Certificate of occupancy to be extended Manalapan school continues case before zoning board
By kathy baratta MANALAPAN — A unanimous zoning board recommendation will allow classes to continue until the end of the school year at the Little Red School House, Sweetmans Lane. Subsequent to their application before the board for an extended use variance at the school, owners John and Phyllis Kalman have been operating under a temporary certificate of occupancy (CO) that was due to expire March 20. On March 16, board members voted to recommend that township Code Enforcement Officer Richard Hogan grant the Kalmans the extension necessary for them to complete the current school year. Contacted by the News Transcript, Hogan said he would be granting the extension as the close of the school year was so near. The need for the temporary CO and the current property dispute that is part of the zoning board application grew out of a Planning Board application the Kalmans filed in 1995 when they sought to begin expansion of the existing school building. Five years later, even with an approved site plan, the matter is no closer to resolution since being handed over to the zoning board in 1996. The zoning board application was deemed necessary because an unofficial road known as Sulky Lane was not part of the Kalmans’ deeded land and the Planning Board attorney said the additional request for the use of Sulky Lane constituted a nonconforming use. The dispute stems from the fact that when Phyllis Kalman’s family farm was divided and sold, the access rights to Sulky Lane reverted to the buyer, developer Toll Brothers Inc. Toll Brothers’ attorney Gerald Sonnenblick, of Freehold Township, said the builder had been willing to grant the Kalmans an easement to use Sulky Lane if they had secured all necessary township approvals by the end of 1999. der=0 bgcolor=”#D0D0D0″> As this did not occur, the offer is no longer on the table and this irks the Kalmans. John Kalman said the couple "want what they’ve always had," referring to the use of Sulky Lane, an unofficial road off of Oakland Mills Road that they claim their students’ parents have been using since they opened the school more than 20 years ago. Zoning board member Diane Padlo corrected Sonnenblick, who claimed there had been no ongoing use of Sulky Lane, which leads from the back of the school out to Oakland Mills Road. Padlo said her own grown children had attended the Little Red School House and said she and other parents had used Sulky Lane. The Kalmans maintain that as traffic in the entire town has worsened, especially as it pertains to the Sweetmans Lane area, it would be safer if the use of Sulky Lane remains available, especially to parents approaching from the east or Freehold area. John Kalman said he believes the situation would be safer if parents do not have to make what he called a dangerous left turn from Oakland Mills Road on to Sweetmans Lane no matter what the time of day. Sonnenblick noted that Michael Lane — the road constructed by Toll Brothers into its new residential development — that runs off Sweetmans Lane and past the school, is a safe and accessible road for the Kalmans and their students to use. A public hearing on the matter is scheduled for the zoning board’s May 18 meeting.
JERRY WOLKOWITZ John and Phyllis Kalman discuss an access road off Oakland Mills Road, Manalapan, that would bring students right to the Little Red School House.