Residents call curbing policy unfair, unsafe
Township program only replaces curbs, doesn't build them new
BY MARLENE CANTY
Staff Writer

OLD BRIDGE - To curb or not to curb.

That is the question spawning an ongoing conflict among officials and residents as a months-old dispute about the parameters of a township curbing program went into overtime during last week's Township Council meeting. Residents continued to air complaints that they're being unfairly left out of a taxpayer-funded township service - the distribution of new curbs in this 42-square-mile town.

The current curbing program only replaces existing curbs. The township has no measure in place to deal with building new curbs where there were none before, even if that means providing curbs on only one portion of the same residential street.

Township Finance Director Himanshu Shah told the council at the Oct. 16 that in order to change that program, the bond counsel's recommendation is that the ordinance the current program is based on be amended or that the town adopt a new ordinance. However, no decision was made in that regard during the meeting.

According to Councilman Edward Testino, the current curbing program was instituted during Mayor Barbara Cannon's administration to deal with crumbling curbs. Under the current program, if a road is curbed one year, it is paved the next.

But the program does not address the ongoing issue of what to do for the large portion of Old Bridge's streets that have never been curbed.

According to Ward 6 Councilwoman Lucille Panos, a couple of residential roads are unique in this respect - with most of the lengths already curbed and about a fifth uncurbed.

The majority of those partially curbed streets fall within her ward, and include no more than five specific streets - Madison, Bentley and Belmont avenues, and one or two others.

The problem dates back to Old Bridge's early days when contractors, not required to put in curbs, simply did not do so. In the case of Madison Avenue, just west of Route 18 south and Englishtown Road, the contractor was actually scheduled to put in curbs but went bankrupt before the project was completed.

Pacifica Mercurio, a resident of the street for 41 years, said her corner property has become a safety hazard because of the lack of a curb.

"A few years ago my son-in-law's car was totaled when teens turning the corner too swiftly collided with it," Mercurio said, noting that she has an ongoing problem of having her mailbox knocked over by cars turning the corner and coming up on her lawn.

"It's only a matter of time before someone right on this street will be hurt or killed," Mercurio said, pointing out that the situation is even more precarious in winter when the roads freeze.

"I never got an education and I barely speak English, but I have common sense," Mercurio said. "If you don't have money in the budget for everything, instead of spending the money to tear down an existing curb and replace it with a new one, wouldn't it be easier to just give us curbs?"

Benjamin Sukovich, another resident on Madison Avenue, recounted his family's disappointment and confusion when the township called everyone on the street to say they would be getting curbs, only to be told by the construction supervisor the day before the curbs were to go in that there had been a mistake.

"Except for two blocks, everyone got curbed," Sukovich said. "Aesthetically, it seems silly. There is no continuity on the block. The street just ends mid-block."

Part of the township's engineering concerns are that the uncurbed streets have no drainage systems, which could lead to ponding and flooding concerns if they were curbed. Addressing that issue could cost far more than the curbs themselves.

Madison Avenue residents said, however, that their street has drainage as part and parcel of being adjacent to an otherwise fully curbed street.

"I will put in curbs if the [council] changes the ordinance," Mayor Jim Phillips told residents. "We just want a sense of direction on this issue."

"You all want curbs, but how do I put in one on this street and none on the next? You're all very nice people and you all want to be heard. I understand that."

"... And we are all taxpayers," one of the residents yelled out in response.