By Mark Rosman
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – An applicant’s plan to develop a 77-acre parcel in Freehold Township did not advance during the March 16 meeting of the Planning Board.
The board is considering several applications related to the Bellemead tract that lies between Route 537 at Trotters Way and Route 9 south.
The applications propose a subdivision of the 77-acre property; infrastructure improvements; the construction of a jughandle off Route 537; and the construction of 400 luxury apartments.
Attorney William Mehr represented the property owner, MACW Freehold, as well as Freemall Associates and Roseland Freehold.
Freemall Associates is involved because property at Bob’s Stores on Trotters Way is proposed to be used for the construction of a new reverse jughandle that would provide access from Route 537 westbound to the apartment buildings on the Bellemead tract.
Monmouth County Engineer Joseph Ettore was present at the March 16 meeting and said the county has given conditional approval for the reverse jughandle. He said there are traffic and geometry issues associated with that infrastructure, but said county personnel “feel that (jughandle) can be accommodated.”
Roseland Freehold is proposing to build Liberty House at Freehold, which consists of 400 luxury apartments in six four-story buildings, plus a 10,000-square-foot clubhouse and a three-story parking structure on 21 acres of the Bellemead tract.
Freehold Township has approved a General Development Plan (GDP) for the Bellemead tract. The GDP is a concept of what is permitted, but it is not a specific application.
During a previous meeting, Mehr introduced the idea of at least two phases of construction. He said the first phase would not include any commercial space on the Bellemead tract. The GDP indicates commercial development will be permitted on that property.
Mehr said commercial space could be proposed in the second phase.
Board members and Mehr spent an hour during the March 16 meeting attempting to find a way to proceed. Portions of the discussion focused on whether phased development will be permitted. No resolution was reached that evening.
“We are trying to find a way to go forward in a way that benefits residents and the township,” board Chairman Richard Gatto told Mehr.
Mehr discussed the history of the property dating back to 1994. He said a settlement involves the relocation of an existing jughandle on Route 9 south that is in front of a building that previously housed a bank and now houses a campus of Brookdale Community College.
That jughandle is the location where the extended Trotters Way may come out of the Bellemead property and intersect with Route 9 south.
Questions remain as to when that jughandle will be moved north of its present location and/or how the extended Trotters Way will intersect Route 9 before the jughandle is moved.
Previous testimony indicated that initially, only right turns from Route 9 south to the new Trotters Way and right turns from the new Trotters Way to Route 9 south would be permitted.
No testimony regarding specific aspects of the Bellemead applications was presented by professionals representing the applicant on March 16. The entire hour Mehr was before the board was spent reviewing correspondence between the applicant and the township in an attempt to determine how to proceed.
Discussion of the Bellemead applications is scheduled to resume at the board’s June 1 meeting.
