Student Projects

Sayreville, NJ – Williams

Downtown Redevelopment Plan: Sayreville, NJ

Brandon Williams

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Sayreville, NJ is at an important crossroads, both figuratively and physically. Hurricane Sandy brought widespread destruction and induced significant recovery costs to communities across New Jersey. In the post-Hurricane Sandy era, Sayreville and the rest of the New Jersey Bayshore and Shoreline Regions have not only been faced with significant repair costs, but also the reevaluation of existing development practices all the while preparing for expected future growth. This has come in the wake of increased scrutiny and questioning of whether development along Jersey’s waterfront areas is sustainable and whether more aggressive smart growth strategies should be pursued. Additionally, Sayreville’s prime location at the intersection of America’s largest city, the mouth of the Raritan River, and the Jersey Shore, this community is poised for future success. This site plan is a proposal to address the area’s pressing physical concerns in addition to considering the wants and needs of residents and employees of Sayreville in providing a sustainable, safe, and enjoyable community to be enjoyed by current and future generations for the foreseeable future.

Sayreville is faced with many obstacles beyond its natural disaster threats. As with many communities in the post WWII era, suburban sprawl has compromised and engulfed the downtown Sayreville business district in favor of strip malls, shopping centers, and big box stores. This has left the central business core without adequate commercial services and retail outlets to serve the community, and as a result, has effectively rendered the downtown into an underutilized, forgotten place that is no longer attractive to live in or near. This site plan proposal seeks to revitalize the downtown Sayreville community into a thriving mixed use community that not only reinvigorates Sayreville, but also spearheads the area’s smart growth development by using environmentally safe and friendly practices and designs in order to mitigate the impact of natural disasters on Sayreville in the future.

Instructor: Juan Ayala