The controversy surrounding Milltown’s proposed bicycle trail has made it anything but the path of least resistance.
After a number of residents spoke out vehemently against the largely grant-funded bike path, the Borough Council voted Monday against a resolution for an agreement that would allow the path to pass through an easement owned by the American Legion.
The bike path is slated to run from Washington Avenue to Violet Terrace.
“This is a real toss-up, this one,” Councilman John Collins said of the agreement.
Collins acknowledged the positive aspects of the project, such as promoting exercise and safety, but said there are negatives too. He said residents of nearby condominiums, American Legion members and others would sacrifice privacy as a result of the path’s passage through the area.
In addition, part of the path would be constructed adjacent to a parallel sidewalk, and traffic issues at crossings could pose safety threats, Collins said.
Collins and other residents spoke specifically of where users of the path would have to cross the street at Washington Avenue. Despite Borough Engineer Michael Mc- Clelland’s assurances that a circular slowdown area would precede the crossing, the concerned parties remained unconvinced.
“You and I both know they’re not going to walk that bike,” said Charlie Jegou, a resident who refers to the project as the “path to nowhere.”
Resident Bob Belloff agreed.
“It’s only a matter of time before somebody gets hurt,” Belloff said.
Council President Randy Farkas, who cast the one vote in favor of the agreement, said kids are now riding bikes and skateboards in parking lots, and that the path would be preferable to that in terms of safety. He said Middlesex County leads the state in bicycle and pedestrian accidents, and such paths would help to change that.
Addressing some residents’ complaints about wasteful spending, Farkas pointed out that the $60,000 to $70,000 allocated for the planning phases of the project was spent two years ago, and that money cannot be recouped.
“This is not going to cost the taxpayers of Milltown any more money than it has already cost,” Farkas said.
Jegou and others begged to differ, pointing out that the maintenance of the easement will include grass mowing and snow plowing, as well as maintenance of the fence and of the path itself.
“That’s not saving the taxpayer money by putting something there [that] 10 people might use,” Jegou said. “You’re spending my dollar on something we don’t need. Anybody who votes for this does not take any interest in the taxpayer.”
The borough secured a $530,000 grant from the state Department of Transportation for the path. Total costs for the project were projected at $480,000, with the remainder of the grant slated for other expenses involved with the path.
Residents Kathy Mastransky and Michael Lewycky cited a recent decision by the South River Board of Education to turn down a $1 million county grant for an turf athletic field due to anticipated maintenance and lighting costs resulting from the project.
Mastransky said the American Legion paid more than $2,000 each year over 2006 and 2007 to light its parking lot, and the borough would end up paying a comparable amount if lighting was necessitated. According to Jegou, lighting would be needed in order to thwart inevitable vandals along the path. In addition, he said, police would have to patrol the area. Lewycky agreed, also implying that underage drinking would be a problem due to the secluded nature of parts of the path.
“We may as well set up the recycling for the cans and bottles now, because we know what’s going to be going on there,” Lewycky said.
Plans for the bike path were approved by the council in 2005. After members of the borough’s Environmental Commission and Shade Tree Commission, along with others, voiced concerns about several trees that would have been downed to make room for the path, McClelland shifted part of the project from the north to the south side of the parking lot at Borough Park.
Despite the May 10 walk-through involving officials and residents, during which McClelland gleaned input on the project, a number of residents who spoke at the meeting remained dissatisfied with the project as a whole.
McClelland said he does not know where the bike path project will go from here, but it will be up to the council to decide the next step.

