By Sherry conohan
Staff Writer
EATONTOWN — Members of the Planning Board want the red brick facade they say they were promised on the new Lowe’s Home Center proposed for the Bendix property on Route 35.
Red brick is what Holmdel got on the Lowe’s store under construction there, and that’s what the borough wants, too, the members said.
Darve Stutz, chairman of the Planning Board, kicked off a protest by the board Monday night when he complained about "misleading" representations by the applicant. He said an earlier plan showed a brick exterior on all four sides of the building whereas now it’s masonry walls.
John Marmora, the lawyer for Lowe’s, replied there must have been a "misunderstanding" about the store’s intentions. He said the facade planned, made of concrete blocks with a beige "split face" surface, of a rough texture, with some "smooth face" for accents, would be attractive.
"It is above a standard Lowe’s store," he said. "To change this to red brick on all four sides would cost several hundred thousand dollars for the upgrade and dramatically increase the economics."
But Mark Steinberg, the lawyer for the board, said that is not what the board understood he said.
"Your original promise, when you came into the board for a conceptual, was brick-sided," he asserted. "We were under the impression we were getting three sides of brick."
Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo, a board member, said the commitment was for all four sides.
"If you’re backing off what you originally said to us, we’ve got a problem," he added.
Marmora said the facade was based on a plan on file with the borough, but Steinberg said officials didn’t look at the plan, and relied on the statements of the applicant.
Steinberg pointed out to Marmora that Lowe’s had claimed it couldn’t spend any more than the $500,000 that eventually was fixed as its contribution for affordable housing in the negotiated agreement worked out between the store and the borough because of the cost of the brick facade and the landscaping that was planned. Now, he said, there are problems with both.
Stutz asked Marmora to bring Dave Koerner, who heads Lowe’s real estate development in New Jersey, to the next Planning Board meeting on the Lowe’s application Sept. 23.
It was Koerner who described the facade as "colored masonry" at the board’s previous meeting two weeks earlier. In looking up details of the facade on the plans filed with the borough, Peggy Ciok, acting Planning Board secretary, realized the plans Koerner had been working from were different.
"Dave brought a new plan," Marmora told her.
"Is it the front that’s of most concern to the board?" Marmora asked the members. "I will talk with Dave and see what we can come up with, at least for the front."
When the meeting was opened to the public for questions, Barbara Van Wagner, a former member of the board who was not reappointed by the mayor, said she was glad the members were starting to address the facade because she was there when consideration of the Lowe’s application began, and it was brick then. She asked Marmora if Lowe’s was giving Eatontown less than Holmdel because the borough gives in easily under pressure.
Turning to the board, she said, "You are here to watch out for the town. At the very least, give us an attractive building …try to have them build what they promised to build."
Van Wagner, who is now running for mayor on the Republican ticket against Tarantolo, a Democrat, charged that the board "pretty much gave away the store" to Lowe’s.
"We are not giving away the store," Tarantolo responded angrily. "We’ve been working on this application for two years. If we were giving away the store, the building would be there now."
Councilman Theodore F. Lewis Jr., a member of the board and a Democrat, groused that Van Wagner was giving a "campaign speech" and Stutz ultimately gaveled her to a close.
Lowe’s landscaping plan was attacked by Stacy Catron, from the Shade Tree Committee. The board seemed to support her request that "whips," very small trees, planned for a buffer along one side of the store be replaced with two rows of evergreens and some balled and burlapped deciduous trees, which would be more in keeping with the ordinance requirement.
Marmora cautioned that it was a long side, and it would cost a lot of money to put in evergreens.
"Everyone approaches Lowe’s with their wish list," he said. "If everybody gets their wish, the project will fall under the economic weight."
During the hearing, Lowe’s presented testimony from William Lothian, a traffic engineer, and George Derrick, the project engineer. At the conclusion, Steinberg told Marmora the issues they still need to work out are the facade, landscaping, the trash compactor and lighting.
The store Lowe’s proposes to build would have 171,334 square feet — 141,472 in the building area and 29,863 in the garden center, which would be screened from view of passing motorists.