Best Buy wins Howell OK for Route 9 store
BY LARRY HLAVENKA JR.
Staff Writer

HOWELL - Holiday shopping will never be the same; Best Buy is coming to town.

At its Nov. 2 meeting the Planning Board approved the construction of a 30,030-square-foot consumer electronics store by a 6-1 vote. The 3.9-acre parcel encompasses the former Frank's Nursery at Route 9 and Friendship Road, which is an HD-1 (highway development) zone.

Board member Russell Bohlin cast the lone vote against the project.

The panel previously heard testimony regarding the store at a meeting in August. At that meeting the applicant only provided an abutting homeowner with a 16-to-18-foot buffer, although a township ordinance requires 50 feet.

In the approved plan, the applicant's engineer, John Meyer, said the buffer in question was increased to 48 feet. The applicant was able to increase the size of the buffer by moving the footprint of the building 5 feet to the east and relocating loading docks to south.

The loading docks are now at the farthest point from any residence, which should alleviate noise concerns, Meyer said.

Although the nearest property owners, Richard and Sarah Long, appreciated the bigger buffer, they still had concerns regarding their quality of life. They indicated that they did not believe trees would obscure the building well enough.

As part of the plan, the applicant will plant a series of trees along its property line, which is behind the Longs' home.

Regarding the type of trees, board member Curtis Vislocky, who serves as a tree commissioner in town, said, "After a year or two the building will be totally obscured. You have to be patient."

The traffic impact of the store at Route 9 and Friendship Road was discussed once again.

Resident Lisa Gorka took exception with the additional cars the store is likely to bring to the area.

"My issue is the traffic," Gorka said. "It's a quality of life issue for me. It's an inappropriate place for [Best Buy] to be. A 30,000-square-foot store where Frank's Nursery was seems ridiculous."

Vislocky said the store's two entrance-exits have been adjusted so that traffic will flow appropriately.

But Gorka insisted that the plan was ill-suited for the area.

Vislocky tried to explain the board's position.

"I can understand and I respect your concerns and I can sympathize," he said. "As a Planning Board, we are bound by ordinance. It is zoned properly, so it is up to the applicant to comply. When they do, we have no right to deny their application even though it may impact quality of life. We can't deny them for that, by state statute."

Another issue, parking spaces, came before the board again as well.

Best Buy has too few parking spaces according to a township ordinance, but Meyer said the 186 parking spaces being provided will be more than enough to accommodate employees and customers.

He said another 30,000-square-foot Best Buy store was surveyed which compared favorably to the Howell location. At that store, the peak number of spaces used was 180, he said.

Meyer said lighting on the site has been adjusted. He said the majority of the lights will rise 24 feet, with poles along the western boundary only rising 15 feet in order to create "no impact on our residential neighbors."

A final condition was made so that during the store's opening week Best Buy will employ police officers for crowd control. The applicant also agreed to provide crowd control, as needed, in the future.

After the board voted to approve the application, Vice Chairwoman Marlene West said, "It appears to me you have done a really excellent job. Welcome to Howell."