Design team highlights ways for Englishtown to move ahead
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 11/8/07
BY ALESHA WILLIAMS BOYD
STAFF WRITER
ENGLISHTOWN — Debra Pizzuto, owner of Cannoli Bakery, can understand why former businesses at her Main Street location in Englishtown closed up shop.
She said lack of parking and pedestrian traffic in town have made it hard for her to draw customers. She added that at least three businesses have come and gone in the same storefront in recent years.
"Now we understand why a lot of businesses did not succeed in Englishtown, especially where I am," said Pizzuto, who opened her store in May.
Increased parking, more pedestrian accessibility and better regional marketing approaches will help business owners like Pizzuto and the historic hamlet of Englishtown as a whole thrive in the decades to come, according to a national design team that hosted public planning forums at The Village Inn on Oct. 22 and 23.
The borough was selected as one of seven communities nationwide to participate in the meetings, part of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) program.
Identifying assets
Led by a team of nationwide planning professionals and architects, the program is a "visioning process" that will identify the borough's assets and find ways to make those resources work for them, said Donna Drewes of the Municipal Land Use Center at The College of New Jersey.
The team included leader Dennis A. Andrejko, principal of Andrejko and Associates of New York, and Susan Crook, a planner and designer specializing in historic landscape preservation.
The center worked with the borough to secure an $8,000 state Smart Future grant, Drewes said. That helped the borough pay a $5,000 match for the $20,000 AIA grant that funded the team's visit, she said.
"You don't just do a transportation plan, you take it to the next level, the environment, economics, equity/social justice issues," Drewes said of the team effort. "Then you look at how you can fuse assets like historic preservation and historic attributes back into open space and recreation and development to get the maximum benefits for your community."
The team targeted Lake Weamaconk, the circa-1732 Village Inn and Sanford Park as some of the borough's strongest assets.
"We have a natural waterway all the way through town that could be used for all kinds of passive recreation and hiking and birdwatching," Councilwoman Jayne Carr said, referring to a stream that runs from the lake through the borough.
Other team suggestions included launching a historic tourism train that could run from Freehold to Englishtown, making stops at sites including the historic Village Inn. Increased parking signage and a parking directory also were proposed.
Parking spaces
While some of the ideas in the team's wrap-up presentation Oct. 23 may not realistically be implemented for years, Carr said, the borough can begin work on others immediately.
Carr said the borough is working with the Main Street Crossroads Assembly of God Church to make the church's 60 parking spaces available to the public when services are not in session. She also said the borough will appeal to NJ Transit to establish expanded bus service through Englishtown.The team also recommended traffic-calming features for intersections such as the corner of Water and Main streets and Route 522 and Main.
The proposals will be officially presented in a document to the borough within 90 days. The team will continue to work with the borough to target resources, such as state facade improvement grants, that could help fund some of the recommendations, Drewes said.
Pizzuto said she is optimistic the measures could help local commerce.
"They (the team) have plans for the future that seem like very good ideas," Pizzuto said. "The architects will send the town their official proposal and then it's up to the town to move forward."
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