(Fanwood, NJ) – The Fanwood Borough Council approved a resolution Tuesday night to apply for a $100,000 New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Local Recreation Improvement Grant for phase 2 of improvements at Forest Road Park.
The council is also applying for a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Green Acres grant for the project. The second phase will include removing the existing the tennis courts and expanding the playground area with new playground equipment and rubber mulch.
At the start of the meeting, Mayor Colleen Mahr presented McGinn Elementary School Fourth-Grade Student Alexa Scolavino with a certificate of appreciation for her efforts to raise funds for the borough’s volunteer fire department. Mayor Mahr said the certificate was “in honor of all the hard work and your outstanding commitment to Fanwood.”
Fire Chief John Piccola said Alexa raised $400 this year, doubling the amount she raised last year selling hot chocolate. Piccola said the money was used to buy winter hats for the firefighters.
Piccola also presented a plaque to Russ Hamill for 50 years of service to the fire department. Hamill’s son Matt and grandson stood by his side during the presentation.
In other business, approved resolutions designating Fanwood as Black History Month in Fanwood, for the appointment of Giacomo Pares as a member of the borough’s fire department and for installation of shelving at the new library which is expected to open Memorial Day Weekend.
Mayor Mahr said she attended a meeting with Business Administrator Jesse Moehlman last week with Scotch Plains-Fanwood Board of Education officials regarding a bond referendum that will be before voters in September. She said the bulk of the plan is for the district to acquire 330 South Avenue, Fanwood, the current home of First Children’s Services, a special needs school. She said the building would be the first SPF District school in Fanwood in decades since the building housed the La Grande School.
The Mayor said the school would have 32 classrooms for kindergarten through fifth grade with a gym.
“I thought they (district) put a very compelling project forward,” she said.
Director of Economic Development Elizabeth Jeffery gave an update economic development and downtown redevelopment.
She said 40 South Avenue, a mixed-use building, is in the process of renting units with a ribbon- cutting on Wednesday, February 28. In addition to market rate apartments, affordable units will be listed in several weeks and will be filled through a lottery system.
Jeffery said the owners of 70 South Avenue, the former Fanwood Dental Hospital, are expected to file permits shortly. The site has been approved for 12 apartments and street level retail.
She said the 34 South Martine Avenue, the former Fanwood Grill location, will be moving forward with filling the space although the new tenant has not been identified.
Jessica’s Café, moving from Plainfield into the former Railside Cafe on the corner of South Avenue and South Martine Avenue, has not set an opening date although it will be this spring.
Jeffery said the final documents are expected to be submitted for construction on the first building for Carano Square, a residential and restaurant complex to be built on the former site of the A&P at 75 South Avenue.
