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Council approves rezoning to permit potential Saddle River Day School expansion despite resident concerns
Summary
The Saddle River council approved Ordinance 26-118 to rezone a 4.9-acre lot adjacent to Saddle River Day School, citing planning-board consistency and zoning safeguards (100-foot buffers, landscape screening, 15% lot coverage, downshielded lighting); residents raised runoff, tree-removal and light-pollution concerns during the hearing.
The Borough of Saddle River voted to approve Ordinance 26-118 on May 18, clearing the way to rezone a 4.9-acre lot adjacent to Saddle River Day School so the private school could expand in the future.
The ordinance was the subject of public comment before adoption. Nearby residents objected to recent tree removal on the site, expressed concern about construction-phase erosion and runoff onto lower-lying neighboring properties, and said newly installed lights and other construction activity were creating noise and visual impacts. One resident told the council the changes made the parcel look "totally different" and said additional work near the slope had left exposed stone and disturbed soil.
The borough planner and engineer responded that the planning board prepared a consistency review and that the rezoning was consistent with the municipal master plan and the Municipal Land Use Law. They cited the ordinance's regulatory controls intended to protect neighbors: a minimum 100-foot buffer to the nearest on-site structure, an 80-foot side-yard buffer (with three-quarters of that area required to be landscaped), a 15% maximum building coverage limitation for the lot, and a maximum building height in the range of about 44 to 48 feet depending on slope. The planner also said proposed lighting rules require fixtures to be downshielded and limit foot-candle intensity at property lines to near zero.
On stormwater and erosion, the borough engineer said the site will include permanent on-site detention consistent with stormwater regulations and a landscape plan as part of the required site-plan review. He acknowledged that construction-phase disturbance and extreme storm events can cause temporary turbidity and erosion and described riprap and cleaned swales as measures used after a heavy rain the previous year.
Council President DJ Geralamo read the passage statement that Ordinance 26-118 "has been approved upon second reading and will be posted on the Saddle River website." The meeting record does not include a detailed roll-call tally in the transcript excerpt, but the ordinance was recorded as approved on second reading.
Next steps: if the school files a development application, the planning board will review site-specific plans, landscaping and stormwater measures under the borough's regulatory controls and state law.
