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Redevelopment hearing slated for September
(by Karen F. Mrnarevic - July 01, 2008)
Those waiting for news on the Emerson Redevelopment project will have to hold out for several more months. At the June 17 meeting of the mayor and council, Mayor Lou Lamatina said of the laborious process, “We are moving forward with what we need to do, but it will take time.”
The borough’s redevelopment plan was returned to the Planning Board after a state appellate court decision, rendered in February, resulted in the revision of rules governing a municipality’s responsibility to inform property owners that their property has been designated “in need of redevelopment.”
A public hearing was set for June 24, at which time the borough planner was supposed to have presented the revised redevelopment plan, but the meeting was postponed. “We are looking at probably a September hearing,” said Borough Administrator Joe Scarpa, “partly because people go away, and the revision of the plan will take some more time.”
One aspect of redevelopment that has long posed a challenge to the borough is the reconfiguration and widening of Kinderkamack Road, which the borough has said in the past must take place before the properties along the corridor can be improved.
The borough has enlisted the help of a Joe Sanzari, the chairman of the Bergen County Economic Development Corporation, to look at ways to reconfigure the road. Sanzari will be working on a volunteer basis to assist the borough in meetings with the county.
The county will ultimately be responsible for undertaking the road reconfiguration process, which could include the implementation of traffic calming measures to improve pedestrian safety, as well as the addition of turning lanes at intersections.
Another issue that has long proved problematic to the community is that of the awkwardly located Emerson train station, at the intersection of Kinderkamack and Linwood Avenue. Borough officials have said that the station must be relocated in order to allow traffic to flow more freely through the downtown area. However, the borough has been unable to convince NJ Transit to relocate it to the north or south, due to the presumed high cost of such a project. With the recent news that NJ Transit will commit $150 million toward the effort to restore and renovate the Hoboken Rail Terminal, officials in Emerson are beginning to question NJ Transit’s reasoning in declining to fund the much less costly relocation of their station.
“They’re telling us the platform will cost about $3 million and there’s no money for it,” Scarpa said of NJ Transit. “But here they are giving $150 million to one single project.” He asserts that NJ Transit is incorrect if it sees the Emerson station as a matter of only local significance. “We feel that this is really trying to correct a regional problem, not just an Emerson problem,” said Scarpa. “The backing up of traffic onto Kinderkamack Road [when a train blocks the intersection], goes beyond Emerson. It’s a main corridor and a lot of people travel through here.”
Scarpa also pointed out that with the recent increase in train service and more trains stopping at the intersection daily, the problem has gone from bad to worse.
Karen F. Mrnarevic's e-mail address is Mrnarevic@northjersey.com.
| Comments (2) |
On July 3, 2008 bill said:
It shouldn't be any surprise to anyone that Emerson is pushing their SO-CALLED redevelopment hearings back further and further. They have been fumbling their dreamy ideas for over 5 years now with ZERO PROGRESS... Emerson will never accomplish a redevelopment. NEVER! The developer that Emerson's so-called officials have thrown out to the public as the redeveloper of "choice" is simply toying with Emerson's so-called officials. Funny thing is that Emerson's officials are so pathetic they don't realize it. |
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On July 3, 2008 jim said:
did emerson help block njtransit from adding a passing siding between emerson and oradell?? added rail service is wonderful with gas prices like they are, you can be in new york city in under one hour by rail. maybe if they work with njtransit , transit will work with them. there are no pm rush hours trains to hoboken and nyc cause there is no passing siding. |
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