Residents, Officials Discuss Potential Traffic Changes Near Milton Avenue Elementary

For the most part, everyone who attended a borough council meeting Monday to hear about a study intended to correct traffic problems around Milton Avenue Elementary School agreed on one thing—there is too much traffic on Elmwood Avenue during school pick-up and drop-off times.

But parents who attended did not necessarily agree with Elmwood Avenue residents on how best to get rid of those problems. At the meeting's end, however, somewhat of a consensus emerged.

At the gathering, Neglia Engineering Principal Brian Intindola, whose firm performed the traffic study, said sidewalks could be installed along Elmwood Avenue to make the area more safe, and said "no stopping or standing" signs could be placed along the east side of that road.

Parents often park along Elmwood while they are waiting to pick up their children, and the sheer amount of cars on the road toward the end of a school day creates an unsafe situation for children walking along the street after school, according to parents who spoke at the meeting.

Intindola also said an internal pick-up/drop-off area could be established on school grounds by a small staff parking lot. In addition, a new pathway could be built from Center Avenue—which is also right by the school—so parents could park along what Borough Engineer Vince DeNave called "underutilized" Central Avenue and walk along the path to get their children.

All this would be an attempt to remove cars from Elmwood Avenue. But parents who attended the meeting, for the most part, said they felt sidewalks needed to be installed along the road. 

"It just seems negligent that a street that leads in and out of a school would be equipped with no sidewalks," parent Megan LePore said. LePore is involved with the school Parent Teacher Organization's safety committee.

She said about 75 parents had signed a petition supporting the sidewalks.

Elmwood Avenue residents disagreed. Marc Boisclair, who lives on the lower part of Elmwood close to the school, said the major problem along the street is parents double parking, blocking driveways or parking in front of fire hydrants. He said he has had insults hurled at him when he has asked parents in those cars to move.

Of the sidewalks, Boisclair said that "they'll only serve as a Band-Aid until some child indeed gets seriously injured because of a negligent driver."

Another concern for parents at the meeting was the proposed revamped pedestrian path from Center Avenue to the school. Parents said that borough residents park near the path on Wednesdays from noon to 4 p.m. to access the borough's mulch area, which is right behind the school, and said such residents would not expect children to be darting out on the street nearby. 

They also said the proposed drop-off/pick-up area by the school could interfere with school staff parking.

Still, for the most part, all groups agreed that parking along the east side of Elmwood should be prohibited. And Council President James Collander suggested that the borough get in touch with the School District of the Chathams Board of Education to discuss the matter further.

Collander said the borough and the Board of Education could potentially discuss converting one of the fields adjacent to the school to a staff parking lot. Doing so would alleviate concerns about the potential pick-up/drop-off area and could also eliminate the heavy Elmwood Avenue traffic.

In the meantime, Collander said, the borough could allow parking along the north side of Weston Avenue from Coleman to Center Avenue. Weston Avenue has sidewalks, and doing so would allow parents a place to park in an area where children could safely walk to the cars.

"It seems to me that's the biggest solution there," Collander said.

Collander also said police officers could patrol the Elmwood Avenue a bit more often to ensure no one gets out of line.

Even though opposing viewpoints were expressed at the meeting, for the most part, discussions were civil and non-confrontational. Toward the end of the discussion, PTO President Brenda Beebe came up to the microphone, staring squarely at several Elmwood residents in attendance.

She apologized to them if they ever had to deal with difficult parents parking along their street, saying that in the past, she has also had to deal with similar issues.