Demolition begins at Renaissance site

Demolition work appears to have started within the past week at the site of Renaissance at Rahway.

Work seems to have started primarily at the former Triangle Inn, a three-story building at the corner of Monroe and Montgomery streets.

The four-story project will include 88 rental units. It was originally proposed as a 72-unit condo complex before developers got approval last summer from the Redevelopment Agency to switch to rentals. The Planning Board gave its approval in the fall.

Waiting Room plans patio area

For those of you looking for more outdoor dining options in Rahway, take heart, there's something on the way. Rahway's most popular bar, The Waiting Room received Planning Board Tuesday night to build a 1,089-square foot concrete patio behind the building at 66 E. Cherry St.

Owner Chris Wenson said the patio would cover the entire area behind his building on East Cherry Street but only part of it would be used for outdoor dining. He expects it could be open by next spring, with as many as 10 to 15 tables.

The Waiting Room will mark its third year at its new location on Saturday. It relocated from the corner of Lewis and Irving streets to make way for the parking garage.

It's summer time: What's your favorite park?

It's summer, you should be spending time outside (not in front of a computer), so what better poll question for this time of year than:

"What's your favorite park in Rahway?"
Berzinec Park
Bezega Park
Brennan Field
Flanagan Field
Hart Street Park
Howard Field
Kiwanis Park
Madden Field
Madison Avenue/Greenfield Park
Milton Lake Park
Rahway River Park
Riverfront Park
Ross Park
Skarrow Field
Stein Field
Tully Field
Wheatena Park
Williams Field

Some of these are municipal parks, some county parks, and some are passive parks while others are more active. Whether you like to kick back and read or kick some balls around, your favorite park should be listed above as we tried to include as many as we could think of (with some help from readers). Let me know if we missed one that you'd want to include.

Council hires arts consultant

City Council approved a one-year, $18,600 contract for a consultant to serve as a liaison with the Arts District Advisory Board. The contract was approved during a special meeting June 30.

Elizabeth-based Coen Consulting Group, headed up by former county director of heritage affairs Susan Coen, will serve as a liaison between the Rahway Arts District Board and City Council, helping to raise money, secure grants and coordinate activities between local arts organizations, according to City Administrator Peter Pelissier.

The Arts District Advisory Board has been considering designs for the Hamilton Street amphitheater project, which is expected to begin construction late this year.

Also at the June 30 meeting, City Council approved increases of 5 percent and 8 percent in water and sewer rates, respectively.

Dornoch: Savoy to begin in a month

An nj.com report this week quotes Dornoch managing partner Glen Fishman claiming that work at The Savoy is expected to begin within 30 days. It’s been almost a year since steel went up at the site at the corner of Main and Monroe streets.

Dornoch had to replace a lender who backed out, according to the report. Their other planned development, The Westbury, will follow. "You're never going to get financing for a 150-unit building [Westbury] until you sell out your 36-unit building [Savoy]," Fishman told nj.com.

City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier still stands by Fishman even though Dornoch has not built anything yet. Something ultimately will be built at The Westbury site though not in the immediate or near future, he said during a progress report to the Redevelopment Agency board last month. Pelissier offered commissioners an overview of projects around town over the past decade, adding that "every project may not materialize as originally conceived."

Dornoch “did come in and buy up some nasty properties,” Pelissier said, suggesting that the site for The Westbury be acquired by lease for temporary surface parking in the meantime.

Though he said he’s not positive it will be built, in a meeting as recently as June 30, Pelissier said Fishman gave verbal assurances that they would move on The Savoy. A forebearance letter from Wachovia bank, which restructured the deal, should give comfort to Dornoch’s financial backers, Pelissier said.

Assuming 18 months for construction, if The Savoy does begin this month, you're talking early 2011 before focus shifts to The Westbury site.

Poll: Stop signs go home

Most of you seem to think Irving Street could do without a couple of the stop signs, according to the latest poll:

It's been a year since two-way traffic came to downtown -- what do you think?
What's with all the stop signs? 47 percent (44/93)
Love it! 29 percent (27/93)
Hate it! 12 percent (12/93)
It slowed down traffic for sure. 10 percent (10/93)

Some of you commented by email that at least one or two stop signs could go because you found it annoying. Others said downtown is now safe for pedestrians because cars have slowed down since the traffic changes, and suggested that motorists looking to get to St. Georges Avenue or Route 1 find an alternative to Irving Street. I was surprised when all the stop signs went up at first but I'm used to them now, but I usually only have to get through two of them once a day.

The stop signs are more of a parking necessity than a traffic control measure, according to Police Chief John Rodger. If one of the stop signs were eliminated, it would adversely affect the parking around that intersection because of line of sight issues. "Since parking is at a premium we are very hesitant to eliminate any spots," said Rodger, adding that "we continue to evaluate the potential to add parking where we can." The department frequently received complaints about speeding on Irving Street before the pattern change. He expects traffic flow to improve with the intersection project at Irving and Hamilton streets this summer.

There may be changes coming to Elm Avenue, making it two-way at least halfway from Irving Street - but not all the way to Main Street - to allow vehicles to enter the Park Square.

Anyone have suggestions for a new poll question?

Downtown parking options, recommendations

A four-story, 507-space parking deck, estimated to cost $10.3 million, will be the option pursued for Lot B. It will be a while, however, until it's built.

A downtown parking assessment commissioned by the Parking Authority presented five options for a parking garage on the Lot B site, ranging in size from 334 spaces to 507 spaces. Four of the five options were four stories high, only one was three stories and all of the options included some ground-floor retail. Tim Haahs Engineers Architects recommended two of the five options as most efficient and economical: Option 2, which cost $8.6 million to build 393 spaces, and Option 3, which cost $10.3 million for a 507-space deck. Both had the least expensive per-space cost among the five.

By all indications, The Savoy will move forward, Parking Authority Chairman Matt Dobrowloski said, and whoever eventually does The Westbury project, there will still be a need for parking to compliment any structure and parking needs. "We must plan smart and not plan just minimal and then regret we are lacking. Growth will eventually happen and so will need," he said. There is no timeline, however, for construction of a new parking deck as the authority is purusing land acquisition and funding sources. City Administrator Peter Pelissier has said funding would likely come from some combination of parking authority, city and/or developer fees.

Rates would be $100 monthly, $3 for up to two hours, and a flat $5 for events. The report estimates that commuters would purchase 165 permits by the 10th year of the deck, and other estimates on the number of monthly permits purchased by residents and retail at The Westbury and The Savoy.

Among the nine recommendations by Haahs were:
* Installation of parking meters along Main Street from Poplar to Emerson and other on-street parking areas to promote turnover and better manage vehicles abusing time limits.
* Consider increasing rates directly adjacent to the train station as the current $5 per day is regularly filled, indicating market demand.

Downtown parking assessment

I forked over $17.50 to the Parking Authority for a copy of the 45-page final downtown parking assessment by Blue Bell, Pa.-based Tim Haahs Engineers Architects, commissioned last year. I finally got to reviewing it and will present it in two posts: parking needs followed by recommendations tomorrow.

The report suggests a future parking shortage of about 343 spaces, or 508 spaces if the city accommodates all future transit users, over the next 10 years. The estimate, however, does not include building a deck on the site of the 65-space Lot B (located between Main and East Cherry streets), taking into account future or planned developments. The question remains when, or if, those future developments will come.

Parking inventory
There were 275 on-street parking spaces and 834 off-street spaces within the study area, not including private residences or businesses, for a total 1,109 parking spaces. The study area included St. Mary's lot, YMCA, Lot F (adjacent to RSI bank), Lot H (corner of West Milton Avenue and Broad Street), Lot B, Lewis Street deck, Lewis Street lot behind River Place. The Lewis Street parking deck accounts for 63 percent of off-street inventory.

Peak hour parking demand was 1 to 3 p.m., with 699 vehicles occupying the 1,109 spaces (63 percent). On-street parking was 55 percent occupied (152 spaces) and off-street parking was 66 percent (547 spaces) occupied. There's a surplus of about 355 spaces (245 off-street spaces, 71 on-street). During peak, two locations had occupancy of 80+ percent: YMCA lot (100%) and Lot F (82%). Eight on-street locations had 80+ percent occupancy with half at a full 100 percent occupied.

The report takes into account 455 future/planned residential units, with 252 parking spaces:
- The Savoy, 36 units, 22 spaces
- Station Place, 116/125
- The Westbury, 112/0
- Park Square, 159/205

The report also includes planned retail/office/restaurant space as follows:
- 20,700 office space at Westbury
- 19,200 retail/restaurant at Westbury
- 6,000 retail at The Savoy
- 6,320 retail at Park Square
31,520 total

Based on ratios for retail/restaurant and office space, and residential units, the report estimates an increase in demand of 114 spaces (800 space demand minus 686 planned spaces).