By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY — Attempting to allay concerns about its impact on an adjacent fire station, applicant Country Club Meadows LLC rolled out a proposal to widen the road between the fire station and part of its proposed development before the planning board Monday, in the second of a series of public hearings on the plan.
Country Club Meadows LLC wants to build 148 single-family homes on Route 206, opposite the Pike Run housing development. It also wants to build a 31,000-square-foot strip shopping center that would include 27 affordable rental apartments on the second floor, on the corner of Route 206 and Belle Mead-Griggstown Road.
But members of Montgomery Township Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1 are concerned about access to the fire station off Covert Drive, which borders the proposed shopping center — and that was part of the focus of the applicant’s presentation Monday night. Covert Drive is located off Belle Mead-Griggstown Road.
Traffic engineer Joseph Staigar told the planning board that warning signs would be installed on Belle Mead-Griggstown Road to alert motorists to the presence of the firehouse. Flashing beacon lights, similar to those used at airports, would be activated when there is activity at the firehouse.
Mr. Staigar also told the board that Covert Drive, which leads to the parking lot at the firehouse, would be widened from 25 feet to 28 feet. This would allow room for cars to pull off to the side of the street when the volunteers are arriving at the firehouse and also when the fire trucks are leaving the firehouse.
The volunteer firefighters turn onto Covert Drive from Belle Mead-Griggstown Road to get to the parking lot behind the firehouse. Some of the fire trucks leave the firehouse from the front of the building, directly onto Belle Mead-Griggstown Road, while other fire trucks leave from the rear of the building, using Covert Drive.
Attorney Robert Simon, who represents Montgomery Township Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1, asked some questions of Mr. Staigar after he had completed his testimony. The traffic engineer assured Mr. Simon that a 28-foot-wide roadway is wide enough to allow motorists to pull over to allow fire trucks to pass them on the way to an emergency call.
Mr. Simon called on attorney Barbara Griswold, who represents the Montgomery Township Board of Fire Commissioners No. 1, which oversees Montgomery Township Fire District No. 1. The board has a contract with Montgomery Township Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1 to provide fire protection.
Ms. Griswold told the planning board that the application would impact Covert Drive, whose primary purpose is to provide access to the firehouse by the volunteer firefighters. There is a driveway entrance into the proposed shopping center from Covert Drive, and adding more cars and pedestrians would likely have an impact on the length of time it takes for the firefighters to get to a fire, she said.
Ms. Griswold also pointed out that the firehouse’s parking lot could be used for overflow parking by shoppers and visitors to the shopping center’s stores and apartments, if there are not enough parking spaces available. She said the Board of Fire Commissioners “is not trying to be antagonistic,” but to “please be realistic.”
The planning board ran out of time to complete the application, including allowing time for public comment. The board will continue the public hearing at its Oct. 5 meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in the courtroom at the municipal building.
