Cerebral Palsy Center Withdraws Wayne Application

WAYNE, NJ — An application to construct a center for adults with disabilities on a quiet neighborhood off of Route 23 was withdrawn due to resistance from neighbors.

The Livington-based Cerebral Palsy of North Jersey needed a use variance from the Board of Adjustment to construct the one-story facility on a two-acre tract in a residential zone where Route 23 South and Meadow Road meet.

A home at 9 Meadow Road would have needed to be demolished to make space for a 65-space parking lot.

The board was to hear cross-examination Monday, but officials received a letter from the applicant's lawyer stating the application was being withdrawn.

More than 100 trees would be cut down so the facility could be built. Although the company would need to plant 124 to replace them, only 62 would be required to go on the property. The other 62 could be planted on township property or the company could pay a fee to cover the cost of the town planting them.

Arlene Sullivan, a Meadow Road resident, was very critical of the application and the potential negative effect she said it would have on the neighborhood.

"Certainly there are other places in town where they could build," Sullivan previously said. "It makes no sense to build here. I can't believe that this is the only place they came up with."

Sullivan told NorthJersey.com that she and others were "relieved" to hear about the application's withdrawal.

"Their reasoning for coming to our neighborhood was they wanted to be in a residential area, but everything that made it residential they were going to destroy," Sullivan said in the report.

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