FROM THE METUCHEN SENTINEL (Greater Media Newspapers)
August 9, 2006
Joni Scanlon
Guest Column
On a Saturday afternoon last winter, residents of nearby Fanwood gathered in a local community center to discuss a proposed redevelopment plan for one of the town's main commercial corridors.
Although a professional planner had been retained to create the redevelopment plan, Fanwood's mayor and council insisted upon strong community participation through what is known as a "community visioning" process.
These officials expressed a deep commitment to developing a plan that reflected the values and the vision of the residents who elected them to office. It was made clear from the outset that the redevelopment plan that ultimately emerged would not be planner-driven. It would not be developer-driven. It would be community-driven, as every good redevelopment plan should be.
And so residents and property owners in this historic, tree-lined borough - similar in many ways to Metuchen - spent a Saturday afternoon and two subsequent evenings poring over maps of the proposed redevelopment area. With several trained facilitators guiding a structured discussion, residents shared their thoughts about the types of development they wanted to see in their community. They talked about the services they wanted to attract - such as a grocery store, cultural arts space, senior housing, a coffee shop. And they also talked about property uses they wouldn't want to see in town.
Participants were shown and asked to respond to photographs and renderings of different architectural styles and streetscapes. This exercise presented a clear consensus on how residents felt the proposed redevelopment area should look and the maximum development density and building-height limits they would tolerate.
At the end of the sessions, residents were left feeling empowered - and with a clear sense of having contributed in a meaningful way to shaping a redevelopment plan for their community. Political leaders were comforted with the knowledge that the community stood behind the plan. And potential developers had the certainty that the plan enjoyed strong community support and would not be vigorously challenged.
Community visioning is nothing new. Throughout New Jersey and throughout the country, citizens are often given a real and meaningful opportunity to share in creating a collaborative vision for how their communities will look in the future. Metuchen residents deserve no less.
Last Thursday, in response to community concerns and a grassroots campaign by Metuchen Citizens for Responsible Development (MCRD), the Metuchen Planning Board adopted a master plan re-examination report for the borough that calls for public hearings and community visioning sessions to gather citizens' input on a proposed redevelopment plan for the former Stop & Shop site and its environs.
The board is to be commended for listening to the voice of the community and taking this important first step. Now it is up to our elected and appointed leadership to make certain that the process that unfolds is meaningful and that any redevelopment plan created as a result of this exercise truly reflects the will of the people.
To ensure that Metuchen's visioning process is implemented as recommended, MCRD remains committed to its campaign to allow residents to play a substantial role in shaping the development of our community. Therefore, we are continuing to collect signatures for a letter that we intend to send to the mayor and council supporting this valuable opportunity.
Metuchen is fortunate that our borough's planning firm, Looney Ricks Kiss, is a nationally renowned expert on community visioning, having conducted visioning sessions as far afield as Nashville and as nearby as Hillsborough. The firm also possesses sophisticated computer-aided visioning capabilities that would allow planners to easily capture feedback from a large segment of Metuchen's population.
We are also rich in our human capital, with a population that is smart, thoughtful and committed. Borough residents love Metuchen with a passion unparalleled. If given a real opportunity, we will have much to contribute to shaping a vision for the future of our beautiful town.
Our Planning Board took an encouraging first step last Thursday. Now it's up to Metuchen's leadership to ensure that the public has a significant opportunity to share in creating a redevelopment plan for the former Stop & Shop site of which we can all feel proud - a plan that is truly compatible with the vision and the values of our citizens.
Joni Scanlon is a member of Metuchen Citizens for Responsible Development and coordinator of its letter-writing campaign.
For more information, visit MCRD.blogspot.com.