A battalion of family members and other supporters showed up last week at the January 2003 West New York Board of Adjustment meeting in a show of solidarity for Grandma’s Place, a West New York day care center that is hoping to get a variance to expand.
Approximately 40 people were present at the meeting meeting, at least 35 in favor of the proposed expansion. Many were relatives of the Hassan family, whose eldest daughter, Suha, is the principal owner and director of the center. There was a handful of people present who were opposed to the expansion, including a man who said he owned a building behind the center, but left the proceedings before he could be interviewed.
This was the third meeting to discuss this building variance, the last two having been tabled as time ran out. What made this especially worrisome for the owners of Grandma’s Place is that they are currently in possession of a state grant, given to the center specifically for the expansion project. This grant has a time window that has already been extended twice by the state. Said Suha Hassan, director of the center, “If you [the board] don’t move on this soon, we will loose the grant and it will go to some other day care center that may not be as good as ours.”
Union City attorney Willie Ortiz represented Grandma’s Place in the proceeding and began by giving a brief overview of the history of this variance request. Said Ortiz, “We came before the board six months ago. Since that time, the plans have been revised to fit better with what the town needs.”
Originally, the neighbors in the back of the center had vehemently opposed the original plans to construct an addition onto the existing second floor of the center. The claim was that their view of the New York City skyline would be ruined. Between the last Board of Adjustment meeting in July of 2002 and the one last week, the center came to an agreement with the owner of a two-story home next door. The owner agreed to sell her dwelling to the center, and it could be demolished and rebuilt as an addition to the center.
The Board of Adjustment, chaired by Jose Costal, presented Suha Hassan with myriad questions pertaining to the daily running of the center. She was quizzed on the number of students, how many computers the center possesses, and questions of that nature – all of which Hassan answered with aplomb.
At the request of the board at the July meeting, the center brought forward a “traffic expert’ by the name of Dan Disario. Disario testified that, “There will not be any significant impact [on the neighborhood the center resides in]. We conducted traffic tests during peak hours and found that no impact would be felt by the neighborhood.”
Things seemed to be moving in the center’s direction until a “surprise witness” was called by the board. Franco Zanardelli, construction code official and fire inspector for West New York, was asked his opinion on the relative safety of the current dwelling, the proposed plans and what his thoughts were on the ability of fire apparatus to reach the center in the event of a fire. Zanardelli’s testimony brought out a wave of emotion from the assembled throng. Said Mr. Zanardelli, “We visited the site and have looked at the plans. And while I’ve heard the testimony of the parents and people from the day care center, what was not mentioned in their testimony was that there is a community college a block away that houses 1,000 students. The street between 66th Street and 67th Street is too thin to get two cars past each other. At the intersection up the street there is a commercial entity. And our observation is that the rear exit does not conform to code.”
At this point, many supporters in the audience were heard grumbling, with one asking, “Where was this guy at the other meetings?”
Zanardelli seemed to concentrate on the ability of fire trucks to reach the center in the event of a fire. He said, “If fire apparatus had to come down the road and go into the parking lot [of the center], we’d have a problem.” He also added that the only method of egress for people at the rear of the building was to “traverse the parking lot.” Why this would be a problem was not a question posed by the board at that time.
The proceedings got somewhat “animated” at this point, with many of the center’s supporters shouting out questions to the board and clapping when they heard something positive. The meeting, already eclipsing the four-hour mark, lost any semblance of order, forcing the center’s attorney, Willie Ortiz, to request a continuance.
The motion was quickly moved and seconded, and the Hassan family will have to wait until Feb. 19 to learn the fate of their request to expand.
Said Suha Hassan, “To say the very least, I am really disappointed.”