Board OKs Goddard School,
bank, offices, retail center
By dave benjamin
Staff Writer

MANALAPAN — The Planning Board has approved the construction of a Goddard School at the corner of Gordons Corner Road and Wilson Avenue.

The approval will permit the development of a business center that will straddle the border of Manalapan and Englishtown.

The Englishtown part of the project has received approval in that town.

The project will be developed by John Ploskonka, president of Concept Engineering Consultants.

"I’m very pleased, after a year working with two towns, that we’re able to achieve a creative design that balances the need for ratables in the town, local commercial facilities, with the ordinance and provides design input from the neighbors," Plo-skonka said. "We’ve taken all the input from the towns’ professionals, planning board members and the public and we’ve made a plan that makes some sense."

Ploskonka, owns the land, designed the plans for the center and will build and operate the project.

The approved complex will include five buildings:

• the Goddard School day care center, 8,045 square feet;

• an office building, 12,400 square feet;

• a bank, 2,475 square feet;

• a drug store, 11,348 square feet;

• and a retail center, 17,868 square feet.

The Goddard School, office building and bank will be in Manalapan, while the retail center and drug store will be in Englishtown.

Several issues that had arisen during the applicant’s previous appearances before the board, including a detention basin, traffic flow, and parking, were ironed out.

Regarding traffic flow, the proposed plan calls for a right turn lane to be provided on Gordons Corner Road which will extend from Wilson Avenue back past the project’s driveway.

Additionally, a left turn lane will be created on Wilson Avenue for traffic turning onto Main Street, Englishtown.

"This plan will improve traffic flow considerably based on the input from our traffic engineer and the town’s engineer," Ploskonka said. "Because of the backup on Gordons Corner Road and Wilson Avenue, the left turn lane will make a significant improvement."

There will be 220 required parking stalls at the project site, with space available for additional stalls, if necessary. The original plan called for 249 parking spaces.

Township engineer Greg Valesi said the developer will now have the space available, if there is a problem with parking.

"They’re going to try to keep as much green area as they can, in the locations that are shown in the plans," Valesi said. "There’s no reason to redesign or come back before the board."

Ploskonka agreed to convey 5,200 square feet of property to the neighboring American Legion post on Sanford Street.

"The bleachers of the baseball field [behind the American Legion building] are on my property," Ploskonka said. "They’ve been on my property for years and to help avoid the overlap we’re going to give them some land by subdividing our property. It’s a gift to the American Legion to avoid encroachment."

There are no plans for the installation of a traffic light at the intersection of Gordons Corner Road and Wilson Avenue in conjunction with Ploskonka’s project.

A previous story published in the News Transcript indicated that the installation of a traffic light at that intersection could be possible as part of a plan to develop a Quick Chek convenience store and gas station in Englishtown.