Board wants builders
to address problems
Adult communities
back before Planning Board

BY TARA PETERSEN

Staff Writer

The Monroe Planning Board wants more from Toll Bros. and Kalian Cos. before the two developers can get their latest approvals.

Toll Bros. went before the board earlier this month to ask for approval for 214 units in phases three and four of its Regency retirement community.

The board tabled the application after discovering a discrepancy in what it said the developer agreed to do for the township.

"When the project was approved, everybody [on the board] was under the impression that they had promised to accomplish certain things," Township Councilman and Planning Board member John Riggs said. "Now they are claiming they never agreed to it."

Riggs said that Toll Bros. complied with affordable housing requirements, and that it plans to install traffic lights and improve intersections at Buckelew Avenue and Spotswood Englishtown Road, Buckelew Avenue and Mounts Mills Road, and at Mounts Mills and Spotswood Englishtown roads.

However, Riggs said, there is a dangerous "S" curve on Mounts Mills Road that has to be fixed before it will gain approval. He also said that Toll Bros. would have to either acquire a home or move it before they can fix the problem.

"A house sits out into the bend, so it cannot be straightened without moving the house. It is costly and time consuming, but it’s a public safety issue."

Riggs said he finds the situation to be very dangerous, and that the developer needs to take responsibility before building more homes.

"They will have built in excess of 1,500 homes there. They are contributing to the traffic and to the problem. It’s a serious situation," Riggs said. "I would be reluctant to approve more homes without an agreement to fix the problem."

"They forget that their residents are a part of the community, and that they need to make the area safe for them," Riggs added.

Riggs said that the nearly 1,600 homes were projected to go for around $250,000 each, but have actually sold for between $300,000 and $500,000, which he felt gave them plenty of extra revenue that can be used to fix the road.

Riggs said that the board is looking at old records of previous meetings to see if it can prove the developer agreed to straighten the road. There may not be any evidence, he said, if the agreement was reached during a private meeting.

"We’re researching to find out if we documented it at any stage," he said.

A Toll Bros. representative said his firm was also looking into the matter.

"We’re looking at the documents to see what happened. We’re reviewing all past approvals," he said.

Kalian Cos. had already received approval for its 397 retirement homes in the Encore subdivision, but was asking for an amendment to the original application.

According to a representative for Kalian, the request was needed since the developer sold significantly more of the largest available model home than what was anticipated.

Building the largest unit created a need to exceed the building coverage area and reduce the open space approved in the original application.

The building coverage would now be at 19.9 percent, which is still below the 20 percent maximum. The open space would be at 60.36 percent, which would still be above the 60 percent minimum.

The developer was also seeking a variance for 12 units because the attached patios would encroach about 10 feet into the buffer zone.

Riggs said that he would approve the variance with an agreement that Kalian address some other issues.

"I have no problem with granting the variance, but they need to work with the township," Riggs said. "There were things that were overlooked on a prior application, and standards that have been changed. My feeling is that those deficiencies can be reopened [since the application is being amended]."

Riggs said that the township requires sidewalks around the perimeter, but that he would be satisfied with sidewalks along Prospect Plains Road.

"That’s where people would be walking to get to commerce," he said.

Riggs also said that the board would like to see a fence erected by the Wawa store to keep debris from residents’ lawns.

"We asked them to work with PSE&G and the shopping center to erect fencing because trash is blowing into the residents’ yards. Their attorney said it is not Kalian’s problem," Riggs said. "I thought that was an amazing statement considering they are still in the process of selling homes there."

The two applications are on the board’s agenda for a meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday.