(Photo submitted with article). Dear TLS,
Your recent news articles concerning snow cleanup and the hazardous road conditions around Lakewood lead to many developments cooperating and organizing optimal parking conditions to enhance the efficiency of snow removal. This lead to me to wonder as to why efficient snow parking procedures must be implemented by members of the community and are dependent on neighbors cooperation and goodwill. Why are there no long term snow parkingregulations for housing developments all over Lakewood, such as the “no parking during snow removal” signs that are frequently seen in other streets?
Furthermore, with housing developments commonly structured with narrow streets, why is there no “one side parking only” regulations that we commonly see on other narrow streets in town? Such parking regulation would not only benefit efficient snow removal but also enhance the safety of our roads all year round as motorists often (have) difficulty navigating the narrow 2 way streets with cars parked on both sides. This is especially difficult for school buses, garbage trucks, and possibly emergency vehicles as well.
I am curious as to how to properly implement such parking regulation in development communities, what are the procedures involved, and what the pros/cons are for 1 sided street parking. I would appreciate any information concerning this matter.
Thank you, A Concerned Citizen
Lets stop and take a look. Why do we have these problems? Is the planning board and a certain attorney who manages to get these developments through promising that there is plenty of room the people are happy. How can Whispering Pines get approved? Now all the people and busdrivers need to suffe because of the poor planning. It is not right!
Now Lakewood is tryinfg to ram down the people the “Smart growth” that will cluster more homes into narrow developments!
Is there anyone out there representing the people?
You are 100% right!!!
I don’t know why people can’t have common sense. If you see a car parked on the side of the road, don’t park on the other side of the road. Then there will be more room for the buses (and cars) to pass thru. My sons bus driver told me this morning that he won’t come into the development anymore because he can’t get around. Everyone should park on one side only and the roads will be easier to navigate.
It’s literally a circus around here with the snow. If you want entertainment, just look outside your front window on a weekday morning.
One of the issues is why the snow is not completely removed like in other parts of the Northeast.
if you want a factual answer, here it is. State law regulates how wide the planning board can require the streets to be, as well as the number of parking spaces (The Residential Site Improvement Standards; NJ administrative code title 5, chapter 21). Whispering Pines was approved prior to the effective date of that law with insuficient parking and street widths (off the record, most people would agree that approval was a mistake). For many years (apparently based on the lesson learned from Whispering Pines), both the planning board and the zoning board have been insisting on at least 4 parking spaces for the typical 5 bedroom house or townhome and 30 foot wide streets. This exceeds the state law which only requires 3 paking spaces and 28 foot wide streets (Whispering Pines has 2 parking spaces per townhouse).
There are two situations in developments. Either township owned or private strrets. Parking regulations which were suggested could be implemented by the Lakewood Township Committee for township owned streets or by the Home Owners Association for the private streets. They are not implemented because this would inconvenience some of the residents therefore they would be opposed. Anyone who feels stongly about the parking problem could approach the appropriate body and request that parking restriction be enacted.
In answer to the last question,”is there anyone representing the people?”, the answer is yes. It is the planning board, the zonning board, and the township committe. All of their actions are taken at public hearings where the public is provided an opportunity to speak. As a resident, I appreciate their effort doing a job where they ussually only hear complaints, mostly from uninformed inividuals.
During the last 2 snow storms, in the development i live in we kept our cars off the road for days so they can plow efficiently, by the time they finally came around they had done such a horrible job plowing and now you wonder why buses can’t pass? horrible horrible horrible
stop complaining
I saw this pic happen this morning and there were 7 vehicles backed up because of 2 side parking. One resident? had the nerve to screem at the bus driver as if it was his fault that the area is soo congested. Now i am told dept of public works REFUSES to plow in that neighborhood because the streets are too congested for the plows. I have a simple solution. Start TOWING the cars away, then the neighbors will earn to behave htemselves
If you were in Brookhill this morning you would have witnessed at least one accidet involving a school bus.
This cant go on!
make the parents wait by developement entrances in the cold for a while
they’ll get it cleaned quickly
Just a small correction to number 5’s many points: Whispering Pines does not have 2 parking spots per townhouse. The original plans showed 1.5 spots per townhouse wich would include miniature parking lots (4 spots) between rows of houses. When the development was built, the developer did not put in the extra parking spots.
Another solution that would help – let your wife out of the car before you park and then park as close to the snow bank as possible. If you leave four feet between the car & the curb, of course the street is that much more narrow.
AS I DRIVE IN LKWD I SEE CHILDREN MEN AND WOMAN WALKING ON THE STREET BECAUSE HOME OWNERS DONT SHOVEL THIER SIDEWALK , IS THIER A TOWNSHIP ORDANCE REQUIRING THIS???
It seems to me that the town fathers, no matter what committee, board, etc. they are on, want to build up Lakewood with the most homes, townhouses, condos, etc. in the least amount of space. This means very narrow streets. As was mentioned above school buses have a very difficult time navigating the streets as is. Just think if there were to be a fire in one of the buildings. The large ladder fire truck would not be able to get down the street, possibly leading to more than one building burning. The only possible answer I see is to have NO PARKING on one side of the street. However, this would probably lead to many disgruntled residents who have more than one car and would not be able to park near their dwelling.
The DPW is 1 for 3 in properly snow plowing the streets of Lakewood, that is a terrible percentage!!!
while the photo above clearly depicts the issue that school busses “run into” with such parking conditions, people should keep in mind that double sided parking impeded ALL traffic flow, even regular sized cars. there are many people opposed to enacting the one sided parking idea due to lack of convenience and they need to keep in mind that such safety precautions benefit all motorists and pedestrians. imagine what takes place when 2 cars are driving towards each other from opposite directions and one needs to suddenly swerve due to the lack of space for 2 way traffic. this happens even at slow speeds. several such accidents have already occurred on such narrow streets. though B”H no one was injured, we should be preventative and implement safer roads before anyone gets hurt.
Number 5 is correct-we require more than the minimums required by the State Residential Site Improvement Standards, and the builders go along with our recommendations.
We also try as much as possible to get one side parking only.
In bad weather conditions, besides for the legal route, HOA boards can get together and request that people in the development only park on one side even when both sides are permitted.
As an aside, many public roads (that are not in new developments) are also facing difficulties right now because streets weren’t plowed properly.
Remember keeping vehicles off the streets during snow emergencies also helps. Firetrucks and other emergency responders have difficulties getting down the street when it is covered or blocked by residents. I know there are not many places to park off street but if it was your house you would be complaining how come the FD or PD or even EMS could not get to your house. Just keep the cars off the street where you can. It helps in the end, makes the snow removal faster, and police can get to emergencies faster
neighborhood reliance on people being sensible and keeping cars off the street is not enough. there will always be the individuals who will park in a manner that obstructs traffic. therefore, with legal parking restrictions in effect, ticketing included, it will “enforce” optimal parking hence creating passable roads.
in my neighborhood snow parking was implemented by a few neighbors but for the 3-4 cars who didnt comply, who was gonna force them to move? no one. therefore, plowing was ineffective due to this. furthermore, one sided parking conditions should be all year round not just during snow.
I was stuck this morning in Brooklhill – behind 25 Buses. im not sure what exactly happend. But i do know that it was a BIG BIG mess. all due to the snow laying around. The LPD was there.
Can anyone explain WHERE do you expect people tp put the cars?????????????????????????????????????????????
Should move the cars of our block and block the next street over?????? They also have cars!! Evryone says that if only we would cooperate and move the cars before the snow then they would plow. WHERE THE …… DO YOU WANT US TO PUT OUR CARS????????
Oh I have the idea lets use the bmg parking lot by the lake and have the shuttles take us back home all over town
20 feet away form where this bus was stuck was ample parking. there is a huge stretch of street area with no homes/driveways that ppl could have parked. there is enough room in Brookhill for most cars to park with one sided parking, just some people will need to walk a few extra feet. all streets need this not only this corner.
Reply to 20: Perhaps people should park in driveways. If the landlords would let their tenants pull into the driveway it would solve alot of the trouble. Or you could park on a block that has more room. Just keep the cars on one side of the street.
If people stop parking on the streets we wont have this problem.My neighborhood was plow from curb to cueb.Wonder why? Because there was no cars on the streets.Everybody complaints about the hard working mens at DPW but theres so much they can do.If you dont want to go thru this park off the roads.Lakewood PD should start towing cars during snow removal and that way DPW will do it from curb to curb all over Lakewood.I travel around other towns and Lakewood was by far better than the other towns.Go job DPW.
When you build to get the most $$ into the developers’ pockets and neglect proper urban planning, you have all these problems and more. Zoning board, shmoning board, there are builders in this town who get what they want without going through the proper channels, while the rest of us shmoes go by the rules and don’t get what we want. I’ve seen it in my neighborhood and I’m sure manyother have also.
THere is a good reason for proper urban planning and if we would plan properly, many of these problems wouldn’t exist.
How about the people that refuse to shovel their sidewalks? In my development there is one corner where all the children wait for the bus. They are all standing in the street because the person living in that house won’t shovel his sidewalk! He was approached by several people and all he said is that its not his achrayus since he is only a renter and not the home owner! What nerve!! Is there an ordinance that makes people shovel in front of their homes? Do we have to wait for an accident??
One side of the street parking? Great idea. SO HOW COME NOBODY LISTENS TO IT? e.g. (moderated) The signs are clear. Does anybody listen? Nope.
#23 – I live on a block with private houses and at all times there are none or almost no cars on the road as we have “sufficient private driveways” – this is a main road, and there were NO cars parked, and there was at least 2 feet of snow from the curb!! No “curb to curb” clearance!! When I wanted to park on the road TODAY for a short while, it was too dangerous because way too far out into the street because of the snow didn’t let me get near the curb!
More signs? More rules? People around here to follow the rules or signs now, not even stop signs. I know I saw the PD towing vehicles yesterday, and did it help? My area was plowed when the snow started last Wednesday and then not again until around 4pm the next day, but no one parked on the street except two vehicles which haven’t moved in months. And don’t be lazy shovel your driveway, an SUV caught on fire yesterday because it got stuck in its own driveway because the owner tried to power over the snow bank in front of the house instead of shoveling the snow and overheated the transmission. I saw one of my neighbors continuosly driving back and forth over his driveway trying to flatten out the snow. As soon as the plow came through he didn’t shovel that snow out of the way and was stuck there for a day. Common Sense people!!!!!!!!!!!
Well today I passed the location of where this photo was taken and everyone parked on one side traffic was SO MUCH smoother, incomparable to the past few days. I think permanent parking signs would be helpful reminders to residents and let non residents who r unfamiliar with these roads know where to park.
Thank you TLS for publishing this article to help make ppl aware
The resident is correct in that generally the homeowner, not the renter, is obligated to keep the sidewalks clear. This is one of the responsibilities of home ownership. Perhaps you can contact the manager/ owner of this property.
I am in total agreement with you anonymous. The thing is, this parking has been an issue for some time now. We should not just vent our frustration during the winter season when we can’t get through the streets. We should be talking about this throughout the year until something is done.
There should be parking restrictions on almost every street in this little/big town. This is also saying that the planning board can’t foresee problems before they arise.
Vehicles should be towed if they are impeding the “proper” cleaning of the street by the plows. I say proper cleaning because sometimes the plows don’t do a good job; they clean one small path down the middle and leave. I guess they don’t live on these streets.
The sidewalks should also be cleaned, the kids have no where to stand and wait for the buses either, they are standing in the streets. Something Has to be done and soon.