MANALAPAN – Four Seasons at Manalapan Brook, a planned adult community to be developed by K. Hovnanian Shore Acquisitions, has received final major subdivision and site plan approval from the Manalapan Planning Board.
Board members voted 9-0 during a meeting on Aug. 8 to grant final approval following a presentation from the company’s vice president, David Fisher.
Attorney Peter G. Licata, of the firm Sonnenblick, Parker and Selvers, Freehold Township, and Fisher appeared before the board to review final details of the application.
Four Seasons at Manalapan Brook will be developed on 87 acres on the north side of Route 33, east of the highway’s intersection with Iron Ore/Woodville roads and Madison Avenue.
There will be 140 single-family detached homes (10 homes will have a walk-out basement), a 5,000-square-foot clubhouse with outdoor recreational facilities, a walking trail and storm water management facilities at the site. The development will be serviced by public water and sewer utilities.
Fisher updated the board on approvals that have been received from other agencies.
“We have received our highway access permit from the state Department of Transportation (DOT),” he said, noting that the only access to the development would be from Route 33.
“We have our state Department of Environmental Protection permits, approval from the Monmouth County Planning Board and from the Freehold Soil Conservation District,” Fisher said.
He said approvals for the water and sewer systems are pending, with the expectation the approvals would be received by early 2020.
Fisher told board members the developer has received approval from the DOT to create a deceleration lane on Route 33 leading to the community’s entrance. He said a back-up generator would be installed at the clubhouse and he reported that more buffering than initially planned would be placed between the adult community and an adjacent Boy Scout camp.
Fisher said solar panels would be installed on the clubhouse “to supplement the power needs of the clubhouse.”
The water, sewer and drainage infrastructure would be installed during the initial phase of construction, he said, explaining that no notable changes have been made to the planned community since preliminary approval was granted by the board in 2018.
Fisher said the 140 homes will have a range of square footage, styles and architectural design elements, and he said the amenities will be constructed as previously discussed.
The board’s planner, Jennifer Beahm, said all of the outstanding issues have been addressed and she expressed no objection to the application.
The board’s engineer, Brian Boccanfuso, said, “Everything we have asked to be addressed has been addressed” and he expressed no objection to the application.
Deputy Mayor Jack McNaboe, who sits on the board, asked Fisher to make certain that individuals who purchase homes in the adult community are advised affordable housing is planned for a 14-acre tract on Route 33 that will adjoin their neighborhood.
K. Hovnanian will dedicate the 14-acre parcel to Manalapan and Fisher said prospective homeowners in the adult community would be informed about the affordable housing site.
A motion was made to grant Four Seasons at Manalapan Brook final subdivision and site plan approval. Voting “yes” on the motion were board Chairwoman Kathryn Kwaak, Vice Chairman Todd Brown, Daria D’Agostino, Alan Ginsberg, Township Committeeman Barry Jacobson, John Castronovo, Barry Fisher, Richard Hogan and McNaboe.