HOWELL – The Howell Zoning Board of Adjustment has unanimously approved an application from Wildbrook Ranch LLC to operate its 183-acre property between Belmar Boulevard and Megill Road as a farm and to construct a horse barn, an indoor riding arena with paddocks, and a private farm office.
Attorney Jennifer Krimko, of the firm Ansell Grimm and Aaron, represented the applicant before the zoning board on July 10.
The applicant initially planned to construct a skeet shooting field and clubhouse on the property. Krimko said the applicant revised the plan, eliminated the skeet shooting field and clubhouse, and replaced it with the farm office.
The property is in an Agricultural Rural Estate zone.
Engineer Joseph Hanrahan testified on behalf of the applicant and said 140 acres of the 183-acre property will remain wooded. There are wetlands and riparian buffer zones on the property, he said.
Testimony indicated the applicant plans to construct a 12,500-square-foot barn, a 1,920-square-foot greenhouse, an 18,630-square-foot indoor riding arena, a 1,200-square-foot farm office and a 3,100-square-foot garage with three apartments for farm laborers. There will be orchards and crop fields on the property.
The owner does not plan to live on the property and a primary residence is currently not planned.
“This is a farm in an agricultural zone where farms are permitted,” Krimko said. “We need farm buildings. You cannot construct farm buildings without having a primary residence unless you have farmland assessment and you cannot get farmland assessment for the type of uses we are proposing here without having the buildings, so it puts us in a Catch-22.”
If the applicant was constructing a farm with a home, site plan approval would not be necessary. If the applicant planted orchards and waited two years, the applicant could obtain farmland assessment without ever constructing a home, the attorney said.
“So we are here before you seeking use variances to allow one, the height of two cupolas; two, to allow a farm use without a principal residence; and three, to allow for farm labor housing without first obtaining a farmland assessment designation,” Krimko said.
The building that was initially proposed as a clubhouse in conjunction with the skeet shooting operation will instead be a private farm office that will be more than 2,500 feet away from Belmar Boulevard, she said.
The applicant sought and received a height variance for cupolas on the barn and indoor riding arena.
Hanrahan said the cupolas are a decorative feature similar to a church steeple. He said they are more than 1,300 feet from the nearest offsite residence and more than 500 feet from the adjacent property line.
Lori and Bryan Oakes, who own a neighboring property, were represented by attorney Mark Williams.
Williams said his clients want a shared access road to have impervious coverage (paved). He said the access road is currently a recycled concrete aggregate that kicks up dust into the Oakes’ home.
Board members said Krimko had indicated her client is willing to pave the access road and Williams accepted that offer.
Krimko said the state Department of Environmental Protection has jurisdiction over the wetlands on the property and has reviewed and approved the applicant’s plan.
Resident Linda Tyberghein asked, “With all the work you have been going through … why don’t you just build a residence for the person who is going to live there and be the farmer? It does not make sense to me … if you could just build his residence then you would not have to go through all these hoops.”
Krimko responded, saying, “I am not going to question why you live where you live.” She said the owner may live on the property at some point, “but he does not have the house designed.”
Both attorneys spoke before the board members voted on the application.
“There is no farm there now, there is no need for agricultural farm labor while there is no farm,” Williams said. “If (the owner) were to construct the apartments and he could not do it until after he had a farm, nobody would get hurt and I suggest he build his apartments after he has his farm.”
Williams asserted that the horses to be kept on the property will be for the owner’s personal use.
Krimko responded, saying, “Mr. Williams just offered you his opinion, nothing was based in law, nothing was based in the ordinance. He said they were personal horses and while my client will personally own them, my client did testify on the record that he was intending to breed these horses and that potentially there would be breeding and he would sell these horses. It is not Howell’s ordinance that establishes an agricultural use, it is actually the state.”
She said Williams’ clients are getting what they want – a paved road.
“We are asking for variances that relate to the height of the cupolas, which nobody will see. We are asking for a variance because this is a new farm as opposed to a farm that has been farmed over the years and developed more organically,” Krimko said.
“The … approval would be very specific. We are asking for farmland housing, we are not asking for rental apartments. If there is no farm operating, then there is no farmhand housing allowed to be there,” she said.
Board Chairman Wendell Nanson and board members John Armata, Dan Cardellichio, Richard Mertens, Thomas O’Donnell, Thomas Posch and Michael Sanclimenti voted to grant the variances and to approve the application.
