Scotch Plains - Fanwood Times onlyPage 10 Thursday, December 1, 2011 The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES A Watchung Communications, Inc. Publication

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Courtesy of Hal NarotskyLEADER AT LAMBEAU...Hal Narotsky of Westfield visits his cousin, RobertNarotzky, with his two sons-in-law. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan nativesattended the football game of the Minnesota Vikings versus the Green BayPackers on November 15.

Brooks Crandall for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood TimesLET THE SEASON BEGIN...The unseasonably warm temperatures were abonus on Sunday as a crowd of nearly 2,000 gathers to watch the annual lightingof the Christmas tree in Westfield’s north side train station parking lot.

Brooks Crandall for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood TimesLOOK WHO CAME TO TOWN...Alexandra and Madeline Bonn of Westfieldmeet Santa and Mrs. Claus during Sunday’s Christmas Tree lighting in Westfield.The tree lighting kicks off the annual Welcome Home to Westfield holidaypromotion.

Paul Lachenauer for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood TimesNAUGHTY OR NICE?...Santa listens to the wishes of children at the CranfordChristmas tree-lighting ceremony held Friday night at the Gazebo.

Horace R. Corbin for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood TimesPREP WORK...Steel beams were placed in the ground this week as the rebuildingof Ferraro’s restaurant gets underway. Ferraro’s, a Westfield landmark fordecades, was destroyed in a fire in May.

with the council’s objectives beforeproceeding with another mayors’council meeting.

The Army Corps of Engineers hasdeveloped a hydrology model of theentire Rahway River basin, Mr.Coakley said, as part of their study tomitigate flooding in Cranford. Hesaid the Corps has agreed to put theOrange reservoir and Campbell’s andDiamond Mill ponds into the model,after Millburn and Cranford hadpushed for those to be included. Or-ange is open to operate the reservoirfor flood control purposes, themayor’s council announced Monday.

“We can see what the effects of thereservoirs are with no direct cost tothe municipalities,” Mr. Coakley said.

The council is looking at the reser-voir and ponds as potentialstormwater storage areas. The mu-nicipalities were also tasked Mondaywith finding other potential storageareas in their own jurisdictions.

“We will know if this is a pipedream — if the reservoirs can helpus,” Mr. Coakley said.

The Corps has notoriously takenan extended amount of time to com-plete tasks, and in the current studyof Cranford the Corps has taken 10years to complete phase 1 of theirstudy. “It really does take, like anyfederal agency, continuous proddingand setting dates and movingalong… Now that they know thatvarious communities will be behindhaving this done I think this willhave more concrete weight,” MayorAschenbach said.

Later, City of Orange TownshipChief of Staff Stephanie Gidigbi,who was in the audience, said, “Ithink that is the only way you aregoing to get the Corps to move. TheCorps does not move based off ofengineers contacting them. That iscritical having all of these mayors inone room.”

“This seems like a process. Can weproceed on our own with this or do weneed to wait?” Mayor Haimoff asked.

Mr. Coakley said given the Corpshas the existing conditions model inplace, if the council meets with themthey can find out a timeframe.

“To get that [mitigating the entirebasin] in their scope that is some-thing you may want to push from alegislative stand point to get a largerstudy,” Mr. Coakley said.

“I’d like to remind people the riverdoesn’t stop in Cranford. It goes allthe way to Rahway,” Mayor Proctorsaid.

“The solution to this problem isprobably going to be more politicalthan it is engineering. I think weshould be using the weight of themayor’s offices to make sure we getfunding and make sure the ArmyCorps moves forward expeditiouslyto any solution they have,” he said.“Let’s get the Army Corps off theirbutts to get a solution in six months.”

“If we are going to look at thehuman cost of the flood — it is themost important thing. In Rahway, thewater went away but we still havepeople who have their lives at thecurb,” Mayor Proctor said.

“We need to do something to helpthe individuals and that means miti-gation. We need to have more fund-ing. And get fewer properties out ofthe floodways that will help elimi-nate the human cost. It’s cheaper tospend $5 million to buy 50 or 100homes than it is to spend $200 mil-lion to raise the levees three feet tosave those same houses. We need tomarshal all the political forces wecan to make sure N.J. gets the sameattention Vermont got,” Mayor Proc-tor said.

“I agree this is the only area thesetowns along the Rahway river aregoing to get funding by this type ofpush,” said Mayor Aschenbach, whonoted the foundations of five homesin Cranford have caved in twice in 10years.

“We all need to start pushing ourofficials for a buyout program,” ech-oed Springfield Assistant TownshipEngineer Sam Mardini.

“The town doesn’t want to losetheir ratable,” Mayor Florio said.

“There are a lot of homeownerswho are waiting for the feds to writethem a check,” Mayor Proctor added.

“That’s the crux of it — a willingseller,” Mr. Coakley said.

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Rahway River Flooding

can Legion Post No. 209, told TheTimes he believes reopening the streetwould reduce traffic on Mountain andUnion Avenues, as most motorists com-ing to the Legion or Century 21 hadentered via Park Avenue prior to theclosing of Sunset.

“It is a pain in the neck to go around(the block),” Mr. DiPace said of Ameri-can Legion members. “I think theywould be better off if they (the town-ship) reopened (the street).” He said hedoes not believe traffic volumes wouldincrease much if the street reopened asa through street, noting that there is noreason for traffic to cut through Sunset.

Mr. DiPace said his biggest concernis that closing off the street would addanother tax assessment to properties onthe street. “That would knock us for aloop,” he said, noting that the Legionhas to pay $4,000 annually for its sewerbill after the township created a sepa-rate utility whereby users are assessedon their water usage. The Legion andother non-profits previously were ex-empt, as sewer costs were included inproperty taxes, which non-profits donot pay.

The effort to close Sunset Place is ledby Dan and Jeanine Murphy. Theyattended the November 14 townshipcouncil meeting and told Mayor NancyMalool and the township council thatreopening the street would be “dra-matic and dangerous” for families liv-ing on the street.

A letter from the couple was pub-lished in The Times on November 24,2011. In that letter, the Murphys saidthere are 15 children residing on thestreet. “You have the unique opportu-nity to create a safer street for ourchildren and maintain our small-townfeel without the scary influx of traffic,”the couple said in their letter.

Mayor Malool told The Times shewould support moving the barricadesto allow access to the Legion and Cen-tury 21 parking lots, but leaving theresidential section as a dead end. Shesaid the cost estimate is $30,000 toclose the street, but added she does nothave numbers on whether it would cost

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Sunset Place Debatemore to close Sunset at Park Avenueversus closing the street further in.

“I think that is something that is leftup to discussion (by the council),”Mayor Malool said. She said it is herrecommendation that if Sunset is closedthat the property owners be assessedfor the work. Special assessments arepayable over 10 years. “There is a costfor that and I don’t see why the taxpay-ers should have to pay for it,” MayorMalool said.

“That (permanently closing Sunsetat Park) would be a detriment (to Cen-tury 21). So I would be opposed toclosing it at Park,” Mayor Malool toldThe Times. She said the current barri-cades were supposed to have beenmoved past the Legion and Century 21driveways.

The Sunset Place issue is on theagenda for the township council’s Tues-day, December 8 meeting.

ity to investigate,” Ms. Hayes saidof the policy.

During the summer of 2012, Be-havior Therapy Associates will runa HI-STEP Summer Program forspecial education students at J.Ackerman Coles School as ap-proved by the board Tuesday.

Michael Lewis of Fanwood in-quired about the board’s support ofSCR-162, The Fair School FundingAct, sponsored by Senator MichaelDoherty (R-23, Hunterdon). “Wedid mention last week that a num-ber of board members had investi-gated and attended meetings, but acommon consensus of the groupwas to pursue the Garden StateCoalition of Schools for fair fund-ing for the schools,” Ms. Bauer said.Superintendent Hayes told TheScotch-Plains Fanwood Times thatthe Garden State’s effort is“broader.”

As part of the approved person-nel agenda, Superintendent Hayestold The Times that the district re-ceived $154,019 from the federalgovernment through the state fromthe Education Jobs Fund.

The next BOE meeting is sched-uled for Thursday, December 15, at7:30 p.m.

Correction:In last week’s edition of the newspa-

per, a photo from the GreyhoundFriends of New Jersey Craft Fair andPet Expo incorrectly identified the per-son and the dogs. The caption shouldhave read: Lori Kirn, foster parent of“See U Later,” pictured on the leftwearing a Santa hat, and “Els Wirth,”poses with the greyhounds after theyget “dressed” for their photos withSanta.

Ms. Kirn fostered both greyhoundsfor Greyhound Friends of New Jerseyafter they came from the MountainviewYouth Correctional Prison Program.According to Ms. Kirn, many grey-hounds come straight from the track,into the prison program and then into afoster home (if not adopted first).

“Fostering the greyhounds gives usthe opportunity to get the greyhoundsacclimated to home life after they tran-sition off the track and prepare them fortheir forever homes,” Ms. Kirn said.

Both See U Later and Els Wirth wereadopted by families on the day thisphoto was taken. There were a total of17 greyhounds adopted that weekendfor the event.

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SPF BOE

CF Mayor Urges OppositionTo Birchwood Development

By FRED T. ROSSISpecially Written for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times

CRANFORD — TownshipMayor Daniel Aschenbach said onTuesday that the online petitionopposing a proposed developmenton Birchwood Avenue has garneredmore than 100 comments from resi-dents, and said the deadline for sign-ing the petition will be next week sothat he can take the document toTrenton and present it to GovernorChris Christie and other state offi-cials.

“Cranford is not going to standfor this type of overdevelopment,”the mayor said at Tuesday’s town-ship committee meeting. The peti-tion, which can be found atchange.org/pet i t ions /oppose-birchwood-overdevelopment, al-lows residents to not only registertheir opposition to the proposedplan, but also includes commentson why they are signing the petitionthat opposes the plan for the devel-opment of 360 residential units.

The Army Corps of Engineershas said the property would be “ben-eficial” as a retention basin forheavy rain water, the mayor said,and would help alleviate floodingproblems on Casino Avenue, NorthUnion Avenue and Wadsworth Ter-race. He noted there is state fund-ing available for water retentionprojects and suggested that if theentire property is not needed for aretention basin, part of it could beused for senior citizen housing.

In a related matter, the mayorsaid he had met recently with may-ors of other communities along theRahway River to consider potentialwater storage sites along the riverto alleviate potential flooding prob-lems during future storms.

Commissioner David Robinson,who will become mayor on January1 when control of the township com-mittee passes to the Republicans,

emphasized that the 2012 commit-tee will be “equally unified” in op-position to the Birchwood Avenuedevelopment.

In other business, MayorAschenbach said that PSE&G offi-cials are formulating a plan to relo-cate the South Avenue substationthat flooded during Hurricane Ireneand led to a multi-day power outagein Cranford and parts of surround-ing communities. A special meet-ing will be held on Monday, De-cember 5, during which the mayor’stask force on the future of the mu-nicipal building — which was seri-ously damaged by the flooding inlate August — will present its rec-ommendations. The mayor alsoasked residents for their “patience”as the township works to pick updebris from the October 29 snow-storm. “We’re behind on that,” themayor said, and he urged residentsto bring “what they can” to theconservation center.

Tuesday’s meeting was the lastfor Commissioner Mark Dugan,who did not seek re-election, andhis fellow governing body mem-bers paid tribute to him at the end ofthe hour-long meeting. Mr. Dugansaid it had been “an honor to servethis community.” Committee mem-bers also paid tribute to BarbaraKrause upon her retirement fromthe local airplane noise advisorycommittee.

At the start of the meeting, aftereight members of Junior Girl ScoutTroop 40113 led the flag salute,Mayor Aschenbach presented a cer-tificate of appreciation to theGarwood Knights of Columbus forthe group’s assistance in the post-Hurricane Irene recovery in lateAugust and early September.

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