OLD BRIDGE — There may be an end in sight to the lengthy series of hearings on M. Alfieri Co.’s plans to build office and retail buildings, single-family homes and a hotel off Laurence Harbor Road.
The application, which dates to 1985, has been before the township Planning Board about 11 times this year and was heard again on Oct. 28, when the developer’s experts completed their testimony. Township experts are expected to make statements on Nov. 18.
At the start of the meeting on Oct. 28 meeting, Alfieri’s attorney Frank Petrino summarized the building plan, historically known as Metropark South, because it once called for a train station, and all the work it has taken to reach this point.
“There are three pieces of property for this overall site,” Petrino explained.
The piece known as Esplanade includes 770,323 square feet of office space, as well as two parking garages and atriums. The residential component, Canterbury Cove, consists of 83 single-family homes and a 10,000-squarefoot retail/commercial area. The 168-room hotel would consist of 101,311 square feet. The entire site is located near Laurence Harbor Road and Strachan Street, to the east of Garden State Parkway Exit 120.
The township granted general development plan (GDP) approval to Alfieri for Metropark South in 1985, when the plans included a train station. Since that time, Alfieri has only built Bridgepointe, a community of several hundred townhouses.
In 2006 and 2007, Alfieri went before the township’s Zoning Board of Adjustment seeking an extension of the GDP’s 20-year vesting period. In February 2007, the zoning board denied that request. Alfieri then filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court, which ruled that the Planning Board should hear the application. Testimony began last February.
Last week, Petrino reiterated how long it has taken to get to this point, saying the applicant has shown the board 97 exhibits on the Esplanade, 76 on Canterbury Cove, and 54 on the hotel.
The first expert to speak on behalf of the Planning Board was engineer Ernie Peters. He noted that the application has been amended several times since an original development plan was filed in 1993, but he still had several concerns about the project.
“The plan they gave to us back in ’93 is significantly different than the one we see today,” he said. “I do have a couple of concerns about the overall project before we finalize anything, though.”
Peters wanted Alfieri to follow through on environmental restraints for the hotel. He explained that the hotel is not on environmentally sound territory, and told the board that it should not approve an application if it is not satisfied with that third component, dealing with the hotel. He also expressed concern over the height of the building itself.
Board Member Sam Rizzo spoke after Peters concluded his findings. Rizzo echoed his sentiments, saying the application still needed some work before it could be approved.
“If you look back to the original June 3, 1993, transcript, you will see that the record does not support a height variance. Neighbors were not alerted to the height of the hotel,” Rizzo said.
He then spoke about two more issues he had with the plans, one being with the environmental aspects of the proposed atriums and the other with the proposed entranceway onto the Garden State Parkway.
The Planning Board has two decisions to make: determining whether changes made to the plans are still in compliance with the GDP from 1985, and whether to approve the project as a whole. Township officials have said the current plans seem different from those described in the original GDP.
And last week, township planning consultantMarkRemsa concluded the meeting by saying that he believes Alfieri should submit a new GDP that is updated to reflect the changes.
The board will hold a special meeting at 8 p.m. Nov. 18 at town hall. The Old Bridge experts will finish their statements, and Alfieri is expected to bring all of its professionals to the meeting to answer questions from the public.