Headline

New Jersey Future, a member of Smart Growth America, selected WRT's Morris Canal/Lafayette Park Neighborhood in Jersey City for a statewide 2010 Smart Growth Award. The project received the award in the Creative Neighborhood Affordable Housing category.

Designed following smart growth principles and to private market standards, the 500 new homes are within a 5-minute walk to transit, shopping, schools, and parks and convenient to Downtown Jersey City and Manhattan, allowing high-income households to be side-by-side with households receiving public assistance - without differentiation. This new mixed-income community is also served by a new community center with social, educational, and job training services and has received numerous implementation awards from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Located along the historic Morris Canal, WRT's urban design centers on a civic plaza - Morris Canal Walk, which commemorates the neighborhood's industrial heritage and serves as a civic plaza, bringing together all ages to enjoy the walk's playground, community gardens, seniors' garden, and a community center.

In addition to its award-winning design and access to urban amenities that make it one of Jersey City's choice neighborhoods, WRT worked closely with the developer and housing authority client group to integrate sustainability practices at all levels. From site design through building design and utilizing energy-efficient systems, WRT provided an integrated approach to green design that was recognized in 2008 with two Jersey City's Green Building Awards for:

• Remediating environmental contamination and building on brownfield sites
• Redeveloping urban land within walking distance to public transit, schools, parks, and stores
• Deconstructing existing buildings and reusing crushed masonry for site infrastructure
• Improving water quality through a comprehensive storm water retention system
• Ensuring healthy home air quality through the use of very low VOC paints and surfaces
• Using EPA Energy Star compliant insulation , windows, and appliances
• Exceeding EPA Energy Star heating and cooling systems

The neighborhood's success in achieving broad income-mixing, reinforcing community, and promoting green building practices serves as a best practice for the Federal HOPE VI Program. With HUD's development of the Choice Neighborhoods Program as an successor initiative to HOPE VI WRT believes that the lessons learned from the Jersey City's Morris Canal / Lafayette Park Neighborhood revitalization will be important in the evolution of the public policy that underpin HUD's programs.