Panel tries to get a handle on impact of retail center

The attorney representing The Village at Manalapan has said the developer is no longer proposing to include a housing component as part of its plan.

What will be included in The Village at Manalapan and how traffic will navigate the site is still being discussed.

Attorney Kenneth Pape represents Manalapan Retail Realty Partners, which has received preliminary approval from the Planning Board to construct a 500,000-square-foot retail-office complex on a 135-acre parcel at the intersection of Route 33 west and Millhurst Road, Manalapan.

Final approval has not been granted to the developer and the project has been placed on inactive status.

One of the primary reasons why the project was put on hold was so Manalapan representatives could study traffic concerns at the already overworked, under- functioning intersection ofMillhurst Road and Route 33.

The Manalapan Township Committee recently named an ad hoc committee that has been asked to develop a proposal that would support access for motorists from Route 33 into The Village at Manalapan. As approved, The Village at Manalapan does not have access from Route 33, which is a state highway. The only access is from Millhurst Road.

When the ad hoc committee met recently, in attendance wereMayorMichelle Roth, Planning Board members John Mc- Naboe and Richard Cohen, township engineer Greg Valesi, and former mayors Jim Gray and Drew Shapiro.

The Village at Manalapan has gone through several proposals and the ad hoc panel was convened so that residents and the applicant's professionals can come to an agreement on how to best develop the project. At one time the plans for the project included a housing component.

The intersection of Route 33 and Millhurst Road already holds an F rating (on a scale ofAto F withAbeing the best level of traffic movement and F being the worst) and some members of the ad hoc study committee are concerned that the situation will only worsen as The Village at Manalapan will bring more vehicles to Millhurst Road and through the intersection.

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ommitteeman Andrew Lucas was

mayor when the members of the ad hoc committee were appointed. He has said Manalapan's professionals will have the opportunity to use the resources of Monmouth County's Route 33 corridor study and the Department of Transportation's Smart Growth study and new modeling to make recommendations that will address the traffic issues surrounding the Route 33 and Millhurst Road intersection.

Pape stated at theApril 15 ad-hoc committee meeting that his client is no longer looking to build homes on the site. He said the developer is looking to increase the footprint (i.e. foundation) for some of the buildings, but is not asking for permission to exceed the total of 500,000 square feet.

According to Pape, many of the "quality tenants" that were earmarked for The Village have since moved on to sites in Old Bridge and Freehold Township. The project known at The Village at Manalapan has been before the township since 2005.

"Everything else expects to conform," the attorney said.

Pape said he is hoping the applicant, the township and the county will work together to convince the state Department of Transportation to allow the construction of an access route into the site from Route 33.

A new rendering of the project displayed at the meeting showed a proposed road that wends toward the open space planned for the rear of the development site which could be used for a future access road for the township. The applicant has agreed to fund a traffic study.

Valesi said there is no question that a 500,000-square-foot shopping center is going to add to the traffic woes already being felt at theMillhurst Road and Route 33 intersection and also at the intersection of Route 33 and Sweetmans Lane (which is opposite Millhurst Road).

Gray and Shapiro are former members of the Planning Board and they reminded those present that wanting access from Route 33 does not mean the state is going to accede to the request.

"What may be good for making money for the project may have a negative impact on the town," Gray said. "We already have a failing intersection that can only get worse with this. I'm not a traffic engineer, I just live here."

Gray went on to note that he does know how to count how many cars there are per hundred feet and how long it takes to get from one point to another.

"I just do the math with the cars in a given amount of space. The way people drive around here and the lack of courtesy, I don't see it working," he said.

Gray also suggested that any traffic study that is submitted should include the total build-out numbers for this area of Manalapan for all projects that include a residential component or the numbers contained in the developer's traffic study would not reflect the reality of the final completion of all planned projects in the area when they are completed along with The Village at Manalapan.

Shapiro addressed the proposed road into The Village at Manalapan site from Route 33 and said while he understands the need for this street, it also needs to be factored in that there will be additional costs that will fall to Manalapan once the project is completed and the road is handed over to the township. He was talking about costs associated with plowing and maintaining the road.

Shapiro said he would like to see language put into the final approval that would place the responsibility for the maintenance and snow removal on the new street on the developer.

Pape said he had no objection with the proposals, saying, "We'll put in language, but it's been noted previously, we shouldn't try to be all things to all people."

Cohen said he wasn't happy with the new rendering, saying that the project seemed to have lost what was being used to sell the idea in the first place - a village center appeal.

"This looks to me like just another Epicentre (a shopping center at Route 9 and Symmes Drive). There won't be any strolling going on here. People will get in their cars and drive from one point to the other" when they want to shop in whatever stores are there. "The original village concept seems to have been eliminated."

Roth asked Valesi if the cart was being put before the horse if a traffic study was going to be conducted before it was even known what stores would move in.

"Will you need to know the type of stores that are going in there in order to do a proper traffic study - as it regards the traffic flow?" she asked the engineer.

Valesi said he would direct his traffic engineer to use the shopping center model when postulating the trip generations that could be expected.

Pape responded to all the concerns by saying the project will continue to have open space and courtyards, but that it will be the areas closer to Route 33 that will have the village concept.

Shapiro, noting that if the "village feel" is to be achieved, the Planning Board can change the design and thereby change the traffic flow.

Summing up with remarks that helped close the meeting, Gray said, "This will be the biggest project to ever hit this town. We only get one chance to do it right."

McNaboe agreed, saying, "Mr. Gray hit it right on the head. This will be the largest project. I'm open-minded and willing to listen, but we're going to need some big ideas."

McNaboe said he would be willing to trade off some of the dedicated open space if that move would serve to improve the traffic entrances and exits at the site.

Roth announced at the April 23 meeting of the Township Committee that the reconfigured plan would have to go back to the Planning Board for review.