Camden Waterfront South Restoration

Camden, New Jersey

Camden, NJ's Waterfront South Neighborhood contains residential areas that lie within close proximity to industrial sites. Significant air pollution has been identified via air and ground sampling. This section of Camden is very urbanized and contains only 10-12 percent vegetative cover. The area can be characterized as an "Urban Desert." A high volume of particulate matter (airborne dust) passes from industrial areas through residential areas on a continuous basis. This results in degraded air quality for those who live and work in this community.

LGA's Landscape Architecture Department, working together with other stakeholders, played a key role in providing a solution to the problem. We conducted a series of community outreach meetings where we spoke directly to residents and business owners to gain a comprehensive understanding of their views on the situation.

LGA's Landscape Architecture Department prepared a Landscape Mitigation Master Plan that increased the neighborhood tree coverage to 35 percent. LGA's Master Plan also included streetscape improvements, pocket park designs, highway plantings and large-scale berm/buffer plantings to separate industrial areas from residential areas. LGA is on schedule to complete construction documents for the project in preparation for bidding in Spring 2006.