Development

PLAN DETAILS – Daniel Miola, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church engineer, explains the project to the Historic Preservation Advisory Commission on April 1. A plan to widen the driveway at the Ukrainian Reformed Church on Easton Avenue and add more parking spaces received a conditional Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Advisory Commission at its April 1 meeting. But that’s …

LEADING THE DISCUSSION – Mark Healey, the Township’s Principal Planner, at the March 26 Planning Board meeting,where a proposed Master Plan reexamination and BI Zone ordinance amendments were discussed. The Township cannot legally outright ban future warehouse development in Franklin, but officials hope actions that are planned for the next few months will give planners more control over where they …

FRANKLIN CONTINGENT – Sudhir Shah, Mahesh Muchhala, Deputy Mayor Shepa Uddin, state Assemblyman Joe Danielsen,Mayor Phil Kramer, Jan Brant, Eleanor Ogin, and Roz Sherman (left to right) after the Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee hearing on warehouse proliferation in the state. A contingent of Franklin residents – including Township officials – converged in Trenton on March 20 to offer …

PROJECT EXPLAINED – Bruce Klein of T&M Associates, speaks about the proposed improvements to a 1.7-mile stretch of Hamilton Street on March 12. Reducing the number of lanes on part of Hamilton Street from four to three, and making Home Street a one-lane street to ease turns onto Hamilton, were two of the many safety improvements to part of Hamilton …

TRAFFIC TALK – Matthew Seckler, the traffic engineer for a two-warehouse project on Veronica Avenue, testifies to the Planning Board at the March 5 hearing. Two warehouses measuring 75,000 square feet each were approved by the Planning Board for a tract of land on Veronica Avenue on March 5. The two warehouses will be located on a 17-acre site next …

NOT PERSUADED – Planning Board Chairman Michael Orsini was not convinced that the Board should vote on final site plan approval for a proposed three-story mixed use building on Hamilton Street. A three-story mixed-used building targeted for Hamilton Street was given preliminary approval by the Planning Board at its February 19 meeting. The building, planned for a half-acre parcel between …

GOING TO BAT FOR HOA – Paul Schneier, a principal with Fleet Franklin, testifies at the February 7 Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing. A township homeowners’ association was given permission by the Zoning Board of Adjustment on February 6 to not build a part of its development included in its 2019 approval. The permission came in the form of a …

MAKING HIS CASE – Keith Cahill, the project engineer for Onyx 789, makes a point during the January 15 Planning Board hearing. A revised plan to build a 91,000-square-foot warehouse on a tract of land between New Brunswick and Old New Brunswick roads received a chilly reception January 15 from the Planning Board. The new plan represents an attempt by …

ARTIST’S RENDERING – Levin Properties wishes to raze the former Big K-Mart building in Rutgers Plaza and replace it with a 4-story, 200-unit apartment building. An application to build a 4-story, 200-unit apartment building in Rutgers Plaza on Easton Avenue has once again been delayed. Ongoing hearings on the application were scheduled for September, October and January of 2025, and …

PROJECT ARCHITECT RETURNS – Lawrence C. Johnson, the architect for the Macedonia Church, describes changes to the plan at the November 6 Planning Board meeting. It took a couple of years, but congregants at Macedonia Church of God in Christ International finally received Planning Board approval to build a new church. The unanimous decision at the Board’s November 6 meeting …