Legalize downtown!

The existing code favored suburban building forms and development patterns, a regulatory approach that could lead to the incremental destruction of the classic downtown. | STATUS: adopted

Hammonton is a charming New Jersey town at the center of the state’s blueberry industry. The "Blueberry Capital of the World" has a downtown composed of traditional buildings that could not be approved or constructed under the existing zoning code. Town leaders became concerned that the code favored suburban building forms and development patterns, a regulatory approach that could lead to the incremental destruction of the classic downtown.  In fact, many were surprised that a proposed new Town Hall would be impossible to accommodate in the downtown. This was one reason that Hammonton MainStreet applied for, and received a grant from the Municipal Land Use Center of the College of New Jersey to conduct an assessment and a rezoning of the downtown districts. Hammonton MainStreet’s executive director, Cassie Iacovelli, was given the challenge of implementing the grant and for selecting a professional planner to lead a highly participatory public discussion about the downtown and its future. Mark Keener AIA AICP brought together the winning team.

• Survey and quantify preferences, create instrument to be distributed door-to-door and in high-traffic downtown locations.

• Using the results of the survey, the team conducted public workshops and open houses, at which the participation was broad and diverse.

• Finally, a “code-talkers’” bus tour took interested residents to various locations within the planning area to show them what current zoning would allow and how form-based codes could offer an improvement.

• Initially, the mayor (an area builder) was concerned that the code would constrict development options, but eventually urged its adoption because he recognized that for developers and citizens alike, a code that specifies what a community wants, not just what is allowed, encourages revitalization.

• Over the winter, a draft code was written, and also refined in open work sessions. Based on resident feedback, the underlying zoning ordinance was also streamlined and enhanced.

• The final version of the new code was adopted by the town Planning Board in November 2011.

Project Team

Mark Keener: Project Director | Team: Matt Wanamaker, Ian Litwin, Katie Winkler | with: Robert Kull AICP, Dan Keuper PE, and Urban Partners

The “Burn-down Test”

If there is a fire on one of your favorite blocks on Main Street 1) is it likely and LEGAL for it to be rebuilt in a way that ensures that the result will not be awful? 2) Do your land use regulations go further - actually ensuring that the post fire development WILL be awful? These illustrations were of interest because they show an actual historic event - a fire on just that block on Bellvue Avenue in Hammonton—and that a suburban auto-oriented use could replace the great mainstreet building.

Good Questions

After it was established that the town would, in fact, fail the “Burn-down Test”. A series of roundtable meetings invited discussion about future development and the character of buildings in different places throughout the downtown. Conversation among others was encouraged, generating consensus and individual feedback that could be quantified and applied to preferences to each character district. That became the framework for the new Form-based Downtown Zoning Code.

Outcomes

In the 7 years since its adoption, the illustrative, user-friendly code continues to guide downtown development. The sign code has been an especially constructive influence, guiding reliably high-quality graphics in the downtown district. This year, the town is pursuing a Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPP) Grant, in collaboration with the State of New Jersey, Department of Community Affairs, targeting in the Downtown Business Improvement District and adjacent MainStreet Hammonton Program Area believing that will be economic catalyst and augment the renaissance that has occurred in this area in the past decade.