JACKSON – The township Planning Board recently reconsidered a proposal to build a 200,000 square foot campus that will include four schools.
After two years and a number of contentious Planning Board meetings, Board members who previously rejected the application approved it unanimously after several hours of testimony during their latest meeting.
The campus will serve 2,500 students and will be located on Chandler Road and Jackson Mills Road. The application was submitted by 394 Chandler Holdings, LLC. A large audience of neighbors came out to the latest meeting of the Planning Board to learn the fate of the application.
Back in August the project was rejected by Board members primarily due to a proposed circular driveway. During that meeting the applicant’s lawyer Donna Jennings threatened legal action toward the board and accused board members of acting in bad faith.
Jennings wanted the road to remain private and stormed out of the meeting. She watched the vote from an open door having argued that the application could be approved and that the governing body could make the decision concerning whether the roadway could be placed in that area and eliminate the need for the applicant to come before the Planning Board again.
Board members called her remarks out of line and stated during the meeting that the reason they voted against the application was because if it were approved, it would then have to go before the Jackson Council to determine whether a public roadway could be paved off of Chandler Road which leads to the school.
Another issue at the time concerned whether the applicant would file for a tax-exempt status and if the road remained private that it should be maintained by the applicant. There were also concerns expressed that the township should not have to cover the cost for an entrance road to a private school if the property was tax exempt.
Chandler Holdings later revamped their application and Chandler Road was reclassified as a private driveway. The site plan was developed by Lake Como, New Jersey based Dynamic Engineering.
A boys’ high school of 23,730 square feet will accomodate153 students and will include 51 off-street parking spaces as required by township zoning of one space per three high school students.
An elementary school for boys to service 712 students came in at a size of 57,942 square feet will have 89 off street parking spaces to meet the Jackson zoning ordinance of one space per eight elementary school students.
A 63,160 square foot girls’ elementary school will have 810 students and 112 off street parking spaces provided which is more than the required number of 102 spots.
An elementary school to accommodate 776 male students at a size of 57,942 will have101 off street parking spaces which is also in addition to the 97 spaces that are required by township ordinance.
The parcel totals 23.25 acres and the total gross floor area of the four buildings is 202,774 square feet.
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