Parking Permitted in Colony Pool Lot

The Chatham Township Committee unanimously approved a license agreement Thursday with PSE&G to allow parking in the gravel lot near Colony Pool & Tennis Club.

For an annual fee of $3,700 to be paid by the township, residents, students at Chatham High School and Colony members will be able to park in the lot, which PSE&G previously said would be off-limits because of safety concerns around a new monopole.

The agreement states cars cannot be within a certain area of the PSE&G monopole on the lot, and stipulates signage and enforcement measures required by the township.

Chatham Township Administrator Thomas E. Ciccarone said the agreement also includes a provision that PSE&G cannot rescind the agreement at any time in the next three years, unless specifically directed to do so by the Board of Public Utilities (BPU).

Ciccarone also pointed out that the fee, $3,700, is less than the township paid for a similar license agreement in previous years, and is about half of what PSE&G originally wanted to allow the township to use the lot.

Another provision briefly discussed by the committee said if the taxes on the lot increase over their current amount, the township may have to pay PSE&G the difference. Ciccarone said a similar provision was included in past agreements but the township was never asked to pay a cent.

"They've never sent us a bill," Ciccarone said, adding that after the public discussion, "they will now."

Deputy Mayor Robert Gallop asked if it would be possible to postpone the start date on the agreement until after Labor Day. If the agreement goes into effect in July, he said, and PSE&G should refuse to renew, "it'll end in the middle of the pool season." By pushing back the start date, "we'll effectively be saving another pool season," Gallop said.

Ciccarone said he preferred the committee to pass the agreement at once, and he will call PSE&G to ask them to move the date back to Labor Day.