Board continues review of plans for LaMer housing
Number of variances sought for section four
is reduced from 22 to 1
SAYREVILLE –– The Planning Board continued to hear presentations Wednesday from Kaplan Companies on its LaMer development, this time focusing on section four of its six sections.
The LaMer development was initially given preliminary approval from the board in 1982. When completely built out, the entire development is proposed to include condominiums, garden apartments, townhouses and patio homes. Sections one, two and three –– consisting of approximately 756 units –– have already been approved and constructed.
"The original approval was so many years ago," board Chairman Frank Bella said. "Before they come with final site plans, they come with concept plans for comment."
Plans are now being submitted to the Planning Board for each section’s final approval. Due to a court settlement agreement from 1992, developer Michael Kaplan must also submit interim plans to receive comments from the board. The settlement agreement was drawn up after Kaplan entered into litigation with the board, stemming from the borough’s implementation of a new sewer master plan in 1988. The developer did not want to be held responsible to the new sewer plan, and subsequently a settlement agreement was made between the two parties regarding a number of issues.
Another result of the settlement agreement was the reduction of the number of LaMer’s total units from 1,724 to 1,524.
The board had requested at an Aug. 1 meeting that Kaplan reduce the number of variances being requested for section four, and that section was held over until this week. The original plans for section four included 22 variances, all dealing with building setbacks.
The new plan for section four includes a different product, with 120 units, which the developer’s architect, Miles Bolton, calls "through" units, meaning they have windows on both sides. The other 80 units are flats, or apartments.
Kaplan is now requesting only one variance for section four, dealing with the building setback between one of the residence buildings and the rental office. A borough ordinance requires a setback of 70 feet for buildings that face each other. Section four’s revised plans provide only 54 feet. Kaplan engineer James Kovacs said this is ideal because it would allow the rental office to serve as the main building when a person enters the development. He said, however, that the building could be moved if the board so desired.
Before the board makes final comments on the interim plans for section four, officials said they will look into a section of the settlement agreement stating that 30 of the rental units must be available for senior citizens. If 30 senior residences are not provided, all of the units must be for sale, as opposed to rental units, the agreement states.
About 20 of the flats included in section four will be ground level and are therefore handicapped accessible or adaptable, Bolton said.
Bella said board members, along with attorney Fred Stem, who is filling in for Board Attorney Jeff Leherer, will review the matter and will postpone the acceptance of the section four plan until the board’s Oct. 3 meeting. This will also give the board’s planner an opportunity to review the revised section four plans, as they were not available in time to produce a report for this week’s meeting.
On Wednesday, prior to continuing the presentation of section four, Kaplan Companies presented its interim submission plans for section five. Representatives said they felt it would be helpful to see this section before the board commented on the changes to section four.
Section five of the LaMer development will be located off Point of Woods Drive, Woodlake Drive and Nathan Boulevard. These three roads will serve as the main access points to section five. Roadways, referred to as "alleys’ by Kaplan representatives, will lead off the three roads to the new condominium townhouses.
There will be 86 townhouses in section five, each with two or three bedrooms. Bolton also called the townhouses "through" units since they too have windows on both ends of the unit.
The townhouse buildings are three stories, with no basements, made of a combination of brick and siding. Each townhouse has a rear-entrance garage, each separated by a concrete island, Bolton said. A sidewalk will lead from the garages to the front of the building, where the entrance to the unit will be.
Kaplan’s traffic adviser, Frank Miskovich, proposed putting additional parallel parking on the section five side of Nathan Boulevard, which would be available for use by visitors. Although another section of La Mer is located on the other side of Nathan Boulevard, the builder would not install parallel parking on that side.
The only variance requested by Kaplan for section five concerns the turning radius of one corner. In the lower right-hand corner of the plans, a turn is shown with a radius of only 35 feet, though the ordinance calls for at least 100 feet in order to allow the mobility of emergency vehicles on streets even when another vehicle is passing in the opposite direction.
Planning Board member Dan Volosin said he would like to see the plans changed to allow for a 100-foot radius.
The board also took issue with two buildings in section five, which are offset from the rest of the buildings. These buildings could be accessed by one of the three main roads to section five, but Kaplan’s plans also show a road leading to the rental units in section four. This would allow the owners of the townhouses to enter their development by using Ernston Road, the main road that accesses section four.
Although a few board members agreed with Kaplan’s representatives that it was advantageous, especially in emergency situations, to have more than one access road to that part of section five, they also said they were worried about the effects the additional road could have. Board members, as well as residents of the completed LaMer sections, who were represented by attorney Michael Karpoff, said they believe that the proposed road leading from section five to section four is a contradiction to the settlement agreement.
The agreement states that "access to any rental units will be by a separate and distinct roadway or driveway leading directly from Ernston Road, and there shall be no interconnection for vehicles between the section with rental units and LaMer."
Kaplan said the purpose of the road leading from section five to section four is to allow the townhouse owners an alternate route of access. He does not believe there would be a need for the apartment tenants to use the road, since it is located below their residences and they would have to travel a longer route through the rest of LaMer to gain access to the outside areas.
Bella said the board’s attorney has been asked to review the intention of the settlement agreement in this matter. Stem said it is up to the board to interpret the best possible intention of this part of the agreement. The board then voted to continue to review the interim plan for section five on Oct. 3, along with section four.
Most members of the board, as well as Karpoff and LaMer resident Robert White, all commended Kaplan for returning to the board with fewer requests for variances. There were also no requests for waivers.