Madison Wants to Review Chatham Day School Expansion

The borough of Madison wants to put the brakes on Chatham Day School's plans to renovate its facility at least until Madison borough officials can review it, borough attorney Joseph Mezzacca said.

The private K-8 school wants to demolish three buildings on the 15-acre property and construct a new one to house a gymnasium.

The school also wants to expand its parking lot from 78 spaces to 128 and wants to add sidewalks around it.

To comply with new state environmental regulations, the school is also planning a "cleanup" to get rid of debris and pesticides left over from residents who previously farmed the land, said Lynne Rathgeber, immediate past chairperson of the Board of Trustees. The cleanup will include cutting trees down.

Although the school was approved in 2004 by the Chatham planning board, Mezzacca said it didn't ask Madison for the go-ahead, which is a required step.

"All conjoining towns are supposed to be notified—if the town borders within 200 feet," Mezzacca said. He added the environmental commission and the Madison borough engineer should review it and find out what the potential impact is on the Madison neighborhood that lies adjacent to the school.

Mezzacca is not the only one concerned. The school has been hearing complaints from residents in the adjacent neighborhoods who worry about increased noise from traffic and students. Residents also worry that the environment will be affected, Rathgeber said.

Glen Kashuba, who lives close to the school on Rachael Avenue, said he's concerned about noise because the gym will be "literally 100 feet" away.

The school will also install an "air conditioner on the corner next to us," he said.

In addition, he said the parking lot would be even closer to residential property:  about 30 feet away.

He also said he's afraid the environment might be affected. Underneath a portion of the property is a water aquifer, and the expansion may affect "the quality of the water supply." He added that other residents are worried about water runoff, and said cutting down trees "would really change the feel of the neighborhood."

He added that many neighbors now "mistrust" the school's intentions, as it has changed its expansion plan numerous times. 

Neighbors have been complaining since the school started seeking approvals in April, Rathgeber said. As a result, the school tweaked the plan somewhat. The potential new building was shifted to another location on the property to address environmental concerns. They also changed the parking lot structure.

"Half of the new parking lot is going to be on grass pavers," Rathgeber said, which means there will be grass on top and material underneath preventing cars from getting stuck in the mud. That was done to address water runoff complaints. "The [neighbors'] concern is if you have too much impervious surface the water will gush down the street, so the grass pavers allows the water to be absorbed appropriately into the land."

Rathgeber added that the school decided to demolish an outdoor swimming pool that lies close to the property line and to build a fence in the area. Windows and doors on one side of the school will be absent in an effort to decrease noise.

Although Chatham Day School made changes to the plan, Rathgeber adds that the basic core of the plan has not changed.

"We're proposing to build a building which enables us to take students inside more, which means there will be less noise than in the past," she said. The construction is also not being done in order to enroll more students, she added.

"We're not planning to have any more students than were currently approved for," she said. "We're not trying to turn the place into the parking lot."