Awards and recognition

Collingswood is simply the best! Our town has recently taken home major kudos and national reconition. Read about some of our recent awards below. |

Sustainable Jersey Bronze Certification "Certified municipalities excelled in areas such as improving energy efficiency and health and wellness, reducing waste, sustaining local economies, protecting natural resources, and addressing diversity and equity..." 

Forbes names Collingswood one of America’s top 10 Transformed Neighborhoods along with neighborhoods in Manhattan, Denver and Salem as “…enclaves that have blossomed into hot spots."

Top 10 Great Street, Haddon Ave, by American Planning Association.“…a mixture of small town friendliness and larger city diversity.” Jump here to read the press release.

A Classic Town of Greater Philadelphia. “... communities that have preserved their history, their character, and their main street charm”

Best Small Farmers’ Market in the Nation by the American Farmland Trust. “...represents the integral role that the Collingswood Farmers’ Market plays in its community.”

Collingswood’s Haddon Avenue named a Top 10 Great Street for 2009 by American Planning Association

First APA Great Places in America Designation for New Jersey

Read the article in the Courier Post about our award here.

The American Planning Association (APA) announced today that Haddon Avenue has been designated one of 10 Great Streets for 2009 by APA's Great Places in America program. Collingswood is the first New Jersey community to be selected for a Great Places in America designation.

APA singled out Haddon Avenue for the way it melds the past with the present, the look and feel of small American towns during late 19th and early 20th centuries with the conveniences and smart growth development practices of the new millennium. APA Great Places exemplify exceptional character and highlight the role planners and planning play in creating communities of lasting value.

“Collingswood is a place ‘Where you want to be’ because we are ‘building our future by restoring our past’ and we are doing that successfully because of teamwork,” said Mayor Jim Maley.  “Collingswood is a teamwork town and Haddon Avenue is proof positive that planning and teamwork lead to success.  Smart redevelopment is key in Collingswood. We must grow in a way that weaves in with the current fabric of the town, taking great care to improve walkability and amenities for our guests and residents.”

“Haddon Avenue has provided surrounding communities with an excellent example of main street rehabilitation.  Collingswood has shared its methods with many surrounding communities, a good number of which have used the concepts from the Collingswood plans,” said Commissioner Joan Leonard.

Through Great Places in America, APA recognizes unique and authentic characteristics found in three essential components of all communities — streets, neighborhoods, and public spaces. APA Great Places offer better choices for where and how people work and live everyday, places that are enjoyable, safe, and desirable. Such places are defined by many characteristics, including architectural features, accessibility, functionality, and community involvement.

“We’re very excited to single out Haddon Avenue as one of this year’s Great Streets,” said APA Chief Executive Officer Paul Farmer, FAICP. “By aggressively pursuing transit-oriented development along Haddon Avenue, Collingswood has become a leader in the state and a model for other small communities where transit-oriented development would be suitable. It is exciting to see this type of sustainable development occurring not only in large urban areas, but also smaller communities like Collingswood,” he added.

The unique and picturesque Haddon Avenue, with mature shade trees, historic buildings, wide sidewalks, a town clock, and period lamp posts, is at the heart of Collingswood’s Commercial Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

The district contains 79 well-preserved buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most of which are on eight of  Haddon Avenue’s 10 blocks between Homestead and Madison streets that are included in APA’s Great Street designation.

Complimenting these features is the Lumberyard, a new transit-oriented development on seven acres fronting Haddon Avenue near a Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO) park-and-ride commuter rail station.  It is one of 13 New Jersey park-and-ride commuter train stations slated for mixed-use development by PATCO and the first of two such projects in Collingswood.

Collingswood has been hailed nationally for two other achievements recently. The American Farmland Trust (AFT) along with hundreds of voters crowned the Collingswood Farmers’ Market as the best Small Market in America.  The award is the culmination of AFT’s summer long “America’s Favorite Farmers Markets” contest and represents the integral role that the Collingswood Farmers Market plays in its community and the avid support demonstrated by the dedicated customers it has generated through its 10 years of operations.

Last year, Collingswood was designated a "Classic Town of Greater Philadelphia" by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. Aimed at revitalizing and supporting older suburbs and urban neighborhoods, the program designates 20 towns around Philadelphia as great places to live, work, and play. Collingswood was chosen for the program because of its livability, history, and main street charm.

Haddon Avenue’s current fortunes have been years in the planning and making. At the forefront of efforts to revitalize Haddon Avenue’s business corridor, which during the 1970s and 1980s was mostly a depressed strip of empty storefronts, have been Collingswood Mayor Jim Maley, borough commissioner Joan Leonard and former commissioner Louis Cappelli Jr.

Besides working closely with PATCO on two transit-oriented development projects on and near Haddon Avenue, they helped launch two capital improvement and infrastructure programs involving the avenue’s town clock, street furniture, trees and other features.

A business improvement district, managed by Collingswood Partners Inc., also has been organized for Haddon Avenue to further enhance the street and promote the more than 80 restaurants, stores, retailers and other businesses located there.

The nine other APA 2009 Great Streets are:
Broadway Street, Skagway, AK
President Clinton Avenue, Little Rock, AR
Front Street, Bath, ME
South Main Street, Ann Arbor, MI
Front Street, Traverse City, MI
Main Street, Greenville, SC
Duke of Gloucester Street, Williamsburg, VA
North Main Street, Wheeling, WV
East Newberry Boulevard, Milwaukee, WI

For more information about these streets, as well as lists of the 2009 APA 10 Great Neighborhoods and 10 Great Public Spaces, visit www.planning.org/greatplaces.

This year's Great Places in America will be celebrated as part of APA's National Community Planning Month in October 2009; for more about the special month, visit www.planning.org/ncpm.

 

AttachmentSize
Mens Journal Best Places April 2010.pdf 1.72 MB
Phila_Biz_Journal_Aug2011.pdf 736.13 KB
Forbes_Top10_Transformed_Neighborhood.pdf 728.75 KB
USAToday_Garden_State Downtown.pdf 1.71 MB