Montclair Township Municipal Building
205 Claremont Avenue
Second Floor
Montclair, NJ 07042

Phone: 973-509-2359
Fax: 973-783-8826
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Boards, Commissions, and Committees:

Liaison to: Montclair Arts Council, Montclair Parking Authority, Public Transportation Advisory Committee, Public Events Advisory Committee

Community involvement:

More than a decade of involvement with the Rand School PTA, coached town league baseball and soccer for 14 years, former president of the Essex County Arts Council, board member and fund-raising chair of the Unitarian Universalist Congreation at Montclair.

Liaison Report: Transportation Committee Meeting of October 22, 2008

To:      Town Council
From: Nick Lewis

I attended the meeting of the Transportation Committee, chaired by Don Zief. The highlights:

Weekend Service: Given the state of things currently (no weekend service likely until late 2010), a lobbying approach was discussed which would target the leaders of the NJ Dept of Transportation and NJ Transit. We’ll see if that gets anywhere.

Quiet Zone/Lorraine Avenue Closing: We reviewed the “results” of the test closing of Lorraine. Unless there was some information that did not make it to the report, there is simply not enough hard data to draw any conclusions and what information that was there was inconclusive at best. I don’t know if the traffic counters failed to work or what happened, but the report had little data about the traffic when Lorraine was closed to compare with the data (from May) when the crossing was open. Anecdotal evidence indicates that the closing did not cause major disruptions.

However, we were advised by Fire Department Deputy Chief Don Gonzalez that the MFD now takes the position that Laurel Place should not be closed. They had earlier taken the position that Jerome Avenue should not be closed. That leaves little choice on the street closing issue. It appears that Lorraine Avenue will have to be closed.

Other Items: There was some discussion of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Action Plan and the status of the Shared Services Grant was discussed in light of the resolutions that we passed earlier.

Liaison Report: Parking Advisory Board Meeting of October 15, 2008 Meeting

To:      Town Council
            Linda Wanat, Clerk

From:  Nick Lewis

A number of items were discussed which may eventually come to the Council in the form of amendments to current ordinances:

Edgemont Road: It was proposed that the current ordinance that prohibits parking from Beverley Place north to about the end of Edgemont School, be amended to extend the no parking zone the length of the Park. This will mean that parking will only be permitted on the park side of the street at all times. This is because the street is too narrow to permit emergency vehicles when cars are parked on both sides. This will probably be formally proposed the first meeting in November.

Parking Near the Bat Street Station: There is a problem with commuters parking during the day on Pine, Bay and Sherman, inconveniencing the residents. It is proposed that those streets be designated as 4-hour parking zones during the day. The nearby lots will be converted to permit parking, to give the commuters more options. In addition to these streets, some similar change may be made to the daytime parking on Mission and New Streets (as recommended by Renee) once the residents of those streets submit a petition demonstrating that this is a change desired by the majority of them.

One-day Day Permits: The Parking Authority would like to begin selling one-day permits that would allow one to park for one day in a permit spot. I believe that these are already sold, but the actual permit would change to a scratch-off hanging tag. I suggested that Alan should look at this to determine whether we need to amend our ordinances to allow this. Police Sgt. Dan Pronti, who represents the emergency services at the Committee, suggested that the permits be changed to run to 7 PM, so that they would agree with the parking meters. That seems like a good idea and I assume that it would require an ordinance amendment.

Label Street: With the closure of the Inspection Station, the Committee will be exploring whether and how parking might be changed on that street. Prior to acting, the Human Needs Food Pantry will be approached to see if they need a loading zone. Some change will probably be proposed before the end of the year.

Cooper Street: After consulting with CVS, it was determined that parking spaces (I think it was 2-hour) can be added across the street from the Women’s Club and that parking could be added next the CVS closer to Valley Road. I expect an ordinance amendment accomplishing this will be introduced in November.

Four Foot Setbacks: The prior Council adopted a procedure, in response to concerns of people who live around the high school I think, that residents on a street may petition to have four-foot setbacks on each side of their driveways. The Council can approve these by resolution, as I understand it, rather than by ordinance. There are potential requests pending from Oxford Street (about which I know nothing) and Orange Road (which seems reasonable). In neither case have we gotten an adequate petitin as yet, but we will. Officer Pronti wondered whether the four foot size made any sense, since it really eliminates parking spaces and a setback of two feet on each side of the driveways would probably be sufficient to allow residents to get out safely. There was no resolution on this, but it is an interesting issue that will come up.

Overnight Parking: This is one of those problems that keeps coming up, especially in areas where there are apartment buildings or multi-family homes. There were a few proposals made to the prior Council, but no action was taken. I have gotten copies of the prior reports and the Committee will revisit this and make a recommendation. If any of you are interested in having some advance input, I would be happy to give you copies of the prior reports.

Loading Zones: We are going to need to create a special, smaller loading zone to use in instances like the one for the handicapped person on Mission Street where a loading zone might be deemed to be required, but we don’t need or want one big enough for a semi truck. In addition, I understand that a survey was done some time ago of the loading zones in town, with recommendations made about ones that might be eliminated. I am trying to get a copy of that.

Wellmont Parking: It seems to be impossible to attend a meeting where this is not discussed. The Parking Authority has proposed that the Wellmont patrons park at the Bay and Walnut Street lots (presumably with shuttle buses). There is currently no resolution of this, but hope springs eternal.

Parking Lot Speed Limits: This issue was raised by Officer Pronti and it seems like a good idea (although no formal action was taken at the meeting). It appears timely, especially if the Lorraine Avenue RR crossing is closed and drivers are cutting through the parking lot to Bellevue. We apparently have no ordinance on this and he suggests a 5 MPH speed limit, modeled on an Audubon Park ordinance (2008-5).

In addition to the ordinance changes, you should be aware that the Parking Authority will be switching to a system of using scratch off hang tags for daily overnight parking. Each tag (which can be bought in bulk) has scratch off areas that allow the user to designate the date it is being used.

Liaison Report: Self Insurance Commission Meeting of September 18, 2008 Meeting

To:      Town Council
            Linda Wanat, Clerk

From:  Nick Lewis

The Self Insurance Commission is rally a relic from the time when the Town self-insured its liability coverage. About four years ago, we joined a Joint Insurance Fund with a group of other municipalities and essentially stopped self-insuring. For a while this Commission dealt with mattes that were in the pipe line, but those are just about done.

We still self-insure the smaller workers’ compensation claims. The current cut-off is $100,000. It was higher in the past. There is some interest in eliminating that deductible entirely, but it appears that it would not be cost effective. So right now, this Commission is limited to the occasional workers’ comp claim.

At the meeting, the only piece of substantive business that occurred was the approval of a settlement offer on a claim involving a knee injury.

Liaison Report: Re: Montclair Arts Council Meeting of September 4, 2008

To:      Town Council
From: Nick Lewis

I attended the meeting of the Montclair Arts Council (MAC). A large number of the Council members were present.

• The impact of the Mattox decision was discussed. The MAC hopes that a multi-year contract can be awarded if the RFP procedure is used.

• The MAC will be participating in First Night. The status of First Night was a matter of concern.

• A detailed schedule of programs has been developed for the coming nine months, although not all of them have been staffed with volunteers. The proposed calendar is attached.

• The MAC has a “destination marketing” grant which must be spent in the next 3-4 months. Various ideas were discussed.

• The MAC has a desire to have a public access channel devoted to arts. A report was given on this possibility.

• Jim Peskin presented a strategic plan for the MAC.

• A “visibility” plan was also discussed.

• The need for volunteers and money appears to be the key to bringing most of these plans to fruition. The problem was discussed.

Liaison Report: Transportation Committee Meeting of September 3, 2008

To:      Town Council
From: Nick Lewis

I attended the meeting of the Transportation Committee, chaired by Don Zief. Representatives of New Jersey Transit (NJT) were in attendance. The highlights:

Weekend Service: The NJT representative advised us that three things were delaying the institution of Weekend Service. First, the renovation of the Newark/Broad Street station needs to be completed. Why that is so was never explained, but it is apparently close to being done. Second, Amtrak is doing safety work on the Hudson tunnels on the weekend and only one of the two is open. However, when questioned, the NJT representative said this just makes the scheduling of trains more difficult, rather than completely foreclosing such service. There appears to be no ending date for these repairs. Third, the repair of the Bloomfield Avenue bridge, which requires that power be shut off on the weekends, may make service impossible until it is completed. The dispute with the car wash has delayed the start of this project and no one seems to know the DOT schedule for this job. It is supposed to take a year to complete when it is finally begun. The NJT representative opined that service could be instated several months after the completion (although why it couldn’t be planned as the completion approached is unclear to me).

Some questions were raised and never really answered: (1) Why couldn’t we run a diesel shuttle to Newark on the weekends while bridge construction is ongoing and just let people transfer to other trains? (2) There is currently a Newark to Hoboken diesel shuttle that runs on the weekend that actually comes up the Montclair line to turn around. Why couldn’t it just continue up to Montclair? (3) If a shuttle is run to Newark, doesn’t that eliminate the problem of finding tunnel slots? The NJT rep said she thought that the trains might become too crowded if Montclair Line riders would be allowed to transfer onto them.

Bottom Line: Weekend Service seems utterly unlikely before mid-2010 and I wouldn’t bet on it that year. We might need to exert some political pressure to get this moving.

Quiet Zone: This was discussed with the NJT representative. While she was unable to answer any questions on specific items, she did advise us to submit a quiet zone agreement to them (they have never done one) and to ask NJT for an estimate for their cost for the work that they would need to do to implement the plan. This stuff should be submitted by next month.

Lorraine Avenue Crossing closing: This was discussed briefly with the NJT representative, who was not able to be of much help. The upcoming experimental closing was discussed and questions were raised whether a two-week closing would really demonstrate anything, since driving patterns might not change in the way they would in the event of a permanent closing. The Upper Montclair Merchants Association is opposed to this closing and presented a letter to that effect. It appears that the vast majority of local residents are in favor of the closing. The idea of extending the existing parking lot since Lorraine would not be a through street was discussed.

Shuttle Service: The limited resumption of the Bay Street shuttle was discussed. There was some discussion of whether the route was still appropriate. The NJT representative said that they could provide assistance in route design and would check on several issues for us: (1) Whether NJT actually owns the bus, (2) Whether NJT rules prohibit the Shuttle from running where their busses run, and (3) Whether NJT ever replaces busses such as ours that have reached the end of their expected usefulness.

The possibility of meeting with other towns that have successful commuter transit systems was raised. The possibility of an RFP so that some kind of service could be provided while the Town examines its transportation options was discussed.