ALLENTOWN – The members of the Allentown Borough Council have voted to pursue a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) that would be used for streetscape improvements on Church Street.
At a meeting on May 23, council members passed a resolution authorizing the borough engineer, Roberts Engineering, to complete Allentown’s CDBG application.
An application for funding – up to $200,000 – will be filed with Monmouth County, according to municipal officials.
According to the resolution, “Due to the percentage of low to moderate income residents in Allentown, the borough is limited to completing projects that assist with improving Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) access or projects that improve the services provided to the senior citizen community.”
Allentown previously received CDBG funding to complete a streetscape project that including improving ADA access on borough sidewalks officials would like to extend that project, according to the resolution.
Mayor Greg Westfall and council members discussed three possible CDBG projects before deciding that making improvements along Church Street would be the way to proceed if a grant is received.
The projects considered were:
• An ADA compliant walking path at a parcel the borough recently acquired that is known as the Wilbert property.
• Using grant funding to make the municipal annex building ADA compliant for use as a senior center. Discussion indicated the annex may not be available until after Allentown’s sewer plant project has been completed in late 2018. Additional discussion indicated there may be structural and/or environmental issues at the annex building.
• Streetscape improvements on Church Street. Installing sidewalks and/or making sidewalks ADA compliant. Depending on the amount of CDBG funding Allentown might receive, consideration could also be given to making streetscape improvements on North Main Street and on Waker Avenue.
On the matter of the sewer plant, council President Wil Borkowski reported that progress is being made on the plant’s design by Dewberry, the project engineer.
A public meeting regarding the sewer plant project is expected to be scheduled after the summer, with a bid for the work to be awarded in the fall and construction expected to last about a year, according to Borkowski.
In other action at the May 23 meeting, the council accepted the resignation of Carla Lebentritt from the Historic Preservation Review Commission. By resolution, Alternate I member Brian Mojta was appointed to fill Lebentritt’s position and Alternate II member Meredith Wayton was advanced to Alternate I. There is now an open Alternate II position on the commission.
And, the council accepted the resignation of Kris Smith from the Economic Development Commission and appointed Maria DeMarco to the position. The term runs through Dec. 31, 2019.
During public comment, resident Ann Garrison commented on an ongoing issue – the heavy volume of vehicular traffic passing through Allentown on a daily basis.
Borough officials have reached out to Monmouth County representatives and taken other action in an attempt to address that specific concern.
Garrison told the mayor and council members that “the Mercer County freeholders think Allentown’s problem is (an) Amazon (warehouse in Robbinsville). People in Robbinsville think the Allentown bypass is blocked and that our only problem is trucks, and Monmouth County is confused as to what our problems are. I do not feel we are meeting the challenges around our borders in terms of traffic and open space and I am worried.”
The council passed a resolution that evening addressing certain traffic issues.
Officials said they do not support dedicated left turn lanes on North Main Street; they support certain road striping on county roads in Allentown; they support the restriping of pedestrian crosswalks at various locations in the borough; and they “do not support a warrant analysis for a traffic light installation at Church and Main streets due to the failing intersection and the need to preserve the historic character of the Allentown Village.”
In conclusion, the mayor and council members resolved “to continue to support and work with Monmouth County and the borough’s neighboring municipalities to reduce borough speed limits and to solve Allentown’s traffic volume crisis with non-terminating traffic along county corridors throughout the borough.”