Self-storage on Route 33 given OK
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

MANALAPAN — The Zoning Board of Adjustment has voted 6-0 to approve a resolution allowing for the construction of a storage facility on Route 33 east next to the Brunswick Lanes bowling alley.

Applicant Ira Deutsch, doing business as Self-Storage, agreed to shave 26,000 square feet off what he was initially proposing for the project in order to get the use variance he needed along with additional bulk variances.

The property is zoned Special Eco-nomic Development.

The use variance was needed because a storage facility is not a permitted use in the zone in which it was proposed.

Professional planner Allison Coffin, testifying on behalf of the applicant, described the proposal as being “ideally suited in a location conducive for its use.” She referred to the neighboring development in the area of Route 33 as “hybrid industrial uses.”

“The variances being requested are technical rather than substantive,” she said.

As approved, the storage facility will comprise a total of 170,000 square feet in three buildings to be constructed in phases. The buildings will feature elevators equipped with security cameras and elevators that are able to hold commercial weights, according to testimony provided at the Dec. 7 meeting.

The main building that will front Route 33 will house the office staff and storage space.

Coffin said there will be significant landscaping of the main building that will be consistent with Route 33 zoning. The buildings will be climate controlled in order to accommodate document storage.

Project architect Edward Easse said when the project is completed the facility will be a three-building storage campus.

Attorney Kenneth Pape, representing the applicant, presented testimony from professionals that explained the trend in storage facilities like the one being proposed is for white-collar paper storage.

According to Pape, typically law firms use storage facilities to house documents, as do municipalities that need a storage place for “dead files.”

Easse said that in order to construct an almost fireproof structure to be used not only to store bulk items, but paper documents, the buildings will be constructed of metal with “knock-out” glass panels being included among the fail-safe fire prevention features in buildings that will also include sprinkler systems.

Easse said the buildings will be fabricated out of insulated metal in order to help with energy conservation, while the outside of the buildings will feature synthetic stucco and a real brick façade finish.

Before voting to approve the project, several board members remarked on not only the applicant’s willingness to compromise on the size of the project, but also on the aesthetic quality of the plans.