News
Community Y Presents Plan For Expansion To Red Bank Zoners
By John Burton
RED BANK - The Community YMCA is proposing to construct an addition to its Maple Avenue complex, almost doubling its size and parking capacity. But first the not-for-profit must obtain approval from the borough's Zoning Board of Adjustment.
The board last Thursday began hearing the application submitted by the Community YMCA, 166 Maple Avenue, to construct a 40,361 square foot addition, as well as eventually including as many as 367 parking spaces onto its Maple Avenue campus.
According to the borough engineer's letter to the application, prepared by T&M Associates, the YMCA would be an expansion of a pre-existing nonconforming use to the area's zone, and as such would require the board granting a "D" use variance. In addition, the project would be subject to variances for side-yard setbacks, and building height, given the project would be 49.5 feet, where 45 is the permitted maximum.
The YMCA's project is part of its "Campaign for Building a Healthy Future" capital project, according to the organization's literature. The Y has set an $8,000,000 goal to enact its initiative, "that would dramatically improve the area's healthy-living standard," according to its literature.
YMCA President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Laermer said this week of the project, "A large portion of it would be supported philanthropically."
The existing structure, standing at 55,537 square feet, is more than 30-years-old and is due for renovations, Laermer explained.
The plan calls for the construction of a new family friendly indoor pool (geared for younger children), for year-round use; an indoor/outdoor water and sprinkler park; a new four-six lane lap pool; a new gymnasium with spectator space. Plans also call for renovating the existing facility locker rooms and the addition of a fitness and wellness center, along with a teen center, space to accommodate programs geared toward seniors and for an initiative to combat unhealthy youth behavior, and for the organization's special needs members, according to the literature.
Last Thursday, Jeromie Lange, the engineer and professional planner for the Y's project, told the board the YMCA currently has 9,000 members for its various programs available on site. "Their hope would be to get to 12,000," Lange said, adding that it is the paid memberships that help support the other community-based programs the Y conducts.
The Y's plan has been modified from what was first proposed and Lange noted, "What we did this time is take a much more scientific look," at parking on site.
According to Laermer, the addition was reconfigured to allow for more on-site parking.
Thursday's hearing dealt exclusively with parking and traffic as it relates to the YMCA location and Maple Avenue, a busy thoroughfare that serves as State Highway 35 through the borough.
Lange told the board and audience the site currently has 153 spaces. Attorney Martin A. McGann Jr., representing the YMCA, said his client has verbal agreements with two neighboring commercial properties for another 109 spaces.
The Y would construct additional parking totally 303, and retain a space to add another 64 spaces sometime in the future as the need presents itself, when "we would have a fair idea of what our membership would be," McGann told the board.
Lange said the plan would continue to permit left hand turns out of the property, allowing drivers to travel north on Maple, turning against the heavy traffic flow. "We felt that was something that was self-regulating," Lange said. The state Department of Transportation (DOT) has approved permits for both of the site's ingress and egress spots, on Maple and Pearl Street. "The DOT has accepted that analysis," Lange said.
But board members were not won over on that point. "We had a place on Maple Avenue," said board member Karen Waldman, "and making a left turn out was a nightmare."
"I think the board is speaking pretty clearly they want no left turn out of there," observed Board Attorney Marc Leckstein.
"We would hope to come to a reasonable resolution,"McGann responded.
The YMCA property is located next to Congregation Beth Shalom, an Orthodox Jewish temple. The congregation had retained a lawyer who was on hand at the hearing, along with some congregation members.
Richard Mausner, representing the temple, asked some questions pertaining to traffic. This week Mausner, from his Secaucus office, said the congregation has had some concerns about the project, especially in its earlier site plan, and has been in conversations with Y representatives. "They appear to be quite responsive to our concerns," he said, though he declined to elaborate as to what those concerns were.
"We seem to be moving in the right direction towards a resolution that meets the congregation's needs," Mausner said.
The board will continue hearing the application on Aug. 20.
