Controversial Waterview, Hare Krisha Temple Meetings in the Week Ahead

The Parsippany-Troy Hills Planning Board will kick off the week with a public session on Monday, July 15 at 7 p.m. at town hall. An agenda is not yet available.

The long-awaited Waterview Proposal is on the agenda for the Parsippany-Troy Hills Tuesday, July 16 meeting. The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Parsippany Hills High School.

Waterview Development is a proposal in which a developer is seeking to build a Whole Foods Market and townhouse community on 26.6 acres of Parsippany's Waterview tract. A group of residents from Parsippany and nearby have been vocal in opposition of the proposal.

The revised ordinance would permit rezoning of that tract of land in the Complex. The ordinance will be introduced for first reading.

The Parsippany-Troy Hills Zoning Board of Adjustment will meet on Wednesday, July 17 at 7:30 p.m. to continue its hearing for a proposed temple at the intersection of Baldwin and Troy roads.

The application, which calls for a Hare Krishna temple designed by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), has been before the board for the past four years. A host of opponents have fought the project, among them owners of historic homes in the area and businesses such as Baldwin Ventures. They say the ISKCON plan would erode their quality of life and bring noise and traffic to an already congested area.

Robert Garofalo, of Garofalo and O'Neill, the law firm representing ISKCON, will bring his final witness, Madana Gapola, a trustee of the temple.

The final meeting is scheduled for August 7 for closing statements, public comment, and possibly a final ruling from the board.

The Parsippany-Troy Hills Board of Education is also slated for a public meeting on Thursday, July 18 at the Board of Education offices. An agenda is not yet available.

At the last meeting, residents attended looking for answers after several media specialist positions were taken out of the 2013-14 school budget.

The budget initially appropriated funds for five media specialists for kindergarten through grade 12, but only two will be hired, according to Interim Superintendent Dr. John Fitzsimons.