defines rehabilitation as "the repair, reconstruction or the municipality may exercise the following powers: renovation of existing structures, with or without the introduction of new 1. Rehabilitation, repair and improvement of both residential and construction or the enlargement of existing structures, in any area that has non-residential structures, done independently or as part of a been determined to be in need of rehabilitation or redevelopment, to redevelopment plan or project; eliminate substandard structural or housing conditions