Benefits of medical facility debated before Zoning Board

Benefits of medical facility
debated before Zoning Board
By vincent todaro
Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK — In what has become a lengthy, intricate application process before the Zoning Board of Adjustment, Diversified Equities and Management Co. continued its quest last week to create a state-of-the-art medical facility on Cranbury Road.

The applicant presented further expert testimony at a Dec. 19 Zoning Board meeting, but also received more criticism and questions from residents opposed to the project. Members of the adjacent Colonial Oaks development oppose the project, in part due to the traffic and noise to be created by the facility.

The applicant wants to use the site of the current VFW Post 133 building to construct a 20,295-square-foot medical building for University Radiology Group, as well as a new 4,500-square-foot VFW building. The VFW has agreed to sell the land to Diversified Equities in exchange for the new facility.

Last week, the board heard testimony from the applicant’s sound expert, planner and real estate expert, who were cross-examined in part by David Edelberg, an attorney representing Colonial Oaks residents. Attendance at the meeting was less than at previous hearings, when residents — including some who support the application — nearly filled the council chambers.

Colonial Oaks residents have opposed the addition of an entrance and exit from the site onto Evergreen Boulevard, which runs through their development. The residents argue that it would increase traffic on Evergreen Boulevard and in the small courts that make up their development. They also said it would pose new safety risks for people walking or bicycling, including children who pick up buses on Evergreen Boulevard or walk to school.

Frank Kovacs, a resident who has taken the lead in battling the application, asked if the applicant realizes people could drink alcohol at the VFW and then drive onto Evergreen Boulevard. The VFW has an active liquor license.

Lester Nebenzahl, the applicant’s planner, said he does not see where that would be a problem.

"We don’t assume people are walking out of the VFW impaired. We have to assume they are not impaired," he said. Neither he nor Kovacs presented any evidence regarding whether drunken driving has resulted from VFW functions.

Nebenzahl added that he does not believe the serving of liquor at the VFW would pose a threat to neighborhood safety.

However, Kovacs said driving on a narrow court is much different than a major roadway, and people could leave the medical facility after receiving troubling health news. Their frame of mind may lead to poor driving decisions, especially on narrow cul-de-sac roads.

The applicant said Kovacs’ argument was a stretch, however.

Nebenzahl later said the creation of the two new facilities "will present a tremendous improvement for the site and the neighborhood."

Kovacs argued that — despite testimony that the two facilities would work in harmony because of their different operating hours — the fact is the VFW rents out its facility for some afternoons. The applicant has testified the medical facility would have some peak hours of business in the afternoon, and Kovacs argued the VFW traffic would simply add to the peak-hour traffic.

Edelberg asked Nebenzahl if the medical facility would really meet the legal standards needed for the variances. A use should promote the "general health, safety and welfare" of the population as a prerequisite to getting a variance.

Nebenzahl, who previously testified that the medical facility would be an "inherently beneficial use," stuck to that assertion.

"This facility saves lives. The machinery saves lives. The doctors who read the results from those machines save lives," he said. Therefore, he said, the facility would meet the legal requirement.

He said people who need CAT scans immediately but find that machines at the hospital are being used, can go to imaging centers and have their tests done. People are also referred to the facilities by their doctors.

However, Edelberg questioned whether there is legal precedent that says radiology centers are an inherently beneficial use.

The applicant did make a gesture aimed at soothing residents’ fears.

Engineer Julius Szalay said the applicant has formally agreed to amend its plan regarding what is now proposed as an entrance and exit onto Evergreen Boulevard. Instead of allowing vehicles to make turns in both directions, whether they are entering or exiting the site, it would ban left turns out of the site.

Designed to keep traffic headed for Cranbury Road instead of the residential neighborhood, the plan would be accomplished through signage, he said, as well as having a striped island dividing the entrance and exit lanes.

The township’s professional staff said, however, that a raised curb island would be more effective at physically preventing left-hand turns out. A mountable curb could be used so that large emergency vehicles are able to navigate through the smaller opening.

Szalay said he felt a striped island would allow easier access for emergency vehicles, but that the applicant would be agreeable to the curbed island.

The next hearing on the application is scheduled for Feb. 6.