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Politics & Government

Parker Village Residents Win Minor Reprieve Against Circle BMW Expansion

Residents of Parker Village Estates in Eatontown oppose the expansion of Circle BMW at the March 28 Eatontown Planning Board meeting.

Residents of Parker Village Estates in Eatontown who are opposed to the proposed expansion of Circle BMW between Route 36 and Parker Avenue won a minor reprieve at the March 28 Eatontown Planning Board meeting.

Mark Steinberg, the attorney for the planning board, determined that the car dealership's planner must revise the application to clarify issues regarding set-backs from the property lines before the application could be approved.

The retirement community's homeowners association had hired an attorney, Bruce Freeman, and a professional planner, Peter Steck, who gave extensive testimony on Monday night.

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The BMW dealership has filed an application to add a large car wash and storage facility to the back of its lot that abuts the Parker Village property.  The proposed improvement would be built into the bank of an existing hill, with the bulk of the building being underground.  The roof of the building will house a storage facility for cars.

Residents are concerned that the lighting and noise would be disruptive and that the building itself would create an eyesore as it is to be built very close to the property line. 

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The meeting had been adjourned from the February 28 planning board meeting so that Circle BMW could make amendments to its plans in the hope of assuaging the fears of the Parker Village residents.

Circle BMW of Eatontown had previously revised its plans to encompass lowering the height of the lights on the rooftop parking facility, adding an 8-foot fence and increasing the landscaping along the perimeter of the residential property.  The dealership has also committed to a test drive route which does not travel east along Parker Avenue between the dealership and Route 71.

Steck questioned the dealership's representative Mark Whittaker regarding potential variance oversights. He also questioned the effect of the lighting reflecting off the shiny surface of the cars stored on the roof of the proposed building.

Citing multiple ordinance violations regarding the set-backs from the property line, Steck argued that the proposal was “too much development for the size of this site”.  He also questioned the removal of more than 25 percent of the trees from the property, which is a further violation of the ordinance.

Throughout the meeting, which was attended by a number of residents, discrepancies in the interpretation of the variance ordinances between Steck’s testimony and that of Circle BMW’s proposal became evident. 

Eatontown Mayor Gerald Tarantolo agreed that further discussion regarding the differences between the variance lines on the application and those presented at the meeting was required.

The issue will be revisited at an upcoming planning board meeting. 

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