EAST BRUNSWICK – Expressing concerns ranging from traffic to children’s safety, residents voiced their criticism once again about the Hidden Oak Woods development plan during a recent Planning Board meeting.
The plan submitted by developer Alfieri proposes the construction of seven four-story buildings, with 275 residential units, each building expected to be under 50 feet in height. Fifty-four units would be affordable housing units. The property is approximately 45 acres, located at Harts Lane and Tices Lane and Eagle Road and Mill Brook Court in East Brunswick, according to Township Planner Steven Gottlieb.
The required affordable housing units will be dispersed throughout each building. The proposed development also includes a clubhouse, an amenity area, a pool, lighting, landscaping, sidewalks, fencing and signs, according to attorney Frank Petrino, who represents the developer.
A group of about 50 residents attended the board meeting on Sept. 26 during which the applicant’s traffic consultant and engineer, Elizabeth Dolan, and planner, Creigh Rahenkamp, presented testimony regarding the development.
Dolan talked about the recommended road improvements to accommodate the increase in traffic that will be caused by the proposed project.
“There is a settlement agreement that puts some obligation on the developer to make some improvements. There is talk about a consecutive eastbound lane on Tices Lane, which is definitely needed to improve capacity, whether or not that is the developer’s obligation is up to the attorney. … But I think we could all agree that type of improvement would certainly improve the flow through the area,” she said.
Dolan said the applicant has submitted improvement plans, with the most significant improvement pertaining to the intersection of Harts and Tices lanes.
“Under the existing condition, there is a one-lane approach on Harts Lane as you come up to Tices Lane, but when you get to the intersection there is a channeled right [turn lane] … but [for drivers who want to go left to] get onto Tices Lane they then block the right,” Dolan said.
“We are proposing to re-stripe so we can add a 200-foot-long left turn lane on Harts Lane to adequately stack the left turn vehicles and have another lane for the right turn vehicles so they can come up on Harts Lane to Tices Lane and make that right turn without being blocked by the left turns,” she said.
Dolan said the additional improvements associated with that intersection will also include traffic signal modifications, signs and the installation of traffic cameras.
Planning Board Chairman Shawn Taylor said the applicant also proposed intersection changes to Tices Lane and University Road.
Dolan said traffic counts were performed on weekdays from 7-9 a.m. and from 4-6:30 p.m. and on Saturdays between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“The revised traffic study, dated June 27, was updated from a prior version from December 2017 and in part, it was scoped with speaking with the board’s professionals,” she said. “Specifically, it includes traffic counts, an analysis of a Saturday peak hour in addition to the weekday morning and evening peak hours, updated trip generation to reflect the latest rates published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and looks at some improvements on Tices Lane.”
Dolan said the purpose of a traffic study is to isolate the peak street hours, which are the timeframes when traffic volume on the road systems are highest, and then combine those existing volumes with projections to affect future traffic volumes inclusive of traffic from the proposed development.
The study also included existing traffic volumes, applied New Jersey Department of Transportation growth rates, traffic from other areas of development near the proposed site, and traffic from the 275 proposed units.
With concerns raised by board members pertaining to the accuracy of the traffic studies, Taylor said the original traffic counts were taken by the applicant in August when schools and colleges are not in session, resulting in a lower volume of traffic being counted.
“The board asked them to do an updated recent traffic study, so they are going to have to come back with [the results] from those new studies,” Taylor said.
Rahenkamp said the applicant is seeking a landscape buffer variance since 50 feet is required. The purpose of a landscape buffer is to provide protection and separation between different uses.
“From the clubhouse through the inhabited area in the northern part of the site would be the fence we are proposing. … We think it would be appropriate [to install] an 8-foot fence. If that requires a variance to go from 6 feet to 8 feet we will request that,” Rahenkamp said. “In terms of the style of fence, the deer fence is the least structural and it’s the least likely for young adults to climb. … It provides the separation [and] visually it disappears. … There is a lower 4-foot fence around the detention basins.”
Residents had an opportunity to state their concerns about the project and raised questions pertaining to traffic, the impact the development might have on schools, and safety.
Vicent Mazzarella of Tices Lane said he has been a resident for 33 years.
“It takes me almost 15 to 20 minutes to get out of my driveway [at] 7:30 to 9 a.m. … For the last four or five years, it has gotten worse. The traffic coming off of Ryders Lane that turns into Tices Lane avoiding the traffic from Route 18 … it is congested. I have been in construction for 42 years and I am a retired Local 3 technician,” Mazzarella said.
“We have two schools [Churchill Junior High School and Lawrence Brook Elementary School] … and nobody has taken into consideration the education of these people [in the] 275 units, maybe two to three kids in each unit. Where are you going to put them?” he asked.
Cindy Furgang said she has lived in East Brunswick for 26 years.
“You are putting an apartment complex with children in a warehouse district and you think those kids are not going to be riding their bikes, playing and going on those railroad tracks and everything else, so you are going to be hearing from the warehouse people,” Furgang said.
“The people who move in there are going to be coming here and saying, ‘It’s not safe for our kids, you really need to change the zoning, it’s not right, and if the warehouse people want to expand, we can’t have that’s now a residential area.’ Problems waiting to happen,” she said.
Dhar Khona said he has a daughter who just graduated from Churchill and has one more child who will be attending the school. He said there is a lot of traffic around the time he had to drop his child off at school.
“Whatever traffic scenario we have, you are going to add another 20 minutes to it,” Khona said.
The next Planning Board meeting is scheduled for 8 p.m. Oct. 17 at the municipal building.
Contact Vashti Harris at [email protected].