Mayor, Businesses Hope to Make Berkeley Heights a 'Destination'

About 40 Berkeley Heights business owners had breakfast with Mayor Joseph Bruno at Town Hall on Friday morning to discuss ways for the business community and the municipality to work together.

Bruno said there are plans underway to establish the identity of Berkeley Heights, as other neighboring towns have, by installing three town clocks as well as brick pavers and benches throughout the downtown area, and establishing a Business Improvement District, also referred to as a Special Improvement District.

“It’s time for us to make our community homogenized. We have 40 years of different looks in our town and it didn’t happen overnight and it’s not going to be solved overnight. But we have to make the start,” Bruno said. “The goal would be to make this a walking community. If you want people to visit your business, make it attractive. These brick pavers with the lap posts straight down Springfield Avenue on both sides, and every 200 to 300 feet have a bench so someone could sit down, take in the streetscape and take a rest, those are the things that make a downtown look like a downtown. Will it happen tomorrow? No. But just like this meeting, we have to start someplace and the place to start is today.”

Amey Upchurch, Township Administrator, explained that the town will be repopulated with white and pink Dogwood trees – with help from the – as the Dogwood is the official tree on the Berkeley Heights Township Seal. Also, the “viewscape” around the train station will be cleaned up to improve the overall appearance and feel of Berkeley Heights for anyone rolling in for a visit or returning home.

Upchurch dived into potential downtown business programs and said there are two available — Main Street New Jersey and Business Improvement District — which are both viable and sponsored by the State of New Jersey, but have subtle nuances.

“The one thing that is key for either of those programs is the municipality and the businesses have to commit. We both have to share a vision with what we want to have going on here in the downtown area and I think that this is, as the Mayor said, our first step. We’re telling you that we’re committed to this and we’re hoping, in turn, you’ll respond with that same level and same vision,” Upchurch said. “We have to have a consensus on goals – what do we want it to look like? How do we want it to feel? Also, we need to make a financial commitment to fund ... the management of the area.”

There is money available through Union County and the State, as well as loans and matching grants under both programs, which Upchurch said the municipality could assist the downtown program with securing. But first, there are a few things that must be done — choose one of the two programs, do research into potential grants and loans before submitting applications, and demonstrate that there is a partnership between the business community and municipality.

She said each program has some elements that are essential for its success, which include:

1. Commercial Concentration, which Berkeley Heights already has established.
2. A cohesive, consistent vision for how the downtown area will look.
3. Broad based support, i.e. Beautification program that is starting up in town.

With one of these programs, Upchurch said there are several opportunities available for the community — particularly the town's proximity to transit.

“You have a train station here, you have Rt. 78. It’s fabulous. We want to make it a destination for people to come, do business in the downtown, and go to where they have to go. It’s the walkability of the downtown area. Our Mayor is talking about the pavers and the benches, and being able to visit our shops, but that’s going to be very essential. We want people to be able to park their cars or get off the train, and walk up and down Springfield Avenue, doing their shopping, eating their dinners or just enjoying themselves and relaxing.”

Upchurch also said there is commercial variety in Berkeley Heights, making it a great destination, as well as proximity to residential areas, which is often uncommon in New Jersey. Finally, Upchurch said the vision of the township through the Master Plan will encourage consistent planning elements.

So what’s next? Upchurch said the township and business owners have a few steps to take:

1. Commit to the program
2. Have a State official brief municipality and business owners on programs
3. Determine what program works best for Berkeley Heights
4. Prepare the essential details, i.e. establish the program and a Downtown Corporation to oversee the program
5. Apply for State Grants and loans, which are available up to $200,000

Upchurch also said it would be beneficial to research the other towns that are participating in either program, and determine how they were beneficial to businesses and the community overall.

“This is an exciting time and I think to have all of you here on the ground level, we’re going to have a great partnership,” Upchurch said.

Bruno, a store manager at JCPenney for 38 years, said he recently retired and is now a “fulltime mayor,” making him assessable to any business owners who want to talk.

"I am available to talk to people, speak with them about their business. I have an extensive career. I was a Personnel Manager, I have an HR background, a Store Layout Designer. I was also the Sales and Marketing Manager for the Northeast - Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and parts of Connecticut, so I have an extensive marketing background, and then I ran my own store for 17 years – six years on Staten Island and the rest in Wayne, NJ,” Bruno said. “I am also the Vice Chairman of the New Jersey Retail Merchants Association, which is the lobbying group for retail. So I have that background and now is the time to use that background to help our own businesses out and that is what I am prepared to do now. I am available. If you give me a call [at Town Hall]; I can always meet you at your place.”

Some business owners seem on board with the idea, including Don Parkin, owner of in Berkeley Heights for two years.

“I think if the township can work with the Chamber of Commerce leadership to really organize the businesses in the community to work with the township, I think a lot of great things can happen,” Parkin said. “I felt that there was a lot of discussion on the table today of very good activities and some good plans or ideas for bringing the community and businesses together to help grow the downtown district. But I think it’s really going to take people putting in an effort and cutting through politics to make things happen.”

Parkin said as a sole proprietor who is trying to grow his business, he can't become too involved with the process because he has very little personal time. But, he is willing to get involved in some way.

“I’d be more than glad to go to meetings and share my input, and I’d even be glad to help fund whatever I can, whether it’s participating in charitable events or actually contributing toward specific projects,” he said.

While he wasn’t a member of the Suburban Chamber of Commerce prior to Friday’s meeting because he has been so busy with his business, Parkin said he is joining the Chamber now.

Paul Neuwirth, owner of , which the Neuwirth family opened in 1969, said the Special Improvement District is a good idea and a great first step, but he is hoping the township follows through with the plans.

“I think there was some really good discussions that were opened up at the meeting. The only problem, if you know any of the history of Berkeley Heights, they have a tendency of jumping both feet into certain projects and then a year later, a new administration comes in and everything changes. We’ve been here a long time and I think we’ve seen three complete downtown revitalization designs that have come and gone, and nothing has ever been done,” Neuwirth said. “I think there were three different Master Plans since I’ve been here, and they talked about changing the downtown, changing the traffic patterns and there were great ideas. But then a new administration comes in and it gets shelved, and all of that money went to waste. I think it’s good that, for once, the town is finally recognizing that businesses are part of our town and a big part of our town. Whether they follow through or not remains to be seen.”

Neuwirth, who grew up in town and took over his family-owned business more than 25 years ago, said he is willing to get on board with the township’s idea to establish an identity for the downtown area.

“We’re right next to Marcello’s and he’s already redone the front of his business with the pavers, the trees and the lap posts like they are discussing,” he said. “It would be to our benefit to follow suit. I think it’d be great to put in some more Dogwood trees. We had some trees out front that have died over the years and I think the Dogwood trees are a great idea. But again, let’s go back to meeting one and see what happens because we’ve all been there before.”

The Suburban Chamber of Commerce plans to have a follow-up meeting to further discuss plans to establish a town identity and establish a Special Improvement District, but a date has not been set at this time.