By Allison Perrine
HIGHLANDS – It’s time for residents to think about what they want the future of Highlands to look like as the borough begins a process to redevelop its commercial business district (CBD).
At a special council meeting Oct. 18, officials explained the long process ahead that could lead to the redevelopment of up to 120 parcels in the CBD Zone under a noncondemnation plan, meaning that there would be no eminent domain. But before any concrete plans are developed, residents have time to express what they want to see in the area.
At the latest meeting ideas flowed, from tattoo parlors – which are currently not permitted in town – to nail salons, veterinary services, increased retail shops and more. The next public hearing will be held at the borough’s Dec. 2 land use board meeting at 7:30 p.m.
“We’re a seaside village – a charming, funky, artsy seaside village… we have history here. We have Sandy Hook. We’re just not taking advantage of everything that we have,”
said resident Lorna Milbauer that evening. “It’s so, so rich and it could look so quaint and so beautiful… and I still think it can happen.”
The area deemed in need of redevelopment was identified in a study prepared by Phillips Preiss Grygiel Leheny Highes LLC, Hoboken, and dated July 8. It directly impacts the eastern section of Highlands, mostly properties along Bay Avenue which include a range of commercial businesses, mixed-use structures, single-family homes, parks and community facilities. It covers about 20-plus acres or 155 blocks, borough planner Paul Grygiel said, making this a “rather aggressive” redevelopment area.
“It’s really a fine-grained mix of uses, not simply three or four blocks long of just one type of development,” he said. “The intention was to try to do something to build upon prior planning efforts.”
After defining the area and identifying the properties, the next step is to define new, robust land use and zoning laws for the redevelopment. After, the borough will engage with area property owners or developers to evolve individual parcels or several for larger projects. Plans will continue from there.
At the Oct. 18 meeting, Councilwoman Linda Mazzola suggested that it may be beneficial for the town to study what types of businesses would or could be successful in Highlands “for the purposes of potentially over-allowing retail or something of that nature and then having empty storefronts.” At the previous hearing in August, she suggested that the borough focus on bringing service-related businesses to Highlands rather than retail shops, implying that the industry is dying and that many shop online.
“I certainly would hate for an idea and a project like this to move forward and then we have developers and business owners and builders… who have invested many years and a lot of money into this town” and those businesses fail, she said.
But others view retail differently. For example, one individual who identified herself as the property owner of 157 Bay Ave., Spice Properties LLC, said she is “a destination retailer” and that she gets customers from “all over” – from both across the country and local municipalities. With that in mind, she said she wants to see more retail spaces open shop on the first floor of buildings in Highlands.
Similarly, Mayor Carolyn Broullon, who owns a business on Bay Avenue, said “as a retailer” she sees firsthand that the industry is “not dead at all” and that it is instead “doing quite well” depending on the type of retail space. That’s why the borough wants to review what businesses are existing but are not thriving as they could be, she said.
Broullon also noted that 50 or 60 years ago, when army barracks and a train were operating in town, there were “a lot” more retail shops and businesses open in Highlands. Once they left, “it really depressed our economy,” she said.
In a crowd of at least two dozen attendees, resident Nancy Burton said she would like to see tattoo parlors along Bay Avenue, a use that is currently not permitted in town. “They’re in all the waterfront communities (and) small walking districts,” she said. Others voiced advocacy for nail salons, veterinary services, a shuttle in town, tree preservation, parking lots, green roofs and more.
One resident brought up the issue of flooding and questioned what the town will do to encourage businesses to open up shop in Highlands, given the intensity of storms and damage it has endured in recent years. Grygiel said all that can be done is “incentivize them to develop,” which could be done with zoning changes, reduced parking requirements and other ways. “Many places have to deal with this issue.”
Some attendees focused their comments on physical features of new buildings and suggested that it be mandatory for utilities to be underground for new development projects, that building height limits be established, that façade and awning colors be considered and – as property owner of 205 Bay Ave. said – that “those bloody ugly sidewalks that we have” be addressed.
“That is one of the things we should be really focused on once you get to the nuts and bolts of the plan,” said Grygiel. “We can say that 30 percent of the façade has to be glass, the storefronts have to be 70 percent glass, those types of things.”
Anyone who did not speak at the meeting but would like to provide their feedback may still do so at future meetings or through an open survey for Highlands’ residents and business owners on the borough website, highlandsborough.org. The survey will be available now through Oct. 31.
The article originally appeared in the October 28 – November 3, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
