City Council took the next step in redeveloping the northern end of downtown, formally adopting the Arts District Redevelopment Plan and amending the city’s zoning map.
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The governing body adopted legislation (O-17-20) at its July 20 combined meeting, held via Zoom, after a public hearing with no comments from the public or council members. The bill initially was introduced in June. Now it’s up to the Redevelopment Agency to designate a redeveloper and negotiate any redevelopment agreements, under the power of the state’s Local Redevelopment and Housing Law (N.J.S.A. 40A:12A-1). The agency is scheduled to meet next on Sept. 2.
The Arts District Redevelopment Area encompasses an almost 12-acre area from Seminary Avenue to Elizabeth Avenue, anchored by the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC).
The concept developed by Red Bank-based Heyer, Gruel, and Associates includes features like a five-point roundabout at the intersection of Central Avenue and Hamilton and Irving streets, street art and murals, a park near Hamilton Stage, and an incubator space in the former Elizabethtown Gas office building at Hamilton Street and Central Avenue.
The concept plan also proposed 136 residential units, including 44 units at the former St. Mark’s Church site on Hamilton Street, 16 townhouses along Gordon Place and Seminary Avenue, and 76 units in new buildings along Irving, Coach and West Main streets and Elizabeth Avenue. Potential developers would have to acquire any properties, most of which are currently privately owned.
The Planning Board endorsed the concept plan at its June meeting and the measure approved last week continues a process that began in February 2019. City Council directed the Planning Board to investigate six properties, including the former St. Mark’s Church and adjacent lots, to determine if warrant being declared an area in need of redevelopment.
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