West Cape’s Downtown Plan Praised by Smart Growth Office

WEST CAPE MAY — With zoning changes pending to create a downtown business district, the borough’s Planning and Zoning Board hosted four experts from the state’s Office of Smart Growth at a March 10 meeting.
Benjamin Spinelli, executive director of Smart Growth, commended the mayor and borough commission noting West Cape May was one of only seven communities in the state to have achieved plan endorsement from the Office of Smart Growth.
He said the job of his office is to keep the state a great place to live in the future, as far out as 20 years.
Spinelli said smart growth for a town meant it would be appropriate in character, in design, in scale and “doing the right thing at the right place.” He said he was familiar with West Cape May having testified in court on its behalf during a builder’s remedy lawsuit case.
“This is one of the better plans for a downtown that I have seen,” said Spinelli.
Proposed zoning changes encourage mixed-use structures with commercial on the ground floor and residential or professional offices on the upper floors.
The C-1 Broadway/Historic district runs on Broadway from Mechanic Street to Congress Street including the north side of Myrtle Avenue from Broadway to Park. Proposed changes in the zone include eliminating multi-family dwelling use and allowing B&Bs to have the same accessory uses as a hotel.
The C-2 Park/Neighborhood zone runs from the east side of Park Boulevard from Leaming Avenue to Perry Street. Permitted uses would include retail, specialty food, Laundromats, churches and residential use only if it is located above a commercial use.
The C-3 Sunset/Retail zone follows Sunset Boulevard between Columbia and Atlantic avenues to the end of Perry Street. Permitted uses would include retail, specialty food, Laundromats, restaurants, professional offices and parking lots. Residential use would only be permitted on floors above commercial units.
The C-3 zone would have “building form requirements” governing features such as storefront display windows, windows, doors, facades and roof shape.
Mayor Pamela Kaithern said the process to change commercial zoning in the borough began in 2004 when the Planning and Zoning Board began a master plan update. With a $35, 000 grant from Smart Growth, the borough hired planners Rhodeside and Harwell to conduct a study of the commercial district and find ways to revitalize it “with a goal of creating a thriving, low impact business district that would serve the needs of residents, attract visitors, provide small business opportunities and jobs and provide opportunities for affordable housing,” she said.
With the master plan update and Rhodeside and Harwell study in hand, work began to update commercial zoning language, which included numerous meetings.
As it currently exists, the business district struggles, said the mayor. She said an improved business district would also help to ease property taxes on residential properties.
“It is important to keep in mind that the physical changes to the commercial district will not happen overnight,” said Kaithern.
Resident James Labrusciano asked if apartments located above businesses would only be affordable housing units. Spinelli said there would be a mix of affordable and market rate units.
He said the affordable housing category was for those who earned 80 percent or less of the average weekly wage in this area.
Kaithern said that included family income as high as $60,000 to $80,000. She said West Cape May had a Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) obligation of 18 units with five growth share units to the year 2018.
The borough’s obligation includes 11 rehabilitated units, seven new housing units and five projected units, said the mayor. She said the borough envisioned three units as accessory apartments.
A resident asked if protections were in place to protect historic homes in the borough from being torn down. Kaithern said proposed zoning changes waive parking requirements for old homes so there is no requirement for additional parking if an historic building becomes commercial.
The borough also has an historic preservation commission that requires a one-year moratorium on demolitions, said Deputy Mayor Dick Rigby.
A resident, who said he drove to the borough on weekends from Manhattan expressed concerns an expanded business district would create noise and light pollution and “decrease the quality of life.”
Smart Growth Planner Katherine Meade said the borough’s plans for a business district were on a small scale and concentrated in one area to make it more viable.
“The scale and the integrity is made to enhance what is already here and not to redesign it,” she said.
Jeff Buehler of the NJ Main Street Program said zoning changes were a refinement of a pattern of development that’s been around for 125 years in West Cape May.
A resident asked if the owners of the 7-11 store and a strip center at Broadway and Sunset Boulevard would comply with new zoning regulations. Kaithern said those were existing businesses that would be exempt but the owners of the properties were interested in changing their buildings and grants and loans may be available to them.