NEWS from the
TOWNSHIP OF IRVINGTON
"It is the goal of this administration to investigate and implement any initiative that will improve life in Irvington, and to do so with all due care, commitment and concern."
MAYOR WAYNE SMITH
June 12, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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SMITH TO DISCUSS DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION
AT MAYORS' INSTITUTE ON COMMUNITY DESIGN
Mayor Wayne Smith will discuss the planned revitalization of downtown Irvington as one of a select group of six municipal chief executives participating in the Ninth New Jersey Mayors' Institute on Community Design, being held from June 14 to 16, 2006 at Princeton University.
Known locally as "The Center," downtown Irvington is an aging, yet bustling four-block stretch of variety and scattered name-brand stores along Springfield Avenue, the township's main thoroughfare.
Smith and his counterparts will pitch their respective redevelopment plans to the Institute's resource team of urban development professionals, who will give feedback and make presentations on their roles in the city design process.
"I look forward to attending the Institute and plan to parlay this experience into solid groundwork for Irvington’s long-term downtown development,” Smith said.
The concept for Irvington’s downtown makeover covers five key areas:
- enhance dining choices by attracting more upscale restaurants on upper stories and outdoor cafes, increasing casual interactions and a sense of community.
- develop streetscapes to improve aesthetic appeal. Features include new curbs and sidewalks, median strips, bump-outs at major intersections, directional signage, benches, inviting landscaping, period lighting, angle parking and high glass-to-façade ratio at stores.
- create upper story, loft-style housing to draw artists and home-based professionals to the Center.
- develop a high-rise, mixed use building on Washington Avenue, adjacent to the Irvington Bus Terminal, with spacious, market-rate housing on upper floors; ground-floor retail anchored by a name-brand retailer; outdoor dining; large, windowed façade; and ample parking.
- improve transit-pedestrian flow, through pedestrian crosswalks, activated signals, bus cut-outs, signage and other traffic-calming treatments.
Irvington’s major downtown assets—the bus terminal, frequent transit service, Urban Enterprise Zone 3% sales tax program and strategic parking—are expected to facilitate and drive the conceptual plan. Smith will be joined at the event by the mayors of Clinton, Dover, East Brunswick, Edison and West Cape May.
The Institute is organized by the Regional Plan Association of NY, NJ & CT and is patterned after the highly successful national Mayors’ Institute on City Design, which was established by the National Endowment for Arts in 1986, and which is now administered by the American Architectural Foundation in partnership with the NEA and the U. S. Conference of Mayors. It has also been recognized with a number of awards, including a Presidential Award for Design Excellence in 2000, a Progressive Architecture award from Architecture magazine in 1997, and an Institute Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1992.
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