By Maria Ptato
CRANBURY A special subcommittee is taking a hard look at the Route 130 corridor, asking for residential and professional input on the need for additional retail development.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment pushed for township officials to review the Master Plan after several landowners applied for use variances to build retail on Route 130 in recent years, said James Golubieski, Planning Board chairman and a member of the subcommittee.
The panel is look at the northbound side of Route 130 to determine whether it is in the best interest of Cranbury to allow more retail, he said. The subcommittee, made up of members of the Township Committee and zoning and Planning Board members, recently invited residents to participate in a focus group to give feedback on the issue.
”We’re looking at certain things and making changes,” Mr. Golubieski said. “It’s really about what we want to do going forward. Our goal is to have public meetings right now to get their input on what the town should do going forward.”
The approximately 50 residents that attended the first meeting seemed split over whether Route 130 should grow into a business district, Mr. Golubieski said.
Residents opposed to business growth along the highway shared the same general concerns, he said.
”I think part of it was safety concerns,” Mr. Golubieski said. “Others were over what 130 would turn into. They didn’t want it to look like a retail strip center.”
Other residents wanted to see more retail move into town, he said.
”Primarily, those people wanted more services,” Mr. Golubieski said. “Some people also talked about additional ratables.”
In addition to community input, municipal officials are waiting to hear from township professionals like Richard Preiss, township planner.
There will be another public hearing on the matter announced on the website sometime in the near future.
If subcommittee recommends changes to the Master Plan and Route 130 zoning, those changes would have to come before the Planning Board and the Township Committee before anything is approved, Mr. Golibieski said.
The subcommittee hopes to have Master Plan review completed by Dec. 31.
