HOWELL – The Zoning Board of Adjustment has approved an application that will permit the owners of a local business to construct an office-showroom and maintenance buildings on their property.
KBL Trading Company and its owners Kenneth, Steve and Victor Gerard Jr. sought municipal permission to modernize their business, Vic Gerard Golf Cars Inc., 281 Squankum Road, Howell.
The applicant proposed to construct a one-story 17,356-square-foot building to be used as an office and a showroom, and six one-story 4,400-square-foot buildings to be used for storage and maintenance.
According to testimony presented, Vic Gerard founded the company in 1958 in Asbury Park and moved the business to Squankum Road in Howell in 1968. William Lynch bought the company in 2005.
The company specializes in the leasing, sale and maintenance of low-speed vehicles. The vehicles are not manufactured at the Howell location, according to the testimony presented.
“The low-speed vehicle is not a golf cart, the vehicle is legal to ride on streets that have a speed limit of 25 mph and under,” Lynch said.
Lynch said the application before the zoning board proposed a “general modernization” of the business that would increase efficiency. He said the buildings to be used for storage and maintenance would allow the company to continue operating during the winter.
Engineer Michael Geller, testifying on behalf of the applicant, said Vic Gerard Golf Cars “is a long-standing existing business … with a very good track record, and it is looking to modernize and make the operation more efficient.”
The company operates in a Special Economic Development (SED) zone. The purpose of the SED zone is to provide for a variety of economic development opportunities in areas of Howell where rail or highway infrastructure is readily available.
Retail sales, leasing and maintenance of the low-speed vehicles will continue to be permitted at the property.
The board members determined a traffic report was unnecessary after hearing the bulk of the applicant’s presentation.
Board member Thomas O’Donnell made a motion to approve the application and said he was pleased with what he heard from the company’s representatives.
“It is a very nice improvement for Howell,” O’Donnell said. “It is the type of improvement we are looking for and we need.”
Board member John Armata, who seconded the motion, said, “I drive by this establishment almost every day and it has always been clean and neat. The traffic is minimal. I do not go by in the early morning or at quitting time, but outside of that I do not think I have seen more than one vehicle a month go in or out, so there was really no reason for a traffic report.”
O’Donnell, Armata, Michael Sanclimenti, Thomas Posch, John Kyle Turk and Ian Bloom voted to approve the application from Vic Gerard Golf Cars.
