At a meeting of the Suffern Planning Board, members voted to continue the public hearing on a revised site plan for a 23‑unit townhouse project at 156–160 Wayne Avenue to May 21 so applicants can respond to county planning and engineering comments.

The applicant's attorney, Dan Richmond of Zarin & Steinmetz, told the board the team received new comments that day and planned written responses. Pete Gato Jr., the project's planner, described the revised layout as keeping a central driveway with parking in front of the units, rotating one building to meet a fire‑department request and increasing green space between buildings. He said the buildings are modest two‑ and two‑and‑a‑half‑story townhouses designed “to resemble the scale and composition of houses rather than the side of a building.”

Resident Michael Abramo of 30 Pavilion Road said he generally supported medium‑density housing but urged traffic and pedestrian safety improvements near the park adjacent to the site. “Wayne Avenue…is a very busy road,” Abramo said, and asked the board and applicants to consider a designated waiting area for schoolchildren and stronger crosswalk or traffic‑calming measures. He also asked the developer to retain green space and to consider raised crosswalks or other measures to slow drivers.

Board members and the applicant discussed engineering and stormwater requirements. The applicant said the team will “mitigate, keep all water on‑site, and find the technical solutions” needed to meet the board’s standards. A board member noted that, to advance to later approvals, applicants will need to demonstrate no net increase in runoff and supply the engineering details requested by Nelson Pope and the county planning office.

The board opened the public comment period for the application; no additional speakers asked to comment. The board then voted to continue the public hearing to May 21 and instructed the applicant to address outstanding comments from Nelson Pope and county planning in writing.

Next steps: the applicant will submit written responses addressing engineering comments and county planning concerns before the continued hearing. The board set the submission deadline two weeks before the May 21 meeting.