FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – Testimony on an applicant’s proposal to construct a Cracker Barrel restaurant and country store on Route 537 is expected to resume at the Oct. 19 meeting of the Freehold Township Planning Board.
The application filed by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. was heard during the board’s Sept. 7 meeting. Attorney Kevin Moore represented the applicant.
The proposal calls for the construction of a building on a tract that is bordered by Route 537 and an entrance ramp to the Route 33 bypass. The new building would be near existing Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse restaurants in the Freehold Marketplace shopping center.
A portion of the parcel on which Cracker Barrel wants to build its restaurant and store has been set aside as a preserved area.
Planner John A. Madden Jr. testified on behalf of the applicant and described several variances that are being requested. Chief among those is a variance from a requirement in Freehold Township’s Village Center zone which mandates buildings have a colonial, federal, Georgian or Victorian appearance.
“We are integrating a restaurant and an accessory use (the store),” both of which are permitted uses in the zone, Madden said. “The store is an important, but subsidiary component of what we are trying to achieve.”
Madden acknowledged that the proposed building does not have a colonial, federal, Georgian or Victorian appearance, but he said that in his opinion, the design of the Cracker Barrel would not impair the intent of the zone.
He said the neighboring Olive Garden, which has a Mediterranean design, and the Longhorn Steakhouse, which has a rustic design, both deviate from the zone’s requirements.
He said Cracker Barrel “tries to evoke a traditional rustic style architecture” similar to the style seen at the current Moore’s Inn on Route 537, the former general store on Route 537 in the Smithburg section of Freehold Township and the former Applegate Farms ice cream store on Route 537.
Madden testified that the township’s architect has not taken issue with the proposed building’s design or the materials that would be used.
Variances related to setbacks in specific areas of the parcel are also required as part of the application and Madden sought to make the case that the granting of those variances by the board will not impair the zoning.
Other points of discussion and requests for relief included the number of colors proposed in the business’s sign (three colors are proposed where two colors are permitted) and the proposed use of Cracker Barrel’s “Uncle Herschel” logo in its sign design.
Board members did not have an opportunity to question Madden and did not make any decisions regarding the variances the applicant is seeking, nor any decisions relating to the sign colors or use of the logo. The Cracker Barrel application is expected to continue on Oct. 19.
In other business at the Sept. 7 meeting, board members unanimously gave their consent to a project that Monmouth County will undertake at its public works facility at the corner of Kozloski Road and Center Street in Freehold Township.
Trevor Taylor, an engineer with CME Associates, presented the county’s plan and described a pre-engineered 26,400-square-foot heavy equipment maintenance building which will be 37 feet tall.
Access to the heavy equipment maintenance building will be from Center Street. Taylor described the color of the building as muted earth tones.
The building will have repair/service bays, lockers, offices, a break room, a tire storage area, a lube room, a hose room and a sandblasting booth, according to Taylor.
Parking at the site will be provided for the large vehicles that will be serviced there and for personal vehicles that are driven to the site by employees, according to the testimony. An existing buffer of vegetation along Kozloski Road will remain in place and will screen the new building from view, Taylor testified.
No one from the public commented on the county’s application. A motion for a resolution of approval was made and unanimously approved by the board.
Also at the meeting, Margaret Jahn was introduced and sworn in as a board member. Jahn is the township’s health officer and has been seated in the position that is designated to be held by a municipal official. Jahn has replaced Ronald Kirk of the Buildings and Grounds Department on the panel.