BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer
UPPER FREEHOLD — The Planning Board unanimously voted April 26 to give preliminary approval for the construction of a day-care center in town.
The Kiddie Academy Day Care facility is the first application in an 11-lot commercial subdivision at Cox’s Corner, located at the intersection of routes 524 and 43.
The proposed facility would total 10,050 square feet and be sited on 1.78 acres, according to Richard Tilton, attorney for the applicant, KPMJ Properties. The parking lot, he said, would consist of 49 parking spaces.
The applicant’s engineer, Dan Caruso, said the day-care center would be located on Lot 5 of the subdivision, in the internal corner at the rear of the property.
The building would have a sprinkler system and a 12,000-gallon underground water tank to maintain water for fire prevention, Caruso said.
A playground would be built in the rear of the property with a 5-foot fence around it, according to Caruso.
The day-care center would also have an off-site loading area for trucks and a Dumpster in the rear.
Tilton said all walking areas would comply with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements.
Township Planner Mark Remsa said the bulk of his concerns was with the landscaping. He said the plans showed only conifers and ornamental and shade trees, and that he would like the building to have lower ground cover.
Caruso said that for safety reasons, the playground would not be landscaped. He said there would be trees along the street in front of the property and other landscape buffering, as required.
Remsa said the playground should have shade trees around its perimeter to provide relief in hot weather.
Tilton said putting trees in the playground could be a maintenance problem and that the play area’s surface material will consist of Fibar, which is processed wood.
The board decided by consensus to allow a 5-foot fence around the entire playground. An existing township ordinance would have required the developer to keep the fence 4 feet high in front of the playground.
Board member Joe Toscano said a 5-foot fence would be better for safety reasons.
“Four feet is not high, and anyone from the road could peer in and see the activities there,” he said.
Amy Peterson-Smith, vice president of operations for Kiddie Academy, said the center would remain open on weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The children using the facility, she said, would range in age from six weeks to 12 years old, but most would be under 5 years of age.
In addition, Peterson-Smith said the building could accommodate 161 youngsters and would also have a security system with an access code for parent drop-offs.
Architect Paul Barlo said he designed a residential/schoolhouse look for the building so that it would not have an institutional feel.
Board member William Search asked if the design would set a precedent for the rest of the lots in the complex, noting the history of the development.
Developers Douglas Walsh and Eugene Paul sued the Planning Board following the board’s 2003 decision requiring them to keep to a certain style of architecture for all 11 contiguous lots in the proposed subdivision at Cox’s Corner.
When preliminary approval was granted, the board stipulated that each individual buyer must come before it for site plan approval. The memorializing resolution required architectural compatibility, but the applicants did not accept this restriction and went to court.
The plaintiffs claimed that those provisions were not mentioned or voted on by the Planning Board before they were included in the resolution. They argued that the conditions were not authorized by a provision of the township land-use ordinance in connection with preliminary major subdivision approval.
In January, Judge Robert Coogan of state Superior Court in Freehold ruled that the Planning Board went beyond the scope of its power in attaching conditions that grafted site design and architectural compatibility to the subdivision grant. However, he said, each individual lot would still have to go through a major site plan approval.
Planning Board Attorney Frank Armenante said the architectural theme would be determined by the comparability of the next building to come forward for site plan approval.
“Our ordinance at this point says compatibility to this site,” he said.
Armenante said there may be problems if other applicants challenge the ordinance.
Township Engineer Glenn Gerken commented that the day-care center was a well-designed, attractive site, and several board members concurred.
Board members also agreed that the township needs a day-care center.