NEWTON — The Newton Council appears ready to ease limits on overnight parking in town and to institute new rules on how and when property owners can cut down trees.
At Monday's meeting, the council also voted to equip and man a vehicle repair facility for town-owned vehicles, especially police cars with Councilwoman Michelle Teets asking that there be an in-depth look at the new operation in 18 months to see if the town is saving on repair bills.
Currently most police cars are sent to a dealer or private repair shop for routine maintenance or minor repairs, such as changing tires and replacing water pumps.
But over the past couple of years, the town has saved money on various bonded projects and accumulated more than the $51,500 required to equip the new shop, officials said. A certified mechanic is already on the town's payroll and that position would be moved to full-time.
Police Chief Steven VanNieuwland has said having work done in a town-operated garage, similar to what's done in several other municipalities in Sussex County, would save the town on both labor and parts, for which Newton currently pays consumer retail prices. With its own garage, the town could be able to buy parts at wholesale.
Keeping the work in-house would save time and the town would have better control on priority repairs, so the police department could get its vehicles back in operation more quickly, the chief added. The garage would also service the fleet used by other town officials and some work needed by the Department of Public Works.
Parking in Newton could get easier
The chief and the town's engineer, Cory Stoner from Harold E. Pellow & Associates, also spoke about a study done on parking on streets in Newton.
Currently, there are restrictions on "overnight" parking with most restrictions only allowing vehicle from overnight Saturday into Sunday. However, residents can request temporary overnight privileges on other nights due to special circumstances such as the paving of a driveway.
After discussion, the council seemed in agreement that Town Attorney Eric M. Bernstein should write up amendments to the current ordinance. If adopted, they would expand overnight parking to include Friday night through Sunday morning. Bernstein and Stoner would also review which streets would be covered by the new restrictions.
As an older town, many of Newton's side streets date to horse-and-buggy days and were built without modern automobiles − and parking spaces − in mind.
State mandates new tree protections
Bernstein also told the council that the state is now requiring most local governments to have in place an ordinance dealing with trees which sets out restrictions on how and how many trees property owners can take down. He noted that the state's model ordinance sets up a replacement schedule or a fee schedule which governments can set up.
Newton has a Shade Tree Commission which does some of that work now, but Bernstein said there are some new and stronger state requirements, especially concerning flood control and erosion. He and Stoner were directed to draw up proposed amendments to the town's tree ordinance, which the council will consider. Email: bscruton@njherald.com Twitter/X: @brucescrutonNJH
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