Industrial Site Inventory and Analysis

Location:
Camden, New Jersey

Contact:
Mr. James Harveson, Director of Economic Development
Camden Redevelopment Agency
Camden City Hall, 520 Market Street, Suite 1300, Camden, NJ 08101-5120
(856) 757-7600

Camden—one of the most economically distressed communities within the country—struggles to maintain and create living wage employment opportunities for its residents. With new housing, recreational and commercial land uses, the land available in the city to house new or expanding industry is diminishing.

Brownfield Redevelopment Solutions, Inc. (BRS), partnering with TRC Environmental Corporation, conducted an Industrial Site Inventory and Analysis on behalf of the Camden Redevelopment Agency to identify areas of opportunity where the amount and intensity of industrial development in Camden could be increased.

During the Inventory phase, BRS conducted extensive neighborhood field surveys to confirm existing land uses. This work, coupled with existing land use, zoning and ownership data, formed the basis for the Industrial Site Inventory. BRS and TRC created a searchable database of industrial and commercial property throughout the City, populated with information from the tax assessor’s database and the field survey, linked to the Camden GIS system.

BRS analyzed sites within Camden’s 21 redevelopment areas using a series of GIS data layers. Hundreds of pages of redevelopment plans, needs determination studies, neighborhood strategic plans, and the proposed City zoning ordinance were examined for the analysis. Using a base map, the analysis focused on three different categories: zoning, environmental constraints, and land use. BRS provided targeted comments designed to address the conflicts among the existing zoning, the proposed zoning ordinance, and the zoning contained within each redevelopment area plan.

BRS concluded that, across Camden, 388 industrial acres will be lost based on redevelopment plans, and 353 industrial areas will be lost based on the proposed zoning ordinance. BRS presented recommendations for Camden’s 21 redevelopment areas and also made city-wide recommendations that addressed:

• Priority areas for redevelopment
• Infill industrial development
• Priority brownfields
• Infrastructure
• Recommended amendments to the zoning ordinance and redevelopment plans
• Expansion of the Urban Enterprise Zone and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Recreation and Open Space Inventory; and
• Sample language to allow for sustainable development