Citizens' complaints delay proposed change in lot size
BY LARRY HLAVENKA JR.
Staff Writer

Howell

HOWELL - Following the Planning Board's adoption of revisions to Howell's master plan earlier this year, the Township Council must now adopt ordinances to put those revisions in place.

Many of the necessary ordinances have been adopted without incident.

However, at the council's Nov. 28 meeting an ordinance that would amend sections of the land use regulations with regard to zoning districts and requirements hit a roadblock.

Residents spoke out against the amendments and said they were not notified of the changes, nor were the amendments ever discussed at master plan hearings over the past two years.

Due to the number of people who wanted to address the issue, the public hearing and possible vote on the ordinance was carried from the Nov. 28 meeting and was expected to continue at the Dec. 5 council meeting.

At issue are 73 properties on Easy Street, Herbertsville Road, Lakewood-Allenwood Road and Newton's Corner Road. As part of the ordinance, those properties were slated to be changed from ARE-2 zoning to an R-1 classification, effectively reducing the required minimum acreage per building lot from 2 acres to 1 acre.

Don Smith, a frequent contributor to the master plan process, said residents in that area of Howell were never provided with notice regarding the changes.

"We're actually changing zoning with these ordinances?" Smith asked the council. "Do you realize that you have 73 lots going from ARE-2 to R-1? Is this back-door zoning?"

Smith's wife, Pauline, said she researched the matter and did not notice the changes when the plan was approved.

"I didn't see it and it wasn't discussed in public," she said in an interview after the meeting.

Township Planner Charles Newcomb, who also represents the Planning Board, said the changes have been available to the public since June through Howell's Internet Web site and official documents.

Evelyn Gillette, a resident of Easy Street, said that did not help her or her neighbors.

"A lot of us still don't have the Internet," Gillette said. "Why would you even think to look" for zoning changes if they were not made public in the first place, she asked.

Newcomb said proper notification of the changes was made by way of a "super notice" which was published in newspapers.

That explanation did not satisfy Mayor Joseph DiBella, who also sits on the Planning Board.

"I'm not completely thrilled that these people did not get individually notified," the mayor said.

Don Smith continued, saying, "The neighbors never knew what was coming. This can't fly, you have to have some kind of conscience."

Councilman Robert Walsh asked, "Where's the inherent good in going from to 2 to 1 [acre]?"

Newcomb responded, saying, "To the township and property owners, it reflects what they are. It's what the land basically holds."

According to resident Vinny Tantillo, the maximum number of homes that fit on a piece of land is not always the best policy.

"Has anybody been to Staten Island lately?" he asked. "This is exactly what happened over there. They knocked down a house and built three."

With public sentiment strongly opposed to the amendments, Walsh made a suggestion to table the ordinance until January when two new council members will be taking office.

Deputy Mayor Peter Tobasco, who will end his term on Dec. 31, wanted to move forward with the document.

"The master plan was last finished in 1994," he said. "We had meetings after meetings and at some time you have to draw the line in the sand. It's the same people that stopped it in 2001, 2002, 2003 ..."

Even if the ordinance is adopted in December, DiBella said, the point could be moot when the new council members take office and a new majority controls the governing body.

"Come January, this could all be undone," the mayor said.

Other ordinances that are part of the master plan revisions and were scheduled for discussion at the Nov. 28 council meeting, such as zoning requirements for age-restricted housing and sign use requirements, were tabled for future discussion.