By Allison Perrine
FAIR HAVEN – Earlier this summer, Fair Haven faced backlash from some residents after officials suggested the town utilize a $350,000 grant to install sidewalks along the north end of Hance Road in “the loop.”
Some suggested that sidewalks would be an unnecessary feature in the already safe, bucolic neighborhoods of the loop, a one-mile walking destination made up of River Road, Grange Avenue, Cooney Terrace and Hance Road. The focus of this project would be Hance Road. Other residents have openly supported the idea for sidewalks and welcome the safety improvement.
Those against the plan asked officials to take a guided walk along the loop so they could demonstrate why they felt the work was unnecessary. The two council members who went brought that information back to the rest of the council and the borough’s professionals, who then drafted five different plans the town could pursue with or without sidewalks. Ideas ranged from doing nothing at all to implementing significant changes. All methods of transportation were considered in the plans, including vehicular, bicycle and foot traffic.
Ultimately, a moderate plan was selected this week and officials are now soliciting bids to improve the roadway – with and without sidewalks. They will compare the proposals and make a final decision on whether or not to proceed on either option.
“The residents of this particular neighborhood are extremely passionate about maintaining and preserving the character of their neighborhood and the quality of life in their neighborhood,” said Councilwoman Elizabeth Koch, who walked the loop with residents in August and said they had a “very spirited conversation.”
During a Sept. 8 special meeting, residents heard borough engineer Richard Gardella present five options that the borough could pursue with the $350,000 grant, available from the state Department of Transportation. Council members and the public then had a chance to ask questions and voice their opinions.
Currently, Hance Road and Cooney Terrace have limited right-of-way with areas of 33 feet and 41-and-a-half feet where the standard is 50 feet, according to Gardella. The pavement conditions are “poor” and there is roadside erosion. It is not ADA compliant. There are sections of concrete and asphalt curbing, existing trees, drainage infrastructure, utility poles and encroachments from property owners such as fences. The speed limit is 25 miles per hour with no parking on the west side.
The first plan presented was to do nothing and abandon the project, which would mean giving up the grant.
The second option would be to widen Hance Road to 22 feet and maintain Cooney Terrace at 28 feet. This would allow for the continuation of what’s happening now but with some extra space for users of the road and for roadside parking, said Gardella. It would include curbing on both sides of the street and pedestrian signage.
“You’re really bringing awareness to the users of that road,” he said. “Hance Road is substandard in width… so if there are people walking in the street or biking in the street, it allows a vehicle to kind of yield to those folks.”
The third option – which was ultimately selected – is to do the same as option two but to include a sidewalk on the east side of the road for all users. It would also include a grass strip, or a buffer, between the curb and sidewalk, as well as marked crosswalks at roadway intersections. Parking would be prohibited in advance of the intersections.
The fourth plan would be for mixed traffic, a “bicycle boulevard,” which would include the components of option three but would also include marked sharrows, like chevrons, in the travel lane. According to Gardella, this option is “designed to prioritize use by bicyclists.” Essentially, it would have pedestrians share the roadway with the vehicles with marked sharrows to separate them.
The fifth and final option would be the more “unique” option – a pedestrian lane, Gardella said. It would mean widening Hance Road to 28 feet, maintaining Cooney Terrace at 28 feet, building a pedestrian lane, implementing curbing on both sides of the road, striping and installing signage.
Roadways of the loop are not the only areas of town the borough is looking to upgrade. Currently, the borough has nearly completed work or is pursuing grant funds for Battin Road, Harrison Avenue, Willow Street, Hance Road, Hunting Lane, River Road West streetscape, Third Street Phase II and Fair Haven Road Phase I, along with various drainage and sidewalk improvements.
The goal is to “improve the condition of roadway infrastructure while preserving the character of the neighborhood,” said Gardella.
Council President Chris Rodriguez said he would be in favor of addressing some of the issues, like widening the roadway, but that sidewalks may not be necessary. Widening the roadway could allow delivery trucks, like Amazon, landscaping companies or Whole Foods vans, to safely navigate the roads.
Councilwoman Laline Neff said she found the discussion “very helpful” but wishes they had done this months ago. “We want to make sure that we are doing things that are in line with what the community wants and in line with the needs of Fair Haven as a whole as well,” she said.
During the public comment session of the presentation, Grange Avenue resident Keith Phillips said, as someone who is on the road almost daily with his children, dropping the speed limit to 20 miles per hour “makes all the sense in the world.”
“I would actually like to see that in Fair Haven – 20 miles per hour unless otherwise posted,” he said. Phillips added that he agrees with the borough repaving the road and “preserving it as it is” but doesn’t think sidewalks would make sense in the area.
On the other hand, Hance Road residents Adi and Omer Shorshi said they were “extremely, extremely surprised” that there were so many neighbors against the plan. “When we heard the plan to begin with, we were extremely happy. We’ve been living here for… 10 years; the road from here to the river is extremely unsafe and unkept. We have a baby in a stroller and several times we actually had to stop on the side because the car was rushing and we felt unsafe.
“I would feel really truthfully stupid if we were going to waste a grant and not use the grant to build a sidewalk,” they added. “The world is evolving. We have many new kids in the neighborhood. I don’t think we have to wait for an accident to happen… I think we do have to be proactive to make the town better, safer.”
Hance Road resident Tom Shebell said as an avid cyclist who has lived on the road for 20 years, he finds that “as a runner, as a walker, there are far more areas in this town that are far more dangerous than Hance Road.”
“The sidewalk that was created from River (Road) down is a dangerous sidewalk,” he said. “I’ve tried to walk two people on that sidewalk and you can’t do it.” He fears that extending the sidewalks as part of this project would “enhance danger,” especially if children start riding their bikes on the sidewalks.
“They can get a head injury. They can break limbs. The whole project really makes no sense to me,” he added. “There are hundreds of tripping hazards in this community, on these existing sidewalks… so why should we put in new sidewalks when we’re not caring for the sidewalks that we have?”
The article originally appeared in the September 16 – 22, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
