Lakewood Township's Planning Board is set tonight to again consider Application SP 2490 for a new 3-story office building at 1536 Prospect Street, in front of, and fully surrounded by, the recently constructed King Solomon Drive development.
Application SP 2490 was submitted by Orange Pool Holdings which is owned by Sharon Dachs.
This site was previously approved in 2021 by the Zoning Board for a retail shopping center.
Back in December 2022, as previously reported here on FAA News, Mr. Dachs sought Planning Board approval to swap the approved 2-story retail shopping center for a 3-story office building. The Board tabled the application citing concerns with property line setback variances.
Mr. Dachs has now made some revisions and is hoping to gain favorable consideration from the Board. The revised application still requires several variances.
At their previous public hearing, Attorney Miriam Weinstein Esq. and Engineer Brian Flannery represented to the Planning Board that "the previously proposed retail shopping center would have had stores that attract customers from all over town, thereby causing additional traffic in the area. The developer reasoned that an office building right in front of a new large residential development would provide a perfect opportunity for the new neighbors to walk to their office, and this would decrease the need for additional traffic in driving to their offices."
Board Member Moshe Raitzik asked if the developer has actually lined up any of the new homeowners as tenants of the office building. Mrs. Weinstein admitted they did not yet.
Mr. Raitzik then opined that the already approved shopping center likely would not attract traffic from all over town as there already are large shopping centers along Route 9. [FAA News notes that, additionally, as previously reported here on FAA News, the Zoning Board also recently approved a retail shopping center just down the road on Cross Street.]
Mrs. Weinstein and Mr. Flannery also represented to the Board that their Zoning Board approval included offices on the second floor.
However, a review of the minutes from the Zoning Board approval appears to show something else.
On October 4, 2021 the Zoning Board application was represented by Attorney Adam Pfeffer and Mr. Flannery.
In response to the Board's concerns that there would be a large store that would attract customers and traffic from all over town, Mr. Flannery represented that "they will stipulate that there will not be a grocery store."
Additionally, at the December 6, 2021 Zoning Board hearing, the application was represented by Mrs. Weinstein and Mr. Flannery, and they represented then that the 2nd floor will be for storage only - not offices.
Either way, the application presented to the Planning Board in December sought Preliminary and Final Major Site Plan approval to construct a 3-story office building with 22,217 sq feet of gross floor area.
The proposed building had a 92’ X 95’ footprint containing 8,740 sq feet of area. The proposed second and third floors will overhang the first floor which would have 4,737 sq feet in area.
The proposed parking lot extended beneath the building overhang.
The architectural plan indicated that all proposed floors will be utilized as office space.
The application was originally submitted with no sidewalk along Prospect Street. Luckily, someone remembered that Lakewood needs sidewalks so the application was hastily revised to include sidewalks.
The proposed off-
street parking lot was to contain 90 spaces including 4 ADA spots, 2 of which
would be van-accessible.
This meets the Township requirement of 1 parking space for every 250 sq feet of office floor area. (22,217 sq feet would require 89 spaces).
However, the application did seek numerous bulk variances: Minimum lot area of 1 acres where 3 acres is required (existing condition); Minimum lot width variance of 132 feet where 300 feet is required (existing condition); Minimum rear yard setback of 20 feet where 30 feet is required; Minimum side yard setback of 20 feet where 30 feet is required; Aggregate Side yard setback of 40 feet where 70 feet is required; Front yard parking setback of 6 feet where 20 feet is required.
Additionally, Board Engineer Terry Vogt noted that, as the off-street parking has been designed only 6 feet from Prospect Street, which is a County Highway in the M-1 Zone, if the Ocean County Planning Board denies any setback variances (particularly front yard parking), additional relief for the number of off-street parking spaces may necessitate.
Mr. Vogt also noted that the application does not provide a 25 feet buffer as required, or a delivery area for trucks.
Additionally, Mr. Vogt noted that their proposed Shade Tree, Sidewalk, and Utility Easement is only 6 feet wide and does not leave enough room to plant street trees. He recommended that the project be redesigned to setback the proposed parking lot farther from Prospect Street to make way for a 10 foot wide Shade Tree, Sidewalk, and Utility Easement which could permit street trees and connect the sidewalks which will be constructed by the surrounding subdivision.
The developer did not submit a full-blown
Traffic Study, however they did provide a Traffic Impact
Assessment which asserts that the Prospect Street intersection with the proposed site access driveway will
operate at a Level of Service “C” for both the AM and PM peak street hours, and the Prospect Street proposed left turn westbound movements are projected to
operate at a Level of Service “A” during both the AM and PM peak street hours.
Ultimately, due to rear yard setback so close to the new residential dwellings and the Board Engineer's concerns, the Board voted to table the application to give the developer a chance to revise the plans accordingly.
The revised application now to be presented to the Planning Board is for a slightly larger size building, however the entire building has been shifted to the middle of the parking lot, thus eliminating the previously proposed Aggregate Side yard setback of 40 feet where 70 feet is required and Minimum Rear yard setback of 20 feet where 30 feet is required.
This revised application seeks Preliminary and Final Major Site Plan approval to construct a 3-story office building with 23,532 sq feet of gross floor area for office space.
The proposed office building will have a 176’ X 58.50’ footprint containing 10,296 sq feet of area. The proposed second and third floors will overhang the first floor which would have 2,940 sq feet in area.
The proposed off-
street parking lot will contain 92 spaces including 4 ADA spots, 2 of which
would be van-accessible.
Under the Township's requirement of 1 parking space for every 250 sq feet of office floor area, 23,532 sq feet would require 95 spaces. However, 3 of the proposed 92 spaces would be electric vehicle parking. Therefore, these proposed spots would be counted twice, and the project will comply with the number of off-street parking spaces.
This revised application also seeks bulk variances: Minimum lot area of 1 acres where 3 acres is required (existing condition); Minimum lot width variance of 132 feet where 300 feet is required (existing condition); Minimum front yard setback of 50 feet where 100 feet is required; Minimum side yard setback of 21 feet where 30 feet is required; and a Front yard parking setback of 10 feet where 20 feet is required.
The revised application also seeks waivers from providing street trees with proper spacing along the site frontage, as well as from providing 25 feet of buffering as required per the Township ordinance.
The proposed parking lot has now been setback 10 feet from Prospect Street as previously recommended by the Board Engineer.
As in the earlier version of the application, there is still no truck delivery area.
The Board Engineer has also noted that while the Traffic Circulation Plan does show refuse and fire truck circulation through the proposed project, it appears that fire truck circulation will not be adequate when vehicles are parked on the site.
The public hearing will take place at Town Hall, 231 3rd Street, beginning at 6:00pm.
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2 comments:
There's enough room there for about 500 cubicles
did this get approved?
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