Warehouse, Farm Use Hearings In Howell Put Off To December

HOWELL, NJ — The Township Council meeting scheduled for Nov. 28 was cancelled for lack of a quorum, but hearings on various modified land use ordinances are still on for the next meeting, the township said.

The next regularly scheduled Township Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 12, with a 7 p.m. public portion.

Several ordinances that would regulate development and land use in the township will once again be on the agenda for the Council, along with a chance for the public to comment. The Dec. 12 updated agenda is not finalized as yet. But it is expected there will be public hearings and adoption planned for seven ordinances.

The Planning Board recommended changes to the Master Plan, said Matt Howard, Community Development director, "and these ordinances are modifying the overall zoning consistent with those recommendations."

He said, in a past Patch article, that the zoning changes proposed impact a variety of uses, not just one. And no zoning change is taking place to prevent, change or eliminate one specific use, he added.

Howard also noted that the ordinances being proposed do not have any bearing on any existing application before the Planning or Zoning Boards. An application is bound by the zoning laws in place at the time of the application submission, Howard said.

Ordinances that change after an application is submitted do not impact that application.

You can read all the ordinances - both those up for adoption and those with a first reading - on the Nov. 28 agenda, here.

Howard said an ordinance introduced in October proposed changing the entire SED (Special Economic Development) zone near Oak Glen Road, Victory Road and County Route 547 to SED-1. SED-1 still permits warehousing as a conditional use as well as many other commercial/industrial uses, he said. But this change would avoid creating nonconforming uses within the zone.

He said an ordinance is to be introduced at the next meeting, similar to this one, keeping most of the parcels to SED-1. However, the parcels on Victory Road have been separated out and are proposed to change to ARE-6. (Agricultural Rural Estate)

"The governing body will decide to adopt the first ordinance (changing the whole area to SED-1) or introduce the new ordinance (all SED-1, except Victory Road going to ARE-6)," he said.

There are also several ordinances on the agenda related to farm activities.

See this past Patch article for a full story about the land use ordinances.