Commissioners Defuse One Set of Neighbors but Leave Another Smoldering

Haddonfield commissioners defused one set of neighbors but left another property owner smoldering Monday after hearing complaints about two separate construction staging sites in residential neighborhoods.

Six neighbors close to a Maple Avenue lot used to store equipment, dirt fill and debris peppered the commissioners with complaints about the site Monday at a meeting at the Municipal Hall.

Utility work on drainage and sewer lines are being done in the area near Grove Street and Maple Avenue. A tense, nearly hour-long portion of the commissioner's regular work session was quieted after the three commissioners said the work should be completed within the next month and the lot will not likely be used in a similar way in the foreseeable future.

The outcome wasn't as good for James Poliero, the owner of a rental property in the unit block of Stiles Avenue, near the Tanner Street construction project. Poliero said his property has been damaged by heavy trucks running over his sidewalk and landscaping.

He also told the commissioners he saw a contractor, later identified as the owner of a construction company working on Tanner Street, urinating in the lot one morning near his rental property.

"I was there getting mail and I saw him urinating," Poliero, a Realtor said after the meeting. "I yelled at him and said 'Hey! What are you doing?' He just looked at me and kept on peeing."

Poliero said the man got into a truck with a trailer and equipment attached and sped away. He said he followed him for a few blocks to get a license plate but eventually failed. He saw the man a few days later and told a police officer who identified him as a construction company owner, he said.

Poliero said he eventually declined to file a police complaint.

"If you do anything for the property owners on Maple Avenue, keep in mind I'm in a worse situation," Poliero told the commissioners.

"Was that the only time you saw that happen?" Mayor Tish Colombi, one of the borough's three commissioners asked. "You didn't see it happen again?"

Poliero said he didn't, but he doesn't live on the property and is infrequently there.

Commissioners Ed Borden and Jeff Kasko did not respond to Poliero's complaint about the contractor, but agreed to look into repairing Poliero's sidewalk when the Tanner Street project, which is nearly three months behind scheduled completion, is finally done.

Borough Administrator Sharon McCullough admitted Tuesday that construction staging sites in residential neighborhoods need to be monitored more closely.

"Obviously it's a concern," she said, about Poliero's complaint. "I wasn't there, I didn't see it. He spoke to the police about it; the right to follow up and have something done that way. If they're out on the site, they need to get a Porta-Potty back so they don't do something like this. It's not acceptable under any nature."

McCullough said the contractors previously had a Porta-Potty at the site but it was recently removed as their work wrapped up. She said the lot, at 60 Stiles Ave., will made into an asphalt parking lot, with green space, after Tanner Street is done.

Construction staging areas save the borough money by allowing contractors to store equipment locally. It has traditionally been done at the borough public works facility on Centre Street. The sites in residential neighborhoods on Stiles and Maple avenues, and several other locations recently, were needed because of an environmental remediation project at the public works facility.

McCullough said that work is now done and the facility can be used for staging of future construction projects.