River City

The New Jersey side of the Hudson River could become one of the world’s greatest waterfronts. The setting is magnificent, the location is unparal­leled, and it is one of the very few parts of any major metropolitan area that remains unpopulated and virtually free of buildings. Currently, there is considerable interest in redeveloping the area, and a number of major proposals have already been ad­vanced for new apartments, shopping centers and office buildings. If the waterfront is planned and developed as a single length-of-the-river entity - a distinct and recognizable ​“River City” - it could become a lively, pedestrian-oriented waterfront that attracts fishermen, boaters, cyclists, children and the elderly (as well as office workers and tour­ists) to beautiful places at the water’s edge.

If the redevelopment is fragmented and hap­hazard, on the other hand, the waterfront will con­sist of isolated clusters that have little to do with each other or the 11 Palisades and waterfront municipalities from Fort Lee to Bayonne to which they belong. Worse, if development plans continue to proceed without a coordinated transportation and parking policy, the waterfront will soon be clogged with traffic and dominated by parking structures-in other words, a waterfront neither agreeable nor profitable.

If this vision of a new and vital ​“River City” is to be achieved, coordinated planning should center on three elements that parallel the River: a transitway, a walkway and the Palisades.

Transitway

The waterfront cannot accommodate even a fraction of the proposed development if typical auto-dependent suburban development patterns are followed; the whole area would have to be paved over for roads and parking. Ordinarily, transportation and land use planning should pro­ceed in tandem, but several waterfront proposals have already progressed to the point where, if they are to proceed, a transportation plan must be implemented now - in advance of a more compre­hensive plan. Developers must know where roads and transit facilities will be before they can de­cide where to put buildings, parks and a walkway.

A basic transportation plan for the waterfront should:

• minimize waterfront auto use while improving roads to serve essential traffic;
• restrict parking on the waterfront and connect off-site parking facilities to the waterfront with good public transit;
• outline a transit right-of-way up and down the length of the waterfront, with connections to PATH facilities and access to the west side of the Palisades through existing rail freight tunnels;
• provide for a sleek, quiet and non-polluting light rail system of trolleys or buses to serve the intensely-developed waterfront area.

Walkway

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) requires a continu­ous public access walkway along the River. This is a major achievement that should foster a cohesive riverfront community, but it must be well-used by pedestrians if it _is to succeed. Therefore the walkway should:

• serve as the prime pedestrian link to the new shops, offices and apartments planned for the waterfront;
• connect to public transit facilities and parks;
• offer the best possible views of the River.

The Palisades

The cliffs form the natural back drop for the new waterfront, but they are virtually unprotected south of Fort Lee. Gouged and over­whelmed by billboards and high-rises, they have become a no-man’s-land and a dumping ground. Protecting and maintaining this precious natural landscape should be part of any waterfront de­velopment program. Some entity - perhaps the Palisades Interstate Park Commission - should have responsibility for:

• protecting the cliff and prohibiting building closer than 50 feet from the cliff face;
• clearing the area of refuse, billboards and graffiti;
• designing walkways, stairways and trails linking the clifftops to the waterfront;
• acquiring key parcels for parkland.