Wynwood Drive office building gains approval
BY CHRIS GAETANO
Staff Writer

SOUTH BRUNSWICK - The Planning Board approved the construction of a new office complex off Wynwood Drive during its April 18 meeting.

With the green light from the township, applicant W&D will construct a two-story office building in the northwestern area of town totaling 12,348 square feet. W&D's attorney, Steven Hambro, said that the building will host professional offices such as law and engineering firms.

Board officials noted that while the application bore some similarity to a development rejected by the body at its previous meeting, there were enough differences between the two to warrant its approval. Both applications were seeking to build in areas zoned for office parks that were smaller than the minimum lot size for developments allowed. The original purpose of this zone was to encourage landowners to combine their properties into conforming lots before developing, as evidenced by the fact that many of the parcels with this particular designation are smaller than the minimum lot size of 3 acres.

Mayor Frank Gambatese, who also sits on the board, said that the office park zone itself has problems that need to be addressed.

"I believe that has got to be addressed and I will definitely recommend to the planning department to put that on the agenda for a look-see by the Master Plan Committee," said Gambatese.

It is not the first time the office park zone has come under discussion - it was also the target of analysis during the township's 2006 master plan review, where it was said that the zone had seemed like a good idea on paper but had been poorly executed.

The application, according to Gambatese, possessed enough differences from the previous one to shield it from the concerns that caused the last one to be rejected. While both were on undersized lots, for example, the first application would have placed a nearly 5,000-square-foot office building on a lot that was a little bit more than 1 acre. By contrast, the most recent office structure will be built on a lot that is just under 2 acres.

Gambatese also noted that the previous application needed nine variances, something he had balked at during its hearing, while the most recent one needed three. He also said that the buffer between the property line and the nearest residential zone in the most recent application is about 500 feet, whereas the previous one was about five.

Gambatese said that a big factor in his decision to vote yes, as all but one board member did, was that the developer also agreed to improve a nearby accident-prone intersection at Route 1. The dissenting vote was cast by William Grober, who had concerns about increasing traffic in the area. According to Hambro, the firm will improve the line of sight down Wynwood Drive to the nearby traffic light by moving the ramp onto Wynwood Drive a bit farther down the road.

Gambatese said that while the application was approved, there still exists some deep problems with the office park zone that need to be addressed. He said that while some residents expressed concern about setting precedent for development in undersized lots, many of the problems are inherent in the zone itself. He did say that in this particular case, the road improvements the applicant promised tipped the scales, despite problems with the zone.

"The problem is, this zone is a problem, because of the fact that people are just not doing what we had hoped they would do, which is join in acreage, and [they're] not doing that," said Gambatese.