Town Center Signs, Group For Moms, 9/11 Anniversary Top This Week's News

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New Sign Law Approved For Washington Town Center

The Washington Township Council unanimously approved an ordinance amending the rules for signs in the Washington Town Center during their meeting this week.

Business owners in the strip mall had been asking for looser restrictions because the current signs, which are almost all uniform in color and font, are difficult to read and do not catch the eyes of potential customers, they said. The changes remove the one-color and one-font restrictions, and also increase the maximum allowed size to a 12.5-foot by 4-foot area.

New Group For Moms Started by Westwood Resident

A new group in Westwood aims to provide local moms with opportunities to get out, meet each other and make some friends.

Karyn Agosto, who has a 2-year-old and works from home in Westwood, said she was inspired to start the group, called Westwood Mommas, because it can be difficult for new moms to connect before their children start school.

"When your kids are 4 and under, everybody has the same struggle: meeting other moms," Agosto said.

Area Residents Hold 9/11 Memorials

Area residents gathered Tuesday to remember the victims and heroes of 9/11 on the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

Check out Patch's gallery and add your own photos.

Historic District Should Not Burden Business, Commission Says

Members of the Westwood Historic Commission said they did not want to put "an extra burden" on property owners in downtown Westwood with a proposed historic district on Westwood Avenue during their meeting Wednesday.

"We need to make it clear that we're not here to burden an applicant, and that we're actually here to help them," commission member Otokar Von Bradsky said.

Several property owners at the previous meeting spoke against the plan, which they said would add "another layer of bureaucracy" to the sometimes-expensive process of presenting plans to planning or zoning boards.

Township Awards Memorial Field Contract

The Washington Township Council voted to award a contract to re-sod Memorial Field during their meeting this week. 

The winning $111,000 bid from SCS Contracting was the lowest of four bids recieved by the township for the project. The council bonded for $152,000 of a maximum budget of $160,000 for the work.

SCS Contracting will re-sod Memorial Field sometime in early November, after the township's youth football teams have finishedusing the field for the season.

State Awards $193K Grant to Hillsdale

Hillsdale will receive a grant for more than $193,000 from the Department of Transportation to repave two roads, state officials announced Wednesday.

The $193,885 grant from the NJDOT's Local Aid Infrastructure Fund will be used for work on Central Avenue and Cross Street.

Shared Dispatch Could Maintain Service Quality, Officials Say

Westwood Mayor John Birkner and Police Captain Frank Durante attended the Washington Township Council's meeting Monday to answer questions about a possible shared service agreement between the two towns for emergency dispatching.

The plan is one of many that local officials have examined for ways to save money on emergency dispatching, though Washington Township councilmen previously said they believed this plan would solve many of the issuesresidents and emergency officials had with other proposals, such as using Bergen County's dispatch service in Mahwah.

"I'm very comfortable with Westwood's ability to provide this service seamlessly," township Councilman Steve Cascio said.

Board Plans Extra Cell Tower Meeting

Experts working for MetroPCS finished giving testimony this week about a proposed cell phone tower, route: {:controller=>"articles", :action=>"show", :id=>"metropcs-planning-cell-tower-above-westwood-theater"} --> to be built on top of