MILLTOWN – The Borough Council has approved a rehabilitation plan for the South Main Street corridor.
The plan’s focus is to encourage the revitalization of South Main Street and to extend a walkable, traditional, mixed-use downtown south of Washington Road.
The rehabilitation area is an about a 2,000-foot stretch of South Main Street between Washington and Kuhlthau avenues. It is made up of 54 parcels of land, with low-scale, residential and commercial buildings, nine of which are vacant and a few underutilized properties, including the South Main Street Firehouse and the Golden Lion Inn.
A resolution was approved last fall designating the area in need of rehabilitation. Multiple criteria were met to establish the designation, including the age of public sewer and water infrastructure and the age of residential buildings within the area.
The corridor includes three opportunity sites, according to the plan: the South Main Street Firehouse Property which is owned by the borough, the former Spirits of Milltown property, and a group of vacant properties in the south end of the area across from Kuhlthau Avenue owned by Heritage of Milltown.
The purpose of the Heritage of Milltown District is to provide an opportunity to develop a mixed-use anchor at the southern end of the rehabilitation area, the plan says.
The properties within the district are in common ownership and can be developed as a cohesive entity. The district is encumbered by environmental constraints that justify increasing thepermitted height above the rest of the corridor as part of a balance to reduce the overall footprint of disturbance, according to the plan.
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Permitted principal uses are residential units in conjunction with at least 6,000 square feet of commercial or other publicly accessible non-residential use; co-working or traditional office space; restaurants; entertainment uses; and personal services and retail sales and services, unless otherwise prohibited.
The purpose of the Firehouse District is to support the adaptive reuse of the South Main Street Firehouse with a new commercial or community-focused use that will create activity along South Main Street.
Permitted uses in that district are community center; co-working space; restaurants; entertainment uses, micro-brewery/brewpub/micro-distillery; museum; professional offices; and theater/performance space/art gallery/event space.
The purpose of the Spirits of Milltown District is to permit an inclusionary multi-family development consistent with the borough’s affordable housing quota, while encouraging a mixed-use project to bring commercial activity to the South Main Street corridor.
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The uses permitted are mixed-use buildings with a minimum of 2,000 square feet of commercial space with residential units behind or above. In addition, commercial uses within certain categories are permitted as standalone uses or as part of a mixed-use development. The categories are restaurants; retail sales and service and personal services, unless otherwise prohibited; professional offices, including co-working space; micro-brewery/brew-pub/micro-distillery; community center and theater/performance space/art gallery/event space.
The purpose of the South Main Street District is to permit a wider and more consistent variety of nonresidential uses than the existing zoning with similar bulk requirements. Existing residential uses along South Main Street are permitted to remain; however, new development is required to be non-residential or mixed-use with a non-residential component along the South Main Street frontage.
Permitted principal uses are restaurants; retail sales and service and personal services, unless otherwise prohibited; professional offices, including co-working space; micro-brewery/brewpub/micro-distillery; community center; and theater/performance space/art gallery/event space.
All development must be approved by the Planning Board.
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Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.