Planner Offers West Cape May Proposals for Business Areas

WEST CAPE MAY — What is the message or “brand” this borough wants to communicate to visitors? What do residents want to change and what do visitors want to see?
Those were questions asked of the public at a June 28 meeting with planners and landscape architects, Rhodeside Harwell, of Alexandria, Va.
Armed with a $35,000 state Smart Growth grant, West Cape May hired Rhodeside Harwell to suggest improvements for the look of its business areas.
The firm was also hired by the City of Cape May last year to revitalize its public spaces.
Elliot Rhodeside, director of Rhodeside Harwell, said his firm was focusing on a study area from Sunset Boulevard from west of Park Boulevard to the Cape May border to the marsh beyond Pacific Avenue. The study area includes Broadway with the focal point being the Sunset and Broadway intersection.
He said they would also be looking at the business-residential mix of uses along Broadway and retail complexes on Park Boulevard.
Rhodeside said his team had been asked to look at the streetscape design opportunities including pedestrian areas, opportunities to manage the flow of traffic in key intersections, opportunities for new buildings to be developed and how they would relate to existing structures.
He said the firm would also suggest “achievable things that could be done in the short-term.”
Rhodeside said they were looking at the “significant attributes” of West Cape May including historic
buildings, natural areas, such as the salt marsh on the east side of Park Boulevard and Nature Conservancy on Sunset Boulevard, and alleyways.
During public comment: resident and preservationist Elan Zingman-Leith called the gateways to the borough at Park Boulevard and Perry Street and Broadway and Sunset Boulevard “visually appalling,” a contrast to the beauty of the rest of the borough. He said there was no feeling that the borough was close to Cape Island Creek or the beach.
He said Park Boulevard retail stores were designed as self-storage units.
Zingman-Leith suggested economic incentives for shop owners to change their architecture.
Deana Rhodeside, partner in the firm, noted the Park Boulevard shopping area was disconnected from shops on Broadway.
“We want it to a 19th Century town that you can walk around,” said Historic Preservation Commission member Marie Iaconangelo.
West Cape May Planning Board Chairman Gary Novak warned the town needed to keep year-round residents, and cited shore towns that have 15,000 residents in July and August and only a few in January and February.
Zingman-Leith said West Cape May is not a shore town. He said the borough has a history of housing people who worked in Cape May or farmed the land.
Innkeeper Monique Greenwood said West Cape May has been perceived as a “stepchild to Cape May.”
Mayor Pamela Kaithern described West Cape May as “country living by the sea.”
Commissioner Peter Burke said agriculture still played a role in the borough with its weekly farm markets and festivals.
Resident said businesses could not succeed on Broadway due to high rents and little parking.
Another resident suggested the borough could be attractive to retiring baby boomers even though families could not afford to move here due to home prices that start at $500,000 for a “fixer-upper.” He said there may not be enough permanent residents to keep businesses operating.
Zingman-Leith said residents did not want condos, townhouses or higher density. He said he believed West Cape May and Cape May had sufficient amount parking.
Kaithern said higher density may be more appropriate in the center of town but not in the more rural areas.
A Myrtle Avenue innkeeper suggested closing Myrtle Avenue as it runs through Wilbraham Park.