Plan for senior citizen
zone falls in 3-2 vote
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

HOWELL — Despite voting to introduce an ordinance in February, Deputy Mayor Cynthia Schomaker reversed her vote on the proposed law at the time of the public hearing, helping to defeat the establishment of a Senior Citizen (SC) zone with a 3-2 vote of the Township Council.

Saying she had reservations about what the ordinance would accomplish, Schomaker voted with councilmen Juan Malave and Joseph DiBella to defeat the measure on March 16.

Had it been adopted, the ordinance would have provided for the inclusion of townhouses and condominiums along with single-family homes in age-restricted communities in a designated age-restricted zone. No specific site in Howell had been identified for such a zone.

Mayor Timothy J. Konopka previously said the SC zone was needed in Howell because the Planned Retirement Community (PRC) zone adopted a year ago only provides for single-family homes.The proposed SC zone would have accommodated different types of housing — such as condominiums and townhouses — within an adult community.

The PRC was adopted for a specific 450-unit, age-restricted community that has already received Planning Board approval and will be built on Route 33 on the site of the Flame Motel, which will be razed.

Alluding specifically to the Route 33 project, resident John Costigan, who heads Howell’s Land Preservation Task Force, questioned the need for an SC zone.

"Why do we need any of this residen­tial stuff?" asked Costigan.

He said officials should wait for the 450 adult homes at the Route 33 devel­opment to be occupied and then see what senior housing needs still exist in Howell.

Upon the introduction of the SC zone ordinance in February, Councilman Peter Tobasco and Konopka said they sup­ported the new SC zone because demo­graphics had shown that Howell has an aging population and the SC zone would meet the needs of that population.

Speaking on the night of the March 16 public hearing, Fort Plains Road resident Carol Reed observed that The Villages adult community had been built in Howell several decades ago without an SC zone in place.

Councilman Joseph DiBella said he questioned the need for the SC zone ordi­nance now and said he was not inclined to vote for it.

Schomaker said since the introduction of the ordinance and finding out no laws cover pricing, she had come to question the affordability for seniors of some of the new senior housing that has been pro­posed, with some prices beginning at $300,000. She said she had decided it would be "prudent to wait" to adopt any new senior zoning.

In arguing in favor of the SC zone or­dinance, Tobasco said Howell is facing the third round of certification from the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) and that will include a mandate for additional affordable housing in the community.

"Everyone in real estate knows there is a need for senior housing," Tobasco said, adding that Howell could start a process that could satisfy COAH re­quirements and the town’s housing needs by adopting the SC zone.

Township planner Michael Vena rec­ommended approval of the SC zone. He told the council his office had developed the new SC zone by using the PRC as a model and had crafted it so that it would not be site specific.

"Let’s not make decisions based on popular winds," said Tobasco, who re­minded the three of Vena’s recommenda­tion for approval of the new zone.

Konopka, too, said the proposed SC zone reflected "prudent and proper plan­ning." The mayor conceded that a senior community might impact the town’s emergency services, but he said it would be less of an impact than non-age re­stricted development that would put more children into local schools.

Schomaker countered, saying, "We shouldn’t let COAH dictate how we’re go­ing to run this town. No one’s saying we don’t need senior housing, it just needs to be done right."