gets the OK for Rt. 33
By vincent todaro
Staff Writer
MONROE — The Planning Board has given approval for a 348-unit adult community to be built off Route 33.
The board voted at its Aug. 22 meeting to allow Calton Homes, Manalapan, to build the community, which will be called Renaissance at Monroe. In a rare move, the board voted to grant both the approval for the project and to memorialize its resolution at the same meeting.
Mayor Richard Pucci, who also sits on the Planning Board, said that because the application was delayed for a month, the applicant was told the board would consider memorializing the resolution the same night it approved the application. Calton Homes was given final major subdivision approval at the meeting.
The site sits on 106 acres in a PRC-2 zone, according to the applicant’s attorney, Walter Toto.
Before the development can be built, however, the applicant will have to create a sewer line in the area, according to Councilman John Riggs, who sits on the board. He said Calton Homes is "anxious" to begin construction, and has agreed to pay to extend the sewer line from a nearby area to its site.
The application was tabled during a June Planning Board hearing because the board was awaiting reports from its emergency service departments, Feist said. In July, the board did not meet due to the deaths of its chairman and vice chairman.
All of the emergency service reports were filed in time for the Aug. 22 meeting, Feist said. He said the fire department report requested mountable curbs, which the applicant has agreed to install.
The fire department also recommended that an additional access point be created for the community’s clubhouse, he said, adding he met with the applicant’s engineer, and the second access area will be provided.
Riggs said that access point will mean there will be grass pavers on two sides of the clubhouse. The concrete blocks will allow for trucks and other fire equipment to be placed there, should a fire occur.
The applicant also withdrew its idea to have a secondary entrance to the community, due to feedback from the township.
"It was determined by the traffic engineer the second entrance would not be safe," Riggs said. Instead, the applicant will have one boulevard entrance in the form of a divided roadway with shrubs between the two sides of the road.
"We didn’t feel it would provide any additional margins for safety," Feist said of the additional access area, adding there was also concern the state Department of Transportation might take issue with it.
He said he was satisfied the applicant had brought its application into compliance with the board’s wishes.
"At this point, I would recommend approval for final subdivision," he said.
Planning Board member David Rothman said the community would mainly include people in their mid 50s to early 60s.
The area where the age-restricted community, for ages 55 and up, will be built is near the township’s border with East Windsor. Zoning there was changed last year to accommodate such planned retirement communities, Riggs said. There is a planned retirement community in East Windsor near the site, and part of the reason for the zoning change was to make the entire block residential, he said.
There are already five retirement communities in Monroe, with two more being constructed, he said. Three others are in the planning stages.
Speaking on behalf of the applicant, Christopher Rosati said the clubhouse will include an indoor pool, as well as an outdoor pool and a children’s pool. It will also have two bocce courts, two shuffleboard areas, two tennis courts, a children’s playground and a putting green.
The applicant will also construct a room that could be used for medical purposes in the future, he said.
Riggs told the applicant its first step is to make sure the buffer along Route 33 is ready before construction.
"Make it aesthetically pleasing during your construction phase," he said.

