During its Tuesday, November 12, meeting, the Township Council passed one traffic-related ordinance and held off on passing an ordinance rejecting bids for construction of the new Department of Public Works (DPW) facility.
Closed Session
The Council went into a lengthy closed executive session at the start of the conference meeting. The stated topics of the session were affordable housing and the Livingston Mall. It took approximately 75 minutes, at which point, the Council waited for the regular meeting to start at 8 p.m. to resume. The public conference meeting then began at the conclusion of the regular meeting.
U-Turn Ordinance An ordinance was introduced to amend chapter 29 of the township code, titled “Regulating U-Turns on Certain Streets.” Specifically, Utums would no longer be permitted on Ridge Drive between Byron Place and Dawson Terrace.
Change Order
The Council approved a change order for a contract with Coppola Services. The initial contract - for PFAS treatment to three township wells - was for $8,994,890.
The change order - for additional paving of Congressional Parkway increases the contract by $93,150, or 1.04 percent of the total contract (Continued on Page A-6) administrative building on Foxcroft Drive as a centralized location to house all of its buses. Plans to use the property as a bus depot were drawn in 2017, but not realized. The district plans to re-engage the engineer who looked at the initial options for the property.
“One of the things we’ve changed in planning for this is to do a road out to the Community Center so the buses wouldn’t go out onto Foxcroft and into those neighborhoods,” interim superintendent of schools Daniel Fishbein said.
Currently, the district’s 30-plus buses are parked in lots at Heritage Middle School, the Haines Pool, and the Livingston Senior/Community Center.
“This is a very long overdue project for this community,” Board member Seth Cohen said. “By securing that connectivity through the Community Center we could also mitigate some of the concerns the neighbors around the Heritage property would have.”
The Council and Board agreed to work together to explore different options for traffic patterns.
School Enrollment
Fishbein led a discussion about the district’s enrollment.As of the end of the last school year, 6,473 students were enrolled in Livingston Public Schools.As of mid-September 6,339 students were enrolled and when the data was reviewed in mid-October, the enrollment rose to 6,388 students.
Cohen noted that the district will likely gain additional students throughout the school year, and suggested that comparing the enrollment data from June to October of 2024 is not indicative of how the remainder of the year’s enrollments will be.
Fishbein added that the district’s “soft borders” policy could come into effect if needed.
“If we see an area that, based on the Board’s guidelines for class size, new families that move in may not go to their neighborhood school because of the class size issues in that particular school,” Fishbein said. “We make every attempt to place them in a school close to their home.”
Long Range Facilities Plan
Fishbein shared that he and business administrator Jessica Rapp have spent the past few months touring the schools, meeting with the principals, and reviewing the long range facilities plan. They are currently searching for a demographer.
“The plan is to have a final plan and a possible facility referendum within two years,” Fishbein said.
Monmouth Court
As discussed at the previous “Five on Five meeting,” Monmouth Court is a school-owned building that, years ago, was sold to the township for one dollar.
“With some of the school space demands and growing enrollments, over the years the school then took occupancy of the second floor,” Lewis said. “There have been ongoing discussions about the school retaking not only occupancy but ultimately ownership of the whole building again.”
The previous challenge was that the entirety of the property was listed on the township’s Open Space inventory. It seemed the district may need to go through the process of offsetting any acreage on the Recreation and Open Space Inventory (ROSI).
“Fortunately over the summer we were able to work with Green Acres and convince them that the school building part of it – not the two baseball fields – should have never been on the ROSI because it’s always been occupied for non-Green Acres approved uses,” Fishbein said.
The district has it in writing from Green Acres that the ROSI will be amended. The plan is for the property to become its own parcel block and lot.
The district is on track to take over the property by the beginning of the 2025-26 school year.
Mayor Al Anthony added that the district does not need to physically own the building in order to use its facilities.
“We all want the Board of Education to avail themselves of the building according to agreement, even if they’re not physically owning the building,” he said.
Crosswalks and Sidewalks
The township was awarded a Safe Routes to School grant, which will be used to replace the sidewalks on both sides of South Livingston Avenue from Northfield Road, through the Circle, and on Hillside Avenue between Northfield Road and Foxcroft Drive. The grant is for approximately $800,000 in funding. Engineering company GPI is working with the state to have the plans out to bid by the beginning of 2025.
Lewis added that the township also submitted a grant application for the “Safe Streets forAll” program to provide funding to allow for the development of the Vision Zero plan. Lewis described this as “a comprehensive analysis of the entire town, including pedestrian safety, bicycling safety, and car safety.”
This plan could yield recommendations and a plan for additional bike lanes, cross walks, and other traffic and pedestrian safety measures.
Council member Ketan Bhuptani pointed out that at the previous “Five on Five” meeting, a discussion was held about the safety of students at Harrison School during arrival and dismissal. To alleviate this, additional signs were placed, some of the road signs were repainted for increased visibility, and police officers were present at the beginning and end of the school day to address safety concerns.
“I was talking to some of the residents and the problem was really nicely resolved and the parents were happy about it,” Bhuptani said.
Parking at LHS
The Board requested that the Council create an ordinance to reserve approximately 20 parking spots for staff – roughly five spots near the Oval, and about 15 on Madonna Drive – at Livingston High School (LHS). No additional parking spots are being requested, but rather the designation of who can park in specific spots.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, resident Dennis Duffy expressed his concerns about LHS students driving dangerously, and former LHS teacher Elliot Lovi shared his disappointment about the district’s policy of not allowing out of district students to take part in cocurricular activities. Lovi urged the Board to consider changing this policy. Back issues of the Tribune, dating to 1929, may be accessed online, at http://www.digifind-it.com/livingston/ views/newspapers.php?id=2.
