Lakewood residents who have been waiting for years for a traffic signal at Chestnut Street & New Hampshire Avenue apparently now need to wait a little longer as an adjoining property owner has delayed the project, FAA News has learned.
Ocean County has been working for numerous years on a plan to improve the congested intersection of Chestnut Street and New Hampshire Avenue with a modified jughandle combined with two new traffic signals.
The project finally received the prerequisite State approval which was holding up the project for years and the County has begun the process of acquiring the adjoining rights-of-way necessary to install the infrastructure and utilities.
If all goes well, County officials anticipate soliciting bids for the project in the first quarter of 2023 and commencing road work in the upcoming Spring.
However, it appears that an adjoining property owner is now delaying the project by refusing to sign off on the right-of-way acquisition, and even to argue against the County's appraisal of their property. This has forced the County to now run to Court to seek Judicial intervention in the matter in order to keep their traffic signal project moving ahead.
If the county would simply install a standard traffic signal with a leed northbound left turning arrow, southbound traffic would become an even major disaster as they would need to wait longer for their green signal.
Instead, County Engineers have worked for years designing a plan to completely redesign the existing Route 70 westbound exit ramp to meet up with a new T intersection with New Hampshire Avenue. This new intersection will get its own traffic signal to allow for safe right and left turns onto Chestnut Street. This way, the intersection of Chestnut Street and New Hampshire Avenue will receive its own traffic signal which will permit safe turning from Chestnut Street onto New Hampshire Avenue, but no left turns from New Hampshire Avenue northbound onto Chestnut Street, as northbound left turning traffic will use the redesigned jughandle. Traffic flow on New Hampshire Avenue southbound will be further enhanced with installation of a new right turning lane onto Chestnut Street.
Both Chestnut Street and New Hampshire Avenue are under County jurisdiction, however due this intersections proximity to Route 70 and because the project includes modifying the existing Route 70 westbound exit ramp, the project required approval from the New Jersey Department of Transportation - not a simple thing to acquire.
Finally, this prerequisite State approval has been finalized! County officials have begun the process of acquiring the adjoining rights-of-way necessary to install the infrastructure and utilities, with the anticipation that they would be in position to solicit bids for a contract for the project in the first quarter of 2023, and commencing road work in the upcoming Spring.
However, FAA News has learned that an adjoining property owner appears to be delaying the project as they have refused to sign off on the right-of-way acquisition, and even to argue against the County's appraisal of their property. This has forced the County to now run to Court to seek Judicial intervention in the matter in order to keep their traffic signal project moving ahead.
In April 2021, County officials notified SK Lakewood Associates, the owner of Andrew's Corner Apartments, that they were going to visit the site to do an appraisal of the right of way which they need to acquire. Representatives of Andrew's Corner responded that they wanted to be present during the appraisal. The appraisal was done shortly afterwards.
In September 2022, due to continuation of the project design work, County officials determined that they needed to do a minor revision to the acquisition map and legal description. They forwarded this information to the developers of Andrew's Corner for their signature of approval. The developers have not given any response.
At this point, County officials have appraised the value of the property, property rights, and site improvements to be acquired to be worth $235,000. The County will additionally acquire temporary rights to a construction easement area for a limited period of time during the construction process, at an annual rent of $8,600. The total property area to be acquired is 7,667 sq feet.
The refusal of this property owner to sign off on this right-of-way acquisition has delayed the County's traffic signal project.
Ocean County, represented by Attorney Laura Benson, has now filed in Court for an Order appointing 3 Commissioners to fix the compensation to be paid for the taking of the land.
Essentially, once the judge signs off on everything, a Board of 3 members is tasked with fixing the compensation to be paid for the taking of the land, and then once that amount is set, the property owner will get notified that they can come pick up the check.
However, this process can get drawn out for a period of time, which may end up further delaying installation of the traffic signal.
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1 comment:
These guys are real douche bags for not giving any response at all. If they want to argue that they deserve more money, they can attempt to make such argument. However, by refusing to answer they deserve this call-out.
Even if they do want to argue on the amount, they won't get anywhere by letting this go to court as the judge will side with the County's appraisal.
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