Millstone sets conditions for proposed garden shop
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer

MILLSTONE - Getting approval for a garden center on Bunt Tavern Road will require the applicant to deed restrict the bulk of a 53-acre parcel for farming.

While the Zoning Board unanimously approved a use variance for the facility at its Oct. 24 meeting, the applicant, CKV Realty, will have to appear before the board again for site plan approval.

CKV Realty wants to construct a garden center and a nursery-related facility, including a 15,000-square-foot building, on property located at 33 Burnt Tavern Road.

The land is in the township's Business Park zone and is adjacent to the Millstone House, a township-owned housing facility that the Monmouth County Housing Alliance leases to help provide affordable housing in the community. The township's Zoning Board recently approved the development of another 3,000-square-foot facility on the Millstone House property that will also satisfy affordable housing needs.

Chairman Michael Novellino said that Council on Affordable Housing requirements are an important part of the master plan, and the board must make sure that the garden center and the Millstone House can "peacefully co-exist."

The application for the garden center had been transferred to the Zoning Board from the Planning Board. The applicant's attorney, Edward Rosen, explained that Township Planner Richard Coppola and Planning Board Attorney Michael Steib determined that the application would require use variances for retail sales and material storage and may need bulk variances for buffering.

The applicant's engineer, Richard Di- Folco, said the acreage backs up to Interstate 195 and has woods in the rear. He said the majority of the property contains wetlands, with only 8 unencumbered acres. The land can be farmed even though it is classified as wetlands, he said.

He said his client would develop between 4 and 5 acres for the business. Half of the proposed building would be used for retail sales and offices, while the other half would be used to store weather-sensitive materials such as mulch.

While the business would sell nursery materials, including those grown on-site, it would also sell hardscaping materials such as pavers, stones and topsoil, he said.

The developer would place a berm with buffering to screen the business from the Millstone House, he said.

James Higgins, the applicant's planner, said a farm stand currently operates on the site. He said township ordinances do not permit garden centers in any township zone. He said the Business Park zone would be the most appropriate district for such a business, since commercial zones tend to be used for more formal businesses.

Higgins said that under the state's Right to Farm Act, the proposed garden center would qualify as a farm stand and would not have to appear before the Zoning Board if 51 percent of its retail sales came from plant material grown on the site. However, the applicant will have onethird plant material sales and two-thirds related item sales, he said.

Higgins said the garden center would help the community maintain its rural character. The center would operate from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week, he said.

Brian McKay, a principal of CKV Realty, said retail hours would be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. but employees would start an hour earlier to open and finish an hour later for closing. He agreed with the board's suggestion to deed-restrict part of the property for farming. The applicant also agreed to allow the township to construct a bridle path on a portion of the site.

McKay said he wants to create "onestop shopping" for gardeners and landscape contractors. The business would grow seasonal items such as pumpkins, hay and tomatoes, as well as trees. A display area in the front of the business will be landscaped and serve as an outdoor showroom, he said. While his business would sell rakes, wheelbarrows and other small landscaping tools, it would not sell lawnmowers, tractors or other larger equipment, he said.

Coppola expressed concerns that the ratio of plant material to pavers and other items that the business will sell could make it more of a stone/block center than a garden center. McKay said that block is not driving the application and that he wants a full-service center.

Resident Svetlana Estrin said Burnt Tavern Road is narrow and dangerous and said she does not like the idea of a garden center operating in a residential area on the weekends.

The board told Estrin that her house is located in the Business Park zone.

Township Engineer Matt Shafai added that the applicant will have to make some improvements to Burnt Tavern Road, which would be discussed during the site plan hearing.