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Community Corner

Designing Elements for a Hackensack Rehabilitation Project

Downtown Hackensack could get an upgrade in the future

In its summer issue, the Hackensack Community Link reported that the Hackensack Planning Board considers downtown Hackensack an Area in Need of Rehabilitation. The Hackensack Mayor approved their recommendation. This designation could lead to the transformation of the blocks around Main Street from University Plaza Drive to Essex Street.

A large portion of this area is currently parking lots. Most of the buildings range from 1 to 5 stories with a few structures rising above the rest. Land owners in downtown Hackensack may want to borrow ideas from the construction in downtown Jersey City over the past decade.

Jersey City reinvented the Newport and Exchange Place neighborhoods to accommodate more commercial and residential space. New high-rises punctuate the sky, freeing up land for plazas and parks. These slender buildings echo the proportions of the skyscrapers across the Hudson. Their staggered arrangement allows a viewer to admire each one individually from a close range, but they combine to form an pleasing skyline from a distance.

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Generous setbacks ensure that ample sunlight reaches the ground in downtown Jersey City. Pocket parks and private landscaping fill the area with plants. A walkway along the Hudson River provides an alternative to automobile traffic. Curved streets discourage through traffic to make the area a destination rather than a corridor. The Path and light rail provide local mass transit while the Hoboken train and bus terminals link the area to the rest of the state. Low-rise parking garages keep parked cars off the street.

Downtown Hackensack benefits from having two train stations, a bus terminal, and several bus lines. It has the potential to grow like downtown Jersey City. Of course, the property owners in the neighborhood should have the final say on any changes to their land, but here are a few humble suggestions for the area.

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First, the town could remake the roads. River Road would remain the same and serve as a beltway. Main Street would turn to feed directly into State Street at the intersection with Ward Street. State Street would be enlarged to handle three lanes of traffic in each direction and it would undulate so that only people headed downtown would want to use it. Between Ward Street and Essex Street the old Main Street would become a pedestrian and cyclist pathway that connects to the Johnson Park pathway.

  Making the jump to high-rise construction would free up space in downtown Hackensack. The taller buildings currently there could be preserved. Replacing shorter buildings with lean high-rises and parking lots with parking garages would make new pocket parks possible. Hackensack need not dictate the details of these new buildings. If the town raises the high limit, mandates setbacks, and establishes a floor to area ratio like in Fort Lee, developers are sure to build structures that are appropriate to the area. The rebuilt business district would be a boon to Bergen County.

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