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Did the council read this
editorial................................ before moving to table the
Springwood Ave Redevelopment Plan for more public input?
What made Mayor Sanders withdraw his support for this plan? Why
did Hazel Samuel not stand up and say anything? Why did the city manager show up
after the vote? Why did the city lawyer not say a word all night? The council
chambers was filled to capacity and the meeting ended by 7:30 PM.
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View proposals in broad context Published in the Asbury Park Press 02/10/05The Asbury Park City Council will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. tonight on the Springwood Avenue Redevelopment Plan, which would allow construction of 70 affordable rental units and 50 market-rate, single-family homes.City officials are rightfully anxious to see the property in the city's impoverished west side developed. It has been largely untouched for decades. Building new housing there would send a signal that all parts of the city â not just the beachfront and the downtown â are being reborn. The city's planners, however, and some west side residents believe the properties in the four-block redevelopment zone should accommodate a variety of uses â residential, retail and commercial â and that the new affordable units should be scattered throughout the city. So do we. But the City Council must make a realistic assessment of how much of a market there is for retail in the areas where the two housing plans are being proposed. It also must determine whether reducing the number of housing units, or changing the mix of rental vs. owner-occupied units and market rate vs. affordable units, can be achieved without jeopardizing the plans now on the table. Asbury Park needs affordable housing. It will need even more of it when the new construction â and the rising rents and housing prices certain to accompany it â displace many longtime residents. It would be foolish to pass up any reasonable opportunity to provide it on Springwood Avenue. But new affordable housing should not be confined to the west side of town. And the Springwood Avenue corridor must be re-established as a mixed-use neighborhood. There also is a desperate need for outdoor recreation in that area. The redevelopment zone must provide for it â if not in the two easternmost blocks of the corridor where the two housing developments are proposed, then in the areas closer to the Neptune boundary. In considering the two proposals for Springwood Avenue, the council and city residents must view them in the broader context of the overall redevelopment plan and Asbury Park's affordable housing and recreation needs. The council shouldn't take any action without pledging that it is committed to creating new affordable housing throughout the city, to providing ample mixed use opportunities, including recreation, somewhere in the Springwood redevelopment area, and to ensuring that the redevelopment zone meshes well with an adjacent zone in Neptune.
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