NEWARK — Following a three-hour public meeting that touched on traffic flow, a disputed hedge on Elkton Road, and one resident's ongoing grievance about a neighbor's wind chimes, the Newark Zoning and Land Use Board voted 4-3 Tuesday to prohibit left turns on Main Street between 7 and 9 a.m. on weekdays.

The measure, which board chair Patricia Wohl described as "a long time coming," will take effect in approximately 14 months, once the required signage has been procured, installed, and then re-installed after the first set is struck by a delivery truck.

The left-turn ban was first proposed in 2023 by resident Gerald Fink, who submitted a 47-page petition arguing that the intersection at Main and Chapel creates "an unconscionable backup" that has caused him to be late to his water aerobics class on four separate occasions.

The board tabled the proposal twice — once due to a quorum issue and once because a board member had a conflicting pickleball tournament — before finally taking it up at Tuesday's session.

The three-hour meeting was described by attendees as "thorough," "exhausting," and "somehow also about the hedge."

The hedge in question belongs to a property on Elkton Road and has no apparent connection to the left-turn proposal. Nevertheless, it consumed approximately 40 minutes of discussion after resident Donna Hatch raised it during the public comment period, arguing that its height "sets a precedent."

Board member Ron Szabo attempted to redirect the conversation to the agenda item no fewer than six times. On the seventh attempt, he succeeded.

The final vote was 4-3, with the dissenting members arguing that the ban would simply push traffic onto parallel residential streets, creating new problems while solving none.

"We're not fixing traffic," said board member Anita Cho. "We're relocating it."

Board chair Wohl acknowledged the concern but said the board had to "start somewhere," adding that a comprehensive traffic study had been commissioned in 2021 and was expected to be completed "sometime before the end of the decade."

Beginning in approximately 14 months, drivers on Main Street between 7 and 9 a.m. will be required to proceed straight or turn right. Left-turners will need to use the detour route, which the city has not yet finalized but which is expected to add between four and eleven minutes to most commutes, depending on the hedge situation on Elkton Road.

Gerald Fink, whose petition started the whole thing, was not present at the vote. He had water aerobics.