Midland Park June 27, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 13 A Nantucket-style commercial/residential complex is being proposed for the Franklin Avenue property in Midland Park once eyed for a Valley National Bank office building. The nearly one-acre property is zoned for business use and abuts a residential zone. Baseline Associates of Ridgewood has applied to the Midland Park Board of Adjustment for the necessary variances to build two adjoining commercial buildings with apartments on the second floor at 199-207 Franklin Ave. The existing beauty salon would be renovated. Baseline partner Mark Infante said he selected the traditional Nantucket design, complete with porches, patios and overhangs, “to provide a soft residential look that fits with the landscape and is good for the neighborhood. “ “It should be a lovely addition to the town,” he said, noting that he always gets compliments about his other property in the borough, the medical building at 600 Godwin Ave. in the Wortendyke section of town. Baseline’s previous application to raze the three buildings originally on the property and replace them with a two-story 15,500 sq. ft. office building was turned down by the planning board in 2009. The current application is in front of the board of adjustment because a use variance is required to provide more than two apartments above the commercial use in the B-1 zone. The proposal also calls for three principal structures on the same lot, since the dividing property line is expected to be removed. The proposal calls for two, mixed-use two-and-a-half story buildings separated by a driveway. One of the buildings would be set back about 25 ft. from the front property line with parking at the rear; the other would be set back about 120 ft. and would have parking in the front yard. The first floor of each building would have 3,336 sq. ft. of commercial and garage space, and the second floor would contain three, two-bedroom apartments. The 425 sq. ft. hair salon, which was probably built in the late 1800s and is only 2.6 ft. off the sidewalk, is to remain. Shared parking for 39 vehicles is proposed, with five Retail/apartment site proposed for Franklin Avenue An architect’s rendering of the proposed retail/apartment complex. additional spaces allocated for future expansion. The lot now has a grade change of 17 ft. front to rear, so the developer proposes to level the site by importing fill to the rear. A retaining wall ranging in height to a maximum of 9.3 ft. tall would surround part of the property and would be capped by a 4 ft.-high vinyl fence. Midland Park High School will change the way it calculates students’ grade point average (GPA) to be on a 4.0 scale. At present the school uses a 5.0 scale, which is not the norm in the education community and is very confusing. The new system, approved by the board of education last week, will be applied first to the incoming freshman class in September, and the grades for next school year’s High school switches to 4.0 GPA scale sophomores, juniors and seniors have been recalculated to conform to the new standard. “Were very excited. It took us more than a year to get to this point,” said Capuano. “This is the standard scale that most colleges and high schools use,” high school Principal Nick Capuano told the (continued on page 21)