Construction at Chatham High to Begin Next Week

Tom Belding, the president of the Board of Education of the School District of the Chathams, said that construction at is scheduled to begin as early as Monday.

Belding said that the administration is currently pursuing all the necessary permits for the construction project. "We anticipate this will be completed by the end of [the] week," Belding wrote via email Tuesday.

He went on to say that the permits could take until Monday at the latest to get approved.

The project was awarded to Stone Creek, Inc., a Lodi, NJ-based company, for $1,622,160. The board unanimously approved the project at the . It includes the addition of four new classrooms, an expansion to the parking lot and new lockers.

Belding said that the expansion of the parking lot "will be expedited" so that it is completed before school starts on Sept. 7.

The expansion of the parking lot during the budget process and before the vote to approve the project. Many parents objected to laying more asphalt at Chatham High School and have instead asked the administration to direct students to park at the Colony Pool lot and walk to the high school.

Students, though, said they often balance sports, clubs and jobs on top of their academics, and trying to walk from the high school to the Colony Pool lot would cause additional pressure to their already tight schedules.

Students also said that, because of Kyleigh's Law, they cannot carpool with more than one passenger in the car. This means that students who do not live within walking distance of the high school are limited to a 2-to-1 ratio of students to cars.

Currently, the parking lot at Chatham High has 253 spaces. For the upcoming academic school year, 133 of those spaces are reserved for staff, 20 are visitor spaces and four are marked as handicapped parking. That leaves 96 spaces for 303 projected seniors.

The parking lot at Colony Pool is an unlined, unpaved gravel lot. Chatham Township and Chatham Recreation officials have not been able to say with certainty how many cars the lot can accommodate.

Board Member Matthew Gilfillan said that board will install a pedestrian path along Longwood Avenue to make it easier for students coming from that direction to approach the school through the fields in the back rather than having to walk along Lafayette Avenue. Along the front of the school on Lafayette Avenue, sidewalks are located on the opposite side of the street as the Chatham High School and Lafayette Avenue School.

There is no groundbreaking ceremony scheduled, Belding said.