Senior residences planned for Orchard Street
Proposal is result of settlement between Freehold and developer
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
Orchard Street will become home to a new community of age-restricted condominiums if all goes in the applicant's favor at the Oct. 24 meeting of Freehold Borough Planning Board.

Members of the Borough Council in Freehold Borough paved the way for the agerestricted homes when they adopted an ordinance several months ago to rezone Orchard Street from a commercial manufacturing zone to a zone in which age-restricted condominium complexes are a permitted use.

The ordinance states that a condominium complex must contain at least 5 acres and that no more than 30 units are attached in a series. The units cannot exceed three stories in height unless there is underground parking, and then they may extend to four stories. The complex must have two parking spaces for each unit.

Bay Dock Holdings LLC, of Lavallette, will be before the Planning Board seeking site plan approval to construct 30 age-restricted (over 55) condominium units in two four-story buildings with a ground level lobby, a three-story clubhouse and courtyards.

According to the application, the second, third and fourth floors of the buildings will house the condominiums, and the first or ground-level floor will be used as a parking area. Two entrances are proposed to provide access to the first-floor parking areas from Orchard Street.

The buildings will be constructed on 1 acre of the 5-acre parcel, leaving 80 percent as open space.

The applicant originally applied to the Planning Board in August 2004 to build 16 townhouses on the parcel. Plans called for 1,800-square-foot two-story homes with three bedrooms and an attached garage. The applicant said the townhouses would sell for about $300,000.

After several hearings, the plan for the townhouses was denied by one vote. The board found that the applicant had not presented sufficient evidence as to why it was necessary to build 16 threebedroom townhouses on the tract.

One board member called the plan too intense for the area, but left open the possibility that the tract might be suitable for a different type of residential proposal.

Bay Dock Holdings sued Freehold Borough in June 2005. According to the lawsuit, the borough's master plan re-examination recommends that the site on Orchard Street be rezoned from commercial manufacturing to a recreational district which permits only not-for-profit recreation uses.

The lawsuit also claimed that the zoning of the property for commercial manufacturing is "not consistent with the available infrastructure, economic market demands as well as surrounding properties."

The two sides worked out a settlement that resulted in the current plan for age-restricted units that will come before the Planning Board next week.