HOWELL – Testimony is expected to continue at the Zoning Board of Adjustment’s Sept. 26 meeting on an applicant’s proposal to place a Texas Roadhouse restaurant in the Mill Club shopping center at Route 9 north and Lanes Mill Road, Howell.
The Mill Club shopping center is adjacent to the Greenleaf shopping center.
AAM Mill, LLC, as applicant, and AA Cardiff, LLC, AA Martel Howell, LLC, AA Towers, LLC, and Howell Partners, LLC, as owners, are seeking amended preliminary and final major site plan approval. Attorney Gerald Sonnenblick of Freehold Township presented the application at the board’s Aug. 8 meeting.
Sonnenblick said the Texas Roadhouse will take up 7,500 square feet of building F at the site. The building totals 23,500 square feet. He said his client acquired an extra lot to accommodate additional parking that is required because the restaurant will be at the end of building F.
The restaurant will seat 277 people (including 15 seats at the bar). Hours of operation will be Monday through Thursday, 4-10 p.m., Friday, 4-11 p.m., Saturday, noon to 11 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 10 p.m., according to testimony. Between 25 and 35 employees will be at the restaurant during business hours.
Planner Steve Spina, representing the applicant, said 83 existing parking spaces are in front of building F and 104 parking spaces will surround the restaurant.
Board members expressed concerns about the site’s lighting, which the board’s planner, Jennifer Beahm, called a very different lighting program compared to other buildings in Howell.
Architect Robert Warshefski testified that exterior lighting would include gooseneck lighting that would accent the restaurant, two internally illuminated signs, and border lighting around the parapets.
“There is about 60 linear feet of light-emitting diode (LED) border lighting across the front. There is about 80 linear feet on the side … It’s just an accent to the building,” Warshefski said.
Beahm expressed concern about drivers on Route 9 who would see a band of neon light at eye level.
Warshefski compared the LED lighting to that of a birthday candle and said it was insignificant to the site.
Beahm responded to the architect, saying, “… It is something we do not have in Howell. I will tell you that in other towns where I have had to deal with this, it has not gone well.”
Beahm asked for photos to be provided of the lighting at a Texas Roadhouse in Old Bridge so the board members can see what the border lighting looks like.
Sonnenblick agreed to provide night photos of the Old Bridge restaurant.
“I think it is important for (board members) to see what it is going to look like. What I don’t want to have happen is for us to be looking at this drawn on a piece of paper and then it goes up … and it becomes an issue,” Beahm said.
Planner Joseph Lalka, representing the applicant, said the border lights can be seen, but he said their presence would not alter the lighting in the parking area or on the perimeter of the building because the border lights only have the brightness of a birthday candle.
“The intent here is to highlight the Texas Roadhouse, not to distract traffic,” Lalka said.
