Applicant trims size of medical building
BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer

MARLBORO - The Zoning Board of Adjustment continued a hearing on Oct. 2 for a proposed medical building on Route 520 on a lot that currently houses a spa. Representatives of SFC Enterprises previously appeared before the board in March and August.

The property on Route 520 where the medical building is proposed is about a quarter-mile east of Route 79.

Attorney Salvatore Alfieri, who represents the applicant, told the board members his client had taken comments and suggestions they had previously made and revised the plan.

The applicant initially requested relief from three municipal ordinances: having two principal uses on the lot (currently Avatar Spa is on the property), exceeding the permitted lot coverage and exceeding the permitted floor area ratio.

In August, Alfieri told the board his client no longer needs relief from the floor area ratio requirement.

What started as a proposed 40,000- square-foot building has now been reduced to 35,261 square feet, according to project engineer Stephen Atkins. He said the plan was improved in accordance with the recommendations of the township's professionals.

One concern had been parking for the proposed medical building, but Atkins said the parking issue has been resolved. He said there will be 221 parking spaces, 193 for the medical building and 28 for the Avatar Spa, which will remain on the property.

He said the parking spaces will start 10 feet from the building. A township ordinance requires 30 feet from a building to parking spaces. When board members questioned the applicant's traffic consultant, Mark Kataryniak, as to whether this would be an issue, Kataryniak said that in other municipalities 10 feet is a conventional amount of space.

It was decided to eliminate a few parking spaces around the building to allow easier access for emergency personnel. Even with eliminating those parking spaces, the applicant still meets the required ratio of parking spaces to building size.

Atkins said great care has been taken to retain a wooded area at the south of the property that is adjacent to property that is part of St. Gabriel's Church.

An issue did arise concerning a recharge basin on the property. Board members were nervous about the size of the basin. Zoning board engineer David Thesing suggested extending the basin to the south end of the property.

Atkins said to expand south would take away some of the vegetation but said if the board preferred that solution the applicant would comply.

Thesing called it an acceptable compromise.

The applicant's architect was brought up to answer questions posed by board member Adrianne Spota about the façade of the building facing Route 520. The concern stems from the fact that the medical building's main entrance will not face Route 520. Spota wanted to ensure that the side of the building that faces Route 520 will be aesthetically pleasing.

Project architect Robert Adler showed the changes that were to be made with the building's reduction in size. He also gave a description of how the exterior facing Route 520 would look.

Spota requested the planting of trees to add to the façade. Alfieri said the applicant is willing to plant trees and wants the facility to be attractive looking.

At a previous hearing it was requested that the applicant's traffic consultant Michael Hanna conduct an automated traffic count on Route 520. The count was conducted Sept. 6-13.

Board member Joseph Castellucci was upset about the dates of the study, since at the previous meeting the board requested the study be conducted after Sept. 15.

Hanna said it was conducted from Sept. 6-13 so the applicant could meet deadlines in getting information ready for the Oct. 2 hearing.

Castellucci said he felt the numbers would be inaccurate since the time frame when the count was conducted was the first few days of school, and he said people tend to go away on vacation during that first week of September.

Hanna said he believes his numbers are accurate, especially since he had been looking for the peak times in traffic. His study found that the peak hours occurred during the five weekdays, one peak time occurring 7-9 a.m. and the other peak time occurring 4- 6 p.m.

Kataryniak said he believed the methodology used by the applicant's expert was acceptable. He also noted information that had been received earlier that day by Hanna concerning a change in timing at the traffic light at the intersection of Route 520 and Route 79.

Hanna said he had discovered that the Department of Transportation (DOT) had changed the timing of the light at Route 79 and Route 520 sometime since the original study was conducted in 2006. It now allows variable time changing and that, he said, means the medical building will not have a negative impact on the area.

Upon hearing the statement that the medical building would not negatively impact the area, Castellucci asked Hanna how that assessment would change with the possible construction of almost 200 homes on the Stattel farm at the intersection of Route 520 and Route 79.

A plan for housing on the Stattel farm has been proposed by municipal officials as a way of helping Marlboro meet its obligation to provide affordable housing, but no plan for a development on that property has been presented to the Planning Board.

Hanna told Castellucci he had heard about the possible housing development at the Stattel farm, but said that since there is no definite plan for that location, there was no way for him to include traffic numbers for it.

In the end, Alfieri said the applicant would conduct another traffic count.

Kataryniak said they would take the numbers from the study done in early September and compare it with the new one to be conducted. He also asked that the new timing of the traffic light be verified by the DOT.

The hearing is expected to resume on Dec. 11.