The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
The third time was the charm for a developer wishing to build a 25,000-square-foot mixed-use retail/office center at the corner of Davidson Avenue and New Brunswick Road.
The Planning Board on December 3 approved the application submitted by NPH Real Estate, after the developer made a few adjustments to the Board’s liking.
The developer appeared before the Board in May and September, and both times was told to make adjustments to the plan.
The newest proposal was for a two-story office building of approximately 20,000 square feet, and a one-story approximately 5,000-square-foot retail building.
The developer retained the original two-building design, even though Board members in two past meetings suggested that it be one, “l”-shaped building. That request wasn’t brought up at the December meeting.
A parking area originally proposed to be parallel to New Brunswick Road was removed in favor of landscaping, and the size of proposed signage was reduced.
“This is the third time I think now the application has evolved to pretty much what we have asked,” Orsini said before the Board voted on the application.
“Maybe before the testimony tonight I was thinking, based on reading the staff reports, I would suggest that we give preliminary but not final, much like we had done on Hamilton Street where they had to clean some things up that might have affected the design,” he said. “From what I’ve heard tonight, however, I don’t see anything that remains in the plan that would suggest that it’s going to change the plan. Obviously, if it did, you would have to come back anyways.”
In addition to site plan approval, the Board also approved variances for requirements on total number of parking spaces, the setback from the property line for the sign, and the width of travel aisles in the parking lot.
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