HOWELL – Members of the Howell Planning Board have approved the construction of an apartment complex at the corner of West Farms and Fort Plains roads off Route 9 south.
Following the conclusion of testimony on April 5, Mayor Theresa Berger, who sits on the board, Deputy Mayor Robert Nicastro, who sits on the board, Vice Chairman Brian Tannenhaus and board members Bill Gotto, Nicholas Huszar and Thomas Boyle voted to approve the application submitted by Howell Family Apartments LLC (the Walters Group).
The developer will move forward with a plan to construct nine two-story buildings containing a total of 72 apartments. All of the apartments will qualify as affordable housing and be rented at below market rates to individuals and families whose income meets certain guidelines. The project also includes a community building, a recreation area and a maintenance building. Individuals of all ages will be permitted to rent the apartments.
Howell Family Apartments and the Walters Group were represented by attorney John Giunco, traffic engineer John McCormack, environmental scientist Anthony Silva, counsel to the Walters Group Joseph Del Duca, and engineer Steven Bagge.
Attorney Ron Gasiorowski represented resident John Bonevich, who objected to the application. Gasiorowski presented testimony from planner Andrew Thomas.
McCormack said there will be access to and from the apartment complex from West Farms Road and from Fort Plains Road. All turns will be permitted to and from West Farms Road, but on Fort Plains Road only right turns in and right turns out of the apartment complex will be permitted, he said.
McCormack said traffic volume recordings were conducted at the intersection of West Farms and Fort Plains roads in August 2017 to “confirm and validate the projections that were made in (a) 2015 report.”
“That did in fact confirm and validate the projections were accurate … we went out again and counted the intersection at the end of February and compared (the results) to the projections in our original report and found that the current traffic volumes are in line and actually are a little bit less than the projections we had in the original report,” McCormack said.
He said the assumptions, analysis and conclusions in the original report remain valid. McCormick said weekday mornings would result in an estimated 39 total trips, or one car every two minutes, and weekday evenings would result in an estimated 58 total trips, which is a little less than one car per minute.
On another point, Berger read a statement from the Howell Fire Bureau which said, “The Howell Fire Bureau supports the concept use of the project. As for the construction design, the bureau issues the following statement: The Howell Township Fire Service does not support the Residential Site Improvement Standards (RSIS), therefore, the composed roadway widths and cul de sac radius if applicable are inadequate for the effective use and placement of emergency services equipment.”
Giunco said the RSIS is a state standard and he said the fire bureau’s statement seemed to be directed more at the standards than at the Howell Family Apartments application.
Gasiorowski said the way he read the letter from the fire bureau was that the way the roads are laid out in the apartment complex, fire and emergency services units would not be able to bring their equipment onto the site to fight a fire. He said the board should call the person who wrote the letter to testify.
The letter was written by Robert H. Lewis, the bureau chief of the Howell Fire Bureau.
Board officials said the project meets the established development standards.
Silva, the environmental scientist, testified next and said an investigation was conducted in regard to endangered species that may live at the property.
“Only one species came up, bobcat, and the record is 19 years old. The bobcat does not really inhabit Howell, they live up to 14 years in the wild, so any occurrence of bobcat would no longer exist,” Silva said. “The project was found to be consistent on the federal level and state level regarding no significant impact to any endangered species.”
Silva said development at the site would avoid wetlands and wetlands buffers.
Huszar asked about a report that identified the project site as a potential breeding ground for a specific species of bat.
Silva said the project lies within the summer range of the bat. He said the bat species in question hibernates in caves up north and the project is in the range of its summer active season. He said the bat’s hibernation zones are protected, and certain trees are protected, but there are none of those specific tree colonies on the site.
Gasiorowski called Thomas to testify and the planner said the applicant was proposing to build a 2,900-square-foot office/community building and a 925-square-foot maintenance building that were not compliant with the zoning ordinance.
“In total, there is about 4,000 square feet of accessory buildings that are not listed as permitted uses and not listed as accessory permitted uses within the zone, and in my opinion I would think this requires variance relief,” Thomas said.
Thomas said the office/community building and recreation spaces did not have parking spaces dedicated to their uses. He said the fire bureau’s letter “raises an important issue from a planning standpoint.”
Giunco addressed an issue with a neighboring horse farm from the previous meeting. He said the resident never contacted the applicant’s professionals. However, he said the applicant, “in a gesture of good faith,” will place a buffer of evergreen trees between the project site and the neighboring property.
During public comment, Patricia Isbrecht-Kelly, the neighboring resident with the horse farm, further discussed fencing and asked if a privacy fence would be put up instead of a chain link fence.
The applicant has proposed a 6-foot-tall vinyl-wrapped chain link fence. Giunco called the fence and the evergreen trees a substantial buffer.
Some residents voiced concern about chemicals that may be used on grass in the apartment complex and the possibility the chemicals could contaminate neighboring wells. Other residents voiced concern about wildlife, like the possibility of bats living in the trees on the project site, and the potential negative impact of additional vehicles in the area.
As board members began to deliberate the case, Gotto said there had been “a long road” for the Howell Family Apartments application.
“This is probably the most difficult for our town and our community to have listened to, to have gone through all of the steps that have gotten us to this point, all the things that are not germane to this board, but these are things that got us here, all these conversations about affordable housing and a payment in lieu of taxes, and all these things and we are finally here,” he said.
“Somehow I always get asked the questions about fire safety because I happen to be a township fire chief and I think it bears echoing. I do not think anybody up here would do anything to put anybody in harm’s way, but I think the people who are involved in fire services and fire safety every day that goes a little bit further, I think more so than other board members, we all have our niche (on the board) and mine is fire safety,” Gotto said.
Gotto said that “whether you believe it or not,” he would never rush an application, especially as it pertains to fire safety.
“This application has been in the works for two-plus years and it does not look much different than it did the very first day I saw it in conceptual planning,” he said.
Gotto said if there was a concern regarding fire safety, then Lewis, who wrote the letter, would have shown up and put those concerns on the record in person. Gotto said with the protection that is provided, the development would be one of the safest residential complexes in Howell.
“We are looking for one reason, that came up by an objector, which I completely appreciate and understand. I just do not feel that is enough of a reason to delay, or to vote no, so for all of those reasons and for all of this long journey, I would like to make a motion to accept this application,” Gotto said.
Boyle seconded the motion.
Huszar said he wanted to go on the record and state that a board member’s job is to listen to the testimony and judge an application on its merits.
“As former mayor Gotto said, it has been a long road, so for that, I vote yes,” he said.
The Howell Family Apartments application was unanimously approved by the board.
