Paperwork bogs down bank proposal for now
BY CHRISTINE GRIMALDI
Staff Writer

JAMESBURG - Paperwork has stalled the process of bringing another bank to the community.

Commerce Bank did not testify as scheduled at the Aug. 10 Planning Board meeting due to incomplete paperwork, Planning Board Secretary Kelly Taylor said. The application is now set be heard at next month's meeting.

Taylor said the applicant has yet to file documents regarding its purchase of four homes that it would demolish on the prospective bank site, located on Perrineville Road between Elliot Place and Forsgate Drive.

She believes there is an intent to purchase the four residential properties but could not confirm it. Kevin Kennedy, a Red Bank-based attorney representing Commerce in matters of land use, does not represent the bank in regards to real estate and could not provide related information.

The Planning Board can still approve the application upon testimony with the property owners' consent as a condition of their approval, Taylor said.

The 4,101-square-foot bank branch will be built on an approximately 1.3-acre site that integrates a canopy and drive-through facilities into its design, according to borough documents. The borough requires eight parking spaces per teller window, for a total of 48 spaces.

Paperwork must also be filed on a final authorization to vacate a public alleyway. The 10-foot-wide gravel path traverses the prospective site and extends through privately owned lots behind it.

"We're asking the borough to extinguish its rights in that alleyway," Kennedy said.

Kennedy had sought approval for alleyway vacation at the July 19 Borough Council meeting, but asked that it be granted without unanimous consent of the property owners. Eight of the nine affected property owners, including those whose homes would be demolished, had given their consent to the path takeover at that time. The council deferred to borough practice that requires consent from all adjacent residents before vacating a public right of way.

The remaining resident, Joseph Perez, told Planning Board members at the last meeting that he would give his consent to vacating the alleyway. Perez's property has frontage on Forsgate Drive.

But the Planning Board still requires the corresponding paperwork, Taylor said.

The applicant must also reappear before the council for its approval. Taylor noted that the applicant has not contacted the council since making the exemption request last month. No request for vacating the alleyway appeared on the agenda for yesterday's council meeting.

Kennedy said that Commerce Bank will gather its paperwork and the proceed expeditiously.

"I believe we'll be on schedule and be ready for the September meeting," Kennedy said.