Home may be taken for Pier Village parking lot Council slated to introduce ordinance taking two properties BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer Long Branch LONG BRANCH - Additional public parking approved for the Pier Village redevelopment project could involve the taking of a private home on Melrose Terrace through eminent domain. The City Council was expected to introduce an ordinance at its Feb. 27 meeting to acquire, by eminent domain if necessary, an empty lot and residential home on Melrose Terrace for the additional parking area. The ordinance follows approval by the Long Branch Planning Board at its Feb. 27 meeting of a plan to extend a parking area along Melrose Terrace and Ocean Avenue where the two parcels, lots 2 and 3, block 22, are to be acquired. At last Tuesday's municipal meeting, ordinance 3-07, which calls to authorize the takings of the properties, was expected to be introduced by council and the public hearing was to be set for March 13. According to the Long Branch Tax Assessor's Office, both lots are on Melrose Terrace: lot 2 is vacant land and lot 3 is a residential home owned by the DeCicco family. At the Feb. 13 City Council meeting, City Attorney James Aaron referred to the taking of the properties as a "friendly condemnation." The Long Branch Planning Board unanimously voted last week to approve revised site plans for Pier Village phase II including increasing the number of residential owner-occupied units and adding hotel-like furnished units. At the Feb. 21 meeting, applicant Applied, the designated developer for the Pier Village redevelopment zone, presented amendments to already approved plans for the beachfront project. Changes to the plan also include a redistribution of parking which Applied Senior Vice President Greg Russo said was a major reason for the changes. "The decision came based on our history from last summer," Russo said, referring to the already constructed first phase of the Pier Village project. "It was based on the high demand for beachfront spaces last summer." The revised plans call for the construction of approximately 242 residential units and 3,800 square feet of commercial space to be constructed in four buildings - buildings 2, 3, 7 and 8 - on some 6 acres of land on the oceanfront between Morris Avenue and Laird Street. The plans also include 610 parking spaces distributed among a parking deck, an underground parking garage and on-street public parking. Landscape Architect Thomas Bauer of Mellilo and Bauer, Manasquan, testified at the meeting that the changes from the original approved plans to the revised version are "very minor" although plans call for building two to more than triple the amount of residential units. Bauer testified that the footprint of the building will remain the same and rather than construct eight large up-scale units, plans now call for 26 smaller units. Building 2 will be constructed on the corner of Laird Street and Ocean Boulevard, and changes include increasing the structure from a three-story building with eight units to a four-story structure with 26 owner-occupied units. The first floor of Building 2 will consist of a variety of retail outlets wrapping around all four sides of the building, according to Bauer. The residential units will be fully furnished and offer maid service, similar to a hotel, Glenn P. Haydu, of Minno & Wasko, Lambertville, the project architect, testified at the meeting. "It was real important to have this building be an architectural statement and a gateway to this project," Haydu said. Although the height of the building increased by a story, Haydu said it will stand 59 feet high where 60 feet is allowed. Building 3, to be constructed on the corner of Chelsea Avenue and Ocean Boulevard, was also changed from a four-story to five-story structure and will contain a 352-space parking deck along with 51 residential rental units. Original plans had called for 47 units and 254 parking spaces. Buildings 7 and 8 remain "virtually unchanged from the ground level up," Bauer said. The only changes to the two buildings, which will be constructed on the corner of Chelsea Avenue and Melrose Terrace, are the below-ground elements, according to Bauer. Building 7 will have 121 rental units and will also include a pool and a community space. Building 8 will contain 54 rental units over a 69-space underground parking garage. "The original approval was for one continuous underground parking garage under buildings 7 and 8," Haydu said. "We are still providing 60 spaces under building 8, but we redistributed parking to the parking deck [in Building 3]," he said. Additional public parking was approved by the Planning Board to extend to a parking area along Melrose Terrace and Ocean Avenue, where one lot, a city-owned parking area, will be acquired by the developer. Council was also expected to introduce an ordinance at its Feb. 27 council meeting to acquire, by eminent domain if necessary, an empty lot and residential home on Melrose Terrace for the additional parking area. Haydu explained that all the parking will be shared among all the components of the Pier Village project, which includes three phases. Applied has already constructed an estimated $100 million mixed-use project in the first phase on a 10-acre tract of property on the waterfront from Laird Street to Melrose Terrace. Applied was also designated in February as the developer for the third phase of Pier Village, which is to be constructed between Ocean Avenue and Ocean Boulevard and between Morris Avenue and Melrose Terrace. Plans for the third phase are still in the preliminary stages and could call for a mixture of apartments and condominium units, retail shopping along the oceanfront and possibly a hotel, Haydu said.