PENNINGTON PLANNING UPDATE
By Marianne Hooker
At its March 13 meeting, the Pennington Planning Board heard further testimony on the proposal to build a new campus center at The Pennington School. The board will hear more at its April meeting.
The board also granted a lot line adjustment for two adjacent properties that are residentially zoned. One of these parcels is on South Main Street, and the other is on Mallard Drive.
Pennington School expansion As at last month’s meeting, attorney Daniel Haggerty presented the case for The Pennington School. The school is requesting a conditional use variance and site plan approval for the proposed new building. It has also proposed some changes to the present circulation and parking arrangements.
Engineer Paul Pogorzelski outlined some of the details of the proposed changes to the site. He said the temporary parking areas on campus would be made permanent, and the area for parking buses would be moved to the other side of the gym. The new plan would allow trucks to make deliveries on campus at more convenient times. Under the current plan, all driveways on the campus would be 20 feet wide. The entrance on Burd Street would be shifted slightly to the south.
Mr. Pogorzelski said the school would install shoebox-type lighting fixtures in the parking lots. These fixtures minimize the spillover of light onto neighboring properties. The new lights would have a lower number of foot candles than the ones in use at present. In other changes, the school proposes to add some landscaping to provide additional screening on the embankment by the running track. They will also add some plantings to the hedgerow along Burd Street. Mr. Pogorzelski said he had met with some of the neighbors to discuss the issue of landscaping.
Harvey Yesowitz, a traffic engineer, said his firm has performed a capacity analysis to assess the traffic impacts of the proposed changes. From a traffic standpoint, the principal change would be the conversion of the Burd Street entrance to a two-way street. This would divert some of the vehicles that now come on campus by making a left turn from Burd Street onto West Delaware.
As part of its study, Mr. Yesowitz’ firm took traffic counts during times of peak traffic on weekday mornings and afternoons. He noted that the proposed improvements would not increase the peak-hour traffic in any way. In his view, the changes would create better amenities for the people now coming to the site. The increase in the size of the parking areas on campus would make for less on-street parking along Green Avenue. Mr. Yesowitz said he favors maintaining the present one-way traffic pattern for the entrance off West Delaware.
Anthony Cifelli, the business manager for the school, gave further details about the parking arrangements on campus. He said the school will be assigning parking spaces to faculty, staff members, and students. In response to a question, he said that the new building would not be introducing new activities onto the campus. It is intended to provide improved facilities for functions that already exist.
Board member Stewart Schwab noted that the Pennington Fire Company requires roadways to be at least 24 feet wide. He asked whether the on-campus driveways could be widened to meet this standard. Mr. Yesowitz said the school preferred to allow more space for vegetation, and less for pavement. From the standpoint of access by emergency vehicles, the key factor is the amount of space provided for turning movements. The engineer will be conferring with local officials on the question of fire lanes.
Architect Michael Farewell showed the board a rendering of the proposed building. He also presented some exhibits showing how the building would fit in with the surrounding area.
The board heard comments from Caroline Woodward, who represented the homeowners’ association of Academy Court. She said some of the day students from The Pennington School now use the parking spaces at Academy Court. They seem to favor the area as a place to smoke. She would like to see the school issue parking stickers, so the situation could be monitored by the police. Mr. Cifelli said the school now gives out parking permits, but only about half of the students with cars have permits.
Bob Lytle, of 105 Laning Ave., asked how late the lights would stay on in the Burd Street parking lot. Mr. Pogorzelski said the lot would be illuminated until 10 p.m. However, the lights will be on circuits, so that lights that are not needed can be turned off. He also stated that the sodium light on the front of the powerhouse will be removed.
Mary Mistretta, of Brookside Avenue, said she would like to see the school install a sidewalk along Burd Street. Mr. Haggerty said that the school had considered doing this. However, it was viewed as too costly. He pointed out that there is already a sidewalk on the other side of the street.
Board member William Meytrott said the whole point of sidewalks is to interconnect. A sidewalk along the school property would extend the existing sidewalk along Burd Street, and provide a pedestrian link between Laning and West Delaware. In his view, it would also prevent illegal parking on school property during football games. Mr. Pogorzelski said there would be potential drainage issues and utility conflicts if the school were to install a sidewalk.
As time was running short, The Pennington School application was continued to the board’s April meeting. Board Chairman Winn Thompson said The Pennington School campus is very much open to the surrounding community. This is a positive aspect of the institution, and it is something the community should value.
Lot line adjustment The other applicant of the evening was former Sen. William Schluter, who owns the properties at 205 S. Main St., and 12 Mallard Drive. He was represented by attorney Richard Voliva.
Sen. Schluter resides at the South Main Street address, but the Mallard Drive property is a vacant lot. Mr. Voliva said they would like to move the boundary between the two properties 70 feet to the west. This would conform to the original boundary between the two lots, and it would also coincide with the border between the R-80 and the R-100 zones. The move would have the effect of expanding the parcel on Mallard Drive. Both of the properties would be approved building lots.
Sen. Schluter said he had kept the empty lot for possible use by a family member. However, at this point it does not appear that anyone in the family will choose to build there.
Chairman Thompson asked whether expanding the lot on Mallard Drive might enable someone to build a very large house that is out of scale with the rest of the neighborhood. Cindy Coppola, the borough’s planning consultant, said the zoning ordinance would allow a house of about 4,000 square feet to be built on the site. However, the shape of the lot and the limited frontage along Mallard Drive would limit its size to some extent.
Board member Jimmy Maul said a larger lot would improve the footprint of a future house on the property. This could have the effect of raising the value of surrounding properties. The board then voted unanimously to approve the proposed lot line adjustment.
In other business, the board passed resolutions of memorialization to approve its approval last month of applications by Richard Willever Jr. and Michael O’Connor. It was announced that the streetscape committee would be interviewing two consultants who are candidates to review the streetscape within the borough.