New Urbanism may be answer to Garden State housing.

Many of New Jersey's traffic, quality of life, property tax and lack of affordable housing problems have been caused by the prevailing sprawl pattern of development throughout the State. As developers, we need to be upfront about this and recognize that for New Jersey to survive as a viable place to live and work in the future, greater density is something we need to consider very seriously.

New Jersey is expected to be the first state in the nation to run out of developable land. This is expected to occur in 20 to 40 years, according to experts.

The state, however, continues to grow. In 2005, 50,000 new households were formed, while only 38.000 new housing units were built. Where are these people going to live, particularly those who cannot afford McMansions on large lots?

Smart Growth initiatives seek to identity the relationship between development patterns and quality of life by implementing new policies and practices in order to promote and balance economic development with better and more affordable housing and environmental preservation.

One answer is for New Jersey to embrace a new development trend called New Urbanism, or Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND). Somerset Development, in conjunction with Centex Homes, is building the state's first large-scale TND, Wesmont Station, on the site of the former Curtiss Wright plant in Wood-Ridge, NJ.

Traditional Neighborhood Development also referred to as New Urbanism is a reflection of the rediscovery of urban design patterns that result in neighborhoods that are walkable and serve a wide range of home and business owners. The goal is to address the ills of the land-consuming sprawl pattern of development.

One of the hallmarks of Traditional Neighborhood Development is density. And density is the solution to many of New Jersey's problems. Take commutes, for instance. The state's residents have an average commute of 30 minutes, the country's third longest after New York and Maryland. TND can help solve the traffic problem by getting cars off the road.

TND also gets cars off the road by providing a market for mass transit. Because of the concentration of residents, Somerset Development will be able to build the Bergen Line's first new station in decades at Wesmont Station. A Rutgers study showed that the average transit village household owns only 1.35 cars instead of the usual two or more.

Increased density can also help the affordable housing problem. Smaller lots allow for smaller--and thus more affordable--housing. Also, rather than shifting their COAH (Council on Affordable Housing) obligations elsewhere, TND developers are able to incorporate court-mandated affordable housing obligations into their designs.

Finally, the land efficiency built into TND allows for the preservation of additional open space. Nineteen percent of the Wesmont Station site will be set aside for open space, including a town square, athletic fields and walking trails. Such civic amenities also create a strong sense of connectedness that is another hallmark of Traditional Neighborhood Development.

Indeed, the greatest benefit of TND may have less to do with public problems than with private ones. Compact development creates a close-knit sense of community, thus alleviating the feelings of isolation that afflict residents of exurban subdivisions who rarely even see their neighbors, much less get to know them.

The attached garage, so prevalent in larger homes, has been replaced in some TND designs by a detached garage, offering residents a chance to greet their neighbors while carrying their groceries into the house. Also, the garages typically face an alley at the rear of the house. Streetscapes are therefore dominated by old-fashioned front porches rather than garages.

Density as the solution for New Jersey's problems might sound counter-intuitive. But it is lack of density in the form of unbridled suburban sprawl that has contributed to many of the state's problems--and it is with greater density that they can be solved.

The costs attributed to suburban sprawl--to our physical and mental health, our wallets, our environment, our civic life and our economy--are simply unsustainable.

By Ralph Zucker, President,

Somerset Development, LLC