Mission Plan gets thumbs up

[news]

Mission Plan gets thumbs up

By Michelle McGuinness, Special Writer
Posted: Friday, November 9, 2007 12:10 PM EST

CRANBURY — The Cranbury Township Planning Board on Nov. 1 approved plans for the Chinmaya Mission to build an ashram on Cranbury Neck Road.

The mission wants to build a 15,482-square-foot Hindu house of worship in the southwest corner of the 6.1-acre plot. The ashram will be H-shaped, and a one-way circular driveway will connect the building to Cranbury Neck Road. The current site plan calls for 157 parking spaces, 58 of which will be banked.

The mission originally gained approval from the township in 2001 for a similar plan that involved renovating the existing barn on the property, then building an addition onto it in two separate phases. That plan was scrapped however, in part due to the existing barn’s capability to be remodeled into a temple.

The board’s approval will allow for the ashram to be built on Cranbury Neck Road subject to several conditions, including requiring the mission to build an infiltration trench for rainwater runoff and to turn off street lights when not in use.

On Nov. 1, the Planning Board heard testimony regarding traffic. Kenneth Fears, a traffic expert hired by the Chinmaya Mission, said the mission won’t negatively affect traffic on Cranbury Neck Road, even during two major Hindu holidays, which fall on different days each year. He estimated that the delay would mean a wait of 10 seconds at the mission’s entrance/exit and that the mission wouldn’t add more than approximately half a vehicle to traffic during those times.

”It’s an extremely conservative analysis. It’s really a worst-case,” he said. “I stacked the deck against my client in just about every way I could.”
According to Chinmaya Secretary Sivaprasad Pandyaram, the site will be used for 10 annual festivals, as well as daily religious services. These include the teaching of children in religious practices, the teaching of scriptures, yoga and language lessons. The ashram will also have a daily pooja, a prayer session.

Mr. Fears said he assumed there would be a maximum of 100 cars during its peak use, all of them leaving within an hour and at a time when traffic is at its highest at Cranbury Neck Road. He said that visitors to the ashram would most likely come and go throughout the day, rather than coming and going at the same time.

He said the study was conducted over two weeks, measuring when the volume was highest and how many vehicles were on the road at certain times throughout the week.
”What I found from that is that there are no capacity issues regardless of how I do the numbers,” Mr. Fears said.
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http://www.packetonline.com/articles/2007/11/09/cranbury_press/news/doc473492c08720c312483397.prt

[Guest]

"The mission originally gained approval from the township in 2001 for a similar plan"

A similar plan - I think NOT! How did they get approval of having a 4,000 sq ft temple to a 15,400 sq foot temple in the agricultural zone?

So, now they will have a 15,400 sq ft temple PLUS the barn and the house. That is far from the original agreement. What is Cranbury thinking?!

[my guess]

I don't know the rationale for the decision. My guess is that legally the town may not be able to prevent them from building it.

[Jeff M.]

I don't understand that approval and I don't understand the traffic report, that seems off to me in terms of 10 seconds and half a car of traffic. I am disappointed that our planning board did not make them adhere to the original terms of the agreement. They could have sold and moved if they felt it was a have to have versus adhereing to what they agreed upon earlier.