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Redevelopment Forum 2020 Home About Location Promotional Partners Continuing Education Credits Previous Forums Agenda Speakers Sponsors Registration Home About Location Promotional Partners Continuing Education Credits Previous Forums Agenda Speakers Sponsors Registration New Jersey Future March 31, 2020 Uncategorized 0 comments Green Streets, Complete Neighborhoods Session Summary How do you ensure your town’s streets are not just for cars, but for people, bikes, wheelchairs—and even water? And when bike lanes are seen as white lanes” and a sign of gentrification, how can you build social equity into a city’s pedestrian safety plans? These are just some of the questions addressed at the Green Streets, Complete Neighborhoods panel during New Jersey Future’s 2020 Redevelopment Forum. Panel-goers heard from New Jersey Future Planning and Policy Manager Kandyce Perry, Tri-State Transportation Campaign Deputy Director Janna Chernetz, Smart Growth America Deputy Director of Thriving Communities Emily Schweninger and Jersey City Director of Transportation Planning Barkha Patel. Perry showed how complete Streets—designed to enable safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities—are an opportunity to weave in green infrastructure. Barkha Patel, Director of Transportation Planning for the City of Jersey City. Green streets are designed for cars, people and water” by incorporating green infrastructure practices like rain gardens and stormwater tree trenches in excess street space. When stormwater runs off of impervious surfaces like roadways and sidewalks many negative effects are felt like more frequent flash flooding, street closings, property damage and sewer overflows. Green infrastructure does not promise to stop the next Hurricane Sandy, but it can very effectively mitigate damage from 90% of New Jersey’s rain events, which are increasingly common in a changing climate. Implementing green infrastructure can also create green jobs in your municipality. Green streets can be a traffic calming measure, reduce sewer overflows and earn your town Sustainable Jersey points. And green infrastructure costs don’t have to be off the charts. According to Perry, the measures can present a cost savings or can be cost-neutral. Department of Transportation local aid grants may be available, and coordinating greenThese simple features deliver a reassuring message: Someone is caring for this.” One session cannot do justice to the scope and scale of New Jersey’s stormwater challenges. One uplifting takeaway from this Forum session, however, is that smart people are on it.” This summary was written by Louise Wilson from New Jersey Future. Read More New Jersey Future March 26, 2020 Uncategorized 0 comments Here for Life: Planning Communities for All Ages Session Summary New Jersey’s population is aging. As a significant portion of our population continues to approach age 65, how will this impact the needs of communities throughout New Jersey? A 2018 AARP survey shows that eight out of 10 adults age 50 and older want to stay where they live. Many people in New Jersey live in areas where they may have raised a family, have close ties to friends, neighbors, and medical professionals, feel a sense of social belonging, and have access to other essential resources. However, Emily Greenfield, associate professor at Rutgers University School of Social Work and moderator of the panel, explained that several communities throughout the state were developed with land-use patterns that do not support the needs of an aging population. How do we create communities that can, and how can we redevelop the built environment to create communities where people of all ages can thrive? First, we have to start with understanding what older populations value in the places they live. For the most part, aging populations want to be in livable communities—walkable, transit-oriented, mixed-use neighborhoods that embody accessibility, convenience, and safety. AARP defines livable communities as having affordable and appropriate housing, supportive community services, and adequate mobility options, which facilitate personal independence and the engagement of residents in civic and social life.” These characteristics are in line with what populations of all ages value in the places they want to live. As the New Jersey state director of AARP, Stephanie Hunsinger understands that people want to live in a community that they can call home. Age doesn’t define what we look for in our communities.” To design and plan for livable communities, Mayann Bucci-Carter discussed how form-based code, a regulation that values physical form over separation of uses for land development, complements redevelopment projects. A professional planner with CME Associates, Bucci-Carter explained that form-based code implementation planning starts with a vision to create livable communities that are better for people of all ages. This allows a town to then implement redevelopment projects that support and contribute to that goal, rather than planning based on the factors of an already car-dependent community and hoping the rest follows. This results in a built environment with a strong sense of place at the core, which is specifically designed to be useful for all ages, Bucci-Carter explained. She also emphasized that redevelopment, with a heavy emphasis on community outreach and participation, is key with these projects, as it may not always apply to traditional zoning. Ridgewood Village Mayor Ramon Hache. Mayor Ramon Hache of Ridgewood Village shared how his town wasn’t always known as one that was best suited for older populations. Mayor Hache is making it a priority to engage residents and create a community where everyone can create a community that everyone can remain living in throughout their lives; Ridgewood worked with New Jersey Future to complete a land use analysis for the town , where a steering committee is prioritizing the recommendations to develop an aging friendly implementation plan. For the first time in U.S. history, adults age 65 and older are projected to outnumber children under 18 around the year 2030 . As this age demographic grows, the Ridgewood mayor understands that this valuable group can sometimes be overlooked, emphasizing, we don’t want seniors to feel left behind.” By prioritizing creating a community where all its members can age in place and understanding the needs of those residents, a town can begin to implement redevelopment projects. What do these projects look like? Metuchen Borough has gone through an almost 30-year redevelopment, leading it to be the vibrant downtown that it is today. A major focus of the Metuchen Downtown Alliance was to revitalize the downtown business district through strong partnerships with various local stakeholders and community members, said executive director Isaac Kremer. Kremer showed the audience photographs of the changes in Metuchen’s downtown that led to its reactivation: eye-catching storefronts and public art, attractive lights and signs, sidewalks with comfortable seating, and greenery that drew in residents and visitors to a walkable, active community. As evident in Metuchen, supporting populations of all ages by creating livable communities also has a great economic benefit. Property values increase as access to green spaces, walkability and compactness, housing diversity, and transportation options increase, Hunsinger explained. She also said that seniors’ spending patterns show that they contribute significantly to a local economy. Metuchen’s success stems from showing members of the community how their needs are valued by the way the environment is designed for everyone to use and appreciate. Greenfield told the audience to center redevelopment projects around a vision of making communities better for all ages. Municipalities across New Jersey have started, or already have been,...