By Mark Rosman
Staff Writer
ALLENTOWN – The mayor and Borough Council have created a pair of municipal committees whose members will work to address two key issues facing Allentown: traffic and parking.
The formation of traffic and parking committees was discussed by borough officials in 2016 and the panels were approved during the council’s 2017 reorganization meeting on Jan. 3 at Borough Hall.
Officials created the Mayor’s Ad Hoc Traffic Advisory Committee and the Mayor’s Ad Hoc Parking Advisory Committee. Mayor Greg Westfall will serve on both boards.
“it is important to have (the residents who serve on the committees) involved to carry messages about traffic and parking back out to the public,” the mayor said.
Councilman Robert Strovinsky asked to serve on, and was subsequently appointed to, the parking panel, as he has previously examined parking issues in the borough.
Councilman Thomas Fritts asked if the traffic committee will have a defined goal.
Westfall said it would, and added, “We have to get geared up as a community for development on our borders.
Fritts followed up by asking if the traffic committee will report back to the council about planning and zoning meetings that are taking place in neighboring municipalities.
Westfall said Allentown is getting notices about meetings from Robbinsville and he asked Borough Clerk Laurie Gavin to keep the council informed about scheduled meetings in Upper Freehold Township.
The mayor suggested it might be a benefit for Allentown if the borough had a presence at meetings that are held in neighboring towns, and specifically when a development plan that is being considered by another community could have an impact on Allentown.
“Monmouth County has been studying Allentown traffic since April 2016,” Westfall said. “I hope to use the new traffic committee to get the county to report back to us about that study and I hope this committee can help us give some feedback to the county.”
Westfall said issues related to traffic and parking have to feed into a review of Allentown’s master plan which is scheduled for this year by the Land Use Board.
Fritts said that in regard to parking, consideration needs to be given to the fact that “residents live in a village.”
Residents named to the parking advisory committee were Ernie Rich, Jan Meerwarth, Robert Mayer, Phil Meara, Arthur Mount, Mayor Greg Westfall and Councilman Robert Strovinsky.
Residents named to the traffic advisory committee were Patricia Brown, John Elder, John Fabiano, Ann Garrison, Madeline Gavin, Don Lebentritt, Lisa Narozniak, P.J. Meara, Julie Reid, Nancy Tindall, Kurt Wayton and Mayor Greg Westfall.
In other business, the council members defeated a resolution regarding standing committees. The standing committees generally consist of three council members, but Westfall sought to appoint himself to four committees in lieu of one council member on each of those four committees.
The mayor said he believed he should serve on the Finance/Administration, Communications/Personnel, Police/Fire/Parking and Sewer/Water/Public Utilities committees.
Hearing that, some council members said they were concerned Westfall was stretching himself too thin by making that move and they rejected the mayor’s appointments to the standing committees.
Gavin later reported that the council members and the mayor worked through the situation during an executive session and when they returned to public session at the reorganization meeting, the council passed a resolution approving the standing committees for 2017. The only standing committee on which the mayor will serve this year is the Finance/Administration panel.