By larry ramer
Staff Writer
MARLBORO — A representative of Elite Fitness and Sports Center, which is seeking to build a fitness center on Vanderburg Road, has suggested that an existing street be extended in order to alleviate anticipated traffic problems near the site of the company’s proposed facility.
Elite Fitness is seeking a use variance to build its for-profit recreation facility in a light industrial zone where only nonprofit recreation facilities are a permitted use without a variance.
Speaking during a special meeting of the zoning board on July 17, engineer Frank Miskovich, who is representing Elite Fitness, introduced a proposal aimed at reducing the anticipated congestion at the intersection of Vanderburg Road and Route 79 that would be generated by the applicant’s planned building.
The plan was developed during a meeting that was attended by Miskovich and zoning board engineer Ernest Peters.
Miskovich suggested that the board prohibit left turns from Vanderburg Road onto Route 79 (Main Street). In order to allow vehicles to access Route 79 south, Miskovich said, an existing road, Travelers Way, could be lengthened and improved to provide a connection between Vanderburg Road and School Road East. Vehicles could then turn onto School Road East and reach Route 79 south at an intersection controlled by a traffic light.
Travelers Way, a 40-foot wide right of way, currently covers half of the 800-foot distance between Vanderburg Road and School Road East. No residents live along Travelers Way, making this option more advantageous, Miskovich said.
The extension would also enhance the traffic situation in the area as a whole, since the Route 79 and Vanderburg Road intersection (which has no traffic light) currently causes motorists to be delayed at peak hours, the traffic engineer said. The only other way to access Route 79 from Vanderburg Road is by traveling down Hudson Street, a narrow, residential street that needs improvement, Miskovich added.
"In essence you will have an improved roadway system in the area of Vanderburg Road, to School Road East, and out to Route 79" if Travelers Way is extended, Miskovich told the board.
In response to a question from zoning board Chairwoman Sherry Hoffer, Miskovich added that the board could also choose to make Vanderburg Road a one-way street under the terms of the plan.
Attorney Gerald Sonnenblick, representing Elite Fitness, told the board that he had spoken with the lawyer for the owner of the land onto which Travelers Way would be extended. The owner of the land said through his attorney that he would be willing to allow the right of way to be built on his land as long as he was not charged for the improvement and extension, Sonnenblick reported.
Board member Steven Sukel questioned whether the applicant was simply shifting the traffic from the Vanderburg Road-Route 79 intersection to the School Road East-Route 79 intersection.
"With people accessing School Road East, making a left turn on Route 79, and a whole development on the corner, [the idea] seems to be shifting traffic from one [spot] to another," Sukel said.
"The traffic will definitely be less than what is now the case at Vanderburg and Route 79," Sonnenblick responded.
Hoffer noted that improvements are expected to be made on School Road East, which will change the street. These changes will happen relatively soon and have not yet been disclosed to the zoning board, Hoffer said. The chairwoman also raised the possibility that the fitness center might be opened before Travelers Way is fully improved and extended.
In that case, Sonnenblick replied, the board could impose restrictions on traffic that would remain in place until the extension was completed.
"This option [of extending Travelers Way] is certainly something to think about," Hoffer concluded.
Hoffer sounded more concerned during a subsequent discussion about parking for the fitness center. What would happen, she asked, if the health club attracted 2,000 members when it opened, due to the novel appeal of a new fitness club.
"If 500 to 700 people come when the facility is just opened, where will they park?" Hoffer asked, noting that the surrounding streets are residential areas and are not conducive to handling large numbers of parked cars. "I am concerned about where that traffic is going to go when it reaches its maximum in the parking lot."
The athletic facilities (hockey and soccer) would not operate during peak times for the fitness club, Sonnenblick said. He added that many businesses experience a lack of parking at different times of the year, or when they first open, and said it would be unrealistic to prevent all such facilities from opening their doors.
"When a store or a shopping center opens on Route 9, they don’t always have enough parking at certain times … you can’t size parking based on that one hour or a few peak days a year, or you’ll just have a sea of asphalt, " Sonnenblick said.
In the end, the two sides seemed to reach a compromise on the parking issue. In his presentation to the board, Peters agreed that the standard Miskovich used to calculate the number of parking spaces needed for the health club was a more realistic barometer than the applicable township ordinance.
According to the ordinance, the applicant would need to build a 570-spot parking lot for its facilities. However, Peters agreed that the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) standard used by Miskovich to arrive at a number of parking spots needed for the health club was more realistic.
"The ITE standard is based on professionals going out to sites, accounting for the size and type of the facility, and counting how many vehicles are there. They then compute an average for certain size and uses of buildings. In my opinion, that’s more real-world than an ordinance written (20) years ago, without specifically addressing types of uses," Peters said.
Using the ITE standard, Miskovich calculated that 198 spaces were needed for the health club. He then added the 188 spaces that the board and the applicant had agreed were necessary for the hockey and soccer facilities and arrived at a total of 386 parking spots. The applicant was proposing 401 spots.
"However, I wouldn’t jump up and down and say that 386 spots is the magic number," Peters said.
He suggested a compromise whereby the applicant would add an additional row of "banked" parking at the eastern edge of the facility. This would create an extra 70 to 75 spaces and would "start to increase the level of comfort with the parking arrangement," Peters said.
Sonnenblick said his client was considering such an arrangement. He added that the applicant was also considering reducing the size of the proposed 114,000-square-foot health facility by 5,000 to 6,000 square feet, which would add approximately 20 parking spaces and decrease the number of parking spaces required by the township’s ordinance.
Two members of the public discussed possible negative effects the proposed facilities might have on the community.
"I’m don’t know if the area can support [an additional] 400 cars [a day]," said Adrianne Spota of Vanderburg Road.
Resident Robert Spano, who also lives in the area, was more critical of the plan, which he said would simply shift traffic from Vanderburg Road to School Road East. Spano added that in terms of traffic problems, the fitness center would impact the community more negatively than an industrial facility, which he said would generate six trucks a day.
Andy DelVecchio, an attorney representing New York Sports Club, which has a facility on Route 9 and is opposing the application, asked Miskovich many questions at the end of the hearing and did not have a chance to complete his questioning.
Answering questions from DelVecchio, Miskovich said other intersections in the area that were not discussed in the hearing would not experience increased traffic as a result of Elite Fitness. He also disclosed that the ITE study on which he based his report was published in 1987.
The next meeting regarding the Elite Fitness application will be held on Sept. 17, Hoffer said.