By Frank Mustac, Special Writer
Plans to narrow King George Road as part of an improvement project is being opposed by a number of Pennington residents who live on the street.
Audience members filled Pennington Borough Council chambers to about half capacity on May 4 to tell elected officials they disagree with reducing the road width to 28 feet. Street pavement ranges between 34 and 38 feet wide.
In March, Pennington appropriated $1,125,000 for water main replacement on King George Road and Park Avenue. The borough recently sent letters informing residents about the pending work, which, in addition to road narrowing, will include repaving, installing speed tables and concrete curbing, and restricting parking to only one side of King George Road.
Resident Nancy Willever, who works as a real estate agent, told Borough Council that people want to live on streets like King George Road because they are wide.
“I think narrowing the street is asking for more problems,” she said, explaining that limiting parking to one side of the street would force neighbors to park their cars in front of one another’s houses.
Similar objections came from resident Terri Epstein, who explained that contractors like landscapers and home repair companies often park their large trucks along King George Road, sometimes taking up multiple parking spaces, further limiting parking for residents.
Restricting parking to only one side of the street, she said, would be an “enormous inconvenience.”
Preserving the same road width, Ms. Epstein also said, is tantamount to preserving the historic character of Pennington, as evidenced by old photographs she has seen of King George Road and other wider streets in town.
She said she and her husband purchased their home on King George Road primarily because it is on a wide boulevard-like street.
Borough Councilman Joseph Lawver explained that the intent of narrowing the road is to address speed issues. About 4,000 vehicles travel on King George Road each week, he said.
Councilwoman Catherine “Kit“ Chandler said she is “fine with the road being wide,” but that a wide street that is newly paved will mean fast-moving vehicles.
Mayor Anthony Persichilli echoed the reasoning saying, “When you narrow the road, you are more cautious.” What the borough is trying to do, the mayor said, is make it harder for drivers to go fast.
King George Road resident John Valenza said he disapproves of narrowing his street, but is in favor of the two speed-slowing raised “tables” the borough plans to install. However, he suggested the speed tables not be placed directly in front of residential driveways.
Resident John Brinster said keeping the street wide street makes it safer for children. According to neighbor Charles Schaub, there are more than a dozen children who live on King George Road under the age of 12.
Another neighbor, Jerome Cohen, said he did not want “ugly” concrete curbing installed, and that narrowing the street would mean losing the “small town” feeling his neighborhood has right now.
“We love the width of the present street,” Mr. Cohen said.
Borough Council members seemed receptive to maintaining a street width of about 34 feet.
The task now, Councilman Lawver said, is modify the design to address the concerns of neighbors.
In order to still receive about $300,000 in grant money for the project, any design changes have to approved prior to a deadline coming up in a few weeks.
“We are taking everything you say into consideration,” Mayor Persichilli told residents. “We heard you and we are flexible.”
