Developer: Traffic From Lucent Site Will Have Minimal Impact

Written by Anastasia Millicker.

The public will again have the opportunity to address Somerset Developers LLC and the Holmdel Planning Board regarding the development of Bell Labs. The hearing will continue on July 30.

While the plans for the building itself have not changed since last month’s public forum, developers provided further clarity of traffic and parking arrangements for the building which have caused concern amongst residents.

Karl Pehnke, Senior Associate at Langan Engineering & Environmental Services who conducted the traffic survey for the project, said regional snapshots were taken at 19 locations during peak hours of the day–weekday mornings, evening peak hours and then Saturday in the middle of the day– to prepare a strong database.

From the results of the study and review of the results, Pehnke said the road system surrounding the site has the capacity to take on the new plans with no need for additional roadways, intersections or signal lights.

Pehnke said because the site would be a mixed-use development, causing the need to distribute the entrances and exits throughout the property. The entrance from Middletown Road will be one of the main entrances.

“From what I remember 60 percent of the traffic came from the Crawford Corner’s Road entrance,” said resident Ralph Blumenthal. “How are we going to change that?”

Pehnke estimated 60-percent of users would drive through the Middletown Road entrance if the developer changed the address of the building. 

In order to adjust the weak angles and provide a natural view of Crawford’s Corner Road and Roberts Road, the angles of the driveways would be reduced but no major “character” changes would occur on the property. Bicycle lanes would also be added to the internal roads.

The number of parking spaces originally calculated have been reduced since the last forum, Pehnke said, adding that the entire paved area will be used for parking spaces and the current pavement will be restored.

“When we got on site there was 4,900 spaces but we realized that the spaces were all substandard,” Pehnke said. 

When developers created restriping plans and creating appropriate spaces, they were left with 4,200 

Residents Carolyn Noguchi and Karen Strickland were skeptical of the site’s potential impact on traffic citing the four schools on Crawford’s Corner Road. Pehnke said the developer's study accounts for school traffic and further studies are planned once the site is occupied.

While the 1,675,000 sq ft. property owned by Alcatel-Lucent is less than a month away from closing the deal with Somerset Developers, site plan approval begins with Phase I of the existing building.

The mixed-use plans would allow for economic development in the area, said Ralph Zucker, president of Somerset Development.

Zucker said wants to keep the structural integrity of the building including the steel frames, but looks to install a public library, retail room and restaurant space on the first level of the building, which would be the second floor, and house a surgi-center, and office space in the basement level as well as throughout the building.

During next week’s meeting, the public will hear testimony from the project’s civil engineer and planner. This hearing is only for Phase I which includes only the adaptive re-use of the Building, along with associated site improvements.