NorthCamden.Org

North Camden Neighborhood Plan
DRAFT Report Outline

Introduction

Acknowledgements // Project Funding

Special Thanks (Letter from Save Our Waterfront)

List of Participants

Project Partners

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Purpose of Plan

Methodology

Planning Process

Public Outreach

Project Phases

Vision

Foundation – Building on the 1993 North Camden Neighborhood Plan

Renewed Vision

Recommendations

1        Information is Power – inform yourself, inform others; empower yourself, empower the neighborhood.

1.1    Fill the Social Service Gaps and Get Plugged In
•    Integrate new computers as basic housing infrastructure for all new affordable units.
•    Create a summary of locally available programs and services and distribute to all residents
•    Undertake a social services audit of existing programs to help improve their outreach and effectiveness if needed

1.2    Develop a North Camden Night School
•    Create an education curriculum from existing service providers in the neighborhood and offer classes regularly in one space in the community

1.3    Create a Coordinated North Camden Service Directory and Referral System
•    Organize a N. Camden service providers roundtable that meets monthly to coordinate outreach and services.
•    Consider improved case management to help residents get the help they need

1.4    Create a North Camden Information Network
•    Create a public community bulletin board at the corner of 7th and State Streets
•    Create a phone information system operated by Save Our Waterfront that updates residents monthly
•    Create a neighborhood newsletter

1.5    Voice Your Complaints, and Your Thanks – Thank You, Hopeworks!
•    Utilize Hopeworks’ new online Quality of Life Concerns reporting system and check back for results

2    Focus on Families – young parents hold the future of the neighborhood in their hands, literally.

2.1    Reclaim Northgate Park
•    Develop an operations agreement for maintenance and upkeep between the City and community
•    Support Hopeworks’ Initiative to Spur Neighborhood Reinvestment and Ownership
•    Continue to Host Regular Neighborhood Clean Ups to Build and Prove Capacity

2.2    Improve Pyne Poynt Park – Use It, Don’t Abuse It
•    Create a new Park Plan
•    Develop a Stormwater Management Strategy to stop the flooding
•    Improve the roads and sidewalks around the park
•    Prevent ATV use in the park
•    Rezoning property directly west of Pyne Point Park to residential with design guidelines mandating an orientation toward the park. 

2.3    Hire a Youth Coordinator
•    Coordinate Sports Leagues and Community Activities
•    Link In With Parents

2.4    Create a North Camden Youth Council
•    Committee of 10-15 teens that will provide guidance on future development, planning and neighborhood issues including youth programming

2.5    Open the Roberto Clemente Community Center to the community
•    Demand City-County-Community Coordination on operation and maintenance
•    Re-engage the Community – Create a New Entrance
•    Add Staff and a Home Base for Youth Programs

2.6    Forge Strong Connections with the New Kroc Community Center
•    Create Safe Pedestrian and Bike Paths to the Center
•    Pursue Free and Reliable Shuttle Bus service

2.7    Get Moms (and Dads) on Board and Involved
•    Create a Safe Routes to School Program
•    Expand After-School Homework Programs and include GED Classes

2.8    Partner to Form a Local Charter School focused on trades and job skills
•    Reach out to YouthBuild to explore partnership options

   

3    Protect the Core.

3.1    Rehabilitate and Restore the housing of the neighborhood.
•    Focus housing rehab and construction on major streets – concentrate infill development and rehabilitation in key locations  – Four key projects: 1) Build around the supermarket, 2) 5th and Erie Streets, 3) 6th and York Streets, 4) Around Cooper’s Poynt School.
•    Take better advantage of the side yard program
•    Build marketable homes for today’s families

3.2    Re-pave and Re-construct.
•    Improve the streetscape – re-pave and add bike amenities, lighting, trees, sidewalks
•    Strategically improve what lies beneath – improve infrastructure (water and sewer) to support the needs of residents

3.3    Make Use of Both Carrots and Sticks for Property Owners.
Carrots:
•    Teach financial literacy, homeownership counseling, and awareness of predatory lending
•    Administer signage and façade grants – (include language about transforming “invisible services” into visible supports)
•    Provide basic system repair assistance
•    Permit Coaching
•    Facilitate side-yard acquisition
•    Found a Can-Do, Will-Do Help and Fix-It Center – (staffed by people who know: who to call, how to fix, how to drive, how to make your life just a little bit easier)
        Sticks:
•    Call for code enforcement sweeps
•    Post complaints publicly on the Hopeworks Quality of Life reporting database
•    Periodically report nuisance properties to the City
•    Tenant Advocacy Organizer / Tenant-Landlord Liaison

3.4    Carve Out a Central Meeting Place.
•    Create a new laundromat and outdoor seating plaza overlooking Northgate Park

3.5    Capitalize on Local Heritage.
•    Create a new plaza around the Benjamin Cooper House
•    Restore the Joseph Cooper House
•    Preserve/Support Institutions and Commercial Uses/ Keep State Street Strong (foundation, support)
•    Light Up State Street

3.6    Create a redevelopment plan for Northgate I

4    Reconnect North Camden

4.1    Re-Open the Tunnels and Keep them Safe.
•    Work with Rutgers to ensure safe passage

4.2    Form a Partnership with Rutgers and Connect to the Campus.
•    Explore the possibility of redeveloping underutilized DRPA land for new Rutgers facilities.

4.3    Plan Ahead for Main Street.
•    Green Main Street in the Interim
•    Integrate historical signage to express the importance of the street
•    Bring Back the Drive-In – create a temporary drive-in theater until new uses can be developed.

4.4    Focus on 7th Street
•    Dress Up the Bridge over Admiral Wilson Boulevard
•    Slow Down the Traffic
•    Create a Gateway at the Intersection of 7th and State
•    Consider an Open Air Market for the supermarket site until the market is constructed

4.5    Poynt to North Camden.
•    Improve signage and awareness of North Camden
•    Light under the Bridge

5        Reach for the River – reconnect the neighborhood to its riverfront.

5.1    Extend the neighborhood fabric to meet the River.
•    Extend street-grid to the river’s edge
•    Mix density and scale to provide seamless transitions between the core and the river
•    Promote higher density development where appropriate

5.2    Build Equitably.
•    Required affordable component.
•    Equitable development.

5.3    Build Green.
•    Expect new development and developers to integrate green building practices.

5.4    Draft a Community Benefits Agreement.
•    Create a consensus position by residents of what neighborhood improvement should be sought in conjunction with new waterfront development – money for park maintenance for example

6            Lay the foundation for change.

6.1    Organize a North Camden Town Watch.
•    Build better relationship with police presence.
•    Coordinate with the District Council Collaborative Board.

6.2    Clean North Camden
•    Trash/recycling education effort
•    Continued cleaning days

6.3    Formalize a Local Greening Initiative.
•    Create a Neighborhood Tool Shed.
•    Protect and Expand Community Gardening.
   
6.4    Expand public art in North Camden.
•    Expand local Festivals
•    Develop 2-3 Murals in the next 2 years
•    Decorate/Celebrate the Water Tank

7        Organize to Implement.
   
7.1    Enhance Save Our Waterfront’s presence in North Camden
•    Create a Save Our Waterfront website
•    Secure SOW office space

7.2    Reach out to the Local Initiatives Support Corporation to build capacity.

7.3    Transform the Steering Committee into an implementation committee
•    Develop a committee structure to guide each plan element forward
•    Designate a Volunteer coordinator for the community
•    Recruit young (adult) staff member – youth liaison, youth council, youth coordinator

7.4    Advocate for positive press coverage of positive change

7.5    Submit the Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit Application

Implementation Approach

Implementation Matrix
•    Summary of recommendations in chart format identifying timeframes

Priority Action Items
•    Discussion of key community priorities

NRTC Package Projects

Appendix:  Analysis

A1    Past
•    Historical Overview

A2    Present
•    Context
•    Proximity
•    Physical barriers
•    Views

A3    Residential Community
•    Population and Population Change
•    Homeownership
•    Race and Ethnicity
•    Age Structure
•    Youth at Risk
•    Educational Attainment
•    Income and Poverty
•    Local Pulse (interviews, quotes, qualitative data collected about kids, Latino community, etc.)

A4    At Home in the Community
•    Land Use
•    Built Form
•    Vacancy
•    Building Condition
•    Landlords
•    Public Ownership
•    Sales
•    Recent Investment
•    Housing Affordability and Balanced Growth
 
A5    Life in the Community
•    Crime and Public Safety (police, violence, vandalism, drugs, dumping)
•    Commercial Services (losses since 1993, corner stores, jobs)
•    Infrastructure (public transit, street network, water, sewer)
•    Environment and Open Space (topography, wetlands, floodplains, habitat, parks, play space, trees, river, contamination)
•    Institutional Presence (religious establishments, service network, schools)

A6    Leadership in the Community

A7    Challenges and Opportunities

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Tags: NorthCamden Report Draft