Nearly 10,000 square-foot facility to be built on Quakerbridge Road
by Megan Morreale, Special Writer
HAMILTON — The township Zoning Board of Adjustment approved plans to open a Kiddie Academy day care center on Quakerbridge Road in Van Nest Office Park.
The board approved the application for the 9,700-square-foot day care facility at the July 9 meeting.
The center would provide for about 150 children and is being built on the site of a previously proposed restaurant, according to Steven Hercman, principal of Van Nest Office Park.
The building being used for the center wasn’t constructed until 2005 when Van Nest bought the property and changed from the proposed use of a restaurant to the day care center.
The day care center would require much less work and energy than the restaurant, said Daniel Graziano, the applicant’s attorney.
”The use is much less intense than it would be in the case of a restaurant, and it’s within the same footprint on the original plan,” Mr. Graziano said.
The day care center agreed to all the suggestions from the township, including upkeep on the property, which had fallen behind when the plans for the restaurant fell through.
”They’re going to be completing those improvements, like paving, striping and updating signs for handicapped parking,” Township Engineer Richard Williams said.
Though the board ultimately approved the application, it found issue with the traffic patterns in front and to the left of the building.
”I have been a traffic engineer for 42 years, and I do not like that access,” said board member James Kochenour. “My first recommendation would be to get rid of that access.”
Mr. Kochenour also argued there was no need for a second access, which could cause traffic backup on Quakerbridge Road coming out of the office buildings at peak hours.
Signs placed in front of the day care center and on the roads would prevent parents from idling their cars to drop off their children, Mr. Hercman said.
In addition, Mr. Graziano agreed as a condition of approval to install curbs that would redirect traffic away from the day care center in order to improve the flow of traffic and discourage parents from idling their cars.
”This shouldn’t be a problem,” Mr. Hercman said. “One of the requirements of the day care center is that the parents have to park and bring their kids inside to sign them in. They shouldn’t be idling.”