HOWELL – The Howell Planning Board has granted preliminary site plan approval to SL Homes Inc., which plans to construct a multi-tenant commercial building and two restaurants on Route 9 in front of a portion of The Villages adult community.
During a March 7 meeting, SL Homes and owner Savino Savo sought preliminary and final major site plan approval and woodlands management approval to develop a parcel that is about 400 feet north of Casino Drive. The property is between Route 9 north and Wyckoff Mills Road, Howell.
Some of the homes in The Villages back up to Wyckoff Mills Road.
Attorney Jan Wouters, who represented the applicant, described the proposed buildings.
“There is a one-story building totaling 30,880 square feet for multi-tenant retail uses and two one-story pad sites which right now are proposed to be fast food restaurants. However, at this point there are no leases or arrangements for restaurants on those pad sites,” Wouters said.
The attorney said all of the proposed uses are permitted in Howell’s Highway Development zone.
Engineer William Stevens described the location as “a 12.5-acre site located just to the north of Casino Drive. Right now the site is vacant. There are a couple of foundations from some dilapidated structures which are proposed to be removed by this application, as well as a billboard which is also proposed to be removed should approval be granted for this application.”
Stevens said the proposed development site is generally wooded.
“The applicant is proposing to construct a shopping a center that will consist of three buildings. The main building will be a two-story, multi-tenant building. That building is proposed right now to have 15 stores, but the space is designed to be flexible and should someone desire more space there would be less stores,” he said.
Stevens said the two restaurant pad sites are in front of the retail building.
In regard to a storm water management plan, Stevens said a series of inlets and pipes would capture storm water run-off from the buildings and a parking lot. He said the water would be discharged to the bed of the Manasquan River.
The project is in close proximity to wetlands.
“There are wetlands along the main stem of the Manasquan River and there is also a tributary to the Manasquan River that runs out of The Villages … So basically along our eastern boundary and our southern boundary there are waterways that are regulated by the state and have flood hazard areas associated with them,” Stevens said.
The wetlands require a 50-foot buffer in accordance with New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection regulations and Stevens said the application provides a buffer zone that exceeds the required 50 feet.
Traffic engineer John Rea said a slight adjustment will be made to the traffic light at Route 9 and Casino Drive in conjunction with the SL Homes development.
Heading north on Route 9 from Casino Drive, Wyckoff Mills Road intersects the highway at a location before the proposed development. Board member Nicholas Huszar expressed concern regarding that situation.
“I have major concerns about people driving north on Route 9 turning (onto) Wyckoff Mills Road. People are at the light at Casino Drive and they will start speeding up, wanting to turn right into the (SL Homes) shopping center; drivers who have their blinker on, are they going into the shopping center or are they turning onto Wyckoff Mills Road?” Huszar asked.
Rea said that situation is one reason why officials at the state Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction on Route 9, want the shopping center’s driveway to be constructed exactly where it is shown on the site plan.
Huszar asked Rea if he took other proposed projects in the vicinity into consideration as he worked on the SL Homes application.
“We did and there are actually three other projects on the corridor that were incorporated into the traffic study, including traffic from those projects,” he said, noting the other three projects are in neighboring Freehold Township.
Board member Paul Dorato said he believes the board must take into account the trucks that would make deliveries to the restaurants, noting, “they do not (make deliveries) in box trucks.”
The board’s chairman, Robert Nash, agreed with Dorato, but said SL Homes has designed the site reasonably. He said that aspect of the development would be discussed when the applicant returns to seek final site plan approval.
Nash said when the applicant returns to seek final site plan approval, the board will know what restaurants will be at the site.
Following the testimony, a motion was made to grant SL Homes preliminary site plan approval for the commercial development on Route 9.
Nash, Huszar, Howell Police Chief Andrew Kudrick, Deputy Mayor Evelyn O’Donnell, Robert Nicastro and Robert Seaman voted “yes” on the motion. Dorato voted “no.”
The applicant will have to return to seek final site plan approval and is expected to seek woodlands management approval at that time after working out landscaping issues with representatives of The Villages, according to board members.
