October 30, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 7 Mahwah Redevelopment of gas station raises concerns by Frank J. McMahon The potential redevelopment of a vacant gas station property in Mahwah has raised some concerns from the township’s zoning board and some neighbors. The site is located on Route 17 North adjacent to the West Ramapo Avenue overpass. ADPP Enterprises, Inc. has submitted an application to the zoning board for a conditional use variance and sev- eral other variances from the township’s zoning code. The applicant plans to construct a new gas station and conve- nience store, and a Dunkin Donuts eat-in restaurant with drive-through lane and window on two lots that do not con- form to the township’s lot size requirement. Concerns expressed at a recent zoning board meeting included having three business entities on the same prop- erty, the need for a traffic expert to testify about the safety of the traffic exiting from the redeveloped site, the proxim- ity of the service station property to the adjacent church property to the east, and drainage from the site to adjacent properties. The board also mentioned the deficiency of seating in the Dunkin Donuts restaurant, the effect of noise and lighting on neighboring properties, and the potential use of the site if Dunkin Donuts does not stay there. The property is located in the highway business B-40 zone, which requires lots of 40,000 square feet. ADPP plans to consolidate two lots into one lot of 38,313 square feet. The site is bordered to the north by the West Ramapo Avenue overpass and Route 17 right of way and to the south by two vacant lots consisting of about four acres owned by School board candidates unopposed Four incumbent Mahwah Board of Education members will seek reelection in the Nov. 5 general election. Incumbent board members Charles Saldarini, Douglas D’Angelo, and Suzanne Curry will be seeking full three- year terms on the board and Richard DeSilva Jr. will be seeking election to the one-year unexpired term of former board member Kenneth Angelo. Saldarini is a 1981 graduate of Mahwah High School who has been a Mahwah resident since 1973. He will be seeking his third term. He has two children, both of whom attend the Mahwah schools. He has been the chairman of the Mahwah Republican County Committee and the Mahwah Municipal Alliance. D’Angelo is a 1981 graduate of Mahwah High School and is a long-time township resident. He has two children in the school system, and he will be seeking his fourth term on the board, where he has been the chairperson of the Policy Committee a member of the Teachers’ Negotiations Contract Committee. The candidate is also a soccer coach with the Mahwah Boosters and has been a member of the Mahwah Environmental Commission. Curry has been a resident of Mahwah for 13 years and is a life-long resident of Bergen County. She has two teens in the school district. She is seeking her third term on the board, where she has served as a member and chair of the Public Relations Committee. She was also on the board’s Instructional Committee for three years and was its chair- man. She also served on the Policy Committee. DeSilva was appointed to the board in 2012 to fill the position on the board left vacant by former trustee Ken- neth Angelo. He is seeking election to Angelo’s one-year unexpired term. The son of a former school board member, DeSilva has a daughter in third grade and twin daughters in first grade. He graduated from Mahwah High School in 1993 and subsequently graduated from Clemson Univer- sity. He is the manager of a car dealership in Emerson. Motorgas Oil and Refining Corporation, the same owner as the original ADPP lot, which is being expanded by the acquisition of a lot to the east that is owned by Albert Sho- tmeyer of Midland Park. Currently, the lot fronting on Route 17 contains a decay- ing one-story masonry building and it was previously used as a service station. That station’s gasoline pump islands and underground storage tanks have been removed from the site. ADPP plans to demolish the old building and construct a new gas station and a one-story 3,398 square foot build- ing that would contain the convenience store and Dunkin Donuts. A new canopy is also planned to cover a four pump fueling area with a 25,000 gallon underground fuel stor- age tank for three grades of gasoline, and diesel fuel for automobiles. At a recent meeting of the zoning board, Professional Engineer Jeffrey Martell described the changes to the plans, which include three additional future parking spaces for employees resulting in a total of 21 parking spaces, and signage for the Exxon gas station and the 18-seat Dunkin (continued on page 8)