New Jersey agencies have begun to advocate for traffic mitigation policies on and around the Meadowlands site for Xanadu, the proposed 104-acre entertainment and retail center.

Earlier this month, the Meadowlands Commission and the state environmental protection department released a list of recommendations for Xanadu site. Some are procedural, but others point in the direction of the Campaign’s recommendations to the developer and the state. The agencies have called for:

• An expanded and more thorough traffic study.

• An on-site traffic management plan.

• Withholding the certificate of occupancy for each phase of development until the traffic from the previous phase is mitigated as set forth in an adopted EIS.

• A parking management plan that includes shared parking and options for Xanadu and office tenant employees, such as parking cash-out, ridersharing, and transit incentives.

• A shuttle bus service to and from the Secaucus Transfer rail hub, Port Authority bus terminal and other locations.

• The developer to pay its fair share of on- and off-site traffic improvements

• That the NJ Sports & Exposition Authority and Xanadu developer dedicate parking fees to fund transit improvements.

The Campaign has also called on the state to require the developer, Mills Mack Cali, to allocate a percentage of profit for transit operating costs to the site, and help the Port Authority pay for its Lincoln Tunnel express bus lane expansion. We also urge an attractive, pedestrian-friendly site plan and a permanent bus facility, since buses and smaller shuttles will be needed as part of the permanent mix of transit access modes, not just "until a rail link is built."

The Meadowlands Commission suggestions are welcome news, but in order for the suggestions to take hold and translate into concrete elements of the project, the Sports Authority, DEP and DOT must refine the recommendations and make them conditions for granting development rights and traffic and environmental permits for the site. Hearings on the permits will likely be held in the next month or two. The Sports and Exposition Authority, the agency officially petitioning for the development, must then require the developer to commit adequate resources to help fund transit and other transportation needs.

A major point of confusion is that the agencies have called for further traffic study as Xanadu continues to try to advance the project. Insiders say Xanadu will move forward before Governor McGreevey’s resignation in November. Transportation improvement recommendations may have to be re-evaluated in light of the finished traffic studies. The Meadowlands Commission report suggests quarterly updates from the Sports Authority and the developer to the Commission, but unless this is somehow written into the development permissions or law, it runs the danger of being ignored. 

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