Officials Lay Out, Debate Township’s Smart Growth Plan

PHOTOS: [UPDATED 8:30 PM] About 75 people – including developers and builders – are present at the Planning Board meeting this evening where the plan for Lakewood’s future growth is being discussed, and debated.

The plan, which is expected to be voted on shortly, will govern development and prservation for the town’s future – possibly for the next 20 years.

As the town continues to grow at an explosive rate – and has become one of the fastest growing municipalities in the State, officials say it became evident that a master plan of action was required to preserve the town in a smarter way. 

The plan was initially introduced by the Township in 2009.

UPDATE 8:30 PM: The vote was postponed this evening after the board requested the plan include additional information regarding roadway upgrades, a Planning Board member says.

The board will again review the plan once the information is presented.

 

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22 COMMENTS

  1. Well, now that they postponed the vote, the builders will have to wait another month before they will be able to apply for variances to the NEW and improved Master Plan. What a joke we loose no matter what the vote is!!

  2. What sheer nonsense!!!

    The houses won’t be more affordable. The traffic is out of control now. What will it look like in two years? In five years? Sure your children will be right next to you. Do you want to know why? Because they won’t be able to budge anywhere else. It’s no joke. 
    Sheer gridlock will take over. 
    This is not my bad dream.  
    This is a fact. Drive anywhere in town today. What does it look like? Are you happy with the quality of life? Not me. I miss the shtiler days of old. (I’m calling the 1990’s old) Lakewood was a roo’iga place. Unfortunately, No more. 

    So, people that like city life, gezunter heit, move to the city. 
    Please don’t turn poor Lakewood into a city. Think of the name. “Lakewood”. There are some people who still like woods. And still enjoy the Lake. 
    Lakewood was a sleepy town. While, I don’t mind Lakewood less farshlofen, we don’t need Lakewood the City. 

    I strongly echo the first two anonymous posters. I hope they voice their valid concerns to the Master Plan committee. 

  3. To …by you make the choice …. I would rather have a vacant lot next to me and have my children live an hour away as opposed to having my children live a mile away and take me an hour and a half to two hours to get to their home because of the traffic in this town due to over development.

  4. You make the choice: Your children might be able to buy an affordable house but it might be built on wetlands or contaminated land & your dishonest builder won’t tell you. It might be of such poor quality that it will be unsellable when they decide to move. They might not get their kids into school. They certainly will be sitting in a lot of traffic! (moderated).

  5. We’ve got to build, build & build some more. Ppl need plaCes to live. You can look it up, lakewood is still the cheapest frum community to live in the USA, besides for detroit & Pittsburgh. The traffic is Horriffic, tho & the LPD must start a “don’t block the Box” rule. Speaking of the Planning Board, Mazel Tov to the Don Chairman, prud graduate of B.U. – R’ Abe Halberstam on the Wedding of his dear son. Simchas uhn Nachas !! Dudi B.

  6. Let them build all that they want! What’s the problem? There is plenty of space & plenty of land here and no subway service to Manhattan, Lakewood will never become another Boro park and structures don’t last forever, by the time Lakewood is all filled up it will be time to tear down the older structures etc. etc.
    Let them build! It provides affordable housing & Parnassah to thousands.and it makes beautiful shabassim, who needs a dead town.

  7. Don’t forget we have plenty of land under the lakes. The lakes were man made and can always be drained, turned back into rivers. Look at all the condos that can be built there. And think of the fun that can be had when it rains real hard, the river will over flow and flood all the new housing, oh well buyer be ware!!!

  8. The word community means “all walks of life” reside here. It is everyones place to live. It is nice to think it is only one kind of commmunity, but fact rules out the myth part.

  9. Time to open a community somewhere in a neighboring town. Send the kids to school in Lakewood but live somewhere else where you can drive, breathe and live an out of town life.

  10. Please do not move to the neighboring towns. You are unwanted.

    (Not because of the religion, but because of the overcrowding and congestion that you bring.)

  11. The people who spoke representing the lakewood taxpayer DON’T want this approved. Speaker after speaker spoke out against this plan. This plan is a supplement and not needed. Why is this being propoesed? Who asked for this to be done? The people don’t need it ot want it. No homeowner who was at the meeting was for it!!! The planning board should represent the people. We are watching and more people in areas that the new ‘clustering’ will found out about this and be by the next meeting. How is it smart to allow clustering by the old public work building on E9th? Smart to allow clustering on brook road? Who did this engineering firm talk with to come out with this smart growth study???

  12. To #19
    To answer your question about “Who did this engineering firm talk with to come out with this smart growth study???” It is the same group that stands up and tells the planning board that “this new development” will not impact the traffic pattern. Just look at pine street and all the connecting streets they just added more housing on the end of Washington street.

  13. I don’t get it. They hire a engineer from out of town. They don’t poll any of the homeowners in the area as what should be done to improve the area and behold we have smart growth with clustering in the worst areas possible…. How is this a good study? I wonder how much they are getting paid???
    When Route 9 gets widened to Rt 70 get back to us about clustering anywhere!!

Comments are closed.