July 31, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 5 Franklin Lakes Demographic study predicts drop in enrollment by Frank J. McMahon A demographic study of the Frank- lin Lakes Public School District that was conducted by Whitehall Associates, an educational facilities planning consultant, indicates a potential enrollment decrease. According to the study, the district’s total enrollment is expected to decrease by 339 students, or 26.10 percent, in the next five years. Superintendent Frank Romano thinks the enrollment may only decrease by 282 students due to the potential enrollment from multiple housing developments in the borough. The study indicates that, although the borough’s population increased by more than 60 percent in the 1940s and 1950s and more than doubled in the 1960s, the popula- tion has stabilized and has remained rela- tively flat through 2010. The preschool student enrollment his- tory shows enrollment growing from nine students in the 2007-08 school year to 33 in 2012-13. That enrollment is projected to drop each of the next five years to 24 in 2017-18. Enrollment from pre-K to grade eight in 2007-08 was 1,471 students. That enroll- ment has decreased since then to 1,299 students in 2012-13 and the projections for Getting around Wyckoff Lions Club member Russ Hoeffs with his grandson Owen Di Leo at the annual car- nival sponsored by the Lions Clubs of Franklin Lakes and Wyckoff. the next five years indicate that the total enrollment will decrease to 1,017 students in 2017-18. That projection includes 57 K-8 students based on the potential enrollments from the Mill Pond and Colonial Road mul- tiple family affordable housing complexes that have been constructed, or are planned to be built in the borough. The report also points out that there has been a 54.21 percent decrease in the birth rate in Franklin Lakes within the past 10 years. That drop has contributed to a marked decrease in the school population. According to the report, the birth rates from the 2007-08 school year to the 2012- 13 school year reflect a decrease from 107 to 85. The report also indicates a drop in the birth rates for the next five years from 80 in the 2013-14 school to 47 in the 2017-18 school year. At Franklin Avenue Middle School, the study predicts an enrollment decrease from 488 students in October 2012 to 403 stu- dents in 2017-18. The number of students at Colonial Road School is projected to decrease from 276 students to 209 students during the same period, while enrollment would decrease from 247 students to 187 students at the High Mountain Road School, and from 288 students to 218 at Woodside Avenue School. These projections, however, do not include the potential school enrollment that may result from the development of the 130-acre High Mountain Golf Club prop- erty that has been sold to the home builder, Toll Brothers, and is zoned for single-family housing on minimum one-acre lots. That zoning would allow a maximum of 130 units and, factoring wetlands limita- tions, that number could be reduced to 80 to 90 one-acre lots for individual homes. Toll Brothers, however, has an agree- ment to purchase the property contingent upon obtaining approval to build high-den- sity housing and borough officials have estimated that as many as 1,000 units could be constructed if high-density housing is permitted. The Whitehall study indicates that negotiations between the borough and Toll Brothers, however, may result in a compro- mise that includes a combination of 200 to 300 single-family and high-density housing units, but occupancy would occur several years from now, perhaps near the end or beyond the current five-year projections of the Whitehall study. Superintendent Romano pointed out that a demographic study cannot account for the economy or development. He believes a demographic study needs to be done every two years to address fluctuations in the economy and development in the district. “The demographic study is necessary for long-range planning and I think, espe- cially in this day and age, a school district is obligated to have a long-range plan to deal with fluctuating enrollments,” Romano said. “Bottom line: Franklin Lakes has to come up with a long-term solution. Right (continued on page 19)