An application that proposed the minor subdivision of property on Route 130 has received an initial approval from the Bordentown Township Planning Board.
The decision came from the board to approve the subdivision of the property at 115 Route 130 into two lots at a May 9 meeting after an hour-long discussion among the board members and representatives of the applicant, Team Campus Phase II, LLC.
As part of a second phase project headed by K. Johnson Enterprises LLC’s Kevin Johnson, a retired NFL wide receiver, is anticipated to have three medical offices totaling 155,053 square feet and two retail buildings totaling 19,600 square feet constructed on Route 130 north.
The preliminary and final site plan approval of the Phase II project was approved by the Planning Board in January 2018.
Team Campus Bordentown, a sport, fitness and medical complex on Route 130, already holds a Team85 Fitness and Wellness Center as the core of the 32-acre property across the highway from the Phase II site, which is under construction.
The Team Campus site includes a 75,000-square-foot gymnasium and a 45,000-square-foot fieldhouse with an indoor turf field, basketball courts, batting cages and party room.
As part of the applicant’s minor subdivision proposal, the applicant’s representatives discussed the details and reasoning behind the minor subdivision.
A professional engineer for the applicant, Jason Burneyko, explained to the board members that one of the main reasons for the subdivision came as a financial decision from Johnson.
“The underlying site plan still exists. Nothing is changing from that,” Burneyko said. “The purpose of this subdivision is not to create any additional lots for development. It is simply to subdivide the two lots for the applicant’s reasons of financial related purposes for the development of the buildings.
“In essence, it’s an imaginary lot line. It is not going to be separating two different zones or two different uses of the site. The site is still going to function as an overall business center with retail and offices,” Burneyko added.
He further explained that the subdivision of the lot is aimed to share several services and utilities on the site.
“It’s basically just breaking up this site to provide access for the three-story medical office building which is under construction,” Burneyko said. “The applicant is providing easement documents for sharing the parking and access to the site, and sharing the site features such as trash enclosures and light poles as well as maintenance of the storm water basin.”
Although the developer plans to create two lots on the property, a storm water basin on the site that takes in rain water from a nearby residential development raised some concerns over potential maintenance issues from the board members.
Township Administrator Michael Theokas explained that given the developer’s plans to subdivide the property into separate lots, one of which would cut through the basin, documentation explaining an agreement between Johnson and the residential development owner would be necessary to clarify the maintenance costs of that basin.
The applicant had not submitted any formal documentation of an agreement between the property owners regarding the basin at the meeting, but said they were currently in the process of working toward one to submit to the board soon.
“The lot cut through that basin, so there is going to be shared maintenance responsibilities among the three separate lots, two of which are owned by Johnson,” Theokas said. “The subdivision was approved with conditions, so they have to supply documentation before we memorialize the resolution of approval.”
Theokas said even though the site is privately owned, the township still has a duty from the state to oversee the operations of the basin as well.
“There was a lot of discussion about the storm water detention basin because they have to be clear with their agreements as to who is the responsible party for the basin – how is that going to work and who is doing the work on the basin,” he said. “That is very important because even though it is a privately owned basin, the township has a responsibility through the state to make sure those basins are being maintained properly.”
Following further testimony and questioning from board members on the subdivision, a motion was made to approve the application and passed with exception for multiple conditions that the developer will have to comply with as well.
The board in expected to formally approve the application at a meeting on June 13.