Planning Board begins
review of master plan
Parking, traffic remain
key areas of concern
Freehold Borough
Planning Board begins
review of master plan
By clare MARie celano
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — Where to park your car and how long it will take you to get through the downtown area have been problems in the borough for years. Like many other problems, they won’t go away without some action.
Traffic congestion and parking have been on the borough’s list of things to "fix" since at least 1982, according to information in the town’s master plan, presented at a recent meeting of the Planning Board.
According to Planning Board members, the time to fix these problems is now.
The borough’s master plan was recently re-examined and the results of the re-examination were presented to the board by municipal planner Joseph Layton.
Layton explained that the Borough Council needed to provide for a general re-examination of the master plan every six years. The re-examination includes addressing the major problems and objectives relating to land development in the municipality and the extent to which such problems and objectives have been reduced or have increased over the years. The plan also includes recommendations and revisions.
Layton reviewed the major problems and objectives addressed in the 1995 master plan review, the year it was last re-examined and subsequently adopted.
Downtown parking, downtown traffic congestion, housing stock, development pressure to extend non-residential uses into residential districts and the county/borough public works yard on Manalapan Avenue were among the items addressed in the previous master plan review.
Layton said parking is still a major concern and will continue to be an issue in the foreseeable future. He told members of the board that since 1995 the Market Yard parking area, the largest parking area in the central business district, was reconstructed, paved and enhanced with landscaping.
In addition to improvements to the Market Yard parking area, a new zoning district — the REC zone — was created in 2001 on the edge of the central business district to encourage the establishment of recreational uses and parking areas.
Parking and traffic congestion were the topics of choice at the meeting. Board members agreed that these two concerns were of the utmost priority.
Layton told board members it is hoped that the Kozloski Road extension which is under construction between Route 537 and Route 9 in Freehold Township will hopefully bring some traffic relief to the borough.
Suggestions for relief from these two problems in the borough were put forth by board members and ranged from forming a committee to research and work on finding a solution for the problem to building a parking garage.
In a subsequent conversation, Joseph Bellina, the borough’s business administrator, noted that Abbington Associates of Freehold had performed a parking study in 2000 on behalf of the borough, Monmouth County and the borough’s Special Improvement District. He noted, however, that the study did not present any conclusions.
"We will authorize the (planning) board engineer to finish that report by refreshing and updating parking counts in the borough, taking into consideration the new parking demands and working on solutions to ameliorate the parking woes on Main Street," Bellina said. "The board needs an updated conclusion of the traffic analysis of the downtown area to make it a component to the approved master plan for the future, so that there is a blueprint to follow for the future."
Layton’s recent master plan review listed downtown economic conditions as having changed for the better since 1995.
"The restaurant business has become the main commercial attraction of the downtown area since 1995," Layton said. "The central business district is now a mecca for diners in western Monmouth County for both lunch and dinner," he said.
The report also stated that additional housing has been developed. The Manalapan Avenue public works site has been developed and is the site of the Brookside assisted living facility. The former Karagheusian rug mill has been developed into apartments and other uses, including the YMCA Community Center, state Sen. John O. Bennett’s office and it will be the home of the Freehold Borough Police Department and municipal court.
The master plan re-examination report indicated that there was no significant increase in population density or land use. Layton said U.S. Census data showed an increase in population from 10,742 residents in 1990 to 10,976 residents in 2000.
Layton added that the master plan recognized that the town was designated as a town center by the State Planning Commission on Oct. 22, 1997. Benefits for the town have already included a Transportation Trust Fund Grant used for the reconstruction of the Market Yard parking lot.
Recommended action on the master plan includes revisions to Commercial Manufacturing (CM) and Business (B) zones.
Part of a large CM zone to the east of the downtown area has already been rezoned REC. Other portions of this CM zone remain undeveloped. The master plan recommended that Block 85, lots 14 and 15 be added to the REC zone. These lots are currently vacant. The report recommends that vacant land at the eastern end of Institute Street should be rezoned from CM to R-5 to accommodate proposed single-family residential subdivisions.
CM zones adjacent to Jerseyville Avenue and Throckmorton Street have a variety of uses, most of which are not research or manufacturing. No changes in zone boundaries are proposed, but it is proposed to modify the uses permitted in the CM zone to allow service establishments (excluding restaurants), contractors storage yards, auto repair and body shops and retail goods.
The report also states that the CM zone which encompasses Freehold Raceway on Park Avenue should be rezoned to a new district that would allow specialty retail uses and offices. Layton told members of the Planning Board it is not likely that the raceway will continue in operation over the long-term future and said the CM zoning currently in place is inappropriate for long-term development objectives.
He said that since there are few retail uses left in the central business district, it is not anticipated that retail uses on the raceway property will compete with the downtown area.
Officials from Freehold Raceway could not be reached on Monday to comment on Layton’s report.
Revisions to the business zones include the north side of West Main Street between Park Avenue and Route 9. Layton recommended that a new zone be created which would permit single-family residences as well as home-based offices as a conditional use. Conditions exclude medical, dental, massage therapy and real estate offices.
The report recommended that the northeast corner of Sheriff and Lafayette streets be rezoned from R-7 to B-1. Three of the lots on this street are owned by Monmouth County and used for offices or parking. Also recommended was rezoning six lots on McLean Street to the east of the St. Rose of Lima Church parking lot from R-4 to B-1.
At this time, the master plan re-examination report stated that there are no further recommendations for additional redevelopment areas.
In a later conversation with Bellina, the borough administrator said the updated traffic analysis should be available by year’s end and that the Planning Board would hopefully conclude its master plan review in the early part of 2003.
Any changes proposed in the master plan are first reviewed by the board, and then the board will make recommendations to the council, according to Bellina.
"The Planning Board can recommend changes, but only the governing body can actually effectuate those changes," he said.