Westwood Planning Board Members Approve Temporary Resolution for Child Care Center

Members of the Westwood Planning Board unanimously approved a temporary resolution Thursday night to allow Greentree Developers LLC to move forward with plans to bring a child care facility to Kinderkamack Road.

The board after discussing some changes with the applicant's attorney, Nancy Saccente. At the meeting Thursday, board attorney Thomas Randall explained the resolution being approved was temporary and a final resolution would have be approved at the next Planning Board meeting to finish the process.

"Normally the timeframe is 45 days to approve the formal resolution, however the applicant had urgent time pressure in this case," Randall said. In order to allow Greentree Developers to move forward with the site plan, board members decided to approve the temporary measure.

Planning Board member Richard Bonsignore asked if the final resolution would be drastically different from the temporary one. He said he was concerned that if there were significant differences, the construction official would have to refer to two documents. But Randall said everything in the temporary resolution would be included in the final resolution. He said the final version would include any clarifications.

After the unanimous vote in favor of the temporary resolution, Saccente thanked members of the board.

"We really appreciate you doing this for us," she said. "It really makes a big difference in the procedure of the project."

The approved application calls for a Rainbow Academy child care facility on Kinderkamack Road at Green Street in the borough. The temporary resolution states that Greentree Developers plans to renovate and reduce the size of the existing building on the site, which was formerly a car dealership, and add a playground in the rear.

The applicant has been granted variances in several areas including building coverage, lot coverage, impervious coverage, rear buffer width, rear yard setback, signage and number of parking spaces. The resolution states that the applicant provided adequate information for all the variances.

The next Planning Board meeting is scheduled for June 9.