Hearing on MU arena stalled until Oct. 26
Traffic engineers' conflicting schedules force zoners to carry plan
BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

WEST LONG BRANCH - Appare-ntly, two different traffic engineers could not steer their schedules to intersect at borough hall recently.

Consequently, continued hearings on Monmouth University's use variance application for an indoor sports arena are jammed at least until Oct. 26, the next date the West Long Branch Zoning Board of Adjustment can fit in both engineers' testimony.

Originally, both David Shropshire, the university's traffic expert, and a traffic engineer from T&M Associates, the borough's contracted engineering firm, were to come before the zoners last Thursday to address questions raised by Coolidge Avenue resident John Berrian at the Aug. 31 session.

Like a handful of other borough residents, Berrian has voiced concerns that vehicles coming and going from the university's proposed $34 million multiple activity center, which will hold slightly more than 4,800 patrons, will overwhelm nearby roadways and lead to traffic and parking nightmares locally.

In the hope of getting both engineers together at borough hall at exactly the same time, the zoners elected to carry the university's application for the 152,400-square-foot facility to Oct. 26, which is the board's next regular meeting.

For now, those on both sides of the issue - university officials who are lobbying for the arena as a venue for major campus events including men's basketball, and nearby residents who believe their quality of life would be disturbed if the facility is built - must continue waiting to see if the board ultimately approves the application.

Until Berrian, who acknowledges that he is not a traffic engineer, presented his estimates of how many vehicles would enter and exit the on campus arena and its parking lots during major events, it did not seem that Shropshire, who testified before the board in June and July, would be coming back for more questioning.

The board then asked the university's attorney to bring Shropshire back a second time to address Berrian's figures and to determine their validity.

The controversial application has been before the board since May 25.

If approved by the board and constructed, the multipurpose center would be used primarily for basketball games, other sporting events, convocations, graduations and other campus functions, according to university officials.

Plans presented by the university show that the arena would be built on the university's south campus about 647 feet from the school's Larchwood Avenue entrance.

Basketball games and other sporting activities are currently held in the more than 40-year-old Boylan Gymnasium. University officials have testified that facility is inadequate to accommodate all of the school's sports teams, practices and other programs as well as other functions.

However, at the last meeting, Berrian referred to a university Web site video that eluded to the arena holding other types of entertainment such as large-scale concerts.

He also stated that the university has misled the public about the true capacity of the arena, which was stated at 6,000 on the university's Web site video back in May.

The Oct. 26 hearing will begin at 7:30 p.m. inside council chambers at borough hall, 965 Broadway.