BY DANIELLE MEDINA
Correspondent
COLLEEN LUTOLF These woodsy trails behind the Chambers Bridge Road post office will soon be replaced with 300 units of age-restricted townhomes. BRICK – The limited liability corporation that cast the winning $12 million bid for the township-developed project formerly known as “New Visions,” is seeking additional approvals from the Planning Board for the age-restricted townhouse development project on Chambers Bridge Road.
Nobility Crest at Brick, LLC, a subsidiary of Wall-based Jerald Development Group, came before the board April 26 to hammer out details for the 300-unit, age-restricted development that received board approval last June.
“There are no changes to the infrastructure, building locations and loop roads,” said John Vincenti, an engineer with Maser Consulting. “There are three required elements for approval: the landscape plan, lighting and the recreational amenities plan.”
The centerpiece of the recreational plan is a 6,000-square-foot, two-floor clubhouse featuring an exercise room, library, locker room and storage for swimming pool equipment.
The complex will also feature a 2,500-square-foot in-ground swimming pool with a concrete patio, a trellis and landscaping surrounding it.
A putting green, bocce court, shuffleboard court, wooden gazebo and a lawn area with picnic tables are also planned for the property.
“The recreational activities are all in one area,” Vincenti said. “By expanding the parking under the building, we had the ability to greatly enhance the surface amenities.”
There are now 56 parking spaces in each building’s parking garage – as opposed to 46 – reducing the number of outdoor parking spaces by 73, Vincenti said.
Plans call for parking garage spaces to be 9 by 18 feet. The outdoor parking spaces, of which there are 151, will be 10 by 18 feet.
Sixteen of the parking spaces in each garage are tandem, or back to back, and will be assigned to unit each. Two handicapped spaces in each garage, located near the elevators, are also planned.
More underground parking provides protection from the weather, allows for better traffic circulation, less lot coverage and more landscaping, said architect James Riviello of The Martin Architectural Group, Philadelphia.
Riviello described the parking garages as an open-air type, allowing more natural light in, and avoiding the need to provide noisy fans and ventilation.
“I have concerns about security with no doors,” said board member Salvatore Petoia.
Riviello said that there might be some type of open garage door available that would still let in natural light and air, and provide security as well.
The original site plan, which received board approval last June, calls for eight four-story buildings – four with 36 units and four with 39 units. The ground floor of each building will be a parking garage.
The four 36-unit buildings will have two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments that will range in size from 1,400 to 1,890 square feet. Each of the units will have a 6-by-12-foot balcony
The four 39-unit buildings will also have the same two bedroom apartments, but will also have 39 one- and two-bedroom age-restricted affordable housing units. The size of the affordable housing units will either be 715 or 1,048 square feet.
Riviello said that the affordable housing units will be mixed in throughout the community and that from the outside they cannot be distinguished from the development’s other units.
“This plan is much better than it was,” said David Owens, the board’s conflict engineer, of Owens and Little.
The board is expected to discuss the application during its May 3 workshop meeting.