Development

STREET WOES – Township Councilman James Vassanella said that he’s noticed that since Covid, overall conditions on the Easton Avenue corridor have declined. Some short-term “fixes” to Easton Avenue traffic issues my be put in place before major reconstruction work is set to begin later this decade. That was the upshot from a May 20 forum on safety issues with …

TRYING TO MAKE HIS CASE – Sidney Singer, vice president of leasing for Levin Properties, testifies before the Zoning Board on April 4. Township residents packed the Council Chamber on April 4 for the first of what promises to be several Zoning Board of Adjustment hearings on a proposal to convert the former K-Mart building in Rutgers Plaza into a …

PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT – An artist’s rendering of the proposed 4-story, 200-apartment building targeted for the former K-Mart building in Rutgers Plaza. The developer of a proposed 4-story apartment building targeted for Rutgers Plaza was told by the township Historic Preservation Advisory Commission to “soften up” their building’s styling at the April 2 Commission meeting. Representatives from Levin Properties appeared before …

COUNTY TAKES OVER – Somerset County will renovate Guglielmo Marconi Memorial Park after officials stopped unauthorized work being done by the Franklin Township Marconi Foundation. Plans by a private organization to refurbish the Guglielmo Marconi Memorial Park at Easton Avenue and JFK Boulevard have been scuttled by Somerset County officials, about two months after the Township ordered that work on …

TIRED OF THE FIGHT – Planning Board member Robert Thomas said he just didn’t care any longer about a house of worship’s plans to construct an arch on their driveway on Cedar Grove Lane without realigning the driveway with one across the street. It took about eight months, but the Jain Center on Cedar Grove Lane won approval for a …

INSISTED ON REALIGNMENT – Planning Board member Robert Thomas told Jain Center representatives that they agreed to move their driveway alignment years ago, but had yet to do it. Representatives of a township temple were once again unsuccessful January 3 in getting Planning Board approvals for a decorative archway planned for the temple’s driveway on Cedar Grove Lane. The difficulty …

TRYING AGAIN – The owner of Rutgers Plaza on Easton Avenue is once again applying to the Township for approval to raze the former Big Kmart building and construct a 200-unit apartment complex in its place. The Levin Company has resubmitted its plan to turn the former Big Kmart building into a 200-unit apartment building. Plans were submitted to the …

WORK STOPPED – The Township construction department has issued violations and a stop work order on the refurbishment of the Guglielmo Marconi Memorial Park at Easton Avenue and John F. Kennedy Boulevard. Work has been stopped on the refurbishment of the Guglielmo Marconi Memorial Park on John F. Kennedy Boulevard after it was discovered that Somerset County had not approved …

Applications to build a single-family home on Battle Place and for a “financial” subdivision off DeMott Lane were approved December 7 by the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Venkateswar and Padmaja Vakkalagadda applied to the Board to build a single-family home on a corner vacant lot at 76 Battle Place. The lot is undersized, so the couple also had to apply …

NOT IMPRESSED – Planning Board chairman Michael Orsini told representatives of L’Oreal that they needed to rethink their building expansion plan. Representatives of L’Oreal USA were sent back to their drafting table by the Planning Board December 6, whose members did not like the company’s plans for a more than 149,000-square-foot addition to their main building on Commerce Drive. The …