1.2M-Square-Foot Warehouse, Truck Center Before Howell Planners

HOWELL, NJ — Testimony on the Monmouth Commerce Center application for a nine-building, 1.2 million-square-foot facility on Randolph Road will continue in September, the Howell Township Planning Board said Monday night.

The planning board heard more than three hours of testimony Monday night from the project's traffic engineer on the project proposed for property on the south side of Randolph Road at the intersection with Oak Glen Road.

The board had previously heard testimony at three prior meetings on issues including the proposal to cut down thousands of trees at the site and concerns about the parking of trailers at the site.

The Monmouth Commerce Center, owned by Lawrence Katz and Felix Pflaster, includes nine warehouse buildings ranging from 85,600 square feet to 150,000 square feet, equaling 1,242,102 square feet total; five full-movement (entrance and exit) access drives along Randolph Road; parking for 706 vehicles and 142 trailer parking spaces; 234 loading spaces and five monument-style signs.

The testimony Monday night focused on the access driveways, with a great deal of discussion about what the proper width is to properly accommodate turns by tractor-trailers, and whether the layout of traffic flow within the site will help or hurt.

You can read notes from the meeting below. The next hearing is set for Sept. 19.

Patch provide live updates. Refresh this article beginning about 7 p.m.

7:15 p.m. Testimony is about to begin. Tonight is starting with the traffic engineer. He spoke at the previous planning board hearing.

Justin Taylor, the traffic engineer, is talking about the impact of a recent approval of the construction of a church nearby. He said their analysis shows the added traffic from the church would be minimal and all passenger vehicles.

Taylor says trucks would be prohibited from going east on Randolph Road because of weight limits on the roads.

Access: Proposing five driveways at the site. There are no existing access roads.

Taylor said Howell's ordinance allows two driveways for each 500 feet of frontage when a property has more than 500 feet of frontage. He said the property has 2500 feet of frontage, but that 10 driveways would be excessive. He said having five driveways allows them to separate passenger car traffic from truck traffic. Driveways also are much farther from the property lines than required by ordinance.

They have looked to match up with the existing driveway at Arnold Steel.

Westernmost driveway will be passenger vehicles and trucks; second will be trucks only. Middle will be passenger vehicles only, fourth will be trucks, and the easternmost driveway will be passenger vehicles only.

The plan provides 100 feet for cars/trucks waiting to get out onto Randolph Road. Taylor said that figure was calculated based on the highest amount of the traffic.

Board chairman Robert Nash asked about the graphics that show tractor trailers would cross into the opposing lane of traffic when they pull out of the complex onto Randolph Road. Taylor said they have modified the design. That design has not been submitted for formal review, according to the planning board secretary.

Paper copies have been handed out to the board and the attorney for HOPE.

Nash: You will have to agree these still have issues. Do they meet the ordinance?

Taylor: Ordinance has flexibility.

Township planner, Peter Van Den Kooy, says they are still tight and leave little room for error. He said the township ordinance allows 24-foot-wide driveways. Wider than that, the planning board has to approve it.

Nash said the board is unhappy with the driveway situation and wants changes. "I think the applicant has to go back and make them work," he said.

Nash said Monmouth Commerce Center will need to request a waiver for the wider driveways.

7:50 p.m. Taylor is still testifying. Discussing traffic circulation within the site.

Inherently in a warehouse use there's interactions between tractor trailers.

Nicastro questioning whether the tenants are known and how it would affect traffic within the site.

The township's ordinance permits warehouses as small as 5,000 square feet, Nicastro says. The attorney for Monmouth Commerce Center says their goal is not to have spaces that small.

Nicastro: "We have to make assumptions based on what is allowed."

Taylor says the study of the internal traffic flow will safely accommodate traffic even if there are retail uses within the warehouses.

8:05 p.m. Laura Neumann, the township engineer, is discussing the access driveways and says the applicant has to justify having driveways wider than the ordinance, through traffic movements and the turning radius.

Nash: "Have you ever witnessed the way trucks operate at one of the turnpike rest areas? There's no way in hell a driver is going to make all those maneuvers." He said truck drivers won't make extra turns but will instead wait, and the board is concerned trucks will back up onto Randolph Road. The design is an ideal situation but not reality.

Taylor says he disagrees and that the design has to make it easy for trucks to come in and out "or clients won't stay."

Nash says he believes the site could have fewer access driveways and have a circulation drive instead.

Taylor says he believes the five access driveways will avoid issues of trucks backed up on Randolph Road.

8:25 p.m. There has been discussion among the board members about the differences between having a circulation driveway as opposed to the current design, where trucks pull in and go straight down the drive aisles.

Peak traffic a.m. 27 trucks in, 8 out. p.m. peak would be 35 out.

Nicastro is questioning the numbers, based on the warehouses having 243 total loading docks.

Passenger vehicle trips: Peak a.m. 139 trips, 107 in, 32 out; peak p.m. 141 trips, 38 in, 103 out.

Taylor parking for passenger vehicles is more than adequate; office spaces are ancillary.

Trailer parking spaces will not be used for container storage. Temporary storage. Taylor said use of the trailer parking "will comply with the ordinance" but did not have the specifics on what the ordinance defines.

Neumann wants clarification on what will be stored in the trailer parking and how long it will be there.

8:36 p.m. Taylor is talking about speeding issues and accidents along Randolph Road. Speeding has been a problem based on information he got from the police department. He said he believes part of the issue is that there is very little development along the road, and he believes the added activity will reduce speeding.

Taylor said the addition of a traffic signal at Randolph will improve traffic flow, which is currently at level F. There is a delay of 988 seconds now.

Nicastro: Is the applicant paying for the signal?

Monmouth Commerce Center attorney: "We are not creating the problem. It's not last one in pays."

Nash says there's an issue not being addressed: that intersection is under monmouth county jurisdiction. "This board this town does not have jurisdiction over when or how that intersection becomes signalized."

Taylor said there have been preliminary meetings with the county and that the county realizes there are issues with the Randolph Road intersection. There has been a traffic study done in conjunction with the waste transfer station but the study is not available to the public.

Nash says there is no guarantee of what the county will do, and that impacts what the board will decide.

The applicant needs to submit an application to Monmouth County regarding the Randolph Road issue. That application wasn't submitted initially -- they were granted a submission waiver on the county application but the board is requiring it.

There was a bit of a testy exchange between the Monmouth Commerce Center attorney and Deputy Mayor Evelyn O'Donnell over the issue of the application to the county.

Nash: Why were only signalized intersections along Lakewood Farmingdale Road instead of multiple intersections.

Taylor said they looked at what the ordinance required.

Nash is really pressing Taylor on the impact of the traffic at intersections that do not have traffic signals. Taylor says the project, when it's fully built out, won't have the impacts Nash believes it will have on stop sign-controlled intersections on Lakewood Farmingdale Road.

Nash says the traffic studies were conducted on Fridays, with the p.m. study being done between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. and notes that traffic drops significantly because of the decrease with Lakewood residents who are observing Shabbos getting home for their religious observance.

Taylor said they started with a traffic study that had been performed that had no issues raised with it by the board's professionals.

Nash said the applicant needs to show its traffic impact estimation is accurate for other days of the week.

Taylor said Oak Glen will be widened and a left-turn lane added.

9:12 p.m. Taking a 10-minute break.

9:30 p.m. Meeting has resumed. Nash asked whether the applicant met with the fire chief at Squankum Fire Company who reviewed the fire hydrants but said traffic access to the site wasn't something they reviewed.

There is a township professional asking questions about the questions about the traffic signal.

"No one's committing to it," he said. "We have to plan for it to not be there."

Level of service calculations need to be run if the traffic signal is not approved by the county.

Nicastro: We do have a responsibility to take into consideration the impact on other roads if that traffic signal is not happening. "You cannot tell me a million square feet of warehouse and 700 vehicle parking, we have to address it."

The trailer parking spaces are considered an accessory use and as outdoor storage. The question about how long the trailers sit will impact whether the trailer parking will need a variance. Ordinance requires outdoor storage in a screened rear yard.

Board member is concerned about the potential for retail sale in the center. It's a permitted accessory use in warehouse. Limited to 1,000 square feet or 10 percent of the floor space, whichever is less.

9:43 p.m. Opposing attorney coming to the microphone. He is holding his questions until the next hearing.

Wooley of Victory Road: How is this going to impact traffic on 547? Intersection of Victory Road and 547. Taylor says it was not studied. "I wish you would."

Katherine Moore Oak Glen Road: What will be done to prevent tractor trailers from coming down Oak Glen Road? Taylor says signs will be put up. Moore says nothing is being done to police issues now.

Mary Rose Malley, speaking personally and not on behalf of the school board. Asking about the traffic studies 2018. She is raising the issue of how the bridges were closed as a result of the August storm in 2018 and that Ramtown Greenville Road was closed for 6 months.

Taylor says the closed bridges did not effect the traffic study. He says he will provide the data that backs up the statement that the closed bridges did not impact that.

Joan Osborne: Questions about McDonough Ray report. Started with the one done for this project. Counts were conducted between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

She is asking very technical questions about how the traffic study was done, what was expected and how they determined the numbers are accurate.

Taylor is insisting the numbers are accurate and that the Ramtown Greenville Road bridge was not an issue.

"I believe the numbers are accurate within the study," he said.

She is asking detailed questions about the data that is used to generate trip information. Taylor says traffic data in the manual used by traffic engineers is updated continuously.

10:30 p.m. Osborne was asked to continue her questioning at the hearing continuation.

Members of the public are waiting to make comments. Nash is again explaining that public comment will come after all the testimony and questioning is complete.

Nash: "I will not ram this through. I will give everyone the opportunity to speak."

The applicant has to give an extension of time; that is being granted until Sept. 19, which will be the same night as the next hearing.

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