Planners consider preschool proposal BY KATHY BARATTA Staff Writer MANALAPAN - An application that proposes the construction of a preschool across the street from an adult community will again be heard by the Planning Board on July 26, at which time a vote to grant preliminary approval may be taken. Planning Board member Steven Pine has recused himself from any participation in the matter due to a conflict of interest. The commercial application for the Orchards started out as a proposal for an office building and a preschool franchise for The Learning Experience, with both to be built across from the Village Grande on Business Route 33. The Village Grande is part of a group of developments in the area surrounding the Battleground Country Club, Millhurst Road. Pine is a member of the master board that oversees all of the homeowner boards and associations that operate throughout the Battleground residential complex. The Orchards application as it now stands only includes the preschool, which is a permitted use but is seeking several variances. According to Greg Valesi, the engineer for the Planning Board, the variances being sought relate to the size of the building and other issues regarding the lot and the Business Route 33 entrance. The applicant is proposing one access point that would loop drivers around the school in designated lanes that would enter and exit at the same spot. And, a buffer of 200 feet is required from Business Route 33 to the school and the applicant is proposing a 75-foot buffer from the highway to the school. The number of parking spaces being proposed is 42 and that was not an adequate number of spaces, according to some board members and to residents of the Village Grande who spoke during the public hearing. Attorney Gerald Sonnenblick, representing the applicant, presented a traffic expert who said the design of the application met the standards set by the state Department of Transportation. There will be one playground at the rear of the preschool and a 6-foot-high fence around the perimeter of the playground. The playground area will have an emergency access gate. And although the school itself would serve as a buffer between the Village Grande homes and the playground, some residents said the sound of children at play would be a breach of their peace. The majority of the approximately 25 residents who attended the public hearing claimed that the impact of peak-time traffic at a school that will have half-day and full-day day sessions Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. would prove hazardous and have a negative impact on their quality of life.