Toll Brothers’ 45-acre Maneely tract will need to return once again to the Planning Board after the developer and the township hit snags at the October 7 meeting. This was the third meeting for Toll Brothers’ proposed mixed-use development on Bear Brook and Old Bear Brook roads, which will feature 192 corporate suites, 40 apartments built on top of 20,000 square feet of retail space, and 51 three-bedroom townhouses. There will likely be a vote at the fourth Planning Board meeting, which is scheduled for Wednesday, October 21.
As a condition for the property’s mixed-use rezoning, 10 acres will be deeded to the township for a 72-unit affordable housing development, but questions arose over whether all 10 acres were developable. Project Freedom has provided a concept plan for the municipally sponsored site, which is located on the easternmost part of the property and bound by the closed end of Old Bear Brook Road to the north and the railroad to the east. Three potential historic sites, where Native American artifacts may be located, have been identified on the property. The township sought guarantees that the 10-acre parcel could be fully developed.
A portion of one of the historical sites overlapped onto Toll Brothers’ development, and the company spent $28,000 for an archaeological study of the limited area affecting their site. The state Department of Environmental Protection and Historic Preservation Office review project applications for potential impacts on significant cultural resources. Since the state could request more permits, Planning Board attorney Gerry Muller said that under the ordinance amending the Maneely site’s zoning, Toll Brothers would be responsible for resolving the issue.
“You’ve taken the position that Project Freedom needs no further permitting,” Muller said. “I thought if we had an agreement, if the state required further permitting, Toll Brothers would be responsible.”
Toll Brothers attorney Henry Kent-Smith, of Fox Rothschild in Lawrenceville, balked at this interpretation of the ordinance. After conferring with Toll Brothers executives, he again declined to assume future responsibility.
“We have worked with this township extensively to accommodate the affordable housing site,” Kent-Smith said. “We are not in a position to incur an unknown risk. We think we’ve done enough.” As Toll Brothers’ legal representative, he declined to comment further on the matter.
In response, Planning Board chair Marvin Gardner cited the board’s obligation to taxpayers, as the additional requirements could cost the township.
Gardner and Planning Board member Linda Geevers, who also serves on Council, were also surprised to hear the mixed-use site might have fewer affordable units than previously stated during the Site Plan Review Advisory Board stage. Originally, 8 of the 40 apartments above the retail stores were to be affordable units, but the developer is now calculating the value of the 10-acre Project Freedom parcel to determine whether it will satisfy the project’s obligation.
Toll Brothers has been engaging with Muller on the issue, who is also the township’s affordable housing attorney, and Muller said he would be “surprised if there’s no affordable units.”
The potential residential impact of the site was also questioned. For the second straight meeting Gardner expressed reservations on the business viability of the corporate suites and whether Toll Brothers or another entity would manage the properties. The 192 units, legally recognized as hotel space, will rent for roughly $1,500 to $2,000 per month.
The majority of the “flexible stay accommodations” will have one-month to one-year tenancies, though the leases can be extended.
At the previous Planning Board meeting, Toll Brothers representatives indicated the use of the corporate suites could change in future decades. Any change in residential use would require an ordinance amendment or a Zoning Board use variance.
For the 51 three-bedroom townhomes, the township is working with Toll Brothers on a homeowner association deed restriction that will limit the number of bedrooms and apply to all successive owners. Township landscape architect Dan Dobromilsky’s report of the site plan previously cautioned that the developer’s request for lot size and width increases might enable construction of large units that could have up to seven bedroom spaces.
In the previous meeting Toll Brothers had wanted to construct a permanent staircase in the garage loft, but they have since agreed to install pulldown staircases instead, making it more difficult for the garages to be converted to bedrooms.
Project engineer Mark Mayhew presented a design of a new sidewalk that would connect the Old Bear Brook Road cul-de-sac to an existing Alexander Road sidewalk that connects to Vaughn Drive. The new sidewalk extends along Old Bear Brook Road opposite the new site, and Toll Brothers would build the sidewalk, which provides a safer alternative to the existing mid-block crossing near the cul-de-sac.
Mayhew also expressed support for township recommendations of splitter islands, which are mid-street pedestrian stopping areas, at three crossing points of the rotary and sidewalk.
At the end of the meeting, half a dozen residents were in queue to make public comments. Old Bear Brook Road resident Holly Keleman listed numerous concerns for more than 15 minutes, alleging, among other things, “nontransparent decision making” within the township. Taking exception to Keleman’s comments, Gardner declined to allow Keleman to finish and promptly adjourned the meeting at 10 p.m.
