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Car-Oriented Camden Gateway Development is Inconsistent with City’s Sustainability Goals

The City of Camden Planning Board will hold a public meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, August 25 at Camden City Hall to approve final plans for automobile company Subaru of America’s new US headquarters.

The pending approval of existing site plans (which are not available online) threatens to reverse the safety, economic and environmental progress Camden has made in recent years. Subaru’s move from Cherry Hill to Camden’s Gateway Office Park (owned by Campbell’s Soup) has been presented as a turning point for the City’s economic development. But current designs for the new headquarters will create an outdated suburban-style office park instead of the vibrant new district Camden deserves.

The site plans prioritize vehicles over other transportation modes in a city where 35 percent of occupied housing units do not have access to a motor vehicle–a rate four times higher than the national average.

While the company claims to support active lifestyles, its proposed headquarters will include 1,031 new parking spaces for the planned 500 to 600 employees. Why they’ll need enough spaces for each employee to drive two cars to work every day is unclear, especially given the site’s proximity to transit. The Gateway Office Park is a little over half a mile from the Walter Rand Transportation Center, which houses the Broadway PATCO High Speed Line station, NJ Transit RiverLINE and 25 NJ Transit bus lines. Future transit plans for the area also include the Glassboro-Camden light rail and South Jersey Bus Rapid Transit system.

The Subaru headquarters will also be adjacent to the expanding Circuit Regional Trail network, 750 miles of walking and biking trails throughout Greater Philadelphia, with Camden as a major hub. Meanwhile, features like continuous sidewalks, pedestrian refuge islands, bicycle lanes and trails–projects that encourage active living, reduce environmental pollution and boost economic activity–are extremely limited in the proposed design.

Furthermore, the plan, which is lacking in bicycle lanes and pedestrian safety features is inconsistent with the City’s 2013 Complete Streets Policy. It also does not adhere to the recently passed sustainability ordinance, a decree adopted last February which “requires that applicants coming to Camden to propose a new development must submit an Environmental Impact and Benefits Assessment (EIBA) that evaluates and addresses the potential impacts and potential benefits that the development activity could have on the environment and the public health and general welfare of residents of the City of Camden.”

Photo of current site plans with 1,031 new parking spaces and few pedestrian and bicyclist-focused facilities.
Photo of current site plans with 1,031 new parking spaces and few pedestrian and bicyclist-focused facilities.

Approving the existing plan for Subaru’s headquarters will potentially invite over 1,000 more cars into a city with health, environment and traffic safety concerns. City of Camden appointed and elected officials must push for development projects that ensure the City is accessible for all–not just drivers. Excessive surface parking and neglected sidewalks, bike lanes and trails negate that goal.

The Camden City Planning Board must act to ensure these mistakes are rectified to accommodate all modes of transportation and to actually serve local residents. By working with project partners and local residents and advocates, the City of Camden can transform an empty plot of land into an economic engine that benefits residents and visitors alike.

The Camden Planning Board meeting to approve current Subaru headquarters plans will take place on Tuesday, August 25 at 6 p.m. at Camden City Hall, 520 Market Street.

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Joseph
8 years ago

We’ll definitely be there. This site plan is a disgrace.

R Troy
R Troy
8 years ago

Many workers will be coming from the suburbs, plus no one who has a choice would take public transit in certain parts of Camden – it’s too dangerous. Why so many parking spots I don’t know except for having room for expansion.

Patrick Miner
8 years ago

Camden shouldn’t sacrifice it’s potential just to please a large employer. Subaru should be required to build a parking garage if they need to park more cars than would fit in an area equal to the building footprints. I will definitely attend this meeting to oppose the current design.

Lesley Kirsch
8 years ago

Subaru needs all the facts; if they are really interested in promoting Camden, working WITH the City, then they need to be mindful, on many levels of the progress made to embrace the population in Camden, not ignore it. Just as with the DRPA not wanting to prioritize turning over park land (Gateway and Farnham) the citizens get the run around. As a county taxpayer living in Audubon, and volunteering in Camden for years, I will NOT allow uneducated officials and urban planners to just do business as usual. Be there or be part of the problem!

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[…] NJ — The City of Camden Planning Board unanimously approved final plans for Subaru of America’s new U.S. headquarters, which prioritize personal vehicles over other transportation modes and fail to adhere to the […]

DOT.TOM
8 years ago

Unfortunately, this is part of the corporate welfare system our state is currently advancing. The interest Subaru has in Camden is singularly focused on optimizing profit. Don’t let it’s Camden address disuade you. The company’s relocation is not altruistic by any means.

With that said, Subaru is simply operating within the rules of the game. If the rules of the game are the problematic, they require correction. Revising our bastardized “Garden State Values” and “Economic Opportunity Act” would be a good start. …(Just a suggestion) Under this current regime, you can expect other big name companies to abandon their current addresses for these tax shelters just like Subaru and Panasonic and Mercedes and….

This is only a portion of the story. What will be the future for the sites and communities these companies leave in their wake? In this instance, Subaru’s Cherry Hill location?

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[…] Tri-State Transportation Campaign has more on the Subaru plan, and how it conflicts with Camden’s sustainability and complete […]

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[…] month, the City of Camden’s Planning Board unanimously approved site plans for the company’s new headquarters. Subaru will be the first new anchor tenant of the […]

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[…] New workers (and current residents) in Camden could benefit from similar initiatives in addition to improved bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. Connecting bike and pedestrian amenities with existing PATCO and RiverLINE stations, as well as the area’s many bus lines, would help commuters to safely complete the last leg of their journeys. By emphasizing bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and transit connections, Camden won’t just improve accessibility and mobility for its car-free population, new workers and future visitors — it will also strengthen the case for continued investment sustainable development over car-oriented sprawl. […]

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[…] include 1,031 parking spaces for 600 employees remain unchanged since originally (and unanimously) approved by the City of Camden Planning Board in […]

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[…] Car-Oriented Camden Gateway Development is Inconsistent with City’s Sustainability Goals Mobilizing the Region (MTR) – August 20th […]

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[…] it’s a bit naive to expect a car company to cater to car-free mobility options, but maybe Tesla ought to move to a location that’s easier to get to via transit — […]

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