EDISON – Discussions on a plan to add more than 300 extra parking spaces for commuters using the Edison Train Station got off to a contentious start during the Jan. 29 Zoning Board meeting.
The parking lot would be located at 1 Truman Drive South, which sits less than a mile from the station. The application was not to build a new parking lot entirely, but rather to refit existing parking spaces for commuter use, as well as construct two bus shelters and a manager’s booth. A shuttle will take commuters from that lot to the train station.
At the moment, the plot is occupied by a warehouse, which is using 123 of 440 available spaces. According to the applicant’s attorney, it was decided that letting commuters use their excess spaces would be a nice thing to do.
“There are substantial excess parking spaces. There is also a pent-up need for parking spaces for commuters at the Edison station, so we thought we’d have an opportunity to be really good corporate citizens and do something for the community,” said the applicant’s attorney Gary Forschner.
He did say, however, that the property owners would like to make it clear that they would like to have flexibility in determining how many spaces would be available, and that if in the future they or their clients need those spaces, it would be possible to appropriate them.
The parking lot would be managed by a private entity, Central Parking, which runs parking lots throughout the world, with fees generated from the monthly passes required to park there going to that company. Michael Barelli, assistant director of development for Central Parking, said the lot would be open Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. This time frame was of some concern to certain Zoning Board members.
“My own daughter, who worked in New York this summer, got off the train in New York at 10 [at night], and I wouldn’t want to be a single woman getting off a train at 10 [p.m.] and going to a parking lot with no one there,” said Zoning Board member Bette Daniel.
Various members repeated this concern several times throughout the night. Forschner said that the person who keeps hours such as that would not be the kind of person who would ordinarily utilize that type of parking space.
“This is not a lot for everyone, it is not the end-all be-all … someone consistently coming home at 9 or 10, this lot may not be for them,” Forschner said later in the evening.
Zoning Board member Robert Karabinchak, however, said that the high demand for parking spaces may lead people who work late hours to take one of those spaces anyway and attempt to walk to the lot, which he said raised safety concerns.
Zoning Board attorney Karl Kemm, however, said that that line of questioning is getting away from matters of land use that the board should be considering.
“With all due respect, I think we’re getting a little too involved with the business economics of the issue. It’s as if we’re talking about a pizza parlor and asking why they’re not serving stromboli when everyone wants stromboli,” said Kemm.
Another issue, however, that received much discussion was the procedure under which the application had been prepared. Board Vice Chairman Randolph Holmes brought up a flier that had been distributed by the mayor,
which states that the
parking lot would open
Feb. 4. He asked why
this information was
distributed when a
hearing had yet to
even take place.
Forschner said that
it had been his client’s
understanding that a hearing would not be required, and Barelli noted that he hadn’t encountered such situations in other towns.
“In terms of the Feb. 4 date, it may not be a realistic date, although I know various people had that goal,” Forschner said. “My client’s understanding was not, initially, that they would need to come before this board, and when it was brought to their attention that they would need to, here we are, but that’s, I think, why. There’s just simply a misunderstanding.”
This was also put as a reason why a statement declaring who the owners of the actual property are was not distributed to Zoning Board members until that night, with none having even received it by the time the meeting started.
A spokesperson with Central Park said that the lot is not going to be opening on Feb. 4.
Finally, several Zoning Board members brought up concerns about whether this application is connected with a further plan to introduce a possible transit village to Edison. Karabinchak noted that there is already going to be a series of public forums about a possible transit village, and wondered whether this hearing could be considered independent of everything else. Another Zoning Board member, Anthony Russomanno, said he had seen an aerial photograph from the firm that was seeking to develop the transit village that encompasses the site being discussed that night.
“My only concern with this is are we putting the cart before the horse, is this something that will interrelate. And this board understands it’s our responsibility to hear these cases, but another question that stands out is, having talked to the mayor and the council, is whether this affects any future development in this area,” said Russomanno.
Forschner said that the application stood on its own merits, disconnected from any other plans for the area.
“I will attempt to emphasize, any potential vision or discussion documents is just that … I personally have not been involved, I’ve just been involved in this application here this evening. … I can tell you, legally, it’s totally independent and has nothing to with any other document or proposal” said Forschner.
The hearings are set to resume at the Feb. 19 meeting of the Zoning Board, where three more witnesses are expected to testify.