FREEHOLD — The owners of Basile’s Italian restaurant, Park Avenue, have received unanimous approval from the Planning Board to add a 1,209-square-foot dining addition to the business.
The approval was granted by the board on Jan. 22.
The application was initially heard on Oct. 23 when it was presented by attorney Thomas Demarest of Freehold. As explained by the attorney, the application is part of a plan put in place in 1995 by co-owners Vito Basile and Robert Pesce.
In addition to the expansion of the dining capacity, the Basile’s application called for the expansion of on-site parking to allow for 12 additional parking spaces and a new and enlarged trash enclosure.
Also testifying for the applicant was engineer Bruce Jacobs of the firm Gravatt, Geller and Associates, Freehold, who told board members that a 12- by 12-foot foyer had also been added to the site plan.
A ramp that will provide access directly into the restaurant’s main entrance is also proposed.
Jacobs also told board members that the trash enclosure would be a masonry structure within a framed fence, and he added that it would be an open block structure.
The restaurant currently occupies 3,529 square feet and will total 4,738 square feet when the addition is completed. Extensive landscaping will be planted on the patio and in the front of the building to blend in with the other plantings that are already a part of the restaurant’s earlier plan, according to the owners.
Pesce told board members he is planning to remove the existing sign and leave the pole sign that is already in place.
There was no public comment on the Basile’s application.
In the reorganization portion of the meeting, planning board members elected Michael Buchalski to the position of chairman for 2003 and Laura Mulroy to the position of vice chairman. Planning Board secretary Antoinette Jones was reappointed for 2003, as was the board’s attorney Patrick Accisano and engineer James P. Kovacs.
— Clare Marie Celano