I've lived in New Jersey for more than 40 years, but I'll never be a real New Jersey girl. I grew up in Pennsylvania where there was lots of snow, one traffic light in town, and 90 kids in my grade--from kindergarten through graduation. I didn't know anything about The Shore, or baked ziti, or Chanukah until I came to Jersey. But, I've come to love all of that and much more--especially the history. I now know about the Jersey Dutch, strawberry baskets, railroad suburbs, the bridge that saved a nation, and so much more. I've learned that to tell the local stories about regular people I need to read wills, estate files, census records, pension applications, letters, tombstones, newspapers, and anything else I can find. So, that's some of what I want to share with you!

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Support History and the Environment

On Thursday, October 23 at 7 pm, hearings will continue before the Planning Board on the application of Barrister to develop the 3-acre Vanderbeck property in Fair Lawn as an assisted living facility.  The meeting will be at the Borough Hall courtroom. (8-01 Fair Lawn Avenue).  Make your presence felt; make your voice heard.

Since the property is in a residential zone, development as an assisted living facility requires a use variance.  Other variances for impervious coverage, height, etc. are also being requested. For all the documents (including revised ones) that the developer has filed with the Zoning Board, as well as photos, and related materials, see this folder on dropbox.

The fate of the Vanderbeck property will also have major impacts on the residential neighborhood to the northwest of the property, the wildlife of the area, and the viewshed from the Saddle River Park (Dunkerhook Area). If the assisted living development is allowed to proceed, this beautiful piece of wooded property will be clear-cut, the Vanderbeck house will be demolished, and the Naugle house will be made an afterthought on a landscape of modern buildings, roads, and streetlights. 

The owner of the Vanderbeck property owns an easement over the adjacent Naugle House property for a right-of-way to access the property from Dunkerhook Road.  This access road would come within 10' of the Naugle house.  In addition the lighting, landscaping, curbing and sidewalks required on the right-of-way and on Dunkerhook Road would erase the last vestiges of the rural aspect of this historic site, owned by the Borough of Fair Lawn.

Come out on Thursday to demonstrate that Bergen County cares about history and the environment.

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