HOWELL – The Howell Planning Board has granted preliminary approval to an applicant that plans to subdivide a 17-acre parcel and construct eight homes on West Farms Road.
Edward and Lourdes McNamee, the applicants and owners, proposed to subdivide a 17.4-acre tract into eight single-family residential lots in an Agricultural Rural Estate 2 (ARE-2) zone at 334 West Farms Road. The property has 1,000 feet of frontage on West Farms Road and is between Casino Drive and Georgia Tavern Road.
Attorney Lawrence Luttrell and planner Walter Hopkin represented the applicant at the Planning Board’s Sept. 20 meeting.
“We have come back with a revised subdivision plan. The original plan used a different portion of alternate subdivision designs allowed in the ARE-2 zone. There were some concerns as to the traffic safety issues with those lots all fronting on West Farms Road,” Luttrell said.
“The chief of police had opined that (West Farms Road) is a road frequently traversed by drivers at excess rates of speed and there were some concerns as to the safety of cars being able to come in and out of the (proposed) driveways,” he said.
During a meeting in July when the McNamees’ application was before the board, Howell Police Chief Andrew Kudrick, who sits on the Planning Board, said two patrol cars have been totaled in that area as a result of motorists speeding.
Kudrick said that as a 40-year resident of Howell, he is very familiar with West Farms Road. The chief was not present at the Sept. 20 meeting when the revised plan for the homes was unveiled.
Luttrell told the board members that based on Kudrick’s comments in July, the applicant decided to propose a cul-de-sac instead of building homes with driveways on West Farms Road.
During a discussion of the application, the board’s vice chairman, Brian Tannenhaus, asked his fellow board members if they believed there was a need for a deed restriction or for information to be placed in each home’s deed to let potential homeowners know about 50-foot wetlands buffers and preserved land at the location.
“So (residents) clearly understand that the land they see in their backyard is really not their land,” Tannenhaus said.
The board’s chairman, Robert Nash, asked how officials would prevent a homeowner who did not understand the deed restriction and just wanted to clear his lot from doing so.
The board’s professionals said that would be a code enforcement issue.
Board members had different opinions regarding the issue of a sidewalk. Board member Thomas Boyle said he believed there should be a sidewalk provided for the development. There is no sidewalk on West Farms Road and the applicant did not propose a sidewalk for the cul-de-sac.
Board member Thomas Russo said “a sidewalk leading to nowhere only invites danger. A little kid goes on the sidewalk and they walk down the street and the sidewalk ends, they can find themselves in danger. However, in this cul-de-sac I think you need it.”
The applicant offered to put a sidewalk in the cul-de-sac and to terminate the sidewalk where the buffer ends to address the board members’ concerns.
“The concern is that children have a safe spot and that they are still at least 100 feet from West Farms Road where the sidewalk ends,” Luttrell said.
The decision was made to construct a sidewalk in the cul-de-sac, on both sides of the proposed 450-foot road. There will not be a sidewalk on West Farms Road in the vicinity of the new homes.
During the public hearing, Jeff Hodges said he was representing Howell’s fire commissioners. He said the proposed road and cul-de-sac radius are inadequate for the efficient use and placement of firefighting equipment. He asked if there was a way to widen the street.
“It is a cul-de-sac, one way in and one way out. It is already hard enough to get fire trucks down streets, let alone get them into a cul-de-sac. I have been a fireman in this town for over 10 years and there are a lot of developments that are very difficult to get in and out of,” Hodges said.
Luttrell said if the applicants can comply with state regulations and improve the safety and welfare of the future residents they would, but he said it seemed like a Catch-22 situation because “you cannot serve two masters.”
“I like the concerns of the fire department over bureaucrats in Trenton,” Luttrell said.
A motion was made to grant preliminary approval to the McNamees’ application. Board members Nicholas Huszar, Paul Schneider, Tannenhaus, Boyle and Nash voted “yes” on the motion. The applicant will have to return to seek final approval for the development at a later date.
