Lakewood Township's Planning Board tonight approved construction of Office Spires 1 & 2 - two 8-story high office buildings on Avenue of the States.
The buildings, which will contain nearly 250,000 sq feet of office space, are being developed by Mark Chopp.
These buildings will be adjacent to the site where, as previously reported here on FAA News, the Planning Board has already approved 3 buildings with a total of 116,000 sq feet of retail shopping space. That project is also being developed by Mark Chopp.
The 6.5 acres site is currently vacant and mostly wooded, consisting mainly of pitch pine.
Each building will contain 123,200 sq feet of office space; 15,400 sq feet on each floor. This equates to a total of 246,400 sq feet of office space.
988 parking spaces will be provided, which just barely meets the Township's requirements of 1 space per 250 sq feet of office floor area.
The parking lot will include 20 ADA spaces and 42 spaces with charging stations for electric vehicles.
(As previously reported here on FAA News, the Township Committee has refused the Planning Board's request to increase parking requirements for shuls and office buildings.)
Access to the office buildings will be provided by 2 driveways intersecting Avenue of the States. Both proposed driveways will be shared with the adjacent lots. A 30 foot wide, right-in/right-out only driveway is proposed on the west side of the tract and a wider, multi-lane two-way driveway is proposed on the east side of the tract at the intersection of Avenue of the States and Boulevard of the Americas. (The wider driveway will be constructed already for the retail shopping center. These driveways will have a cross access easement, i.e. the retail will be to the right and the offices will be to the left).
Other site improvements proposed include pavement, curb, sidewalk, stormwater management, utilities, lighting, and landscaping.
The land to the east includes the previously approved 116,000 sq feet of retail space.
The land to the west is vacant but contains a regional stormwater management basin which was constructed with the roads and infrastructure of the
Cedarbridge Corporate Campus Major Subdivision. The current application's proposed stormwater management design will tie into
and utilize the adjacent regional stormwater management basin.
The rest of the land to the north is constrained by freshwater wetlands.
The site is situated within DA-1, Cedarbridge Redevelopment Area. Professional Office uses
are permitted in the DA-1 Zone. The application did not require any bulk variances, but did require a single design waiver for a proposed driveway greater than 30 feet wide (their 4 lane driveway will be nearly 60 feet wide).
The application submitted a Traffic Impact Analysis, done by the renowned traffic experts at McDonough & Rea Associates.
Mainly, the report notes that with the previous retail application, Mr. Chopp already agreed to install a traffic signal at the Avenue of the States/ Boulevard of the Americas intersection (which will serve as the main entrance driveway to the proposed shopping center), and to install a traffic signal at the New Hampshire Avenue/ Boulevard of The Americas intersection with an eastbound left turning lane and a multi-phase traffic signal system.
Although the proposed new traffic signals will upgrade traffic congestion, the Traffic Impact Analysis done by McDonough & Rea Associates acknowledges that with the new office building, peak hour traffic flows "will be slightly
downgraded."
To address this concern, the renowned traffic experts at McDonough & Rea Associates confidently assured the Board that, as previously reported here on FAA News, Ocean County has already begun installation of a traffic signal at Vine Avenue and Cedar Bridge Avenue, and Lakewood Township has already begun paving the Vine Avenue Extension from Pine Street to Cedar Bridge Avenue.
Additionally, as previously reported here on FAA News, New Hampshire Avenue will receive a southbound right turn lane on to Pine Street as part of Tovia Rosenberg's hotel project.
The Traffic Impact Analysis adds that "according to conversations with Lakewood Township and Ocean County officials," an additional roadway improvement planned for the area is the installation of a traffic signal at Vine Avenue and Pine Street.
At the public hearing for the retail center, Traffic Expert Scott Kennel assured the Board that the Township has already approved installation of a traffic signal at the Avenue of the States/ Boulevard of the Americas intersection which will serve as the main entrance driveway to
the proposed shopping center and that the shopping center will not open until the traffic signal is operational.
In contrast, it is unclear what the precise status of a proposed traffic signal at Vine Avenue and Pine Street is. Mr. Chopp's professionals did not provide the Planning Board with a timeframe for the installation of this proposed traffic signal, nor did they agree that the office buildings will not open until this traffic signal is actually installed.
The Ocean County Planning Board has already granted contingent approval to this application.
Based on the traffic study impact, the County is further requiring the developers to address traffic mitigation at the westbound approach of the Cedar Bridge Avenue/ Avenue of The States intersection, though the specifics of what this mitigation will entail are still "under review."
The County is also requiring the developers to pay an off-tract traffic improvement fee in an amount to be determined by the Ocean County Engineer.
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