Committee to Vote on Maple Avenue Barricades

The will be voting on an ordinance to install temporary barriers on Maple Avenue, in Pine Brook, at Tuesday's Montville Township Committee meeting.

If approved, the temporary barriers would be set at a location approximately 200 feet away from the intersection of New Maple Avenue.

Residents of the neighborhood have been seeking assistance for to cut through from Route 46 to Interstate 80. Residents have said the motorists often speed through the neighborhood and they fear children who play outside near the road may be in danger.

Township Engineer Tony Barile had presented the committee with two permanent options for dead-ending the road, but the committee wanted more time to consider altering one of the options, originally projected to cost $150,000, to lower the costs but still be amenable to residents directly impacted.

The first option that was presented to the township committee was to create a cul-de-sac in a location that would appear to block off 30 Maple Avenue but cost a projected $85,000. Committeman Scott Gallopo emphasized that the first location is not the preferred choice of the committee and that the second location, which brings the cul-de-sac past the property of 30 Maple Avenue, would be favored if the cost could be lowered.

Herb and Marie Eggers' property is one of those that will be affected and while the Eggers did not originally agree that creating a dead end on the street was necessary, they did approve of the second option the township committee is considering. Marie Eggers, like many of the other residents in the neighborhood, asked the committee at the June 12 meeting, when the ordinance was introduced, not to let the temporary barriers become permanent and to move ahead with a long-term solution.

She also asked that the elements that are being considered to be cut from the second option to save money not be eliminated. Several areas of proposed curbing are included in the option, some of which Barile said could be eliminated.

"I also ask if you cannot come up with the full amount for this project, that maybe you can divide the work into two fiscal years and do it the right way," she said.

The Eggers are concerned that some of the modifications the township committee is considering making could devalue their property.

"You were all elected by us. We come to you for guidance," Marie Eggers said at the June 12 meeting. "I would hope that you would support us in not devaluing our property."

Committeewoman Deborah Nielson said she has experience in property valuation and that she would want to ensure that no actions of the committee on the project result in devalued property. Gallopo was confident that the second option would still be the best for all involved.

"If we can get that done the way I think we can get it done, at the price I think we can get it done, everybody walks away happy," he said.

Barile told the committee that once the cul-de-sac is designed, funding would need to be dedicated to the project and easements would need to be worked out. The soonest he said he sees a permanent solution being implemented would be next year.

As for the temporary barriers, Township Administrator Victor Canning said if the resolution is approved Tuesday, advertising would likely be completed by June 30 and the barriers could be in place as soon as July 2, including signs that would indicate that the road would be closed to thru traffic.

The township comittee will be meeting publicly at 8 p.m. at the township municipal building on Changebridge Road.