NEW ROADS IN BMG'S HOUSING CAMPUS TO BE 26 FEET WIDE. TYPICAL NEW ROADS IN LAKEWOOD ARE 32 FEET WIDE.

As the news was first broken here on FAA News, Beth Medrash Govoha has submitted initial land use board applications for their planned expansion on land they are under contract to purchase from Georgian Court University.

According to the Site Plan obtained by FAA News, the project consists of 6 multi-family buildings with 100 residential apartments in each, with a playground with separate equipment for children ages 2-5 and 5-12 outside in front of each building.

The project also includes a separate building for a child care center with a capacity of 300 children.

According to additional plan documents just now obtained by FAA News, the new roadways which will be specifically designed as public thoroughfares, will be only 26 feet wide.

This width meets the criteria of the New Jersey Residential Site Improvements Standards which permits new local roadways at a minimum of 26 feet wide provided that the Township prohibits any parking, or 28 feet wide provided that the Township prohibits parking along one side, or 30 feet wide with parking permitted along both sides.

However, the typical width of new roads in Lakewood is actually 32 feet wide as the Township Committee and land use boards have come to the realization that Lakewood's population growth requires wider roads as well.

The road layout proposes a total of 3 new roadways which will likely be improved separately as each phase of the complex is constructed.

Carey Street will be improved from its existing terminus just west of Forest Avenue. This will connect to Cedarview Avenue which will be improved between its existing terminus at Fourteenth Street and Ninth Street. Both new roadways will be improved with complete curbing, sidewalk, and street lighting. There will also be dedicated off-road drop off areas along each building.

As first reported here on FAA News, with support from Lakewood's Congressional Delegation, U.S. Senators Cory Booker, Bob Smith, and Congressman Chris Smith, BMG received a $2 million federal grant to pay for construction of the Carey Street and Cedarview Avenue roadways, sidewalks, street lighting and associated improvements, sanitary sewer mains and infrastructure, drinking water mains and infrastructure, stormwater management and drainage infrastructure, and landscaping for this project. (With the Township Committee's endorsement, BMG requested $4 million. Ultimately however they received only $2 million.)

At the time of submission of the application, Lakewood's Township Committee supported application of the grant, saying that the project is anticipated to "alleviate the severe housing shortage present in the Township housing market, ease traffic congestion by taking commuters off the most congested roads, and open a new thoroughfare and exit roads from the College District."

“Lakewood is one of the fastest growing cities in America and a growing economic engine for Ocean County, and there is an urgent need to lessen congestion on narrow streets that were designed and built in many cases over 100 years ago,” said Congressman Chris Smith's in a statement. “This federal support will help create a thoroughfare that drivers can use to overt excessively congested local roadways to get to Interstate 195, the Garden State Parkway and other highways.”

[This is in addition to the $3 million federal grant BMG received, In 2021, with support of Lakewood's Congressional Delegation, towards this land purchase, specifically earmarked because they proposed to eventually build the day care center on a portion of the land.]

The Planning Board will have the ultimate say in what width will be required for these new roads. The Board has not yet scheduled a public hearing on this application.

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