See you next year: Morristown daycare battle far from over

Residents turned out in force again, for sixth zoning hearing on daycare center proposed for 170 Madison Ave. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Residents turned out in force again, for sixth zoning hearing on daycare center proposed for 170 Madison Ave. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
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It’s a saga with more episodes than Downton Abbey.

At least that’s how it felt on Wednesday night, after four more hours of testimony before the Morristown zoning board failed to yield a decision for The Learning Experience, a chain that seeks permission to build a 10,000-square-foot daycare center in a residential zone on Madison Avenue.

Everyone is scheduled to return for a seventh hearing on Jan. 28, 2015.

Residents turned out in force again, for sixth zoning hearing on daycare center proposed for 170 Madison Ave. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Residents turned out in force again, for sixth zoning hearing on daycare center proposed for 170 Madison Ave. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

Residents contend commercial development of the wooded tract will change the character of their neighborhood, make a hazardous intersection worse, flood their basements, and flood local streets with motorists seeking shortcuts to the site.

A resident has hired her own traffic expert to counter findings presented by the applicant’s traffic consultant, Charles Olivo.

At Wednesday’s meeting, which ran past midnight and included two hours of cross-examination by residents, Olivo presented revamped plans that call for two access points to the site instead of one.

An entrance-only driveway now is proposed from Normandy Parkway, with another entrance/exit driveway on Madison Avenue to the west of the original in/out access.  Previously, the board expressed concerns about the single driveway concept.

Olivo testified that he considers either scenario safe and efficient, even though he previously had described the single driveway plan as “optimal,” according to Patrick Galligan, a lawyer hired by resident Andrea Kelly.

The Learning Experience aims to to serve 175 children, from infants to preschool, with 30 parking spaces for a staff of 22.

Although a variance is needed to build in the residential zone, the daycare center has an edge because the state considers it beneficial to society.  But residents defeated another daycare center last winter because of traffic concerns at the Turtle Road/Madison Avenue intersection.

LEFT TURNS AND TREES

Olivo told the board that state transportation officials this week assured him they intend to start improvements to the Normandy/Madison intersection next June.

The Department of Transportation is scheduled to add a second lane on Normandy Parkway to improve traffic flow onto Madison Avenue. It also may extend a traffic island from the intersection on Madison Avenue toward Morristown, Olivo said.

Such a barrier would discourage eastbound motorists from attempting a left turn into the daycare site, but would be low enough for emergency vehicles to cross, the traffic consultant said.

Under questioning by the board, the applicants acknowledged their daycare center probably should await completion of the DOT roadwork, for smooth access to the site.

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Left turns are a sore spot with neighbors. With no left turn from Madison Avenue into the site, parents bringing their children from Morristown should come via Morris Avenue to Normandy Parkway, Olivo said.

But residents fear that these drivers will uses Washington Avenue as a shortcut to Normandy.  Or that they will turn left from Madison Avenue onto Normandy, and then make U-turns on local streets to come back down Normandy to the site.

Attorney Patrick Galligan, left, cross-examines traffic consultant Charles Olivo at the sixth zoning board hearing for The Learning Experience proposed daycare center in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Attorney Patrick Galligan, left, cross-examines traffic consultant Charles Olivo at the sixth zoning board hearing for The Learning Experience proposed daycare center in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

The Learning Experience revised plans also call for removal of trees along the entire frontage of the site, so motorists will have a clear view of oncoming traffic. This may result in disruption of more than one acre, a threshold that would trigger requirements for environmental studies that to the board had waived.

Morristown’s environmental commission already has raised objections to tree removal on what is one of the last wooded tracts in town.

The highly technical presentation had flickers of humor.  Prior to grilling Olivo, a resident tried to butter him up, praising the Notre Dame graduate for his polish and lamenting that he wasn’t consulting for the town.

“No offense taken,” chimed in Thomas Phelan, Morristown’s traffic consultant, to much laughter.

MORE ABOUT THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE APPLICATION

3 COMMENTS

  1. People who live in our neighborhood – yes, even on Normandy – have LOTS of children. We have been working for years to keep our neighborhood safe for our children. Traffic is a top priority – speeding cars (your own planner testified that the parents are typically in a rush to stop off) are a huge problem as well as congestion at peek times. It isn’t simply about the number of cars that would flow through our streets, it is about how they drive. Are they speeding to day care drop off? How will the layout of the driveways affect an already failing intersection? It isn’t NIMBYism to want to protect and preserve the neighborhood you have invested in and are raising your family in. Ratables and money aren’t the only things that matter to people. Quality of life for the residents that have created a caring, wonderful neighborhood is more important than “unearned taxes.” Likewise, this isn’t a school. We’ve been to your other facilities. As you said yourself in the hearing this is the “McDonalds of daycare.” Shame on you for thinking that the “McDonalds of Daycare” is what we should want for our children. Put this in your own backyard.

  2. Mr. Bobrow’s attempt to move the development away from his neighborhood is why the term NIMBY was coined by attorneys which stands for “Not in my back yard” which is really the main reason Normandy residents are coming out against this project. The fact that a day care center is beneficial to the community both socially and fiscally does not seem to be important to people coming out against it, who by the way are predominantly 55 years and older and have no personal use for a daycare center. It is sad that the younger residents who are at home taking care of their toddlers at night, who might actually benefit from this day care center, cannot come to night meetings to support the project and more accurately represent the community.
    Mr. Bobrow is insinuating that it is better to relocate poor people from their homes than to take down trees from an undeveloped prime real estate located on a commercial street. Fortunately, I do not believe that his opinion is of the popular consensus but people should consider how many trees could have been planted, streets paved and children educated with the $800k-$1M in unearned taxes over the last 20 years at this site. The development of Twombly Court in 1995 and the subdivision resulting from it left a triangular shaped site wedged between train tracks and an intersection. This site is undevelopable under its current approved use and now the town has an opportunity to correct that with a daycare development which is both socially and fiscally beneficial to the community while generating only 1 vehicle every 55 seconds during the peak drop-off and pick-up hour in the morning and evening.

  3. plenty of good land down in the reinvestment zone by coal avenue. I bet they could build just about anything they wanted to down behind Headquarters Plaza… or better yet, redevelop the last section of “poor” housing behind Speedwell Avenue… yes.. make all those people move to Dover like they did already… Why cut down more trees when knocking down a veritable ghetto is much easier? Ah.. the wisdom of the town is not my own. After all, they built those architecturally absurd buildings with the blessings of the town fathers… Morristown was a colonial town at one time… So if there is redevelopment going on by Headquarters plaza, why not put the daycare center over in the newly redeveloped part of town that is actually growing organically?

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