A new transit-oriented neighborhood within the City of Jersey City

The Canal Crossing Redevelopment Plan Area is a new transit-oriented neighborhood of approximately 111 acres, located in the southeastern section of Jersey City. It was formed from the southern portion of the Morris Canal Redevelopment Area and a portion of the Claremont Industrial Redevelopment Area. The Canal Crossing Redevelopment Area is now a separate and distinct redevelopment area.

The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) system runs along both the northern and eastern borders of the area. The Westside connector branch of the HBLR forms the northern border of the Redevelopment Area and the Garfield Avenue station is located at the north-west corner of the Area. The Bayonne line forms the eastern border of the Area. A new station is proposed on this line at the eastern terminus of Caven Point Avenue within the Area.

The Morris Canal once traversed the Redevelopment Area in a general north & south alignment near the western edge of the Redevelopment Area. The Morris Canal was a major regional freight transportation route. In the nineteenth century, it fostered the growth of heavy industrial uses. Later, when the canal fell into disuse, it was abandoned and filled in. Railroad freight lines and heavy trucks replaced the canal in servicing the existing industries. The existing Lafayette residential community, just to the north, shared in the benefits of the industrial growth of the area. The industrial growth in turn led to the development of nearby housing for the people who worked in the plants and mills. This type of mixed industrial / residential neighborhood, common to the Northeast in the 19th century, was successful until the middle of the 20th century when heavy industry began to leave urban areas behind. During this transition, the surrounding residential neighborhoods changed as well.

The industrial history of the area has left a landscape of obsolete structures and properties, many of which contain contaminated soil and require remediation. Historically, developers have avoided redeveloping brownfields due to the high costs and fear of liability. However, recent legislation has reduced these risks and made brownfields in urban areas more desirable for development. At the same time, recent State development policy has sought to direct new development into cities and towns where necessary infrastructure and mass transit already exists, and away from “green” fields so as to diminish the negative impacts of suburban sprawl.

This Plan envisions a neighborhood incorporating the best principals of sustainable development. The Plan is based on the combined principals of Smart Growth, New Urbanism and Green Building. The intent is to create an open network of streets interconnected within the Area, as well as with the neighborhoods to the west and north. The street system provides for the extension of the existing grid into the Area. The scale and character of the street grid is intended to provide appropriate access to all portions of the Canal Crossing neighborhood, while discouraging through traffic. The open network of small city blocks will allow for multiple alternate routes of travel and slower vehicular travel speeds. This will result in a more interesting and varied pedestrian environment and provide for safe convenient pedestrian access to mass transit, commercial facilities and public open space amenities throughout the Area.

Convenient commercial facilities and services are envisioned near each of the light rail stations. The larger of the commercial clusters is proposed nearer to the proposed Caven Point Avenue light-rail station. This portion of the Redevelopment Area is envisioned as the town center for the Canal Crossing neighborhood and a small “Town Square” is proposed for this area.

Additional urban scale parks are proposed within the Canal Crossing neighborhood to provide locations for people to gather, passive recreation, children’s playgrounds and similar activities. A prime open space feature of the Canal Crossing neighborhood will be the creation of “Canal Way”, an expansive green way built over the former bed of the Morris Canal. It is hoped that this green way will be extended over time and interconnected with other green spaces along the former Morris Canal to form a continuous green way throughout the City of Jersey City. In the short term, Canal Way can be interconnected with the new Berry Lane park currently being planned for 17 acres just north of the development on the other side of the Westside Connector light rail line. A longer term goal is to provide for a pedestrian connection to Liberty State Park from the eastern terminus of Caven Point Avenue. A new school site is also proposed toward the southern end of the Canal Crossing neighborhood, located such that it can serve the needs of the new neighborhood, as well as the existing neighborhood to the west.

It is the intent of this Plan to provide for a diversity of uses, and also a diversity of housing and building types. Housing developed within the Canal Crossing neighborhood will include market rate housing, work-force housing and housing affordable to persons of low and moderate income. Both rental and for-sale housing will be constructed. Various building sizes will also be provided. Much of the Area is envisioned as being low to mid-rise in scale and character, four to eight stories. However, some high-rise structures, ten to sixteen stories, will also be allowed in areas closer to the light rail stations and surrounding the “Town Square”. This variety of building height and scale will provide for greater architectural interest and allow for greater housing diversity in terms of unit types. It will also allow for the transfer of some development rights from sites more distant from the light rail stations, to sites more proximate to the light rail stations where added density is more appropriate and can more easily be accommodated.

In order to promote sustainable development within the Canal Crossing neighborhood, all new buildings will be required to incorporate “Green Building” technologies and development practices as outlined in the “LEED for New Construction Rating System”. The entire Canal Crossing neighborhood is envisioned as a sustainable community incorporating walkable streets; convenient access to mass transit, commercial services, community facilities and open space; reduced reliance on the automobile; a diversity of building sizes, housing types and affordability ranges; all interconnected to each other and the existing street network and fabric of the surrounding neighborhoods and the City of Jersey City in general.

Redevelopment of this area will also encourage the upgrading of roadways and utilities in the surrounding area, encourage reinvestment and neighborhood stability and provide for the environmental remediation of properties within the Redevelopment Area.

III. REDEVELOPMENT PLAN OBJECTIVES

A. To redevelop the Canal Crossing Project Area in a manner that will exemplify the principles of New Urbanism and implement traditional neighborhood development techniques that recognize this unique inner-city location.

B. To encourage development with a mixture of uses and an intensity of development that will allow for a self-sufficient and vibrant new community serving as a model for healthy urban growth.

C. To provide a variety of market rate and affordable housing types, both rental and for sale, suitable to meet the need of varying family types and income levels.

D. To provide for an intensity of development suitable to support the implementation of needed infrastructure improvements.

E. To provide for the redevelopment of brownfield sites through innovative mixed-use development.

F. To encourage innovative mixed-use development through new construction of low rise, mid-rise and high rise structures. allowing greater variety in building type and design.

G. To require the interconnection of uses, blocks, and streets to create integrated neighborhoods and a greater sense of community through the use of design techniques that provide for a modified grid street pattern.

H. To provide a layout of streets and open spaces that encourage pedestrian interconnections to the light rail stations, civic buildings, and commercial uses with the intent to provide safe pedestrian connections.

I. To require the interconnection of the new Canal Crossing Neighborhood with existing neighborhoods to the north and west through the extension of the existing street grid system into the redevelopment area.

J. To encourage the greater use of the light rail system by providing improved access to the light rail station at Garfield Avenue and the construction of a new light rail station at the eastern terminus of Caven Point Avenue.

K. To provide a clearly articulated and rationally designed open space system which consists of active and passive parks dispersed throughout the Area including the interconnection to the Berry Lane Park located north of the Redevelopment Plan.

L. To extend greater opportunities for housing, commercial, and recreation facilities to all residents of the City.

M. To provide a more efficient use of land and public services by directing development in a pattern that resembles traditional blocks of mixed and multiple-use development with varied housing types.

N. To facilitate the construction of streets, infrastructure, open space and other public improvements at the appropriate time given the progression of development in order to benefit this new neighborhood as a whole and the residents of Jersey City in general.

O. To alleviate undue traffic congestion by reducing the excessive sprawl of development and the segregation of land uses, which result in the inefficient use of land, encourages the use of private vehicles, and is counter to the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare.

P. To implement the creation of places which are oriented to the pedestrian, promote citizen security, and social interaction.

Q. To implement developments where the physical, visual, and spatial characteristics are established and reinforced through the consistent use of thoroughfare, urban and architectural design elements.

R. To promote the principles of sustainable development through adherence to the standards of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating Systems for both individual buildings and neighborhoods developed within the Canal Crossing Redevelopment Area.

S. To promote the principles of “Smart Growth” and “Transit Village” development. i.e. sustainable economic and social development, including a variety of housing choices, providing pedestrian friendly streets and public rights-of-way, minimize automobile use by maximizing the appeal and access to mass transit, encourage reduced parking and shared use parking solutions, and creating a livable community with convenient access to commercial facilities.