A new Castle Fun Center near the Route 17 Home Depot is one step closer to becoming a reality.

The first order of business at Monday night's Planning Board meeting was Mayor DaPuzzo’s new appointees.  Added to the Planning Board were: Chuck Jandris, now as Town Council Liason; John J. Kelly to fill Mr. Jandris’ former place on the Board; George W. Ervin as an alternate member to fill Mr. Kelly’s unexpired term; and Ellen Stein as a new alternate member. 

With the added Board members, a public hearing was held on the amended site plan and soil movement permit applications for a new Castle Fun Center, to be built on Route 17 North across Constantine Drive from the Home Depot.

The majority of this new center, which will feature mini golf and some other family oriented entertainments, is actually going to be in Ramsey.  But permits and approval of the Planning Board in Mahwah are still required.

The applicant’s attorney presented two witnesses, and engineer and a traffic consultant.  Both went into considerable detail about the alterations they would be making to existing roads, and various turns that would be involved in getting customers to the new site.

New signage will be put up, in order to show one-way roads with regards to turns into and out of the site.  There will also be a crosswalk added for the parking that will be on the other side of Constantine Drive.

One of the greater concerns was with regards to the already complicated turn into Home Depot off of Route 17 North. Both Board member Donigan and Jandris asked many questions about how this even sharper turn off of Route 17 can be made as safe as possible. The traffic planner, Jay Troutman, explained that changes per the Department of Transportation will include cutting back overgrowth to improve visibility, improving the turn radius onto Constantine by widening the curbing from 25 feet to 40 feet, and advanced intersection signage to better identify the pending turn. 

Though Troutman had additionally requested a stripped “weave lane” before Constantine and the Home Depot, the Dept. of Transportation rejected this.  Mayor DaPuzzo added that when plans were set in motion with regards to the placement of the Home Depot, requests went back and forth with the DOT for six years, and they could not get all that they had hoped for in this regards.

With the discussions complete, Board Chairman John Brotherton called for a vote.  Mayor DaPuzzo put forth the motion, with a stipulation that requests by Mike Kelly of Boswell Engineering with regards to storm water drainage and tenant approval of off-site parking be answered.  By a vote of 6 – 2, the motion passed; Donigian and Jandris both voted against it due to safety concerns with regards to area traffic flow.

The next meeting of the Planning Board is scheduled for June 13.