MANALAPAN — According to one of the professionals representing the applicant who is proposing to build The Village at Manalapan retail center, the new development layout that was presented to the Planning Board last month is contingent on a state approval.
Gary Mangino, the design manager for The Village at Manalapan, said last week that the design, which includes a proposed new intersection for Route 33, was made in anticipation of the proposal getting a thumbs-up from the state Department of Transportation (DOT).
Manalapan Retail Realty Partners (MRRP) is proposing to build The Village at Manalapan on a 135-acre property at Route 33 West and Millhurst Road.
The proposal as shown on an artist’s rendering that was presented to the Manalapan Planning Board includes a total of three traffic signals associated with the retail development and the widening of the intersection at Millhurst Road and Route 33 West.
Millhurst Road is Sweetmans Lane on the eastbound side of Route 33.
Mangino expressed his optimism in terms of receiving state approval for the construction of a new intersection on Route 33 that would provide direct access to the shopping center from the state highway.
Access to The Village from Route 33 has been a point of contention in recent years as various proposals for the retail center were considered by Manalapan officials.
“We will be making an application to the DOT in partnership with the township of Manalapan and the underlying support of Monmouth County. Because it will be a new road for the township, we are anticipating the approval of the DOT,” Mangino said.
Plans for The Village have changed over the course of several years. At one time the developer had preliminary approval from the Planning Board for a specific development plan totaling 500,000 square feet of retail and office space. No work was ever started and the plan has now taken on a new look.
According to the plans presented to the board and the public last month, one new traffic signal and a vehicle crossing would be constructed on Route 33 to accommodate vehicles that would be exiting directly onto Route 33 from The Village at Manalapan.
Two new traffic lights are proposed by the applicant for Millhurst Road.
One new traffic light would be placed at
Whitlock Court and Millhurst Road and would accommodate vehicles coming directly out of The Village shopping center.
The second new traffic light would be placed at the end of a loop road that, according to an artist’s rendering of the project, would run behind the shopping center and connect to Millhurst
Road.
Attorney Kenneth Pape, representing Manalapan Retail Realty Partners, said the applicant’s representatives would be meeting with the owners of Andee Plaza, a neighboring property which has received approval for an expansion off Millhurst Road, in order to make sure the traffic signals are properly coordinated.
The Village at Manalapan application is expected to continue at the Planning Board’s Dec. 11 meeting.