Turnpike plan means lost properties, sound wall
By Matt Chiappardi, Staff Writer
EAST WINDSOR Jacqui Crompton spent Monday afternoon painting the guestroom of her house on Richardson Lane.
”It’s got to be done, and we need new siding too,” she said as she pointed to the cracked vinyl strips on the home’s side.
These home improvements might be routine, if not for the fact that Ms. Crompton’s house could be scheduled for demolition when the New Jersey Turnpike Authority begins its widening project in the spring.
”It’s pretty horrible,” said Ms. Crompton. “We thought we’d be here until we retired.”
Ms. Crompton moved to the township from England nine years ago when her husband, Norman, who works in the banking industry, transferred to New Jersey.
”We had a chance to move to Tennessee a few years ago, and now I regret not doing it,” she said.
Still, she continues on with her home renovations as if she’ll stay in the home for many more years instead of just a few.
”We don’t know what to do, but we don’t have any choice,” she said with regard to moving.
”I don’t know where we’d go,” she added.
The Turnpike Authority is scheduled to finalize its $2 billion plans to widen a 25-mile stretch of the highway between Interchanges 6 and 9, spokesman Joe Orlando said last week, with work scheduled begin in mid-2009. Along that corridor, about 24 homes could be demolished to make way for an expansion to 12 lanes, six in each direction, he said. Three of those homes are in the township, along with four commercial properties in East Windsor that may come down, he projected last week.
Like Ms. Compton, most residents of Richardson Lane, which sits a few yards away from Interchange 8 and off Route 33, said this week that they discovered their neighborhood’s fate at a public information meeting the Turnpike Authority held in December.
In addition to the three homes and four commercial entities, 14 more properties, split evenly between residential and commercial, will likely be affected by the project, Mr. Orlando said last week, declining to elaborate.
One of those commercial properties is a house next door to Ms. Crompton owned by Blue Rock Holdings and leased by the Advanced Infrastructure Design engineering firm that, ironically, designs roads and bridges throughout the state.
”I’m quite disappointed,” said Kaz Tabrizi, vice president of Advanced Infrastructure Design.
Mr. Tabrizi said as a result of the turnpike project the company plans to move this spring, perhaps to Pennsylvania.
”We don’t know where we’ll end up, and that will have an effect on our employees, most of whom relocated to be in this area,” he said.
Advanced Infrastructure Design employs about a dozen people in its office, he said.
”We chose this area because it’s so central, and we love it here. It’s a good community with good people. What a shame we have to move,” he added.
The owner of the same building, at 10 Richardson Lane, Hashem Ashrafiuom, was none to happy about the news when he received a letter from the Turnpike Authority about two weeks ago.
”We bought this property as an investment, and we were supposed to have a steady income from it,” said Mr. Ashrafiuom, co-owner of Blue Rock Holdings and a mechanical engineering professor at Villanova University.
Mr. Ashrafiuom said he plans to have his property appraised next week and concedes that he may have no choice but to sell it to the state.
”If they’re willing to pay for the real value, I’ll sell,” he said.
”Otherwise, I’m going to fight as much as I can,” he added.
Richardson Lane resident Wayne Michaels said he learned at the December meeting that the houses on the west side of his street, across from his own, will be removed to make way for a concrete sound barrier and a buffer zone with trees and shrubbery.
Even with their houses still standing, residents across the street are perturbed over the highway’s intrusion into their daily lives and its effect on their property values. But tackling a behemoth like the Turnpike Authority seems like an exercise in futility to Mr. Michaels.
”What am I going to do? You can’t fight the state,” he said.
”This used to be a nice little neighborhood. You could wake up in the morning and see deer or wild turkeys running around. Now, over the next five years it’s going to be very noisy, and all that wildlife will be gone,” he added.
His neighbor, who did not want to be identified, seemed aghast at the news.
She did not attend the meeting and said she had no idea the widening plan would alter the face of her block until told by a Herald reporter this week. She had no further comment except to say she planned to make an “urgent” call to the Turnpike Authority as soon as possible.
However, some residents are not as upset as others.
Jill Johnston, who lives on the corner of Richardson Lane and Hillside Avenue, has a decidedly more positive take on the situation.
”It could be worse; at least they’ll have a sound barrier,” she said.
Mr. Michaels credited Mayor Janice Mironov for getting that barrier in the plans. The mayor said it was a must.
”We fought extremely hard to have a sound barrier installed for that area,” she said.
”The Turnpike Authority has a moral commitment to put it there, and it is an indispensable part of any plans for that area of town,” she added.
Ms. Johnston considers her neighborhood a quiet, out-of-the-way corner in the township and she doesn’t think much will change with the expansion.
As for the potential drop in her house’s market value, Ms. Johnston said, “It’s a concern, but then again, I don’t think we’d move because it’s nice where we are. There’s no traffic in this neighborhood.”
Also on the potential chopping block is a group home for autistic individuals run by Eden Acres at 24 Richardson Lane. Eden Acres officials did not return calls seeking comment.