Development plans for Route 33 take shape
Millstone reviews warehouse project for 57 acres on border
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

MILLSTONE - The Planning Board would not want a new traffic light installed on Route 33 if a new warehouse complex is built there.

A group called 33 Associates owns Riverside Center, which is the name of the proposed nine-lot subdivision of 57.7 acres along Route 33 in the township's planned commercial development (PCD) zone. The property straddles the Monmouth/ Middlesex County border, and the developer owns another nine lots on 71 acres in adjacent Monroe Township.

At the board's Nov. 8 meeting, 33 Associates' traffic consultant, Jay Troutman, of McDonough & Rea Associates in Westfield, pitched a plan for a traffic light at the new facility, which would be located between the Millstone Road and Perrineville Road traffic lights.

Troutman gave the results of a traffic study he conducted anticipating full build-out of the project. Potential traffic impacts of the project were studied in Millstone areas as far away as Bergens Mills, Dugans Grove and Iron Ore roads, he said, as well as Applegarth Road in Monroe.

Troutman said Farrington Boulevard, the planned main road through the property, would connect to the old section of Route 33 at the end of the site. He said the applicant also plans to realign old Route 33 and Millstone Road.

Without the new traffic signal, access to the facility on Route 33 westbound would be provided through a right in/right out turn, Troutman said. He said the issue at full build-out would be the capacity for left-turn movements onto Route 33 eastbound.

Troutman recommended pursuing with the DOT the creation of a traffic signal on Route 33.

"We would not interrupt the flow of traffic on [Route] 33 by introducing a new signal," he said.

Troutman also suggested the creation of additional traffic lanes for extra capacity traffic going into the site.

When Troutman said the distance between the Millstone Road intersection on Route 33 and the proposed new light would be .42 miles, Mayor Nancy Grbelja responded, "That's crazy."

Troutman said the DOT requires a minimum of a half-mile between signals, and that a new signal would require a waiver because the .42-mile distance is so close to the minimum.

When Troutman said Route 33 has heavier westbound traffic flow in the morning and heavier eastbound traffic in the evening, the board's vice chairwoman, Donna Haag, said she travels Route 33 twice a day and has not seen that difference in traffic flow. Troutman assured her his data is correct.

Haag also noted that the planned Manalapan Town Center further east on Route 33 would have an effect on traffic in the area.

With requisite New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) approvals, Troutman said the 33 Associates could phase its project's build-out

The initial phase of the project could use the right in/right out turn. He said the project would not need a traffic signal until build-out, when retail buildings in the front of the property are developed.

The Planning Board also had its own traffic consultant, Jerry Cantor, testify at the meeting. Cantor noted that the way the land would be subdivided by internal roads could create access problems in the future. He also recommended that Troutman revise the build-out date of the project to a more realistic one. Troutman agreed and revised it from 2010 to 2012.

Chairman Mitchell Newman told the applicant that the board would like the facility designed without a traffic light.

Board member Manny Blanco said he does not see the need for a light, but rather for improvements at the Millstone Road and Perrineville Road intersections at Route 33.

Grbelja said previous discussions of the project led her to believe the application concerned warehouses with showrooms, not facilities with large volumes of people occupying them. She said the facilities seem to have more of an office use now.

"We have a responsibility with our Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) obligations," she said, "which is why we were looking at warehouses and a little office space so we wouldn't have 160 units coming from this location."

With regard to what Grbelja said, Troutman said the DOT required him to use certain occupancy numbers for the traffic study.

William Mehr, the applicant's attorney, said one flex-style building could have a retail/office use of 10 percent, whereas another could have 20 percent. However, Mehr said the property does not have water or sewer service so the type of building that goes there would be limited by state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) standards.

Township Planner Richard Coppola said it is important to make sure approvals are in sync with those given in Monroe.

"It's a nightmare if each lot has an applicant who doesn't know or care what other applicants are doing," he said, adding that they could have different architectural styles.

Mehr said his clients would present all applications for individual site plan approvals on every lot. He said whether they retain all the lots or sell or lease them, they would remain responsible for all approvals.

"You'll see us over and over again, with the same professionals," Mehr said.

The hearing on the application will continue at the Dec. 13 meeting.