Carteret. 1. Overview of Carteret and Its Waterfront. 1.1 Geographic Overview. 1.2 Demographics of Carteret. Carteret Borough

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1 Carteret 1. Overview of Carteret and Its Waterfront 1.1 Geographic Overview The Borough of Carteret is located in Middlesex County and is bordered on the north by the Rahway River and on the east by the Arthur Kill. The City of Linden is to the north of Carteret on the other side of the Rahway River and Woodbridge Township surrounds the Borough to the west and south. The NJ Turnpike runs through the Borough and Interchange 12 is located within the Borough. In the western part of town, residents have access to Routes 1 & 9. There is no local public transportation besides NJ Transit with bus stops in town. 1.2 Demographics of Carteret The 2000 Census tallies Carteret s population at 20,709. The population increased from 11, 976 to 20,502 from 1940 to 1960, reaching a high of 23, 137 in The population declined in 1980 to 20,598 and agin in 1990 to 19,025. 1

2 The racial composition is 57% White, 23% Hispanic or Latino (of any race), 9.5% Black or African American, and 8% Asian. For the year 2000 the median household income is $47,148 and the median house value $135,500. Of the occupied housing units, 68% is owner-occupied and 32% is renter-occupied. The Kinder Morgan industrial facility and warehousing operations are the biggest employers in town. There are some retail and commercial facilities to support the community needs, but a large percentage of the residents work outside the community, mainly in Northern New Jersey and Manhattan. This is in part due to Carteret s proximately to Woodbridge and the Metropark Train Station for New Jersey Transit and Amtrak lines. 1.3 Historical Overview and Traditional Waterfront Uses Carteret and Middlesex County have been influenced by the post-wwii trend of migration from the cities to the suburbs and the availability of major highway access. The vacant residential areas in the Borough were rapidly developed only after the completion of the Turnpike interchange. Carteret had available land in the 1940 s, but developers chose Edison, Woodbridge and Linden for residential development because of better transportation access and construction characteristics of land. Population growth in Carteret as a whole since 1950 has been at a much faster rate than in New Jersey or the United States. Between 1950 and 1970 population in the Borough rose from 13,030 to 23,137. Additionally, the population of the residential areas developed after 1950 did not primarily derive its livelihood from the industrial areas along the Arthur Kill. Historically, the Carteret waterfront property has been used for 100 years or more by industries needing water for production and transportation purposes. One of the major employers in the Borough was Amax Smelter, a precious metals works. Other industries along the waterfront included a phosphorous fertilizer plant and Reicholt Chemical, which was subsequently bought by Staflex and is now out of business. 2

3 The 1973 Master Plan included a plan for the Rahway River Industrial Planning Area, that was to be utilized largely by heavy fuel-oriented businesses. The Master Plan contained a recommendation for a proposed Carteret Industrial highway which would provide access to the large vacant marsh land areas. It is possible that private industry would itself fill and reclaim these marsh areas for industrial uses. However, in the past 20 years the waterfront in Carteret has seen a transformation. As larger facilities went out of business, the sites have been cleaned up and largely replaced by warehouses (e.g., Port Carteret s trucking operations), a non-water-dependent use. Amax Smelter was the first business to leave. Currently many of the waterfront properties are vacant and underutilized or being utilized as parking lots, industrial use and warehousing. The Kinder-Morgan facility is the largest taxpayer in the Borough, as well as the last remaining water-dependent facility. 2. Waterfront Use 2.1 Summary of Waterfront There is over 4,000 feet of frontage on the Arthur Kill. However, only some small fringe areas of the tract immediately adjacent to the water are wetlands. Most of the frontage along the Arthur Kill is deep water. The man-made cove is shallow at low tide. Reuse of waterfront properties generally must include site investigation for contaminants due to the historical industrial use of the area. Approximately years ago, in the early 1990s, Carteret envisioned a new waterfront park along the Arthur Kill that would include a fishing pier and observation deck in combination with marina and boat ramp. The site identified for this park is an old industrial facility that utilized a large concrete pier that used to hold rail line. Additionally, a manmade cove had previously been created adjacent to pier. Both the concrete pier and cove were for private, commercial industrial uses. The Borough envisioned turning the concrete pier into a timber pier and observation deck and turning the manmade cove into a small craft harbor for community recreational use. The Borough pursued Green Acres funding for $2 million (half grant, half loan) about 15 years ago and was able to purchase an old industrial parking lot adjacent to pier. At this time the industrial 3

4 property was being subdivided and a 17-acre parcel around there was donated to Carteret. Construction on the $2.4 million pier project began in early The timber pier and observation deck, along with a boat ramp and floating dock, was completed in the late summer of A waterfront park and marina will complete the project. Overall, places where people can access the waterfront for recreational or commercial purposes are limited to the two areas described below. 2.2 Waterfront Access Sites Common Name/Facility Address/ Location GPS Fishing Private Marina Public Marina Trailered Launch Hand Launch Birdwatching Passiive Recreation Swimming Parking Handicapped Accessible Picnic Facilities Food Concessions Restroom Facilities Fee Publicly recognized Joseph Medwick Park Rahway River X X Waterfront Park Arthur Kill X X X X X X Informally used and accessible None Others Private Property None Industrial and Warehouse Facilities Overall, places where people can access the waterfront for recreational or commercial purposes are limited to the two areas described below. 4

5 Joseph Medwick Park: It is located adjacent to the Rahway River and receives frequent use by the community. It includes a linear walking path, picnic area, soccer and baseball fields and tot lot. The park has been in existence for about 40 years. All the access points in the park are public. Middlesex County owns, operates, and maintains the park. Waterfront Park: This is a new facility (above) on the Arthur Kill that includes a fishing pier and observation deck, a floating dock, boat ramp, and parkland. Formerly, the site consisted of an old concrete pier that was accessed through a commercial site by the public as an informal access point. Currently there is some difficulty with accessing this facility as it is surrounded by ongoing commercial uses and the public must access the site through private property (a warehouse parking lot and access road). This is an emergency road that will eventually be turned into a walkway. The town is currently negotiating with two companies, ADP and EI DuPont, to become third party to their reciprocal access agreement/easement. The town is also leasing parking lot until they are able to acquire it. In short, access to this waterfront park, which is owned by the Borough, has been an issue. Future plans for this park include passive recreation/boardwalk area and marina. 5

6 3. Waterfront Issues and Planning Initiatives 3.1 Waterfront Issues The Borough recognizes the lack of public access to the waterfront and is attempting to address this concern through the development of the waterfront park along the Arthur Kill. According to one interviewee, providing recreation opportunities for the public is the most important thing for the town because it is seen as creating community involvement and a sense of community. Recreation opportunities are seen as benefits to the community and therefore have community support. Generally, issues of public access to the waterfront have not arisen in the Borough and the community has not really taken the approach that they are entitled to the waterfront. However, as the waterfront begins to be redeveloped the Borough will likely assert its rights, on behalf of the public, to the waterfront. The redevelopment of the town consists of public-private partnerships. The private entity recognizes that the public wants access to the water and this balances with other things that the private sector wants. It is felt that developers are smart enough to realize that waterfront access makes the property more valuable and increases their profits. Some developers would like to create private recreation space for the residents only, but the Carteret governing body established that it does not want to see a gated community with access limited to residents. The town believes that new residential development creates a burden on the community and therefore there needs to be a giving back to the community. The town does have problems with flooding as it is surrounded by water on three sides (Rahway River and Arthur Kill). There is an impact on properties as this is a relatively low-lying community, especially the western portion of town. Because stormwater and groundwater are influenced by the tides, a combination of a high tide and heavy rain will cause local flooding of both residential and commercial sites and street flooding. 6

7 Interviews indicate that pollution of the water does not affect how people use the water. Right now there is more passive than active use of the water. Because the residents main use of the water is scenic, as long as they do not see the pollution (i.e., floatables) then that does not affect their use of the water. But now with the new waterfront park and increased access to the water the Borough will be researching fish advisories for the community. 3.2 Planning Initiatives The Master Plan was reexamined in 1998 and it recognized that the planning issues facing the community at that time were: Waterfront development for recreational purposes The need to develop a policy concerning the establishment of greenways along the Rahway River and Arthur Kill waterfront in accordance with recommendations contained in the Middlesex County Open Space Plan as well as to coordinate and balance the preservation of these important watersheds with the use of the waterfront for both public recreation and future industry and community development. In January 2003 the Borough recommended a Planned Waterfront Development District (PWD) for the Chrome Waterfront Area and a Request for Proposals (RFP) was circulated, asking for residential/mixed-use and recreational use design. In response to the RFP three companies submitted proposals for the redevelopment area: Carteret Landing LLC, Kaplan Companies and Toll Brothers. One company proposes to create an entirely new residential and commercial neighborhood for the Borough, calling for 2,720 housing units on 95 acres that would eventually be served by a ferry connection to Manhattan. Another company sees the opportunity to develop various civic amenities in connection with the waterfront marina and the pathways and sidewalks along the Arthur Kill, such as a community activity center, an outdoor farmer s market, restaurants and an amphitheater. This proposal calls for the construction of approximately 2,400 housing units along with commercial and retail space. 7

8 The new waterfront park is the initial building block for redevelopment of the waterfront. Carteret now wants to see interconnections with this new park and linear connections for pedestrian access. As waterfront property is redeveloped the Borough wants to have open space donated and preserved parkway and habitat. Currently many of the properties in this redevelopment area are vacant and underutilized or consist of parking lots, industrial use and warehousing. The town plans on cleaning up areas of the parcel. Specific facilities in this redevelopment area include A. Duie Pyle, a trucking company that recently built a new facility in the center of the site, right in the center of this redevelopment area. Old Dupont industrial operations which were totally demolished and leveled some years ago. Two 400,000 square foot warehouse buildings, occupied by a number of tenants, are located on the southern side of the site. An old small building and large tank is located on the extreme northern side of the site. A small junkyard located between Industrial Avenue and the west side of the railroad. 4. Summary Carteret is attempting to redefine its waterfront, moving away from water-dependent industrial use to mixed use residential, commercial and retail. It has declared a waterfront industrial zone as a Redevelopment Area, thereby allowoin it to request proposals from private redevelopers. The conversion of these historic industrial areas into residential and commercial areas will have a significant impact on the Borough. The Borough acknowledges that its residents have limited waterfront access and is seeking to address this issue through the recently constructed pier and boat ramp on the Arthur Kill and the redevelopment plans for the Chrome Redevelopment Area. 8

9 References Carteret: Satellite Photo by USGS (accessed July 12, 2004). Carteret Master Plan (1973). Carteret Master Plan Reexamination (June 1998). Don Norbut, Borough of Carteret Engineer, T&M Associates, Interview (June 12, 2003). Vincent Manetta, Assistant to Carteret Tax Collector and Mayor Daniel J. Reiman, Interview (Jan. 12, 2004). 9