Revised LaMer plans
appeal more to board
Sayreville project
to feature parking garage, walkways
BY JOLENE HART
Staff Writer

Revised plans for the latest section of the LaMer housing development elicited more positive reactions from the Sayreville Planning Board this time around.

Plans for phase five of the Ernston Road project were presented to the Planning Board at an informal hearing Nov. 5.

"You never cease to amaze me in what you bring before this board," board member Thomas Tighe told representatives of Kaplan Cos., citing the innovative design of the newest phase.

Plans were first introduced in February 2002, when the board expressed displeasure with the six-story "mid-rise" buildings proposed at the time by Kaplan.

Under the new plan, phase five would consist of a two- and three-story apartment complex with an interior parking garage for residents. The proposed building contains 290 apartments designed to look like a series of townhomes. Apartments at ground level will feature a front door that opens to the street as part of the townhome design.

"This is our attempt to make the building less apartment-like and more townhouse-like," said David Minno, architect and planner for Kaplan Companies. Minno explained that the interior parking garage would allow for more "green space" and less traffic on streets in a high-density area.

"What you will see from the street is great architecture and great landscaping," he said.

The newly proposed buildings would rise only to the height of current housing, two or three stories, as representatives from Kaplan made clear.

Phase five would include 1,000- to 1,600-square-foot units that typically would have two bedrooms. Kaplan estimates that units would cost $275,000 to $300,000 each. Developers said they foresee "empty-nesters" with grown children or "young professionals" with few or no children as target buyers. Board members expressed their insistence that the inhabitants of the development would not increase enrollment at local schools.

Residents of phase five would park in the lots within the building and take an elevator up to their floor, Michael Kaplan said. Visitors would park in a small front parking lot and enter through a central lobby.

Kaplan said much of the activity in the building would be monitored by state-of-the-art technology, including video screens in each apartment that would allow residents to view the parking garage or visitors in the lobby.

Board members also pressed for a definite answer as to when more permanent security will be implemented for the entire LaMer community, referencing previous settlements made by the Kaplans. Kaplan told the board that further security would be added in the next year.

"The improvements are forthcoming and we hope to include a roving guard, as well as gate security," Kaplan said.

The open space left intact by the indoor parking garage will form a series of small park areas dotted with gazebos, benches, low lighting and walkways, the details of which will be developed as the plans progress.

Kaplan and Sons Construction Co. has been adding to the LaMer housing area for the past 12 years, according to representatives of the developer. LaMer was approved in 1982, and 10 years later was the subject of a court settlement. The development includes condominiums, garden apartments, patio homes and townhouses. About 756 units that were part of sections 1, 2 and 3 have already been built.

"Everyone on this board inherited this project," Tighe said of the next installation in the LaMer agreement.

"We continually have to respond to people about developments at LaMer," said Thomas Pollando, board member and councilman. "The public needs to know that it will be four or five more years until this is finished."