No Vote Yet for 'Clark Commons' Shopping Complex

The Clark Planning Board heard an application Thursday night from Krame Development, a Paramus company that has submitted a plan to build Clark's new town center on the former US Gypsum paper plant site.

About 40 residents attended the meeting and heard the plan for the 241,000-square-foot complex that would include 15 retail spaces and three restaurants housed in seven buildings on the 28-acre site. The plan also includes a detention basin that will look like a pond and provide a gathering place with benches and a gazebo on the corner of Raritan Road and Walnut Avenue.

Testifying on behalf of the applicant were developer William Krame, an engineer, an architect, a professional planner, and an economic demographer. 

The tone of the evening was positive, with only a few concerns expressed by the board and residents and nearly all of the applicant's experts being heard. Much of the discussion was about landscaping on the property, the detention pond area, and how the plan proposed to buffer between the complex and the adjacent residents on Walnut Avenue. 

Because the meeting ended before all testimony could be heard, the next meeting to hear the plan, and likely the one where the board will vote on the project, will happen on Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Arthur L. Johnson auditorium. 

Check back for video from Thursday night's meeting, a closer look at the issues covered and more details about the project. 

Read more:

What Stores Would You Want in Clark's New Town Center?

What do you think of the plan for a new town center? Tell us in the comments.