MILLSTONE — Visitors to Great Adventure and the Route 537 corridor may soon be able to play a round of miniature golf. The Zoning Board of Adjustment heard an application for a miniature golf course at its Sept. 24 meeting and will continue the hearing Oct. 22, when traffic and lighting issues will be discussed.
Thirty-Six Flags Game and Golf Adventure, Inc. would like to build a 36-hole miniature golf course and related “pro shop” on four acres between the Dunkin Donuts and KFC on Route 537. The project requires a use variance and a bulk variance.
Kenneth Pape, attorney for the applicant, said that the Planning Board approved a 6,000-square-foot retail center for the site in 1999, but the approval has expired. He called the miniature golf course a unique use that is consistent with Great Adventure activities and less intense than nearby fast food restaurants and convenience stores.
Engineer Lorali Totten, of Crest Engineering in Millstone, testified that the site would have an 1,856-square-foot clubhouse and pro shop. She said the 36-stall parking lot would be along an existing drive extending from KFC and Dunkin Donuts. She said patrons could also use parking areas at neighboring sites.
Pape said the adjacent fast food restaurants and Millstone Inn have interconnected parking lots and a shared parking agreement. He said the Planning Board has stipulated that it does not want another entrance along Route 537, so traffic was directed along a common corridor.
Totten said three existing holly trees would remain on the site behind the clubhouse. Pape said the trees are 60 feet high, in great health and always taken into consideration when site plans are proposed for the site.
Totten also said the landscaping would consist of native plants throughout the miniature golf area. She noted that the closest dwellings are at least 1,200 feet away.
Board member Robert Bailey asked if the property had any septic problems. Pape said the KFC had a septic failure years ago due to a void in the ground that turned out to be the basement of a house that no one knew had been there. The septic system was repaired and functions without any issues, he said. Pape also stated that the Dunkin Donuts is new and had a septic system installed 18 months ago.
Anthony Hunnicutt, who works for Harris Miniature Golf in Wildwood, said his company designs miniature golf sites throughout the country, as well as in the United Kingdom and the Caribbean. The company designed the Hole in One course on Route 33 in Millstone, and currently has a course under construction in Tinton Falls, he said.
The proposed golf course would be a putting course and would not have windmills, clown faces, or loop-de-loops, he said. The course would have waterfalls and be handicapped-accessible, he said.
Hunnicutt testified that miniature golf is a seasonal business, which typically operates from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, from 10 a.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays, and from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays during the summer. He said there could also be some use of the course in April, October and November.
He described miniature golf as a familyoriented activity, and said adjacent restaurants would have a symbiotic relationship with the course, as patrons would walk from them to the facility.
Hunnicutt said one employee would work on the premises during non-peak hours and no more than three employees would work at the same time.
Traffic engineer John Jahr told the board that township ordinances do not provide guidance for this land use. He said 36 parking spaces are probably more than needed because many customers will park at the adjoining restaurants.
Jahr said traffic counts for the project were done at a Dunkin Donuts on Route 1 in Edison. When board members asked why, Pape said the counts were done there under his direction because the Millstone Dunkin Donuts just opened a few months ago. Since Great Adventure is just open on weekends during the fall, Jahr said he would get Dunkin Donuts receipts to estimate traffic counts and use times and would report back at the next meeting.