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| The Planning Board hears the proposal Monday night |
The review, which spanned everything from parking spots to former Mayor Fred Profeta's concerns about the effect on a nearby tree, will continue next week at the board's Sept. 8 meeting.
And it seems the fight against the three-story, 20-apartment, five-retail shop project is far from over as several groups, including the Village Keepers, Inc., remain opposed and still have an appeal hearing before the board at the Sept. 8 meeting. Profeta, a former Planning Board chairman, is on the group's board.
Representatives from Maplewood Redevelopers, which is the division of JMF Developers building the project, presented the site plan for their proposal during the lengthy presentation at town hall.
Noting the project will add a net increase of three parking spaces to the area around the former post office site, for a total of 46, Engineer Eric Keller also said it would include landscaping improvements and a new sanitary sewer line.
See highlights from his question and answer session with Planning Board members below:
The site plan, below, also indicated there will be a smaller portion of parking in the area now between the post office and Ricalton Square, which appears to be more difficult to traverse for vehicles.
New images of the building from the Village Coffee side lot and the train station platform were also released.
Opponents remained firm in their claims that the design is wrong for Maplewood Village and that the building should be re-used before it is torn down.
Village Keepers, Inc., meanwhile, still has an appeal of the project awaiting Planning Board review at the next board meeting.
Along with Profeta, the Village Keepers members raised numerous issues about the project during their questioning of the developer's representatives at the meeting, sparking some angry exchanges as the hour went later.
Not helping things was the fact that the town hall chambers were hot and lack air conditioning.
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