District, residents reach compromise
Sound barrier to help buffer neighbors from school traffic
BY BRIAN DONAHUE
Staff Writer

JEFF GRANIT staff A retaining wall on the property of Louisa and Myung Lee sits adjacent to school property where a retaining wall, plantings and a sound barrier will be built, separating the Rachel Drive residences from a new driveway at Hammarskjold Middle School in East Brunswick.

School officials and neighbors of the Hammarskjold Middle School in East Brunswick came to terms last week on changes designed to limit the noise and effects of the school's expansion.

The school district will put up a 12-foot-high Plywall (pressure-treated wood noise barrier) lined with a planting strip on the residential side of a new road that runs alongside several backyards and will serve as a driveway for school traffic. The school district also will move the roadway slightly farther from the homes.

Additionally, a gate will be installed on the new road, limiting its use to school traffic and school-related activities.

The driveway, which runs from the old Rues Lane to Ryders Lane, is part of a new traffic pattern associated with the school's expansion. Several homeowners on Rachel Drive were outraged this summer when they only learned of the road plans as construction crews began to build the driveway, and they began petitioning school and township officials to move the road or provide other protections.

School officials met with the homeowners privately Sept. 13 to discuss the changes, and residents walked away with mixed feelings.

"It's a compromise," said Louisa Lee. "You get something, but it's not exactly what you want."

Her neighbor, Jeffrey Feuchtbaum, was also somewhat satisfied with the plans for the barrier.

"I would've preferred a pre-fab concrete wall instead of wood, because it would hold up better. But I guess it's the best I can get," he said.

The residents still feel that the road should never have been designed in such close proximity to their homes, though school officials have said its location is necessary for improved traffic circulation related to the school expansion and for student safety.

Last week's meeting was attended by officials including Superintendent of Schools Jo Ann Magistro, school construction architect Jeffrey Venezia, and 15 residents of Rachel Drive.

The driveway will be moved farther from the backyards by eliminating a section of sidewalk at the corner of the school gymnasium; and the road's width will be reduced from 20 to 18 feet. The measures amount to moving the road about 6 feet farther from residential properties, though it varies.

"They moved it over as much as they could," said Patricia LaDuca, district coordinator of community relations and programs.

The wooden sound-barrier wall will stretch for 552 feet, running behind the three homes that are closest to the driveway.

A planting strip along the residential side of the wall will be 3 to 4 feet in width and 6 or 7 feet in height, consisting of arbs or similar plantings, LaDuca said.

Feuchtbaum said the residents are requesting that they be able to review the landscaping plan before it is implemented.

Also, residents are asking for an added buffer in light of the fact that numerous trees were cleared to make way for the new school exit on Ryders Lane. Lee said the loss of more than 100 trees has exposed the residents to noise from the highway.

Lee said she also has safety concerns related to a 100-foot-long ditch that will be created between the school's higher retaining wall near the barrier and her own retaining wall.

"The major issues are addressed," she said, however.

The school architect had yet to determine a cost figure associated with the sound barrier and plantings, LaDuca said. The work will be funded through the construction budget - approved in a $106.1 million referendum in 2004 - rather than the general budget, she said.

The revisions bring at least partial resolution to an issue that may have otherwise been addressed two years earlier when the school site plan was designed and approved. School officials said they submitted the site plan to the township Planning Board in April 2004, and LaDuca said the board did not provide any comment with regard to the driveway location.

Lee said she wants to know how the Planning Board or any professional involved in reviewing the plans could approve of the driveway in that location, or whether the plans were even adequately reviewed.

"To overlook a road that is affecting a neighborhood, something is wrong," she said.

The Rachel Drive residents have argued that they should have been notified about the plans so they could comment before it was too late. But New Jersey state law does not require the notification of nearby residents when site plan approval is being sought for school projects.

Still, LaDuca said the district did not consciously avoid notification.

"We didn't realize that wouldn't happen when we submitted the plans," LaDuca said of the township notifying residents.

Another topic of concern for the Rachel Drive residents is noise from ongoing construction. Feuchtbaum said the homes vibrate, so much so that nails pop out of the walls and seals come off the windows.

LaDuca said district officials will continue to make sure that construction crews only operate during approved hours. Noise levels from the work will also be monitored.

Magistro's memo to the residents also touches on the issue of noise from school rooftop units such as fans and other equipment that make noise, since the school building will be closer to the residents. She said the rooftop equipment is within the decibel limits for daytime hours, and that a violation of nighttime guidelines would only occur if all the equipment was running at full capacity at the same time, which will be avoided.

The residents, who are requesting additional plantings behind homes where the wall will not be located, plan to stay involved to make sure the revisions are implemented appropriately.

Feuchtbaum said residents were told the sound barrier will go up within 45 days, which should be long before the driveway is completed and used.

"I don't think anyone wants to look outside and see a wall," he said. "But it's the only protection I'm gonna get from the traffic, the pollution, the buses ... . They weren't gonna do anything but put up a chain-link fence, so this is better than that."

Despite her remaining concerns about what transpired in the planning and review processes, Lee is pleased that some action is being taken.

"I do want to acknowledge the administration for their efforts," she said.