Resident's Alternate Milton Avenue Plan Rejected

Chatham resident Ed Santoriello had his appeal of a proposed parking lot plan at Milton Avenue Elementary School denied at the School District of the Chathams' Board of Education meeting Monday.

"I was told 'nice presentation, but,'" said Santorillo. "That 'but' was added at the end. I didn't want to hear that 'but.' It's been an expereince for me. I hope that the people that are responsible for this scratch their head tonight."

The current plan uses the lawn on the right side of the school facing the main entrance to provide 23 more spaces. Five would be taken away, so there would be a total of 18 spaces added.

Santoriello proposed a few plans at the meeting, one of which consisted of adding 17 spaces to the right sideline of the baseball field and to the left of Duchamp Avenue in front of the mulch area. In addition, he put together a petition of signatures from residents who also don't like the idea of converting the lawn into a parking lot.

"This particular plan for the borough of Chatham went through very quickly so I think people are going to be taken by surprise," said Santoriello. "I know they are because the (vast majority of the) petitioners that I asked to sign didn't know about it. That's why they signed. I explained to them, I showed them, the plans (including two alternates I came up with) so they knew what they were signing."

Santoriello feels the new lot would take away from the aesthetics of the school and would not allow for the pick-up and drop-off of students.

His main concern, though, is that the new plan doesn't save more money than any of his proposed plans would.

"I think Chatham deserves better than a parking lot on the lawn right next to the school," said Santoriello. "(Their plan doesn't) preserve the beauty and the environment for the teachers and the students and the community, and we have the opportunity to do it with the plans that I have proposed.

"Not to do (my plan), I think, is not doing the right thing. The cost has all been resolved, the money and funds are there. There's been other projects that perhaps were under the same situation and it wasn't the wisest thing to go ahead with them without some consideration of some other alternate plans."

Despite Santoriello's best efforts, work on the new lot will commence later this week.

"(The decision) was made tonight," said Superintendent Jim O'Neill. "Since the board didn't change (the decision) they'll start working on it Thursday. (Santoriello's argument) wasn't compelling enough to have the board give me direction to do other than we've already planned to do."