What's next for Westwood Plaza? The borough has a plan to reinvent the shopping center
WESTWOOD — New zoning for Westwood Plaza will allow for indoor recreational businesses, such as bowling and ice skating, as the borough seeks to revitalize the mall where New Jersey's last Kmart closed last fall.
On Tuesday night, the Borough Council unanimously approved the change to the town's shopping center district, which is made up entirely of the Westwood Plaza strip mall on Broadway. The Kmart was just one recent loss for a plaza that has some vacancies.
The rezoning proposal included examples of indoor recreational businesses that would be allowed under the new rules, including sports training facilities, tennis courts, squash, handball, racquetball, skating rinks, roller skating, ice skating, bowling alleys, a golf driving range and a gymnastics facility. All activities for the businesses would have to be entirely within an enclosed building.
Mayor Raymond Arroyo said during the meeting that there are currently no specific businesses looking to occupy the former Kmart space, which served as anchor of the strip mall before it closed in September.
Redeveloping the property has become more difficult due to recent flood maps produced by the state Department of Environmental Protection, the mayor said. During rainstorms, flooding is common along Broadway and in the plaza, a problem the borough is trying to tackle with two ongoing studies looking for solutions.
“The DEP in July or June raised the flood elevation, so it’s a tough piece of property,” Arroyo said.
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Although the zoning change is meant to attract new types of businesses to the shopping center, the borough is trying to be sensitive to neighboring homes by requiring any new activity to take place indoors, he said.
Stephanie Noda is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: noda@northjersey.com
Twitter: @snoda11
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Westwood rezones shopping center where NJ's last Kmart closed
