The bulk of the proposed changes to Montgomery’s Master Plan involve down-zoning much of the developable land in the western section of the township.
By: Steve Rauscher
MONTGOMERY The Planning Board has asked once more for public comment on its Master Plan re-examination, and the public has once again heeded the call.
Just five weeks after the last public forum on the Master Plan, Monday night’s meeting was attended by fewer than 50 township residents, barely more than half the number who attended in August.
While most of the evening’s discussion revolved, as expected, around the proposed expansion of the Bloomberg offices on Route 518 and the construction of nearby connector roads, the bulk of the proposed changes to the Master Plan involve down-zoning much of the developable land in the western section of the township. Tracts with minimum lot sizes of 2 and 3 acres would be changed to a minimum size of 5 and 10 acres, respectively.
Although the township has also added nearly 1,000 acres of open space since the middle of the 1990s, the residents, it appeared, did not come to talk about open space.
Last fall, Bloomberg proposed extending Linton Drive, off Cherry Valley Road, north to intersect Route 518, in order to accommodate two additional office buildings, a pair of parking lots and 2,000 new employees. The plan also would require a bypass road between Route 518 and Route 206, and an another connection between the bypass road and the extended Linton Drive.
Those who live near Linton Drive no one currently lives on the road are staunchly opposed to any such expansion, claiming that linking two major roads and importing 2,000 extra workers into the area would almost certainly mean a drastic increase in traffic.
Others, however, have touted the new road network as a partial solution to existing traffic problems where Route 206 meets Cherry Valley Road and, farther north, where Route 206 intersects Route 518.
"I did something crazy," York Drive resident Jeff Miller said. "I actually looked at a map. And what shocked me is that there are two existing north-south routes (between Route 518 and Cherry Valley Road): Mountain View Road and Cherry Hill Road." He proposed upgrading either of the two roads as a means of reducing traffic flow between Cherry Valley Road and Route 206.
"Are those good ideas?" Mr. Miller said. "Hell, no. But if those are bad ideas, then expanding Linton Drive is simply preposterous."
While Mr. Miller made his feelings clear about the proposed expansion, he allowed that the town’s governing body had no easy task in finding a solution to the competing interests of residents, developers and commuters.
"There are no easy answers," he said. "Maybe there aren’t any answers at all."
Frank Tetz, a 40-year resident of Route 518, spoke about the intense development and resulting traffic increases his neighborhood near Princeton Airport had undergone over the years.
"I can’t sit on my patio anymore because of the airport," Mr. Tetz said. "It’s beginning to look like Newark."
Mr. Tetz begged the board to consider the seemingly intractable problem of traffic flow from every angle.
"I don’t know how to stop the traffic," he said. "But I’m just saying, give us as many options as you can."
One resident, Transportation Committee Chairman Bob Kress, said he believed the key to finding a solution was understanding the problem in the first place.
"You have to get the traffic (on Route 206) around (Cherry Valley Road and Route 518)," he said.
Mr. Kress said not only did the proposed Linton Drive expansion which would increase the number of cars in the township’s most congested quadrant fail to address the township’s existing traffic problems, it would likely add to those problems.
"There isn’t a land-use or zoning reduction plan you can propose that will address the problems we have today," he said. "And the real issue is that you’ve got to find a solution, and this is not it."