The Knights of Columbus was granted preliminary and final site plan approvals to tear down its century-old meeting hall and build a larger facility on the corner of Lasatta Avenue and Water Street.

The unified Planning/Zoning Board of Adjustment voted Nov. 25 to approve the project, which has been in the works for nearly a decade. The decision will be memorialized at Tuesday's meeting.

Randy Scott, head of buildings and grounds for the John F. Carroll Columbian Club Inc., said the last holdup was Monmouth County's request for a written agreement between the county and the club to ensure that a county contractor would continue to have access to the vacated portion of Lasatta Street to store its equipment during the reconstruction of the Water Street bridge.

"The biggest hurdle is done," Scott said. The Borough Council is expected to deed the vacated roadway to the club at its Monday meeting. That area will be used to expand the club's parking lot. Scott said the Catholic service organization cannot start its own construction until the yearlong bridge project is completed. That project, however, has been delayed numerous times.

Laura Kirkpatrick, a spokeswoman for county government, said the contractor will begin the job today. Scott said the 350-member club still has to determine how much it wants to spend on the building. The board consented to plans for a two-story, 5,500-square foot facility with a rental hall and kitchen, but the project most likely will be scaled down.

"What was designed was too expensive," Scott said, adding that the group may shrink the second floor and simplify the roof line to save money.