MANALAPAN – The Manalapan Planning Board has granted preliminary subdivision approval and preliminary site plan approval to a company that will construct an adult community on Route 33.
On Aug. 23, board members voted 9-0 to grant the approval to K. Hovnanian Shore Acquisitions for Four Seasons at Manalapan Brook.
Chairwoman Kathryn Kwaak, Vice Chairwoman Daria D’Agostino and board members Barry Jacobson, Todd Brown, John Castronovo, Barry Fisher, Mayor Jack McNaboe, Township Committeeman David Kane and Manalapan fire official Rick Hogan voted “yes” on a motion to grant preliminary approval.
The company will return in the future to seek final approval for the project.
The Four Seasons at Manalapan Brook will be a planned community of 140 homes, set back from Route 33 westbound on a parcel that is just west of the Knob Hill residential community and golf course. The development will include a walking trail, a clubhouse and other amenities for residents.
Several outstanding issues regarding the project were settled on Aug. 23.
As part of its application to construct Four Seasons at Manalapan Brook, K. Hovnanian agreed to donate a 14-acre parcel on Route 33 to the township as the site for a future 100 percent affordable housing project. The 14-acre tract is near the property on which the adult community will be constructed.
A question regarding the 14-acre property arose during a previous Planning Board meeting. To address that question, on Aug. 22, the Township Committee passed a resolution at its meeting authorizing the execution of an affordable housing agreement with K. Hovnanian.
The committee’s resolution states that “in order to provide additional financial assistance for the township’s construction of a 100 percent affordable housing development, the developer has agreed to make a financial contribution of $1.4 million.”
At the Aug. 23 Planning Board meeting, attorney Gerald Sonnenblick, representing K. Hovnanian, said the committee’s action the previous evening settled the issue relating to the affordable housing project.
Another issue left unresolved during previous board meetings was when the clubhouse at Four Seasons at Manalapan Brook must be available for use by residents.
Sonnenblick, board members and David Fisher, K. Hovnanian’s vice president of governmental affairs, had discussed the issue several times. The discussion focused on whether the clubhouse’s availability would be determined by the number of building permits or certificates of occupancy issued for homes in the new development.
Several board members said they did not want a situation to occur in which dozens of homes would be occupied by residents who would not be able to use an unfinished clubhouse.
On Aug. 23, Fisher withdrew the company’s request for a variance and said the developer would comply with the municipal ordinance regulating that issue.
Sonnenblick explained that the clubhouse will have to have a certificate of occupancy (i.e., able to be used) when 40 percent (56 homes) of the units to be constructed have a building permit.
