Board OKs special meeting to hear plan for 60 homes
BY TOYNETT HALL
Staff Writer

Howell

HOWELL - The Planning Board has agreed to schedule a special meeting to hear a developer's application for a 60-home development on property that is known locally as the Pinnacle tract.

Attorney Lawrence Bathgate asked the board at its regular meeting on Feb. 1 to grant his client's request for a special meeting to be held. He said his client's application was deemed complete on Nov. 22 and had not yet been scheduled for a hearing.

The board eventually agreed with Bathgate and set March 8 as the night when the application will be heard.

Pinnacle Material Inc. is seeking approval to build 60 homes on 140 acres be-tween West Farms Road and White Street east of Route 9. The property is zoned ARE-2 (homes on 2-acre lots).

Several board members noted there is a high volume of applications that must be heard. Opinion was divided on whether to grant Bathgate's client a special meeting.

Board member Curtis Vislocky said, "I don't think we should be giving people special dispensation just because they are a large application. Everybody should be treated equally and fair."

Mayor Joseph DiBella, who sits on the board, was in favor of granting this applicant a special meeting.

"A town ordinance actually provides for special meetings. So the law of the town suggests special meetings be used when you have a large application that could dominate the agenda," DiBella said.

According to DiBella, the potential area to be developed is a prime piece of real estate that could gain a lot of public attention.

"The area in question, the Pinnacle property, is an area that is adjacent to the Manasquan Reservoir. It is an area that is completely open space," the mayor said.

After some discussion the board set the special meeting for the Pinnacle application for March 8.