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Sayreville agency approves Bass Pro Shops site-plan amendment to add portico, relocate boat storage
Summary
The Sayreville Redevelopment Agency unanimously approved an amendment to the Bass Pro Shops site plan to add a larger freestanding portico and relocate public boat storage closer to the store; the board required the storage be treated as temporary and asked staff to follow up on traffic and access with county and turnpike authorities.
The Sayreville Redevelopment Agency on a unanimous roll-call vote approved an amendment to the Bass Pro Shops site plan that adds a large freestanding portico at the store entrance and relocates the public boat-storage area to a site nearer the building.
Jennifer Phillips Smith, speaking on behalf of the project team, told the agency the landlord-built shell is nearly complete and described the proposed alterations. “I am Jennifer Phillips Smith,” she said in her presentation, and added that the landlord-built warm shell is “about 92% complete” and that tenant interior work is underway. The portico design presented to the board would be a freestanding, uncovered structure of roughly 1,500 square feet, extending about 36 feet from the building face with an apex near 24.5 feet; the package also includes a larger ribbon banner than was previously approved.
The project team explained the existing boat-storage location approved in 2019 was farther from the store and that the relocated storage will occupy roughly 1.25 acres north of the Bass Pro parking area (plus a smaller triangular parcel). The team said the new lot has utilities and paved access and will be screened with a six-foot chain-link fence and new trees so it will be largely unseen from major approaches.
Justin, the project engineer, told the board the relocated storage will function as a private employee-access area rather than a public road and recommended a gated configuration with landscape screening and security measures for inventory control.
The board agreed that any approval should make the storage location explicitly temporary to preserve the master‑plan roadway alignment options in the future. Staff and board members also expressed safety concerns about vehicle movements near the site access and urged staff to coordinate with Middlesex County and the turnpike authority on striping, signal timing and enforcement. Chairman Zabowski directed staff to meet with the project engineers to review traffic mitigation possibilities and report back to the board.
By formal motion, the agency approved “Resolution 2026615” (identified as agenda item 12A in the meeting) to amend the Bass Pro Shops site plan. The motion was seconded and passed on a roll-call vote with all present members voting yes.
Next steps: staff will prepare approval language that includes the temporary designation for the storage area, schedule the requested follow-up engineering review with the project team, and coordinate any county or turnpike approvals for traffic and access changes.
(Quotes and attributions in this article are taken from the meeting record and mapped to speakers listed in the agency transcript.)
