CHCC Scraps Proposed Vista Entrance at Sicomac and Cedar Hill Avenues

Christian Health Care officials cast a new plan before the Wyckoff Zoning Board Tuesday that would eliminate construction of additional entrance to the 199-unit senior housing facility.

The latest revision to the application came on the heels of concerns vocalized by board officials and a citizen opposition group, both of which believed the driveway entrance proposed for the intersection of Sicomac and Cedar Hill avenues could negatively impact commuters and local businesses.

Christian Health Care Center Engineer Kenneth Karle presented the amended plan, which rehabilitates an existing road down the middle of the CHCC campus.

It's the same road, but "requires quite a bit of new construction," Karle said.

The road, "which intersects almost every single parking lot and every single piece of pavement on the campus," would add green landscaping and overall campus parking and unify the land around the entrance in an aesthetically pleasing way, according to Karle.

"I think this is in the spirit of what [the Wyckoff Zoning Board was] looking for," Karle said.

Zoners expressed no strong opposition to Karle's presentation and were generally positive on the changes.

"I like the revisions that you've made," said Zoning Board Member and Wyckoff Firefighter Carl Fry. "I think it makes a little more sense with bringing a commonality to campus."

The rehabilitated road — proposed to become more of a tree-line avenue complete with pedestrian walkways rather than a simple thoroughfare — would stretch from the existing Sicomac Avenue entrance and wind its way back to the Vista property.

Karle stressed that there would be "no change to the road way, no change to the zebra striping, no change to the businesses acrosss [Sicomac Avenue]."

Based on the testimony of traffic experts testifying before the board, Vista, once completed, is expected to add a minimal amount of traffic to the area — in the area of 2 or 3 percent.

Zoning Board Attorney John Spizziri urged the board — if the project were to be approved — to craft a developers agreement that would include an accord between the applicant and township police and engineer to codify and regulate the construction traffic and guarantee the integrity of nearby roads before and after the construction process.

The application has been before the land use board for more than two years and SAVE Wyckoff, the opposition group that labeled the project  has seen a number of items on its wish list come to bear as CHCC officials downsized the overall project and, ultimately, attempted to minimize the likelihood that Bergen County officials would update the intersection of Cedar Hill and Sicomac avenues by axing the proposed driveway there.

The Vista application would be discussed again at a zoning board meeting on March 4. Chairman Jerome Lombardo said he hopes to call a final vote on the project at that meeting, as well.

Stay with Wyckoff-Franklin Lakes Patch for more on the CHCC Vista Project.

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