Ridge Traffic Options Ranging from Free to $1.1M in Online Report

Meeting next Monday to answer questions, accept public input.

A specially appointed Ridge Traffic task force has posted 13 options for alleviating morning traffic jam-ups at the entrance to Ridge High School on the Bernards Township website, including costs and pros and cons attached to each option. Questions will be answered on the report, and additional public input accepted, at a public meeting of the task force scheduled for 7 p.m. next Monday at the Bernards Township municipal building, 1 Collyer Lane, in Basking Ridge, according to Bernards Schools Superintendent Nick Markarian. The report is the work of several months of discussion, and a previous public input session, in which the task force looked at options presented by school officials, a consultant and members of the public — "basically, …

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Letter to the Editor

Homestead Village Resident asks Twp. to Help With Ridge Traffic Solution

Longtime resident says Homestead Village neighbors have long tolerated impact on their quality of life.

The following is an open letter to the Bernards Township Committee, dated Oct. 12. Esteemed members of the Bernards Township Committee: As I write this letter I am extremely perplexed. It was this time last year that I followed news articles about the TC’s  need to preserve the quality of life for the residents that border the Bamboo Grille.  As I recall, great expense (attorney’s fees) was spent fighting for the rights of a few residents due to a noise violation. Quality of life was mentioned, right to quality of life, etc. It is time to take the same gusto and address the problem of traffic in Homestead village. We as a community are tired of being “put on a shelf” until we rear our ugly heads again. Homestead Village residents’ are not …

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Candace Hull

4:27 pm on Thursday, October 18, 2012

Thank you.   more ›

Ridge Buses Will Continue Cedar Hill Dropoff For Now

Ridge High School students will continue entering high school each morning from rear entrance to building.

When school starts next Thursday, buses carrying Ridge High School students will continue dropping those students off at the Cedar Hill Elementary School, from which they will walk to the rear entrance of the high school building, Schools Superintendent Nick Markarian said. In the meantime, school officials will continue to work on a solution to bring back the buses to the high school in a safe manner, Markarian said following Monday night's Board of Education meeting. The school district's administration decided last February to reroute the busses away from the main entrance to Ridge, located at the traffic light at the intersection of South Finley Avenue and Lake Road. Since then, residents in Homestead Village, living along the back …

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Traffic Report Details Options For Handling Ridge Jam-ups

Alternatives for reducing weekday morning at entrance to Ridge High School presented to public.

The presentation of a traffic consultant's report on suggestions for better handling of morning traffic flow at Ridge High School is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, at a special Board of Education meeting to be held at the high school at 268 S. Finley Ave. The report already is online at the Board of Education website. The report from traffic consultant Gary Dean of Dolan & Dean, commissioned by the board in March for a fee of $10,700, specifies that the most cost effective method of reducing rush hour traffic at the high school is the continued bus dropoff at the Cedar Hill Elementary School, which began this past Feb. 1. But the study acknowledged the opposition from Homestead Village neighbors, and suggested several other options — …

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Township Opposes Bus Dropoff Behind Town Hall

Residents say they feel they are in 'tennis match' between school board and township committee.

A request from Homestead Village residents that morning school buses drop off Ridge High School students behind town hall rather than traveling their neighborhood streets to reach Cedar Hill Elementary School met with refusal this week. Residents who say that an influx of buses endanger children and other walkers along their narrow streets had on March 13 persuaded the Board of Education to endorse their suggestion of routing high school buses through the municipal complex for the remainder of this school year. Students then would need to cross an athletic field and parking lots to reach a rear entrance to the high school. Since Feb. 1, buses have been dropping high school students at the Cedar Hill School to try to relieve traffic backups…

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parag dhagat

10:25 am on Sunday, April 1, 2012

Very true. but first charge the 'parkers' much higher sums ($ 700/- per), then see how many come and park?! The ones that do not park any more will increase the 'circulator' count,, which can then be tackled by providing proper new circulation routes and entrances, by buying up some property.......instead of providing the 'parkers' an easy out with a semi-private entrance through the health …   more ›

Neighbors Seek Bus Dropoff Behind Town Hall

No answer from Township Committee, but have endorsement of school board.

Parents from the Homestead Village who say the routing of Ridge High School's buses through their neighborhood is a continuing danger, managed to persuade the Board of Education to give a thumbs up to their suggestion that high school bus riders instead be dropped off at the municipal complex each morning for the rest of this school year. But when they brought their case before the Township Committee, they received no answer — for now. Mayor Mary Pavlini told a handful of residents who spoke on the issue on Tuesday that township officials will need time to discuss the idea before the next Township Committee meeting, scheduled for March 27. On Monday, the residents had asked the Board of Education to "temporarily"  reroute the 27 high …

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HG

1:08 pm on Tuesday, March 20, 2012

n, You're saying that there is no proof that meeting happened in Licata's kitchen? You sound as if you are a long-time resident. If not, here's a little history lesson. The meeting was reported in the Bernardsville News multiple times in 2003. (Sorry. No links that go back that far. Call Jake Perry if you want confirmation.) A resident did sue over what happened in the meeting. (Can't remember …   more ›

Update: Some Bus Route Opponents Could Return Before Township

Homestead Village's emotional pleas, legal points to the Board of Education, fail to bring stop new Ridge bus route to Cedar Hill.

One way or another, residents from Homestead Village managed to persuade half of the eight members present at Monday's Board of Education meeting to halt the routing of buses carrying Ridge students through their neighborhood to reach a back entrance to the high school. On Monday night, the board's 4 to 4 tie vote meant the failure of a motion by board member Susan McGowan to return the buses to the front of Ridge High School while alternatives are examined for alleviating morning traffic at the school's main entrance at South Finley Avenue and Lake Road. "All the alternatives stink at this point," School Board Member Robin McKeon said after the meeting, although she voted in favor of McGowan's proposal to immediately stop high school …

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Resident: Bus Route Opponents Will Again Address BOE

Homestead Village residents expected to again voice concern over new Ridge bus route.

Jennifer White, one of the dozens of neighbors from Homestead Village who have been appearing before both township and school officials to oppose the recent rerouting of high school buses through their streets, said the neighbors will be back at Monday's scheduled school board meeting. "We are not going away," White said this week. "We think Dr. Goger [schools superintendent] and [Ridge] Principal Howlett should reverse their decision." As of Feb. 1, the school administration decided to start having school buses drop off high school students at the Cedar Hill Elementary School, located next door to the rear entrance to the high school, in an effort to reduce traffic by the front entrance to the high school. White said the residents also …

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Twp. Committee: Halt New Ridge Bus Route

Governing body to send school district a letter 'respectfully' asking that busing through Homestead Village be stopped.

The Township Committee supported residents of Homestead Village on Tuesday night who brought their case before the governing body to end Ridge High School busing through their neighborhood as an alternate route. "I believe this is a problem that needs to be solved within the campus of Ridge High School...not transferred to Homestead Village or municipal property," Deputy Mayor Carolyn Gaziano said of the school administration's decision to relieve some of the traffic backup at the high school entrance by rerouting buses to Cedar Hill Elementary School, where students can walk to the back entrance of the high school. As residents offered applause and standing ovations, Township Committee members unanimously agreed that while alternatives …

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