Page 4 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • December 21, 2011 Allendale Menorah proposed; new tradition to be studied by John Koster Two residents who proposed that Allendale permit a menorah be placed on the lawn of borough hall led the Allendale Council to consider changing a hands-off policy for all holiday decorations on public property to one in which Christian, Jewish, and other religious symbols might be displayed subject to council approval. “We’ve always had a tradition not to place anything on borough property, but I don’t know that we can’t start a new tradition,” Mayor Vince Barra told Judith Friedland and Melissa Bildner, who spoke at this month’s work session. Friedland and Bildner told the council that many Jewish families live in Allendale and that the children would enjoy seeing their religion represented for the holiday season. “We just felt it was important for Jewish people in town to feel that our holiday is also represented,” Friedland said. The council members said that, while Allendale’s policy had always been to keep religious displays on religious property, a new traditional that could allow symbols of Christianity, Judaism, and perhaps Islam to appear in reasonable displays was worth considering. Barra explained that Allendale Borough Hall already has a small donated menorah on display inside the office space. He added that the lighting around the building was a celebration of the holiday season and not a display by any particular religious group. Allendale has no specifically Christian symbols on display out of doors and no menorah either -- but Barra suggested that both would be welcome once a formal policy was introduced and adopted. The council members, notably veteran Councilman Robert Schoepflin, said borough officials wanted to be able to exercise some control over the size and number of the displays. “You might get a demand for a crescent and star, too,” Schoepflin said. “That would be fine, too,” Friedland said. “We have no objection if all faiths are represented.” The council members agreed that Chanukah is a worthy holiday, but did not want to throw borough property open to many demands for multiple religious -- or anti-religious -displays, which Schoepflin felt could happen if there were no borough ordinance covering the displays. Mayor Barra, with the council’s consent and the gratitude of Friedland and Bildner, said the council would consider a revised display policy in time for the Christmas and Chanukah season of 2012. Planning board approves subdivision The Allendale Planning Board approved a major subdivision with five variances to permit construction of three houses uphill from the Celery Farm Natural Area on land owned by Calvary Lutheran Church. The plan, approved 9-0, will allow the church to subdivide its five-acre lot, with 1.9 acres to be used for the three housing lots and the remaining three acres left to accommodate the church, which has been there for 50 years and was cited as a good neighbor. One variance will allow the church to continue services without removing two pews, even after the parking in the church lot was reduced by six seats, from 79 to 73. Another variance will allow for a sixfoot fence. Attorney Bruce Whitaker, who had offered to remove the pews if his client couldn’t get the variance, represented the church. Residents who live near the Celery Farm had opposed the subdivision at several previous meetings because they argued that any further impervious coverage would be detrimental to flooding, already a serious problem for the Celery Farm and its immediate neighbors. “If this development increases the amount of water coming off the new subdivision, where does that water go and not flood if there’s flooding already?” asked Jim Wright, Allendale’s deputy marsh warden and a published nature author -- the only resident who spoke in opposition on Dec. 15. “When my driveway is wet, the Celery Farm trails are under water. I’m concerned about neighbors downstream.” “It goes to Allendale Brook,” said Tibor Latincsics, a consulting engineer retained by the applicant, who joined Whitaker in presenting the case for the applicants. Latincsics -- endorsed by Allendale’s consulting engineer, John Yakimik of Dewberry Associates -- presented a detailed report that implied that the proposed construction would have almost no impact on drainage into the Celery Farm, and that if two culverts are dredged and eventually replaced, the problem could become somewhat better rather than worse, though Latincsics said it would not disappear. He said he explored one culvert in hip waders and that it was carrying water only at 50 percent capacity, but could be cleared relatively easily. Yakimik said Bergen County had put out specifications for a bid to clear the culvert, but that the contract had to be re-bid and the work could not be done until March of 2012. “This is not a county matter. Go in there and move it,” Latincsics advised. The 543 acres of drainage into the Celery Farm, Latincsics said, led to a situation where the lake on the site can briefly expand drastically in size, but the 3,988 cubic feet of building lot contributing runoff if the proposed houses are constructed would only add a 0.00085 foot increase in water surface -- about the thickness of a sheet of paper. He said the good that could be done cleaning the culverts would outweigh any harm done by the construction. Yakimik said his firm’s hydraulic experts had studied Latincsics’ report and concurred that the figures were accurate. Mayor Vince Barra, sitting as a planning board member, agreed that the church was a good neighbor and hoped Calvary Lutheran Church would continue to contribute to the quality of life in Allendale, though he said he was disappointed that the church asked for three building lots instead of two with a shared driveway, which Barra said could (continued on page 26)