Borough Agrees to Continue With High School Parking Plan

Candace Braun

Borough Council unanimously decided last week to renew the ordinance for the Princeton High School parking permit system, and agreed to issue 10 parking permits in addition to the already existing 70 permits now available to students. Councilman Roger Martindell was absent from the vote.

The ordinance was renewed following a public hearing on Tuesday, July 26, where no residents voiced concern over the current system, which was created after years of complaints from both students and residents about parking problems around the high school. Students said there weren't enough spaces available to park close to the school, and residents said that too many students were loitering around and littering on properties that were in close vicinity to PHS.

"I think this ordinance has proven to be useful," said Councilman Andrew Koontz.

Princeton Regional Board of Education President Anne Burns was present for the meeting but did not speak to the ordinance. She only thanked Council for its cooperation following the vote. In previous discussions on parking Ms. Burns had said that the parking system "was not perfect," but a vast improvement from the way it had been.

The Borough's original agreement with the Princeton Regional Schools was initiated last fall under a sunset clause, which meant that it had to be reapproved by the Borough before the beginning of the 2005-2005 school year. Under the original permit system 60 permits were issued from the Borough and the Township for students to park on portions of Walnut Lane, Guyot Avenue, Harris Road, Henry Avenue, Jefferson Road, Linden Lane, and Moore Street.

The permits were distributed to students through a lottery at the high school, which gave them permission to park on the roads between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.

The school district is now requesting additional permits from both municipalities because it only received 60 permits last year, even though it had requested a total of 90. During the school year an additional 10 permits were distributed, and now, with the Borough's additional 10, it brings the number of permits to 80. Township Committee is also expected to grant an additional 10 permits to the district at a meeting sometime this month.

The parking system, which is a product of more than four years of work by an ad hoc committee, mandates that from September 1 through June 30 (excluding weekends and holidays), student parking is only available via permits on areas of roads around the high school that are designated through signage. The permits are not available to students deemed to be within walking distance of the school. The Borough issues the permits at a cost of $10 per student, which is paid for by the district, not the students.

Residents of the high school neighborhood are issued residential parking permits for street parking.

"This is a very complicated issue. I think we're very lucky to have a hard-working community making sure that this works," said Councilwoman Wendy Benchley, who was the Borough's liaison for the ad hoc committee on parking.

Councilwoman Mildred Trotman noted that while the Borough's parking ordinance will no longer be under a sunset clause, Council would like to revisit the system once construction is complete at the high school.

"It's the only time we'll be able to see if ... the parking is really working," she said.

Construction at the high school is currently slated to be completed in early 2006.