Manalapan approves 91 townhouses for Canter Square second phase

MANALAPAN - The second phase of a 320-unit townhouse neighborhood was unanimously approved by the Manalapan planning board Thursday night.

The first phase of the development by Toll Brothers dubbed Canter Square is currently under construction. It’s leasing office is located at 1 Cloverleaf Lane and its townhouses start at $768,770, according to its website.

The neighborhood also contains four three-story affordable apartment buildings with 24 units each, a clubhouse, two swimming pools, a fitness center and a small playground.

The development was divided into two phases because the northern portion of the project was not in a sewer-service area.

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The first phase of the neighborhood, which includes 133 market-rate townhomes and 96 affordable apartments, was approved in October 2021. The second phase of 91 market-rate townhouses was only approved Thursday night after the developer received approval to build sewers in the northern portion.

“That was the holdup,” board planner Jennifer Beahm said.

The planning board approved the second phase with two conditions.

The first is that the developer communicate with its neighbors to determine if it should extend its sewer pipes to its borders. That way, if its neighbors wanted to be hooked up to the sewer system in the future, the developer wouldn’t have to dig up its property to accommodate its neighbors.

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The second condition is that the developers remove a billboard on its property.

Attorney for the board Ron Cucchiaro and Beahm argued that the plans submitted to the board did not include a billboard and that the developer agreed to remove “existing features.” They also argued that there were no mentions of keeping the billboard until after the board approved the first phase of the development.

Attorney Salvatore Alfieri said during the planning board meeting, “This is probably not the forum that this issue is going to be resolved in.”

The board decided to insist on removing the billboard. A judge could decide if the billboard stays or goes.

Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at [email protected].