The Plainsboro Township Committee denied the release of one of three performance bonds to developer Centex Homes for work at the Windmere Grove residential development during its year-end meeting on December 30.
The committee released the performance bonds and accepted maintenance bonds for two sections of work at the Estates at Plainsboro, as well as the streets associated with that area of development. However, the committee denied the release of the performance bond at Windmere Grover at Plainsboro (Wicoff Estates) — the development of 55 single-family homes off Wyndhurst Drive — after having time to review the concerns from the homeowners association about the work on site.
Paul Komosinsky, the association’s president, had approached the committee during a meeting earlier in December, asking the committee to hold off on releasing the bonds that were scheduled for approval that night. He said the homeowners association wanted time to have an engineer it had previously employed look over issues with regard to some of the grassy common areas in the back of the development and residents’ concerns about their driveway aprons.
Komosinsky said he wanted to ensure that the bonds were not released without first making sure that those issues pertaining to the residents’ concerns were not issues that would have been covered under those bonds.
Township officials held off on making a decision over whether to deny or release the bonds until they could verify whether, in fact, the items were ones that would not be covered in the maintenance bond if the performance bond is released.
Les Varga, the township’s director of planning and zoning, said after the meeting that the drainage issues on the back of one of the lots, and issues with the driveway aprons and the grassy open space area caused township officials to deny the release of the performance bond because the work tied into a public roadway, Cottonwood Court. Before township officials can take jurisdiction and accept the road from Centex, they need to make sure there are no problems associated with the work that was done there. A maintenance bond would only cover work needed to maintain the property, he said.
The Township Committee had 45 days, as required by law, to either deny or release the performance bond, so it needed to make a decision during the December 30 meeting, Varga said.
Varga said Centex officials are aware of the issues and the performance bonds will be released as soon as the work is done, which may not be until the spring because of the weather.
