Biagio's Shows Updated Plans to Board

The Paramus Board of Adjustment continued hearing testimony about the proposed expansion of at their meeting Thursday night.

The plans have been updated since the last hearing, which because Biagio’s had not submitted the new plans early enough for board members to review them. Architect Tom Perides and engineer Matthew Clark both updated their previous testimony, which was .

The plan still calls for the addition of a 200-seat banquet facility, valet parking and a rooftop garden. However, the height has been lowered two feet, the second floor has been made slightly smaller and the entire building has been moved back five feet from Paramus Road.

Traffic engineer Craig Peregoy, restaurant owner Ted Perides and planner Ken Ochab also gave testimony.

Some board members had concerns about parking. The borough requires the site, with the addition, to have 391 parking spaces, but the plan only includes 243. Peregoy said he doubted there would ever be more than 265 cars at the restaurant, which would still leave them short on spaces. Also, board members said that the traffic flow, which includes a mix of one- and two-way areas crossing the parking lot, could be troublesome, especially because one of the site’s proposed exits would border a home.

“I just think this was something no one saw,” board member Patrick O’Brien said about one particularly narrow area.

Deborah Szorentini, who lives next to the proposed driveway at the southern end of the site, said she was concerned about the noise of cars leaving late at night.

“It would be less painful for me to have that driveway further north,” Szorentini said.

Perides suggested the exit and entrance could be switched. He will have an opportunity to adjust the plans again before the next hearing, which will be on July 21 at 7:30 p.m. in Borough Hall.