New homes in Howell win OK from planners
BY TOYNETT HALL
Staff Writer

HOWELL - On May 3 a divided Planning Board granted Sierra Builders I LLC preliminary approval to create 19 lots for single-family residential development and three stormwater management lots in an R-3 zoning district. The applicant appeared before the board for the fourth time to explain plans to provide emergency access into the proposed development, among other issues.

According to a report prepared by the engineering firm CME Associates, the 11.8-acre tract is north of Aldrich Road, east of the Spruce Road intersection, and west of the Godell Drive intersection. Currently the property is a vacant wooded lot bordered to the east, west and south, opposite Aldrich Road, by single-family residential lots.

The applicant's engineers, Frank Miskovich and Michael Drobny of Abbington and Associates, explained their plans to provide access into the proposed development by connecting Sierra Drive to Fern Road. The project - which originally intended the main entrance to be connected to Aldrich Road - had to be modified after police reports deemed the proposed entrance to be dangerous.

In addition, the engineers explained their request for design waivers, specifically as it relates to stormwater management.

Planning Board engineer Ernest Peters said although the applicants have changed the main entrance from Aldrich Road to Fern Road, future issues may arise.

"There were arguments made and it was determined that we don't need access to Aldrich Road; it's unsafe. Now to that end, you may still have a future planning issue as to whether or not you want to be able to accept, for whatever purpose, utility, emergency access, actual road extension to Godell Road (cul-de-sac, and easement) into the proposed project," Peters said.

According to Peters, "If we want clear access to this main street over at Godell Drive, this applicant is going to have to lose a lot."

Planning Board member Curtis Vislocky said one of his main concerns for this project is the ability for emergency vehicles to have adequate access into the development.

Miskovich said emergency access is provided through grass pavers.

In addition to the issue of adequate access, another question that surfaced was the feasibility of potential home owners accessing the site at all.

Peters said, "There is going to be a point in time when the people who come in to look at and buy houses are going to have to wiggle their way through another subdivision to get there. We have this concern about buyer beware. They're going to have to beware because they are going to enter the site at Aldrich Road. There is to be no access to Aldrich Road at any point in time. You have to allow people to have some clear access and direction to go into that job."

Drobny and Miskovich not only had to explain their plans, they also had the burden of persuading the board to grant relief on a design waiver in regard to stormwater management.

According to Drobny, "For our development we are supposed to meet 95 percent of the existing conditions being a completely wooded site. We've come up to 72 percent with the measures that were provided. That is where the shortfall would be."

To increase their stormwater management system up to 95 percent of the required Residential Site Improvement Standards "would be a substantial decrease to the scope of the project," Drobny said.

Vislocky said all applicants have to play by the rules. He said, "Wooded lots do not constitute a hardship for a stormwater management concern. The design standards should not be waived."

According to Peters, "there is subjectivity to the point system, it is not absolute. Somewhere in there lies a reasonable middle ground."

In addition, the board members asked the applicant to consider providing a park or some type of recreational area within the development.

A motion to approve the application passed with a 5-4 vote.

Board members James Burgess, Marc Leber, Marlene West, Curtis Vislocky and Chairman Paul Schneider voted yes.

Board members Thomas Frese, Councilman Michael Howell, Michael Morello and Paul Sayah voted no.

The applicant agreed to work with township engineers to increase design standards in regard to the stormwater management to 95 percent. However, the applicant was not willing to put in a recreational area.

Schneider said, "It was a thought-out plan. I saw no major problems. They addressed all of the citizens' concerns over four hearings. There were no variances. If we refused, it would have exacerbated the problem more."