Andover to consider resolution for traffic

By Rose Sgarlato
ANDOVER — With the Jan. 26 Andover Township meeting rescheduled due to a snowstorm to Jan. 29 at 5 p.m., attendance was light and so was the agenda.

At what might be considered the first council meeting of the year after the reorganization meeting, all committee members were present including newcomer Jack Burke.

Mayor Mike Lensak conducted the regular meeting with no executive session preceding it due to the postponement.

With approval of the consent agenda, the public portion of the meeting was opened up with Rick Melfi, land use member and president of the Andover Township Fire Department, initiating a discussion on adding a turning lane to the intersection of Newton-Sparta Road and Limecrest Road.

Melfi said he is concerned with some recent activity on the county road including a bus accident.

"I think we would be a lot safer with a turning lane, and I want to open a discussion on what we can do as a committee to ask the county to put a turning lane there,” Melfi said.

The committee was on board with Melfi’s request to approach the county supported by the fact that Newton-Sparta Road is one of the most heavily traveled roads in Sussex County, and as council member Dolores Blackburn pointed out, was the only traffic light on that road that didn’t have a turning light.

Township attorney Fred Semrau suggested creating a new resolution that other towns may use to support Andover Township as the turning lane issue affects traffic flow county-wide.

Township Clerk Vita Thompson said the county would most likely want a study conducted, but the police department would have traffic and accident reports to support the request.

There was no resolutions or old business to address on the agenda.

In new business, council member Tom Walsh is on a mission to make Andover Township more business-friendly and suggested working more closely with zoning officer Fred Suljic and the Economic Development committee and land use board.

“I want to start fixing ordinances, so people are not so encumbered by restrictions and costs to open new businesses on specific properties,” Walsh said. “We should tap into our resources.”

Walsh specifically referred to a property on Rt. 206 that may have been deemed for limited use at one point, but can be revisited, according to Semrau.

Both Semrau and Blackburn responded with concern over preserving the precedent that the Land Use Board sets.

“It works both ways,” Semrau said. “The Land Use Board also wants new business and cooperation from the committee.”

Semrau and the committee agreed that certain pre-existing ordinances should be revisited for clarification.

“Particularly along Rt. 206, that area needs revitalization and we should do everything we can to get that moving,” Lensak said.

The next scheduled meeting is Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m..