The Crossroads development has dominated the local conversation in Mahwah for the past 9 months. Over the past few years, the Crossroads Developers had put forth various proposals for development of the site, only to have them rejected by the Mahwah Township Council. This past March, the Developer once again came to the Council in order to ask that their property be rezoned from office use to mixed-use/retail to allow for the construction of a complex of retail stores, restaurants, a movie theater, hotel and office space. Over 400 residents attended the March 31 meeting to express their opposition to the development. This unprecedented turnout by Mahwah residents, unlike any the Council had seen before, should have been enough for the Council to realize that a decision to rezone the property may not be in the best interests of Mahwah residents. Instead, the Council voted 4-2 to allow for the property to be rezoned. The Committee to Stop Mahwah Mall, a grassroots group of citizens concerned over this perceived miscarriage of justice, formed in response to the rezoning. The Committee worked over the next few months to collect signatures for a petition requesting the Township place a nonbinding referendum on the November ballot. In addition, the Committee raised enough fund in order to retain an attorney, Michael Kates, who filed a lawsuit against the Council on the Committee’s behalf. Since the Council meeting on March 31, the issue has become both more contentious and complicated. The Council voted on September 1 to rescind their approval of the new zoning. However, the developer submitted their proposed plans for the site a day prior, which under a new state law, allows for the retail zoning to stand. The “time of application” l... ... middle of paper ... ... development. While I personally support the development, I respect the Committee’s opposition to the development. As a resident and voter, I find it appalling that the Council disregarded the concerns of so many residents in their vote to rezone the property. The entire rezoning process has been a haphazard, schizophrenic mess. I believe the best course of action for the Township should have been to hold a nonbinding referendum before the Council voted on the rezoning. Hopefully, the Council has realized the errors of their ways and will conduct future Township business in a much better way. Lastly, regardless of how the Superior Court rules on the issue, I hope the Committee stays involved in the planning and development process. Only with proactive community involvement will the Crossroads development become a great place for all of Mahwah’s residents to enjoy.
Typically, the Deer Crossing Homeowners’ Association board will meet once a quarter to solve community problems and disputes that arose during the past few months, but has never organized a separate council to conduct surveys to gain a better insight on other homeowner’s. Without this needed insight, decisions are being made without some of the homeowners’ knowledge or input. This is primarily due to the lack of interested citizens in the association. The assessment in the following pages identifies issues that have occurred, regarding delinquencies, disputes, and community involvement, with no true action taken to collect or interpret information and implement guidance on some of the local community agenda items that occur.
After reading the case study Welcome to the new town manager, by Mary Jane Kuffner Hirt, I established three major problems the community of Opportunity needed to correct. These problems involved the water & sewer system, the balancing budget, & the pay-as-you-go method. The city manager, Jennifer Holbrook, must implement strategies that would correct these problems quickly.
Stressors in the community is the real estate developer who proposed the development plan. The plan has added conflict between community organizations that don’t agree on the plan. Some members of community see that the plan can bring change to the community that will better life for the community. They see the plan will lead to a reestablished community with new order and hope. They also see that there will be new employment opportunities and stabilization in the areas. Those against the plan feel like there is a lack of trust with the developer since he has been buying properties from the community for several years without consulting the residents. They also don’t agree with the design of the plan and the for-profit real estate agent. The
people have been living there for a for a long time and he does not want the
This Paper will describe and analyze three articles pertaining to the ongoing debate for and against Glen Canyon Dam. Two of these articles were found in the 1999 edition of A Sense of Place, and the third was downloaded off a site on the Internet (http://www.glencanyon.net/club.htm). These articles wi...
Lately I have noticed numerous abandoned buildings around the Battle Creek area; the sight makes our city look run down and cheap. I believe something must be done about this issue such as turning the buildings into new city attractions. Two vacant buildings that come to mind are the run down State Police Station and the dilapidated Family Fare store.
4. The decision allowed the city council to postpone their vote for a week, and they suggested that the sites developer design a plan to save more of it’s trees.
Because of the amount of overdeveloped areas that are now vacant, the desire to renovate old vacant properties and land plots has all but disappeared. What if there was a beneficial solution to unused land plots in need of rehab and redesign? What if, instead of paving over every leftover inch of grass and dirt in urban areas to make room for more parking for our daily commuting polluters, we instead reinvent that land for a purpose that is both beneficial to our
In all, the Phoenix City Council assembly, as anticipated, covered a huge breadth of topics. From voting in the antidiscrimination law to liquor licenses to historical appellations, the meeting directly addressed planning in nearly all of its forms. Through the meeting, I understood the process of decision making in the city as they address the pressing issues in line with the opinions of the public while the council vetoes other decisions in.
The rezoning of 125th street has been a topic of controversy and has yet to be approved. The Department of City Planning believes rezoning of 125th street will bring positive economic changes. I personally believe that these changes would negatively affect the residents and business owners of Harlem. According to the New York City’s Planning Commission, the rezoning will bring new business and housing. Residents and business owners disagree because they believe this plays a bigger role in promoting further “gentrification.” I believe that Harlem should be able to keep its cultural heritage while still promoting and modifying economic growth.
A new phenomenon happening in our city is the rebirth of many of our older and rundown areas. One of the best examples of this is the "Soulard" area of town, which now has an established nightlife as well as exquisite historical antique homes. Lafayette Square has also enjoyed the same type of success as Soulard. It is still in the middle of a high crime area, but is populated by upper-class people with beautiful homes with elaborate wrought iron fences and intricate security systems. This trend of fixing up old flats is spreading out from the areas of Soulard and Lafayette Square to neighboring communities at a rapid pace. The Compton Heights area is coming back with rebuilt old Victorian styled houses and private gated streets that contrast the French styled flats of Soulard. The Shaw and Tower Grove area are also following the lead of revitalization similar to these charming old neighborhoods.
The local residents perspective of this development is more of a negative one, as they are scared of the overcrowding that the development could cause and also the congestion of what is to happen in the area, since the people would want a peaceful place to live
Even after the University of Georgia conducted research finding elevated levels of toxins within the produce and soil people continued to undermine the threats to this neighborhood because of their ethnic heritage (Checker 83). Yet, these people continued to fight for their homeland, as they believed they deserved better. However, not until attorneys Bill McCracken and Harry James appeared, was the health of these people considered important (Checker 93). These men helped to develop a lawsuit that stated this group of people were undergoing environmental racism as they were not being thought of during the dumping of harmful chemicals in the lands surrounding their homes (Checker 117). Unfortunately for Hyde Park residents, many of the lawsuits filed in hopes of obtains some sort of justice for these people being wronged were settled in favor of the other party (Checker chapter 6). These decisions were likely solely based on the ethnic background of those living in the area. These people had been living in this area for many years and had been metaphorically trapped within the confines of the companies that were causing their surroundings to become hazardous. This confinement of sorts and the race of the residents within allowed
However, most of the people whose homes were in this area had given their properties up for just compensation by the city without a struggle; only a small portion went to the courts about losing their land. The main reason behind these people taking legal action was because apparently they held a connection to their land; many had spent much time working on their home to bring it to the condition it was, raising its value not only marketably but sentimentally as well (Linder). Despite the promise of being justly compensated for being relieved of their land - which would have been generous seeing as all the properties in question seemed to be in good condition, because the people who sued the state felt that the labor (or other reasons for attachment) outweighed whatever they would have received for it by the city they tried to keep their
This shows how with no assistance improvements and renovations have been made by those people who take up the residences. The inabilities of the state to develop the land have highlighted by the residents and have been able to do by themselves with the limited resources.