Lowe’s hearings begin; might wrap up Aug. 26
Big-box retailer seeking to open store at former Bendix plant site
By sherry conohan
Staff Writer
The application for construction of a Lowe’s Home Center on the site of the old Bendix plant on Route 35 re-emerged before the Eatontown Planning Board this week and immediately came under attack as posing a potential environmental hazard to shoppers.
Charles Pierce, of Sand Spring Drive, long a critic of building on the Bendix site, complained to the Planning Board at its meeting Monday night that the store and its parking lot were being constructed over two major toxic sites.
"Why are you building on a toxic site, which is ludicrous?" he asked the Lowe’s representatives when the meeting was opened to the public.
Pierce said the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) told him the wells that have been set up on the property to monitor contamination would be going inside the Lowe’s building.
"That’s vinyl chloride. It’s toxic," he said. "Children will be there."
Dave Koerner, who heads real estate development in New Jersey for Lowe’s, responded that the wells were not going inside the building. John M. Marmora, the Newark lawyer representing Lowe’s, added that the company has received a letter from the DEP advising that "no further action" is required to clean up the site, which enables Lowe’s to proceed to construction.
Koerner further assured Pierce that Lowe’s will do whatever the DEP asks it to do at the site.
Pierce still protested, "It’s like building on quicksand."
Marmora said Pierce’s questions would be more properly addressed to the DEP than the Planning Board.
"We all agree with the concerns you express," Darve Stutz, chairman of the Planning Board, told Pierce. "But we have to rely on the DEP," if it issues an approval to proceed with construction.
Before the meeting was opened to the public for questions, Koerner testified that removal of soil from the site would begin in mid-September. He said now that Lowe’s actually owns the property, it was applying the next day, on Tuesday, to the Freehold Soil Conservation District for a permit for the removal.
Koerner said three-quarters of the concrete from the old Bendix plant — "most of the stuff in the parking area" — was coming out, but 25 percent — "what’s under the store" — is being left as a cap.
Mayor Gerald J. Tarantola, a member of the board, said the cap was needed because of "environmental problems."
"I’ve been promoting this as growth of Eatontown. Don’t disappoint me," the mayor said to the applicants.
Koerner was the only witness presented on behalf of Lowe’s at the meeting. Lowe’s will present the rest of its case at the board’s Aug. 26 meeting, but the board isn’t expected to vote on its application at that time because Stutz will not be there. He will have to listen afterward to a taped recording of that evening’s testimony in order to be qualified to vote.
Marmora said he would like to wrap up with his closing argument, however, on Aug. 26.
Koerner testified at this week’s meeting because he’ll be away on a long-planned vacation on Aug. 26.
The Lowe’s application has lain dormant since the company put it on hold last December.
Turning to matters other than the environmental cleanup of the site, Marmora said Lowe’s would like a variance to operate a trash compactor after 7 p.m. He said the borough noise ordinance allows many activities between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., but a separate ordinance limits compactor operations to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Koerner initially requested permission to operate the compactor until midnight, which is two hours after the store closes. He then amended his request to allow use of the compactor from one hour before the store opens at 6 a.m. until one hour after the 10 p.m. closing.
The compactor will be located in the back of the building with a screen around it, he added.
Koerner said there’s a house right behind the Lowe’s store on Route 9 in Old Bridge and, to his knowledge, the company has received no noise complaints about its operation of a compactor there.
Koerner also proposed that Lowe’s be allowed to "landbank" some of the planned parking area. He said whereas 857 parking spaces are required for the store, the company would like to landbank or "greenbank" 162 of those spaces. He confirmed that would leave roughly 700 parking spaces.
Koerner said recyclables will be kept behind the store, out of sight of the public, and upgrades to the front of the building would eliminate the view directly into the garden center from Route 35.
Asked if the exterior of the building would be stucco, he replied it would be "colored masonry."
Koerner requested a waiver from a provision of the landscaping ordinance that calls for foundation plantings all around the building. He said they would interfere with customer traffic and would be hard to keep alive.
He also said a variance would be needed for the sign on the front of the building.
In response to questions, Koerner said Lowe’s was still working with the state Department of Transportation on a traffic plan for getting cars into and out of the store site.
Koerner said a triangle of land next to the Cobblestone Diner which had billboards on it was still creating problems. He said the owners of the billboards don’t want to sell because of the income from them.
Mark Steinberg, attorney for the board, said the borough may use its municipal power to condemn that property and get rid of the billboards.
The Lowe’s proposed here is one of three going up at the Shore. A Lowe’s is under construction in Holmdel on Route 35 south, which is expected to open this fall, and another is under way at Seaview Square Mall on Route 66 in Ocean Township, which is expected to open in February.
Bob Stetz, engineer to the board, advised the members that the Lowe’s building in Holmdel is almost finished and suggested they might want to go up there to take a look at it. He said it was similar to the Lowe’s planned for the borough and "it looks nice."