Planning Boards Formally Approve Mountainside Medical Office Building With Two Dozen Conditions; Board Grants Rehearing on Pensak Porch Railings

The Glen Ridge and Montclair Planning Boards adopted a lengthy joint memorializing resolution granting One Bay Urban Renewal, LLC and Montclair Hospital, LLC preliminary and final major site plan approval for the roughly 45,735-square-foot medical office building and hospital parking areas at 311 Bay Avenue, formalizing the testimony and findings from the March 26 and April 23 hearings (Rohal and Mehrotra abstaining). Among two dozen conditions attached to the approval: the applicant must post escrow so a LEED-accredited professional can confirm the promised 50-point, silver-level LEED certification is actually achieved; deliveries and trash pickup are limited to 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.; the new building will be assigned its own street address rather than "1 Bay Avenue"; the contractor must photograph neighboring houses before demolition; only native plant species may be used and all pyrus trees must be removed from the landscape plans; and "no idling" signs must be posted at the hospital and new building entrances.

The Board then entered executive session to discuss a pending legal matter before returning to open session.

Separately, the Board voted to grant Michael and Julia Pensak of 134 Ridgewood Avenue a rehearing of their previously denied appeal over porch railings that did not match Historic Preservation Commission-approved plans, while suggesting they first reapply directly to the Historic Commission.