Somerville wants to revive Gaston Avenue

SOMERVILLE – The next step in the reinvention of the Somerset County seat will focus on one of the borough’s gateways — Gaston Avenue.

Mayor Brian Gallagher, who lives within two blocks of Gaston Avenue, said the area needs a new identity.

At one time, the area had stores that made it a “mini Main Street.” But as time progressed and certain key businesses — such as the Gaston Avenue Bakery — closed, a “vacuum” was created, the mayor said.

“It doesn’t know what it wants to be,” Gallagher said.

Borough officials are set to pump new economic life into this neighborhood after recent successes turning a once-gritty Division Street into a bustling pedestrian plaza and seeing a new supermarket, shops and a five-story apartment building rise over a once-vacant block of Main Street.

The borough’s planning board will meet May 28 to determine if the Gaston Avenue neighborhood from Main Street to Union Avenue could qualify as a “non-condemnation” redevelopment area.

The redevelopment designation would give the neighborhood stakeholders “an opportunity to create something that they can identify with,” the mayor said.

After meeting with stakeholders in the area three times in 2013, planners recommended that financial incentives be included in the B-4 zone north of East Cliff Street to foster the revitalization of the area.

Unlike the redevelopment project along West Main Street, the borough would not be using its power of eminent domain to acquire property, Gallagher emphasized.

Bruce Van Arsdale, whose funeral home at 111 Gaston Ave, would be included in the proposed redevelopment area, said he would like to see the “mixed uses” in the neighborhood continue.

“It’s an entrance way to Somerville,” he said.

Van Arsdale said the new street lights on Gaston Avenue were “impressive” and were a good way to welcome people to the county seat from Route 22 or Route 28.

In their report, the planners said that stakeholders recommended changes in the zoning north of Cliff Street and no changes south of Cliff Street where professional offices and residential uses are allowed.

The planners suggest allowing varieties of housing, such as townhouses, triplexes and garden apartments, northern part of the area in limited numbers to maintain the character of the neighborhood, yet encourage mixed use.

Most importantly, the mayor said, the redevelopment designation would allow the borough to offer property tax incentives to encourage private investors to develop in the area.

If the planning board determines the area qualifies as a redevelopment area, then the designation proposal would go to the borough council for approval.

The planning board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 28 in the council chambers at 24 S. Bridge St.

Staff Writer Mike Deak: 908-243-6607; mdeak@mycentraljersey.com