Ventnor City residents press commission on parking and safety impacts from Troy Avenue townhouses

Ventnor City commissioners heard extended public comment Jan. 8 on parking, traffic flow and safety around a proposed redevelopment of the former Troy Avenue school site, which the mayor said developers have revised to 33 townhouses after earlier higher‑density proposals.

Mayor Creable framed the legal and practical limits of municipal authority, saying the property has been privately owned since 1987 and ‘‘the property could have been developed by right,’’ but staff and the developer negotiated plan changes to reduce units and improve streetscape setbacks and aesthetics. He urged focus on what the city can change through engineering, signage and enforcement rather than reopening zoning decisions.

The meeting’s nut graf: residents representing streets near Troy Avenue told the commission the neighborhood already faces chronic summer parking shortages and that the new homes, while including on‑site parking, will add cars to narrow one‑side streets and intensify existing visibility and flow problems. ‘‘We’re starting out with more cars belonging to residents than there are spaces on the street,’’ said Victor Pearlman, who lives on South Avalon Avenue.

Multiple speakers proposed permit parking, adjusted hourly limits or other targeted measures to protect residents. Warren Castina, who lives on South A., said the planned development’s additional vehicle trips could increase traffic on the one‑way connectors emergency vehicles use, creating flow issues for first responders. Katherine Francis, a nearby homeowner, urged the city to study intersection visibility and recommended traffic‑control measures, saying horns and near‑misses are already frequent at key corners.

City staff cited a developer-commissioned traffic and air‑quality assessment that concluded additional traffic impacts would be localized and within acceptable thresholds; the mayor acknowledged that studies are only one input. ‘‘The study confirms that residents already experience daily dense neighborhood congestion. Tonight is about local parking concerns we can try to address,’’ he said.

Commissioners and staff committed to further steps: collecting residents’ contact information, involving police and fire in follow-up, checking accident and enforcement data for problematic corners, and evaluating near‑term mitigations such as improved signage, re‑striping and sight‑triangle corrections. The mayor said demolition of rear structures is tentatively scheduled for September and that design‑phase public meetings on streetscape and curb management will follow.

No regulatory vote on the Troy Avenue project occurred at the meeting; the developer’s plan and any related municipal approvals will proceed through separate planning and permitting processes. The commission encouraged residents to submit specific locations and evidence of recurring problems for staff to analyze and to plan further public engagement as the development progresses.