Warehouse Applications Carried To 2023 By Howell Planners

HOWELL, NJ — The Howell Township Planning Board will be considering two applications for warehouses in the new year, at its meeting Jan. 5, 2023, according to a township notice.

The board meeting scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 15, has been cancelled due to lack of a quorum, according to the agenda on the township website.

The development of warehouses in some of the more undeveloped parts of the township has been a concern of nearby residents and became an issue during campaigns for Township Council, with candidates saying they wanted to control any developments that take away from what they said is the rural character of the township.

On Jan. 5, the board expects to continue a discussion of 90 Industrial Court as applicant and and Vanderveer Industrial Partners as owners, seeking preliminary and final major site plan approval to construct a 70,320-square-foot warehouse/office building. The plan includes two separate office spaces.

The building will provide 16 loading dock spaces plus two additional drive in ramps as well as 51 total passenger vehicle parking spaces throughout the site, according to the agenda.

Following the improvements associated with the pending application, a water main will be installed along the frontage of proposed Lot 4 that will provide fire service to the property.

Storm water management will be addressed through the construction of four total aboveground infiltration basins, consisting of three basins within proposed Lot 4 and a fourth located within a previously wooded area within Lot 2. Additional improvements within proposed Lot 4 consist of landscaping and lighting on premises. The application has been discussed and carried since April.

Also on the Jan. 5 agenda is the Monmouth Commerce Center.

The Monmouth Commerce Center warehouse proposal on Randolph Road will be a 24/7 operation and have nearly 200 employees, experts for the developer said at a meeting in September.

Monmouth Commerce Center LLC and developers Lawrence Katz and Felix Pflaster are seeking preliminary and final major site plan approval with variance relief.

The developers want to construct five one-story warehouse buildings with office space with a total of 940,400 square feet off Randolph Road. The square footage is a 32 percent reduction in the original proposal, the company's lawyer, Meryl Gonchar, said in September.

The engineer on the project, Steven Cattani, Dynamic Engineering Consultants, Newtown, Pa., said in his testimony that the operations at the warehouse would likely be 24/7 with truck deliveries. There will be 175 to 220 employees, depending on the tenants for the site, he said.

No driveways to the facility are proposed to Oak Glen Road or Lakewood Allenwood Road, according to the agenda. Additional site improvements consist of lighting, landscaping, aboveground infiltration basins to address storm water management and refuse
enclosures.

The applicants are also proposing off-site improvements to extend public water and sanitary sewer mains to the development.

The off-site improvements would also consist of improvements at the Randolph Road and Lakewood Farmingdale Road intersection, including the installation of a traffic signal, full-width mill and overlay, storm water inlets along the subject side of Randolph Road and Oak Glen Road, roadway striping within Randolph Road and Oak Glen Road and an 13.5 foot wide, 34,362 sf right-of-way dedication to Howell Township along the entire Randolph Road frontage as well as a 3,055-square-foot right-of way dedication to Howell Township at the intersection of Oak Glen Road and Lakewood Allenwood Road, according to the agenda.

Howell Director of Land Use and Planning Matt Howard said in response to a question that the applications can carry into the new year.

He said that any new members would have to watch the video of all prior meetings, and certify that they have heard all the testimony if they want to vote on the application.