Applicants plan upgrades at
2 shopping centers in township
By linda denicola
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — The Zoning Board of Adjustment heard two shopping center applications at its meeting last week. One was approved and one was held over to the board’s next meeting. Both applications would improve existing shopping centers, said Guy Leighton, the township’s assistant planner.
D&L Realty Associates, the company that owns the Colonial Plaza Shopping Center, Route 537, came in for preliminary and final site plan approval and expansion of a nonconforming use to construct an 11,890-square-foot, two-story addition.
"They had already received a use variance to expand the shopping center and (now) they received site plan approval," Leighton said.
He explained that the applicant needed a few bulk variances because the zoning had been changed on that property since the shopping center was built.
The first floor of the two-story structure will contain retail space and the second story will be for professional office use, Leighton explained.
"They showed renderings of how they are going to improve the appearance. They are going to reface the entire shopping center, plant additional landscaping and redo the sign. They are going to make it look more traditional than it does now," he said.
The other application regards the Ocean Plaza shopping center at the corner of Route 9 north and Elton-Adelphia Road. The retail plaza will be renamed the Adelphia Shopping Center by the applicant Adelphia Shopping Center Inc.
According to Leighton, the applicant is seeking approval to put an Acme supermarket on the site.
"They would have to build a much larger store than the original A&P that was there. They want to tear down the building where Drug Fair is and totally rebuild that whole end of shopping center," he said.
Leighton said the applicant wants to reface the entire shopping center and make it look much better with new lighting, a landscaped island and trees.
"We’re looking forward to them doing that. It’s been neglected. These are the same folks that own the Pond Road shopping center on Route 9," he said.
The applicant needs a "D" variance, which is usually called a use variance, to slightly exceed the floor area ratio now permitted in that zone, Leighton explained.
The hearing on the Adelphia Shopping Center application will be continued at the next zoning board meeting on Sept. 26.