Edison Zoning Board To Hear Application For Charlie Brown's Site

EDISON, NJ — On Tuesday, Dec. 14, the Zoning Board will hear a developer’s controversial application to build 23 homes on Plainfield Road.

MarKim Developers, LLC had earlier planned to build 23 townhomes on the site of the former Charlie Brown's restaurant. But they have now revised their plans. This time, they plan to make the homes age-restricted.

MarKim Developers, LLC is proposing to build a 23-unit age-restricted multi-family townhouse on 222 Plainfield Road, near the Metuchen Golf and Country Club. The area is located within the G-C Golf Course Zone and there's a Charlie Brown restaurant building, which will be demolished to make way for the new development.

According to the revised application, the age-restricted units will be for persons aged 55 and over. The height of the proposed building has been reduced to 33 feet 10 inches, which is less than the maximum height of 35 feet permitted in the G-C Zone.

The application also includes restricting the access driveways on Plainfield Road to prohibit left turns out of the site, eliminating the third-floor rear balconies on the south and north buildings, and adding a second row of trees at a planting height of 10 feet to 12 feet to screen the properties to the south of the site.

The applicant is seeking preliminary and final site plan approval, a use variance to permit a multi-family age-restricted residential use within the Golf Course Zone, in which golf courses are the only permitted use, a variance with regard to maximum floor area ratio, and bulk variances with regard to the minimum required lot area, lot depth, and rear yard setback.

Residents have been opposing the developer's plan for months. They expressed concern over the "changing character" of the neighborhood and said the homes would add to traffic woes on Plainfield Road which is heavily traveled during school hours due to its proximity to Woodrow Wilson Middle School.

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