BY MELISSA CIFELLI
Staff Writer
PHOTOSBY FARRAH MAFFAI staff A new parking lot to accommodate increased enrollment at South Brunswick’s Constable School may be built on the land between the school and this back yard. SOUTH BRUNSWICK — Fears about a planned construction project still plague neighbors of Constable School.
Residents of Dawson Road continue to fight to prevent those situations they say will occur with the construction of an additional parking lot at the school, barely 50 feet from their back yards.
The construction of the parking lot, part of a districtwide school expansion referendum, has caused a rift between the Board of Education and residents of the road.
Linda Suffy and Frank Ianno walk by the woods that would have to be removed to accommodate the paving of a two-lane driveway entrance on Dawson Road to the new parking lot. The new plans would add 87 parking spaces, bringing the total to 149. The driveway entrance to the new parking lot would be built on Dawson Road, across from residents’ back yards.
The new spaces are needed to accommodate staff and student increases at Constable School.
“My main concern,” according to resident Linda Suffy, “is the safety of my kids.”
“They’re not safe playing in their own back yards if they build this parking lot,” Suffy said.
According to Suffy, the new parking lot would jeopardize residents’ safety, with speeding cars only feet away from residents’ back yards.
It would only take icy conditions or a speeding driver to put a car in a resident’s back yard, she said.
Suffy said the location of this new parking lot does not solve the problems that already exist, but increases chances for floods, accidents, traffic and loss of scenic landscape.
“Build on the other side,” Suffy said.
According to Suffy, the Board of Education is ignoring the potential use of fields and entrances along Kingsley Road, which she said would better accommodate the school while not posing additional safety hazards to residents.
“These kids are not safe walking down Dawson Road anymore,” Suffy said, referring to the traffic and congestion caused by parents picking up and dropping off children.
“Somebody is going to get hit,” Suffy said.
Frank Ianno, who is drafting a petition to halt construction, said Dawson Road is used mainly by residents and was not intended for heavy traffic.
“You’re going to have a parking lot out there,” Ianno said, referring to Dawson Road.
In addition, Suffy said, the Board of Education has not effectively answered residents’ questions and concerns about why the parking lot can’t be built somewhere else.
Jeffrey Scott, assistant superintendent for business and board secretary, said after investigating, the board found an entrance on Kingsley would not be wide enough to accommodate two lanes of traffic. In addition, Scott said, building would be prohibited on Kingsley Road because of the headwall to the drainage ditch.
An entrance on Kingsley, according to Scott, would also take away space for the school’s playing fields.
According to Suffy and Ianno, an entrance on Kingsley would be wider by 10 feet.
Suffy said she was originally told the parking lot would be kept gated, allowing only for school use, and would remain closed during the weekends. At the last Board of Education meeting however, Suffy said she learned that the parking lot would now be open to the public for use during athletic activities as well as on weekends.
“The story keeps changing,” Suffy said.
The change in use for the parking lot, according to Ianno, is an open invitation for mischief. Ianno said he has called the police on several occasions about teenagers hanging around after school.
Plans for the parking lot, according to Scott, have not been finalized. The board continues to look at options that don’t impact Dawson Road, he said. In addition, Scott said the board would like to wait until a plan is finalized before they have additional meetings with residents.
Adding to their worries, Suffy and Ianno said they fear flooding, and brook and creek pollution. Suffy said her back yard already experiences flooding with heavy rain, and will only get worse with a parking lot feet from her yard. The creek, according to Ianno, which does support fish, would be contaminated with oil, road salt and other debris from the parking lot runoff.
Both Suffy and Ianno agree that the Board of Education has not done enough to address the concerns of the residents.
The board, Ianno said, has not shown any new, better plan for the parking lot. Ianno said it seems the board has listened to the residents’ concerns, but will not seek their approval for any plans and will eventually do what they want with the land, which is school-owned.
Suffy said that despite the concerns, many residents have been kept uninformed of the new parking lot construction, Suffy said.
On one recent day, Suffy said she found a surveyor on her property checking flooding in the area. Several days later, a neighbor found another surveyor on Dawson Road who told them a parking lot was coming to the area, she said
Suffy said she saw no parking lot plans at the board’s display at Community Unity Day, after which she requested a meeting between residents and officials from Constable School. Residents again spoke out against the plans at a later board meeting.
Suffy said unless residents reach out to school officials, they are kept out of the loop on the construction plans. And each time, Suffy said, the plans seem to change.
Scott, however, said the board has had numerous meetings prior to the passage of the referendum, which proposed added parking to all buildings.
According to Scott, board members and Schools Superintendent Gary McCartney put up fliers adjacent to Constable School and homes most directly impacted by the parking, and met with the residents. This was done, Scott said, to avoid a situation where people would be surprised of any new plans.
“We’re trying to listen and respond when we can,” Scott said.
Also in danger from the new parking lot is the scenic landscape, lined with trees and a small creek, which may be removed for the driveway entrance, or what residents call a two-lane road extending on to Dawson Road.
According to Suffy, the wooded area is home to turkey buzzards and deer, which frequently rest feet from her property.
“It’s like a park,” said Marlys Rifi, a 40-year resident of Dawson Road.
Rifi said the beauty of the area, which has remained basically unchanged, is what drew her to buy her home, and she never expected the school would eventually use it for a parking lot.
And the parking lot, residents fear, may be only the beginning of ongoing problems.
Suffy said it may only be a matter of time before the township has to widen Dawson Road to deal with the heavy traffic, and residents may lose portions of their front yards.
Steve Myers, whose home would be feet away from the driveway entrance, said the weekends would be particular dangerous for his children, who may be playing in their yard while the parking lot is open to the public. Myers worried he may have to keep his children out of his own back yard once the lot is added.
“So where do they play?” he asked.
Bidding for the project, according to Scott, would begin in February, with contracts awarded in March. Construction would begin two days after school closes for summer vacation.