Zoning Board, residents query RBC expansion
Congestion, green space, enrollment are concerns
BY SARAH KLEPNER
Staff Writer

Red Bank Catholic High School Principal Robert Abatemarco testifies at the Red Bank Zoning Board meeting May 3.

RED BANK - - Traffic concerns continue to be at the forefront of discussion about Red Bank Catholic High School's proposed student center.

RBC's attorney, Martin McGann, presented an overview of the plan and explained the layout of the building at a meeting of the Red Bank Zoning Board May 3.

Several residents from the neighborhood around the school questioned school officials and the school's expert witnesses on the plan.

The project has been revised to result in a net loss of one parking space on school property, down from what had been a loss of four parking spaces.

New, also, is a plan to bring buses on site, which will be safer for students, said Geoffrey Gaunt, of the SLAM Collaborative, the project's engineers.

According to local residents, however, the main issue is congestion on their streets caused by parents dropping off and picking up students.

Michael Miller, Drummond Place, said there are cars idling on the street for up to an hour in the afternoons. He asked if there were any plans to bring parents onto the school property when picking up their children.

St. James Primary School Principal Janet Dolan, who was not at the meeting, disagrees with Miller's observation.

"Nobody's sitting there for an hour," she said. Dolan also said that the school sends out traffic procedure directives at the beginning of every school year. St. James has 15 sending districts, not all of which provide busing.

Bob Chenal, also of Drummond Place, said, "I like the design of the student center. My question is about circulation."

He described problems with visibility caused by parents parking on both sides of the street. In fact, "there was a fender-bender yesterday when a friend was leaving our driveway," he said

Enrico Cibiattoni, Peter's Place, asked, "Would it be possible to do a trial run with the bus layout right now?"

McGann said, "None of this can happen until we get the project approved."

Dolan explained that the bus stacking plan depends on changing the patterns of student movement throughout the day.

"Are you still planning to turn the open space at Broad and Peters into a parking lot?" asked Boris Kofman, secretary of the borough Shade Tree Committee.

The Shade Tree Committee has formally expressed disapproval of the plan, due to the loss of green space.

Speaking as an individual, Kofman said, "The county Open Space Plan shows that Red Bank has a huge deficiency of open space. Based on the number of residents, we should have 70 more acres. In addition, this pocket park is really the only green area in the downtown. I think paving it over to provide parking for a dozen cars is a short-sighted plan. I hope RBC will reconsider and preserve this park."

Red Bank Catholic Principal Robert Abatemarco answered questions from the board about the planned use of the student center.

He testified that the school would not hold athletic contests in its gym and at the new building simultaneously.

Alternate member Lou DiMento, one of two Planning Board members sitting in for the five Zoning Board members recusing themselves, asked about capping enrollment.

At an earlier hearing, Abatemarco said that RBC planned to scale back its student population. "We have a school of 1,100 students and we plan to cap that at 1,015. That is a smaller enrollment than we had in the 1980s," he said in December. DiMento asked for a formal agreement by the school to cap enrollment, which Abatemarco deferred to the bishop of the Diocese of Trenton.