MANALAPAN – The owner of a personal training studio plans to establish his business on Pension Road, Manalapan, following the granting of a use variance by the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
During the board’s July 20 meeting, Wade Miller, a certified personal trainer and the operator of Pulse Fitness by Wade LLC, described his plan to run his business in a 1,125-square-foot space in a flex space complex.
Personal training is not a permitted use in the complex, which is in Manalapan’s Light Industrial zone.
Miller, who was represented by attorney Daniel Green and planner Allison Coffin, testified that he currently operates his business in a rented space in neighboring Monroe Township. He said he wants to move to Manalapan so he can own the space in which he operates his business.
Miller said he and one other trainer will work in the Pension Road location and will see clients on an appointment basis, for a maximum of four people in the unit at one time.
Although hours are dictated by his clients’ needs, Miller said the business generally operates between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
All of the training will take place using equipment that will be in the unit Miller occupies. No training activities will occur in the parking lot or anywhere else on the property. All training is on a one-on-one basis and there are no classes held with multiple clients, he told the board.
Coffin said the flex space complex on Pension Road includes light industrial, office and recreational uses among its 40 units. She said personal training is not a permitted use, but said she concluded that a use variance could be granted without impairing the intent of Manalapan’s master plan.
Coffin said the proposed use is “a good fit for flex space. It provides no detrimental impact to the public good and it provides no impact to other users at the site (i.e., no outdoor training and only a limited number of parking spaces needed).”
The board’s planner, Peter Van Den Kooy, said personal training is a use that is “generally compatible with flex space.”
Board member Barry Fisher said he could not see any harm to the Light Industrial zone or to the public as a result of approving the use of flex space for personal training and he made a motion to grant the use variance to Miller.
Board Chairman Stephen Leviton, Fisher and board members Mollie Kamen, Eve Strauss, Mary Anne Byan, Joanna Siminerio, Larry Cooper and Terry Rosenthal voted to grant the variance.
