Annex at golf course to house guest suites
DEP clears up question about old contamination on Metedeconk tract
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

JACKSON - The Metedeconk National Golf Course will have a new annex building with eight guest suites in a residential subdivision. Members of the Planning Board voted 8-0 on June 18 to approve an application for the facilities.

Planning Board engineer Douglas F. Klee said the applicant sought approval for the construction of a 4,634-square-foot building. Site improvements would be limited to a driveway and golf cart facilities and delineation of a parking area, he said, adding that the building will be next to the existing clubhouse.

There are some environmental areas on the site that are considered to be sensitive, Klee said, adding that no traffic safety issues had been raised and there is adequate storm water drainage.

Alan B. Dittenhofer, the board's planner, said the project is consistent with the New Jersey State Development and Redevelopment Plan and the township master plan.

In testimony before the board William Stevens, an associate with Professional Design Services, said the project is within the Metedeconk National Golf Course along Route 527 just north of Interstate 195. The annex will be built on a parcel that is a total of 142 acres and consists of the golf course, the clubhouse and the driving range.

"The annex building will be constructed (next to) the clubhouse," Stevens said. "The golf club is seeking to build a residential facility where club members can stay while playing the course. It will be comprised of eight suites that club members can use for an overnight stay. There is a common area in the center of the annex which will be used only by the people who use the building.

"The clubhouse just to the west is very large and has the ability to provide dining and to entertain people. There is a full-service bar, a patio, a complete commercial kitchen and the like," Stevens said, adding that the bottom floor of the annex will be used for golf cart storage.

Attorney Ray Shea, representing the applicant, said there will be no long-term stays in the suites and said the suites will not be used by employees of the golf course.

A second story to the annex has been proposed but will not be finished at this time.

Stevens said no additional employees or additional parking will be needed as a result of the application for the new building.

"Existing staff will be used to run this," Stevens said, adding that no variances or waivers were being requested.

It was noted that the golf club has its own water treatment and sewer system on-site.

During the applicant's subsequent subdivision application, Klee noted that eight new lots are being designed on Hannah Hill Road.

Stevens located the subdivisions on an aerial map and said the area is a 127-acre parcel to the east of Route 527 and just to the south of the boundary line of Jackson and Freehold Township.

"The eight lots will be created at the front of the property and the remainder of the property on the east and south will not be developed," Stevens said. "The club is willing to put a deed restriction on the remaining property."

During the public portion of the meeting, Jackson Environmental Commission Vice Chairman Gene Fowler said the Metedeconk golf course is on a state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) list as a contaminated site.

"I'd like to find out what portion of the golf course will be disturbed or developed which is part of the contaminated area," Fowler said.

Shea said there is only one area of development for the application.

Board member Blanche Krubner said it should be determined why the golf course is on the DEP list.

Shea said the reason why the golf course is on the list may pre-date the present ownership.

"It may have been gasoline, a spill or a tank that had been on the site," said Fowler.

Shea said he had no knowledge of why the golf course might by on the DEP list. He agreed to make the information a condition for approval and said development will not take place in the affected area. Shea said he will supply the environmental commission with any documentation it needs regarding the alleged contamination.

Board members approved the Metedeconk application in an vote 8-0 with conditions and a letter of no objection.

After the meeting, the Tri-Town News contacted the DEP in an attempt to clear up the claims about possible contamination at the site.

"We're talking about underground storage tanks, which is the reason why they were on the contaminated site list," DEP spokesman Larry Hajna said. "There are two areas. One area was a waste oil tank located in an L-shaped area between the equipment barn and the office/shop area. It was on the northwest corner of [that area]."

Fifty feet west of the waste oil tank was a set of former gasoline tanks, Hajna said.

"All of the tanks have been removed and the contaminated soil has been removed," he said. "Much of the activity occurred seven or eight years ago. They have been monitoring the ground water in the area where they removed the waste oil tank and the soil. The area has been clean since 2002."

Hajna said they are making significant progress in the area of the former gasoline tanks. A decreasing level of contaminants [gasoline] has been noted in the ground water associated with that location.

He said he had no idea how the contaminant removal relates to the building of the new structure, since he did not have any idea where the new structure would be built.

Shea said he received the same information from the DEP.

"I don't know exactly [the former contaminated area's} relationship to the proposed buildings," the attorney said. "The file was closed by the DEP in 2001. There's no open file on it.

"Moreover, and I don't know why Mr. Fowler didn't tell the Planning Board, we had already received the written approval of the environmental commission three months earlier.

"We furnished that to the attorney for the Planning Board and we sent the approval from the environmental commission. We also sent an e-mail indicating the file was closed by the DEP in 2001, so it's much ado about nothing," Shea said.

Alan Krupnick, a member of the board of trustees and director of the project for the golf course, said there is no issue with contamination near the proposed guest annex.

"It was taken care of at the environmental commission meeting," he said. "There are a couple of buildings that comprise the maintenance yard."

Krupnik said the maintenance yard is not near the site where the guest annex will be.

"All I know is that the golf course is clear," he said. "The spot where the annex building is going is just to the west of the permanent clubhouse [not in the vicinity of the maintenance yard. The annex location] is not a new spot. It was used previously."

In other business on June 18, five resolutions from previous meetings were approved, including a relaxation station at Six Flags Great Adventure; the removal of a 30-foot conservation easement and 10-foot perimeter buffer at South Knolls; a minor modification, Breeders Walk applicant, on South Hope Chapel Road and Ridgeway Boulevard on the border of Jackson and Manchester; a nonconforming one-story residence to become a pool supply business on West Veterans Highway; and a 19-lot subdivision, Casey Hunter, on Whitesville Road, where there will be 18 residential lots and one storm water lot.

And, board Chairman Kenneth Bressi announced that board member George McKay would be stepping down from the board effective after the meeting. McKay served on the board for a year.

The board will hold its reorganization meeting on July 9. At that time it is expected that numerous applications which have come before the board in recent months will be assigned new dates to be heard.

Included in the list of applications to be assigned new dates are: Jackson Mews, a 2,531-home development on West Commodore Boulevard; Leigh Realty Company, a 130-unit section on West Commodore Boulevard, by court order; Grawtown Estates, a 497-lot subdivision with 493 residential lots on Grawtown Road; Diamond Development at Miele Farm, a 322-lot subdivision with 315 age-restricted senior residential lots on Hope Chapel Road; Pine Rock Estates, a 22-lot subdivision with 19 residential lots on Whitesville Road; and Sunnybrook Estates, a 20-lot subdivision with 16 residential lots on Freehold and Sunnybrook roads.