MANALAPAN — The developer of the proposed Village at Manalapan retail and commercial center is asking the Planning Board for a little flexibility.
In an ongoing public hearing on an application seeking approval for a General Development Plan, professional planner Christine A. Cofone testified before the board on March 12 and requested approval for two bulk variances.
The developer, Manalapan Retail Realty Partners, is seeking permission to construct two buildings of greater than 100,000 square feet (up to 150,000 square feet) and two buildings of greater than 50,000 square feet (up to 100,000 square feet) on its property at Route 33 and Millhurst Road.
The zone in which the project is proposed allows one building in each of those two size classifications.
Testimony on the Village at Manalapan proposal is expected to continue at the Planning Board’s meeting at 8 p.m. March 26.
During the March 12 meeting, attorney Kenneth Pape, representing the applicant, said the number of tenant opportunities today are not the same that were available two, three and five years ago. He asked the board to approve the bulk variances so that the developer would have the opportunity to market the project to the greatest number of potential tenants.
“We need to have these tools to make the center economically viable,” Pape said, adding that the applicant is looking for four anchor stores for the project, which will also include a number of smaller retail and commercial buildings.
The Village at Manalapan is proposed to be a total of 500,000 square feet of retail and commercial development, plus a child care center. The value of the project is estimated to be about $119 million, according to testimony at the March 12 meeting.
Cofone told the board there are no tenants signed for the Village at Manalapan, nor are there any letters of intent with potential tenants.
“We are asking for a little bit of flexibility. The end user will be a permitted use in the Village Center (VC) zone,” she said. “In this economy, some flexibility would be beneficial.”
Cofone reviewed the reasons why she believes the variances are warranted. She said 900 jobs are expected to be created by the development of the retail and commercial center. She said 55 percent of the 135- acre property will remain as open space.
She said the Village at Manalapan will comply with the township’s master plan and with the requirements of the VC zone, and she said the project will have multiple positive impacts, specifically because it will serve the 2,000 residents who will eventually live in the area directly proximate to the development site.
These new residents will live in the Four Seasons adult community on Route 33, an adult apartment building on Woodward Road, and multiple new residential developments off Millhurst Road.
Planning Board member Stephen Pine said he was concerned that having four big box stores would get away from the project’s village concept. He said he would be comfortable with a plan for three big box stores.
In further discussion about the size of the buildings and their relationship to the present state of the economy, board member Herb Lazar said, “I don’t want this center built based on what is happening today.”
“In my opinion, what we are asking for is not a substantial departure from the VC zone. The variances will not erode what the VC zone put in place,” Cofone said in response to the board members’ concerns.
Some of the discussion about the plan centered on whether there will be a supermarket in the Village at Manalapan.
Pape said the VC zone permits a supermarket, but told the board he could not say if a supermarket will be a tenant.
Township Committeewoman Michelle Roth, who sits on the board, said she believes a food store is needed at this location.
“I think (a food store) must be included. I think it should not go forward without that component included,” she said.
Roth said she believes that when the members of the Township Committee created the VC zone on the site of the former Probasco farm in the early part of this decade, they should have required a supermarket to be included in the VC zone, rather than just permitting a supermarket on this tract.
The March 12 meeting also included more discussion about the traffic plan associated with the Village at Manalapan.
Traffic engineer John Rea testified that as individual site plans are brought before the board for different phases of the project’s development, the impact of traffic on surrounding roads will be discussed. This would specifically apply to the intersections on Millhurst Road that lead into the new residential developments.
“For the General Development Plan, there is not a lot we can do right now to say if a traffic light will be needed at one of the unsignalized intersections on Millhurst Road. That is done when we have more knowledge of specific tenants. There may or may not be a need for a traffic signal, and Covenhoven Drive may be the most logical location for a light,” Rea said.
Resident Brad Berger, who lives off Millhurst Road, continued a line of questioning he began at a previous meeting.
Berger maintains that the development of the Village at Manalapan will have a significant impact on traffic on Millhurst Road and that motorists will have more difficulty turning onto Millhurst Road from the side streets.
Rea said there will be additional traffic on Millhurst Road, but he noted that the applicant’s plan already calls for the installation of traffic lights at the road’s intersection with Canonero Drive and Whitlock Court.
He said it would have to be determined if those lights will create gaps in traffic that will alleviate the type of problems for motorists turning onto Millhurst Road that Berger spoke about.
In response to a question from Berger as to whether the potential impact of traffic should be considered at this stage, township planner Richard Cramer said he believes the board should consider the impact of traffic on Millhurst Road at the unsignalized intersections as part of the General Development Plan approval process.
Mayor Richard Klauber, who sits on the board, said that in addition to the potential impact of traffic on Millhurst Road, he is concerned about the impact of the Village at Manalapan traffic on the other side of Route 33, on Sweetmans Lane.
It was noted that plans may call for the eventual installation of a traffic light at the intersection of Kinney Road and Sweetmans Lane.
Contact Mark Rosman at [email protected]

