HOWELL — An attorney hired by a group of residents opposing the retail development of a 48-acre tract on the northbound side of Route 9 at Lanes Mills Road said this week that a compromise may be in the making.
Following the applicant’s Feb. 7 appearance before the Planning Board, attorney Edward F. Liston said he was informed that the developer of the Lanes Mill Marketplace, the Goldenberg Group, of Blue Bell, Pa., was in talks with the Benderson Development Group, of Buffalo, N.Y., the developer of the adjacent Howell Commons shopping center.
Liston said the two firms are meeting in an effort to address a sticking point in the Goldenberg application; a point that is the cause of the opposition by the nearby homeowners.
Liston said the Locust Avenue Neigh-borhood Association (LANA), a group of homeowners who reside near both sites, are opposing the Lanes Mill Marketplace application because they want to see a connector road built between the two retail centers in an effort to deal with the volume of traffic they maintain two side-by-side shopping centers will generate.
At present, the Lanes Mill Marketplace developer is proposing two road cuts into the shopping center — one from Route 9 and one from Lanes Mill Road.
Previously Jay Beste, a principal with the Goldenberg Group, said a connecting road with Howell Commons was not his firm’s responsibility since the Lanes Mill Marketplace would not be putting traffic onto Locust Avenue.
Howell Commons borders Locust Avenue.
Liston said his clients dispute that claim and are prepared to submit the testimony of a traffic expert at the next public hearing.
However, said Liston, if by the time of the Feb. 28 meeting the two developers can "work it out and build an interconnect, then my clients will be happy and there will be no further objection."
At the Feb. 7 meeting, representatives of the Goldenberg Group submitted revised plans that changed the layout of the Lanes Mill Marketplace site. As now proposed, the buildings will face into the property and not onto Route 9 and they will back up to the Kohl’s department store in the adjacent Howell Commons.
Also, the alignment of the lane widths will be changed in order to improve the flow of traffic in the parking lot of the proposed 465,000-square-foot center that will be home to about 12 stores.
Also displayed for the consideration of board members was the proposed entrance sign for the Lanes Mill Marketplace and the architecture. As presented, the sign will be free-standing and 556 square feet in size, featuring the names of the two main "anchor" stores and several smaller retailers.
Greg Valesi, the board’s engineer, told board members, "I don’t think you’re going to be happy with the sign." He suggested that the board members take a drive by the area and compare other shopping center signs along that stretch of Route 9.
Board member Pauline Smith remarked on the size of the sign, observing it was "almost the size of a small house."
Engineer Gary Dahms, representing the applicant, maintained that the 556-square-foot sign was necessary in order to have "good visibility and safe lane changes" for traffic approaching and entering the shopping center.
Attorney Todd Cohen, representing the applicant, said he thought the comparison with other signs was a good idea and said the applicant would be "happy to do a comparison analysis."
All other signs will be individual facade signs for each store.
The two anchor stores at the Lanes Mill Marketplace are expected to be a Target department store and a Lowe’s home improvement center. The buildings themselves will be a block-style with a two-tone coloring of tan and brown.
Beste has said the company would like to break ground on the Lanes Mill Marketplace by early summer with a completion date projected for the summer of 2003.