Westwood Planning Board Examines Rainbow Academy Proposal

During the Westwood Planning Board meeting Thursday, the primary topic was the proposed Rainbow Academy day care center proposed at 10 and 20 Kinderkamack Road by Greentree Developers, LLC. 

Following the previous discussion during the March 10 work session, the applicant’s engineer, Steve Parker, met with county Planning Board officials and a number of changes were made to the original plan. Variances will still be needed to cover some requests, such as 40 parking spaces (since such a plan calls for 43), signage and other issues. 

One major change was the removal of access to the site from Kinderkamack Road. All access would now be from Green Avenue. This still caused some concern, however, as cars turning around after dropping off the children in a K-turn maneuver might cause congestion and back up. Additionally, several board members expressed concern regarding the local apartment complex and interference with residents getting in and out of the street.

Parker did address a number of the suggested changes by the borough clerk, the board engineer and the county Planning Board. 

Architect Raymond Caselli went into detail about the actual plans for the site, including a color rendering that showed the placement of the lot and the building on opposite sides of Green Avenue, the playground, windows and the locale of the crosswalk, which he said is “placed I think in the right place,” out of the way of the main volume of traffic. 

Caselli explained that much of the existing structure from the previous tenant, a car dealership, would still be used, but an entirely new beige toned stucco façade with stone as a base would improve its look. The existing roof would still be used, and the playground would be surrounded by a 6-foot high vinyl fence that would be smooth and able to take impacts without causing injury to children.

One variance requested was for signage. The applicant is requesting three signs with the trademarked Rainbow Academy logo for the site. Board member William Martin, as well as Chairman James Hodges, both expressed concerns over this and suggested that smaller signage might be adequate. Martin also continued to express his concerns over the proposed traffic flow, which was echoed by Chairman Hodges and others.

Though Rainbow Academy president and CEO Guy Falzarano was supposed to present at the meeting, at 11:07 p.m. Chairman Hodges called for an end to the discussion. He offered the next public meeting, April 28, to continue discussion, because the April 14 work session meeting will be almost completely about the borough Master Plan.

The applicant’s attorney requested one hour of the April 14 meeting for Falzarano. If they could meet requests for the study of alternatives to traffic flow and signage made by various board members by that time, they will be given an hour at that meeting to continue.

No members of the public had any questions for either of the applicant's witnesses.