A new redevelopment plan considered by City Council would allow for a parking garage and maximum building height of 12 stories – significantly higher than the 5 stories currently allowed.

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The Block 312 redevelopment plan encompasses six lots along East Milton Avenue, and Fulton and Pierce streets totaling about 1.2 acres or 53,000 square feet, across the street from the 16-story Carriage City Plaza and Rahway Train Station Plaza. The 40-page redevelopment plan, dated May 13, is available here. The governing body introduced an ordinance (O-20-24) during its meeting on June 10 that will come up for a public hearing and final adoption at the July 8 meeting.

Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Robert Landolfi said via email last week that the plan would permit a “mid-rise but it is “highly unlikely that anything other than” a five- to six-story structure will be built.  Asked why the change in maximum height to the redevelopment plan, he said “current market conditions probably only support a low-rise project but that may change. Creating the zoning now gives a developer the opportunity to look at other options with a level of certainty.”

The Planning Board last fall deemed the six properties in need of redevelopment:

• 65-73 E. Milton Ave., Lot 1.01
• 97 E. Milton Ave., Lot 3
• 1348 Pierce St., Lot 4.01
• 1340 Pierce St., Lot 4.02
• 1334 Pierce St., Lot 4.03
• 1349-53 Fulton St.,  Lot 4.04

Lavallette-based AST Development, the firm behind REVA Rahway and Metro Rahway, bought up four properties along Pierce Street several years ago. The former Mangos restaurant lot 1349-53 Fulton St. is owned by the city and currently used for permit parking. The two-story mixed-use building at 65-73 E. Milton Ave. that’s home to Michelino’s pizza, Copacabana Coffee & Bagels, Barber Gods and T-Mobile, is the only other one among the properties that’s privately owned and would need to be acquired. Two properties were earlier dropped from the redevelopment study.

The Redevelopment Area is located within the CBD-RA Central Business District Redevelopment Area, Subdistrict CBD-2, which currently sets principal uses and minimum requirements that include:

• Minimum lot area: 4,000 square feet
• Maximum building height: 4 stories/50 feet (6 stories/75 feet for properties of more than 20,000 square feet
• Minimum building height in retail core: 2 stories

Changes proposed in the ordinance would include:

• Minimum lot area: 50,000 square feet
• Maximum building height: 12 stories/140 feet
• Minimum building height: 5 stories/54 feet

Parking

The redevelopment plan spells out minimum parking requirements of 1.42 spaces per unit but a discount for Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment/System (EVSE) that would reduce it to 1.28 per unit. A parking space prepared with EVSE would count as at least two parking spaces for complying with minimum parking requirements, but resulting in a reduction of no more than 10 percent of the total required parking.

Tandem parking would be permitted as long as both spaces are assigned to the same unit, with each unit assigned at least one space. There also would be bicycle parking of 1 space per 4 units.

A structured parking garage would not be permitted to front East Milton Avenue. Access would be via either Pierce or Fulton streets, with one entrance/exit per street.

Residential Unit Mix

A maximum of 50% of units would be two-bedrooms but three-bedroom units or larger would be prohibited. The minimum gross floor area per unit, per the redevelopment plan, would be:

• 500 square feet for a one-room studio or efficiency unit
• 700 square feet for a one-bedroom
• 900 square feet for a two-bedroom

Commercial Space

A minimum of 3,500 square feet of ground floor commercial or retail space would be provided, according to the redevelopment plan. It would be located along the intersection of Fulton Street and East Milton Avenue, with a minimum of 25 feet of frontage along Fulton and a minimum of 100 feet along East Milton Avenue.

Tenant Amenities

A fitness center for residential tenants would have a minimum of 1,200 square feet, in addition to 2,000 square feet of interior amenity space, which could be a business center or co-working space, recreational facilities, or lounges and “general amenity space.”

Outdoor amenity space of at least 3,000 square feet could be an outdoor courtyard, rooftop space, outdoor terrace space, or outdoor lounges and seating. An outdoor terrace of at least 750 square feet would be located on the second floor overlooking Fulton Street and East Milton Avenue with a view toward the train station.

A section of the redevelopment plan outlines green building and infrastructure/sustainability standards, where it encourages but does not require, such things as roof-mounted solar panels, designed ENERGY STAR standards, and meeting U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) requirement for green building design.

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