Hazlet 2030 offers vision for future of township

Mixed-use development, a community bus shuttle and an expanded open space system are all part of a 20-year visioning plan for the redevelopment of Hazlet Township.

Top to bottom: A Hazlet resident looks over visuals at a public meeting on the town’s 20-year redevelopment plan called “Hazlet 2030.” Vacant commercial structures would be redeveloped as mixed-use developments. Route 36 west is one of the areas slated for redevelopment and economic revitalization. The plan — known as Hazlet 2030 —was designed with resident input to outline goals to guide future development for the 5.6-squaremile township.

In November 2008 Hazlet was awarded a $50,000 Smart Future Planning Grant from the New Jersey Office of Smart Growth (OSG) to create a community vision plan. The final plans and findings setting priorities for land preservation, recreation and other amenities were unveiled at the township Planning Board meeting on Feb. 4.

PHOTOS BY JACQUELINE HLAVENKA “We got a lot of really great information,” said Jeffrey C. Tyler, chairman of the Hazlet Planning Board. “This is information that we can now do something with.”

The governing body hired Maser Consulting to guide both local officials and community members throughout the grant process.

“What we did not want to wind up with at the end of this report was ‘let’s do another study, let’s review the master plan and let’s spend a lot of time looking at a whole broad range of things,’ ” Tyler said. “We wanted to target specific action steps we can take to really make an impact.”

To create the plan, the township held a series of interactive public workshops in 2009 to identify what residents wanted to see in their town. The consultants used a process called community vision surveying, which asked participants to look at photographs from other New Jersey towns and rank their likes and dislikes on a scale: -5 to 5.

The second type of question contained two photographs and asked residents to choose what landscape was more appropriate for the township’s future.

“These are a compilation of the work of the community,” said Marcia R. Shiffman, project manager for Maser Consulting. “We took your ideas and then provided draft plans at the second workshop, so this is the result of community based efforts.”

Additionally, a township community questionnaire was placed online for 73 days and generated 166 responses, with 72 percent of respondents stating they have lived in Hazlet for 10 years or more.

While the process examined the township as a whole, four focus areas were identified for further study: Natco Lake, Waackaack Creek, Veterans Park and Route 36.

Under the municipality’s 2008 master plan re-examination, the four areas — composed of both open space and developed areas — were found to share significant land area and require greater public access.

The Route 36 focus area, including properties starting at Airport Plaza to Union Avenue, has “multiple properties that are either vacant, underutilized and worthy of preservation,” according to the plan.

Prime candidates for redevelopment were identified, including the vacant Bradlees building and the Holy Family School property.

Western Route 36 is also home to the largest vacant parcel of land in Hazlet, Stone Road Meadows.

As proposed in the plan, residents requested to see Route 36 transformed to a pedestrian and cyclist-friendly area by improving intersections with new crosswalks, pedestrian signals and greenway connections to the county’s Henry Hudson Trail.

Vacant commercial structures — like the Bradlees building — would be redeveloped as mixed-use developments that combine a mixture of shops, services, offices, restaurants and housing.

“They want a town center, an area where they [residents] can go where you can walk and shop,” Shiffman said.

Stone Road Meadows — which was seen as a source of division among residents — will be preserved if possible, but an alternative plan calls for mixed-use development on the site with some of the open space preserved.

“Some people want it preserved and other people want it developed,” said Darlene A. Jay, senior planner at Maser Consulting. “Each demonstration plan is purely conceptual. It doesn’t have to be done this way, but from the data collected from the workshops and the community vision surveys, these are the ideas we learned.”

The consultants noted Route 36 calls for the most “dramatic” changes out of the four focus areas. Expanding service at the Academy bus depot and upgrading the facility are also proposed.

More transit options are also being considered to reduce traffic congestion in the township. Residents expressed a need for the creation of a local community shuttle to make stops at shopping centers, parks and major transit hubs.

“We have a train station in Hazlet and we have a bus depot, but … if I took the bus to work or took the train home, there’s no way to get to and from there,” said Joseph Pobega, chairman of the Hazlet Township Open Space Advisory Council. “One of things that came up is linking [a community shuttle] to the ferry system out of Belford. This way people don’t have to take their car from their house to the train or to the bus.”

Pobega said the township would work with NJ Transit to implement the service.

Aside from commercial land use on Route 36, an expanded open space network is also desired. According to community questionnaire results, only 9 percent of respondents rated the Hazlet park system as excellent, 47 percent said good, 32 percent said fair and 12 percent rated it as poor.

When asked about new open space options, 34 percent of respondents wanted to see the creation of more walking and cycling trails, while 24 percent would like to see a central green space with a gazebo and other park amenities, like a water fountain, playground or an amphitheater.

At Natco Lake, respondents suggested improving educational signage and intersections to the park area, calling for a connection to the Henry Hudson Trail, Veterans Park and Waackaack Creek.

The vision plan for the 79-acre Veterans Park, located off Union Avenue, includes picnic areas, a multipurpose trail system, volleyball courts, basketball courts and a spray park. The township will also work to acquire properties to create a possible access road off Route 35.

Waackaack Creek, which flows to the Raritan Bay and also crosses through Holmdel, Middletown and Keansburg, was cited as an “environmentally critical area” by the report. Hazlet will focus on creating a visitor center for the area and an access road off Leocadia Court. Recreation opportunities for kayak rental and crabbing piers were also recommended.

Both Natco Lake and Waackaack Creek were identified as part of the adopted open space plan and have been purchased using the township’s open space tax, which was passed in 2006.

The open space tax allowed the township to apply for grant money for new projects through the state and the county.

“Much of the funding that we obtain as a town is through individuals, and Joe [Pobega] was instrumental in creating the open space tax,” Tyler said. “That has enabled us to have funding, so when you have a matching grant, we have a way to fund half of it. The challenge is to the constituents, to the open space advisory council or the environmental commission.”

Both the Hazlet Area Quality of Life Alliance (HAQLA) and the Hazlet Environmental Commission have supported the community vision.

However, many of the township’s subcommittees— like open space advisory, recreation and environmental — understand the revitalization process will not happen overnight, but the plan will act as a guideline.

“One of the great things about this study is that it will enable us to obtain funding to purchase land,” Tyler said, “We can say ‘we have a vision’ and it will help us get the funding. It will also help us organize our thoughts. We have the input from the people. We know what people want to see, but we also know what they don’t want to see.”

To view the complete report, visit the township website at http://www.hazlettwp.org/generalinfo/ hazlet2030/hazlet2030.html.