Residents Express Concerns About Continued Parking Issues

While residents of one South Street apartment building still have access to parking, the situation remains less than ideal and some fear even that could eventually be taken away from them.

About 35 people met in the senior center at Town Hall on Monday, Sept. 20, for an informal meeting organized by councilmember Alison Deeb to discuss an ongoing concern tenants of South Street Apartments–formerly The Ambassador–and homeowners on several neighboring streets are having regarding where people are allowed to park. Currently, tenants at South Street Apartments are allowed to park by permit in the municipal parking lot behind Town Hall. However, a recently-introduced ordinance has them concerned that they could lose that privilege in addition to the ability to park on area streets like Glenwood Road, located behind the apartment building.

"There is a nervousness," said Kristen Wedderburn, executive secretary for Mayor Timothy Dougherty and Business Administrator Michael Rogers, speaking as a resident of South Street Apartments. "What if Town Hall parking is no longer available to us? It comes down to the residents not knowing what their parking options are."

Wedderburn noted the need for residents of the apartment building to file with the Business Administrator monthly for a permit to park in Town Hall, and that many do not know of that requirement. She also said certain hardship permits can be issued with Business Administrator approval. "I think the parking, in general, needs to be looked at," she said.

The recently-introduced ordinance O-29 called for the amendment of certain residential permit parking restrictions, which would fold previously unrestricted roads like nearby Knollwood Road–where some apartment building residents have parked–into the system of roads in Morristown, which have two-hour parking restrictions. That road and several others were removed from the ordinance upon introduction, as several council members and the mayor expressed a need to examine the language of the ordinance more carefully before adopting it. 

Remaining on the list of roads to have enforced restrictions was Glenwood Road. That road, Deeb said, has already had parking restrictions in place and the inclusion of it in the ordinance was to get the hours of enforcement posted to match what are currently listed in the code book for parking in town.

Deeb, who represents the fourth-ward, which includes this area, told those at the meeting the issue of parking on the side streets near the apartment building was first presented to the town over a year ago, under the previous administration, when some residents said "they felt the street parking in the neighborhood was getting worse."

In the last year, tenants of South Street Apartments have had to shift where they park. Previously, they had been allowed to park across James Street in an office lot at 175 South St. When the Visiting Nurse Association of Northern New Jersey moved in last year, parking was prohibited to anyone not affiliated with the organization.

Deeb said the town has tried to talk to the VNA about once again allowing South Street Apartments residents to park there, to no avail. She said it is her vision to have something worked out with the VNA to allow parking there to return.

However, for several in attendance, that would neither be possible, nor the solution. 

Elizabeth Murphy, a resident of South Street Apartments, said she wants to be able to park on the road, as a taxpaying resident of Morristown. She said that while the streets are public property, the VNA parking lot is private. "Can you take a car from each driveway and say I can park my car," she asked. "I want to be able to park my car on a public street when I come home at night."

Many said while they appreciated having parking in the Town Hall lot, for some, especially the elderly, disabled and those with children, crossing South Street to get to their homes can be a harrowing experience. "I'm pregnant and I have a child and people are honking at me [when I cross the street]," Wedderburn said.

Still, some, like Knollwood Road resident Richard Ray, said street parking on the side roads "is worse now than it ever was.

"It's not your house, it's not your street," he said. "I can't go park my car in front of a house on Miller Road. I'm sure they would object."

Mark Furman, of Crestwood Road, said despite some in attendance insisting parking cars on the side streets was safe, "Walking around on Crestwood, on Glenwood is dangerous, especially at night.

"If one spot is open, you're heading in," he said. "It's risky for me and my daughter. It's not a safe situation."

Furman said he had hoped someone representing the property owners for South Street Apartments, Morgan Properties, had been in attendance. Deeb said both Morgan Properties, as well as the VNA, had been invited to attend the informal meeting.

In addition to these issues, problems with the timing of the traffic light on the corner of South and James streets, as well as road conditions in inclement weather, were also mentioned as problems.

Council member Raline Smith-Reid and the mayor were also in attendance. Dougherty, who is serving his first year in office as mayor, said residents could "rest easy for four years.

"Parking issues are everywhere in this town," he said. "Ambassador residents have every right and will be treated right. We'll work with finding a solution that works for everybody."

For several in attendance, that solution could be having the town commit, in writing, to allowing residents 24-hour parking privileges in the Town Hall lot, with those with hardships allowed permits to park on the street.

"You have to address this comprehensively," Furman said. "This cannot be committeed to death."

Deeb said this was only the first in what would be a series of informal meetings about the issue. The next meeting had yet to be scheduled. Ordinance O-29 is to be voted on for approval at the next Town Council meeting, 7:30 p.m., Sept. 28.

Disclosure: Morristown Patch Editor John Dunphy is a resident of South Street Apartments.