Board OKs commercial plan
BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer

JACKSON- The Planning Board has approved the construction of a bank, a restaurant and a retail store at the corner of County Line and Harmony roads.

Board members voted 9-0 on Dec. 13 to approve the application submitted by CNLRS.

The first phase of the project will be the construction of a Chase bank, to be followed by the construction of a restaurant and a retail store at a future date.

Senior Project Manager Robert J. Chankalian,of Maser Consulting, Red Bank, representing CNLRS, reviewed changes that had been made to the plans since the previous hearing before the board.

"We removed one parking space along the frontage of County Line Road," he said. "That provides for 100 feet of access before you reach the first parking spot."

He said the applicant was asked by the resident to the north of the property to provide a 6-foot-tall board-on-board fence along that frontage, even though the applicant was providing trees.

A variance would be required for the fence because it exceeds 4 feet in height.

"I think the fence will definitely help the neighbor," Chankalian said. "I think the directional signs will help the traffic."

Architect James T. Lalli, of JRS Architect, P.C., Princeton, representing the applicant, said the 5-square-foot directional signs are within the project site and would not be visible from the street.

It was also noted that the automated teller machine is a drive-up at the rear of the Chase bank. The area near the machine would be lit and would have camera surveillance.

Lalli showed a color rendering of the bank and noted there would be brick going around the entire structure.

No one from the public offered any comments when given the opportunity to speak about the application.

The board approved the 6-foot-tall fence the neighbor requested and a wall within 5 feet of the property line where normally 10 feet are required.

Other waivers and variances include directional signs that are 5 square feet in size where 4 square feet are permitted; two structures can each have no more than one wall sign with a logo or name; the size of the logo signs exceeds 80 square feet; and a pylon sign may be located at two entrances where only one pylon sign is usually allowed.

The applicant requested a 17-foot height for the pylon sign, but that was denied.

Board members then voted to approve the application.