Richardson Properties wants apartments, retail space on a 25-acre site in Dayton.
By: Paul Koepp
A developer whose concept proposal for a mixed-use village in Dayton was met with skepticism by the Township Council says he will continue to make the case that it would be the best use for his property.
Russ Richardson, president of the Chester Heights, Pa.-based Richardson Properties Corporation and the owner of Fresh Ponds Village on Ridge Road, wants to build apartments and shops on 25 acres to the north of the current 120-unit complex.
The site is also bounded by Route 522 from the intersection of Route 130 to the Super Stop & Shop, as well as Griggs Drive and the townhouses on Blossom Circle in Summerfield.
Mr. Richardson says that in order to develop the parcel, he would like to have a new "village" zone created that would allow residential and commercial uses. Currently, the site is zoned Office Research, which would permit a maximum of 350,000 square feet of office space in a four-story building, with 1,200 parking spaces.
When Mr. Richardson requested the creation of the zone during an informal presentation at the July 10 Township Council meeting, council members said it looked like it would be too dense, add too many children to the school district and put too much traffic on local roads. The council would have to adopt a rezoning ordinance to allow the development as it has been proposed.
However, Mr. Richardson, said last week that he has traveled all over the country to study mixed-use developments and he is convinced it is the right use of the land, which he owned with a partner starting in the late 1980s and purchased outright in 1997. He developed the Fresh Ponds Village complex in the late 1970s, when it served as temporary housing for employees of the technology firm Unisys.
He also said that the township’s current apartment complexes are not modern enough and that with his training in traditional town planning, he could deliver an attractive development.
"South Brunswick desperately needs nice new contemporary apartments," Mr. Richardson said. "The alternative (an office building) is not really appropriate and would have much more of a negative impact."
He said he would come back to the Township Council with answers to all its concerns, including a Rutgers University study that he said would show that rental units do not produce many schoolchildren. Mr. Richardson also said that surrounding areas like Blossom Circle in Summerfield are denser than his proposal for about 240 units, with the ratio of one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom apartments yet to be determined. He said that his proposed "four-plexes," four-unit apartment buildings along Griggs Drive, would be staggered and set back from the street to give the illusion of more space.
The proposal also includes a pedestrian friendly "Main Street" with small shops, a clubhouse with a landscaped courtyard, and a walking path to the Super Stop & Shop.
"The question is, what is appropriate for this piece of land," Mr. Richardson said. "It’s pretty obvious that a four-story office building with 1,200 cars is not the best use of the site."

