Neighbors say district neglected quality of life
Rachel Drive residents confront board on issues surrounding new road
BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK - Residents of Rachel Drive last week blasted the Board of Education for building a road along the rear of their properties on the grounds of the Hammarskjold Middle School.

The school district has built the road, leading from Rues Lane to Ryders Lane, as part of a new traffic pattern for the expanded middle school, which is now under construction.

Jeffrey Feuchtbaum, of Rachel Road, said at the board's Sept. 7 meeting that the school district showed no regard for residents when the road was designed and constructed. The road is too close to property lines, he said, and the noise and traffic is annoying to homeowners.

"You permanently ruined our block," he said.

The road's close proximity causes houses to shake, and dishes to rattle from vehicles passing through, Feuchtbaum said.

He also contends that the road was not included in the district's original plan.

School officials have said the residents had ample opportunity to become involved and offer input when the building referendum was being developed over the past couple of years and the school construction designed. The district also had a citizens' committee help in the development of those plans.

Feuchtbaum said residents were not at fault for having been unaware of the planned road.

"We're average citizens. We don't get involved in politics," he responded.

Superintendent of Schools Jo Ann Magistro noted however that residents had built a retention wall on school property in the area of the road, though Feuchtbaum responded by saying Magistro was simply trying to "deflect" attention away from the issue.

Later in the meeting, a resident stood up and said he built the wall, and that he would take it down.

School and township officials have met with Rachel Drive residents over the summer to discuss the concerns, and Magistro said Thursday that the district has hired a consultant to review the problem, and she will share those conclusions with the board.

"I know it's difficult to be patient with this going on," she told residents.

A new meeting was scheduled to take place last night with residents and both school and township officials to see what can be done.

In a recent petition signed by the owners of 10 homes on Rachel Drive, residents demanded the planting of numerous trees and a 14-foot-high decorative barrier. School officials said such a wall would likely be too costly, but that additional landscaping is being considered.

Magistro said the primary reason for the road is "for the safety of the kids at Hammarskjold for years to come." The school has a new traffic pattern, and the road - described as a driveway to be used for school buses and for parents who pick up and drop off students - is in the only place it could possibly be located, school officials said.

She said the district will put up a gate at both ends of the road so that it cannot be used as a throughway.

"The safety of 1,500 kids is really my priority," she said.

Other residents argued that the road, on the other hand, brings added danger for the families with children who live on Rachel Road.

Feuchtbaum said that no traffic or environmental study was done for the project.

By New Jersey law, school districts are not required to undertake such studies.

Magistro said the district did submit project plans to the township's planning and engineering department, but Feuchtbaum said that was not satisfactory.

"It's all everyone helping out," he said of the relationship between the school district and the township. "It's typical Jersey politics."

He argued that if any board member lived on Rachel Road, the new road would never have been built.

But while the district isn't subject to the same land use laws as private entities, it is subject to other New Jersey laws, according to Janet Angeline, also a Rachel Road resident.

She said the district violated laws on air pollution and noise, as well as those limiting the hours of construction.

"Each of these laws has repeatedly been broken," she said.

Dirt and dust from the road blew around for weeks this summer, and it was not until residents complained that the contractor began to shield the debris, she argued. Much of it is still not contained, though, she said. She also complained that vehicles idle for more than three minutes, that work begins too early and ends too late, and that the decibel level is higher than allowed by law.

As for the claim that residents should have been involved in planning for the school construction, Angeline said they had a "reasonable expectation" that the district would comply with the law.

She argued that the school district has exposed itself to litigation from residents.

Board Vice President Todd Simmens said the board would discuss the issue further in closed session.