Traffic Impact Study Focus of Hekemian Hearing Before Zoning Board
Hekemian's traffic expert returns to answer the public's questions regarding her previous testimony.
Hekemian's traffic expert, Elizabeth "Betsy" Dolan returned to the Zoning Board to answer questions regarding the testimony she gave on her revised traffic impact study. The study was prepared in support of the proposed development of the 13-acre United Water property--a mixed-use development that includes a 70,500 sq. ft. supermarket, a 4300 sq. ft. bank and a significantly pared down housing component--24 units down from an original 221 units.
The analysis —prepared by Dolan & Dean Consulting Engineers LLC of Martinsville —assesses the existing infrastructure in the vicinity of the site, identifies existing traffic patterns, and projects future traffic volumes. Also included is an assessment of future roadway and intersection conditions surrounding the site of the proposed development.
In her previous appearance before the Board in February, Dolan testified that the light on River Road and Madison Avenue would have a delayed green to accommodate the increased traffic generated on Madison Avenue by the new development.
Thursday, the public had the opportunity to cross-examine Dolan on that testimony, as well as the information put forth in the traffic impact study.
Over the objections of the applicant's attorney, Andy DelVecchio, that the questions were either repetitive or not relevant to Dolan's testimony, the questions posed by members of the public primarily centered on Dolan's traffic counts for peak hours and days, amount of traffic proposed to be generated by the new Shop Rite, and the routes of the trailer trucks.
Questioned was the October testimony given by Joseph Pagano, Director of Produce for Inserra Shop Rite, who testified that Tuesday's were the store's high volume days, whereas Dolan's study shows weekends as high generation traffic days.
"If there was a spike on one particular day, I did not pick it up," Dolan testified.
According to Dolan, the traffic estimates she relied upon in the preparation of her analysis were obtained through ITE's supermarket land use category, along with ITE's (Institute of Traffic Engineers) category for drive-thru banks and for apartments where estimates of trip generations for land uses the size and scope of the proposed development are available. Dolan said that she used the ITE's numbers because they are higher.
In addition to using those estimates, Dolan also studied current traffic patterns along River Road in the vicinity of the high school.
John DeSantis asked Dolan, "Don't you think it would be appropriate to study the entire length of River Road?"
Dolan replied that studying the entirety of River Road would not change the operational levels, stating that the further away from the proposed site, the lesser the traffic impact.
"We measured impact at the sites where the majority of the impact would be," Dolan said.
When the issue of the impact of the train on the increased traffic was raised, Dolan said that no traffic impact studies including the train were performed because the train is a "known factor" and will not alter the characteristic of the crossing.
Lori Barton asked Dolan if she had considered the additional traffic impact that the proposed sale of the synagogue on River Road to a Korean church would have on River Road, in addition to the traffic impact of the Gospel Fellowship Church which will be located on Henley, just off River Road.
Zoning Board attorney, Scott Sproviero, deemed that question speculative and outside of the scope of Dolan's testimony, since no application for the synagogue building has been submitted.
Members of the public also questioned Dolan about cars using side streets such as Demarest Ave. as cut-through streets in order to avoid the traffic on River Road. Dolan said that it would be easier to access the site by travelling on River Road rather than Demarest where cars would have to wait for a break in traffic in order to cross over.
When questioned about the route of the tractor trailer trucks coming to and from the site, Dolan testified that it was her understanding that the trucks would be travelling on Main Street and Kinderkamack Road. DelVecchio interjected, "Pagano only testified that trucks will use Kinderkamack."
Pedestrian safety around the area of the High School was a concern of the public, but Dolan said that the High School is an existing structure and the pedestrians are aware that cars are there.
At the close of the nearly four hour meeting, DelVecchio, whose objections to "repetitive" questions and "relevancy" of questions to Dolan's prior testimony, told the Board that they had to be more stringent in reigning in the questions.
Acknowledging this, Sproviero said that those issues will be addressed at the next Zoning Board meeting which is scheduled for Tuesday, March 12 at 7:30 pm. Hekemian is scheduled to be the first applicant heard that night.
Dolan will be returning to the Zoning Board for further questioning, but due to her schedule it is uncertain at this time if she will be available to attend the March 12 meeting.
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Lori Barton
6:58 am on Friday, March 1, 2013
Dolan's testimony continues to focus primarily on data from the ITE. That is a data base but it has NOTHNG to do with New Milford. It deals with averages nationwide, not with the reality that this would be a megastore that draws from many surrounding municipalities. An objector asked if consideration had been given to the fact that the current ShopRite is located adjacent to many apartment dwellers who walk to the store and that the new one would necessitate all of those people now driving to the site. The answer is "NO." The ONLY consideration is the ITE data. This witness has a record of submitting incomplete reports in other municipalities in which she has testified. If her data is incorrect, New Milford is left to deal with the consequences, not Dolan, not Hekemian,not United Water. OUR future is being discussed and still, not nearly enough residents show up for these meetings. They tell me "thanks for fighting for us" but we need you to show up. Next meeting is Tuesday, March 12 at 7:30.
NewMilfDadMakinEndsMeet
9:40 am on Friday, March 1, 2013
I'm sorry I had to miss last nights meeting. Was there any new discovery important to this site? Thank you.
Lori Barton
1:02 pm on Friday, March 1, 2013
Nothing new, more of the same BS. Dolan testifies that traffic will be worse but still "acceptable." That's in her terms. We, who live here, know what traffic has become and are not agreeable to having that made even worse. My new mantra: If it doesn't benefit, New Milford, then JUST SAY NO! NO to this development, NO to the proposed apartment complex on Madison. There are NO benefits to New Milford. Why should we have to endure the increase in traffic, the increase in school enrollment, the loss of countless trees and increase in taxes? Let the developers build what their land is zoned for and NO more! Grant NO variances.
TommyIce
9:46 am on Friday, March 1, 2013
Tractor trailers on Main Street? Isn't there a weight limit on these local streets? My gosh you can hardly get down that street safely as it is.
Feel sorry for those folks that like to dine on the patio at Pancho's. Bad enough you have to look at the regular car traffic there now. It'll be downright delightful to dine smelling diesel fuel spewing from those 40-60 foot tractor trailers at a standstill waiting for the traffic light.
Tomasina Schwarz
9:52 am on Friday, March 1, 2013
The applicant must deal with the public, like it or not!!! I encourage everyone to keep asking questions, repetitive or not!!! The public is not represented by an attorney, therefore our questioning will never compare to a regular court where attorney's argue with one another on relevance of questioning. Make the applicant's lawyer work for his money!!! We need to keep the process going and make it expensive for the applicant. As long as a person creates a question, the scope does not matter, this is not a trial. Mr. Sproviero needs to cool out and tell the applicants attorney and witnesses to answer to the best of their ability! Seriously-no question should be that scrutinized by the boro attorney!!! Why aren't attorney's ever worried about what the citizens will do if their rights are violated? Answer: most of the time we will not bring a case against the attorney so he/she chooses to be more careful not to violate the applicants rights because of possible litigious consequences. Mr. Sproviero should make sure all citizen rights are respected, not just the ones that have tons of money!!!! Ask questions-no matter how repetitive!
Tomasina Schwarz
10:11 am on Friday, March 1, 2013
I think the trucks will travel on Kinderkamack, not River Road-too many twists and turns. The county must be contacted in order to try to create a weight limit on both Kinderkamack and River Rd. This is long overdue and should be a priority for all of the towns that are on these roads. Bergen County is a joke-no master plan, just a hodgepodge of traffic rules that no longer make sense. The mayor and council's of all of the towns in Bergen County have allowed the county to be remiss in land development issues and planning in general. After living near Kinderkamack Road for over 15 years, I have witnessed the increase in very large tractor trailers and lots of cement trucks on Kinderkamack Road. This is a result of the increase in land development in Bergen county and Rockland county as well. Most of these trucks come off of route 80 and then go north to Rockland. Bergen county administrators have done nothing to quell the traffic from route 80 from coming up through Kinderkamack Road. These trucks could be forced to take 9w north which makes more sense; this road is underutilized and is perfect for trucks. Of course this is not optimum for trucks because they will be going out of their way to get to their destination. When we were researching the Walgreen's development, it became clear that the county does not care about the quality of life issues that an increase in development has created. We need to make our mayor's realize this is an important issue.
miriam pickett
12:35 pm on Friday, March 1, 2013
I would like to thank all of the people who got up last night and asked questions. Mike Gadaleta, Gene Murray, John Rutledge, Lori Barton, Anna Leone, Donna Tommasini, Betty Vedjho.......and others. Your questions clearly proved that this so called "expert" twists her figures to meet the requirements of her employers. Kudos to you all.
Tia Gold
5:19 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
You are right. All of these so called experts are just mercenaries that will testify for either side, whichever side asks them first and pays them first.
Ulises
3:25 pm on Friday, March 1, 2013
The entire traffic analysis is based off a small section of River Road (Madison - Main St), rather than all of River Road which would capture all the activity around the Brookchester Strip Mall and ShopRite (these are real traffic counts not accounted for). Every other traffic analysis in the county is done by a machine counter, Dolan hires counters that manually count cars. Not to mention all the streets that will become cut trough routes from the Boulevard that is excluded from her manual count. Her report purposely omits this so the developers can argue how beneficial building up along the Hackensack River and the High School is.
It’s still upsetting to not have the support from so many that wanted to put the high school field by the middle school, than again I guess it’s not surprising since that was a big push from the Director of Recreation (a BoE member) who told the M&C this year he wants the InSerra ShopRite developed there. Mr. Bigger, the field belongs by the HIGH SCHOOL and that’s what so many others in town, including the BoE, are fighting for.
There’s a serious lack of vision in this town and everything is about politics rather than what’s right for the town’s future – just look at what’s going on with the Boro’s new attorney. He’s not worth the legal cost and neither is the other attorney in the running. Bring in a new attorney and save us the legal cost.
Where are the grownups in this town?
miriam pickett
4:30 pm on Friday, March 1, 2013
Ulises is absolutely right. Even though the traffic nightmare that will envelop the northern end of town will have a profound affect on the high school, there were no questioners from that part of the population at last night's meeting. My children are long gone from the school system and yet, I recognize the hazard this development will be to New Milford's kids. What will it take to get people more involved in charting the future of their town?
asskickinglass
2:26 am on Saturday, March 2, 2013
If traffic isn't an issue, why can't we make a left out of CVS strip mall? To protect our HS students. So by that logic, will they make it no right turn out of this new nightmare of a development? Of course not. I know 2 students got hit in just one week last year, so double that for the year. Add more traffic and the number will only get higher. We as a town have to decide if you want to live in a town or a city. Zoning exists for a reason, and single family homes are being replaced too often with developmental properties. The idea for the field at the middle school was ridiculous. Not that it doesn't need work, but our high school students are being driven all over town for sports practice, while every other school has operating fields. The water company property should be the field all of New Milford should be striving for. Put the money to good use and maybe your ballot would have passed! The south end of town is now the business end, and their streets can handle the traffic. Shop rite has enough property to knock down and rebuild right where they are. If our leaders would just stick to zoning laws, we wouldn't be in this mess!
Darlene
12:22 pm on Saturday, March 2, 2013
"If traffic isn't an issue, why can't we make a left out of CVS strip mall?" -- Excellent point!
TommyIce
4:14 pm on Saturday, March 2, 2013
Eons ago when Vay's supermaket was there, that entrance was closed off when it became unsafe. Now the county comes along and determines it's OK to put an that exit there after the town had sealed it off way back when. All to satisfy a drive through coffee seller that is no longer in business.
Does the county have any say about the traffic patterns between Milford Avenue and Main Street on River Road? If they do, we better start petitioning those elected officials as well.
Lori Barton
6:31 pm on Saturday, March 2, 2013
Tommy, the county does not have a say in that area. River Road is a municipal road from Milford Ave north. Madison is a county road and I believe Main Street might be, too. We need to stick together as a community and continue to fight this development.
Michael J. Gadaleta
9:55 am on Saturday, March 2, 2013
Our residents, taxpayers , parents and children can be sure of some things, this development will NOT lessen the traffic, it will NOt reduce the yearly flooding that occurs, it will NOT keep our students any safer at drop-offs, pick-ups , during football games or after school events, it will NOT reduce air pollution , it will NOT increase our property values or reduce your taxes , it will NOT improve the quality of life in this town in any way .
Then Lori Barton is right, WHY DO THIS !
If our local officials, our school board, PTA, parents and neighbors DON"T take this issue seriously and defeat it, who will ?
Tia Gold
5:24 am on Sunday, March 3, 2013
On the positive side, the New Milford Police Department has had the wisdom and foresight to purchase a boat with a motor. When the 14 acre property floods, as it does with great frequency, our police department will be out in their boat rescuing super market shoppers and apartment residents.
Question, will there be a supply of life preservers in locations throughout the 14 acre flood zone for people to access or is each person expected to supply their own life preserver.
tony g2010
8:26 am on Sunday, March 3, 2013
Tia, again some wonderful points you bring up. Our Mayor was the only one on the council at the time that supported the apartment house development on Carlton place a few years back. The last time the town flooded, that property was under at least ten feet of water. I wonder what her reasoning is for encouraging development on property that floods?
To quote from a favorite movie “you’re going to need a bigger boat” (and a lot more of them) is going to be New Milford’s mantra if they allow the united water property to be developed. Not just for the apartment house, for everyone that lives downstream.
John DeSantis
12:19 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
When I read the comments here and listen to folks around town, it seems to me that almost everyone at the very least has deep concerns about this proposed development and that most folks are against it. What does say about our system when two wealthy corporations can force their will upon a town when the people oppose it? This type of corporate bullying is happening everywhere. It seems that corporate greed is threatening the very foundations of our democracy.