Manalapan Planners Approve Affordable Housing Development

MANALAPAN, NJ - The Manalapan planning board has approved a proposed affordable housing community on Ire Ore Road, according to municipal documents.

During a May 27 meeting, the board unanimously approved an application filed by Toll Brothers for the construction of 224 market rate townhouses in 65 buildings and 96 multi-family affordable rental units on a 57-acre parcel northeast of the intersection of Iron Ore Road and Route 33. The total 320 housing units will be located in Manalapan’s AH Diocese Affordable Housing Overlay zone and will not be age restricted.

The property is currently used for horse boarding activities, according to the meeting minutes of the developer's initial March 11 testimony. A train track runs through the property, as well as freshwater areas delineated by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

The affordable housing units are set to consist of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments built in four three-story buildings on two separate lots. Each unit would include a washer/dryer, and heating and air conditioning units.

The 160 proposed three-bedroom townhouses will include patios and decks, a two-car garage and a two-car driveway. 64 proposed three-bedroom townhouses are set to include a single-car garage and a single-car driveway. Townhouses would have about 2,100 square feet of living space and be included in buildings of two, three and four units with a basement and an optional loft, according to testimony.

A 2,200-square-foot community room at one of the four apartment buildings is proposed for residents, as well as a 4,450-square-foot clubhouse, two pools and several children's play lots. According to testimony from the first hearing, the clubhouse and pools will only be available to residents of the development. Significant landscape is proposed throughout the development, including 268 street trees, 51 parking lot trees, 676 decorative trees and over 3,700 shrubs, as well as a 15-foot landscape buffer.

A six-foot fence bordering La Valley Drive and the development’s property line is also set to be constructed.