Plan calls for
new homes
on former
nursery land
By dave benjamin
Staff Writer
MANALAPAN — A developer is seeking Planning Board approval to build homes on the site of the former Four Seasons Nursery, Millhurst Road.
Representatives of applicant Hidden Pond/Daum/Prima appeared before the board on July 10, seeking to subdivide the 20-acre parcel into 12 building lots and one lot which will have a retention basin.
"The existing nursery will be abandoned," said project engineer Christopher P. Rosati.
The property is adjacent to the Battleground Estates housing development and across Millhurst Road from the Battleground County Club.
Rosati said there is a sewer management system in place with a runoff pattern from the north to the south.
A minimum lot size of 40,000 square feet (1 acre) is required per home.
The plan provides for an approximately 1,500-foot-long street ending in a cul-de-sac with 12 homes and a retention basin.
Rosati said the applicant expects to tie into a sanitary sewer system that will be built at the Meadows housing development at Route 33 and Millhurst Road. A storm water management system would discharge to the Manalapan Brook.
Township engineer Greg Valesi said soil samples indicated that no remediation of pesticides or contamination would be required.
Valesi said the developer will provide a sidewalk along Millhurst Road in accordance with the Monmouth County Scenic Road Corridor Standards.
"That means it will probably be a bituminous meandering sidewalk to give it a more natural look, but not a rigid look like [that of] concrete sidewalks," he said.
In other matters, Valesi suggested that a trail be constructed to link up to the Meadows project, which he said has a proposed trail which would be contiguous with the Hidden Pond property.
Valesi also requested more details regarding "how the pond is maintaining its water elevation" and it was noted that a detention basin would be preferred over a retention basin.
"I don’t necessarily have a problem with the wet pond [retention basin]," the engineer said. "I’m asking the applicant to do what is necessary to try to make it a dry pond [detention basin]."
Valesi recommended a linear type of basin closer to the cul-de-sac.
"If you look at the basin they have [now in the plans], it’s almost like a rectangle or a square," he explained. "We suggested that [the developer] put it closer to the road and make it more linear, meaning longer and narrower rather than a big wide expanse."
Several recommendations were also made regarding the developer’s reforestation plan, including the identification of trees; the inclusion of some ornamental trees; and signs to ensure protection of the area.
Referring to the reforesting plan, Valesi said, "All in all, the plan is a good one."
Board member Howard Benkov asked if the 48-foot radius of the cul- de-sac at the end of the street would permit fire engines to turn around.
He was told by the applicant’s engineer that the fire commissioner had given his approval to the plan.
Benkov asked if an emergency access road into Hidden Pond had been discussed with adjacent property owners. He was told that idea had not been discussed.
Benkov recommended that prospective homeowners be made aware that school buses do not go down cul-de-sacs and that homeowners will have to bring their children to the intersection of Millhurst Road to meet the school bus.
Board member Stephen Pine suggested that the planned retention basin could be a haven for mosquitoes and said there should be a suitable way to maintain the pond.
The applicant’s representatives are expected to return on Aug. 14 to resolve some of the issues discussed with the board.