Stoneleigh Resident: 'Dorian Road is Just a Mess'

Dorian Road was characterized as hazardous during a plea by a Stoneleigh Park resident to the last week.

Resident Diana Barabas, whose backyard fronts Dorian Road and , proposed to the BOE during last Tuesday's meeting that the school system begin to use the parking lot behind the high school for more transportation needs instead of Dorian Road. She cited noise, darkness and the narrowness of Dorian Road as part of her pitch.

Barabas said one concern for her and her neighbors is how narrow Dorian gets with cars and buses parked on both sides during pick-up and drop-off for students. She said during the late afternoon, after darkness falls in winter, the street becomes more of a hazard if students jaywalk on Dorian between the parked vehicles. She said this hazard could be eliminated if pick-up and drop-off could be moved to the back parking lot for after school activities.

Barabas also said that buses for pick-up and drop-off have been arriving before 8 a.m. and idle in front of the high school, causing a noise problem for residents in the area.

"It is getting excessive," she said. "I don't know why they need to be in front of the building when there is a parking lot in the back."

Parking around Westfield High School has become one of the most contentious issues on the south side, with residents debating which streets students should be allowed to park on and where pick-up and drop-off points should be located. A to allow student parking at the that the Board of Education deemed too high.

A community forum on parking and traffic issues in the neighborhood, co-sponsored by the Town Council and the Board of Education, was cancelled as a result of January's ice storm. Councilman Keith Loughlin, the vice chairman of the Council's public safety, transportation and parking committee, said the forum will be rescheduled. The forum will include the town's traffic safety consultant and is being held to help develop a long term plan for parking and traffic planning in the neighborhoods around the high school, Edison Intermediate School, Kehler Stadium and Lincoln School.

Barabas said she intends to attend the forum when it is rescheduled, but wanted to get some of her ideas out to the BOE in advance.

"Dorian Road is just a mess," Barabas said.