Benchley seeks panel to resolve PHS parking

Neighbors to high school find an old problem coming back.

By: Jeff Milgram
   Preparations for construction, a rise in enrollment and a new law affecting young drivers are exacerbating the long-running problem of student parking at Princeton High School.
   Residents near PHS are again complaining of students parking on their streets and borough Councilwoman Wendy Benchley is calling for an ad hoc committee to look at the issue and come up with a solution. The committee would be made up of school officials, students, the school board and Princeton Borough and Princeton Township representatives.
   Borough Mayor Marvin Reed is backing the idea of a committee.
   The problem has cropped up because temporary trailers meant to be used when construction begins at PHS have eliminated 36 parking places, PHS Principal Sandra DeLuca said. Enrollment has topped 1,200 and a new state law prohibits 17-year-olds from driving with more than one passenger, which reduces carpooling, she said.
   Only 15 student parking spaces remain at the school, Ms. DeLuca said.
   Students and school officials have met with municipal representatives and had planned to go before the Borough Council to request a suspension of the two-hour parking limit in the neighborhood.
   "We’re asking them to lift the two-hour parking during the school day, September through June," Ms. DeLuca said. The borough placed a temporary moratorium on two-hour parking during the holidays.
   Mayor Reed said permitting all-day parking near PHS would set a precedent and put pressure on the borough to lift parking limits in other neighborhoods.
   The problem came to a head when Phyllis Teitelbaum, a resident of Hawthorne Avenue and a member of the borough’s Traffic and Transportation Committee, objected to the plan for the students to go directly to Borough Council, saying an ad hoc committee would be less confrontational.
   "If high school students appeal at a Borough Council meeting for a removal of the two-hour parking restriction, and if neighborhood residents then speak against lifting it, the already existing friction between these groups is likely to increase," she wrote in an e-mail to Borough Council members.
   "All-day student parking in front of residences has serious negative effects on the quality of life and safety in our neighborhood," Ms. Teitelbaum said.
   In 2000, 156 out of 162 neighbors signed petitions objecting to the student parking.
   An ad hoc committee did temporarily settle the issue several years ago and Ms. Teitelbaum believes a similar committee can find creative alternatives.
   The school already issues parking permits, but Ms. DeLuca thinks the problem is a shortage of parking spaces. "If there’s no place to park, what good is a permit?" she said.
   Ms. Benchley said the school should work on a plan for teacher carpooling. "There needs to be a holistic approach to the problem," Ms. Benchley said.