Sunday, January 25, 2004

By CHARLES AUSTIN
STAFF WRITER
NORTH JERSEY NEWS

FAIR LAWN - The zoning board has approved plans for a scaled-down development on Lamring Drive and River Road, where an earlier proposal to build town houses drew strong opposition from neighbors.

The plans call for two new single-family homes on Lamring Drive and a building on nearby River Road that would have three commercial units and eight apartments on the second and third floors, said Frank Horesta, assistant zoning officer for the borough.

Lamring Drive residents complained that the original design - 12 town houses in an area zoned for single-family homes - would have destroyed the residential character of the neighborhood.

An earlier revision of the plan, calling for four new single-family homes, was also criticized as crowding too many dwellings on too small a plot.

Now an existing home on Lamring Drive will remain, and two lots will be created for the new houses. A fourth plot created will contain the commercial building and the apartments, taking advantage of a recently approved borough ordinance permitting that type of mixed-use construction. Parking will be provided for the apartments and the retail facilities.

Robert Matule, attorney for the zoning board, said there was virtually no objection to the current plan, which was also endorsed by the River Road Improvement Corp., the organization concerned with business development along that thoroughfare. The current plan is "in the spirit of what they want to see along River Road," Matule said.

Barbara Rosko, who lives on Lamring Drive and opposed the earlier plans, is also content with the revisions. "We're comfortable with the plans the way they are now," she said. "They are Colonial-style houses and will look good from our property. We're fine as long as it's not the town houses."

Charles Austin's e-mail address is austin@northjersey.com