Six homes gain approval from Marlboro planners
BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer

MARLBORO - Six homes will be built on property known as the Smith farm, after gaining approval from the Planning Board on Dec. 5.

The Smith farm is on the east side of Tennent Road between Union Hill and Church roads.

The development, Villas at Marlboro, an application of Tennent Acres, will subdivide a 16.8-acre parcel into six lots in order to permit the construction of six single-family homes. One lot would also contain a wet basin.

At present two homes exist on the property. These homes will be removed and replaced with two new homes, according to planner and engineer Lorali Totten of Crest Engineering. Totten spoke on behalf of the applicant.

Five homes will be built on a cul-de-sac and the sixth home will be built off Church Road, according to the plans that were presented to the board. The homes will be served by public sewer and water, Totten said.

The proposed plans were completely compliant with Marlboro ordinances and required no variances, according to attorney Jonathan Heilbrunn, who represented the applicant.

As the hearing began Heilbrunn explained that the primary issue would be storm water management, but he said the applicant's professionals would provide testimony on how the present water problems would be alleviated with the "very sophisticated" plan they had developed.

Totten explained that as part of the plan to not cause more water run-off into the backyards of homes on Sudbury Road, the development's underground system of pipes would be rerouted to avoid the storm grate in a Sudbury Road homeowner's backyard.

The new plan, which will avoid the inlet in the backyard of the Sudbury Road home, will also lessen the amount of runoff from the property because with the addition of the development the land will now have lawns and absorb water, where currently the property is farmland that does not absorb the water, according to Totten.

There was concern expressed about a ditch which runs along the property and fills with water. Planning Board members asked whether that is a ditch or a stream. Jeffrey Staiger, the board's engineer, clarified the confusion by stating that a stream must show on maps, where this ditch does not.

Concerned about a pond on the farm property, Staiger asked that a connection for a pump be included to reduce water levels if they rise.

A homeowner from Sudbury Road asked for a guarantee that the water runoff would not get worse on his property. He also questioned how the man-made ditch would be affected.

Totten told him she believed the conditions would be better once the new system was installed because the water would be diverted away from the inlet in that homeowner's backyard.

Board Chairman Peter Bellone told the homeowner that if conditions were to worsen he should make officials aware of that because the applicant would be held responsible as part of the conditions of approval.

Bellone, Vice Chairman Gerald Bergh, Mark Barenburg, Michael Schnurr, Elvera Fernandez and Terry Lau voted unanimously to approve the development of six homes.

Among the conditions for approval were curbing to be installed along Church Road pending approval by Monmouth County and widening the road the homes will be built on to 30 feet.