Dugan Lane Access Removed from Pleasant Plains Apartment Complex Proposal

After hearing concerns from zoning officials and residents, the applicant of a proposed 252-unit Pleasant Plains apartment complex off of Route 9 has submitted a new plan that eliminates Dugan Lane access to the site.

Last month, some residents living near the proposed complex at the southeast corner of Route 9 and Whitty Road expressed concerns that it could bring additional traffic to an already congested stretch of Route 9 in Toms River. Residents and board members requested that a Dugan Lane access point to the site should be closed.

“The reason we have public hearings is to have a dialog,” said applicant attorney John Paul Doyle when he told Zoning Board of Adjustment members last week that an alternate plan was submitted.

The new plan proposes access points only on Route 9 and Whitty Road, which were already on the original plan.

Access on Dugan Lane will remain “for limited emergency purposes only,” Doyle said, and will not be available for public use.

Whitty Road resident Sharon Rinaldi asked how the applicant plans to keep local traffic from accessing the complex on Dugan Lane.

“That will be discussed during the site plan review with the township,” said applicant traffic expert Scott Kennel. The blocking barrier could be a chain, gate or other option and would be maintained by the property owner.

The plans for the complex calls for 12 buildings with 21 units each, and 20 percent will be affordable housing as required by the state, the applicant has said. A variance for the complex is required because the area's zoning requires that developments include half residential and half commercial use.

The access change meant some movement of the buildings inside the complex and a larger buffer along Dugan Lane, according to Romano.

The plan without the Dugan Lane access presents a “de minimis” change to area traffic, Kennel said.

Doyle has said that, with several shopping plazas already nearby, there is no need for the commercial aspect at this location.

"We think there is a proven need for housing in the way we want to build," he said when the application was initially introduced.

Aside from the zoning variance, the complex complies with the township ordinance for a development of this type, according to the applicant. The plan is to leave 30 percent forested land on the property untouched and add 600 new trees.

"There is a need for good, quality apartments like this applicant wants to build," Doyle has said.

Doyle has said that, if the applicant developed the property with 50 percent commercial and 50 percent residential, traffic likely would be worse than with the proposed 100 percent residential complex.

Michael Gartenberg, a commercial properties expert, testified last week that he has tried for years to find a retail tenant for the land “unfortunately, with very little success.”

He said that current economic conditions are not conducive to finding a retail use for the site.

Real estate appraiser Anthony Graziano, who testified previously about the need for the complex, agreed during additional testimony at the hearing last week. 

"We've showed it to every single commercial developer in Ocean County," he said. "We couldn't make any deals."