Planning Board Schedules Special Meeting for Multifamily Apartment Application

The application for a multifamily apartment complex proposed for Route 37 will come under scrutiny from Planning Board members later in August.

After planner Albert Yodakis deemed that the application was complete, board members on Monday night settled on a Monday, Aug. 20, special meeting date to begin hearing the complete details of the Presidential Gardens LLC/Kenneth Pizzo Jr. apartment complex. 

Board attorney Edward Liston asked if proper noticed had been given for the Aug. 6 meeting. Applicant attorney Harvey York told the board that he did not give notice since he was only at the meeting to "tell you what the application is about."

"I'm not presenting any testimony," York said. 

York and the board agreed that the special meeting will be held in the Municipal Complex courtroom, the location where the body typically meets. 

The apartments, which are proposed to be built on a 5-acre tract of land diagonally across Route 37 from the Municipal Complex on Colonial Drive, is planned to have 519 units and is not age-restricted, according to board secretary Marianne Borthwick. 

"It's obvious from the size of this application that it's going to take more than one meeting," Liston said. "So let's get started."

In May, the Township Council approved changing Chapter 245 of township code to allow for the zoning of multifamily residences in the town center zone . The Planning Board . 

A multifamily development on the land would yield the most potential tax revenue, even more than a big box retail store, said township planner Tom Thomas in May. 

York agreed to give proper notice of the special meeting, which will cost the applicant a $2,000 fee, Borthwick said.