Newly elected West Windsor Councilman Bryan Maher, a township resident for over 15 years, waited nine years for his parking permit for the Wallace Road commuter lot. Now the proposed 650-space lot at the old compost site off of Alexander Road could bring relief to commuters in Maher’s position, including 1,700 West Windsor residents currently wait-listed for parking spaces as well as another 1,700 non-West Windsor residents wait-listed at the New Jersey Transit lot.
As discussed at the West Windsor Planning Board meeting on Wednesday, December 14, the “New South Lot” — as the Parking Authority has designated it — will restrict accessibility to West Windsor residents only.
But township officials think the site has even more potential: Ahead of the public hearing board chairman Marvin Gardner announced that “there are plans down the road to ultimately have a private developer build a parking structure on that very site. That would come about somehow as redevelopment progresses, hopefully in the immediate future,” Gardner said. The concept plan for the 650-car lot was approved, 8-0.
Parking Authority Chairman Andrew Lupo described the current parking lot project as a “temporary placeholder for the future — temporary without defining what temporary is.”
ACT Engineers drafted the design concept and senior project engineer Robert E. Korkuch made a slide presentation. “We are proposing a new access point to the lot off of Alexander Road, also connected to the Vaughn Drive lot,” Korkuch said.
Korkuch noted several “mitigating” items: The first involves the traffic signal at Alexander Road and Old Bear Brook being re-timed to ease traffic congestion. “Even without this new parking lot that measure would allow traffic to flow much more successfully than it does today,” Kukuch said.
Secondly no left turn would be allowed at the exit on Alexander Road. According to engineer Gary W. Davies, vice president of Newark-based AECOM, the design would allow commuters using the lot to make a left turn into the parking lot in the mornings but not to exit the lot in the evenings.
Finally, the proposal assumes that Old Bear Brook Road would ultimately be closed as a through street.
Three recommendations made by the planning board included linkage to the NJ Transit lot just north or the proposed site; stormwater management measures to minimize water runoff; and pedestrian connections such as a lighted sidewalk.
Township planner John Madden said the connection to the NJ Transit lot is one provision the planning board should insist on. “A direct connection to the Vaughn Drive lot would allow someone to go all the way through and right to the train station. We’re talking about this as a future connection and I think it’s a very important mitigation and potential tool for when a developer comes in. It would allow for the major function of Alexander Road, which is distribution. Right now the only way out of that NJ Transit lot is from Vaughn Drive or Washington Road. This would allow for greater access,” he said.
