| After
more than half a century of suburban growth and expansion,
people are
The F. Berg Hat Factory, once the most productive hatting
firm in the valley will soon be transformed into the
Valley Renaissance Center, a mix of loft condominiums
and community arts space. |
returning
to our inner cities. A major study released last year
by Rutgers University declares that inner cities are poised
for a dramatic period of growth and revitalization. I have seen a
similar trend in Orange. Our population increased from
29,000 in 1996, at the time of the city’s nonpartisan
election, to the current 33,000. And this growth is expected
to continue.
Going
Places A portion of this growth is attributable to the
city’s
excellent access to public transportation. By rail,
Orange is approximately 15 minutes from Newark
and less than a half hour from Manhattan. Interstate
280 connects with the vehicular network. Given our
strategic
location and the rising cost of
energy, we anticipate benefiting from the current trend
towards Smart Growth redevelopment.
A New
Start for Abandoned Properties And Smart Growth
has come to some of our most
distressed neighborhoods.
As recently as six years ago, Orange had over 300
vacant problem properties concentrated in three neighborhoods.
These properties had a corrosive effect upon local
quality of life and threatened neighborhood stability
in a city already burdened with a home ownership
rate
of only 26 percent. City officials and community
groups focused
serious attention on developing strategies for
eliminating this blight.
Today there are
fewer than 80 vacant problem
properties and only about one quarter of those
are long standing problems.
These
(derelict) properties had a corrosive effect
upon local quality of life and threatened
neighborhood stability in a city already burdened
with a home ownership rate of only 26 percent.
In addition, Orange
is the first municipality
in New Jersey
to adopt an ordinance allowing the city to
use the
newly enacted Abandoned Properties Rehabilitation
Act, which
I am proud to have sponsored. Among its other
attributes, this ordinance redefines the balance of rights
between private owners and the community, enabling
the city
to apply more aggressive tax foreclosure and
demolition
procedures
to these properties.
Thanks to the
nonprofit community group HANDS Inc. and its “High Impact Strategy” for neighborhood
revitalization, these properties have been rehabilitated
to like new condition and sold to first time homeowners.
The “High Impact Strategy” targets the worst
problem properties and clears away title obstacles, so
that properties can be rehabilitated.
And finally, for
the first time in 35 years the municipality
has embarked upon
a comprehensive update and revision of
its master plan, evaluating housing with
the whole array of planning elements: transportation, open
space, recreation,
utilities, economic development, historic
preservation and zoning, among others. The new plan will
be completed
by the end of this year.
Orange will continue
to promote infill renewal, but to really advance growth,
redevelopment
plans have been formulated
to promote low-rise, market-rate owner
occupied housing of approximately four stories. This
brownstone model
thrived at the turn of the 20th Century
and promoted the tightly
knit urban centers of the past. The city
plans to devote its efforts to major revitalization concentrated
in three
areas.
East
Main Street Currently an area of primarily vacant, underutilized retail,
body shops
and junk yards,
East Main Street will be redeveloped
with market-rate owner
occupied
housing and a few retail outlets, keeping
the retail focus along the balance
of
Main Street.
Central
Orange The largest redevelopment area, Central
Orange was the site of
the blighted
Father Rasi public
housing project. Residents have been
relocated and the site cleared. This
year a mixed
income housing
development
known as Essex Court will be built
in its place, for very low, low and
moderate-income
households.
Additional mixed-income
housing will be built in Orange as
replacement housing for the housing
project. Most of the Central Orange
redevelopment area will become new
market rate housing,
with hundreds of units and supporting
facilities such as retail
outlets,
day care,
open space recreation, and other
services being
proposed.
The first building
to be redeveloped in the Central Orange
Redevelopment
Area is the historic Chronicle
Building.
HANDS acquired the badly deteriorated
landmark just off
Main Street near the Orange train
station — saving
it from demolition. The building is now being rehabilitated
for commercial use.
City of Orange City Planner Floyd Lapp;
Mayor Mims Hackett, Jr.; H.A.N.D.S. Executive Director
Patrick
Morrissey; and Orange Director of Planning
and Development Marty Mayes map out a vision for the
city. |
Central
Valley The third redevelopment area was formerly the home of manufacturing
centers and
the international
capital of the hatting industry.
The abandoned factories, which remain, are largely the
legacy of the residential-industrial
city of 100 or more years ago.
Many of these obsolete vertical buildings will need to
be adapted for use as market rate
housing. Two examples of this
type of development are the Highland lofts redeveloped
in the late 1990s and the proposed
Valley Renaissance Center in
the former F. Berg hat factory which will include 29 market
rate condominiums, supporting
retail, and a community arts
space for arts programs, workshops and events. HANDS has
acquired the Berg site and worked
through the remediation of significant
environmental issues and safety with both EPA and NJDEP.
One
Neighborhood — Two
Towns Orange and West Orange are working together on
a strategic revitalization plan
for the Valley neighborhood, which spans the two municipalities.
With the support of a Department of Community Affairs Smart
Growth planning grant, the two municipalities are looking
to revitalize this former industrial neighborhood. This
section of Orange is also known for its upscale, multi-star
rated restaurants.
The Valley is
the first neighborhood
in New Jersey to receive the Department of Community Affairs’ approval
for its comprehensive neighborhood plan. The approval
qualifies the area for special corporate tax credit
contributions
with corporations who contribute funds receiving a 50
percent tax credit. The Valley Revitalization Initiative
uses the
arts as an engine for improving the neighborhood, enhancing
education, attracting businesses and creating jobs and
careers.
Each of these
redevelopment areas is within a five to ten minute walk
of one of the two Orange
train
stations
or a third station in nearby
East Orange. We are working to upgrade our train stations
and seeking an increase
in Midtown Manhattan
Direct
commuter rail service.
The town’s rail initiative
also includes adding convenience stores at the stations
and improving bus linkage.
To really advance Growth, redevelopment plans
have
been formulated to promote low-rise, market-rate owner
occupied housing of approximately four stories.
Mayor Mims Hackett takes pride in the new, state-of-the-art
Main street school. It is the first school completed
with Abbott funding and the first new school built
in Orange in more than 30 years. |
Schools
Benefit from Abbott Funding Main Street School, opened last September,
and
was the
first school completed
with Abbott schools funding.
In fact, it is the first new school building built in Orange
in more than 30 years.
Almost $150 million of
Abbott funding is available to expand
and renovate many other
Orange public schools largely built between 1880 and 1931!
The
cycle of progress will continue as this larger tax
base allows us to provide improved and increased
public facilities and services for the people
of a fully revitalized City of Orange.
A
Plan for the Next 20 Years Today
Orange is on track
and tomorrow we will have arrived. Over the next 20 years,
we will build upon
a
stabilized housing inventory. Our excellent location
and new market rate housing will continue
attract new citizens.
In turn, the area will attract even more upscale commercial
development, which
will enlarge our tax
base. The cycle of progress will continue as this
NJLM - Orange is on Track
| After
more than half a century of suburban growth and expansion,
people are
The F. Berg Hat Factory, once the most productive hatting
firm in the valley will soon be transformed into the
Valley Renaissance Center, a mix of loft condominiums
and community arts space. |
returning
to our inner cities. A major study released last year
by Rutgers University declares that inner cities are poised
for a dramatic period of growth and revitalization. I have seen a
similar trend in Orange. Our population increased from
29,000 in 1996, at the time of the city’s nonpartisan
election, to the current 33,000. And this growth is expected
to continue.
Going
Places A portion of this growth is attributable to the
city’s
excellent access to public transportation. By rail,
Orange is approximately 15 minutes from Newark
and less than a half hour from Manhattan. Interstate
280 connects with the vehicular network. Given our
strategic
location and the rising cost of
energy, we anticipate benefiting from the current trend
towards Smart Growth redevelopment.
A New
Start for Abandoned Properties And Smart Growth
has come to some of our most
distressed neighborhoods.
As recently as six years ago, Orange had over 300
vacant problem properties concentrated in three neighborhoods.
These properties had a corrosive effect upon local
quality of life and threatened neighborhood stability
in a city already burdened with a home ownership
rate
of only 26 percent. City officials and community
groups focused
serious attention on developing strategies for
eliminating this blight.
Today there are
fewer than 80 vacant problem
properties and only about one quarter of those
are long standing problems.
These
(derelict) properties had a corrosive effect
upon local quality of life and threatened
neighborhood stability in a city already burdened
with a home ownership rate of only 26 percent.
In addition, Orange
is the first municipality
in New Jersey
to adopt an ordinance allowing the city to
use the
newly enacted Abandoned Properties Rehabilitation
Act, which
I am proud to have sponsored. Among its other
attributes, this ordinance redefines the balance of rights
between private owners and the community, enabling
the city
to apply more aggressive tax foreclosure and
demolition
procedures
to these properties.
Thanks to the
nonprofit community group HANDS Inc. and its “High Impact Strategy” for neighborhood
revitalization, these properties have been rehabilitated
to like new condition and sold to first time homeowners.
The “High Impact Strategy” targets the worst
problem properties and clears away title obstacles, so
that properties can be rehabilitated.
And finally, for
the first time in 35 years the municipality
has embarked upon
a comprehensive update and revision of
its master plan, evaluating housing with
the whole array of planning elements: transportation, open
space, recreation,
utilities, economic development, historic
preservation and zoning, among others. The new plan will
be completed
by the end of this year.
Orange will continue
to promote infill renewal, but to really advance growth,
redevelopment
plans have been formulated
to promote low-rise, market-rate owner
occupied housing of approximately four stories. This
brownstone model
thrived at the turn of the 20th Century
and promoted the tightly
knit urban centers of the past. The city
plans to devote its efforts to major revitalization concentrated
in three
areas.
East
Main Street Currently an area of primarily vacant, underutilized retail,
body shops
and junk yards,
East Main Street will be redeveloped
with market-rate owner
occupied
housing and a few retail outlets, keeping
the retail focus along the balance
of
Main Street.
Central
Orange The largest redevelopment area, Central
Orange was the site of
the blighted
Father Rasi public
housing project. Residents have been
relocated and the site cleared. This
year a mixed
income housing
development
known as Essex Court will be built
in its place, for very low, low and
moderate-income
households.
Additional mixed-income
housing will be built in Orange as
replacement housing for the housing
project. Most of the Central Orange
redevelopment area will become new
market rate housing,
with hundreds of units and supporting
facilities such as retail
outlets,
day care,
open space recreation, and other
services being
proposed.
The first building
to be redeveloped in the Central Orange
Redevelopment
Area is the historic Chronicle
Building.
HANDS acquired the badly deteriorated
landmark just off
Main Street near the Orange train
station — saving
it from demolition. The building is now being rehabilitated
for commercial use.
City of Orange City Planner Floyd Lapp;
Mayor Mims Hackett, Jr.; H.A.N.D.S. Executive Director
Patrick
Morrissey; and Orange Director of Planning
and Development Marty Mayes map out a vision for the
city. |
Central
Valley The third redevelopment area was formerly the home of manufacturing
centers and
the international
capital of the hatting industry.
The abandoned factories, which remain, are largely the
legacy of the residential-industrial
city of 100 or more years ago.
Many of these obsolete vertical buildings will need to
be adapted for use as market rate
housing. Two examples of this
type of development are the Highland lofts redeveloped
in the late 1990s and the proposed
Valley Renaissance Center in
the former F. Berg hat factory which will include 29 market
rate condominiums, supporting
retail, and a community arts
space for arts programs, workshops and events. HANDS has
acquired the Berg site and worked
through the remediation of significant
environmental issues and safety with both EPA and NJDEP.
One
Neighborhood — Two
Towns Orange and West Orange are working together on
a strategic revitalization plan
for the Valley neighborhood, which spans the two municipalities.
With the support of a Department of Community Affairs Smart
Growth planning grant, the two municipalities are looking
to revitalize this former industrial neighborhood. This
section of Orange is also known for its upscale, multi-star
rated restaurants.
The Valley is
the first neighborhood
in New Jersey to receive the Department of Community Affairs’ approval
for its comprehensive neighborhood plan. The approval
qualifies the area for special corporate tax credit
contributions
with corporations who contribute funds receiving a 50
percent tax credit. The Valley Revitalization Initiative
uses the
arts as an engine for improving the neighborhood, enhancing
education, attracting businesses and creating jobs and
careers.
Each of these
redevelopment areas is within a five to ten minute walk
of one of the two Orange
train
stations
or a third station in nearby
East Orange. We are working to upgrade our train stations
and seeking an increase
in Midtown Manhattan
Direct
commuter rail service.
The town’s rail initiative
also includes adding convenience stores at the stations
and improving bus linkage.
To really advance Growth, redevelopment plans
have
been formulated to promote low-rise, market-rate owner
occupied housing of approximately four stories.
Mayor Mims Hackett takes pride in the new, state-of-the-art
Main street school. It is the first school completed
with Abbott funding and the first new school built
in Orange in more than 30 years. |
Schools
Benefit from Abbott Funding Main Street School, opened last September,
and
was the
first school completed
with Abbott schools funding.
In fact, it is the first new school building built in Orange
in more than 30 years.
Almost $150 million of
Abbott funding is available to expand
and renovate many other
Orange public schools largely built between 1880 and 1931!
The
cycle of progress will continue as this larger tax
base allows us to provide improved and increased
public facilities and services for the people
of a fully revitalized City of Orange.
A
Plan for the Next 20 Years Today
Orange is on track
and tomorrow we will have arrived. Over the next 20 years,
we will build upon
a
stabilized housing inventory. Our excellent location
and new market rate housing will continue
attract new citizens.
In turn, the area will attract even more upscale commercial
development, which
will enlarge our tax
base. The cycle of progress will continue as this
larger tax base allows
us to provide improved and increased public facilities
and services for the people of a fully
revitalized City of
Orange.
Feature Article in March
2005, New
Jersey Municipalities |
|
|
|
Mims
Hackett, Jr.