Post by admin on Nov 28, 2007 8:40:13 GMT -5
www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071128/NEWS01/71128016/1004
FREEHOLD — The Zoning Board of Adjustment Tuesday voted 5-2 to grant a variance allowing Chesapeake Companies Diversified Group LLC of Minnetonka, Minn., to build an Olive Garden restaurant on the site of the landmark Jersey Freeze.
Board Chairman Kevin Mulligan and members William Barricelli, Lynn Cannon, Danielle Sims, Marjorie Goetz, an alternate member, voted in favor. Vice Chairwoman Connie Murray and Adele Ehlin voted no. Board members John Newman and Jeffrey Turner, who is another alternate member, were absent.
"I think this is the best use for the borough and the people in the borough," Mulligan said.
Ehlin said, however: "I believe this is just an overuse of the land" and is not in the best interest of residents.
Reasons given for granting the application were that residential development on the roughly 4-acre parcel bordering a commercial district is not likely; having control over and guiding commercial developers is better than relinquishing control to neighboring Freehold Township, in which part of the site is located; and the company showed good faith when it came up with solutions to problems and issues raised during the application process, which was not necessary until the later site plan approval phase.
Ehlin, though, noted traffic problems at the site and said the traffic study that was done understates the actual traffic there. The study stopped at 6 p.m. while the commuter traffic from Manhattan gets to this area later than that,
Ehlin said.
Before the vote, Murray said she is opposed because of borough's Master Plan includes a town center that needs to be preserved. She said if Freehold Township wants to continue strip-mall-style development, that's the township's prerogative.
Board members who were both in favor and against the application expressed concern about the quality of life and property values of the residents who live near the site, namely the residents of Frances Drive, which runs behind the site. Hours of operation, buffering and other ways to mitigate those concerns are expected to be addressed at the site plan phase of the process.
The parcel sits at the convergence of Routes 9 and 33 and Manalapan Avenue and is partially located in Freehold and Freehold Township. The Olive Garden will be located in the Freehold portion of the land, which is zoned for residential use. That is why a use variance was needed.
The restaurant had to be built in the borough, not the township, because the liquor license attached to the property is from the borough.
A bank is tentatively planned to go on the property on the township side, which is zoned for commercial use.
Jersey Freeze, which is located on the township side of the property, will be torn down so the Olive Garden can be visible from the roads.
Bruce Blackmore of Colts Neck, who has owned Jersey Freeze since he bought it from his father in 1980, has said that rising costs, high overhead and shrinking profits ? not Olive Garden ? are pushing him out of business. He has also said
that he and his wife, who has health problems, want to retire. Jersey Freeze,which was opened by Blackmore's father in 1952, is expected to close by the end of the upcoming summer season.
Nick Petruncio: (732) 308-7752 or npetruncio@app.com
FREEHOLD — The Zoning Board of Adjustment Tuesday voted 5-2 to grant a variance allowing Chesapeake Companies Diversified Group LLC of Minnetonka, Minn., to build an Olive Garden restaurant on the site of the landmark Jersey Freeze.
Board Chairman Kevin Mulligan and members William Barricelli, Lynn Cannon, Danielle Sims, Marjorie Goetz, an alternate member, voted in favor. Vice Chairwoman Connie Murray and Adele Ehlin voted no. Board members John Newman and Jeffrey Turner, who is another alternate member, were absent.
"I think this is the best use for the borough and the people in the borough," Mulligan said.
Ehlin said, however: "I believe this is just an overuse of the land" and is not in the best interest of residents.
Reasons given for granting the application were that residential development on the roughly 4-acre parcel bordering a commercial district is not likely; having control over and guiding commercial developers is better than relinquishing control to neighboring Freehold Township, in which part of the site is located; and the company showed good faith when it came up with solutions to problems and issues raised during the application process, which was not necessary until the later site plan approval phase.
Ehlin, though, noted traffic problems at the site and said the traffic study that was done understates the actual traffic there. The study stopped at 6 p.m. while the commuter traffic from Manhattan gets to this area later than that,
Ehlin said.
Before the vote, Murray said she is opposed because of borough's Master Plan includes a town center that needs to be preserved. She said if Freehold Township wants to continue strip-mall-style development, that's the township's prerogative.
Board members who were both in favor and against the application expressed concern about the quality of life and property values of the residents who live near the site, namely the residents of Frances Drive, which runs behind the site. Hours of operation, buffering and other ways to mitigate those concerns are expected to be addressed at the site plan phase of the process.
The parcel sits at the convergence of Routes 9 and 33 and Manalapan Avenue and is partially located in Freehold and Freehold Township. The Olive Garden will be located in the Freehold portion of the land, which is zoned for residential use. That is why a use variance was needed.
The restaurant had to be built in the borough, not the township, because the liquor license attached to the property is from the borough.
A bank is tentatively planned to go on the property on the township side, which is zoned for commercial use.
Jersey Freeze, which is located on the township side of the property, will be torn down so the Olive Garden can be visible from the roads.
Bruce Blackmore of Colts Neck, who has owned Jersey Freeze since he bought it from his father in 1980, has said that rising costs, high overhead and shrinking profits ? not Olive Garden ? are pushing him out of business. He has also said
that he and his wife, who has health problems, want to retire. Jersey Freeze,which was opened by Blackmore's father in 1952, is expected to close by the end of the upcoming summer season.
Nick Petruncio: (732) 308-7752 or npetruncio@app.com
