PHOTOS: The question of opening up Arlington Avenue to become a one way street, was the center of a heated debate at this evening’s Zoning Board meeting. The debate started a while back when the residents of Arlington Avenue were told that despite a Shul being built at the dead-end, the road would not be opened to traffic. Based on that ruling, a Duplex was approved to be built there.
However, the Township Engineer, Jeff Steiger, then recommended that the street be opened, based on the requests from residents of Forest Park as well as from Pine Street.
That recommendation however, caused a fury amongst Arlington Avenue residents, who say the street is too narrow for a thoroughfare, and will pose a danger to children.
Dozens of children were brought by their parents to argue their case to the Zoning Board, after the Township Committee dismissed the case, claiming it was a Zoning and Planning issue, and not a Township Committee issue.
The case is expected to head back to the Township Committee.
Click here for photos submitted to the Board by Arlington Avenue residents. TLS.
will steve say?
OPEN UP ARLINGTON STREET TO ALL TO USE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
we need this street to be opened to the public immedeatly in addition to opening Vine Street to Cedar Bridge Ave.
to traffic: writing in capital letters DOES NOT mitigate the danger inherent in opening the street
the street is open for all to use just without going through to Pine. I hope they don’t open it bec. Its unfair to the people that bought houses there. Arlington has people flying down it, even without the dead end open Why don’t they faster put a light up on the corner of Pine and Martin Luther, that will help the situation a lot. I don’t understand why that would’nt be first on the list to help ease one of the most trafficy spots in town.
THERE IS TOO MUCH TRAFFIC AND CONSTRUCTION IN LAKEWOOD, AND THE CONSTRUCTION AND HOUSING MARKET IS FIXED IN LAKEWOOD. I AM LOOKING FOR A 2 BEDROOM HOUSE OR APARTMENT AND HAVE TRIED MANY PLACES IN LAKEWOOD AND BECAUSE I DON’T SOUND LIKE I AM OF THE MAJORITY OF THE TOWN I AM TOLD THAT THE PLACE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. THEN I FIND THAT THE PLACE IS STILL OPEN. I COULD GO AND COMPLAIN TO THE LAW ABOUT IT AND BEING DISCRIMINATED AGAINST BUT I HAVE TOO MUCH MORE TO DO. I AM STILL LOOKING FOR A 2 BEDROOM PLACE UNDER 1200 IF ANYONE HAS ANY SUGGESTIONS
It is disgusting that a few people that live on Arlington can ruin the town for selfish reasons. It is not going to turn into a major thouroughfare like MLK because it is too small but let the town breath. The residents that live in the area should be allowed to speak their mind but the elected and appointed officials must have the WHOLE town in mind. The township in my opinion should open the street for two way traffic and put a stop signs along Arlington to slow down any traffic the residents feel will hurt their children. When I was asked to come tonight and protest I said no way!
OF COURSE!!
Arlington MUST be opened once and for all.
This doesn’t take a rocket scientist!
The 20 people living there have the right to protest but for the betterment of the thousands of residents on south end of Lakewood this needs to be opened.
Residents have a right to feel safe on their own block. It is selfish for everyone else to want to use their block, just because they don’t want to sit in traffic for an extra minute.
All these people that are going to use Arlington will go home at night to a nice quiet safe block, perhaps on a cul-de-sac, and enjoy their quiet quality time with their family in a relaxed setting, while the poor residents of Arlington will suffer from the traffic and noise and danger from all these additional cars, 24/7.
All for your extra minute of driving time.
Just wait till they open that apartment building on 7th and Princton then you will see what bedlam is mlk and pine will be a joke compared to this
Please, Please open up Arlington Ave. The traffic on MLK is unbearable and dangerous. Please put speed bumps on Arlington Ave. so people will slow down. This way it will be safe for everybody. Looking forward to an easier and less stressful drive.
Arlimgton needs to be open! I live on Marc Drive and that opening would be a huge help.
There was a woman screaming in the hallway before the meeting and would not let any of the men get a word in favor of opening the street.Its small-minded to only think about the street you live on and not be concerned for everyone else that lives in the south of town.
If someone had a vision years ago to plan for the potential of 150,000+ resident living in Lakewood, Clover Ave would have been connected to Vine Street , Vine Street connected to Vermont Ave all the way to Rt 70 in somewhat of a straight line giving the citizen another north/south corridor to travel thru Lakewood . But for many reason that escape common sense no one every gave it much thought about the future travel around the township soon to be city. All the money that the town paid professional planners one has to laugh that we still spend 15 minutes still trying to get across town and 20 minutes to go north or south on Rt 9 on most days Keep building till all the trees are gone and rename the city Bricksburg
I don’t understand why Arlington in the center of attention. Opening it won’t help traffic patterns….
FIRST and foremost a TRAFFIC LIGHT must be put up at the corner of MLK and Pine, and VINE STREET must be opened.
Those are the only two real solutions to the terrible engineering of this township..
If you are foolish enough to think that this is the answer to the congestion problem, why dont you come and check out the street! It seems from many people commenting here that they have never driven all the way down Arlington. The road is not wide enough to handle the traffic. There are two big inclines in the road that will block drivers’ views of cars backing out of driveways and that will block driver’s from seeing people crossing the street until it’s G-d forbid too late. If opening Vine and placing a traffic light at Martin Luther would reallly fix the problem, why do we have to upset and endanger the residents of Arlington Ave for something that will hardly be a benefit to the rest of us?
I don’t understand why Arlington in the center of attention. Opening it won’t help traffic patterns….
FIRST and foremost a TRAFFIC LIGHT must be put up at the corner of MLK and Pine, and VINE STREET must be opened.
Those are the only two REAL solutions to the terrible engineering of this township..
#6: Coventry Square has plenty on two bedroom units avail way under 1200
Open Arlington, but are you ready to compensate the residents for the thousands of dollars of lost value to their homes, once Arlington becomes a MLK #2 ?
If opening Vine or putting a traffic light at MArtin Luther would rectify the chaotic traffic mess out there on Pine, why do we have to bother the residents of Arlington Ave? We all know that at some point a traffic light will go up on MLK and that Vine will be opened too, then why not just pressure the township to do it sooner rather than later? Why do we have to pretend that Arlington will be a viable solution and upset the many families taht live there?
Open up arlington. Put speed “humpes” (not bumps) anyways trafic studies show that a narrow street is safer then a wide street.
Is it true that all the children that live on Arlington Avenue showed up tonight at the zoning board meeting??? WOW perhaps we need to take their safety into consideration. I think those that want it open are being shortsighted.
This side of town has lousy traffic patterns,
saying that opening Arlington is the solution is like trying to fix a leaking roof with a piece of chewing gum!
Can someone please explain to me why anyone thinks Arlington is a solution? To have a one way street going towards cedarbridge will be how helpful?! I’m not quite understanding this “solution”. Is there anyone that does not agree that opening vine and putting a traffic light at MLK would be a much safer solution for ALL of us?
they must open it.Anyway to help the traffic is of concern to thousands last time i checked majority wins
It MUST be opened. That said how about making it one side parking too, in order to alleviate the narrow road issue?
We need Arlington open. It is VERY important. People cut through our developement also but thats the cost of living on a city street. PLEASE open Arlington now.
Maybe the residents on Arlington also have lack of parking spaces, so they need to park on both sides of the street? One side parking will mean less parking spots for those residents. Why was it not made into a cul-de-sac originally? Then no questions or problems would have arisen.
Quality of life, where has it gone?
This Zoning board allowed the construction of twins based on the PROMISE that it will not be opened up. EVER.
Let the board buy those houses off whoever lives there as they said it will never be opened…… Thats why they approved the construction.
FYI? Is this the smart growth we were promised?
Arlington needs to be opened. Please do the right thing for the citizens of lakewood.
Did anyone even think of consulting with daas torah? what happened to Lakewood . .
Another Traffic light at MLK & Pine?? what will that solve..there will be so many traffic lights in this town you wont be able to go 30′ with out hitting a traffic light. Forget it>>>IM moving out…this town is not big enough for all the changes that people want..too much building, too many cars, too many people..Its a small CITY>..wait for those city taxes to hit you then you can complain
We need Arlington to be open!!!!
To all the people in Forest Park who are pushing to open up Arlington to traffic. One you simply are not understanding that instead of alleviating the traffic on MLK you are going to make Pine much worse by creating a major back up every time someone wants to make a left turn from Pine. The street will be so congested you will not be able to drive out of Forest Park. The same goes for the residents of Pine River Village.
This issue shows how short sighted the planning board is. The streets need to be opened and widened. The planning board did this short sighted thinking when the vacated a portion of Vine street and 10 years later they come up with a master plan to open Vine Street from Cedarbridge to Oak street to ease traffic on route 9, guess what, they don’t own all of Vine Street. The problem is the planning board gives away land and variances to special interest groups with out ANY concern to future growth.
Keep it closed. It’s not fair to the residents who live there. People have got to stop being so selfish, And in such a rush.
What amazes me is that people care more about being stuck in traffic than children. If traffic is so bad maybe the cluster/townhouse developments should not have been approved in the first place. Forrest park has a traffic issue have that development make another entrance somewhere.
Let’s open up Forest Park to Howard Dr, so that all the people from south lakewood can benefit from driving through Forest Park.
I am from the small minded people who want the street closed. Funny how wanting my children to stay safe and in one piece makes me that! Thruth is, it’s a lot more small minded to think opening Arlington will alleviate the traffic. If you spend a few minutes studying the area and traffic patterns, you’ll understand that it’ll only divert the MLKtrafiic mess to a block over, with more chaos and safety issues. No time will be saved from this. But hey, why think and make a smart decision if we can just open Arlington and realize a few months later what a mistake it was, and we just pushed off getting closer to opening Vine St and a light on Pine st ….
Why is children safety being brought up? Do you let your children run and play in the street? Weather you have one car a day or 100 cars a day, if your children play in the street they will get hit. Maybe the builder should have been made to provide a play ground for the residents and have enough parking for all. I bet the planning board gave the builder a variance to build. This town has NO master plan!
If you bought a house there, and hopefully looked around, you saw there was a dead end that can be opened . Its a legal paper street!
The children’s safety is being brought up because the visiblity on the street is terrible. There is a big hill and then dip, making even a responsbile child who crosses the street and looks both ways, into a target for large volumes of traffic. The child will not see a car that is in the low part of the dip, and the driver won’t see the child. Add the increased volume, and speed of the cars if it is cut through from Pine to Cedarbridge, and you have a recipe for disaster. As it is there are many near misses. Come for yourself and have a look.
all those pple that are saying open Arlington, lets open your street for a thoroughfare, like forest park to Howard etc. , lets see how much the residents in forest park would scream.
if everyone would stop fighting with each other and join together to lobby for the opening of vine we would be a lot better off and traffic free.
A few things to consider:
This street is an existing paper street. All of the people knew full well when they bought there that one day this street would come into existence and now they are having a difficult time accepting reality. Closing this street is tantamount to stealing it from the public. This is a common mode of operation in this town where special interests have their way at the expense of the klal.
I don’t see why this street would be any more dangerous than any other in town. It certainly won’t be any busier than Forest Park which is not a thoroughfare. People on Arlington need to watch their children regardless. What’s really at stake here is that Arlington will no longer be sleepy street and their children won’t be able to play there, but again they knew htis when they moved in.
The zoning/planning boards continue to approve variances for high density developments and duplexes without an iota of improvement to the existing infrastructure or public parks from the township committee. This is not even an improvement, it’s in the plans so by removing it we are going backwards.
This street is not the answer to the traffic woes but every little bit helps. The traffic in Borough Park is better that it is here because the streets form a grid allowing a variety of options. Developing this street as planned will no doubt improve the situation providing an alternate to a nasty bottleneck.
TLS is rigged they don’t post any of the comments against opening it!!!!!
The only option that really makes sense is to somehow open Vine, opening arlington would just create more traffic cause more accidents, its to close in proximity to MLK.
arlington is already busy as it is, its no quiet street, cars zoom down, and if they open it, it will get even worse. Vine street makes more sense, plus a light on martin luther and Pine.
To #43
Unlike the builders lawyers and the builders traffic experts that testify that traffic will not be affected by the construction, I have been down the street and my answer to you is when driving, slow down, hang up the cell phone and look where you are driving, and you will have no problem on that roadway. More cars may even slow down the speed and make the street safer.
To Forest Park Resident:
A few things for YOU to consider:
No, we did not know that there was ever an option to open Arlington. We were told that this was a closed street and would always remain that way. However, i am sure you were told the same thing, so you wouldn’t mind that Forest Park should open also because hey, you bought on a closed street, who said it can’t be open?????
yes, there are plenty of dangerous streets in lakewood but Arlington does not have to be added to the list – why do we need to knowingly endanger our precious childrens yiddishe neshamos??? you can trust me that the residents of Arlington do watch their children- it happens to be something we are makpid on here, are people not makpid on that in Forest Park??
Even if opening Arlington would “help a little” would it be worth to take on the achrayos of endagering our special yiddeshe neshamos??? All for the sake of “HELP A LITTLE”
Wow! Am I hearing right? People are actually willing to put children’s lives at risk to save a few minutes?!?! What are we coming to???
please please in aseres yimai hateshuvah especially!!! how could people endanger the lives of other peoples children????? do you want this on your conscience??? if even one child chas vashalom gets hurt is it worth it???? think of that and decide that lmaan hashalom and lmaan the right thing to do, you will choose THE CHILDRENS SAFETY OVER CONVENIENCE~!!!!!!! because is there really a choice????