July 20, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 3 Midland Park The Midland Park zoning officer will now be attending zoning board of adjustment meetings to answer questions on residential applications. The Midland Park Council last week approved assigning Zoning Officer John Wittekind to attend the meetings at a stipend of $100 per meeting. Wittekind’s presence at the meetings is expected to facilitate the board’s operations and avoid unnecessary delays, since he is familiar with the variance applications in front of the board and can speak to most issues that may arise. “It’s the user-friendly approach,” said Borough Attor- Wittekind to attend zoning board meetings ney Robert Regan. “This will save residents the cost of the engineer,” he added. The council’s decision was a compromise move with the board of adjustment, which had initially sought to require all residential applications to undergo an engineering review. A $400 escrow had been recommended to pay for the work. At an April meeting, zoning board Chairman Linda Herlihy had told the council that when residential applicants appear in front of the board, they often are not able The easterly section of Hill Street in Midland Park, from Cyphers Lane to Erie Avenue will be getting curbing on both sides. The borough council approved awarding a contract for Phase II of the work at its regular meeting last week. Marini Brothers Construction of Hackensack was awarded a contract for $15,395 to do the work. The company was the lowest of three companies that submitted a proposal. Moneys were available under the original contract to do the work. Phase II will include finishing the entire northerly side, which was only partially curbed under Phase I, and curbing the entire southerly side. Curbing had been excluded from the original contract last year because the street was deemed too narrow to accommodate two-way traffic if full Full curbs to be installed on Hill Street to answer many of the board’s questions and have to be put off to a subsequent meeting, delaying the proceedings. She gave as examples land coverage issues, which she said applicants had not previously considered; or history on the property, which would be part of the file but not always known by the applicant. Engineering review will still be required of all commercial and industrial applications, council members said. The zoning officer and/or the board will still be able to recommend engineering review for residential applications if they deem it advisable. curbs were included. The road bed is only 20-ft. wide, and residents are accustomed to parking half-way into their lawn. In June, Erie Avenue resident Helen Schneider and her neighbor, Chris Delaney of Hill Street, had complained that the resident on the North side had removed shrubbery from the side of his two-family house fronting on Hill Street and had paved the area. This had resulted in a 75-ft. curb cut on his side yard, Schneider said, charging that the neighbor used the area as a parking lot with as many as 10 cars at times. Phase II is expected to satisfy their concerns. Phase I of the project, completed earlier this year, included the installation of extensive drainage to solve flooding problems on Cyphers Lane and Hill Street. Paving and full curbs on Cyphers Lane were also included. Parents of boys and girls who will be entering kindergarten in September are reminded to send in registration for the Safety First Program by Aug. 1. The program, designed to deliver important safety information to young children, is a Girl Scout Award Leader- Registration open for Safety First Program ship Project run by Christina Thompson of the Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey. Additional forms are available at the Midland Park Memorial Library, 250 Godwin Avenue. For more information, contact Christina at (201) 445-9835 or e-mail getjr@verizon.net.