EATONTOWN–Making it easier to develop fast food restaurants, the council approved an ordinance revising the borough’s Professional and Business Office Zone (PBO) code.
“The action on the zoning ordinance was in response to a parcel in a PBO-88 zone that had zoning board approval for a convenience store. The owner was unable to secure a tenant with a convenience store, but was able to contract a fast food restaurant,” Borough Administrator George Jackson said.
Jackson further explained the alterations to the code during the council meeting on Dec. 6.
“Under the variance and zoning ordinance, this was not permitted, even though the anticipated impacts were seen by the council as being quite similar in traffic and type of activity. Therefore, the council saw fit to add fast food drive-thru restaurants as a conditional use.”
Creating a new section entitled “Conditional Uses,” a fast food restaurant will be considered a conditional use in the PBO-88 development zone.
Under the revised ordinance, the restaurant must meet the following criteria:
- The lot frontage and width shall be a minimum of 250 feet.
- The minimum square footage of the principal building shall be 2,000 square feet.
- Any fast food restaurant that permits the ordering of food from a vehicle must provide a queuing area sufficient to permit 10 cars to be queued without obstructing the normal flow of traffic on the site.
- There shall be provided on-site parking on the basis of one space per employee and one parking spot per two seats in the dining area.
- Access to the site shall not be provided via a state highway.
The ordinance changes were published on Dec. 14 and will take effect on Jan. 3, according to Jackson.
The council also approved a resolution authorizing the borough clerk to re-advertise and receive Request For Proposals (RFP) for 2018 borough professionals.
“The council wants more submissions for professional appointments for categories they felt did not offer a sufficient number of eligible candidates,” Jackson said.
The RFPs that were received at the original bid opening on Nov. 15 announced a borough architect, labor attorney, prosecutor and health insurance broker. The original RFPs will remain and will be taken into consideration along with those that will be received through the re-bid process.
According to Jackson, the responses are due on Dec. 21. The RFPs are posted on the borough’s website.
For more information, visit www.eatontownnj.com/council-agenda/.
Contact Vashti Harris at vharris@newspapermediagroup.com.
