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CRANBURY: High Point application postponed due to a noticing irregularity

By Amy Batista, Special Writer
CRANBURY – The High Point Planning Board application issue left a room filled with residents disappointed after an irregularity in the noticing halted the hearing during the Planning Board meeting on Nov. 19.
“Mr. Chairman and the board, this is not actually on your agenda and for that I apologize. But I would like to request a short executive session with the board members to discuss an issue that does relate to the High Point application but does require confidential advice from your attorney,” said Planning Board Attorney Trishka Cecil.
The board members left the room for an executive session which lasted about 25 minutes and met in another location so the public did not have to leave the large group room in the Cranbury School.
“It turned out to be a lot more than five minutes,” said Chairman Allen Kehrt. “What has occurred is this afternoon we realized that there was some sort of a irregularity in the noticing that went out concerning this application.”
The board spent 25 minutes talking to its attorney about what could be done.
“While I know nobody is going to be happy at all, the conclusion that we came to is that we are unable to hear this application this evening,” said Mr. Kehrt, adding the board’s apology to those attending the meeting. “Noticing is very important and it has to be done correctly and it was not. The applicant is in violation of the Municipal Land Use Law.”
Mr. Kehrt said the board decided that it could not take any risks with the issue.
“That’s the feeling of our attorney and that’s the feeling of our board after a long discussion,” he said.
The application was postponed until the next meeting on Dec. 10.
“I have been on the Planning Board for 23 years and I can’t ever remember this happening,” said Mr. Kehrt.
The Township Committee unanimously decided to move forward last month with naming the redevelopment area comprising of the Cheney/Kushner/Hagerty tract as the “High Point Redevelopment Area” and amending the zoning map of the township.
Township engineer Richard Preiss worked with a sub-committee of the Planning Board, which consists of Township Committee members Susan Goetz and Glenn Johnson and Planning Board Chairman Mr. Kehrt.
The redevelopment envisions the following: 12,250 square feet of retail space; a 5,000 square foot bank; a 12,000 square foot pharmacy; 12 apartment residential units; 126 surface parking spaces; 54 town-house residential units; 189 garage/drive spaces; 37 visitor spaces; 34,500 square feet of park area; and a 19,500 square foot stormwater management basin, according to a fiscal report from Phillips Preiss Grygiel LLC.