By JOANNE L. PAPAIANNI
A local developer is appealing to the Asbury Park Planning Board to build a two building project housing 125 rental units on Memorial Drive which will feature rooftop fenced dog runs.
There will be a south building at 900 Mattison Ave. and a north building at 901 Mattison Ave.
The two lots are vacant.
Named Asbury Point South and Asbury Point North the south building will be on a little more than half an acre while the north building will sit on a 1.13- acre site.
The south building also includes one ground level commercial unit with hours of operation anticipated to be 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. There will also be 49 ground level parking spaces for vehicles and two for motorcycles.
At Asbury Park North 84 residential units are proposed on floors two through five with 20 percent affordable units.
This building will have three ground level commercial units with the same hours of operation.
It will include 106 vehicle parking spaces and five motorcycle parking spaces in a ground level garage.
Parking spaces will be assigned, according to Fuller “Trip” Brooks, who represents the applicant, but tenants may be required to pay for a parking space, contingent on the management company.
Landscape Architect Thomas Bauer testified at this week’s Planning Board meeting that an amenity deck on the roof of both buildings will include a resident’s lounge and fenced dog runs with synthetic “canine grass” turf.
The roofs will also be “green” with parts of the surface covered in sedum, a ground cover plant.
Bauer also said there would be a multitude of fences but heights and materials are still being determined.
The building will also include living walls, meaning that plant life will be installed as part of the facade.
Bauer, however, said the civil engineer, who is scheduled to speak at a later meeting would address that issue.
The rooftop decks will only be accessible to residents.
Members of the public questioned Bauer about several issues including the lighting, which will be solar powered and will be directed downward and not into the sky.
Others questioned the drainage of the dog park.
Bauer said he has been involved in designing dozens of roof top decks with dog parks throughout New Jersey, including Jersey City, Fort Lee and Edgewater.
Brooks of Brooks Real Estate Development is the representative for developer Ron Gerhard of Colts Neck and said they wanted to provide a dog friendly building but that the guidelines will be established by the management company.
“It must be taken care of or the residents will not be happy,” he said.
Next to testify was Traffic Engineer John Rea, a parking consultant.
Explaining a rating system used by traffic analysts, Rae said on a scale from A, the best, to F, the worst, this project ranks C and would have no problem absorbing the additional traffic.
“An E or better is acceptable,” he said.
The total parking spaces for both buildings is 125 with the south building short possibly one to three spaces, for which a variance may be needed.
Rae estimated the project to take five years to complete.
