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BLOOMINGDALE - Zoning path clearing for economic boost
(by Deborah Walsh - Staff Writer - August 13, 2008)
BLOOMINGDALE - For years, borough officials have talked about ways to make the community more business-friendly. Now, the governing body is ready to move from the abstract to the concrete with zoning changes that provide the building blocks believed necessary to give the borough an economic boost.
The council introduced the two ordinances, which create a business professional zone along Union Avenue and change much of downtown’s B1 business zone to a B-1-A commercial zone, on July 22. The proposed zoning changes were sent to the Planning Board for review. The zoning measures are slated for a public hearing and adoption on Sept. 23.
Alfred Lavoie, who has chaired the borough’s economic development committee for about 15 years, is gratified that the borough officials have finally come together to expand business opportunities in the borough.
"For years, we never had the mayor and council and Planning Board working together in a unified fashion. Now everyone is working well together. The Ordinance Review Committee has done an excellent job getting these ordinances on the books, which should help us get the ratables we so desperately need," said Lavoie.
The first ordinance will permit professional offices in portions of the R-20 residential zone in the area of Union Avenue. Some of the professional uses permitted include offices for doctors, dentists, chiropractors and other licensed health care professionals. The borough also hopes lawyers, psychologists, social workers and professional engineers will open up shop in the new zone. The borough wants to attract licensed land surveyors, professional planners, registered architects, certified landscape architects, certified public accountants, financial consultants, security and commodity brokers.
Offices for insurance brokers, travel agencies, real estate brokers, home health care services, computer programming, data processing, and Web site design and software services are welcomed in this zone. Public uses and not for profit agency offices will also be permitted in this zone. An accessory apartment will be allowed above the offices.
Mayor William Steenstra credited Lavoie and the Economic Development Committee for never giving up on its goal to attract more positive ratables (tax-producing property) to downtown. He also lauded the hard work of the council’s Ordinance Review Committee currently chaired by Councilman Bernard Vroom.
"Basically, we’re trying to attract ratables. We’re not looking for big box stores. We’re looking for doctors’ offices," said Steenstra. "We need to generate revenues. I think we’ve proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no wasteful spending. The problem is a revenue shortage and the only way that we are going to offset taxes is with revenues."
Steenstra said residents who own a home on Union Avenue need not fear. They can still maintain their residential use on Union Avenue. The ordinance requires that once a residential use is converted to a professional use on Union Avenue it cannot revert back to a residential use, he indicated.
Daniel Hagberg, zoning official, said the second ordinance, which creates a B-1-A zone on portions of Union Avenue and Main Street, is an attempt to promote a town center approach to downtown development. Hagberg said the zoning for the existing B1 zone was somewhat general and vague. The new B-1-A updates the types of businesses that can be located in the business zone and removes from the list businesses that have become outmoded since the B-1 zone ordinance was drafted in 1981. Some of the uses listed in the 1981 ordinance were carryovers from a previous ordinance authored in the 1960s, he indicated.
Hagberg said some of the antiquated uses included leather goods shops, furriers, haberdasheries and clothes pressing establishments. Hagberg said the new ordinance would also provide for business uses that have cropped up since 1981 such as electronic stores, childcare centers and martial arts studios. The ordinance also contains uses such as hotels and animal hospitals as conditional uses with very specific development guidelines.
Hagberg said in the creation of both ordinances, the borough was trying to take advantage of the completion of Interstate 287, which has a ramp onto Union Avenue in neighboring Wanaque. In Wanaque, a hotel is being built on Union Avenue and Passaic County’s satellite community college already exists off Union Avenue. The new ordinances are designed to attract people who are staying at the hotel or taking classes at the college to come to downtown Bloomingdale for goods and services, he indicated.
Councilman Vroom said the ordinances are aimed at attracting ratables by becoming more business friendly without losing the ambience of a small town. By allowing professional offices on Union Avenue, Vroom said applicants would not have to jump through hoops to get a use variance if they want to open up an office along Union Avenue.
"They’re taking a lot of money out of their pocket to get an office up and running and putting money into their building, so they don’t need to go through the time and expense of the use variance process," said Vroom. "This is probably the most important ordinance that has come out of the Ordinance Review Committee. It determines what development happens in the borough and it benefits everyone in the borough and especially the people who live there. It took a long time to get it right."
Vroom said the professional uses would not generate a lot of traffic. Vroom said Bloomingdale, like many towns, does not have a lot of open space for commercial growth, so it must revitalize the existing properties to promote commercial development.
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