MANALAPAN — The Planning Board has granted final approval to a residential development application for a 26-lot subdivision on property known as the Chomko farm.
The property is on Taylors Mills Road near Conmack Lane.
According to information presented to the board during hearings in early 2002, the 26 lots will include 24 homes and two detention basins. The property is zoned for half-acre and 1-acre residential development and will include building lots that range from 20,000 to 50,000 square feet. The average lot size will be 32,000 square feet, according to testimony presented to the board.
The application made by Toll Brothers was given final approval in an 8-1 vote with Mayor Drew Shapiro, who sits on the board, voting no during the Jan. 23 meeting.
The proposed subdivision will have two roads, one of which will come off of Taylors Mills Road. There will be about 35 acres donated to the township for open space preservation.
One piece of business associated with the application remains unfinished.
James Kinneally III, the board’s attorney, told board members that the application has been remanded to the panel by state Superior Court Judge Lawrence Lawson, sitting in Freehold. Kinneally said the board must consider an easement regarding an adjacent piece of land-locked property known as the Cohen tract.
Attorney Gerald Sonnenblick of Freehold Township, representing the applicant, said his client would do whatever the board requires, but would not change the lot locations. He said there is a cul-de-sac which will be a public road which can be used to gain access to the adjacent property.
In other business, the board approved a resolution giving approval to an application filed by Community Bank, Route 33 and Millhurst Road, for a drive-up window to be located at the rear of the building.
And, Planning Board Chairwoman Michelle Roth announced two new rules which will affect all applicants and their representatives.
Effective immediately, the board will require all materials that need to be reviewed prior to a hearing on an application to be submitted 21 days in advance of the applicant’s hearing date.
And, in order to end all meetings by an 11 p.m. deadline, each applicant will be limited to a 40-minute maximum time slot so that all applicants will have a fair share of the time that is available, Roth said. If additional time is needed, the board will make every effort to accommodate the applicant at the earliest possible date, according to the chairwoman.
— Dave Benjamin