July 25, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 9 Mahwah Planners approve Route 17 building expansion by Frank J. McMahon The Mahwah Planning Board has approved a 36,348 square foot addition to an existing building on Route 17 northbound to house the world headquarters of the HYTORC Company. The business sells, rents, and services industrial bolting tools including hydraulic torque wrenches, pneumatic torque tools, mechanical tensioners, and torque bolting systems worldwide. The site is bordered by the Masonicus Brook to the north and located between Route 17 and Island Road near West Airmount Road. The property is owned by the Jay-Jay Holding Corporation and currently contains a 45,272 square foot, one-story building that would be expanded to 81,620 square feet in two stories with an elevator to access the upper floor. The second story would contain customer engineering and research and development testing areas along with an executive board room. The rendering depicts a reflective glazed building with a two-story oval entrance lobby to an expanded building that will be used primarily for corporate offices, training, and shipping because the manufacture of the torque tools is done at another location. Patricia Sheridan, the assistant to the chief executive officer of HYTORC, advised the board that the expansion would probably result in the hiring of more employees over the next decade, increasing the current total of 75 employees. Sheridan said the expanded building will be used for product display, research and development, and for the training of independent representatives and users of the tools in the field. She also explained that the expanded building will permit the trainees to be brought in for two weeks at a time and they will be shuttled back and forth to their hotels so there will be no additional vehicles at the site. The existing parking lot provides spaces for 138 vehicles where 181 are required, but Sheridan advised the board that future parking for 327 vehicles would be provided at the site. The warehouse portion of the building will not be expanded, Sheridan said, and the one tractor trailer and several smaller trucks that make deliveries to the site once each day will not change. Bruce Whitaker, the company’s attorney for this application, advised that there will be no retail traffic at the site. According to professional engineer Douglas Doolittle, one access driveway on Island Road will be eliminated to reduce the potential for vehicles to use the site as a shortcut to Route 17, and about 26 trees would be removed for the expansion of the building and the relocation of the parking lot. He said the owner has agreed to plant more than the six trees required as replacements by township ordinance. Mahwah Planning Board Chairman Todd Scherer asked about providing sidewalks to the Island Road side of the building, but Doolittle said the industrial area on Island Road was not conducive to pedestrian traffic, so sidewalks were not planned for that area. At the suggestion of Michael Kelly, the township engineer, Doolittle agreed that money would be put into the township’s sidewalk bank to use for sidewalks if it is determined they are needed at a later date. Doolittle also advised the board that the existing monument sign would be removed and replaced by a pylon sign about 13 feet long by three to four feet high and one foot deep, and the one car garage planned for the building will be used by the owner of the company as part of the executive office expansion. Architect Fay William Logan told the board that the existing 35.9 foot height of the building would be maintained, but that the height of the lobby might reach 40 feet in height. He agreed to make sure there would be no intrusive glare from the glazed building as the building design is finalized. The board unanimously approved the application and site plan with a variance for the parking to be provided on the site. The board also approved variances and waivers for setback deficiencies on the property, (continued on page 16)