New garden business aims to bloom in Millstone soon
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

MILLSTONE - Burnt Tavern Road may soon be home to a new garden center and nursery.

The Zoning Board of Adjustment granted waivers for certain checklist items on an application for the center at its July 25 meeting.

CKV Realty plans to use about 5 acres of a 53-acre property on Burnt Tavern Road for the garden center, nursery, and construction of a 15,000-square-foot building, according to the applicant's attorney, Edward Rosen.

Rosen told the board that the application is a bifurcated application, which statute permits. He explained that his client would file for a use variance and, if successful in getting it, would then file a site plan application.

He asked the board to waive the township's requirement for locating wetlands and other environmentally sensitive areas on the entire tract, since only a small portion of the property would be disturbed for the center. He also sought a waiver for having to identify and calculate all of the usable building and critical areas on the site.

Rosen argued that the board could make the two items the applicant sought waivers for, conditions of the site plan approval.

Township Engineer Matt Shafai said the applicant performed a phase-one study but did not test for all of the contaminants that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) requires testing for. Therefore, Shafai said the board would also have to grant a waiver for not doing the required sampling.

Shafai also told the board that the site contains 55-gallon drums that should have been tested.

Rosen said, "We are asking for waivers to proceed with the application for the use variance, with the understanding that these things will be a requirement of the board if we go to site plan."

Rosen said a use variance would not only affect the 5-acre portion of the property but would refer to the entire 53-acre property, unless the land is subdivided. However, he said the 5-acre portion of the property could not be segregated.

Richard DiFalco, the applicant's engineer, told the board that the 5-acre portion of the property where the garden center will be located is high and dry. The rear of the property contains woods and wetlands and drops down, but does not have flood plains, he said.

Shafai said the applicant would need to have a wetlands study done on the whole acreage, to remove all barrels from the property, and to clean up the area where the barrels were stored.

Rosen said his client paid a deposit for a prefabricated building that he will use for his business. He said that the company selling the building also supplies architectural plans and that he could present the plans to the board within the week.

Board Attorney Gregory Vella said that even if the applicant uses only a small part of the tract, the board has jurisdiction over the entire parcel. He told the board that the remaining 48 acres would fall subject to the board's reasonable conditions once the applicant seeks site plan approval.

Chairman Michael Novellino said, "It seems reasonable to me to wait for site plan approval for this stuff."

The board unanimously agreed to grant the waivers.