Construction of a Kohl’s department store at the site of the Cost Cutters shopping plaza on Route 35 and Deal Road is expected to start this fall.
Plans are for the retail and clothing store to open its doors to customers at the Middlebrook Shopping Center in spring 2009, according to Alfred Coco, the engineer for the project.
The township of Ocean Planning Board unanimously granted preliminary and final site plan approval at the Jan. 28 meeting for the construction of the nearly 100,000-square-foot structure.
“[Kohl’s] is going to be a major improvement to the [Middlebrook] center,” Robert Silverstein, general manager and part owner of the Middlebrook Shopping Center, said after the meeting.
Silverstein added that the quality of the shopping center will increase “significantly” with the addition of Kohl’s.
Plans call for Cost Cutters, Garden State Tire and Auto, Weight Watchers and Frank’s Big and Tall to be demolished at the 20-acre Middlebrook center site.
The structures will be replaced with a new Kohl’s building, and Frank’s Big and Tall will also be reconstructed at the site. Weight Watchers will be relocated at the Middlebrook site, and Cost Cutters and Garden State Tire and Auto will open at offsite locations, according to plans on file at the Planning Board office.
T
he project is expected to cost approximately
$5 million, according to John Bonello, the attorney for the applicant.
“Kohl’s will definitely be an upgrade to the center and provide a very strong national retailer with a very large customer base,” Bonello said.
Several residents said at the planning meeting that they are concerned that storm-water run-off from the proposed parking lot at the Kohl’s site will pollute the Harvey Brook, a tributary of Deal Lake.
“My first question is if you have had the opportunity to personally inspect the area … where the Harvey Brook drains into Deal Lake?” Michael Gast, of Edgemere Drive, asked at the meeting.
Gast said that the addition of the silt and sediment run-off from the parking lot will raise the lake’s floor and create a small island.
Gast showed the board members three photographs that he took of the lake which he described as pictures of “the island that has grown at the western end of the lake by the brook.”
The island is a direct result of the sediment and silt deposited into the lake by the Harvey Brook, according to Gast.
Alfred Coco, the project engineer, said he never personally inspected the area of the lake Gast was referring to, but he said he reviewed statements from the Deal Lake Commission.
The Deal Lake Commission sent a letter to the Planning Board dated Jan. 25, recommending that the board reject the Kohl’s project stating that the plans would increase storm-water management at the site.
Coco said the Kohl’s project includes plans to improve storm-water management at the site.
“It’s our position that we think we are doing a storm-water improvement beyond what the regulations require by law and it is in proportion to the size of the site to be developed,” Coco said at the meeting.
Coco further explained to the board that site plans for the project call for a water-filtration system to be installed in the rear of the building where trucks will offload their shipments and trash disposal will take place.
“The objective of the filtration system is to collect water from areas that are occupied by cars, vehicles and trucks,” Coco said. “The idea is so when that first initial flow comes off of the parking lot, those pollutants are collected and prevented from being discharged down stream.”
Planning Board Vice Chairman Warren Goode asked if plans could also include a water-filtration system in the front of the building.
Coco said the rear of the store is better suited for a filtration system.
“The way these structures function is they can only accept a limited amount of [storm-water] flow,” Coco said.
“We are kind of limited as to where we can install these things, and we are doing it in the area where we are doing the most changes,” he said.
Coco added that the drainage system currently located at the site has been the same since the shopping center was first built in the 1960s and does not have any kind of filtration system.
The board granted approval for the Kohl’s project with the condition that the applicant complete soil testing at the site to determine if the ground is permeable enough to allow water infiltration from the roof and rear of the structure.
The applicant must also make minor changes to the landscaping planned for the project.
Susan Meeker- Paul, of Hetricks Point Road in the Wanamassa section of the township, said she is excited to have a Kohl’s constructed in town.
“I’d like to just say that I am very happy Kohl’s is coming into the neighborhood,” Meeker-Paul said. “I’m excited to see a nice, viable business in the Middlebrook Shopping Center.
“As an Ocean Township resident for nearly 15 years, it is nice to see investment along the Route 35 corridor. I’d like to thank you for your interest in the community,” she said.
Planning Board members expressed concerns over the painted brick façade proposed for the exterior of the Kohl’s structure.
Vice Chairman Warren Goode said he felt the paint would eventually crack and chip, leaving the building to appear dilapidated.
Pablo Medeiros, development consultant for Kohl’s, said that the building’s façade is a national standard and one that the company was not willing to deviate from.
The building’s exterior will be repainted every five years in order to maintain a “positive” appearance, according to Joseph Korn, project coordinator for the Middlebrook Shopping Center.
Silverstein said at the meeting that the board should support the Kohl’s application.
“Kohl’s is spending millions of dollars to come to this town,” Silverstein said. “[Middlebrook Center] is spending in excess of $7 million to bring Kohl’s to this site.
“Kohl’s has a very simple procedure. They have given us their protocol for what they construct throughout the state and they have added many things to try to comply with what the board is asking.
“We have worked very hard to bring a quality tenant into our center that is going to be an improvement to the entire center,” he said.
The Planning Board is expected to memorialize its approval for the Kohl’s project at the Feb. 25 meeting.