Planning Board approves Kona Grill
Dissenting board members question necessity of subdivision
BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer
Woodbridge can add the Kona Grill restaurant to its list of restaurants that already are throughout the township.

With a vote of 7-2, the Planning Board approved the restaurant at a board meeting on May 21.

Board Chairman Raymond Miller and board member Patricia Osborne voted against the application.

"I want to thank the applicant for explaining their necessity for a subdivision; however, I am going to go with my conscience," said Osborne. "I'm concerned with the 13 spaces for the express check-in … these wouldn't need to be put in if there was no subdivision. We are forcing something that doesn't have to be there."

Randy Csik, management of the site where the restaurant will be built, 517 Route 1 south, testified to the board that the necessity of the subdivision is for tax and finance purposes.

"I fully understand the township's want for unified properties, and cohesiveness is more critical than single or separate [properties]," he said. "However, with an office, hotel and restaurant type of operation, a subdivision for finance purposes is so significant. The office operation uses Provident Bank and the hotel uses Merrill Lynch."

Karen Miller, president of the Woodbridge Commons Condominium Association, came to the meeting expressing concerns with drainage from the restaurant into the property of the condominiums. Ronald Shimanowitz, attorney for Woodbridge Associates LLC, said the applicant would work with the association on their concerns.

Currently the subject property is an irregularly shaped 10.80-acre lot fronting on the southbound side of Route 1, west of the intersection of Gill Lane. The lot is part of a larger tract of land containing the multi-level Sheraton Hotel and Office Building, which fronts on Route 1 and Gill Lane.

The subject lot is located on the western side of the tract and contains a majority of the hotel, convention center and office building. The hotel building is surrounded on all sides by approximately 971 parking spaces.

The applicant, Woodbridge Associates LLC, is planning for a subdivision creating two lots - a 1.19-acre lot for the proposed pad restaurant and a 9.61-acre lot that will continue to contain the same portion of the existing hotel building.

The proposed 1.19-acre lot would contain a proposed onestory 8,106-square-foot restaurant with a patio seating area of 1,420 square feet on the east side of the building. Approximately 100 parking spaces are provided on the restaurant lot. Lighting, landscaping and signage improvements are also proposed for the area.

The applicant proposed minor building improvements to the hotel, including a 1,178-squarefoot building expansion under an existing overhang. A canopy is proposed over an existing walkway on several south and west sections of the existing building. Two security gates are also proposed and will create a secure parking area of 132 spaces on the west of the hotel building, and 13 additional parking spaces are proposed immediately south of the hotel building designated for the "quick check in" area.

Joe Boylan, project manager for the Kona Grill, said the restaurant chain first opened up in 1998 as a sushi place, but as it enters its 10th year, it has added mainstream and international dishes over the years.

Hours of operation will be Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to midnight, and Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. For more information about the Kona Grill restaurant visit www.konagrill.com.