Smart Growth

Camden Hub Revitalization Plan

In 2001, the Camden County Board of Chosen Freeholders asked the Walter Rand Institute at Rutgers University - Camden to study the need for a working partnership among Camden City and its inner-ring suburbs to address regional revitalization issues. In 2002, New Jersey adopted the Municipal Rehabilitation and Economic Recovery Act to enhance revitalization efforts in Camden City. The act created an Economic Recovery Board for the City, as well as a Regional Impact Council (RIC) composed of representative from the City and 14 inner-ring suburbs, known as the Camden Hub. These suburbs, which are generally north of I-295 and Little Timber Creek, are Audubon, Audubon Park, Cherry Hill, Collingswood, Gloucester City, Haddon Township, Haddonfield, Haddon Heights, Lawnside, Merchantville, Mount Ephraim, Oaklyn, Pennsauken Township, and Woodlynne.

That same year, the NJ Department of Community Affairs gave the County a Smart Futures Grant to develop a regional strategic revitalization plan for the Camden Hub. The Institute's 2004 study provided a sound argument for Camden Hub collaboration. The CCIA is completing the remaining parts of the regional strategic plan in 2005. Upon completion of the plan, Camden County and the Hub municipalities will submit the plan for endorsement by the State Planning Commission. The study identified eleven key regional planning and revitalization issues. The regional strategic revitalization plan is now being prepared to address these issues:

1. Uncoordinated planning;
2. Transportation network and congestion;
3. Understanding the importance of a healthy Camden for the region;
4. Maximizing and coordinating development along the Delaware River;
5. Reinventing our economy to adapt to the decline in manufacturing;
6. Disparities in educational quality and their connection to development;
7. Brownfields redevelopment and environmental quality;
8. Revitalization of Camden City's land uses and development patterns;
9. Age and capacity of infrastructure (sewers, municipal facilities, etc.);
10. Improvement of housing stock (especially in Camden City);
11. Concentration of poverty.

To download a Draft copy of the Plan Click here