Use and bulk variance granted; site plan approval still needed for Homewood Suites
By: Bill Greenwood
The Monroe Township Zoning Board of Adjustment has gotten the ball rolling for a hotel that would straddle the border of Monroe and South Brunswick townships.
The board granted use and bulk variances June 26 to a proposed Homewood Suites hotel that would be built at the intersection of Abeel Road and Interchange Plaza, though it still requires site plan approval.
A use variance was needed to allow the hotel to be built in an I-3 light impact industrial zone, which does not allow for hotels, and bulk variances were needed for minimum lot area, the minimum side yard of an accessory building, maximum building height in both stories and feet, maximum impervious coverage, maximum floor-area ratio and parking spaces.
However, Township Engineer Ernie Feist said Hotel Investors LLC, the company that proposed the hotel, still needs site plan approval from the zoning board before the hotel can be built. He said the case most likely would be heard within a few months.
In addition, the developer still needs bulk variances from South Brunswick for minimum lot area, minimum lot depth, the minimum side yards on the principal building, maximum building height in feet, total lot coverage, number of rooms, amount of restaurant and retail space, and number of parking spaces. The township was expected to discuss the application June 21 but tabled it until July 5.
Officials from South Brunswick and Monroe also will have to decide how to divide tax revenue from the hotel. Both townships have a 3 percent hotel occupancy tax.
The proposed 93,792-square-foot hotel would be located on a 1.715-acre lot in Monroe and an adjacent 1.15-acre lot in South Brunswick. It would be five stories tall and have 116 rooms.

