Congressman Donald M. Payne Plaza

Hatch Mott MacDonald was retained by Essex County to prepare conceptual through final design plans and specifications for renovations to an existing plaza and elevated bridge deck situated between the Essex County Veterans Courthouse and the Leroy Smith Public Safety Building. The project involved creating a defined entrance to the Courthouse Complex that also provided seating and a water feature. Also key to the design of the plaza were the creation of a connection to a newly constructed adjacent park and the incorporation of innovative stormwater management practices.

Project Highlights:

• The project includes the removal of the 1970s contemporary style walls and replacing them with decorative fencing, concrete pavement with decorative granite banding, granite seat walls, and tree and shrub plantings
• Water has also been incorporated into the space by way of a decorative fountain. The water cascades over an invisible edge into a lower collection pool with 24 variable height jets of water
• A new waterproof membrane, covered with decorative concrete pavement, has been installed over the existing structural slab of the elevated bridge deck
• Existing seat walls were modified to create a seating area with a planting bed containing liriope and vines trained to grow up and visually soften a new decorative security fence separating the space from the sally port below
• Wind controlled fountain adjusts height of water jets to account for excessive winds

Sustainability

The Courthouse Plaza contains a bioretention swale planted with appropriate tree, shrub, and grass species. This swale collects all the runoff from the plaza and a portion of the roadway uphill of the site and filters it with plantings, prior to discharge, into the storm sewer.