FROM-North Jersey.com The building that once housed a decades-old barbershop in Rutherford NJ burned down a few months back after flames engulfed the property. An empty lot now stands in its place. The owner of the building hopes to change that in the coming months. The Rutherford Planning Board approved the site plan for a replacement building at the exact site of the decimated property. The building will house two commercial businesses and take up the same space the old one occupied, according to plans on file with the planning board. On Jan. 4, firefighters rushed down to 8 Ames Ave. after hearing reports of a fire at 8:44 p.m. Though they gained control of the situation in less than two hours, the building suffered irreparable damage. This left the two tenants-Ames Barber Shop and the Rainbow Nail salon-without a place to trim their customers. The owner of the original property, Theresa Sabatino, hopes to erect a new building with the same one-story, two-tenant design as the one she lost. The application submitted to the planning board shares most of dimensions of the old building, though will take up a bit less space from the back. The area of the property will total about 1,500 square feet. The outdoor aesthetic is the only major change, according to the project’s architect, Daniel D’Agostino. Masonry walls once dominated the side of the old building. That’s not in the plan for its replacement. “The front and side of the building will be made up of brick and hardiplank,” D’Agostino said. His mock-up also shows the gooseneck lamps and calm coloring scheme on the facades of businesses throughout the downtown district. D’Agostino expects these changes to meet the aesthetic demands of the Rutherford Downtown Partnership. “This will fit into the look of the town,” D’Agostino said. D’Agostino asked the board to consider the dimensions of the destroyed property in letting Sabatino bypass the area, width and depth requirements of lots under the zoning code, as well as off-street parking stipulations. “The lot would not yield eight parking spaces now, nor could it have prior to this,” D’Agostino said to board members. The board granted Sabatino the site plan along with the variances. That cleared Sabatino to apply for a construction permit with the Building Department, said Mary Ellen Satori of the building department. The family hopes to put similar businesses to the older ones in the area and have it done by year’s end.
