Lack of OBHS parking creates town dilemma Trespassing, vandalism to cars among complaints presented to O.B. council BY LAUREN MATTHEW Staff Writer OLD BRIDGE — With the new single high school campus has come a new problem: inadequate parking for students. Students who were not lucky enough to win a parking permit in the school’s lottery have taken to parking on nearby streets in the area of Trevor Place and Highpointe. While these are public streets, residents who live there are voicing concerns about the teenagers parking in front of their homes on a daily basis. The residents came before the Township Council on Monday, but they were not alone. Students also addressed the council about damage that has been done to their cars and discussed their need to park closer to the high school. In response to the parking situation, council President William Baker has proposed an ordinance that would make parking by permit-only on Trevor Place, Brandywine Drive and Woodruff Drive, thus limiting the parking to residents on those roads. “I cannot, with good conscience, allow this to continue,” Baker said Monday night. Baker noted that similar permit-parking laws are in place elsewhere in the township, at places like Inverness Drive, Valley Vale Drive and near the Breakfast Club on Route 516, protecting residents by allowing only resident parking. Councilman Dennis Maher took a personal stance on the issue. His son, Brian, a senior at Old Bridge High School, had parked his car on Brandywine Drive during school one day but returned to find it had been vandalized. “These high school children have every right to park on [public] streets here in Old Bridge,” Maher said. “They’re residents. Their parents are taxpayers.” Maher said he has been told that some students are parking on Trevor Place, cutting through yards and jumping over fences to get to school. While he feels such trespassing needs to be stopped, he noted that the majority of the affected students are not cutting through yards. “We shouldn’t be banning good children from parking in those developments,” Maher said. During school hours Friday, the tires were punctured on seven students’ cars while parked on Brandywine Drive, Maher said. “That is a shameless act,” he said, adding that he is offering a $500 reward to the person or people who bring in the responsible party. “I’m challenging the residents of Highpointe and Trevor Place to police themselves,” he said. According to Old Bridge Police Lt. Robert Weiss, the theory is that someone in the neighborhood decided to take care of the parking problem themselves. “We are actively investigating the incidents, and we’re working with the homeowners’ association and the school administration to solve the problem,” Weiss said. But Weiss would not comment on whether the police would support a permit-only parking ordinance. “We will enforce any parking regulation that the township governing body should decide to enact,” he said. Council members took different views on what would be the best solution. “I’m not going to make our youth second-rate citizens,” said Ward 4 Councilman G. Kevin Calogera. The streets near the school, he said, are the only place to park for students who do not have school-issued permits. “We need to accommodate the kids,” he said. Calogera suggested a shuttle that would allow students to park and then ride to and from the school. “Can’t these kids get a break anywhere?” Ward 6 Councilwoman Lucille Panos asked. Ryan McCue, a high school senior, said there were 200 spots available for seniors at the school building, but there are more than 800 seniors. A lottery system was used to determine who would get a parking space. More spots, McCue said, are scheduled to open up as construction clears, but at best there will be 400 parking spots available. School officials originally said construction would be done in October or early November. But McCue, who is slated to receive one of those spaces, said he has been told this won’t happen until December at the earliest. “I’m very involved in school, and without a car it’s absolutely impossible to do anything,” he said. McCue said he has been parking on Trevor Place since school began. The vice president of the Trevor Place homeowners’ association attended Monday’s meeting, speaking on behalf of his development. “I feel for these kids,” he said. But the parking problem has brought speeding cars to the development and a littering problem. “The town owes the residents of Trevor Place a safe environment,” said Rock Lepore, who lives on the road. “We don’t cause any trouble at all,” Maher’s son, Brian, said. “I don’t get my parking spot until November or December, when they open up the new lot. And they should’ve had the lots done before they started school.” Mayor Jim Phillips said Monday night that Trevor Place “was never meant to be a parking lot.” Parking along the streets creates a narrow passing area, he said, and emergency vehicles will not be able to get through when needed. Because of security scares during the last school year concerning bomb threats, he said, it is important for Brandywine Drive to remain clear. The street is an emergency access point for the school. Phillips said he would have Township Business Administrator Michael Jacobs ask residents who would be affected by the ordinance whether they are in favor of permit-only parking. This, he said, is what was done in other instances in which permit parking was implemented. “The residents who live on this street have to want this, and it seems that they do,” Councilman Edward Testino said. Panos suggested that students wishing to park in those residential areas be made to apply for permit parking, which would render them responsible for any littering or property destruction that takes place. She noted that there is a difference between permit-only parking near the Breakfast Club and what this ordinance would accomplish. “It’s apples and oranges,” she said. “There has to be a compromise here.” Phillips told the Suburban that since school has been in session, he has gone out five times and observed students parking in these areas. “I’ve been watchful of this,” he said. “In my mind, it’s safety first.” Phillips met with high school Principal James Hickey, along with other township and fire officials, on Tuesday to discuss the problem. During Monday’s meeting, council members suggested that students be able to use the 80 parking spaces at Geick Park. But that area, Phillips said, is critical for emergency procedures. “Now that the high school is built, Geick Park really becomes a staging area,” he said. “We believe that Geick Park should not be used for student parking.” Highpointe streets, he noted, connect to Geick Park and, in case of an emergency, would be used as an evacuation route from the school for its 3,200 students. The Board of Education, the mayor said, is working to find additional parking spaces. It is possible that more parking areas will be created at the high school, in place of planned green space. At Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting, Superintendent of Schools Nicole Okun mentioned that police would be patrolling school parking lots as well as nearby areas. “We’re going to be doing whatever we can to make sure [safety comes first],” Phillips said. “If the parking for some is going to impede the safety of others, I’m coming down on the side of safety.” The permit-parking ordinance will be up for first reading at Monday’s council meeting.