Variance paves way for Freehold Olive Garden
Board's action signals likely end for Jersey Freeze
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer

FREEHOLD- The borough is one step closer to getting an Olive Garden Italian restaurant.

In a split vote at its Nov. 27 meeting, the Freehold Borough Zoning Board of Adjustment voted 5-2 to grant a use variance that will permit Chesapeake Companies to build an Olive Garden restaurant on a 3.7-acre parcel on Route 9 at Manalapan Avenue.

The property is presently the location of the Jersey Freeze ice cream stand and restaurant. Owner Bruce Blackmore has said Jersey Freeze will close in 2008. The Jersey Freeze building will be demolished so that parking required for the Olive Garden can be provided. The zoning board's vote will permit the Chesapeake Companies to build a business in a residential zone. Board Chairman Kevin Mulligan and board members William Barricelli, Lynn Cannon, Marjorie Goetz and Danielle Sims voted in favor of granting the variance.

Board Vice Chairman Connie Murray and board member Adele Ehlin voted not to grant the variance.

Now that a use variance has been granted, the applicant will have to return to the zoning board to seek site plan approval for the restaurant.

The plan calls for a 7,762-square-foot Olive Garden Italian restaurant and a 3,669-square-foot bank to be built on a parcel that lies in Freehold Borough and Freehold Township.

Jersey Freeze is in Freehold Township while other structures on the property - a storage building and a home - are in Freehold Borough.

The Olive Garden will be in Freehold Borough and it will use a liquor license that Blackmore purchased from the borough 18 months ago.

The plans for the bank and the parking lot for the Olive Garden will be required to obtain approval from the Freehold Township Planning Board.

If the Olive Garden is built, people will need to prepare their taste buds and their emotions for a somewhat dramatic change, one that will include pasta rather than ice cream, hot dogs and hamburgers and a completely different visual image at the corner of Route 33 and Manalapan Avenue.

Jersey Freeze has been in operation for more than 50 years. The business was founded by Blackmore's father and Blackmore has owned and operated the ice cream stand and restaurant for almost 30 years.

The Olive Garden will feature what was referred to by the applicant's professionals as a "family dining experience." There will be 206 seats in the dining area, 30 seats in the lounge and 11 barstools, for a total of 247 seats. A total of 188 parking spaces will be provided for the restaurant. Jersey Freeze currently has 92 indoor seats, 70 outdoor seats, for a total of 162 seats, and 92 parking spaces.

A common thread running through the reasoning of the five members who voted to approve the use variance was that they wanted to feel like they had some measure of control by having jurisdiction over the Freehold Borough section of the property. By approving a family restaurant, the board members said they felt they would have some control.

"We all know Jersey Freeze is going to close," Sims said. "We are now in the position to decide what is the property's best use. If this application is turned down here, then there's probably a good chance it will be turned over to something on the Freehold Township end because it's residential on the borough side and commercial on the township side. This means that the borough may not have a chance to express and address the concerns of the people in our town. We want to have a hand in helping to decide what's best for our neighbors in the borough."

Sims addressed the residents of Frances Drive who live behind the Jersey Freeze parcel. She said she thought this course of action was the best course to take.

"We want what's best for you and I really think this is it. I think if we do this, we will have some control over some things, and can at least guide the hand of those developing the site. We don't want to leave everything to another town that has commercial sites all around us while we have residential sites. Freehold Township may not have our residents' needs in mind if they were to be the people in charge of everything with this project."

Sims added that she would not have voted to approve the use variance had the Olive Garden been a restaurant that stays open until 2 a.m. Sims asked if it was possible to place time restrictions on the approval of the use variance. Although the Olive Garden will close at 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends, Sims was worried that if the restaurant was ever sold to another chain whose policy is to stay open very late, there would be problems.

Mulligan said that issue would be addressed when the applicant returns with a site plan. He said time restraints could be attached to the use variance then, and they would run with the variance as part of the whole package.

Mulligan said the central issue that concerned board members was "control for the project."

"To echo the concerns of a number of board members," Mulligan said, "something will happen on that property, maybe not today, but something will happen to this property if we don't approve this. I think I echo the sentiments of other board members that approving this will benefit the borough by affording us some ability to have some say in how it's developed."

He said the applicant and Blackmore "bent over backward" to address the concerns of the board and the concerns of the residents in the immediate area and he said, "they took steps to meet them halfway or more."

"They didn't have to do that," Mulligan said. "I believe this application is in the best interest of the people of Frances Drive. If not, we will have no control over what Freehold Township will do with it."

Barricelli said the applicant "did more than we asked for" and added that he was also concerned about which municipality would have the primary jurisdiction over the property.

"If we approve this (variance), then Freehold Borough will have the main jurisdiction with Freehold Township as an auxiliary," he said.

Cannon said she remembered many wonderful years of service from Jersey Freeze.

"This property will change. It is not going to stay the way it is," she said. "The market is horrible and no one is going to buy it as residential property. Anyone who buys the parcel will change the borders and boundaries that are there now. I feel that approving this (variance) will allow us to better protect our residents by having a site plan approval done, which will continue to address the concerns of residents and then make adjustments to those things," she said.

Goetz said she was torn by which way to vote.

"I feel that eventually this property will be developed regardless of who does it. What we are presented with here now, we have more control over how we can see it though. I feel that this is the proper use for this property," Goetz said.

Ehlin said she voted against granting the use variance due to the traffic situation she said would eventually ensue. She said she was not satisfied with the traffic study that had been conducted because it stopped at 6 p.m., a time that she said begins the rush hour with a heavier flow of cars and buses.

"In my mind, this study severely undervalues the real traffic conditions," she said. "I believe this application is an overuse of the land. I understand the reason you (Blackmore) want to sell it, but I don't believe it is valuable to Freehold Borough and I don't think it's in the best interest of any residents in Freehold Borough."

Murray said her reasoning for voting against the use variance was due to the town's master plan.

"Those who came before us envisioned a town center for the borough of Freehold," Murray said. "If a large surrounding town wants to do strip commercial development, that is their prerogative, but it is not the plan for our borough. We have a town center and residential neighborhoods that need to be preserved."

In recent months, the News Transcript has received letters from people who recalled the good times they shared at Jersey Freeze.

Anne Marie Lewis Norby of Arizona wrote that she had taken her children and her grandchildren to Jersey Freeze many times.

"With all the changes in Freehold it was so nice to still have the Freeze. I will be so sad if it goes," she wrote.

Maybe Norby summed up the feelings of many other area residents when she wrote, "Thanks for the memories, the best pork roll and cheese on a hard roll and the best banana splits."