Freehold Twp.

Freehold Twp.

awards one

liquor license

Route 537 project calls

for hotel, department

stores and restaurants

By linda denicola

Staff Writer

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — The Township Committee has approved the issuance of one new retail consumption liquor license and turned down two applicants for a second available license.

The liquor license was awarded to WHF, a subsidiary of JDN Development Corp., a developer which has an application filed with the Planning Board for a project which includes department stores, restaurants and a hotel.

WHF wants to construct two restaurants under the one license at the proposed site of the development project, on the south side of Route 537 about a quarter-mile east of Stillwells Corner Road.

According to Duane Davison, township attorney, the applicant can do that as long as the buildings are connected some way, with a common area such as a parking lot or connected buildings.

Davison explained that the WHF proposal is on a 500,000-square-foot property that was in litigation years ago. A settlement was reached that modified the proposal in order to lessen the impact on adjacent residential areas.

According to the Planning Board office, the application filed with the board for the property includes a Super Wal-Mart, but it is incomplete and has not been reviewed yet.

The resolution to approve the WHF liquor license application will be on the Township Committee’s Dec. 17 agenda, the governing body’s last meeting for the year.

As for the second available liquor license, Davison said a resolution adopted by the committee on June 25 stipulates that up to two licenses can be issued, but if they have not been issued by Feb. 5, there will be no further issuance of licenses.

"We can no longer issue the second one unless we start the process over again. We would have to adopt the initial resolution again," Davison said.

When the two retail consumption licenses were approved, four applications were received for them, Davison said. The four applicants, two for WHF, one for a Charlie Brown’s restaurant at the Mount’s Corner shopping center at Route 537 and Wemrock Road, and one for a Legal Seafood restaurant at Freehold Raceway Mall, presented their proposals to the committee during an Oct. 8 public hearing.

The proposal was for Legal Seafood to move into the Old Navy location and for Old Navy to move to another spot at the mall, Davison said.

During their workshop last week, committee members discussed the specifics of all of the proposals and how they would benefit the township. They also discussed location, convenience, kind of restaurant, bearing on other property owners, and bearing on traffic and security.

The committee members’ comments were positive on all counts for each restaurant, but in the end they only approved the WHF application. Committee members felt that two restaurants under one liquor license was a win-win situation for the community.

WHF wants to build a town center-type project with a hotel and stores.

Committeeman Raymond Kershaw said, "It will generate a lot of people for a restaurant. The proposal of a mall and WHF properties has a bit of an advantage."

Committeewoman Dorothy Avallone agreed.

"It is part of a larger scale project that would be its own town center," she said.

The other issues, like location, type of restaurant, traffic and security, were not a problem because, as Kershaw said, all of the applicants are virtually in the same area and are proposing family-type restaurants. In addition, they all satisfied the resolution’s requirement that they have at least 100 table seats.

"All of the restaurants were about the same size, 200-plus seats," Mayor Eugene Golub said.

All of the restaurants would be in the same category in terms of the number of people they would employ, committee members said.

As for the outward appearance of the restaurants, "The decor is locked in by ordinance," Kershaw said, adding, "The appearance would have to conform to what’s around it."

Committeeman David Salkin, said they would have to conform to a Williamsburg, Va.-type look.

The committee members agreed that security was not a factor since none of the proposals are for nightclubs.

Salkin said after the meeting, "I wouldn’t have a problem giving any of them licenses. Liquor licenses are in such short supply for the demand, but for the town it’s a chance to get a great ratable and a cash contribution."

In the case of WHF, they offered the town $650,000 in cash for the town to use as it sees fit, Salkin said.

"It’s part of the overall package they presented to the town to show that their project is best," he said.

During a discussion of the viability of each proposal, the committee members felt that since the mall already exists as a ratable, putting in a restaurant there would not improve ratables, but adding a restaurant at Mount’s Corner would add a good ratable.

According to Salkin, the awarding of the second available liquor license may be brought up again in the spring.

The township is able to increase the number of plenary retail consumption licenses because of an increase in population as determined by the 2000 census which puts the population figure at 32,470.