By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The owner of a day care center, proposed for the former headquarters of the New Jersey Conference of Seventh Day Adventists on Brunswick Pike, might learn Wednesday whether her application for a conditional use variance will be approved.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment will meet at 7 p.m. in the lower level conference room Wednesday to continue its public hearing on the application, filed by Lola Atunrase and the Agape International Children’s Academy.
Also on the board’s agenda is an application to build a single-family house on a vacant, undersized lot at 95 Meriline Ave. The plan is to consolidate three smaller lots into one larger lot, but which would still not meet the minimum square footage.
The board will hear the application submitted by John Schragger and Joseph Giangrosso, who want to build a 1,950-square-foot house that would contain three bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms. A variance is required for the minimum lot size because the proposed lot is 6,300 square feet. The minimum lot size is 7,500 square feet.
The Schragger/Giangrasso application will be heard at 7 p.m. It will be followed at 7:30 p.m. by the continued use variance application submitted by Agape, which is proposed for a vacant office building at 2160 Brunswick Pike.
The board began its hearing on the day care center’s conditional use variance application at its Jan. 25 meeting and heard additional testimony at its Feb. 15 meeting, but ran out of time to complete the hearing.
Although day care centers are permitted in residential zones, Agape is seeking a conditional use variance because it does not meet all of the criteria minimum lot size, building setback, street access and parking lot screening and setback to be located in the R-4 (residential) zone.
The proposed center would be open weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. It would open with an initial enrollment of 62 children including up to 20 infants. The maximum enrollment is 98 children, from infants through 6 years old.
About 85 percent of the children are picked up in the morning by a custom-made bus owned by the center. The bus takes the children home at the end of the day. Those children who do not use the bus are dropped off and picked up by parents or guardians.
Ms. Atunrase told the board at its Jan. 25 meeting that the center leased space on Princeton Avenue until a bank foreclosed on the property owner and the center was evicted. She relocated to Ewing Township, but wants to return to Lawrence.
The board also heard testimony from the applicant’s architect, Joseph Saphire at the Jan. 25 meeting. He told the board the parking lot would be redesigned so that cars and their headlights would face the day-care center, and not the adjacent houses.
New landscaping and an 8-foot-tall fence would be installed to provide privacy for the houses next to the 17-space parking lot, whose entrance and exit is off Bunker Hill Avenue, Mr. Saphire told the zoners.
Inside the building, there will be eight classrooms four on the lower level and four on the upper level plus an area for infants. An open, gym-like space would be provided for winter play activities, Mr. Saphire said.
And at last month’s meeting, planner Michael Mueller testified that it was unlikely that the building would be demolished and the site redeveloped for residential use. He said the building was re-used for offices, a minimum of 48 parking spaces would be needed, in contrast to the 17 proposed by the day-care center.

