Hillsborough = Mayberry

Hillsborough Township has been trying to get its 39,000 residents to look decades into the future and to say what they would like to see.

Anticipating the construction of the Route 206 Bypass in some not-too-distant decade, the planning and zoning staffs have run seminars and workshops with title such as Sustainable Hillsborough and the Hillsborough Town Center Design Charette.

They asked what greenery the groups liked and what style of architecture. What material should the sidewalks be and should they be wider and where should the bicycles go and parks and lights and types of businesses and just… everything.

The result of this citizen participation is a small town center near the intersection of Route 206 and Amwell Road invariably referred to as “Main Street”.

Having studied picture after picture of the preferred building designs and parks and sidewalks and landscaping and maps, I can only announce that we have labored mightily and produced – trumpet blast and drum roll, please –Mayberry.

Yes, all this work has designed the Mayberry of Andy Griffith.

Or maybe it more resembles Mayfield, the home of the Cleavers. Or could it be Springfield, where the Anderson’s lived: Jim, Margaret, Betty, Bud, and Kathy. For those whose TV experience is more recent, think of the hometown of Darrin and Samantha Stephens of Bewitched.

We are designing the towns of the 1950s. Could it be that the boomers have overtaken America yet again?