Tag Archives: Planning Board

Metro Rahway adds 13 parking spaces

A new plan for Metro Rahway will net an additional 13 parking spaces after acquiring an adjacent lot and adding a fitness center and leasing office to the original proposal. The Planning Board on Tuesday night unanimously approved an amended site plan, relaxing the parking requirements under the city’s redevelopment plan.

Building to left was acquired.

With the addition of 20 spaces as a result of acquiring 91 W. Cherry St., a leasing office and fitness center was added to the Campbell Street side, eliminating seven spaces from the parking garage, according to Clay Bonny, managing member of Heartstone Development. He told the Planning Board  that the project probably would be completed by about August 2014.

The 116-unit rental project on Campbell Street between Elm Avenue and West Cherry Street originally had about 107 on-site parking spaces in a ground-floor parking garage and another 18 on-street spaces (a ratio of 1.07 per unit). The additional 13 spaces will bring the total spaces provided to 138 (120 on-site), for a ratio of 1.18 — closer to the 1.25 required in the redevelopment plan. The added parcel also reduces the impervious coverage from 75 percent to 72 percent.

The addition of Lot 6 also allowed for moving the West Cherry Street entrance a little further away from Campbell Street as well as increasing the side setbacks, reducing the building’s footprint. Another adjacent property is for sale by owner but Bonny said it would not affect his project enough to acquire it.

Metro Rahway acquired 91 W. Cherry St. (Lot 149, Block 6) in May for $157,500, according to property transaction records. The property, assessed at about $110,700, paid almost $6,700 in property taxes last year. In all, The developer has spent almost $3.5 million to acquire the six parcels that make up the 1.6-acre Metro Rahway site. The six lots were most recently assessed for a total $1.285 million, generating property taxes of about $77,750.

One longtime West Cherry Street resident spoke during the public session of the meeting, supporting the project but raising concerns about the lack of on-street parking.

Metro Rahway seeks 21 more parking spaces

The Planning Board is scheduled to hear an application Tuesday night that would create another 21 parking spaces for the 116-unit Metro Rahway project on Campbell Street and Elm Avenue.

The plan as approved previously would create a five-story rental development, including a ground-floor parking area of 85 spaces but another 21 parking spaces are sought on a particular lot within the development. The project had planned to use another 17 on-site parking spaces and 18 on-street spaces.

The applicant is seeking to amend an existing board approval for a four-story building on Blocks 149, Lots 1, 5, and 23-25. Lot 6 is sought to incorporate into the project and provide an additional 21 parking spaces and “other associated access and internal circulation improvements,” according to a certified letter to neighbors from Metro’s attorneys, Parsippany-based Pitney Day.

The Planning Board will meet at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 2 City Hall Plaza. 

UPDATE: If the Planning Board approves the changes, Metro Rahway would have 120 parking spaces on site for the 116 units, plus 18 on-street spaces, according to Clay Bonny of East Hanover-based Heartstone Development, which also built River Place at RahwayLots 5 and 6 are adjacent to each other and we can expand the entrance from [West] Cherry [Street] to include parking on both sides of the entry boulevard,” he said in an email.

Plan moves forward for top floor of Carriage City

The top floor of Sky View at Carriage City Plaza will be renovated into 20 mostly one-bedroom apartments this year after the Planning Board granted a parking variance last week.

Under the revised redevelopment plan, approved by City Council last month, residential units within the downtown redevelopment area are required to provide 1.25 parking spaces while the previous plan required one per unit. The project already had been approved for an additional seven units units on the 17th floor — for a total 232 units in the building — but a parking variance was needed since seven units now would require nine parking spaces.

The 17th floor has been unoccupied and used as a staging area for materials that were supposed to be built as part of what was planned to be a penthouse level of two- and three-bedroom units, according to architect Greg Waga of Rahway-based Waga Enterprises. Instead, 20 rental units will be built (18 one-bedrooms and two two-bedrooms), along with amenities for residents only: a fitness center, WiFi library, and club room. Waga anticipates construction will begin around Memorial Day and continue into the fall.

Sky View’s owner has found that one- and two-bedroom units, ranging room 800 to 1,100 square feet, are very marketable in this area, Waga said, and the new design is more functional and a better use of the space. About 60 units of Sky View are owner occupied and the remaining 152 are rental units, which range in occupancy from 75 percent (114 units) to 85 percent (174), he said, adding that the leasing agent has a goal of reaching 85 percent this spring.

Waga presented a plan last October to the Redevelopment Agency to convert the 17th floor into apartments. He deferred questions about any possible uses for the rooftop to building manager Joe LoMonaco. There was talk that the original developer, who went into foreclosure after selling barely a third of the units, planned to use the rooftop for some type of bar or restaurant for use by residents and/or hotel guests.

Given the location and transit-oriented development, a mitigating factor is that the plan offers fewer but larger units, said Paul Phillips, planner to the Planning Board, adding that nearly all of the 20 additional units being one-bedrooms lowers the parking demand.

Attorney Christopher Armstrong presented a letter from the Parking Authority indicating they were satisfied with seven spaces. A daily count in the Lewis Street parking deck by the Parking Authority reveals an average of 246 vehicles, less than half of the 524-space capacity, he said, with uncovered portions of the deck sometimes being closed. There are a fair number of Sky View residents that do not have cars, which is part of the reason why the building was built where it was built, Armstrong told the Planning Board.

Art gallery, event space OK’d for Irving Street

Four years after the idea of a hair salon was rejected for the site, an Irving Street storefront gained approval Tuesday night to become art gallery and events space.

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Concept for artist housing grows to 69 units

Developers of an affordable housing concept for artists hope to present their project to the Planning Board later this year as they tweak the original plan, increasing the number of units from 60 to 69 in the latest version.

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Unanimous approval for Meridia Lafayette Village

The Planning Board last night unanimously approved a preliminary and final site plan for Meridia Lafayette Village, a 115-unit rental project at the former site of the stalled Savoy development.

Continue reading Unanimous approval for Meridia Lafayette Village

Planning Board to hear plan for 115 units

A plan for the former Savoy site downtown is scheduled to be heard by the Planning Board Tuesday night, with five fewer units than originally proposed to the Redevelopment Agency early this year.

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City considers review of redevelopment plans

The city may consider reviewing and updating the nearly 15-year-old redevelopment plan that set the tone for the downtown construction over the past several years.

Continue reading City considers review of redevelopment plans