Old Trenton Road Reconfiguration - Township Committee Meeting April 12

[Not Yea]

[Guest]

From what I understand, the Master Plan review is required and is due to be done. The township has been setting aside money for this process. It just happens to be going on now. The meeting is tomorrow night if you want to reconfirm this.

[Guest]

[Guest]

Does anyone know what happened at the Old Trenton Rd meeting

[Guest]

This was written by an attendee at the meeting:

There was a lot of discussion and everyone concluded that Old Trenton Road is a dangerous road with speed, passing, and turning issues, plus it is dangerous of to cross as a pedestrian, even in the cross walk.

There was no copy of the actual plan (to widen and re stripe) for us to view but there was discussion of the plan being posted in town hall so residents can see what the County is planning . The Township Engineer will send you a copy if you contact him, call Town Hall. From verbal description few were convinced this project will make the road safer. Most concerns, letters, petitions over the years have been regarding the speed limit and making no passing zones. This project does not address those issues.

It was recommended that a separate hearing be held for the County to go over the widening plan with residents. Look for future notices. If I hear of such a meeting I will forward the info.


In the meantime, Dan Mulligan mentioned he was in contact with Middlesex County Freeholder James Polos (since this is a County project and he is in charge of Public Works and Transportation) . Dan suggested we all flood Mr. Polos' office with calls stating our displeasure in the lack of notification, lack of explanation and lack of resident input, regarding the Old Trenton Road Project. His number is 732-249-2611. If you know someone who is interested and concerned please give them this name and number.

It was interesting to learn that this widening project has been on the books for over 10 years, most likely when Shadow Oaks was originally designed the County made the builder widen the road where the development was to be built, and had the other sections where homes were already established slated for a later date.

As if living on OLT Road isn't hard enough it is upsetting to hear the residents talk about how the government can come in and just take what they need. If a hearing is scheduled and the County comes to talk please try and make the meeting, this could be any of us, these residents need our support.

[RobDiamond]

I have created a google group for discussion and information about the Old Trenton Road issues.

To join, please visit:
http://groups.google.com/group/old-trenton-road-coalition/subscribe

You will need a free google account join this group.

[Guest]

Here are my notes from what I saw. I only stayed until the end of the OTR discussion.

The Master plan is independent of and has nothing to do with the OTR project. It was legally required because it has to be done every few years. The budget of 125,000 was just finalized and thus the reason for the appropriation. The money will be paid over 5 years. I think this is fine.

On OTR. The Mayor started by saying they had no idea about the widening, that it resulted from letters received by residents asking the TC to lower the speed limit. The TC had done numerous studies and petitions to the county asking for lower speeds. The studies indicated it was still a 50mph required road. He disagreed with their assessment and said the TC had tried to take other actions. However, he claimed that the county never advised them of thw widening. (This annoyed me because it was contrary to Mr. Cook's blog and there is no way Mr. Cook could have posted about the widening if no one on the TC ever knew.). He then turned it over to Mr. Tanner the new engineer who had not had discussions with the county until recently.

Mr. Tanner explained the methodology the county uses, the new road design and offered to mail the residents on OTR maps showing the construction and also offered to do a large map and put it up in Town Hall.

The discussion then went back to the TC. Mr. Taylor read a statement from Mr. Cody who opposed the widening and wanted a hearing. Mr. Cody stated speeding was a major problem and he has concerns that these solutions will only cause more problems.

Mr. Stannard and Mr. Stout then commented again about how they had no idea about the road widening until stakes were laid. That they want a lower speed limit and think the left turn lanes will make things safer.

Mr. Taylor said he opposed the widening as it stands because of his concerns about increased traffic speeds and that we were bringing traffic closer to homes. He then cited the meeting note Mr. Diamond posted with 30k cars over 8 days. He said it was foolish for the county to only use their theories and not look at the fact that in a residential area you had all these cars speeding. He then talked about the former engineer he had bills showing the county had discussed this project and said if we did not know then we have to wonder why the engineer discussions did not get back to the TC. Mr. Stannard said the engineer reported everything back and Mr. Stout agreed.

The other thing I thought was interesting was when Mr. Stout told Mr. Taylor the road was not being widened. Mr. Taylor then replied if you have one size of pavement today and you are taking a percentage more to make it larger then whether they are narrower lanes or not you are clearly widening the road.

Mr. Cook voiced his concern over widening and said that he has been working with Mr. Tanner and that he'll be working him.

A number of residents spoke and I really feel sorry for Mr. Diamond. One member asked him if any trees had been hit and he said there were 4 or 5 accidents on his property since he moved in. Another resident on OTR said a car had flipped over in his yard and that a child was nearly hit when chasing his dog who was run over.

The end was that the Mayor would write a letter to the county requesting a hearing.

[Guest]

Thanks for the detailed summary.

It's confusing in the summary that Mayor Stout said he had no idea about the project but then said the former Township Engineer HAD reported all his communication from the county to him on the matter.

[Guest]

Yes that's what I thought to sitting there. However, the people next to me heard the same thing because we were wondering how the two ideas reconciled.

[Guest]

We are not legally required to update the master plan this year. To say we are is simply not accurate. We are spending $125,000 that we don't have to.

The master plan update is independent of the OTR project, but the two are inherently linked. A wider OTR makes it easier to attract traffic to businesses on 130. More businesses mean more traffic means we need a bigger road.

[Guest]

[Duped]

It sounds like you are being duped. The master plan update is not required this year. Feel free to confirm with any member of the TC or planning board. No one of authority said last night, or tonight, that it is required this year because it is not required this year.

The plan is being reviewed because there are issues that some people want reviewed, namely the zoning restrictions prohibiting retail development on Route 130. The rest of it is window dressing.

And yes, our local politicians publicly oppose the widening of OTR- a decision made by county commissioners on a county road.

[Update]

I spoke with a member of the TC. The plan was legally required to be reviewed next year and that may be where the confusion lies as the plan has to be legally reviewed every so often. The TC had been planning to review only certain aspects of the master plan this year. The TC was concerned about reports from the zoning board about continued variance requests and the Zoning Board as well as TC felt these would continue to increase and the planning board had concerns. These requests cost the town money.

As the full review had to be legally done next year he explained that the TC saw it as more cost efficient to do a full review this year, one year ahead of time, where the cost could be spread out over 5 years and save money as we would not have to send certified letters to those affected by the zone reviews then to do a limited review this year only to spend more money next year on the full review.

He said that the costs were discussed numerous times at the TC budget meetings and at the planning board meetings and no one then or on Monday raised any questions.

[Guest]

Thank you for the update. Another way to read what you're saying is, the township has decided to review the master plan early because of numerous requests to lift zoning restrictions on retail development outside the main street business district.

[Guest]

Maybe if the police department had the manpower and resources to combat the OTR "Speeding" problem, then widening it really wouldn't be a problem. They tell me that the department has been reduced over the last 3 years but the calls are going up. Speeding cars are a last priority.

[Guest]

Maybe we should outsource traffic patrol to Plainsboro since they get to keep the money.