By clare MARie celano
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — Orchard Street will see the construction of a 12-home subdivision if the proposed project wins Planning Board approval on July 26.
Applicant Gregory Hauke wants to build the 12 single-family homes on a 14-lot, 3.1-acre parcel. The applicant’s initial appearance before the board was June 25.
Of those 14 lots, 10 homes will be built on Orchard Street and two homes will have frontage on Parker Street. The new tract will be created around two existing homes on Parker Street.
The applicant wants to demolish one home on Orchard Street that lies within the 3-acre tract. According to attorney Martin McCann of Red Bank, representing the applicant, all but two of the lots conform to the borough’s R-5 zoning requirements.
Hauke is seeking two variances for lot frontage. Both non-conforming lots propose 20 feet of frontage where 50 feet is required by borough ordinance. McCann said Hauke has tried to compensate for the two non-conforming lots by providing a setback larger than what is required.
According to McCann, the applicant sought alternate ways to develop the property because part of the tract contains wetlands and developing the land may cause disturbance to the wetlands transition area and buffer. If the access to the planned development is off Institute and Orchard streets there will be no environmental disturbance, according to the attorney, who called the design "minimally invasive."
According to project engineer John Buletza, the two-story homes will total 1,400 or 1,500 square feet, with 250 square feet of that figure representing a garage. He said the proposed subdivision will be an improvement to Orchard Street, which is basically an unimproved dirt road.
The plans provide for a 30-foot-wide improved Orchard Street from the intersection of Institute Street to the northerly limit. According to a report prepared by James Kovacs, the board’s engineer, "The Planning Board requests that full road width improvements be provided from the intersection of Orchard Street with Institute Street to the intersection of Railroad Avenue with Marcy Street.
"Board members strongly recommend that 30-foot wide road improvements be continued along the balance of Orchard Street and along Railroad Avenue up to the intersection with Marcy Street," the report states.
McCann told board members he believes "it is too much for the board to ask the applicant to do this. It may be good for the borough, but it is not really relevant to the development."
He termed the board’s recommendations "excessive" and said the applicant was not prepared to extend the road to the length that is being requested.
"This development will be a substantial improvement to the public," McCann said.
Board member Hank Stryker III responded to McCann, saying, "If he wants to a build houses, he should be prepared to improve the roads." Planning Board member Walter Baillie told McCann the property was once used as a dump.
Concerns were expressed by board members as to the safety of the property.
Kovacs said soil borings and other methods to test the land would be employed, as well as aerial photos from the 1940s, if available, to confirm the prior use of the property.