MAPLEWOOD VILLAGE FUTURE COULD BE ONE-WAY STREET

One of the reasons the Township Committee wants to buy the Women's Club is to expand parking, according to Mayor Vic De Luca.

He has said such a move is needed as Maplewood Village expands with changes to the Post Office an other improvements.

He has cited a study from the Columbia University Urban Design Lab as one of the reasons.

A look at that study, which the township paid $20,000 to commission, finds three scenarios for Maplewood Village, including the potential for making Maplewood Ave. one-way in the village.

PATCH explains the scenarios HERE:

Scenario 1 would construct an office building that spans the train tracks, physically extending the Village to the south -- something DeLuca said is unlikely to happen because the tracks are NJ Transit property.

This plan also calls for the construction of a parking garage in the Bank of America lot. DeLuca said the lot is privately owned and is unlikely to be sold anytime soon. All of the plans recommend building new parking garages or decks, which DeLuca said "reaffirms our decision regarding (purchasing) the Woman's Club," which has a 60-spot parking lot.

Scenario 2 redirects Maplewood Avenue's traffic to be one-way going west and creates a new secondary road parallel to the Avenue (which would be one-way going east) behind the strip of stores from Village Coffee to Arturo's. It also adds a public plaza across from the Bank of America.

DeLuca said the town doesn't own the parking spaces behind the buildings. However, he said, it might be possible to have Maplewood Avenue be one way from Durand Road to Inwood Place, creating a "circle" of traffic flow (which would also lead to the Woman's Club parking lot).

Scenario 3 attempts to maximize the site's development potential by creating a "tower-like element" at the north end of the site at the foot of Ricalton Square, which would connect to a four-story structure of residential and business space.

All of the scenarios appear to depict a net loss of green space. "We do not want to lose any net green space there right now," said DeLuca. He said the green space that is currently Ricalton Square could stay as it is, be reconfigured or even be split into different parts and made more centrally located in the Village (for instance, it could be moved to where the Village Coffee parking lot alongside the post office currently is).  

Check out the entire plan HERE and make sure to go to the next meeting on the issue in April.