More apartments are planned to be constructed in Hillsborough Township pending approval from municipal officials in upcoming weeks.
On May 2, Planning Board members approved an application submitted by LD Construction, LLC, which sought to consolidate multiple lots on Amwell Road for preliminary and final major site plan approval, bulk variances and waivers to construct a mixed-use development of 191 apartments and 28,000 square feet of retail space.
The applicant said it would work to provide additional parking, and pedestrian and vehicular circulation on the property in the mixed-use inclusionary overlay district in the Town Center Zone, and architectural and site design overlay district.
Municipal officials said the site is part of an affordable housing compliance plan being developed. This zone includes an overlay. The proposal includes 191 units, with a 24% set-aside for affordable housing, yielding 46 affordable housing units.
There is also a mixed-use component pursuant to a township ordinance. There is 28,000 square feet of retail space included, which one of the developer’s professionals, Michael Ford, reviewed with the board in November, when he said the company has been working on the project in various stages, discussion and design.
Officials said there will be three buildings on Route 206, in accordance with the overlay zone. The buildings would be mixed-use, with retail on the first floor and apartments on the second and third floors. Three-story apartment buildings will be on the east portion of the property with garages.
Ford said they are all apartment buildings. The overlay zone lays out the requirements. He said each building will have 15 apartments, all will have garages with driveways on the first floor, but the retail component is only in the three front buildings; all the others are strictly residential.
A driveway connection to Amwell Mall on the property is also proposed to provide access between the two properties, and access to Amwell Road. There is also a connection to the shopping center that fronts Amwell Road.
In continuation from an April 4 meeting during which board members raised concerns with the site plan on issues such as vehicle access points into the site, tree mitigation and parking spaces, further testimony was presented by the developer’s professionals on May 2.
A motion was made and passed by the board to deem the application complete with multiple conditions.
Before Hillsborough Mayor Frank DelCore voted in favor of the application, he took a moment to acknowledge the applicant’s efforts to develop the site.
“This area has been targeted in our town center for quite some time on our master plan,” DelCore said. “We have been working for a long time to get to the point where we have a development that meets the town center plan, so I would like to thank the applicant and their professionals for kicking off this town center process, but also for working with us in particular to the access process.”