Lakewood residents already struggle daily with bumper-to-bumper traffic, overdevelopment, and a planning process that often feels more like backroom dealing than public service. Yet somehow, in the middle of all that, Township officials found it fitting to gift away a piece of a public road - not for safety, not for infrastructure, but simply to help a private developer make an already oversized office building even bigger.
As previously reported here on FAA News, back in January 2023, after enumerating at length the reasons why they disliked the application, the Zoning Board approved construction of a 60,000 sq foot office building on Cross Street and Franklin Boulevard.
Pertinently, the approval was for a 3-story, 38.5 feet high building.
As offices are not a permitted use in this R-40 Single Family Homes residential zoning district, the Board granted Use Variance relief for this use. In addition, as the maximum height in this zone is 35 feet high, the Board also granted a height variance.
Not stopping at that point, as previously reported here on FAA News, back in December 2024, the applicant, Divonne Equity Group, LLC, represented by Attorney Miriam Weinstein, returned to the Board to quietly request to increase the height variance to 45 feet high.
Instead of providing transparency to the public by submitting an Amended Site Plan, the developers quietly snuck this through as "correspondence."
Hey, what's a couple extra for one of the boys? Right? So the Board quietly agreed to the increased height.
And now for the icing on the cake: The Township Committee has just voted to introduce an Ordinance vacating 12.5 feet from the width of Franklin Boulevard to make way for a wider office building!
The Ordinance confidently states that the portion of the roadway:
(1) is not needed for public road purposes; and
(2) it lends itself to a higher and better use than for public road purposes and that it is in the best interest of the general public and the Township of Lakewood that the rights and interests in and to same shall as a public right of way be vacated, released and extinguished.
So the next time you’re stuck in traffic on Lakewood’s jammed streets, just remember: those extra feet of roadway weren’t taken away by accident - they were handed over with a smile. Because in Lakewood, the public gets gridlock, while the insiders get favors.
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6 comments:
1) did the hight add any sqft?
2)James street currently doesn't align with Franklin, by moving the road over it will align better so why not vacated that portion
Is there an argument to make, that having offices throughout the town, reduces traffic, because it allows people to work closer to home?
There are too many people, BH, in this small town, adding local office space just means that people can work closer to home.
Give it a couple years, we'll have flying cars, and then we can turn all the streets into more housing...
We are far from maxed out
Meir, Menash, and Issac Akerman voted in favor of this?? No waay...
This is only 1 of the many many that are passing thru without any notice. It's outright disgusting what's going on. Everyone including Miriam Weinstein will have to give a din v' chessboard for every second it cost people and every penny people lost out on because they were late to work etc.
This is only 1 of the many many that are passing thru without any notice. It's outright disgusting what's going on. Everyone including Miriam Weinstein will have to give a din v' chessboard for every second it cost people and every penny people lost out on because they were late to work etc.
In case you have not noticed and coming soon to your local town. There will be no land left and no rural areas in any of the surrounding towns. Yes.. all will be left over developed and as we can see today traffic is out of control. The truth of the matter Lakewood is just one ruined discussing town, I have watched this town since 2004 just be destroyed by Mayor’s, Politicians, and Zoning Board. If anyone wants to look at corruption then Lakewood is your answer. How funny is that, not even our own New Jersey Governor wants to get involved, instead he looks the other way. Sad…Sad…Sad 😔
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