Request for use variance rejected by zoning board Elite Fitness owners may seek a different location in Marlboro BY LARRY RAMER Staff Writer MARLBORO — A proposal to build a large sports center on Vanderburg Road is dead, at least for now. The zoning board voted 5-0 on Dec. 1 to deny applicant Elite Fitness’s request to build a 98,000-square-foot health club and indoor sports facilities on Vanderburg Road. The applicant was seeking a use variance in order to build a for-profit fitness club in a light industrial zone. Nonprofit athletic fitness clubs are a permitted use in the light industrial zone. The zoning board denied the application for a use variance without prejudice, which means the applicant can come back to the board with the same application at some point in the future. However, one of the owners of Elite Fitness said he would try to find a different location for the facility in the future. Brett Pessel said the vocal opposition to the plan from dozens of residents, along with the need to seek a use variance, convinced him that the owners and investors should look for another location in town. “Based on the zoning not being appropriate for our use and the community’s opposition to the application during these meetings, we decided it was time to regroup and go to an area in which we were wanted,” Pessel said. “We still hope to bring [an Elite Fitness sports facility] to Marlboro.” When the special meeting for Elite Fitness was called to order in the Marlboro Recreation Community Center on Dec. 1, zoning board attorney James Kinneally was caught by surprise. Kinneally had been told earlier in the day that Elite Fitness was going to withdraw its application without prejudice. However, attorney Gerald Sonnenblick, representing Elite Fitness, told the board members the applicant had second thoughts. “I’ve been advised by my clients in the last few minutes (before the meeting) that they do not want to withdraw. They know they won’t have a hearing tonight, but they would like to get a new date for a hearing so they can get their act together,” Sonnenblick said. Pessel later explained that some of the investors who were backing the proposal decided that they still wanted to go ahead with the application, while others wanted to withdraw. In any event, the board members were displeased by the applicant’s request for a postponement. “I’m disappointed this change is being made,” said Eric Menaker, the board’s acting chairman. “The board has met 43 times this year. This application has had many special meetings devoted to it. We’ve gotten the board, the board professionals and the public out on a night when we can’t proceed. To ask us to postpone the application is very disappointing.” Kinneally noted that the attorney for one objector and some members of the public were not present because they believed the Elite Fitness application was going to be withdrawn. He told the board members they could grant the applicant’s request for a postponenment or deny the application without prejudice, because the applicant was not prepared for the meeting. Board members voted 5-0 to deny the application without prejudice. Several residents said they were happy with the board’s decision. “The use variance requested by the applicant was so substantial that there would have been a hardship on people in the neighborhood,” said Adrienne Spota, who lives on Vanderburg Road. “This is an important milestone for Marlboro, particularly since the residents have spoken and formed a strong coalition,” said Michael Fishman, who lives in the Marlboro Manse housing development near the site where Elite Fitness wanted to build its facility. “A facility like this in the center of Marlboro would have been a detriment to the community. This goes to show that when residents speak out, people get concerned,” Fishman added.