Golda Och Academy Plans $6 Million Expansion

is seeking approval by the to expand its lower campus on Gregory Avenue in West Orange.

The academy was after a $15 million donation by the Och family of Maplewood in the name of Golda Och.

If approved, the $6 million plan would ease traffic conditions in the area, create a new driveway loop, erect a new building and include an outdoor student lounge area.

"The goal was to come up with a design that will allow the school to compete with schools being designed today," said Anthony Guzzo from Guzzo + Guzzo Architects, LLC, the plan’s architect. He said the new 32-ft building is not meant to increase student population but create "dedicated" art, science and music rooms.

The roughly four-acre property on 122 Gregory Avenue is one of two campuses and serves students Pre-K through fifth grade. The two-story building on premise houses 18 classrooms with two additional classrooms in adjacent trailers. The private Jewish day school also has an attached gymnasium that functions as a lunchroom, gym and auditorium.

Project Manager Idan Levin said the new, two-floor, 19,000-square-foot building would house a chapel, two classrooms to replace the trailers, a library, art room and computer lab. He said the plan would also create a separate lunchroom and better accommodate the 250 students currently enrolled.

In a special meeting Monday night, the zoning board reviewed the application and heard testimony from the site engineer, forester and architect.

The board approved a previous application by the school for traffic improvements on the property in 2005. Gloria Kron, principal of the lower school, told Patch nothing was done after the approval because of the economy. "It wasn't the right time to expand."

Kron said the new project focuses on innovation and technology for the school. "We have a fine academic program … it's time for the face-lift." She said the new building would house the fine arts programs in an "optimum space." "We are building the school of the future."

Noel Campbell, though, a resident of Ardmore Road, a street that borders the campus, was dispirited by the plan. "It goes against the quality of life," he told Patch. He said the expansion would congest and commercialize what is a predominantly residential area.

The site engineer for the project, Kevin Page of Page Engineering Consultants, contended the application would alleviate traffic issues by creating an additional loop inside the campus.

The school plans to widen Gregory Avenue to allow two inbound lanes for both parents dropping off their children and school buses to enter, and one egress lane. According to the plan, parents will enter in the right lane, circle around the new driveway loop and exit back on Gregory. Buses will enter in the center lane and exit on Northfield Avenue. The current configuration forces buses to enter and exit on Northfield by making a K-turn.

Sandy Imade, an Irvington resident, has two children in the school and said the plan "would be an improvement to the area." Imade said she has to come early to pick up her children to avoid the traffic buildup on Gregory Avenue.

Further details of the plan were presented during three-and-a-half hours of testimony. The plan calls for the removal of five trees with structural problems and an additional five trees due to construction.

Additional lighting will also be placed on campus according to Page. He said flood lighting will be removed or replaced with cutoff fixtures that shine downward rather than outward.

If the 10 variances for the project are approved, officials with the school must still seek approval from the Essex County Planning Board for modifications to Gregory Avenue, which is a county road.

The zoning board will reconvene Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. to finish testimony from officials working on the plan. The traffic engineer will testify Nov. 17 during the regularly scheduled meeting at 8 p.m.