Howell directed to open exit at adult community

HOWELL - Township Manager Thomas Czerniecki has announced that the state Superior Court, Freehold, issued a temporary restraining order requiring Howell to remove a concrete barrier that had been placed at the Red Bud Lane exit from the Pine View Estates adult community.

Pine View Estates is a 170-unit, age-restricted development near the Ram-town section of Howell. The developer is Regal Homes of the Morganville section of Marlboro. A date for a full hearing on the closure before the Superior Court is not yet known.

Czerniecki said, "As Memorial Drive (a new road) was opened, the Cherry Lane access was closed.

However, according to a press release from the township, officials of Regal Homes expressed objections to the closure of Red Bud Lane only at the point that Howell was moving to close that access, pointing to the fact that is was their primary sales entrance.

Czerniecki said, "We respect Regal Homes' concerns as we obviously want this to be a successful development. At the same time, we have real concerns about construction traffic and traffic volumes moving through the Pine Needle area.

"Therefore, we only closed the exit lane out of Pine View while keeping an entrance lane open for sales traffic. I am very disappointed that Regal Homes objected to what was a very measured and reasonable accommodation on the township's part that was working very well.

"Our team looks forward to the opportunity to explain our position and public safety concerns to [the judge]. Although the barrier will be removed to comply with the temporary restraining order, I fully expect Regal Homes to proactively direct construction traffic away from the residential neighborhoods. At the same time we will take a close look at other regulating options that are available to us," Czerniecki said.

According to the information provided by Czerniecki, Pine View Estates was initially approved by Wall Township officials over the objections of Howell because, among other concerns, primary emergency and service access would only be available through Howell. The township was also concerned about the volume of traffic that would pass through relatively narrow residential streets to enter the new development.

Howell constructed a new access road off of Jacob Drive to allow traffic to bypass surrounding residential neighborhoods and accommodate Pine View Estates traffic.

The new road, known as Memorial Drive, was completed in November 2006 and provides almost immediate access to Newtons Corners Road, which is an arterial road in the area.