White Castle Public Hearing, Master Plan Report on Planning Board Agenda

White Castle and the township Master Plan will be topics of discussion at the Planning Board meeting on Monday at 7 p.m.

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White Castle Public Hearing

The applicant for White Castle is expected before the township Planning Board for a

More than one dozen residents came to the Municipal Building to hear the White Castle public hearing in April. The application was  in March and was carried to the May 14 meeting after Dynamic Engineering failed to show up.

“I’m very mad about this. We live in a beautiful and quiet neighborhood,” Nancy Kelm said. “It’s going to bring riff raff. I would like to see it not happen."

Kelm went on to say that more fast food restaurants in town would be “disgusting, troublesome and just a nightmare.”

White Castle will replace an existing dwelling at the intersection of Sunrise Boulevard and North Main Street.

The fast food restaurant originally appeared before the board several years ago, Board Engineer Bruce Jacobs said. The site plan was then cramped and the applicant was seeking many variances.

At that time, the Department of Transportation did not give the applicant access to Route 9 and a buffer was located on the border of a residential and commercial zone.

Now, the applicant plans to restripe the intersection of Sunrise Boulevard and Route 9 and they purchased an extra lot, Jacobs said.

The 1,952 square foot restaurant will have a drive through, 24 parking spaces and its entrance and exit will be on Sunrise, he said.

Cross access to Sunrise Plaza is not currently included in the plan although the applicant did note that there is a potential for an entrance in the future, Jacobs said.

During Jacobs’ analysis of the site plan, he found that a cross access between the two sites could work.

The board was unable to comment on the site plans until the applicant makes its presentation.

If White Castle does not attend this meeting without notification, the Board would have the right to deny the application or carry it to the next meeting.

Master Plan Report to Reveal Potential Land Use Goals

The Planning Board will present a Re-examination report, a guiding document to the township’s land use and development goals.

The Planning Board developed a committee in October to . 

The committee’s job is to look at the goals and objectives that were previously approved.

The elements of focus are land use, housing circulation, utilities, renewable energy, community facilities, recreation, conservation, farmland preservation, business and the historic district.

Since the Master Plan has not been updated in 15 years, applicants are approaching the township with a growing number of waivers and variances and boards have to reconsider ordinances because the plan is outdated, Committeeman Gary Quinn said.

Some topics of discussion the Planning Board committee has mentioned before include renewable energy since OmniWind Energy Systems plans to install wind turbines in the Walmart parking lot, definitions including club and fitness centers, the requirement of monument signs instead of freestanding, and landscaping and streetscaping.

Another priority is the property owned by Jersey Central behind Oyster Creek Generating Station. The current Master Plan does not encompass that property, Committeeman David Most previously said.

The township is seeking to  on that property once  but currently, it is not zoned for that purpose, Quinn said.

Once the property is zoned properly, the township can begin the permit process with the Department of Environmental Protection and other agencies, Committeeman Dave Most previously said.

Other Items on the Agenda:

• Administrative approval/site plan waiver for Heritage Village at Seabreeze, LLC (Resolution to be voted on)
• Amended preliminary and final major site plan with variances by Lacey Plaza, LLC for the shopping plaza to be built at Route 9 and Lakeside Drive South
• Site plan waiver/administrative approval for beach bar, stage, canopy, picnic tables, high top tables, adirondack chairs for Latitudes on the River by Marina at Southwinds
• Site plan waiver/administrative approval for concrete bollards at the 7-Eleven on Lacey Road
• Site plan waiver/administrative approval for two picnic tables with umbrellas at Sunrise Plaza on North Main Street.
• Minor Subdivision with variances for the creation of two building lots on Jones Road
• Minor Site Plan to add five lighting fixtures at 750 Lacey Road